By the Pricking of My Thumbs - Agatha Christie [12]
‘No, but then I didn’t look particularly.’
‘Oh, that picture,’ said Miss Packard. ‘No, I don’t think you would have seen it when you were here the last time because I’m almost sure it wasn’t hanging over the mantelpiece then. Actually it was a picture belonging to one of our other guests, and she gave it to your aunt. Miss Fanshawe expressed admiration of it once or twice and this other old lady made her a present of it and insisted she should have it.’
‘Oh I see,’ said Tuppence, ‘so of course I couldn’t have seen it here before. But I still feel I know the house quite well. Don’t you, Tommy?’
‘No,’ said Tommy.
‘Well, I’ll leave you now,’ said Miss Packard briskly. ‘I shall be available at any time that you want me.’
She nodded with a smile, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
‘I don’t think I really like that woman’s teeth,’ said Tuppence.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
‘Too many of them. Or too big–“The better to eat you with, my child”–Like Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.’
‘You seem in a very odd sort of mood today, Tuppence.’
‘I am rather. I’ve always thought of Miss Packard as very nice–but today, somehow, she seems to me rather sinister. Have you ever felt that?’
‘No, I haven’t. Come on, let’s get on with what we came here to do–look over poor old Aunt Ada’s “effects”, as the lawyers call them. That’s the desk I told you about–Uncle William’s desk. Do you like it?’
‘It’s lovely. Regency, I should think. It’s nice for the old people who come here to be able to bring some of their own things with them. I don’t care for the horsehair chairs, but I’d like that little work-table. It’s just what we need for that corner by the window where we’ve got that perfectly hideous whatnot.’
‘All right,’ said Tommy. ‘I’ll make a note of those two.’
‘And we’ll have the picture over the mantelpiece. It’s an awfully attractive picture and I’m quite sure that I’ve seen that house somewhere. Now, let’s look at the jewellery.’
They opened the dressing-table drawer. There was a set of cameos and a Florentine bracelet and ear-rings and a ring with different-coloured stones in it.
‘I’ve seen one of these before,’ said Tuppence. ‘They spell a name usually. Dearest sometimes. Diamond, emerald, amethyst, no, it’s not dearest. I don’t think it would be really. I can’t imagine anyone giving your Aunt Ada a ring that spelt dearest. Ruby, emerald–the difficulty is one never knows where to begin. I’ll try again. Ruby, emerald, another ruby, no, I think it’s a garnet and an amethyst and another pinky stone, it must be a ruby this time and a small diamond in the middle. Oh, of course, it’s regard. Rather nice really. So old-fashioned and sentimental.’
She slipped it on to her finger.
‘I think Deborah might like to have this,’ she said, ‘and the Florentine set. She’s frightfully keen on Victorian things. A lot of people are nowadays. Now, I suppose we’d better do the clothes. That’s always rather macabre, I think. Oh, this is the fur stole. Quite valuable, I should think. I wouldn’t want it myself. I wonder if there’s anyone here–anyone who was especially nice to Aunt Ada–or perhaps some special friend among the other inmates–visitors, I mean. They call them visitors or guests, I notice. It would be nice to offer her the stole if so. It’s real sable. We’ll ask Miss Packard. The rest of the things can go to the charities. So that’s all settled, isn’t it? We’ll go and find Miss Packard now. Goodbye, Aunt Ada,’ she remarked aloud, her eyes turning to the bed. ‘I’m glad we came to see you that last time. I’m sorry you didn’t like me, but if it was fun to you not to like me and say those rude things, I don’t begrudge it to you. You had to have some fun. And we won’t forget you. We’ll think of you when we look at Uncle William’s desk.’
They went in search of Miss Packard. Tommy explained that they would arrange for the desk and the small work-table to be called for and despatched to their own address and that he would arrange with the local auctioneers to dispose of the rest of the furniture. He would