who looked at the registers and took down the names and addresses of absentees. Then he went to their homes to find out whether they were ill or whether they were playing the wag or whether, if girls, they were being kept away from school to help with the housework, or whether, if boys, they had no boots or were running errands for tradesmen. In our day the attendance officer was a feared and detested figure in all the poorer parts of the town.
'Attendance officer? Who's he?' Uncle Arthur enquired. 'Only body likely to enquire about you is the governess, because they're paid according to numbers on roll.'
Monday passed pleasantly. The weather was fine, we were free, we found three golf-balls on that part of The Marsh which was the University golf-course, we paddled, fished for tiddlers, picked and ate grandfather's fruit and paid a visit to the hermit's stinking cottage to look at Mr Ward's filled-in hole.
The one place we felt we must not visit was the sheepwash. We had been put on our honour not to go near it, so when Our Ern and a bigger boy suggested a visit to it, we said we were compelled to refuse.
'Aw, come on, then!' they said.
'Can't. We've promised not to.'
'Aw, come on!'
'No, not this time.'
'Dare ee!'
'No good. No dare taken.'
'Checken-'earted, then!'
'If you say that again,' said Kenneth, 'the next time we go bathing down by Long Bridges I shall drown you.'
Long Bridges was about two miles from the village. It was a back-water of the river around part of which the town council had put corrugated iron fencing and had built dressing-sheds. There were stone steps slippery with weed leading down to the water. As a treat we were allowed to go there in charge of a village girl who came in once a week to help Aunt Kirstie turn out Mr Ward's rooms and who received an extra sixpence for taking us to the bathing-place.
Unlike Lionel at his private school, we were compelled in so public a place to wear bathing costumes. These had been fabricated for us by Aunt Kirstie out of one of her voluminous red flannel petticoats.
'Ought to be blue stockinette,' said Uncle Arthur, and how heartily we agreed with him!
'Flannel will keep them warm in the water,' said Aunt Kirstie. 'I don't want them catching their deaths.'
Kenneth's threat to drown Our Ern was met by a far more formidable counter-threat.
'Ef ee don't come down the sheepwash Oi'll tell Gov'ness you ent attenden school. Your auntie and uncle'll go to preson ef you ent attenden school.'
So we forfeited our honour and went along to the sheepwash, deeming it better to feel besmirched than to risk putting Uncle Arthur and Aunt Kirstie in gaol.
''Tes 'ereabouts as her bled,' said Our Ern ghoulishly. We searched diligently for bloodstains, but did not find any.
'Anyways, they've got 'em as done et,' Our Ern went on.
'Garn!' said the big boy. They never!'
'Tell ee they 'ave, then. They've tooken that geppo what go weth Old Sukie. Our Sarah said so. Strong as a loyon he be, and took four p'licemen to get hem ento the Black Maria.'
'Oi warnts moi tea,' said the boy, abandoning the argument. On the way back we saw Uncle Arthur coming home from work across The Marsh. He had whitewash on his clothes and carried his bag of tools. We waited for him. Kenneth took the bag and I held on to Uncle Arthur's arm.
'No good you canoodling round me,' he said, not attempting, however, to disengage himself. 'You been down the sheepwash, I'll lay.'
'We couldn't help it,' I said, 'and we're going to tell Aunt Kirstie. Is it true the police have arrested one of the gypsies? Is it Old Sukie's man?'
'So I heard tell.'
'But they can't do that,' said Kenneth. The murder happened at night, didn't it?'
'What do
'It's all over the village. Everybody knows. The thing is, you see, the gypsy couldn't have done it.'
'Oh?' We crossed the plank bridge. I had been the one to open the iron gate. I stayed to close it. Kenneth, who had been tagging along behind with the bag of tools, caught up with Uncle Arthur.
'Of course he couldn't,' he said. 'Don't you remember? He was at the fair. Why should they think he did it? Didn't he tell them where he was? And didn't Sukie back him up? She was there, too, you know. She tried to fight those beasts who set on him.'
'Oh, nobody don't pay no attention to what them gyppos says,' said Uncle Arthur. 'Liars and thieves, every man jack of 'em.'
'But if the police think he's a murderer they might hang him,' I said. (Hanging was then the punishment for murder.)
'Good riddance to bad rubbish,' said Uncle Arthur. 'Ten to one, if it wasn't him it was another of 'em. They're all alike.' But we could not leave it at that. We talked matters over and then decided to go next day to see Mrs Kempson. This time we went to the front door. When the butler opened it and saw us, he said,
