Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers (8 ebook reader .txt) š
- Author: Dorothy L. Sayers
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āDear me,ā said the Duchess, āI hope the poor girl wonāt get into trouble.ā
āShouldnāt think so,ā said Lord Peter. āThipps is the one thatās going to get it in the neck. Besides, heās done a silly thing. I got that out of Sugg, too, though he was sittinā tight on the information. Seems Thipps got into a confusion about the train he took back from Manchester. Said first he got home at 10:30. Then they pumped Gladys Horrocks, who let out he wasnāt back till after 11:45. Then Thipps, beinā asked to explain the discrepancy, stammers and bungles and says, first, that he missed the train. Then Sugg makes inquiries at St. Pancras and discovers that he left a bag in the cloakroom there at ten. Thipps, again asked to explain, stammers worse anā says he walked about for a few hoursā āmet a friendā ācanāt say whoā ādidnāt meet a friendā ācanāt say what he did with his timeā ācanāt explain why he didnāt go back for his bagā ācanāt say what time he did get inā ācanāt explain how he got a bruise on his forehead. In fact, canāt explain himself at all. Gladys Horrocks interrogated again. Says, this time, Thipps came in at 10:30. Then admits she didnāt hear him come in. Canāt say why she didnāt hear him come in. Canāt say why she said first of all that she did hear him. Bursts into tears. Contradicts herself. Everybodyās suspicion roused. Quod āem both.ā
āAs you put it, dear,ā said the Duchess, āit all sounds very confusing, and not quite respectable. Poor little Mr. Thipps would be terribly upset by anything that wasnāt respectable.ā
āI wonder what he did with himself,ā said Lord Peter thoughtfully. āI really donāt think he was committing a murder. Besides, I believe the fellow has been dead a day or two, though it donāt do to build too much on doctorsā evidence. Itās an entertaininā little problem.ā
āVery curious, dear. But so sad about poor Sir Reuben. I must write a few lines to Lady Levy; I used to know her quite well, you know, dear, down in Hampshire, when she was a girl. Christine Ford, she was then, and I remember so well the dreadful trouble there was about her marrying a Jew. That was before he made his money, of course, in that oil business out in America. The family wanted her to marry Julian Freke, who did so well afterwards and was connected with the family, but she fell in love with this Mr. Levy and eloped with him. He was very handsome, then, you know, dear, in a foreign-looking way, but he hadnāt any means, and the Fords didnāt like his religion. Of course weāre all Jews nowadays, and they wouldnāt have minded so much if heād pretended to be something else, like that Mr. Simons we met at Mrs. Porchesterās, who always tells everybody that he got his nose in Italy at the Renaissance, and claims to be descended somehow or other from La Bella Simonettaā āso foolish, you know, dearā āas if anybody believed it; and Iām sure some Jews are very good people, and personally Iād much rather they believed something, though of course it must be very inconvenient, what with not working on Saturdays and circumcising the poor little babies and everything depending on the new moon and that funny kind of meat they have with such a slang-sounding name, and never being able to have bacon for breakfast. Still, there it was, and it was much better for the girl to marry him if she was really fond of him, though I believe young Freke was really devoted to her, and theyāre still great friends. Not that there was ever a real engagement, only a sort of understanding with her father, but heās never married, you know, and lives all by himself in that big house next to the hospital, though heās very rich and distinguished now, and I know ever so many people have tried to get hold of himā āthere was Lady Mainwaring wanted him for that eldest girl of hers, though I remember saying at the time it was no use expecting a surgeon to be taken in by a figure that was all paddingā āthey have so many opportunities of judging, you know, dear.ā
āLady Levy seems to have had the knack of makinā people devoted to her,ā said Peter. āLook at the pea-green incorruptible Levy.ā
āThatās quite true, dear; she was a most delightful girl, and they say her daughter is just like her. I rather lost sight of them when she married, and you know your father didnāt care much about business people, but I know everybody always said they were a model couple. In fact it was a proverb that Sir Reuben was as well loved at home as he was hated abroad. I donāt mean in foreign countries, you know, dearā ājust the proverbial way of putting thingsā ālike āa saint abroad and a devil at homeāā āonly the other way on, reminding one of the Pilgrimās Progress.ā
āYes,ā said Peter, āI daresay the old man made one or two enemies.ā
āDozens, dearā āsuch a dreadful place, the City, isnāt it? Everybody Ishmaels togetherā āthough I donāt suppose Sir Reuben would like to be called that, would he? Doesnāt it mean illegitimate, or not a proper Jew, anyway? I always did get confused with those Old Testament characters.ā
Lord Peter laughed and yawned.
āI think Iāll turn in for an hour or two,ā
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