“Father’s gone to Colchester in the car to see the Bishop,” Audrey coldly added.
“If I’d known he was going to Colchester I should have asked him for a lift,” said Miss Ingate, with determination.
“Oh, yes! He’d have taken you!“ said Audrey, reserved. “I suppose you had fine times in London!”
“Oh! It was vehy exciting! It was vehy exciting!” Miss Ingate agreed loudly.
“Father wouldn’t let me read about it in the paper,” said Audrey, still reserved. “He never will, you know. But I did!”
“Oh! But you didn’t read about me playing the barrel organ all the way down Regent Street, because that wasn’t in any of the papers.”
“You didn’t!“ Audrey protested, with a sudden dark smile.
“Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And vehy tiring it was. Vehy tiring indeed. It’s quite an art to turn a barrel organ. If you don’t keep going perfectly even it makes the tune jerky. Oh! I know a bit about barrel organs now. They smashed it all to pieces. Oh yes! All to pieces. I spoke to the police. I said, ‘Aren’t you going to protect these ladies’ property?’ But they didn’t lift a finger.”
“And weren’t you arrested?”
“Me!” shrieked Miss Ingate. “Me arrested!” Then more quietly, in an assured tone, “Oh no! I wasn’t arrested. You see, as soon as the row began I just walked away from the organ and became one of the crowd. I’m all for them, but I wasn’t going to be arrested.”