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Lea carried the tray into the Professor's main room.
There was a pot of Earl Grey tea, a jug of milk, a bowl
of sugar cubes, and a plate of shortbread biscuits that
Michael had found in the pantry.
"Well, it looks like you saved my bacon,"
the Professor admitted. "How did you get back in?"
"Through the front door," said Lea, feeling
a little foolish. "It was open."
"No it was unlocked. That's a different thing
altogether," he told her, testily.
"What!? Are you mad with us?" She was astonished
at the ingratitude.
"No. I suppose not. But what's a fellow to think
if you just walk into his house and say 'Oh the door
wasn't locked so we decided to come in and snoop around'?
Hmm?"
"Well if he's about to burn the place down I should
think he'd say something like "Thank you'."
"Oh, never mind." He sipped the tea. "I
suppose you did what you thought was best."
"You're welcome!"
Michael saw his chance to jump in. "Professor,
what were you doing? What caused the fire?"
The Professor glared at him. "An experiment."
"We love science," Michael lied, summoning
as much flattery and enthusiasm as he could. He glanced
at Lea. "Don't we?"
"Oh. Yes."
"What sort of experiment was it?"
The Professor was clearly not eager to be drawn. "One
that didn't work."
"Professor, please," Lea began. "We
were only trying to help. Something pretty major has
obviously been going on here. What with all the pyrotechnics
and storms, the power cuts and the police, broken windows
and fires. Can't you even give us a hint?"
"This is good tea," he replied.
Lea slowly shook her head. "Well, be careful,"
she pleaded. "If you carry on like this you'll
end up in gaol. If you don't burn the house down first."
The Professor considered her words. "Lea. It was
Lea wasn't it?"
She nodded.
"Hmmm, good. Lea and? Lea and?" Michael's
name eluded him and Lea was tired of repeating it. "Oh
never mind. Why do you care about this?"
"Because you were nice to me when I was little.
You cheered me up. I was upset because I was too small
to go on any of the rides at the fair so you bought
me a toffee apple to make it up to me."
"And you remember that after all these years?"
"Yes."
"Well you've got a better memory than I have,"
he mused, without any hint of irony.
"And what about you?" He spoke now to Michael.
"I'm helping Lea out," he said, "and
I'm curious about the experiment. We didn't mean to
be nosy. We're sorry."
"Well, don't let it happen again." He slurped
his tea, noisily.
Suddenly Lea tensed. Michael noticed her eyes flick
towards the hallway and, a moment later, he heard footsteps.
The police? There was no knock, no ring of the doorbell.
Instead the front door creaked open, they heard the
sound of shuffling, soft movements in the hall, and
the door creaked shut again. The Professor rose to his
feet.
"Proffo?" a strange voice called, and they
heard the guest move along the corridor towards them.
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