Mrs. Lamper arranged the
matter with Betsy and smuggled the things in."
"Mrs. Lamper?"
"Yes; she does a lot of district visiting, you know."
"I am quite aware that she takes soup and flannel and improving
literature to the poorer cottagers," said Mrs. Bebberly Cumble, "but that
is hardly the same sort of thing as disposing of stolen goods, and she
must have known something about their history; anyone who reads the
papers, even casually, must have been aware of the theft, and I should
think the things were not hard to recognise. Mrs. Lamper has always had
the reputation of being a very conscientious woman."
"Of course she was screening some one else," said Vera. "A remarkable
feature of the affair is the extraordinary number of quite respectable
people who have involved themselves in its meshes by trying to shield
others. You would be really astonished if you knew some of the names of
the individuals mixed up in it, and I don't suppose a tithe of them know
who the original culprits were; and now I've got you entangled in the
mess by letting you into the secret of the cottage."
"You most certainly have not entangled me," said Mrs. Bebberly Cumble
indignantly. "I have no intention of shielding anybody. The police must
know about it at once; a theft is a theft, whoever is involved. If
respectable people choose to turn themselves into receivers and disposers
of stolen goods, well, they've ceased to be respectable, that's all. I
shall telephone immediately--"
"Oh, aunt," said Vera reproachfully, "it would break the poor Canon's
heart if Cuthbert were to be involved in a scandal of this sort.
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