"Ah! _Now_ we're getting on!" said Collop. "That's what I always said. A winder was opened! Eh? A winder was opened! Now you mark me," he went on, turning to his host and tapping the palm of his round left hand with the stubby forefinger of his right. "That's another clue. A winder was open." "Don't you dare say I touched it!" from the distraught Ethelbert. "You shut yer mouth, boy," answered Collop without courtesy. "Tell him to shut his mouth, sir--tell him plain. He's distracting me." "But there's some on us," went on Ethelbert desperately, refusing to shut that mouth, "as might speak if we knew...." "Ah, now," said de Bohun eagerly. "Do you hear that, Mr. Collop? Do you hear that? The Boy may reveal ..." Collop stepped in between. "Pay no attention, Mr. Dee Boe Hun. I got my clue, and we mustn't 'ave no cross scents. You take me?" "Well," said his host, legitimately nettled, "I don't see any harm in getting whatever evidence we can." "Ah, and you're right there," said young Ethelbert, still at attention. "And what's that sime hevidence, eh? That's what I say, sir. Hevidence--as clear as daylight, from them as knows. There's some as could speak if they would, and some as knows what others doesn't know. It isn't always them as needs things most as pinches 'em. And maybe, times, it's them as needs 'em least as pinches 'em!" He lowered his voice and mysteriously added, "The 'ighest!" "Look here, Boy," said de Bohun, fatigued with such recitals: "if you've got anything to say, say it. Mr. Collop and I are pressed." "What I've got to say," answered Ethelbert, with a solemnity beyond his years, "is plain enough, I tike it. 'Oo's to blame? Mum's the word. But there's some in this house that's 'igher than others. And 'oo's the 'ighest? A lord, I tike it?" "Do you mean Lord Galton, child?" said the peer's cousin, sharply. "Are you saying Lord Galton took the Emerald?" "I've named no names," said Ethelbert, trembling between fear and importance. "But this I do say, and it is ..." "Have you any evidence against Lord Galton?" "Now, Mr. Dee Boe Hun," urged Mr. Collop with decisive hands. "Now, please don't let's 'ave a cross scent." The Home Secretary waved him aside. The family was concerned. "What have you got against--or about--Lord Galton? Say what you have to say, and let's have it over." "What I've got to say," said the Boy, "is what is but my plain duty to say. I names no names. I asks no questions and I don't get told no lies!" "Upon my word!" cried his master angrily, almost moved to action. The boy Ethelbert at the end of so long a tension gave a loud cry of terror and suddenly whipped round and fled through the open door. They were disconcerted. "Well, Mr. Collop," said Mr. de Bohun on the child's vanishing, "that's another complication. It's Lord Galton now!" and he sank into a chair. Things were becoming too much for him.