Read Online Comes a Stranger by E.R. Punshon - Free Book Online

out as it were to the crack of doom, or at any rate till long after he ought by rights to have been able to sign off.
    None the less, though all this was very interesting, Bobby was not sorry when the tour of inspection drew to an end. There were so many things he wanted to say to Olive, and so far he had hardly a chance to be alone with her for more than a few minutes at a time. He had managed to wangle permission to leave duty early and had got down here in good time, before lunch indeed and with a strong hope that he might get an invitation to have that meal at Wynton Lodge. But when he rang up from the village inn, the Wynton Arms, to announce his arrival, instead of the invitation to lunch he had so optimistically hoped for, he merely received the information that Miss Kayne and Miss Farrar were lunching out.
    So he had been obliged to get his meal at the Wynton Arms in the little, low-beamed dining-room, in the company of Mr. Adams, the stooping, dim-eyed scholar in horn rimmed spectacles who had, it appeared, quarrelled so violently with Mr. Broast, and of the tall young American who, like Mr. Adams, had discovered from local gossip that Bobby was connected with Scotland Yard and had tried, not very successfully, to engage him on the subject of police work.
    Now therefore that this duty tour of the Kayne library seemed to be drawing to a close, Bobby began to indulge in hopes that he might soon get a chance to have Olive to himself for a little. He was due back in town that night, but there was no need to make too early a start, so there was still time they could spend together if opportunity were permitted, and then they heard once more Miss Perkins’s apologetic giggle.
    â€œOh, I’m so sorry,” she said as she fluttered towards them through the shadows that lay so thickly and so heavily in this home of learning and of gloom, “Briggs has just brought a memo from Miss Kayne It’s a message from Sir William Winders, Miss Kayne took down when he rang up. He says he is going to run over in the car after dinner, and he wants to be sure of finding you disengaged.”
    â€œOh, very well,” Mr. Broast answered, though Bobby thought he looked for the moment a little annoyed or disturbed, as if this proposed visit were not too welcome. “I’ll ring him later perhaps. There are several letters I ought to write to-night,” he added in a vexed tone.
    â€œYes, Mr. Broast,” said Miss Perkins, and fluttered away again into the shadows from which she had emerged.
    They were indeed so heavy now that Mr. Broast had to produce his pocket torch to light Bobby and Olive to the door, and Bobby thanked him very much and said how interesting it had all been, and when they were safely outside, with the heavy fireproof door closed behind them, Olive said with some surprise in her voice:
    â€œI’ve hardly ever known Mr. Broast be so nice and take such trouble.”
    â€œDidn’t look so awfully amiable,” observed Bobby, “when he saw me with that Milton. Did he think I was going to pinch the thing?”
    â€œI expect so, darling,” Olive answered cheerfully. “He did look furious, didn’t he? He’s always in a panic about fire or burglary or visitors—especially visitors. He suspects them all, like cats in a dairy. He’s got a revolver somewhere for protection against burglars, and I’m sure he would use it.”
    â€œHas he though?” said Bobby. “Hope he’s got a licence. I thought he was never going to stop showing us things—awfully interesting of course, but I came along to see you, not a lot of old junk.”
    â€œBobby,” protested Olive, horrified at this description of treasures and rarities famous all the world over. She added: “Ever since he heard about you, he has been calling himself a detective. I expect that’s why he was so nice.”
    Bobby felt a little doubtful whether ‘nice’ was