Death in the Clouds - Agatha Christie [41]
Lord Horbury walked over to the window.
‘It’s a little late to say that. I married you.’
‘And you can’t get out of it,’ said Cicely. Her laugh was malicious, triumphant. ‘You’d like to get rid of me, but you can’t.’
He said, ‘Need we go into all this?’
‘Very much God and the Old School, aren’t you? Most of my friends fairly laugh their heads off when I tell them the kind of things you say.’
‘They are welcome to do so. Shall we get back to our original subject of discussion—your reason for coming here?’
But his wife would not follow his lead. She said:
‘You advertised in the papers that you wouldn’t be responsible for my debts. Do you call that a gentlemanly thing to do?’
‘I regret having had to take that step. I warned you, you will remember. Twice I paid up. But there are limits. Your insensate passion for gambling—well, why discuss it? But I do want to know what prompted you to come down to Horbury. You’ve always hated the place, been bored to death here.’
Cicely Horbury, her small face sullen, said, ‘I thought it better—just now.’
‘Better—just now?’ He repeated the words thoughtfully. Then he asked a question sharply: ‘Cicely, had you been borrowing from that old French moneylender?’
‘Which one? I don’t know what you mean.’
‘You know perfectly what I mean. I mean the woman who was murdered on the plane from Paris—the plane on which you travelled home. Had you borrowed money from her?’
‘No, of course not. What an idea!’
‘Now, don’t be a little fool over this, Cicely. If that woman did lend you money, you’d better tell me about it. Remember the business isn’t over and finished with. The verdict at the inquest was wilful murder by a person or persons unknown. The police of both countries are at work. It’s only a matter of time before they come on the truth. The woman’s sure to have left records of her dealings. If anything crops up to connect you with her we should be prepared beforehand. We must have ffoulkes’s advice on the matter.’ (ffoulkes, ffoulkes, Wilbraham and ffoulkes were the family solicitors who for generations had dealt with the Horbury estate.)
‘Didn’t I give evidence in that damned court and say I had never heard of the woman?’
‘I don’t think that proves very much,’ said her husband dryly. ‘If you did have dealings with this Giselle, you can be sure the police will find it out.’
Cicely sat up angrily in bed.
‘Perhaps you think I killed her—stood up there in that plane and puffed darts at her from a blowpipe. Of all the crazy businesses!’
‘The whole thing sounds mad,’ Stephen agreed thoughtfully. ‘But I do want you to realize your position.’
‘What position? There isn’t any position. You don’t believe a word I say. It’s damnable. And why be so anxious about me all of a sudden? A lot you care about what happens to me. You dislike me. You hate me. You’d be glad if I died tomorrow. Why pretend?’
‘Aren’t you exaggerating a little? In any case, old-fashioned though you think me, I do happen to care about my family name—an out-of-date sentiment which you will probably despise. But there it is.’
Turning abruptly on his heel, he left the room.
A pulse was beating in his temple. Thoughts followed each other rapidly through his head.
‘Dislike? Hate? Yes, that’s true enough. Should I be glad if she died tomorrow? My God, yes! I’d feel like a man who’s been let out of prison. What a queer beastly business life is! When I first saw her in Do It Now, what a child, what an adorable child she looked! So fair and so lovely…Damned young fool! I was mad about her—crazy…She seemed everything that was adorable and sweet, and all the time she was what she is now— vulgar, vicious, spiteful, empty-headed…I can’t even see her loveliness now.’
He whistled and a spaniel came running to him, looking up at him with adoring sentimental eyes.
He said, ‘Good old Betsy,’ and fondled the long, fringed ears.
He thought, ‘Funny term of disparagement, to call a woman a bitch. A bitch like you, Betsy, is worth nearly all the women I’ve met put together.’
Cramming