“Do, please, sir, stop being provoking!” begged Pen. “Did you see Jimmy Yarde last night, and what happened?”
“Oh yes, I saw him! Really, I don’t think anything of particular moment happened.”
“He didn’t try to murder you?”
“Nothing so exciting. He tried merely to recover the diamonds. When he—er—failed to do so, we enjoyed a short conversation, after which he left the inn, as unobtrusively as he had entered it.”
“Through the window, you mean. Well, I am glad you let him go, for I could not help liking him. But what are we going to do now, if you please?”
“We are now going to eliminate Beverley,” replied Sir Richard, carving the ham.
“Oh, the stammering-man! How shall we do that? He sounded very disagreeable, but I don’t think we should eliminate him in a rough way, do you?”
“By no means. Leave the matter in my hands, and I will engage for it that he will be eliminated without the least pain or inconvenience to anyone.”
“Yes, but then there is the necklace,” Pen pointed out. “I feel that before we attend to anything else we ought to get rid of it. Only fancy if you were to be found with it in your pocket!”
“Very true. But I have arranged for that. The necklace belongs to Beverley’s mother, and he shall restore it to her.”