“‘Why, pawn ‘em, to be sure.’
“‘What, pawn banknotes?’
“‘No, the banknotes haven’t been pawned. There’s no need of that. I expect they’ve been paid away for something on the quiet. The master wouldn’t be the first man that had secrets from his wife.’
“‘And how about the papers? You don’t imagine anybody would take them in pawn, do you?’
“‘Humph. As if that wasn’t a part of the bamboozlement. You don’t throw dust in my eyes too long.’
“With this remark the cook clenched the conversation, and I must confess that my thoughts had wandered for some time somewhat in the same direction. The incredulous looks of at least one of the clerks also bore out the cook’s reasoning. Still, if the object was merely to bamboozle his wife, why should the owner of the property said to be stolen make such a fuss, and go to such an expense to bring about an unravelment that could but be inimical to his own interests, if he were playing a double game? The whole case is as complex and awkward as any I have come across, and I want your help in it.”
I had listened very attentively to my uncle’s story, and had already framed my own idea of the duties expected of me.
“You wish me to keep a careful watch upon all the people in the Flowers establishment, while professing to discharge domestic duties?” I suggested.
“Precisely,” was the answer. “Both Mr and Mrs Flowers approve of the plan, and you are expected to-day.”
A few more preliminaries being settled, I prepared myself at once for my new duties, and found, on arriving at 15, Kite-street, that I was supposed to be a temporary housekeeper, vice Mrs Flowers herself, incapacitated through trouble and anxiety, consequent upon the mysterious series of robberies that had taken place in the house.