Chapter 4
The room may not have had a window, but it had a skylight, far too high to reach, so offering no opportunity to escape. I woke from a troubled slumber to the sound of rain pelting down upon the skylight.
Rain. Great. As if cylocross itself wasn’t bad enough, now we had cyclocross in the rain.
At that moment there came a familiar but gentle knock on the door. I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Er, come in!” I called.
The door opened, and in came Jeeves, bearing a steaming cup of tea.
“Good morning, sir. I thought you might appreciate some tea.”
“Jeeves! What are you doing here?”
“I caught the overnight train, sir. My dentist was kind enough to see me yesterday afternoon, and Mr Parkington obliged me by allowing me to prepare your early morning beverage for you.”
“But….but…..”
“Sir?”
“But….what about Bull and Gunner?”
“They are asleep, sir. They are not early risers. I understand from Mr Parkington that you have entered a cyclocross competition against Miss Twistleton, sir.”
“And the whole bally lot of them, Jeeves. Have you seen how fit they are? Apparently they only eat rice and egg white for breakfast. I don’t stand a chance. Mr Tree mentioned that he’d show me another kind of cross.”
“Indeed so, sir. We know that he has a fondness for crosses.”
“And nails, Jeeves. I hear that he produces the sharpest nails in Missouri.”
“So I have been reliably informed, sir.”
“And if by some miracle I was to win the race he’d crucify the girls.”
“Indeed so, although I fear that contingency is a remote one, sir. If they can’t beat you then he might as well crucify them, for all the good they’d be to him.”
“Thanks for those reassuring words, Jeeves.”
“My pleasure, sir.”
There was an awkward silence, while I sipped tea.
“Jeeves?”
“Sir?”
“Please tell me that you have a bullet-proof scheme up your sleeve?”
“I think that the conundrum might have a solution, sir, although….”
“Although what, Jeeves?”
“Although I fear that you are going to have to race with the ladies around the cyclocross track.”
I groaned. “Well, in that case, Jeeves, do please see if you can rustle up some decent bacon and eggs in this place. The condemned man needs a hearty breakfast, and I don’t mean rice and egg white!”
“Very good, sir.”