‘How friendly?’
‘Really quite friendly. I don’t want to cast aspersions on the lady’s character, she’s perfectly respectable and pleasant. However, she had a way about her which...’
‘Which what?’
‘She has a rather endearing way about her. She fluttered her eyelashes at me.’
‘Oh, I see. She’s one of those ladies.’
‘I don’t mean it like that, Augusta. As I’ve said, I don’t want to cast aspersions on her character. But perhaps I can understand why Mr Ramsden has some concerns about her seeing another gentleman.’
Augusta smiled. ‘So she made eyes at you?’
‘I wouldn’t describe it as that.’ His face reddened some more. ‘But I’m a little younger than her. About twenty years younger, in fact. And I think she was instantly rather fond of me because I came to her rescue.’
‘It’s not surprising, I suppose. And you no doubt charmed her.’
‘I didn’t charm her!’
‘But she must have found you charming.’
‘Possibly. I don’t know. Anyway, I was there for a while as she chatted to me, and I had to make excuses to extricate myself in the end.’
‘She seems to have recovered quite quickly from her head cold,’ said Augusta. ‘Maybe it was her husband’s Camrol Compound which did it. Do you think she suspects you’ve been following her?’
‘No, I don’t think so at all. But now that she’s spoken to me, I can’t conduct the surveillance effectively, can I? She may spot me again and recognise me. I’ve been careless.’
‘You haven’t been careless, Philip. You intervened to stop a thief from stealing her handbag.’
‘I did it without thinking, really. It all happened so quickly. I couldn’t bear the thought of him getting away with it.’
‘Are you going to tell Mr Ramsden that she spoke to you?’
‘I’ll have to. I may have to stop doing this work for him. I’m supposed to be following her about incognito. It’s no good if she knows who I am.’
‘You could put on one of your disguises.’
‘I could. But I don’t think spectacles and an itchy moustache would be enough.’
Augusta smiled. ‘Your trouble is that you’re too nice, Philip.’
‘Too nice? I don’t think so. I just try to be a normal person, Augusta. I don’t like the thought of being rude and unhelpful. Although if I had been, then I probably wouldn’t be in this predicament now.’
Chapter 32
‘Vegetable soup again?’ said Anthony Ramsden as the maid spooned it into his bowl. ‘Didn’t we have vegetable soup last night?’
‘It was the night before,’ said his wife, Charlotte. ‘We had tomato soup last night. Isn’t that right, Milly?’
‘Yes, that’s right, Mrs Ramsden.’
‘Vegetable soup for the second time this week, then,’ said Anthony as he tucked his serviette into his collar.
‘Yes, but it’s very good soup,’ said Charlotte. ‘There’s no need to be grumpy about it.’
They ate in silence for a minute and Anthony grudgingly acknowledged to himself the soup was good.
‘The most unusual thing happened today,’ said Charlotte. ‘A knight in shining armour came to my aid.’
‘A knight in shining armour? You were a damsel in distress, were you?’
‘Yes, I was. I made the mistake of going to the Lyons Corner House in Piccadilly.’
‘Good grief, Charlotte. Why on earth did you go there?’
‘Annie and I hadn’t planned to. But we were tired from shopping, and it was the nearest place. And besides, say what you like about Lyons Corner Houses, but they do a perfectly decent cup of tea there. So there we were, having a chat about Annie’s daughter’s wedding, when a young man snatched my handbag!’
‘Goodness. That tells you about the type of customer who frequents the Lyons Corner House.’
‘It happened so quickly! Annie was telling me about the menu they’re choosing for the wedding breakfast when there was a dark flash in the corner of my eye. My handbag had been sitting on the chair next to me, you see. The next moment, a scruffy chap was running away with it in his hand! He was trying to get away as fast as he could, dodging between the tables. I really thought it was the last I’d see of my handbag. But can you believe it? A wonderful gentleman threw himself out of his seat and wrapped his arms around the man’s legs! They both tumbled to the floor and some other customers helped restrain the man until the police got there. And I got my handbag back! I was extremely grateful because it had quite a bit of money in it. And I’m very fond of that bag. Do you recall you bought it for me when we were holidaying on the French Riviera? The one with the big gold clasp and the embossed flower design.’
‘Oh, that one.’ He didn’t recall it.
‘I was incredibly impressed by what the gentleman did. And even more so when I discovered he had a poorly leg. Apparently, he injured it during the war and has to walk with a stick these days.’
Anthony paused with his soup spoon halfway to his mouth. ‘How old was he?’
‘About forty.’
