Chapters (28)
This latest information did not seem to cheer her especially. She looked up a little and for a small moment regarded me, with anxiety and perhaps a very little hope.
‘Now, Clod,’ said my Uncle Aliver, ‘shall the rest of us step outside while you listen?’
‘That’s all right, Uncle,’ I said, ‘no need at all. Please don’t put yourselves out.’
‘I don’t have a care for this,’ said Uncle Timfy, the senior House Uncle, my uncle whose birth object was a whistle that said Albert Powling. Uncle Timfy blew his Albert Powling so very often when he found something not right. Uncle Timfy the sneak, Uncle Timfy of the plump lips, who never grew above child size, Uncle Timfy the house spy, whose business it was to creep and creep and find disorder. ‘This is wasting time,’ he protested. ‘The whole house must be searched and searched at once.’
‘Please, Timfy,’ said Aliver, ‘it can do no harm. Recall how Pitter’s pin was discovered.’
‘A fluke, I call it, I’ve no time for fancies and lies.’
‘Now, Clod, please, can you hear your aunt’s door handle?’
I listened hard, I walked about her rooms.
‘James Henry Hayward.’
‘Percy Hotchkiss.’
‘Albert Powling.’
‘Annabel Carrew.’
‘Is it here, Clod?’ asked Aliver.
‘I hear your forceps very clearly, Uncle, and Uncle Timfy’s whistle, most particularly. I hear Aunt Pomular’s tea tray right enough. But I cannot hear Aunt Rosamud’s door handle.’
‘You are quite sure, Clod?’
‘Yes, Uncle, there is nothing here by the name Alice Higgs.’
‘You are certain of it?’
‘Yes, Uncle, most certain.’
‘Stuff and nonsense!’ snapped Uncle Timfy. ‘Get the unwholesome brat out of here; you’re not welcome, child, go to the schoolroom at once!’
‘Uncle?’ I asked.
‘Yes, Clod,’ said Aliver, ‘run along then, thank you for trying. Don’t tire yourself, tread carefully. We must mark this officially: date and time of loss, 9th November 1875, 09:50 hours.’
‘Would you care for me to listen out about the house?’ I asked.
‘I won’t have him snooping!’ cried Timfy.
‘No, thank you, Clod,’ said Aliver, ‘we shall take it from here.’
‘The servants shall be stripped,’ I heard Timfy saying as I left, ‘every cupboard tipped out, everything emptied, every corner disturbed, every little thing!’
