The others followed the direction of his eyes and an exclamation broke from Martin.
‘She certainly has it,’ he said. ‘Once seen never forgotten.’ He turned to the garage proprietor. ‘Have you looked at her, Mr – er – er – ?’ he hesitated, at a loss for the name.
‘’Aywhistle,’ said the man stolidly, ‘and I ain’t. I don’t know anything about ’er nor don’t want to. Now, ’ave you seen enough to keep you ’appy?’
Martin looked at him curiously.
‘Look here, Captain,’ he said. ‘You come over here. I want to show you something if you haven’t seen it already.’
He moved over to the old car as he spoke, Mr Haywhistle following him unwillingly. Martin pulled up the bonnet and pointed to the engine.
‘Ever seen anything like that before?’ he said.
Mr Haywhistle looked at the machinery casually and without interest at first. But gradually his expression changed and he dropped upon his knees and peered underneath the car to get a glimpse of the chassis. A moment or two later he lifted a red face towards them which wore an expression almost comic in its surprise.
‘Gawd lumme!’ he said. ‘A bloomin’ Rolls.’
Martin nodded and an explanation of these ‘Young Nob’s’ interest in the affair presented itself to the garage owner: