Page:Princess Mary's Gift Book.djvu/31

Rh boys had climbed up by some creepers, and was found by her maid sitting on the window-sill of a bedroom early in the morning. It was not Mrs. Mimms’s bedroom, but, as she explained, it might have been. She had no particular objection, so she told the vicar, to a Boy Scout in her bedroom at any reasonable hour, but she did not want the child to break his neck.

Then the postmaster gave me a hint that Mrs. Mimms’s letters, which were posted every day by one of the Scouts, showed signs of having been opened and closed again before they came into his hands. He said that if this was being done by the Colonel’s orders it was all right, but he thought he ought to tell me about it. I met the vicar in the street immediately afterwards and said I thought the Scouts were getting out of hand and ought to be disbanded at once. He agreed with me.

While we were discussing the matter Hankly came up to us and said he heard that Mrs. Mimms was to be arrested at once as a German spy.

“Tompkins,” he said, “is going about the village saying that she ought to be shot.”

Tompkins always blamed Mrs. Mimms for the sealing up of the village pump, and had never spoken a good word about her since. The vicar was greatly put out.

“Tut—tut!” he said; “arrested! shot! Nonsense. Mrs. Mimms is a most estimable lady.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” said Hankly. “Those boys have been watching her lately, and there are several things which look suspicious.”

I suppose the vicar and I showed our surprise. Hankly went on to explain.

“She gives the boys peaches and grapes,” he said. “and cakes and meringues. Now I put it to you—the apples of course I understand. I might give a boy an apple myself, but I put it to you, vicar, would anybody give boys like that hothouse grapes and peaches unless—well, unless there was something to conceal. It’s not a natural thing to do.”

“Now I come to think of it,” said the vicar, “I did meet one of them yesterday with a peach in his fist.”

“There you are,” said Hinkly triumphantly, “and, anyhow, the police inspector is coming over to-day to look into the matter.”

Mrs. Mimms was not actually arrested. The police inspector—acting on information received from the Boy Scouts, Tompkins, and