promised. Then she said--

'This is a dark secret, and any one who thinks it is better not to be
involved in a career of crime-discovery had better go away ere yet it
be too late.'

So Dora said she had had enough of tents, and she was going to look at
the shops. H. O. went with her because he had twopence to spend. They
thought it was only a game of Alice's but Oswald knew by the way she
spoke. He can nearly always tell. And when people are not telling the
truth Oswald generally knows by the way they look with their eyes.
Oswald is not proud of being able to do this. He knows it is through no
merit of his own that he is much cleverer than some people.

When they had gone, the rest of us got closer together and said--

'Now then.'

'Well,' Alice said, 'you know the house next door? The people have gone
to Scarborough. And the house is shut up. But last night _I saw a
light in the windows_.'

We asked her how and when, because her room is in the front, and she
couldn't possibly have seen. And then she said--

'I'll tell you if you boys will promise not ever to go fishing again
without me.'

So we had to promise.