Freddie stared at her in a patronising way.
“I should worry over it. It’s really the Dangerfields’ own fault for taking no precautions. Fancy leaving the thing standing about in that open cabinet, ready for anyone to lift! One can’t have much sympathy with them, after all.”
“I think I can spare a little,” Cynthia commented, icily.
Freddie had a further tit-bit which he had held in reserve.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” he said. “Why, they never took the trouble to insure the thing. That’s inexcusable carelessness. Really, they seem to deserve all they’ve got.”
Douglas leaned forward in surprise.
“Do you mean to say, Freddie, that the thing wasn’t insured?”
“So I believe,” asserted Freddie. “I got it out of the butler before he realised what he was saying.”
Douglas passed this explanation without comment.
“Why, the thing’s impossible! The stones in the Talisman are worth more than £50,000. Nobody would dream of keeping a thing like that uninsured!”