Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/208

 From the first, Gaylor had said to himself: "If I were the murderer, and had any fear that for some reason or other I might be eventually suspected, I wouldn't try to get rid of the revolver at home, or near home. I'd hide it in some place as close as I could to the scene of the murder, before I'd gone far away. And if I had my wits about me, I wouldn't just trust to the bracken to hide it. I'd think that it would be looked for there, and found when the bracken was cut down, as it would surely be. I'd fear bloodhounds, too, and try to put the thing in a place where my trail, if once they got on it, would be crossed by some other strong scent. What could be better for such a hide than a rabbit warren, if I could find one, or knew already where to find one? And if I were a person familiar with the woods, I might very likely know where to find one."

Gaylor had argued in this fashion, and he had begun with the opinion that a terrier would be a useful companion. To this theory and its later development, little Poppet Barnard owed a great many pleasant hours and delightful stories which she would never forget.

On reaching home, after the adventure of the rabbit hole, the child told Rose all about the fairy chest stolen by the wicked gnome, and prattled on about something unearthed by Gaylor, which he had said was not at all interesting. But Poppet, eagerly awaiting the sketch promised at dinner time, made so little of the