It was Jeeves. He had shimmered in, carrying my evening things, and was standing there holding out the key. I could have ma.s.sacred the man.
"Thank you," said my uncle.
"Not at all, sir."
The next moment Uncle Willoughby had opened the drawer. I shut my eyes.
"No," said Uncle Willoughby, "there is nothing here. The drawer is empty. Thank you, Bertie. I hope I have not disturbed you. I fancy--er--Berkeley must have taken his case with him after all."
When he had gone I shut the door carefully. Then I turned to Jeeves.
The man was putting my evening things out on a chair.
"Er--Jeeves!"
"Sir?"
"Oh, nothing."
It was deuced difficult to know how to begin.
"Er--Jeeves!"
"Sir?"
"Did you--Was there--Have you by chance----"
"I removed the parcel this morning, sir."
"Oh--ah--why?"
"I considered it more prudent, sir."
I mused for a while.
"Of course, I suppose all this seems tolerably rummy to you, Jeeves?"
"Not at all, sir. I chanced to overhear you and Lady Florence speaking of the matter the other evening, sir."
"Did you, by Jove?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well--er--Jeeves, I think that, on the whole, if you were to--as it were--freeze on to that parcel until we get back to London----"
"Exactly, sir."
"And then we might--er--so to speak--chuck it away somewhere--what?"
"Precisely, sir."
"I"ll leave it in your hands."
"Entirely, sir."
"You know, Jeeves, you"re by way of being rather a topper."
"I endeavour to give satisfaction, sir."
"One in a million, by Jove!"
"It is very kind of you to say so, sir."
"Well, that"s about all, then, I think."
"Very good, sir."
Florence came back on Monday. I didn"t see her till we were all having tea in the hall. It wasn"t till the crowd had cleared away a bit that we got a chance of having a word together.
"Well, Bertie?" she said.
"It"s all right."
"You have destroyed the ma.n.u.script?"
"Not exactly; but----"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I haven"t absolutely----"
"Bertie, your manner is furtive!"
"It"s all right. It"s this way----"
And I was just going to explain how things stood when out of the library came leaping Uncle Willoughby looking as braced as a two-year-old. The old boy was a changed man.
"A most remarkable thing, Bertie! I have just been speaking with Mr.
Riggs on the telephone, and he tells me he received my ma.n.u.script by the first post this morning. I cannot imagine what can have caused the delay. Our postal facilities are extremely inadequate in the rural districts. I shall write to headquarters about it. It is insufferable if valuable parcels are to be delayed in this fashion."
I happened to be looking at Florence"s profile at the moment, and at this juncture she swung round and gave me a look that went right through me like a knife. Uncle Willoughby meandered back to the library, and there was a silence that you could have dug bits out of with a spoon.
"I can"t understand it," I said at last. "I can"t understand it, by Jove!"
"I can. I can understand it perfectly, Bertie. Your heart failed you.
Rather than risk offending your uncle you----"
"No, no! Absolutely!"
"You preferred to lose me rather than risk losing the money. Perhaps you did not think I meant what I said. I meant every word. Our engagement is ended."