By the Pricking of My Thumbs - Agatha Christie [90]
‘My husband’s aunt,’ said Tuppence, ‘Miss Fanshawe.’
‘Oh yes. Yes of course. I remember now. And wasn’t there something about a child of yours behind the chimney piece?’
‘No,’ said Tuppence, ‘no, it wasn’t my child.’
‘But that’s why you’ve come here, isn’t it? They’ve had trouble with a chimney here. A bird got into it, I understand. This place wants repairing. I don’t like being here at all. No, not at all and I shall tell Nellie so as soon as I see her.’
‘You’re lodging with Mrs Perry?’
‘Well, in a way I am, and in a way I’m not. I think I could trust you with a secret, couldn’t I?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘you can trust me.’
‘Well, I’m not really here at all. I mean not in this part of the house. This is the Perrys’ part of the house.’ She leaned forward. ‘There’s another one, you know, if you go upstairs. Come with me. I’ll take you.’
Tuppence rose. She felt that she was in rather a crazy kind of dream.
‘I’ll just lock the door first, it’s safer,’ said Mrs Lancaster.
She led Tuppence up a rather narrow staircase to the first floor. She took her through a double bedroom with signs of occupation–presumably the Perrys’ room–and through a door leading out of that into another room next door. It contained a washstand and a tall wardrobe of maple wood. Nothing else. Mrs Lancaster went to the maple wardrobe, fumbled at the back of it, then with sudden ease pushed it aside. There seemed to be castors on the wardrobe and it rolled out from the wall easily enough. Behind the wardrobe there was, rather strangely, Tuppence thought, a grate. Over the mantelpiece there was a mirror with a small shelf under the mirror on which were china figures of birds.
To Tuppence’s astonishment Mrs Lancaster seized the bird in the middle of the mantelshelf and gave it a sharp pull. Apparently the bird was stuck to the mantelpiece. In fact, by a swift touch Tuppence perceived that all the birds were firmly fastened down. But as a result of Mrs Lancaster’s action there was a click and the whole mantelpiece came away from the wall and swung forward.
‘Clever, isn’t it?’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘It was done a long time ago, you know, when they altered the house. The priest’s hole, you know, they used to call this room but I don’t think it was really a priest’s hole. No, nothing to do with priests. I’ve never thought so. Come through. This is where I live now.’
She gave another push. The wall in front of her also swung back and a minute or two later they were in a large attractive-looking room with windows that gave out on the canal and the hill opposite.
‘A lovely room, isn’t it?’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘Such a lovely view. I always liked it. I lived here for a time as a girl, you know.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Not a lucky house,’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘No, they always said it wasn’t a lucky house. I think, you know,’ she added, ‘I think I’ll shut up this again. One can’t be too careful, can one?’
She stretched out a hand and pushed the door they had come through back again. There was a sharp click as the mechanism swung into place.
‘I suppose,’ said Tuppence, ‘that this was one of the alterations they made to the house when they wanted to use it as a hiding place.’
‘They did a lot of alterations,’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘Sit down, do. Do you like a high chair or a low one? I like a high one myself. I’m rather rheumatic, you know. I suppose you thought there might have been a child’s body there,’ added Mrs Lancaster. ‘An absurd idea really, don’t you think so?’
‘Yes, perhaps.’
‘Cops and robbers,’ said Mrs Lancaster, with an indulgent air. ‘One is so foolish when one is young, you know. All that sort of thing. Gangs–big robberies–it has such an appeal for one when one is young. One thinks being a gunman’s moll would be the most wonderful thing in the world. I thought so once. Believe me–’ she leaned forward and tapped Tuppence on the knee ‘–believe me, it’s not true. It isn’t really. I thought so once, but one wants more than that, you know. There’s no thrill really in just stealing things and getting away with it. It needs