alibi. Then we got talking about alibis and faking them. Then I said—no, she said—now which of us was it that said it?”
“Never mind which of you it was,” said Tuppence.
“I said it would be a jolly difficult thing to do. She disagreed—said it only wanted a bit of brain work. We got all hot and excited about it and in the end she said ‘I will make you a sporting offer. What do you bet that I can produce an alibi that nobody can shake?’
“Anything you like, I said, and we settled it then and there. She was frightfully cocksure about the whole thing.
‘It’s an odds on chance for me,’ she said. ‘Don’t be so sure of that,’ I said. ‘Supposing you lose and I ask you for anything I like?’
She laughed and said she came of a gambling family and I could.”
“Well?” said Tuppence as Mr. Jones came to a pause and looked at her appealingly.
“Well, don’t you see? It is up to me. It is the only chance I have got of getting a girl like that to look at me. You have no idea how sporting she is. Last summer she was out in a boat and someone bet her she wouldn’t jump overboard and swim ashore in her clothes, and she did it.”
“It is a very curious proposition,” said Tommy. “I am not quite sure I yet understand