“Not after you came along, anyway.”

“The town’ll be on your side,” said Buck.

“That won’t mean much when the case comes to trial in the county seat,” said Bud.

“Oh!” cried the Doctor, suddenly. “What shall I do? What shall I do?”

“It’s up to you, Bud,” said Buck. “I can’t turn him in.”

“Take it easy, Doc,” said Bud. “Calm down. Look. Buck. When we came in here the street was empty, wasn’t it?”

“I guess so,” said Buck. “Anyway, nobody saw us come down cellar.”

“And we haven’t been down,” Bud said, addressing himself forcefully to the Doctor. “Get that, Doc? We shouted upstairs, hung around a minute or two, and cleared out. But we never came down into this cellar.”

“I wish you hadn’t,” the Doctor said heavily.

“All you have to do is say Irene went out for a walk and never came back,” said Buck. “Bud and I can swear we saw her headed out of town with a fellow in a — well, say in a Buick sedan. Everybody’ll believe that, all right. We’ll fix it. But later. Now we’d better scram.”

“And remember, now. Stick to it. We never came down here and we haven’t seen you today,” said Bud. “So long!”

Buck and Bud ascended the steps, moving with a rather absurd degree of caution. “You’d better get that . . . that thing covered up,” Buck said over his shoulder.

Left alone, the Doctor sat down on an empty box, holding his head with both hands. He was still sitting like this when the porch door slammed again. This time he did not start. He listened. The house door opened and closed. A voice cried, “Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo! I’m back.”

The Doctor rose slowly to his feet. “I’m down here, Irene!” he called.

The cellar door opened. A young woman stood at the head of the steps. “Can you beat it?” she said.