Chapter 9 Chapter nine

1 Elvira Black looked up at the sky, noticing that it was a clear morning, and walked into a telephone booth.She dialed Bridget on Onslow Place.She was delighted to hear the answer, and said: "Hello, Bridget?" "Oh, Elvira, is that you?" Bridget's voice sounded disturbed. "It's me. Is everything alright?" "Oh, no. It's bad. Your cousin, Mrs. Melfort, called mother yesterday afternoon." "What, for me?" "Yeah. I called her at lunch and I thought I was doing a pretty good job. But she seemed really worried about your teeth and thought there might actually be something wrong with them, an abscess or something. So she did it herself Called the dentist and of course found out you hadn't been there at all. So she called mum and unfortunately mum happened to be right next to the phone so I couldn't rush over there first. Of course mum said she had no idea Didn't know anything, and you certainly didn't stay here. I didn't know what to do."

"How do you do it?" "Pretend you don't know anything. But I said, I think you said you were going to Wimbledon to see friends or something." "Why Wimbledon?" "That's the first place I thought of." Elvira sighed. "Well, I think I'll have to invent some reason. An old governess, perhaps, who lives at Wimbledon. These fusses really complicate matters. I hope Cousin Mildred won't be a fool and Make a phone call to the police or something." "Are you going there now?" "I can't go until this evening. I have a lot of things to do first."

"Now that you've arrived in Ireland, is everything going well?" "I found out what I wanted to know." "You sound... a little unhappy." "I'm not feeling well." "Can I help you, Elvira? Anything?" "Nobody can really help me ... it's something I have to do myself. I was hoping that wasn't true, but it is. I don't know how to handle this." "Are you in danger, Elvira?" "Don't make a fuss, Bridget. I'm going to have to be careful, that's all. I'm going to be very careful."

"Then you are really in danger." Elvira paused and said, "I hope I'm just figuring it out." "Elvira, what are you going to do with that bracelet?" "Oh, that's all right. I've managed to get some money from somebody else, so I can go... what's the word... redeem it, and send it back to Pollard." "Do you think they'll make a fuss about it? No, mother, it's a call from the laundry. They say we never sent that sheet. Yes, mother, yes, I'll tell the lady boss Yes. That's it." On the other end of the line, Elvira smiled and put the phone down.She opened her wallet, sorted through the money, counted out the coins she needed, laid them out in front of her, and started a call.After connecting to the call she wanted to make, she put in the necessary coins, pressed the A button, and said with a fitting pant:

"Hi, Cousin Mildred. Yes, it's me... I'm so sorry... Yes, I know... Well, I'm going... Yes, it's dear old Maddy, you know our old lady governess...yep i wrote a postcard but forgot to post it. it's still in my pocket...well, know she's sick and unattended so i paused to make sure She's safe and well. Yes, I was planning to go to the Bridgets', but this messed up my plans...I don't understand what you got. Someone must have mixed it up...Okay, when we get back I'm going to explain it all to you... yes, this afternoon. No, I'll have to wait for the nurse to take care of old Maddy - well, not really a nurse either. A - er - clinical nurse or something No, she hates going to the hospital . . . I'm sorry, Cousin Mildred, I'm really, really sorry." She put the phone down and sighed angrily. "If only," she murmured to herself, "I wouldn't have to tell so many lies to everyone."

She came out of the phone booth and noticed the huge newspaper bulletin on her way out: Crazy Train Robbery - Irish Mail Train Attacked by Mob. 2 Mr. Pollard was receiving a customer when the door opened.He looked up and saw the honorable Miss Elvira Black enter. "No," she said to the approaching clerk, "I want to wait until Mr. Pollard is free." Soon, Mr. Pollard's customers were done with his business, and Elvira moved to the vacant space. "Good morning, Mr. Pollard," she said. "I'm sorry your watch wasn't repaired so quickly, Miss Elvira," said Mr. Bollard.

"Oh, I'm not here for the watch," Elvira said, "I'm here to apologize. Something terrible happened." She opened her handbag and took out a small box. She took out the bracelet with sapphires and diamonds. "When I got my watch to fix you remember I was looking at these things trying to buy one for Christmas when there was an accident on the road outside. I think someone got hit by a car or nearly got hit by a car Hit. I figured I must have had the bracelet in my hand and put it in my pocket without a second thought, but I just found it this morning. So I rushed to get it back. I'm deeply sorry, Mr. Pollard, but I don't know how I could have done such a stupid thing."

"Well, it's all right, Miss Elvira," said Mr. Bollard slowly. "I suppose you thought someone stole it," said Elvira. Her clear blue eyes looked at him. "We have found it missing," said Mr. Pollard. "Thank you very much, Miss Elvira, for bringing it back so quickly." "It was a terrible feeling when I found it," Elvira said. "Thank you very much, Mr. Pollard, for being so reasonable about it." "A lot of weird misunderstandings do happen all the time," Mr Pollard said.He smiled at her elderly. "We're not going to think about it again. But don't do it again." He smiled, like a good little joke.

"Oh, no," said Elvira, "I'll be very careful in the future." She smiled at him, then turned and left the store. "I'm curious now," said Mr. Pollard to himself, "I'm really curious..." A colleague who had been standing near him at first moved closer to him. "So she did take it?" he said. "Yes. She did take it," said Mr. Pollard. "But she sent it back," his colleague pointed out. "She sent it back," agreed Mr. Pollard. "I didn't actually think of that." "You mean you didn't want her to send it back?"

"Yes, if she was the one who took it." "Do you think her words are credible?" his colleague asked curiously. "I mean, she put it in her pocket out of nowhere?" "I think it's possible," Pollard said, still looking thoughtful. "Perhaps, this may be kleptomania." "Perhaps it could have been kleptomania," Bollard agreed, "it's more like she took it on purpose...but if that's the case, why did she send it back so soon? That's odd... ..." "It's a good thing we didn't call the police. I admit I had intended to do that."

"I know, I know. You don't have as much experience as I do. In this case, it's better not to." He whispered to himself again, "This is really interesting. Very interesting, I don't know." How old is she? I'd say seventeen or eighteen. She's probably in some kind of trouble." "I thought you said she had a lot of money." "You can be an heir and have a lot of money," Pollard said, "but at sixteen, you don't have access to that money. The funny thing is, you know, they make these heirs much bigger than the pocketbooks." The shy ones are even more short of cash to spend." He put the bracelet back in its old place in the display case and closed the lid.