Scout is the sort of Beagle who is the sort of pup who can find a mystery in a clean room. Most evenings Scout polishes bones into pale curves and calls it bookkeeping until the lanterns are out and the soup stalls close. Bakers slip Scout the fresher biscuits near the door marked K N L and pretend they did not. Scout may not know the truth of the old world, but that never stops a good theory from becoming lunch talk.