“Oh, chuck it!” said Miss L’Estrange in a voice of deep disgust. “You nearly made me swallow my cigarette.”
“But the man is a devil.”
“Sit down, boy, sit down. You men are all six of one and half a dozen of the other where a woman is concerned. Poor things! I wonder how any of us escape you at all. Still, Strauss is pretty artful, I admit. You see, Jenny, having been in service here, could lie so smoothly about Gwen Barnes that it would be hard to find her out.”
“Did she do this?” asked David in a fierce excitement.
Miss L’Estrange laughed again as she selected a fresh cigarette to replace the spoiled one.
“Did the cat steal cream? Fancy Jenny being offered twenty pounds for a day’s prevarication and refusing it! Why, that girl lies for practise.”
“Oh, please go on!” he groaned.
“Queer game, isn’t it? I often think the ha’penny papers don’t get hold of half the good things that are going. Well, Jenny, according to her own version, spoofed Mrs. Mordaunt and your Violet in great shape. What is more, Strauss and a lawyer man wheedled them into signing all sorts of papers, including a marriage settlement. Will you believe it? The Dutchman had the cheek to give your Violet the certificates which Jenny sold to him.”
David said something under his breath.