FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>  
dripping burden across the room, Molly recovered. She tried weakly to free herself. Jimmy helped her to a chair. He had dropped the necklace on the floor, and Lord Dreever nearly trod on it. "What ho!" observed his lordship, picking it up. "Go easy with the jewelry!" Jimmy was bending over Molly. Neither of them seemed to be aware of his lordship's presence. Spennie was the sort of person whose existence is apt to be forgotten. Jimmy had had a flash of intuition. For the first time, it had occurred to him that Mr. McEachern might have hinted to Molly something of his own suspicions. "Molly, dear," he said, "it isn't what you think. I can explain everything. Do you feel better now? Can you listen? I can explain everything." "Pitt, old boy," protested his lordship, "you don't understand. We aren't going to give you away. We're all--" Jimmy ignored him. "Molly, listen," he said. She sat up. "Go on, Jimmy," she said. "I wasn't stealing the necklace. I was putting it back. The man who came to the castle with me, Spike Mullins, took it this afternoon, and brought it to me." Spike Mullins! Molly remembered the name. "He thinks I am a crook, a sort of Raffles. It was my fault. I was a fool. It all began that night in New York, when we met at your house. I had been to the opening performance of a play called, 'Love, the Cracksman,' one of those burglar plays." "Jolly good show," interpolated his lordship, chattily. "It was at the Circle over here. I went twice." "A friend of mine, a man named Mifflin, had been playing the hero in it, and after the show, at the club, he started in talking about the art of burglary--he'd been studying it--and I said that anybody could burgle a house. And, in another minute, it somehow happened that I had made a bet that I would do it that night. Heaven knows whether I ever really meant to; but, that same night, this man Mullins broke into my flat, and I caught him. We got into conversation, and I worked off on him a lot of technical stuff I'd heard from this actor friend of mine, and he jumped to the conclusion that I was an expert. And, then, it suddenly occurred to me that it would be a good joke on Mifflin if I went out with Mullins, and did break into a house. I wasn't in the mood to think what a fool I was at the time. Well, anyway, we went out, and--well, that's how it all happened. And, then, I met Spike in London, down and out, and brought him here."
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>  



Top keywords:
lordship
 

Mullins

 

listen

 

occurred

 

friend

 
Mifflin
 
happened
 

explain

 
brought
 

necklace


started

 

called

 
performance
 

opening

 
talking
 

Circle

 
interpolated
 
burglar
 

playing

 

Cracksman


chattily

 

jumped

 

conclusion

 

expert

 

technical

 

suddenly

 

London

 

worked

 

conversation

 

minute


burgle

 
burglary
 

studying

 

Heaven

 

caught

 
presence
 

Spennie

 
person
 

jewelry

 
bending

Neither
 

existence

 
McEachern
 
intuition
 

forgotten

 

picking

 
weakly
 

helped

 
recovered
 

dripping