“Nothing but us?” asked Mabel breathlessly.
“Oh, lots of things impossible things but you were real enough.”
Everyone breathed deeply in relief. It was indeed, as they agreed later, a lucky let-off.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” they all asked, as he got on his feet.
“Perfectly, thank you.” He glanced behind Flora’s statue as he spoke. “Do you know, I dreamed there was a door there, but of course there isn’t. I don’t know how to thank you,” he added, looking at them with what the girls called his beautiful, kind eyes; “it’s lucky for me you came along. You come here whenever you like, you know,” he added. “I give you the freedom of the place.”
“You’re the new bailiff, aren’t you?” said Mabel.
“Yes. How did you know?” he asked quickly; but they did not tell him how they knew. Inste
