"Ruth, I'm not an invalid!" laughed Aunt Cicely. "I’m the only person who keeps on talking about my heart Besides," she nodded at them decidedly, "there's an unanswerable reason. Ricky wants me to "
"Ricky, don't you think you're being a bit inconsiderate?"
"Look here!" said Ricky. "The reason is—"
He hesitated, looked at them, saw in a wall looking-glass that he wore no coat or tie, and took the stairs three at a bound. 'Tell you later!" he said.
"You for a sun-hat, my dear," Stannard touched Ruth's arm, "and I for a suitable cloth cap. I have an instinct that this will be a memorable day."
"Oh, ah," Chief-Inspector Masters muttered under his breath, "it will be for somebody."
Masters said this when he and H.M. and Martin stood in an otherwise empty hall; And Martin felt again an unexpected coldness round the heart when he saw him look at him: Masters with the unmirthful smile of one who knows all the facts, H.M. with his fists on his hips.
"So!" the latter growled softly. "You think I'm not attending to business, hey?"
"You don't mean this travelling-fair business is a part of another scheme to…"
"It's the same scheme, son."