"Don't interrupt your uncle, Beth, when he's just going to tell us all about his discovery."
"Mrs. Eames," said Lord Colavon, "I really must speak to the vicar for a minute. It's about a serious business and dashed unpleasant."
Even Mrs. Eames was silenced for a moment by the gravity of his tone. When he began to tell the story of the smuggling she grew excited and indignant.
"So that's what James Hinton had in his mind all the time," she said, "and he was only pretending to be interested in the pageant. Guaranteeing fifty pounds! And all the time I thought—— He has——" here she stamped her foot, "he has had the insolence to make a fool of me, he and that nasty Linker, a man I always hated, though I did deal at his shop. But I never will again, or with Hinton. I'll get any beer I want somewhere else, or I'll do without beer altogether. Lord Colavon, do you mind not having any beer for luncheon to-day? Timothy, you must promise me never to have Hinton for your churchwarden again."
"The worst of it is," said Jimmy, "that the Inland Revenue people have found out."
"I'm glad to hear it," said Mrs. Eames.
"And now," said Jimmy, "I'm very much afraid that there may be arrests."
"The policeman at the mouth of the cave!" said Mrs. Eames. "So that's why he was there. I don't care. I'm glad. Let him arrest James Hinton as soon as he likes. I'd like to see him in prison. After the way he made fools of us all he deserves it."
"Hinton has run away," said Beth, "and the policeman will arrest you."
"That's ridiculous," said Mrs. Eames. "He can't arrest me. I haven't smuggled. They can't touch me, can they, Lord Colavon?"