Twenty-seven NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE

Jimmy Thesiger arrived at Letherbury on a sunny autumn afternoon andwas greeted affectionately by Lady Coote and with cold dislike by Sir Os-wald. Aware of the keen matchmaking eye of Lady Coote upon him,Jimmy took pains to make himself extremely agreeable to Socks Daventry.
O’Rourke was there in excellent spirits. He was inclined to be officialand secretive about the mysterious events at the Abbey, about whichSocks catechized him freely, but his official reticence¹ took a novel form .?.?.
namely that of embroidering² the tale of events in such a fantastic mannerthat nobody could possibly guess what the truth might have been.
“Four masked men with revolvers? Is that really so?” demanded Socksseverely.
“Ah! I’m remembering now that there was the round half-dozen of themto hold me down and force the stuff down my throat. Sure, and I thought itwas poison, and I done for entirely⁴.”
“And what was stolen, or what did they try and steal?”
“What else but the crown jewels of Russia that were brought to Mr. Lo-max secretly to deposit in the Bank of England.”
“What a bloody⁵ liar⁶ you are,” said Socks without emotion.
“A liar, I? And the jewels brought over by aeroplane with my best friendas pilot. This is secret history I’m telling you, Socks. Will you ask JimmyThesiger there if you don’t believe me. Not that I’d be putting any trust inwhat he’d say.”
“Is it true,” said Socks, “that George Lomax came down without his falseteeth? That’s what I want to know.”
“There were two revolvers,” said Lady Coote. “Nasty things. I saw themmyself. It’s a wonder this poor boy wasn’t killed.”
“Oh, I was born to be hanged,” said Jimmy.
“I hear that there was a Russian countess there of subtle beauty,” saidSocks. “And that she vamped Bill.”
“Some of the things she said about Buda Pesth were too dreadful,” saidLady Coote. “I shall never forget them. Oswald, we must send a subscrip-tion.”
Sir Oswald

分享到：