“We would like your permission to search, sir.”
Snodgrass smiled. “I’m sure my servants would have told me if they saw any stray children, Sergeant.”
Watters was aware of Duff shifting from foot to foot. “May we search, Mr Snodgrass?”
“Be my guess, Sergeant,” Snodgrass said, “William, my butler, will show you around.” He raised his voice. “Open all the doors, William, and show these policemen the stables and outhouses as well. Anywhere these runaway children might have hidden themselves.”
William the butler bowed. “Where do you wish to start, gentlemen?”
“At the top of the house,” Watters said. “We will work our way down to the basement and then look outside.”
“As you wish, sir,” William said. “Please follow me.”
Watters and Duff entered every room in Snodgrass Manor poked into ever
