Jonah and Co Part 47

As I did so, a breathless Eulalie appeared upon the other side of the car.

"I never thought I should catch you," she said uncertainly. "My car got mixed up with that waggon, so I chanced it and ran. And, now I'm here, I hardly know how to tell you...." She addressed herself to Adele. "But I fancy you've got my scent--'Red Violets.' It's rather--rather special. They only make it by request. And a friend of mine had ordered a bottle for me. It was put ready for me to call for, and, as far as I can make out, they've given it to you by mistake.

I'm--I'm afraid I'm asking an awful lot, but might I have it? I'm leaving Spain altogether in half an hour, so I shan't have another chance."

I never remember feeling so utterly disillusioned. Recalling the telephone conversation of the day before, I was frankly disgusted.

Such sharp practice as this smacked of a bargain sale.

The scent was ours. We had bought it fairly. Besides, it had _not_ been reserved. If either Adele or Eulalie had to go empty away, Law and Equity alike were p.r.o.nouncing in favour of my wife.

Adele was speaking.

"Oh, certainly. Boy, will you...?" I stepped into the car and thrust a hand into the fold of the hood. "I shall know which it is. The paper it's wrapped in is different. There's a line running through it, and the others were plain." I plucked out a case and gave it to her to examine. "That's right." Gravely she handed it to Eulalie. "I'm sorry you had to run so," she added gently.

The other shrugged her shoulders.

"I caught you," she said simply, "and that's the great thing." She glanced over her shoulder. "And here comes my car. I'm really most awfully grateful...."

With a swish the cabriolet swept alongside, skidded with locked wheels upon the pavement, and fetched up anyhow with its bonnet across our bows. It was a piece of driving for which the chauffeur ought to have been flogged.

"...most awfully grateful," repeated Eulalie, swinging the case by its cord. "You--you might have made it much harder...."

The next moment she was in the cabriolet...

Dazedly I watched the latter float out of sight.

"B-but she hasn't paid," I stammered. "She's never given us the money.

Four pounds that bottle cost...."

We stared at one another in dismay.

At length--

"Stung," said Berry. "But what a beautiful bit of work! Four pounds'

worth of scent for the asking. No unpleasantness, no sleight of hand, no nothing. Just a glad eye last night and a two-minute run this morning. I don't wonder she was grateful."

We had spent the afternoon traversing San Sebastian, and had found the place good--so good, in fact, that it was past six before we returned to the hotel.

I followed Adele upstairs rather wearily.

"I shall never get over this morning," I said. "Never." Arrived at our door, I fitted the key to the lock. "To think that I stood there and let you hand---- Oh, blast! We've left the scent in the car."

"So we have," said Adele. "What an awful nuisance! I knew we should.

It's fatal to put anything in that hood. You don't see it."

I pushed open the door.

"As soon as I've changed," I said, switching on the light. "I'll go and----"

The sentence was never finished.

Had I been told that a cyclone had struck our bedroom, I should not have been surprised.

Adele and I stood staring at such a state of disorder as I had never dreamed of.

The bed had been dragged from the wall, and its clothes distributed about the room; the wardrobe and cupboards stood open: every drawer in the room was on the floor: our clothing had been flung, like soiled linen, into corners: my wife's dressing-case had been forced, and now lay open, face downward, upon the carpet, while its contents sprawled upon a mattress: a chair had fallen backwards into the empty cabin-trunk, and the edge of a sheet had caught on one of its upturned legs....

"Adele! Boy!" The swish of a skirt, and there was my sister behind us. "Our room's been---- Good Heavens, yours is the same! Whatever's the meaning of it?"

Within three minutes two managers and three clerks were on the scene.

To do them justice, they were genuinely perturbed. Fresh rooms--a magnificent suite--were put at our disposal: under our own eyes our belongings were gathered into sheets and carried to our new quarters: maids were summoned and placed at the girls' service: valets were sent for: the dressing-case was sent to be repaired: we were begged at our convenience to report whether there were any valuables we could not find, and over and over again we were a.s.sured that the management would not rest until the thieves were taken: jointly and severally we were offered profound apologies for so abominable an outrage.

Berry and Jonah, who had been taking the cars to the garage, arrived in the midst of the removal.

Upon the circ.u.mstances being laid before my brother-in-law, he seemed for some time to be deprived of the power of speech, and it was only upon being shown the contents of a sheet which had just been conveyed by two valets into his wife's bedroom that he at last gave tongue.

Drawing a pair of dress trousers from beneath a bath towel, a pair of brogues, and a box of chocolates, he sobbed aloud.

"You all," he said brokenly, "do know these trousers: I remember the first time ever I did put them on; 'twas on a summer's evening, in the Park...."

With one accord and some asperity my sister and I requested him to desist.

"All right," he said. "But why worry? I know there's nothing valuable gone, because in that case I should have been told long ago. We've been shocked and inconvenienced, of course; but, to balance it, we've got a topping suite, a private sitting-room thrown in, and a whole fleet of bottle-washers in attendance, all stamping to wash and iron and brush our clothes as they've never been brushed before. Jonah's and Jill's rooms all right?"

"Yes."

"Well, let them move along, any way. Then we shall all be together.

And now, if we've got any sense, we shall let this sympathetic crowd straighten up everything--they're simply bursting for the word 'Go!'--and gather round the fire, which I see they've lighted, and talk about something else."

This was sound advice.

A close acquaintance with crime--the feeling that a robber has handled her personal effects, mauled her apparel, trodden her own sanctuary--is bound to jangle a sensitive woman's nerves. The less the girls thought upon the matter, the better for them....

Orders were given, a sofa was drawn towards the hearth, Jonah went to seek some champagne, and I slipped on a coat and left the hotel for the garage.

When I returned some twenty minutes later, Adele had discovered a piano and was playing "Whispering," while the others were dancing with as much freedom from care as they might have displayed at a night-club.

When I laid the scent on the table, the dance died, and Daphne, Adele, and Jill crowded about me.

"One for each of you," I said. "With my love. But wait one moment."

I turned to Adele. "How did you tell the 'Red Violets' from the others?"

"It's paper had a line----"

I pointed to the three parcels.

"So have they all," I said. "It depends on the way the light strikes it. One moment you see it, and the next you can't."