I wasn’t really so much marched into the presence of my uncle, ‘carried’ was more the mot juste. Bull and Gunner had an arm each and my legs waved uselessly about three inches above the ground.
Sir Roderick Wragg was seated in a large armchair wearing a silk dressing down and an exceedingly angry expression, which did nothing to improve his looks. Still, I decided to attempt to be civil.
“Ah! Uncle! Delightful to see you! It’s been too long, what? How are you? What ho! What ho!”
He glared at me.
“What do you mean, Bertram, by intruding upon my household at this hour of the night?”
“Oh, you know, I was just passing, and I thought to myself, ‘Bertie, old fellow, it’s ages since you’ve seen dear old Uncle Rod, might as well look the old boy up, he’ll be delighted to see you!’ I must say, it’s a lovely evening, Uncle, dear old Cruxton Abbey bathed in the moonlight, owls hooting in the trees. Idyllic. Just the ticket after the old metrop, don’t you know?”
We Wraggs tend to gabble when we are nervous.
He maintained his glare.
“Why, in that case, did you choose to enter the house via a tunnel into the dungeon? I’m sure Parkington would have let you in if you’d rung the front door bell, or even the side door bell.”
Parkington was the butler, an extremely ancient man with long white hair and a hook nose. Some say that he’d died in 1741 but hadn’t let a little thing like death prevent him from going about his butlery duties. Having seen him I could believe it. His sepulchric presence was currently occupying one corner of the room.
“Well, you know how it is, Uncle, it was two a.m., I didn’t want to disturb anyone, I thought I could get a few hours shut eye in the cellar.” I was quite pleased with that one.
“Come along, Bertram, admit it, you were stealing my cyclocross team, weren’t you? Who put you up to it? Out with it, man!”
“Nobody ‘put me up’ to anything, Uncle; I was dashed surprised to emerge into the cellar and find six naked women in there, and they were dashed surprised to see me, too.”
An American voice broke in behind me. “Don’t worry, Rod, we caught the others; they wouldn’t have got far anyway, cycling naked through Suffolk.”
I turned to see Mr Tree, looking no more amused than Sir Roderick at being disturbed from his beauty sleep.
Tree regarded me with suspicion. “I guess you’re working for that Australian guy, Phlebas! He’s always hankering after a cyclocross team! Or Shevak! He’s had designs on Barbara and Siss for ages! Sure!” He prodded me in the ribs. “You’re working for Shevak!”
I looked at him blankly.
“No! I’ve got it!” Tree fairly exploded as he reached another conclusion. “Old Blue Nose!! He’s trading slaves from the Netherlands! He’d really be in the money with a fit bunch of girls like that!”
All this talk of people I’d never heard of was giving me a headache. “I’m very sorry to disappoint you, gentlemen, but I don’t know anyone with a blue nose, nor anyone called ‘Shevak’, and the only Australians I know of were last seen heading dejectedly towards the pavilion at Lords. I have not got the foggiest idea what you are on about.”
I went on to the attack. “I find myself in Suffolk at dead of night with nowhere to stay, and if I can’t kip down in the Wragg family home without getting interrogated by the CIA then it’s a jolly poor show!”
Sir Roderick stared down his misshapen nose at me. “Mr Tree does not work for the CIA!”
“Well, he asks lots of questions and talks in riddles, so you’ll understand my mistake.” I played my trump card. “Anyway, do you honestly think I would wear this jacket if I was skulking around committing nefarious deeds?”
To be honest, I’d simply not worried about what I was wearing, but my blasted jacket had got me into trouble, I might as well now see if it would get me out of it again.
Sir Roderick eyed me narrowly. “I have to admit that I share my sister Eulalia’s view of your intelligence, Bertram. It wouldn’t surprise me if you turned up dressed as a clown.” He peered at my jacket. “In fact, now that you mention it, it would seem that you have.”
“Anyway,” he continued, “It is very late. Let us see if we can get some sleep, now. Tomorrow, we’ll have some amusement. What do you think, Tree? Five laps of the cyclocross track versus Blaire and the girls?”
“Ha!” said Tree. “And if he wins, we’ll let him go, but if he comes last, we’ll let him try another kind of cross!”
With that, Bull and Gunner scooped me out of their presence, and locked me in a windowless room. One without an escape tunnel. They left me there to contemplate the events of tomorrow.