That’s the thing—with Tuppence at hand to supply all those little feminine details which are so important, and so apt to be ignored by the denser male.”
His eloquence was arrested abruptly, as Tuppence threw a cushion at him and requested him not to talk nonsense.
“Will have your little bit of fun, won’t you, sir?” said Inspector Marriot, smiling paternally at them both. “If you’ll not take offence at my saying so, it’s a pleasure to see two young people enjoying life as much as you two do.”
“Do we enjoy life?” said Tuppence, opening her eyes very wide. “I suppose we do. I’ve never thought about it before.”
“To return to that gang you were talking about,” said Tommy. “In spite of my extensive private practice, Duchesses, millionaires, and all the best charwomen—I might perhaps condescend to look into the matter for you. I don’t like to see Scotland Yard at fault. You’ll have the Daily Mail after you before you know where you are.”
“As I said before, you must have your bit of fun. Well, it’s like this.” Again he hitched his chair forward. “There’s any amount of forged notes going about just now—hundreds of ’em! The amount of counterfeit Treasury notes in circulation would surprise you. Most artistic bit of work it is. Here’s one of ’em.”
He took a one pound note from his pocket and handed it to Tommy.
“Looks all right, doesn’t it?”
Tommy examined the note with great interest.
“By Jove, I’d never spot there was anything wrong with that.”