Postern of Fate (Tommy and Tuppence Series) - Agatha Christie [102]
Tuppence gave a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you for telling me. You see, my daughter Deborah comes to stay from time to time and brings her three children–’
‘You needn’t worry,’ said Mr Robinson. ‘By the way, after the N and M business, didn’t you adopt the child that figured in the case–the one that had the nursery rhyme books, Goosey Gander and all the rest of it?’
‘Betty?’ said Tuppence. ‘Yes. She’s done very well at university and she’s gone off now to Africa to do research on how people live–that sort of thing. A lot of young people are very keen on that. She’s a darling–and very happy.’
Mr Robinson cleared his throat and rose to his feet. ‘I want to propose a toast. To Mr and Mrs Thomas Beresford in acknowledgement of the service they have rendered to their country.’
It was drunk enthusiastically.
‘And if I may, I will propose a further toast,’ said Mr Robinson. ‘To Hannibal.’
‘There, Hannibal,’ said Tuppence, stroking his head. ‘You’ve had your health drunk. Almost as good as being knighted or having a medal. I was reading Stanley Weyman’s Count Hannibal only the other day.’
‘Read it as a boy, I remember,’ said Mr Robinson. ‘“Who touches my brother touches Tavanne,” if I’ve got it right. Pikeaway, don’t you think? Hannibal, may I be permitted to tap you on the shoulder?’
Hannibal took a step towards him, received a tap on the shoulder and gently wagged his tail.
‘I hereby create you a Count of this Realm.’
‘Count Hannibal. Isn’t that lovely?’ said Tuppence. ‘What a proud dog you ought to be!’
About the Author
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in 100 foreign countries. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.
Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of the First World War, in which she served as a VAD. In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian detective who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. It was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920.
In 1926, after averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her masterpiece. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relationship which lasted for 50 years and well over 70 books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie’s books to be dramatized–under the name Alibi–and to have a successful run in London’s West End. The Mousetrap, her most famous play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history.
Agatha Christie was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976, since when a number of books have been published posthumously: the bestselling novel Sleeping Murder appeared later that year, followed by her autobiography and the short story collections Miss Marple’s Final Cases, Problem at Pollensa Bay and While the Light Lasts. In 1998 Black Coffee was the first of her plays to be novelized by another author, Charles Osborne.
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