Sixteen THE AMBASSADOR’S BOOTS

“My dear fellow, my dear fellow,” said Tuppence, and waved a heavilybuttered muffin.
Tommy looked at her for a minute or two, then a broad grin spread overhis face and he murmured.
“We do have to be so very careful.”
“That’s right,” said Tuppence, delighted. “You guessed. I am the famousDr. Fortune and you are Superintendent¹ Bell.”
“Why are you being Reginald Fortune?”
“Well, really because I feel like a lot of hot butter.”
“That is the pleasant side of it,” said Tommy. “But there is another. Youwill have to examine horribly smashed faces and very extra dead bodies agood deal.”
In answer Tuppence threw across a letter. Tommy’s eyebrows² rose inastonishment.
“Randolph Wilmott, the American Ambassador. I wonder what hewants.”
“We shall know tomorrow at eleven o’clock.”
Punctually to the time named, Mr. Randolph Wilmott, United States Am-bassador to the Court of St. James, was ushered³ into Mr. Blunt’s office. Hecleared his throat and commenced speaking in a deliberate and character-istic manner.
“I have come to you, Mr. Blunt—By the way, it is Mr. Blunt himself towhom I am speaking, is it not?”
“Certainly,” said Tommy. “I am Theodore Blunt, the head of the firm.”
“I always prefer to deal with heads of departments,” said Mr. Wilmott.
“It is more satisfactory in every way. As I was about to say, Mr. Blunt, thisbusiness gets my goat. There’s nothing in it to trouble Scotland Yard about—I’m not a penny the worse in any way, and it’s probably all due to asimple mistake. But all the same, I don’t see just how that mistake arose.
There’s nothing criminal in it, I dare say, but I’d like just to get the thingstraightened out. It makes me mad not to see the why and wherefore of athing.”
“Absolutely,” said Tommy.
Mr. Wilmott went on. He was slow and given to much detail. At lastTommy managed to get a word in.
“Quite so,” he said, “the position is this. You arrived by the liner No-madic a week ago. In some way your kitbag and the kitbag of another gen-tleman, Mr. Ralph Westerham, whose initials are the same as yours, gotmixed up. You took Mr. Westerham’s kitbag, and he took yours. Mr. West-erham discovered the mistake immediately, sent round your kitbag to theEmbassy, and took away his own. Am I right so far?”

分享到：