Four Days' Wonder (1933) by A. A. Milne

Author:A. A. Milne [Milne, A. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2017-09-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Feverish Activity in London

I

‘ALL right, all right,’ said Cook damply from the scullery.

The telephone-bell went on ringing.

‘All right, I’m coming,’ Cook reassured it.

‘Telephone, Mrs. Price,’ said Alice helpfully from the kitchen.

‘Well, I’m not deaf,’ said Cook, coming out of the scullery still drying her hands. ‘Shut the window, there’s a good girl, there’s so much noise blowing in—Hallo! . . . Yes . . . Window, Alice! . . . Yes?’

‘Is that Mr. Watterson’s house?’ said a distant voice.

‘Yes, madam.’

‘Oh—is that Mrs. Price speaking?’

‘Yes, who is it, please?’

There was a note in Cook’s voice which made Alice come away from the window, and say——

‘H’sh! ’ said Cook, waving her back before she could say it. ‘Yes, madam, who is it, please?’

‘Oh, Mrs. Price, will you tell Uncle Hubert, please, when he comes in, that I’m quite, quite safe.’

‘Miss Jenny!’ shrieked Cook.

‘Miss Jenny?’ cried Alice.

‘Here, what’s the matter?’ said Hilda, poking her head in from the hall. ‘I say, Alice. I wish you wouldn’t leave all your——’

‘S’sh!’ said Cook imperiously. ‘Hallo . . . Hallo! . . . Hallo! . . . Miss Jenny! . . . Hallo!’

‘What’s it all about?’ said Hilda. ‘That Marigold again?’

‘Miss Jenny on the telephone,’ said Alice eagerly. ‘What did she say, Mrs. Price?’

‘Hallo!’ said Cook, refusing to give in. ‘Hallo!’

‘Here, let me, ’ said Hilda, taking the telephone from Cook. ‘Hallo!’

Mrs. Price sank into a chair.

‘Well, I never,’ she panted.

‘Cut off,’ said Hilda, putting back the receiver. ‘P’raps she’ll ring again. Sure it was her?’

Cook told them.

Alice nodded eagerly, understanding it all so well.

‘And at that moment’, said Alice, carrying the story on, ‘the Leader of the Gang came in surrepshously, and put one hand over her mouth, and the other——’

‘Queer,’ said Hilda thoughtfully. ‘Sounded like as if she was quite all right?’

‘Well, I’m telling you. Those were ’er very words. “Tell Uncle Hubert when ’e comes in that I’m quite, quite safe.” ’

‘And then, before she could say more, the Leader of the Gang——’

‘Oh, shut up, Alice!’

‘Now, now, Hilda,’ said Cook, ‘you don’t want to take Alice up like that.’

‘Well, what’s she want to be so silly for with ’er silly gangs?’

‘You wouldn’t mind’, said Alice, ‘’ow many gangs carried ’er off.’ She sniffed, and went on, ‘I’m the only one as reely——’

‘Now, Alice, we don’t want to go into all that again. Those were her words, and if you ask me, she’s quite safe, but doesn’t want anybody to know where she is.’

‘That’s about it,’ said Hilda. ‘Gone off with somebody.’

‘That I won’t have said,’ declared Cook firmly. ‘Not in my kitchen. Miss Jenny’s not the sort, as you know well——’

‘Oh, isn’t she? Well, look at ’er aunt!’

‘What aunt?’

‘Well, Jane Latour’s ’er aunt, isn’t she? ’Er reel aunt by blood. So it’s in the blood, y’see, and what’s born in the blood, as they say——’

‘I s’pose voices ’aven’t never been imitated before,’ said Alice sarcastically to nobody.

‘That won’t do, Hilda. You might as well say that because your Aunt Lucy had the dropsy——’

‘Never mind my Aunt Lucy,’ said Hilda, a little shrill suddenly.

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