Страница 41 из 57
Miss Willy tapped the window-pane sharply and screamed through the glass,
“Come in! Come in! Mabel’s busy, and so am I-and Isobel’s out.”
A
A
“Come in! Shut the door! Shut the door! Be quiet, Archibald!-Archibald! Will you be quiet! Shut that door, or Rollo will get out! Where is he? Rollo, where are you? Oh, come in-come in! And mind don’t step on Augustus-he’s somewhere about, but I don’t know where.”
A
“I hope you don’t mind my coming when you’re so busy,” A
“Don’t talk of her!” said Miss Willy with a snort. “A bad, ungrateful girl if there ever was one! We got her a good place between us, and she’s leaving at the month because she’s only allowed out once a week. I can’t think what girls are coming to!”
On almost any other day Lydia Pratt’s enormities would have taken at least half an hour to discuss, but on this particular morning Miss Willy had no intention of wasting time on Lydia. If A
With Augustus sitting up on her shoulder industriously washing his whiskers, Miss Willy turned and faced her caller.
“Never mind Lydia,” she said, “I’ve heard a most extraordinary rumor, and I want to know if it’s true.”
“What have you heard?” asked A
“That you’ve had a burglary. A
“But how did you hear? We haven’t told any one. Uncle John-”
“You haven’t told the police?”
“Not the local police. Uncle John rang up Scotland Yard.”
“Who of course communicated with the local people- now didn’t they?”
“Well-you won’t repeat this, Miss Willy-we have had an inspector from Southerley to see us. Uncle John wasn’t very pleased about it. I think he wishes now that he had waited-employed a private detective or-oh, don’t take any notice of what I’m saying! It’s all very, very distressing. Uncle John is quite ill. We don’t want it talked about.”
“Now what’s the good of saying that? You want the widest possible publicity-then every one in the community is on the look out and can help you to catch your thief. You ought to have a description of whatever has been stolen circulated to all police stations, and pawnbrokers, and-and- people of that sort.” She made a wide gesture with her hand which startled Augustus a good deal and made Cyril the macaw interrupt his toilet and fix her with a bright glassy stare.
“I believe that has been done,” said A
“Nonsense!” said Miss Willy. “The more publicity the better-you can’t have too much.”
“How did you hear about it?”
“Joskins brought the first rumor with the afternoon milk. I suppose he’d just been up to Linwood House.”
“But the servants didn’t know-we didn’t tell them.”
Miss Willy sniffed.
“Joskins knew. He said it was the Queen A
A
“What’s the matter?” said Miss Willy.
“It’s been-such a shock,” she faltered. “I-I can’t bear to talk about it. Dear Miss Willy-you’re so kind-you’ll understand there are-reasons why I can’t talk about it.”
“Not one of the servants?” said Miss Willy breathlessly. “Why, they’ve all been with you at least five years, except Gladys Brown, and her people are so respectable that I couldn’t believe-though of course where young men are concerned you never can tell-only she’s walking out with that particularly nice George Alton. Don’t say it’s Gladys!”
“Oh, no.”
“Though of course having been with you for years doesn’t really prove anything, because my cousin Wilfred Earl’s mother-in-law had a butler for sixteen years and never knew that she only got half the cigars that were down in her bill-but Wilfred assured me it was a fact. But of course cigars are one thing, and an heirloom is quite another pair of shoes. Was there anything else taken?”
A
“Has any one been sending you a present?” she asked with the forced lightness of some one who must at any cost change the subject.
“No-I don’t know-I haven’t opened it-I don’t know what it is.” Miss Willy picked up the wrapping and turned it this way and that. “I can’t make head or tail of the postmark, and I don’t know the writing-though of course that’s nothing to go by, because one’s pen always sticks so on brown paper, and it simply ruins the nib. No-I can’t think who it can be from.”