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July 9 - July 10, 2020
To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second-hand the delights and dangers of adventure.
“Tommy, old thing!” “Tuppence, old bean!”
Tommy sat down opposite her. His bared head revealed a shock of exquisitely slicked-back red hair. His face was pleasantly ugly—nondescript, yet unmistakably the face of a gentleman and a sportsman. His brown suit was well cut, but perilously near the end of its tether.
Tuppence had no claim to beauty, but there was character and charm in the elfin lines of her little face, with its determined chin and large, wide-apart grey eyes that looked mistily out from under straight, black brows. She wore a small bright green toque over her black bobbed hair, and her extremely short and rather shabby skirt revealed a pair of uncommonly dainty ankles. Her appearance presented a valiant attempt at smartness.
Tommy, let’s be adventurers!”
Oh, I know—a joint venture! It struck me as such a romantic phrase to come across in the middle of musty old figures. It’s got an Elizabethan flavour about it—makes one think of galleons and doubloons. A joint venture!”
‘Two young adventurers for hire. Willing to do anything, go anywhere. Pay must be good. No unreasonable offer refused.’
That’s the curious part about speaking the truth. No one does believe it.
“Yes, five years ago, that draft treaty was a weapon in our hands; today it is a weapon against us.
“I’ll look after her, sir,” said Tommy. “And I’ll look after you,” retorted Tuppence, resenting the manly assertion.
“Yes, Miss Tuppence. Do you want to say how much?” “Not exactly. We’ve got plenty to go on with for the present, but when we want more—” “It will be waiting for you.” “Yes, but—I’m sure I don’t want to be rude about the Government if you’ve got anything to do with it, but you know one really has the devil of a time getting anything out of it! And if we have to fill up a blue form and send it in, and then, after three months, they send us a green one, and so on—well, that won’t be much use, will it?”
“Inspector Japp, C.I.D. Scotland Yard
“Outwardly, he’s an ordinary clean-limbed, rather blockheaded young Englishman. Slow in his mental processes. On the other hand, it’s quite impossible to lead him astray through his imagination. He hasn’t got any—so he’s difficult to deceive. He worries things out slowly, and once he’s got hold of anything he doesn’t let go. The little lady’s quite different. More intuition and less common sense. They make a pretty pair working together. Pace and stamina.”
“The Young Adventures take a lot of killing,” boasted Tuppence.
