United States or Nauru ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"No, we did not touch upon old times." "Does he still believe that you are Jimmy Crocker? I'm so nervous," said Ann, "that I can hardly speak." "I shouldn't be nervous," said Jimmy encouragingly. "I don't see how things could be going better." "That's what makes me nervous. Our luck is too good to last. We are taking such risks. It would have been bad enough without Skinner and Lord Wisbeach.
He had been right in his surmise. It was Lord Wisbeach. He was kneeling in front of the safe. What he was doing to the safe, Jimmy could not see, for the man's body was in the way; but the electric torch shone on his face, lighting up grim, serious features quite unlike the amiable and slightly vacant mask which his lordship was wont to present to the world.
At any moment you may make some fatal slip. Thank goodness, aunt Nesta's suspicions have been squashed for the time being now that Skinner and Lord Wisbeach have accepted you as genuine. But then you have only seen them for a few minutes. When they have been with you a little longer, they may get suspicious themselves. I can't imagine how you managed to keep it up with Lord Wisbeach.
Pett said nothing, but he was not convinced. The Lord Wisbeach under discussion was a pleasant-spoken and presentable young man who had called at Mr. Pett's office a short while before to consult him about investing some money.
There was nothing outwardly to distinguish this meal from any other which she had shared of late in that house. The only thing that prevented her relief being unmixed was the fact that she could see Lord Wisbeach casting furtive glances at Jimmy, who was eating with the quiet concentration of one who, after days of boarding-house fare, finds himself in the presence of the masterpieces of a chef.
"I think the best thing I can do," said Gentleman Jack smoothly, "is to go and telephone for the police." "You think of everything, Lord Wisbeach," said Mrs. Pett. "Not at all," said his lordship. Jimmy watched him moving to the door. At the back of his mind there was a dull feeling that he could solve the whole trouble if only he could remember one fact which had escaped him.
"How are you getting on with the jolly old stuff?" he asked. If Willie had objected to Partridgite being called "the stuff," he was still less in favour of its being termed "the jolly old stuff." He replied coldly. "I have ceased to get along with the jolly old stuff." "Struck a snag?" enquired Lord Wisbeach sympathetically. "On the contrary, my experiments have been entirely successful.
I tell you, pal, I was all in for a second, till you gave me the high sign." Jimmy laughed. "It would have been awkward for you if I really had been Jimmy Crocker, wouldn't it?" "And it would have been awkward for you if I had really been Lord Wisbeach." "Who are you, by the way?" "The boys call me Gentleman Jack." "Why?" asked Jimmy, surprised. Lord Wisbeach ignored the question.
Much as she liked Lord Wisbeach, she had never given him credit for brains, and it was a man with brains and keen ones who was looking at her now. She nodded. "If your nephew has really succeeded in his experiments, you should be awfully careful. That stuff ought not to lie about in his laboratory, though no doubt he has hidden it as carefully as possible. It ought to be in a safe somewhere.
Lord Wisbeach had restrained his feelings successfully during the interview, but he could not deny himself that slight expression of them. Jimmy crossed the room and took his coat from the chair where the other had dropped it. As he did so a voice spoke. "Say!" Jimmy spun round. The room was apparently empty. The thing was beginning to assume an uncanny aspect, when the voice spoke again.
Word Of The Day