Nemesis - Agatha Christie [19]
By now my solicitors will have communicated with you and will have put a certain proposition before you. I hope you will have accepted it. If you have not accepted it, don’t feel in the least remorseful. It will be your choice.
This should reach you, if my solicitors have done what they were told to do, and if the posts have done the duty they are expected to perform, on the 11th of the month. In two days from now you will receive a communication from a travel bureau in London. I hope what it proposes will not be distasteful to you. I needn’t say more. I want you to have an open mind. Take care of yourself. I think you will manage to do that. You are a very shrewd person. The best of luck and may your guardian angel be at your side looking after you. You may need one.
Your affectionate friend,
J.B. Rafiel.’
‘Two days!’ said Miss Marple.
She found it difficult to pass the time. The Post Office did their duty and so did the Famous Houses and Gardens of Great Britain.
‘Dear Miss Jane Marple,
Obeying instructions given us by the late Mr Rafiel we send you particulars of our Tour No 37 of the Famous Houses and Gardens of Great Britain which starts from London on Thursday next — the 17th.
If it should be possible for you to come to our office in London, our Mrs Sandbourne who is to accompany the tour, will be very glad to give you all particulars and to answer all questions.
Our tours last for a period of two to three weeks. This particular tour, Mr Rafiel thinks, will be particularly acceptable to you as it will visit a part of England which as far as he knows you have not yet visited, and takes in some really very attractive scenery and gardens. He has arranged for you to have the best accommodation and all the luxury available that we can provide.
Perhaps you will let us know which day would suit you to visit our office in Berkeley Street?’
Miss Marple folded up the letter, put it in her bag, noted the telephone number, thought of a few friends whom she knew, rang up two of them, one of whom had been for tours with the Famous Houses and Gardens, and spoke highly of them, the other one had not been personally on a tour but had friends who had travelled with this particular firm and who said everything was very well done, though rather expensive, and not too exhausting for the elderly. She then rang up the Berkeley Street number and said she would call upon them on the following Tuesday.
The next day she spoke to Cherry on the subject.
‘I may be going away, Cherry,’ she said. ‘On a Tour.’
‘A Tour?’ said Cherry. ‘One of these travel tours? You mean a package tour abroad?’
‘Not abroad. In this country,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Mainly visiting historic buildings and gardens.’
‘Do you think it’s all right to do that at your age? These things can be very tiring, you know. You have to walk miles sometimes.’
‘My health is really very good,’ said Miss Marple, ‘and I have always heard that in these tours they are careful to provide restful intervals for such people who are not particularly strong.’
‘Well, be careful of yourself, that’s all,’ said Cherry. ‘We don’t want you falling down with a heart attack, even if you are looking at a particularly sumptuous fountain or something. You’re a bit old, you know, to do this sort of thing. Excuse me saying it, it sounds rude, but I don’t like to think of you passing out because you’ve done too much or anything like that.’
‘I can take care of myself,’ said Miss Marple, with some dignity.
‘All right, but you just be careful,’ said Cherry.
Miss Marple packed a suitcase bag, went to London, booked a room at a modest hotel — (‘Ah, Bertram’s Hotel,’ she thought in her mind, ‘what a wonderful