He picked up his notebook and thrust it into his pocket, switched off the light and went downstairs. A taxi was passing as he reached the street, and he hailed it.
“Yes,” he said, as he passed swiftly along Oxford Street, “a journalist’s wife must have a dog’s life!”
Some days later the newspapers contained an interesting “story,” regarding a theft of diamonds some years previously in Amsterdam from a well-known diamond merchant whose place of business had then been situated in the Kalverstraat. The arrest of Archie La Planta in London in connection with the Agency Gang crimes had, it seemed, attracted the attention of the Amsterdam police, and among the people in England with whom they had communicated was a certain Major Guysburg. Eventually, the story ran, Major Guysburg had been called upon to identify two men still residing in Amsterdam, one of whom, it then transpired, had shared lodgings with La Planta at the time of the robbery, and had now turned King’s evidence, while the other had once been Alphonse Michaud’s secretary. After a good deal of legal quibbling, Michaud was proved actually to have stolen stones which he had himself insured, and for which, after the robbery, he had been paid his claim in full.
On the night before their wedding—for finally Cora and Johnson and Yootha and Preston had decided to get married in London on the same day—the two happy couples with their best men, Hopford and Blenkiron, sat at supper in the grill of the Piccadilly. Not too near the band played the inevitable “Dardanella”; around them supper parties chattered and laughed loudly; waiters carrying dishes and wine hurried hither and thither as though their lives depended upon rapidity of action.
Presently the manager approached, a broad smile on his pleasant face. He came up to Preston.
“At the request of Mr. Hopford,” he said, “I have just informed six officers of the Devon Regiment, who are dining in a private room upstairs, that you and these ladies and gentlemen are dining here; and on Mr. Hopford’s instructions I have given them other information.”
His smile widened.
“And the officers present their compliments and wish to say they hope you and your friends will join them in their room at your convenience.”
“What are their names?” Preston asked.
The manager told him.