Sally smiled at him affectionately.
“Oh yes, it’s devilish funny, isn’t it?” cried Tom Beach. “Good God, Cosdon, you’re not fit to be at large. A nice thing you’ve let me in for.”
“Well, you’ve all been very ingenious,” said Reggie. “Thanks for a very jolly evening. May I have some breakfast?” There was a silence which could be felt.
“Mr. Fortune,” said Sally, “that awful brooch is gone.”
“Yes, that’s where we slipped up,” said Cosdon. “Sally must have dropped it when that fool knocked her out. I went out last night to hunt for it and it wasn’t there.”
“Really?”
Reggie’s tone was sardonic and Cosdon flushed at it. “What do you mean?”
“Well, somebody found it, I suppose. That’s the working hypothesis.”
He reduced them to the dismal condition in which he found them. “There you are!” Colonel Beach cried. “Some one of the servants saw the beastly thing and thought there was a chance to steal it. It’s a ghastly business. I’ll have to go through them for it and catch some poor devil who would have gone straight enough if you hadn’t played the fool. It’s not fair, confound it.”
There was a tap at the door. Mrs. Faulks was asking if the Colonel would speak to her. The Colonel groaned and went out.