“Eliminate and eliminate, that’s the only way. And the only thing we have to eliminate with is this left-handed affair. It’s none so easy, Douglas. The real bother rises out of the fact that most left-handed people are partly ambidextrous.”
“I get your meaning up to the word ‘fact’,” said Douglas, apologetically, “but it seems to slip a cog after that somehow. What about words of one syllable? I seem to remember seeing special clubs for left-handed golfers. Not much ambidexterity about that, surely?”
“That’s just the point,” explained Westenhanger. “I’ve been thinking about one or two left-handed people I know, and in most things you wouldn’t spot that they were left-handed at all. If it’s a one-handed job they’re doing, they may use their right hand oftener than their left. It’s only in two-handed things, like golf, or cricket, or billiards, or cutting hay with a scythe, that they give themselves away completely. It’s the arm-motion rather than the hand that seems to come in. This Talisman affair is a case in point. The thief was using his whole arm to get inside the case.”
“That’s probably so,” conceded Douglas, reluctantly. “It isn’t so easy as I thought.”
Before Westenhanger could elaborate his views, Eileen Cressage came hurriedly into the room. Her face was flushed with excitement; her eyes were bright; and her whole carriage showed that she had thrown off her load of difficulties at last. Westenhanger had never seen her looking so care-free.
“The Kestrel’s back at last!” she announced breathlessly. “She’s making for the bay. I saw her from the headland, and hurried back to the house to tell you; that’s why I’m out of breath. I wanted you to hear the news at once, because it’s all right now. I’m sure Mrs. Brent will clear everything up when she comes ashore.”
“That’s the best of news. I am glad, Eileen,” said Douglas, before Westenhanger could say anything. “You’ve stuck it out like a good ’un, but it’s about time it stopped.”
Westenhanger added nothing to Douglas’s words. His expression spoke for him better than anything he could have said.
“I can’t wait here,” Eileen explained rapidly. “I must get down to the beach and get on board as soon as the yacht comes in. I began to think she’d never come back. These three days have been like centuries for slowness.”
“We’ll put you on board,” said Westenhanger. “Come along, Douglas.”