Every one laughed. "Fatty's an awful baby," said Larry. "Cheer up, Fat-One. Show us your bruises and let us admire every one of them, big, medium and small."
"They're not worth mentioning," said Fatty stiffly. "Come on let's get going. We'd better get off quickly, or it will be tea-time before we've finished talking."
"We'll see his bruises at tea-time," whispered Daisy to Larry. "He's gone all sulky now!"
So they set off down the lane to find Lily. They felt certain they would not be caught by Hiccup this time because Pip had seen him go by in his car not long before.
"One or two of us must talk to Mrs. Minns," said Larry, "and the others had better try and get Lily out into the garden and talk to her. We'll see how things go."
But, as it happened, everything was very easy. Mrs. Minns was out, and there was no one in the kitchen but Lily. She was pleased to see the children and Buster.
"I'll just put Sweetie and the kittens out in the hall, and shut the door," she said. "Then that little dog can come in. I like dogs. What's His name? Buster! That's a nice name for a dog. Buster! Buster! Would you like a bone?"
Soon the cat and kittens were safely out of the way and Buster was gnawing a bone on the floor. Lily got out some chocolate from a drawer and handed it round. The children liked her. She seemed much more cheerful without Mrs. Minns to shout at her.
"We gave that note to Horace Peeks," said Larry. "We found him all right."
"Yes, I got a letter from him today," said Lily. She looked rather sad suddenly. "That nasty Mr. Goon went up and saw Mm and said all kinds of horrible things to Mm. Horace is that worried he doesn't know what to do."
"Did Mr. Goon think he had started the fire, then?" asked Daisy.
"Yes," said Lily. "A good many people are saying that. But it isn't true."
"How do you know?" asked Fatty.
"Well, I do know," said Lily.
"But you weren't here," said Larry. "If you weren't here, you can't possibly know who did or didn't start the fire. It might have been Horace for all you know."
"Now, don't you say a word if I tell you something, will you?" said Lily suddenly. "Promise? Say 'Honour bright, I'll not tell a soul."
The five children recited the seven words very solemnly, and Lily looked relieved.
"Well., then," she said, "I'll tell you how I know it wasn't Horace that did it. I know because I met him at five o'clock that day., and I was with him till I got in here at tea o'clock, which is my time for being in!"
The five children stared at her. This was indeed news.
"But why didn't you tell every one that?" asked Larry at last. "If you said that, no one would say that Horace burnt down the cottage."
Lily's eyes filled with tears. "Well, you see," she said, "My mother says I'm too young to say I'll marry any one, but Horace Peeks, he loves me, and I love him. My father said he'd thrash me if he caught me walking out with Horace, and Mrs. Minns said she'd tell my father if ever she caught me speaking a word to him. So I didn't dare to go out to the pictures with him, or even to talk to him in the house."
"Poor Lily," said Daisy. "So when you heard every one talking against him, you were very upset and wrote to warn him?"
"Yes," said Lily. "And, you see, if I tell that I was out with
him that night, my father will punish me, and maybe Mrs. Minns will send me off, so I'll lose my job. And Horace can't say he was with me because he knows it will be hard for me if he does."
"Where did you go?" asked Fatty.
"I went on my bicycle half-way to Wilmer Green," said Lily. "We met at his sister's there and had tea together, and a bite of supper. We told his sister all about how poor Horace had lost his fob that day, and she said maybe her husband would give Mm some work till he could find another job."
Fatty remembered that the tramp had seen Horace Peeks in the garden that evening, and he looked sharply at Lily. Could she be telling all the truth?
"Are you sure that Horace didn't come here at all that night?" he said. The others knew why he said it they too remembered that the tramp had said he had seen Horace Peeks.
"No, no!" cried Lily, raising her voice in fright. She twisted her handkerchief round and round in her hands, and stared at the children. "Horace wasn't anywhere near here. I tell you, we met at his sister's. You can ask her. She'll tell you."
Larry felt certain that Lily was frightened and was not telling the truth. He decided to be bold.
"Lily," he said, in a very solemn voice, "somebody saw Horace in the garden that evening."
Lily stared at Larry with wide, horrified eyes. "No!" she said. "They couldn't have seen him. They couldn't!"
"Well, they did," said Larry. Lily stared at him for a moment, and then began to sob.
"Who could have seen him?" she said. "Mrs. Minns and her sister were here in the kitchen. Mr. Hick and the chauffeur were out. There wasn't any one about; I know there wasn't."
"How do you know, if you weren't here?" asked Larry.
"Well," said Lily, swallowing a sob. "Well, I'll tell you. I was here! Now don't you forget you've said honour bright you won't tell a soul! You see, this is what happened. I rode off to meet Horace, and when I met him he told me he'd left some of his things at Mr. Hick's, and he wanted them. But he didn't dare to go and ask Mr. Hick for them. So I said to him, 'Well, Horace, I said, 'Mr. Hick's out, and why don't you come along and get them now, before he comes back?"