Died in the Wool

‘Do remember, Douglas,’ Fabian murmured, ‘that Mr Alleyn has seen the files.’

‘I realize that, but God knows what sort of a hash they’ve made of it. Now, I don’t want to be unnecessarily hard on the dead,’ said Douglas loudly; Fabian grimaced and muttered to himself; ‘but I look at it this way. It’s my duty to give an honest opinion, and I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that Aunt Floss liked to know about things. Not to mince matters, she was a very inquisitive woman, and what’s more she enjoyed showing people that she was in on everything.’

‘I know what you’re going to say next,’ said Ursula brightly, ‘and I disagree with every word of it.’

‘My dear girl, you’re talking through your hat. Look here, sir. When I got back from Greece and was marched out of the army and came here, I found Fabian doing a certain type of work. I needn’t be more explicit than that,’ said Douglas portentously and raised his eyebrows.

‘You’re superb, Douglas,’ said Fabian. ‘Of course you needn’t. Do remember that Mr Alleyn is the man who knows all.’

‘Be quiet, Losse,’ said Alleyn unexpectedly. Fabian opened his mouth and shut it again. ‘You’re a mosquito,’ Alleyn added mildly.

‘I really am sorry,’ said Fabian. ‘I know.’

‘Shall I go on?’ asked Douglas huffily.

‘Please do.’

‘Fabian told me about his work. He called it, for security reasons, the egg-beater. Fabian’s idea. I prefer simply the X Adjustment.’

‘I see,’ said Alleyn. ‘The X Adjustment.’ Fabian grinned.

‘And he asked me if I’d like to have a look at his notes and drawings and so on. As a gunner I was, of course, interested. I satisfied myself there was something in it. I’d taken my electrical engineering degree before I joined up, and was rather keen on the magnetic fuse idea. I need go no further at the moment,’ said Douglas with another significant glance.

Alleyn thought, ‘He really is superb,’ and nodded solemnly.

‘Of course,’ Douglas continued, ‘Auntie Floss had to be told something. I mean, we wanted a room and certain facilities, and so on. She advanced us the cash for our gear. There’s no electrical supply this side of the plateau. We built a windmill and got a small dynamo. Later on she was going to have the house wired, but at the moment we’ve only got the juice in the workroom. She paid for all that. We began to spend more and more time on it. And later on, when we were ready to show something to somebody in the right quarter, she was damned useful. She’d talk anybody into anything, would Flossie, and she got hold of a certain authority at army headquarters and arranged for us to go up north and see him. He sent a report Home and things began to look up. We’ve now had a very encouraging answer from – however! I need not go into that.’