"Can't say, I'm sure."
"Probably doesn't mean anything. -Still," Martin was uneasy, "it did strike me he hurried me in here when I tried to look at it Er — you've heard about his feud with the Dowager Countess of Brayle?"
"Have I?’ snorted Masters,
"He won the first round by a thrust with a guisarme. She, definitely took the second by making a skeleton gibber at him-and insulting him behind locked gates. I've wondered before this if he might — well…"
' "You know, Mr. Drake," said Masters, shaking his head and folding his arms portentously, ‘I’ve tried to stop if, but I can’t It’s a sin and a shame how that old bounder carries on!" "At his age, you mean?"
"Oh, ah! Just sol It'd be a great pity if he (hurrum!) made it worse."
"It would, Chief Inspector! It would! What worries me is mat it always upsets Jenny, and I won’t have Jenny upset!"
"Of course," Masters observed musingly, after a long pause, "the lady is a bit of a handful"
"Are you telling me?"
"Do you know what she said to me," continued Masters, with his eye on a bright star outside, "when I tried my ruddy best to get that skeleton back?" Here he mimicked heavily. "'My good man, you are perfectly well aware you cannot remove the article in question until you can show just cause why you need it Should you set foot inside the park without a warrant I shall instruct my gardener to use his gun.' —Urr!" said Masters suddenly, making a noise like a dog.