Cynthia looked distressed.
“That’s bad business, isn’t it? Poor Mr. Dangerfield! The Talisman’s the thing he values most in the world, I should think. He’ll be fearfully cut up.”
“Oh, he’ll be all that,” agreed Freddie, unsympathetically. “But it’s a beastly nuisance. Friocksheim will be swarming with police and detectives—probably unofficial ’tecs as well. The Dangerfields will do anything to get the thing back again, you can bet. It’ll be most unpleasant for all of us. They’ll expect us to turn out our suit-cases to see that none of us has taken it.”
“Well, what’s the harm in that?” inquired Cynthia. “They can do what they like, so far as I’m concerned. The main thing is to get the thing back again. I suppose they’ll get it back in a day or two?”
Douglas looked doubtful.
“Depends who’s taken it, Cynthia. There’s no saying. But perhaps it hasn’t been stolen at all,” he ended, hopefully. “It may just have been taken away to be cleaned or something like that.”
“Wrong, there,” said Freddie, with a self-satisfied air. “It’s been stolen. I managed to worm that out of the butler.”
“Oh, did you?” Douglas’s expression showed what he thought of Freddie’s methods.
“Yes. At least, I got enough from him to put two and two together. There’s been a theft of some sort, whether it was burglary or stealing from inside the house.”
“What a horrible business!” Nina was evidently upset by the affair. “It’ll be a terrible shock for the Dangerfields, won’t it? I do hope they get it back again almost at once. I wish it hadn’t happened. I do wish it hadn’t happened!”