‘Nothing seems to be the trouble. The trouble IS. I demand – repeat demand – the instant return of my claidheamh-mor under police armed guard, to my personal address. Tonight. Now.’

‘If you’ll hold on for a minute, sir, I’ll just write a note to that effect and leave it here in a prominent position on the Chief Superintendent’s desk.’

Fox clapped his enormous paw over the receiver and said: ‘Sears.’

‘So I supposed.’

‘Here we are, sir. What was the message?’

‘Odds boddikins, fellow – ‘

‘I beg your pardon, sir?’

A stream of abuse, or what seemed to be abuse, was followed by a deathly silence and then a high-pitched female voice.

‘Master not velly well, please. Sank you. Good evening,’ and the telephone was disconnected.

‘The housekeeper is Chinese,’ said Alleyn.

Monday was the day the Jay boys returned to school after half-term. Crispin left by train in a dignified manner with a number of young men of equal status, an array of noisy smaller boys, and a little group of white-faced new ones.

Robin and Richard behaved with the eccentricity that the house-hold had come to expect of them on these occasions. Peregrine, coming home to lunch, found he still had the toy figure of the Crusader in his pocket.

‘I forgot about you,’ he said and took it out. ‘Your sword has made a little hole in my pocket.’

‘May I have him back?’ asked Robin. He took the mannikin and went to the telephone.

‘Who are you ringing up?’ asked Peregrine.

‘A boy.’

He consulted the list and dialled the number. ‘Hullo, Horrible,’ he said. ‘What d’you think I’ve got? Three guesses…No…No…Yes! Good for you…What are you doing?…Oh, Daddy’s play. Well, I thought you’d like to know we’re going back to school today so we’ll be half-starved.’

He hung up and immediately dialled again.

‘It’s me again,’ he announced. ‘I forgot to mention that I knew all along the fighter wasn’t Macbeth. I’ll give you three guesses who it was…One – no…Two – no…Three – no. I’ll give you till next Sunday.’ He replaced the receiver.

‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,’ muttered Peregrine. ‘Robin! Come here. You must tell me. How did you know?’

Robin looked at his papa and saw that he meant business. He adopted a defiant attitude: feet apart, hands on hips, slightly nervous smile. ‘Three guesses?’ he invited.

But Peregrine only needed one.

He rang Alleyn up at the Yard.

II