By the Pricking of My Thumbs - Agatha Christie [3]
‘All right, all right,’ said Tommy, ‘be realistic. But if you really want to be noble and come with me–’
‘I want to come with you,’ said Tuppence. ‘After all, I married you for better or for worse and Aunt Ada is decidedly the worse. So I shall go with you hand in hand. And we’ll take her a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates with soft centres and perhaps a magazine or two. You might write to Miss What’s-her-name and say we’re coming.’
‘One day next week? I could manage Tuesday,’ said Tommy, ‘if that’s all right for you.’
‘Tuesday it is,’ said Tuppence. ‘What’s the name of the woman? I can’t remember–the matron or the superintendent or whoever she is. Begins with a P.’
‘Miss Packard.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Perhaps it’ll be different this time,’ said Tommy.
‘Different? In what way?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Something interesting might happen.’
‘We might be in a railway accident on the way there,’ said Tuppence, brightening up a little.
‘Why on earth do you want to be in a railway accident?’
‘Well I don’t really, of course. It was just–’
‘Just what?’
‘Well, it would be an adventure of some kind, wouldn’t it? Perhaps we could save lives or do something useful. Useful and at the same time exciting.’
‘What a hope!’ said Mr Beresford.
‘I know,’ agreed Tuppence. ‘It’s just that these sort of ideas come to one sometimes.’
Chapter 2
Was it your Poor Child?
How Sunny Ridge had come by its name would be difficult to say. There was nothing prominently ridge-like about it. The grounds were flat, which was eminently more suitable for the elderly occupants. It had an ample, though rather undistinguished garden. It was a fairly large Victorian mansion kept in a good state of repair. There were some pleasant shady trees, a Virginia creeper running up the side of the house, and two monkey puzzles gave an exotic air to the scene. There were several benches in advantageous places to catch the sun, one or two garden chairs and a sheltered veranda on which the old ladies could sit sheltered from the east winds.
Tommy rang the front door bell and he and Tuppence were duly admitted by a rather harassed-looking young woman in a nylon overall. She showed them into a small sitting-room saying rather breathlessly, ‘I’ll tell Miss Packard. She’s expecting you and she’ll be down in a minute. You won’t mind waiting just a little, will you, but it’s old Mrs Carraway. She’s been and swallowed her thimble again, you see.’
‘How on earth did she do a thing like that?’ asked Tuppence, surprised.
‘Does it for fun,’ explained the household help briefly. ‘Always doing it.’
She departed and Tuppence sat down and said thoughtfully, ‘I don’t think I should like to swallow a thimble. It’d be awfully bobbly as it went down. Don’t you think so?’
They had not very long to wait however before the door opened and Miss Packard came in, apologizing as she did so. She was a big, sandy-haired woman of about fifty with the air of calm competence about her which Tommy had always admired.
‘I’m sorry if I have kept you waiting, Mr Beresford,’ she said. ‘How do you do, Mrs Beresford, I’m so glad you’ve come too.’
‘Somebody swallowed something, I hear,’ said Tommy.
‘Oh, so Marlene told you that? Yes, it was old Mrs Carraway. She’s always swallowing things. Very difficult, you know, because one can’t watch them all the time. Of course one knows children do it, but it seems a funny thing to be a hobby of an