what? Make her stop snootering me for a while?”
“It should have that effect, sir.”
“Golly!” I said, bounding for the door.
Long before I reached Aunt Agatha’s lair I could tell that the hunt was up.
Divers chappies in hotel uniform and not a few chambermaids of sorts were hanging about in the corridor, and through the panels I could hear a mixed assortment of voices, with Aunt Agatha’s topping the lot.
I knocked but no one took any notice, so I trickled in.
Among those present I noticed a chambermaid in hysterics, Aunt Agatha with her hair bristling, and the whiskered cove who looked like a bandit, the hotel manager fellow.
“Oh, hallo!” I said. “Hallo-allo-allo!”
Aunt Agatha shooshed me away. No welcoming smile for Bertram.
“Don’t