For a moment Alexina refused to believe her eyes . Then she saw a trail of greasy drops on the floor to the open door , out over the doorstep , and along the boards of the walk to the back fence . Alexina did not make a fuss . Even at that horrible moment she remembered the importance of making a favourable impression . But she could not quite keep the alarm and excitement out of her voice as she called Stephen , and Stephen knew that something had gone wrong as he came quickly through the hall . `` Is the turkey burned , Lexy ? '' he cried . `` Burned ! No , it 's ten times worse , '' gasped Alexina . `` It 's gone -- gone , Stephen . And the pudding and the mince pies , too . Oh , what shall we do ? Who can have taken them ? '' It may be stated right here and now that the Falsoms never really knew anything more about the disappearance of their Christmas dinner than they did at that moment . But the only reasonable explanation of the mystery was that a tramp had entered the kitchen and made off with the good things . The Falsom house was right at the end of the street . The narrow backyard opened on a lonely road . Across the road was a stretch of pine woods . There was no house very near except the Tracy one . Stephen reached this conclusion with a bound .
He ran out XXXXX the yard gate followed by the distracted Alexina .
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