THE TORCH. 
387 
To my surprise, when I got the door open, 
I found that the room was not empty — I don’t 
mean that there were people in it, but there 
were things. Apparently it was being used 
as a storeroom for a lot of lumber. 
“ This,” I pointed out to Leila, “ is the 
very thing for us.” 
She did not seem to think that it was, 
because, directly I opened the door, there 
were sounds of scampering, coming, as it 
seemed, from all directions — and the instant 
she heard them, Leila shrieked. 
“ That’s rats,” 1 explained ; but she did 
not seem to like the explanation, either. 
“ Now that we’re without the tin I’ve got 
the bundle of shavings on my machine, and 
the petrol — but I believe we could even do 
without the shavings. We’ve only got to 
soak some of this stuff in here with the petrol, 
and put a match to it, apd I shouldn’t be 
surprised if the whole place isn’t a flaming 
furnace in less than no time. You stay here 
while I go and fetch the petrol and the 
shavings.” 
“ I won’t be left behind,” she declared. 
“I’ll come with you.” 
So we went back together, along the 
passage to the front door — and the bicycles 
were not there ! They had vanished — 
absolutely ! It was stupefying — literally. 
Leila had not an idea of what had happened. 
“ What are you staring at like that ? ” she 
asked. “ What is the matter with you now ? ” 
“ Nothing is the matter with me — only the 
bicycles have disappeared.” 
“ But where are they ? ” Leila spoke as 
if she were dazed. “ I don’t see them 
anywhere.” 
“ Nor I ; perhaps one reason is that they’re 
not to be seen. It is another case of 
Geoffrey’s ghost.” 
“ What do you mean ? Sally, do you 
think that Geoffrey’s dead ? ” 
“ On the contrary, Miss Macfarlane, T 
think that Mr. MacNaughton is very much 
alive.” Leila and that young man both 
came from the same village in Dumfriesshire, 
which is one reason, I suppose, why they are 
both of them Macs. “ I told you that I saw 
him, only the other day, in our own village.” 
Leila turned on me with unexpected and 
even waspish fury. 
“ And how about young Griffiths ? Didn’t 
I tell you that 1 saw him ? ” 
I am not bad tempered, like some people — 
I was sweetness itself. 
“ My dear Leila, I am aware that you did 
tell me. something of the kind ; but I told you 
then, as I tell you now, that even in the 
village in which you happen for the moment 
to have a cottage the roads are public, and I 
do not see how Mr. Griffiths could be prevented 
from using them.” 
“ 1 believe you knew that he was there.” 
“ My dear, allow me to remind you that 
we are both Advanced Militants : that the 
purpose of our presence here is to strike a 
resounding blow for the Cause, and that if 
we start quarrelling 1 don’t see how we’re 
going to do it.. Let us go back into the house.” 
Into the house I marched, back to the 
lumber-room, with Leila, of course, close to 
my heels. 
“ Sally,” she began, the second we were in, 
Ci I don’t understand you in the least. If our 
bicycles aren’t there where can they have 
gone ? And what are we going to do, without 
even the petrol and the shavings ? ” 
“ I have a theory. As I happen to be just 
about tired out, and there seem to be chairs, 
I’m going to sit down.” 
“ But, Sally,” she replied, “ I’m wet 
through and through ! You know I ought 
not to sit down in wet things — or you either.” 
I sat down, and of course she did ; but I 
must admit that she looked a pretty forlorn 
object ; wet, draggled, muddy — the whole of 
one side of her was muddy, the result of lying 
down in the mud, outside the gate, because 
of Geoffrey’s ghost. As I looked at her I 
wondered if I looked anything like her ; if I 
did, I felt that we both of us deserved to be 
decorated for “ valour,” if only because of 
the sights we had made of ourselves for the 
Cause. As I was feeling a little overcome by 
the spectacle she presented, she wiped away a 
muddy patch under one of her eves and 
smudged it all down her cheek, and she 
remarked, huskily : — - 
“ What about that theory you said you 
had ? ” 
“ My theory is that this house is inhabited.” 
" Sally I By whom ? ” 
c< By bad characters. The house has been 
standing empty for goodness knows how long. 
What more likely than that some person, or 
persons, who have good reason of their own 
for wishing to lie low should become its 
tenants without asking permission ? ” 
Leila’s face, so far as it could be seen— in 
that light— for the mud, was a study. 
“ But I thought you said something about — 
about Mr. MacNaughton. You did say 
something about him.” 
“ I’m perfectly aware of it. I have a theory 
about him also. You said that you believed 
you saw Sam Griffiths the other day.” 
“ I’m pretty nearly absolutely sure i did. 
