"Nonsense," cried Bill hotly. "She's absolutely above suspicion." "How do you know?" retorted Bundle. "Because I do. Why, one of the fellows at the Hungarian Embassy vouched for her." "Oh!" said Bundle, momentarily taken aback by his fervour. "You girls are all the same," grumbled Bill. "Just because she's a jolly good-looking woman--" Bundle was only too well acquainted with this unfair masculine line of argument. "Well, don't you go and pour confidences into her shell-pink ear," she remarked. "I'm going to bed. I was bored stiff in that drawing-room and I'm not going back." She left the room. Bill looked at Jimmy. "Good old Bundle," he said. "I was afraid we might have trouble with her. You know how keen she is to be in everything. I think the way she took it was just wonderful." "So did I," said Jimmy. "It staggered me." "She's got some sense, Bundle has. She knows when a thing's plumb impossible. I say, oughtn't we to have some lethal weapons? Chaps usually do when they're going on this sort of stunt." "I have a blue-nosed automatic," said Jimmy with gentle pride. "It weighs several pounds and looks most murderous. I'll lend it to you when the time comes." Bill looked at him with respect and envy. "What made you think of getting that?" he said. "I don't know," said Jimmy carelessly. "It just came to me." "I hope we shan't go and shoot the wrong person," said Bill with some anxiety. "That would be unfortunate," said Mr. Thesiger gravely. CHAPTER XVIII JIMMY'S ADVENTURES Our chronicle must here split into three separate and distinct portions. The night was to prove an eventful one and each of the three persons involved saw it from his or her own individual angle. We will begin with that pleasant and engaging youth, Mr. Jimmy Thesiger, at a moment when he has at last exchanged final good-nights with his fellow conspirator, Bill Eversleigh. "Don't forget," said Bill, "3 A.M. If you're still alive, that is," he added kindly. "I may be an ass," said Jimmy, with rancorous remembrance of the remark Bundle had repeated to him, "but I'm not nearly so much of an ass as I look." "That's what you said about Gerry Wade," said Bill slowly. "Do you remember? And that very night he--" "Shut up, you damned fool," said Jimmy. "Haven't you got _any_ tact?" "Of course I've got tact," said Bill. "I'm a budding diplomatist. All diplomatists have tact." "Ah!" said Jimmy. "You must be still in what they call the larval stage." "I can't get over Bundle," said Bill, reverting abruptly to a former topic. "I should certainly have said that she'd be--well, difficult. Bundle's improved. She's improved very much." "That's what your Chief was saying," said Jimmy. "He said he was agreeably surprised."