Adders on the Heath

'A curried egg and much Melba toast.'

'Call for Georges.'

Henri retired to the back door and let out an ear-splitting whistle. There was a rattling of footsteps as George descended from his eyrie above the garage, his own choice of residence, since he could have had a good bedroom in the house if such had been his desire. He came into the kitchen and spotted Henri's weapon. He eyed it and took it up.

'Changing your job, brother?' he asked. 'Plenty of work in the woods near where we've been staying.'

'And a dangerous place to stay!' said Celestine sharply. 'What made Madame in such a locality?'

'Oh, we had our usual murders. I think Madam is wise to the identity of the criminal. In other words, she reckons her job there is just about cleaned up. That's why we've come back home.'

'This house will be a battlefield. You will see. We shall sell our lives dearly. All the same, this imbecile had no right to give a young boy a carving knife. He will suicide himself.'

'Not Master Hamish,' said George. 'But what is all this, anyway?'

'I think it is nonsense, but it is as well to be prepared. One hears of terrible things, and we have a young boy in the house. He may be attacked, murdered, kidnapped! Who can tell?'

'From what I gathered, he did stick his neck out. Accused some gentleman of attempting to run down two girls.'

Truly?'

'Well, I didn't get the information direct, as you might say, but from bits of back-seat conversation while I was bringing the ladies and the young gentleman home, something of the sort must have occurred.'

'But this is terrible! We shall be surrounded by assassins!'

'I shouldn't worry, Cissie,' said George. 'Detective Chief-Inspector Gavin is joining the party this evening. Besides, if you keep on moaning, you'll make Henry spoil the dinner. What did you whistle me down for?' he added, turning to the husband.

'I ordered him to whistle for you, Georges,' said Celestine. 'I wish you to arm yourself. You and he must patrol the house this night. You must be on guard. You must on no account sleep. Neither of you should sleep.'

'Oh, I sleep on a hair-trigger since the war,' said George easily. 'And if you make Henry lose his eight hours he'll lose all his good looks as well.'

'Over you I have no authority, Georges, but Henri will do as he is told,' said Celestine severely.

'Very well, cherie,' agreed Henri, favouring George with an enormous wink. There were a number of spare rooms in the Stone House, and Celestine always kept the beds in them well aired.

CHAPTER TWENTY

ESCAPADE

'They searched the country wide and braid,

The forests far and near,

And they found him into Elmond's wood,

Tearing his yellow hair.'

Old Ballad-(Anon)

Gavin, the young men and Laura enjoyed the sweetbreads. Dame Beatrice, whose interest in food was apt to lessen with every passing year, dutifully ate curried eggs and Melba toast. Hamish, sumptuously fed in the kitchen, went to bed without being ordered to do so, at eight o'clock, just as it was beginning to get dark, for, on this particular evening, Hamish had secret plans. From the age of seven he had dispensed with Laura's attempts to visit him to say good night and she had also promised not to peep in on him when she herself was ready to go to bed. He had no fear, therefore, that his plans would be frustrated because of maternal anxiety and care. Once he was upstairs he would see no more of his parents until the morning.

Hamish possessed the glory and the weakness (in the opinion of most of his adult relatives) of having a single-track mind. Once his heart was set on any project, however ill-advised and even dangerous it might seem to others, he felt bound to carry it through. He had once addressed his father in these terms:

'I don't mind letting you down, but I'm never going to let myself down. By this I mean that if I commit myself to something I shall feel bound to go on with it.'

'Well, all right. I hope you'll stick to that,' his father had replied, for Robert Gavin viewed with equanimity those vagaries and resources in his son which occasionally made Laura wonder how soon she would be subjected to a nervous breakdown.

Having supper in the kitchen with Henri and Celestine was always interesting, and the boy was already fluent in idiomatic French. Fortunately, Dame Beatrice's servants were Parisians and their accent was untainted by patois. Hamish had listened, fascinated and excited-although he did not betray his emotions-to Celestine's outspoken fears for the safety of the house and its occupants, a monologue punctuated only very occasionally by Henri's soothing comments.

Hamish placed no reliance on these, for had not Henri presented him with the carving knife-unsharpened, it was true-with which to defend himself (and possibly his mother and Dame Beatrice) when the fun began? He went into the dining-room to greet and bid good night to his father as soon as supper was over in the kitchen, and found the five adults, empty coffee cups before them-for Celestine had orders not to clear these until she and Henri had concluded their own meal and the company had repaired to the drawing-room-arguing the case against