“Which stroll didn’t take you far from the house, I imagine.”
“Strangely enough, it didn’t. Round trip in the interior, we might call it. Well, as I say, I don’t know whether there’s anything in it or not. But I found this.”
With the celerity of a conjurer he produced a small bottle and tossed it over to the girls. It was half full of a white powder.
“What do you think it is?” asked Bundle.
“A white crystalline powder, that’s what it is,” said Jimmy. “And to any reader of detective fiction those words are both familiar and suggestive. Of course, if it turns out to be a new kind of patent tooth-powder, I shall be chagrined and annoyed.”
“Where did you find it?” asked Bundle sharply.
“Ah!” said Jimmy, “that’s my secret.”
And from that point he would not budge in spite of cajolery and insult.
“Here we are at the garage,” he said. “Let’s hope the high-mettled Hispano has not been subjected to any indignities.”
The gentleman at the garage presented a bill for five shillings and made a few vague remarks about loose nuts. Bundle paid him with a sweet smile.
“It’s nice to know we all get money for nothing sometimes,” she murmured to Jimmy.
The three stood together in the road, silent for the moment as they each pondered the situation.
“I know,” said Bundle suddenly.
“Know what?”