CHAPTER TEN
Two Angry Ladies
C
olonel Sir Percival Gyrth
walked up and down the hearthrug in his library, while his two children, with Mr Campion and Branch, stood looking at him rather helplessly.
“Thank God that woman’s gone.” The old man passed his hand across his forehead. “I don’t know if my explanation satisfied her. I hope so, or we’ll have the whole country buzzing with it within twenty-four hours.”
Val stared at his father. “Then it really has gone?”
“Of course it has.” There was no misunderstanding the consternation in the Colonel’s voice. “Vanished into thin air. I veiled it myself on Sunday evening, just after you said that busybody Cairey was fooling about in the courtyard. It was perfectly safe then. I brought the keys back and put them in my desk. Branch, you and I,
