Nevertheless, Tommy did blame her. He was filled with a passionate and
utterly illogical resentment. It was all very well to SAY things like that–but
a REAL girl would never marry for money. Tuppence was utterly cold-blooded and
selfish, and he would be delighted if he never saw her again! And it was a
rotten world!
Julius’s voice broke in on these meditations.
“Yes, we ought to get along together very well. I’ve heard that a girl
always refuses you once–a sort of convention.”
Tommy caught his arm.
“Refuses? Did you say REFUSES?”
“Sure thing. Didn’t I tell you that? She just rapped out a ‘no’ without
any kind of reason to it. The eternal feminine, the Huns call it, I’ve heard.
But she’ll come round right enough. Likely enough, I hustled her some—-”
But Tommy interrupted regardless of decorum.
“What did she say in that note?” he demanded fiercely.
The obliging Julius handed it to him.
“There’s no earthly clue in it as to where she’s gone,” he assured Tommy.
“But you might as well see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
The note, in Tuppence’s well-known schoolboy writing, ran as follows:
“DEAR JULIUS,
“It’s always better to have things in black and white. I don’t feel I can
be bothered to think of marriage until Tommy is found. Let’s leave it till then.
“Yours affectionately, “TUPPENCE.”
Tommy handed it back, his eyes shining. His feelings had undergone a
sharp reaction. He now felt that Tuppence was all that was noble and
disinterested. Had she not refused Julius without hesitation? True, the note
betokened signs of weakening, but he could excuse that. It read almost like a
bribe to Julius to spur him on in his efforts to find Tommy, but he supposed she
had not really meant it that way. Darling Tuppence, there was not a girl in the
world to touch her! When he saw her—-His thoughts were brought up with a
sudden jerk.
“As you say,” he remarked, pulling himself together, “there’s not a hint
here as to what she’s up to. Hi–Henry!”
The small boy came obediently. Tommy produced five shillings.
“One thing more. Do you remember what the young lady did with the
telegram?”
Henry gasped and spoke.
“She crumpled it up into a ball and threw it into the grate, and made a
sort of noise like ‘Whoop!’ sir.”
“Very graphic, Henry,” said Tommy. “Here’s your five shillings. Come on,
Julius. We must find that telegram.”
They hurried upstairs. Tuppence had left the key in her door. The room was
as she had left it. In the fireplace was a crumpled ball of orange and white.
Tommy disentangled it and smoothed out the telegram.
“Come at once, Moat House, Ebury, Yorkshire, great developments–TOMMY.”
They looked at each other in stupefaction. Julius spoke first:
“You didn’t send it?”
“Of course not. What does it mean?”
“I guess it means the worst,” said Julius quietly. “They’ve got her.”
“WHAT?”
“Sure thing! They signed your name, and she fell into the trap like a
lamb.”
“My God! What shall we do?”
“Get busy, and go after her! Right now! There’s no time to waste. It’s
almighty luck that she didn’t take the wire with her. If she had we’d probably
never have traced her. But we’ve got to hustle. Where’s that Bradshaw?”
The energy of Julius was infectious. Left to himself, Tommy would probably
have sat down to think things out for a good half-hour before he decided on a
plan of action. But with Julius Hersheimmer about, hustling was inevitable.
After a few muttered imprecations he handed the Bradshaw to Tommy as being
more conversant with its mysteries. Tommy abandoned it in favour of an A.B.C.
“Here we are. Ebury, Yorks. From King’s Cross. Or St. Pancras. (Boy must
have made a mistake. It was King’s Cross, not CHARING Cross.) 12.50, that’s the
train she went by. 2.10, that’s gone. 3.20 is the next–and a damned slow train
too.”
“What about the car?”
Tommy shook his head.
“Send it up if you like, but we’d better stick to the train. The great
thing is to keep calm.”
Julius groaned.
“That’s so. But it gets my goat to think of that innocent young girl in