Then she said--

'It was last night. I had forgotten to feed my rabbits and I woke up
and remembered it. And I was afraid I should find them dead in the
morning, like Oswald did.'

'It wasn't my fault,' Oswald said; 'there was something the matter with
the beasts. I fed them right enough.'

Alice said she didn't mean that, and she went on--

'I came down into the garden, and I saw a light in the house, and dark
figures moving about. I thought perhaps it was burglars, but Father
hadn't come home, and Eliza had gone to bed, so I couldn't do anything.
Only I thought perhaps I would tell the rest of you.'

'Why didn't you tell us this morning?' Noel asked. And Alice explained
that she did not want to get any one into trouble, even burglars. 'But
we might watch to-night,' she said, 'and see if we see the light again.'

'They might have been burglars,' Noel said. He was sucking the last bit
of his macaroni. 'You know the people next door are very grand. They
won't know us--and they go out in a real private carriage sometimes.
And they have an "At Home" day, and people come in cabs. I daresay they
have piles of plate and jewellery and rich brocades, and furs of price
and things like that. Let us keep watch to-night.'

'It's no use watching to-night,' Dicky said; 'if it's only burglars they
won't come again. But there are other things besides burglars that are
discovered in empty houses where lights are seen moving.'