But that was as far as my victory reached.

His mother caught me there a moment later and snatched me out of the house and gave me a most competent scolding and drove me away.

She was so scared that she could hardly get her words out, and her face was white.

I saw that I must manage better next time, and I did.

I hung about the lane at the rear of the house and watched through cracks in the fence until I was convinced that the conditions were favorable; then I slipped through the back yard and up the back way and got into the room and into the bed with Will Bowen without being observed.