Page:Harold Macgrath--The girl in his house.djvu/38

 "looks as if I'd pulled a near bone. You get my side of it, don't you?"

"Certainly. You would have been perfectly justified in carrying me off to jail."

But what would this policeman think when he returned to the station and heard that there had been a burglar in the house next door?

"Well, you took some risks, believe me, playing that kind of a game. I wouldn't try it again." "I can promise that.'

A man about Armitage's age and a pretty woman came rushing out into the hall.

"Jim, you scalawag, is it really you?"

"Jimmie Armitage?"

"Alive and kicking. Bob, suppose you tell this officer that I'm all right. He caught me climbing over Durston's grille."

"Durston's grille?" Burlingham roared with laughter. Durston's grille, full of historical significance relative to their youth! How many times had they stolen over it in order to have a perfectly good alibi the next morning for a perfectly incredible father! "I'll back Armitage, Hanrahan.