“When he came home this morning, I was waiting for him.  He seemed a nice man, so I told him the truth and asked him to help me.  Thorn—­that’s his name—­doesn’t like Bason a bit, and at once agreed that he was quite capable of the dirtiest work, if any one got in his way.  He hadn’t, he said, seen Nobby, but that wasn’t surprising.  If the dog was there he’d probably be in the stables, and with those Thorn has nothing to do.

“Bason doesn’t keep horses, but he uses one of the coach-houses as a garage.  The chauffeur seems to be rather worse than his master.  He’s loathed by the rest of the staff, and, while he and Bason are as thick as thieves, neither trusts the other an inch.

“The first thing to do, obviously, was to find out if Nobby was there.  Everything was always kept locked, so I determined to try the ‘Blondel’ stunt—­yes, I know a lot of English History—­and try and make Coeur de Lion speak for himself.

“First we synchronized our watches.  Then Thorn showed me the house and told me exactly where the garage and stables were—­close to the gates, happily.  Then we arranged that in ten minutes’ time he should try to get the chauffeur out of the way, while I took a look round.  More than that we couldn’t fix, but it was understood that, if there was a dog there and Thorn got an opening, he was to undo his collar and give him a chance to make good on his own.  That wouldn’t involve Thorn, for he could fasten the collar again and make it look as if Nobby had slipped it.”

“But what a brain!” said Berry.  “One short month of my society, and the girl——­”

An avalanche of protest cut short the speaker.

Adele continued, gurgling.

“At first everything went all right.  At twenty minutes to ten I put my head round the corner to see the chauffeur and Thorn disappearing at the other end of the yard.  I stepped out of my cover and had a look round.  There were stables on one side, and a coachhouse and garage on the other, and the yard, which was open at both ends, lay in between.  I was just going to try the loose-boxes—­I was going to ‘miaow’ like a cat and see what answer I got—­when I heard Bason’s voice calling Banana....

“There was only one door open, and that was the garage.  I dashed for it and looked round for somewhere to hide.  The place was as bare as your hand.  But there was nothing the matter with the limousine, so I got inside and sat down on the floor.

“I was only just in time.

“Bason came stamping into the yard, shouting for ‘Arthur,’ and the next moment Nobby gave tongue.

“I just had to look.

“There was Blue Banana with his nose to the door of the loose-box immediately opposite, snarling and showing his teeth, Bason was hammering on the door, yelling ‘Shut up, you brute!’ and Nobby, of course, was barking to beat the band.”

As she spoke, a faint familiar cough from the drive announced the return of Jonah from Brooch.