Fifteen HE INQUEST

Bundle reached home about six a.m. She was up and dressed by half pastnine, and rang up Jimmy Thesiger on the telephone.
The promptitude of his reply somewhat surprised her, till he explainedthat he was going down to attend the inquest.
“So am I,” said Bundle. “And I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
“Well, suppose you let me drive you down and we can talk on the way.
How about that?”
“All right. But allow a bit extra because you’ll have to take me to Chim-neys. The Chief Constable’s picking me up there.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a kind man,” said Bundle.
“So am I,” said Jimmy. “Very kind.”
“Oh! you—you’re an ass¹,” said Bundle. “I heard somebody say so lastnight.”
“Who?”
“To be strictly² accurate—a Russian Jew. No, it wasn’t. It was—”
But an indignant protest drowned her words.
“I may be an ass,” said Jimmy. “I daresay I am—but I won’t have RussianJews saying so. What were you doing last night, Bundle?”
“That’s what I’m going to talk about,” said Bundle. “Good-bye for the mo-ment.”
She rang off in a tantalizing³ manner which left Jimmy pleasantlypuzzled. He had the highest respect for Bundle’s capabilities⁴, though therewas not the slightest trace of sentiment in his feeling towards her.
“She’s been up to something,” he opined, as he took a last hasty drink ofcoffee. “Depend upon it, she’s been up to something.”
Twenty minutes later, his little two- seater drew up before the BrookStreet house and Bundle, who had been waiting, came tripping down thesteps. Jimmy was not ordinarily an observant young man, but he noticedthat there were black rings round Bundle’s eyes and that she had all theappearance of having had a late night the night before.
“Now then,” he said, as the car began to nose her way through the sub-urbs, “what dark deeds have you been up to?”
“I’ll tell you,” said Bundle. “But don’t interrupt until I’ve finished.”
It was a somewhat long story, and Jimmy had all he could do to keepsufficient attention on the car to prevent an accident. When Bundle hadfinished he sighed—then looked at her searchingly.

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