But, as she drew out the chair,
something that had been hidden from view in a corner near which stood a
small side-table caught her eye. She let go the chair, stooping down to
examine this something, and in a moment a cry escaped her.
"Bruvver! oh, bruvver," she exclaimed, "just see! How can it have got
brokened?" and she held up the bowl--or what had been the bowl
rather--out of which Toby had gobbled up his unexpected
breakfast,--broken, hopelessly broken, into several pieces!
In an instant Duke was beside her, and together they set to work to
examine the damage, as if, alas! any examining could have made it
better. It was far past mending, for, besides the two or three large
pieces Pamela had seized, there lay on the ground a mass of smaller
fragments, down to mere crumbs of china.
"_Toby_ couldn't have done it, could he?" said Pamela. "He stayed in
here when us went down to prayers."
"No, oh no! _Toby_ couldn't have broken it," said Duke; "and even if he
had, it would not have been his fault. He didn't put it down on the
floor. It was near here he ate the bread and milk up--perhaps he rolled
the bowl behind the table."
"And Biddy pushed the table against it when she was taking away the
things. Yes, that must have been it," said Pamela.
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