Twenty-five TUESDAY NIGHT AT CHIMNEYS

Lord Caterham, Virginia and Bundle were sitting in the library after din-ner. It was Tuesday evening. Some thirty hours had elapsed since An-thony’s rather dramatic departure.
For at least the seventh time Bundle repeated Anthony’s parting words,as spoken at Hyde Park Corner.
“I’ll find my own way back,” echoed Virginia thoughtfully. “That doesn’tlook as though he expected to be away as long as this. And he’s left all histhings here.”
“He didn’t tell you where he was going?”
“No,” said Virginia, looking straight in front of her. “He told me noth-ing.”
After this, there was a silence for a minute or two. Lord Caterham wasthe first to break it.
“On the whole,” he said, “keeping an hotel has some advantages overkeeping a country house.”
“Meaning—”
“That little notice they always hang up in your room. Visitors intendingdeparture must give notice before twelve o’clock.”
Virginia smiled.
“I daresay,” he continued, “that I am old-fashioned and unreasonable².
It’s the fashion, I know, to pop in and out of a house. Same idea as an hotel—perfect freedom of action, and no bill at the end!”
“You are an old grouser,” said Bundle. “You’ve had Virginia and me.
What more do you want?”
“Nothing more, nothing more,” Lord Caterham assured them hastily.
“That’s not it at all. It’s the principle of the thing. It gives one such a rest-less feeling. I’m quite willing to admit that it’s been an almost idealtwenty-four hours. Peace—perfect peace. No burglaries or other crimes ofviolence, no detectives, no Americans. What I complain of is that I shouldhave enjoyed it all so much more if I’d felt really secure. As it is, all thetime, I’ve been saying to myself, ‘One or the other of them is bound to turnup in a minute.’ And that spoilt the whole thing.”
“Well, nobody has turned up,” said Bundle. “We’ve been left severelyalone—neglected, in fact. It’s odd the way Fish disappeared. Didn’t he sayanything?”
“Not a word. Last time I saw him he was pacing up and down the rosegarden yesterday afternoon, smoking one of those unpleasant cigars ofhis. After that he seems to have just melted into the landscape.”
“Somebody must have kidnapped him,” said Bundle hopefully.
“In another day or two, I expect we shall have Scotland Yard draggingthe lake to find his dead body,” said her father gloomily. “It serves meright. At my time of life, I ought to have gone quietly abroad and takencare of my health, and not allowed myself to be

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