N or M_ - Agatha Christie [38]
What followed constituted a monologue. Tuppence, throwing in an occasional ‘Now that’s very interesting’ or ‘What a shrewd observer you are’, listened with an attention that was not assumed for the occasion. For Mr Cayley, carried away by the sympathy of his listener, was displaying himself as a decided admirer of the Nazi system. How much better it would have been, he hinted, if did not say, for England and Germany to have allied themselves against the rest of Europe.
The return of Miss Minton and Betty, the celluloid duck duly obtained, broke in upon the monologue, which had extended unbroken for nearly two hours. Looking up, Tuppence caught rather a curious expression on Mrs Cayley’s face. She found it hard to define. It might be merely pardonable wifely jealousy at the monopoly of her husband’s attention by another woman. It might be alarm at the fact that Mr Cayley was being too outspoken in his political views. It certainly expressed dissatisfaction.
Tea was the next move and hard on that came the return of Mrs Sprot from London exclaiming:
‘I do hope Betty’s been good and not troublesome? Have you been a good girl, Betty?’ To which Betty replied laconically by the single word:
‘Dam!’
This, however, was not to be regarded as an expression of disapproval at her mother’s return, but merely as a request for blackberry preserve.
It elicited a deep chuckle from Mrs O’Rourke and a reproachful:
‘Please, Betty, dear,’ from the young lady’s parent.
Mrs Sprot then sat down, drank several cups of tea, and plunged into a spirited narrative of her purchases in London, the crowd on the train, what a soldier recently returned from France had told the occupants of her carriage, and what a girl behind the stocking counter had told her of a stocking shortage to come.
The conversation was, in fact, completely normal. It was prolonged afterwards on the terrace outside, for the sun was now shining and the wet day a thing of the past.
Betty rushed happily about, making mysterious expeditions into the bushes and returning with a laurel leaf, or a heap of pebbles which she placed in the lap of one of the grown-ups with a confused and unintelligible explanation of what it represented. Fortunately she required little co-operation in her game, being satisfied with an occasional ‘How nice, darling. Is it really?’
Never had there been an evening more typical of Sans Souci at its most harmless. Chatter, gossip, speculations as to the course of the war–Can France rally? Will Weygand pull things together? What is Russia likely to do? Could Hitler invade England if he tried? Will Paris fall if the ‘bulge’ is not straightened out? Was it true that…? It had been said that…And it was rumoured that…
Political and military scandal was happily bandied about.
Tuppence thought to herself: ‘Chatterbugs a danger? Nonsense, they’re a safety valve. People enjoy these rumours. It gives them the stimulation to carry on with their own private worries and anxieties.’ She contributed a nice tit-bit prefixed by ‘My son told me–of course this is quite private, you understand–’
Suddenly, with a start, Mrs Sprot glanced at her watch.
‘Goodness, it’s nearly seven. I ought to have put that child to bed hours ago. Betty–Betty!’
It was some time since Betty had returned to the terrace, though no one had noticed her defection.
Mrs Sprot called her with rising impatience.
‘Bett–eeee! Where can the child be?’
Mrs O’Rourke said with her deep laugh:
‘Up to mischief, I’ve no doubt of it. ’Tis always the way when there’s peace.’
‘Betty! I want you.’
There was no answer and Mrs Sprot rose impatiently.
‘I suppose I must go and look for her. I wonder where she can be?’
Miss Minton suggested that she was hiding somewhere and Tuppence, with memories of her own childhood, suggested the kitchen. But Betty could not be found, either inside or outside the house. They went round the garden calling, looking all over the bedrooms. There was no Betty anywhere.
Mrs Sprot began to get annoyed.
‘It’s very naughty of her–very naughty indeed! Do you think she can have