‘Not French?’ echoed Hilary. ‘That’s a loud one.’
‘It is true,’ insisted the lady. ‘I am entirely English.’
‘Entirely English,’ said Gerald as one making a discovery. ‘Of course. Why did I not realise it at once? It just shows how one should not judge by appearances. The little matter of an accent may be misleading, I grant you, but—’
He was interrupted, and with impatience. ‘Alors, you make a game with me, I see that. It is better that you go away now, I think.’
‘Ah, but there’s the little matter of your presence here,’ said Gerald on a note of apology.
‘This is a private house,’ Hilary said severely, ‘and you are trespassing.’
‘Also stealing,’ added Gerald, with a gesture at the clothes on the bed.
‘I do not steal,’ declared the lady hotly. ‘Parbleu, but what a person you make me! One who spies. One who steals. One who—who—tres...’ She paused, struggling for the word.
‘Trespasses,’ supplied Gerald.
‘And, if this was not enough,’ went on the lady furiously, ‘you dare to say I am French. Pah!’
She flounced about and, crossing to the bed, plonked down on it, pointedly averting her face and resting the large pistol in her lap.
Hilary made a movement as if he would seize the opportunity to disarm the girl, but Gerald stopped him.
‘I think,’ he said pleasantly, ‘that it would be as well if you, Hilary, were to go and fetch the troops. And Pottiswick, of course. He will wish to have his fears laid to rest.’
The lady’s face came round, a puzzled frown on her brow. ‘Troops?’
‘Go, man,’ urged the major in an undervoice. ‘I’ll handle her better alone.’
‘You certain? She’s a thought too volatile for my money.’
‘She once more,’ came in disgust from the girl on the bed. Her heavy pistol came up again, although she did not rise. ‘What do you say of these troops?’
‘You see, we’re militia. Milice,’ Gerald translated. ‘Civilian peace-keeping forces, you know. That’s why we are here.’
A scowl crossed the lady’s face. ‘You will arrest me? For—for—’
‘Trespass, theft and spying,’ snapped Hilary.
‘And housebreaking,’ added Gerald calmly.
At that, the girl jumped up. ‘Parbleu, the house, is it broken in the least? I do not think so.’
‘As a matter of fact, it isn’t,’ conceded Gerald. ‘We were wondering about that.’ With an air of real interest, he asked, ‘I suppose you did not dig a tunnel or fly in by balloon?’
The lady gazed at him blankly. ‘That is imbecile.’
‘Well, she didn’t walk through the walls, that’s certain,’ said Hilary acidly. ‘How did you get in? The house is all locked up.’
The lady looked unexpectedly smug. ‘Assuredly it is locked up. Alors, how did you get in?’
‘Oh, we broke in,’ Gerald told her cheerfully.
She stared. Then her eyes flashed. ‘And it is me you dare accuse? It is yourself you should arrest.’
Gerald could not resist. He looked at Hilary and nodded. ‘She’s perfectly right.’ He threw one arm across his own chest and clapped himself on the shoulder. ‘Major Gerald Alderley, I arrest you in the name of the King.’
A peal of laughter came from the girl. ‘It is imbecile that you are. You cannot arrest yourself.’
‘Will you have done, Gerald?’ demanded Hilary, exasperated. ‘What in God’s name do you think you’re playing at?’
‘Let me alone, man,’ Gerald muttered under his breath. ‘I told you I could handle her.’
‘Well, don’t blame me if you get your head blown off.’
‘It is you who will get the head blown off,’ threatened the young lady fiercely. ‘It will suit me very well that you go away, because you are a person without sense and I do not wish to talk to you.’
‘Eh?’
Gerald grinned at Hilary’s blank expression, and was gratified when the girl turned a brilliant smile upon himself.
‘But you,’ she said in the friendliest way imaginable, ‘are a person tout à fait sympathique, I think. I will permit you to rescue me.’
‘It will give me the greatest of pleasure,’ Gerald said at once, making an elegant leg. ‘Only perhaps I can more readily do so if you will put down that pistol.’
The lady frowned suspiciously. ‘I think it is better if I hold the pistol. Then, if you are bad to me, I can more easily blow off your head.’
‘You see? Not to be trusted,’ Hilary uttered disgustedly. ‘And what is it you’re to rescue her from, I should like to know.’
