Loyalties | Page 3

up with you?
LADY A. I came up at eleven, and rang for her at once.
WINSOR. [Looking at his watch] Half an hour. Then she's all right. Send her for Margaret and the Dancys--there's nobody else in this wing. No; send her to bed. We don't want gossip. D'you mind going yourself, Adela?
LADY A. Consult General Canynge, Charlie.
WINSOR. Right. Could you get him too? D'you really want the police, De Levis?
DE LEVIS. [Stung by the faint contempt in his tone of voice] Yes, I do.
WINSOR. Then, look here, dear! Slip into my study and telephone to the police at Newmarket. There'll be somebody there; they're sure to have drunks. I'll have Treisure up, and speak to him. [He rings the bell].
LADY ADELA goes out into her room and closes the door.
WINSOR. Look here, De Levis! This isn't an hotel. It's the sort of thing that doesn't happen in a decent house. Are you sure you're not mistaken, and didn't have them stolen on the course?
DE LEVIS. Absolutely. I counted them just before putting them under my pillow; then I locked the door and had the key here. There's only one door, you know.
WINSOR. How was your window?
DE LEVIS. Open.
WINSOR. [Drawing back the curtains of his own window] You've got a balcony like this. Any sign of a ladder or anything?
DE LEVIS. No.
WINSOR. It must have been done from the window, unless someone had a skeleton key. Who knew you'd got that money? Where did Kentman pay you?
DE LEVIS. Just round the corner in the further paddock.
WINSOR. Anybody about?
DE LEVIS. Oh, yes!
WINSOR. Suspicious?
DE LEVIS. I didn't notice anything.
WINSOR. You must have been marked down and followed here.
DE LEVIS. How would they know my room?
WINSOR. Might have got it somehow. [A knock from the corridor] Come in.
TREISURE, the Butler, appears, a silent, grave man of almost supernatural conformity. DE LEVIS gives him a quick, hard look, noted and resented by WINSOR.
TREISURE. [To WINSOR] Yes, sir?
WINSOR. Who valets Mr De Levis?
TREISURE. Robert, Sir.
WINSOR. When was he up last?
TREISURE. In the ordinary course of things, about ten o'clock, sir.
WINSOR. When did he go to bed?
TREISURE. I dismissed at eleven.
WINSOR. But did he go?
TREISURE. To the best of my knowledge. Is there anything I can do, sir?
WINSOR. [Disregarding a sign from DE LEVIS] Look here, Treisure, Mr De Levis has had a large sum of money taken from his bedroom within the last half hour.
TREISURE. Indeed, Sir!
WINSOR. Robert's quite all right, isn't he?
TREISURE. He is, sir.
DE LEVIS. How do you know?
TREISURE's eyes rest on DE LEVIS.
TREISURE. I am a pretty good judge of character, sir, if you'll excuse me.
WINSOR. Look here, De Levis, eighty or ninety notes must have been pretty bulky. You didn't have them on you at dinner?
DE LEVIS. No.
WINSOR. Where did you put them?
DE LEVIS. In a boot, and the boot in my suitcase, and locked it.
TREISURE smiles faintly.
WINSOR. [Again slightly outraged by such precautions in his house] And you found it locked--and took them from there to put under your pillow?
DE LEVIS. Yes.
WINSOR. Run your mind over things, Treisure--has any stranger been about?
TREISURE. No, Sir.
WINSOR. This seems to have happened between 11.15 and 11.30. Is that right? [DE LEVIS nods] Any noise-anything outside-anything suspicious anywhere?
TREISURE. [Running his mind--very still] No, sir.
WINSOR. What time did you shut up?
TREISURE. I should say about eleven-fifteen, sir. As soon as Major Colford and Captain Dancy had finished billiards. What was Mr De Levis doing out of his room, if I may ask, sir?
WINSOR. Having a bath; with his room locked and the key in his pocket.
TREISURE. Thank you, sir.
DE LEVIS. [Conscious of indefinable suspicion] Damn it! What do you mean? I WAS!
TREISURE. I beg your pardon, sir.
WINSOR. [Concealing a smile] Look here, Treisure, it's infernally awkward for everybody.
TREISURE. It is, sir.
WINSOR. What do you suggest?
TREISURE. The proper thing, sir, I suppose, would be a cordon and a complete search--in our interests.
WINSOR. I entirely refuse to suspect anybody.
TREISURE. But if Mr De Levis feels otherwise, sir?
DE LEVIS. [Stammering] I? All I know is--the money was there, and it's gone.
WINSOR. [Compunctious] Quite! It's pretty sickening for you. But so it is for anybody else. However, we must do our best to get it back for you.
A knock on the door.
WINSOR. Hallo!
TREISURE opens the door, and GENERAL. CANYNGE enters.
Oh! It's you, General. Come in. Adela's told you?
GENERAL CANYNGE nods. He is a slim man of about sixty, very well preserved, intensely neat and self-contained, and still in evening dress. His eyelids droop slightly, but his eyes are keen and his expression astute.
WINSOR. Well, General, what's the first move?
CANYNGE. [Lifting his eyebrows] Mr De Levis presses the matter?
DE Levis. [Flicked again] Unless you think it's too plebeian of me, General Canynge--a thousand pounds.
CANYNGE. [Drily] Just so! Then we must wait for the police, WINSOR. Lady Adela has got through to