“Come again Liza?”
Mary said.
“The Iggelsdins have
a country house, I know they must, I saw it in the back ground of a painting. Am
I am right about the house Grandfather?”
“Yes, yes, of course
they do, someplace up in Scotland if I recall correctly. But what on earth are
you proposing?”
“That we go up and
retrieve Mr. Cogsowrth!”
“Don’t be silly girl.”
The Colonel said. Liza glared at him.
“I am only saying
that such a thing would be the height of foolishness.” The Colonel sputtered. “I
suppose we’ll just march up to their house and ask to remove the young man?”
“Well, no, of
course not. We’ll go to the police and they will go with us.” Liza said, as if
it were the clearest thing in the universe.
“On what
evidence?” Mary said quietly. “Liza, if we go to the police and tell them we
think that the Iggelsdins are holding a man against his will without a shred of
evidence we’ll be laughed out of the county.”
“Not to mention I
would wager the local police are in Iggelsdins pocket, or at the very least
someone would warn him we were coming, plenty of time to spirit Cosgworth
away.” The General added. Liza’s face was red with frustration.
“Very well! We’ll
just give up then? Let Mr. Cogsworth rot in some damp Scottish cell?”
“No Liza, but we
must approach this rationally” Mary said, keeping her voice level. “I suppose
it is reasonable that Cogsworth is up in this country house. But how we go
about this requires some planning I think. Do we know anything about the
house?”
“Not very much, I
could ask around I suppose’ The General said.
“Ok, but
carefully. We need to figure out how to get in to the house and look about. I
don’t suppose there is a party coming up?” Liza rolled her eyes but said
nothing.
Mary went on, “seriously,
how do we get in there. If it is like the houses I have been to in the country,
or for that matter my own house, the grounds around it will be quiet open. I
doubt we shall be able to just sneak up unannounced. “
“Unless we go when
it is dark!” The Colonel said.
“Uncle, have you
ever been to a house in the country, even one of modest means, that does not
have a bevvy of dogs. A stranger approaching in the dark would be exposed
before they got within a hundred yards of the place.”
Mary sat for a
moment thinking. “We need a way to get into the house without being seen and of
course without being caught. How can we get in?”
“A disguise
perhaps?” The Colonel suggested.
“I don’t think so”
The general said.
“Then how?” Mary
said.
Liza stood up with
a gleam in her eye. “Of course! Why not do the simple thing? What if we take
the sedan?”
“What?!” The
General exclaimed.
“Think of it
Grandfather. The balloon is silent and we can land without being heard. If we
go at night it would be perfect.”
“Assuming we don’t
crash!” The colonel uttered.
“Moto can do it, I
Know. We can land on the roof and be in and out before anyone even knows we’re
there!”
“Liza,” Mary said
“how on earth will we search a great house quick and quietly enough to find
Cogsworth?”
“We’ll have to
split up I suppose, or perhaps… perhaps we could try and bribe one of the
servants?”
“Both sounds
positively foolish” The Colonel chortled, Liza shot him a look. “No, I am serious
young lady. We cannot simply wander about a huge house in the dark and not
expect to wake someone up.”
“What about
finding some maid Uncle…”
“And how would we
do that? Ask around? We ask the wrong persona and they tell Iggelsdins, we’re
dead meat I tell you!”
“The Colonel does
have a point Liza” The general said. “It is simply not possible.”
“I Know a maid”
Mary said quietly. Liza stood up quickly.
“That’s right!
Only… she’s not at that house… although I suppose she could travel with them
there… did you get what position she had Mary?”
“No, I thought you
might have? No? Well, at any rate it doesn’t matter. If the family is here and
she is too, then she won’t know what is going on at the house.”
“Wait a minute!”
The General said, taking his pip out of his mouth. “What did you just say?”
“That the maid
wouldn’t know-?”
“No, no, about the
family. That is right, isn’t it. The family is here, at least for the moment.
That means that back at the house in the country there will be a small staff at
best.”
“That’s right”
Liza said, her face brightening again. “If we could possibly case the house we
could see which rooms light up-“
“No, no, we could
not get that close.” Mary said “But I understand your point General sir. A
small staff, less people to worry about waking up. If we can get even one
person to talk chances are they would know what is going on…”
“We need to talk
to Ethel as soon as possible, before Iggelsdin or even the whole family goes
out there…”
“I could go call
on her, on some pretense…”
“Good heavens no!”
The Colonel said. “Well, really, why would a lady such as yourself call on a
house maid. Send over Pruella. She’s our first floor maid.” The Colonel said to
Liza and the General. “Give her a note and tell her to give it to Ethel and
wait for a response.”
“All well and good
Colonel” Liza said “But what on earth would we say? We cannot just ask for the
name of an informer, what if the note is intercepted?”
The four of them
fell silent.
“Yes!” said Mary,
startling the General. “We’ll send over a coded note. We can ask if there is
any good help at the country house we might hire away. Then, if it is
intercepted it might be embarrassing that we are trying to steal one of their
servants, but it would not alarm them concerning Mr. Cogsworth.”
“Brilliant Mary. But
we must be quick, right Grandfather?”
“Yes Liza dear. I
suggest we send the maid over first thing in the morning and meanwhile prepare
the sedan. I think it would be wise to be ready to head straight for the
Caribbean once we have Mr. Cogsworth, and get a head start on Iggelsdin.”
“The Caribbean?”
Mary ask and the General went slightly red.
“Yes, yes. We do
know that much, just not exactly where…”
Mary did not
answer, but seemed a bit nonplussed.
“Shall we go
upstairs and pack for the trip Mary?” Liza said, a bit too cheerfully, but Mary
agreed and they made their way up to Liza’s bedroom.
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