Page:Poor Cecco - 1925.djvu/120

106 be returned to-morrow, and I’ll thank you to pay at the door!”

Saying which she bustled them out, and the High-Hangers with them, before turning to Jensina and exclaiming: “Poor darling, with all the trouble she’s been through!”

“It isn’t that I mind,” said Jensina, dabbing at her eyes again. “I’d go through it again to-morrow just to spite those rats, but it’s the trouble I have brought on my friends by my own pig-headedness. And now I’m in a terrible hole, for if I give the Tooth back to them for the sake of peace they’ll only take their revenge on us, and as long as I keep it, so long will they pursue us and track us down, as they did to-night. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” And she nearly broke down again.

The Iron Grenadier seemed to have been asleep all this while, but in reality he had been listening attentively to all that Jensina said. Clearing his voice now, he began:

“My dear young lady, this is a matter in which an old soldier’s advice may be very useful. In the first place, I have heard many times of this famous Tooth of Grimalkin, for the legend of it exists wherever the rat people dwell. Living in the barn I am in touch with what goes on, and I may tell you that up to now the Rat Government have kept their loss very secret, for no rumour of it has reached the rats in this part of the country. This is good news for you, as it shows that they dread exposure and realise