Postern of Fate (Tommy and Tuppence Series) - Agatha Christie [77]
‘Well, I should like to pay a visit to it,’ said Tuppence. ‘Certainly. Is there any particular time one goes there?’
‘Well, any time you like, I suppose, but the afternoon would be a good time, you know. Yes. That’s when they can say they’ve got a friend coming–if they’ve got a friend coming they get extra things for tea, you know. Biscuits sometimes, with sugar on. And crisps sometimes. Things like that. What did you say, Fred?’
Fred took a step forward. He gave a somewhat pompous bow to Tuppence.
‘I shall be very happy,’ he said, ‘to escort you. Shall we say about half past three this afternoon?’
‘Ah, be yourself,’ said Clarence. ‘Don’t go talking like that.’
‘I shall be very pleased to come,’ said Tuppence. She looked at the water. ‘I can’t help being rather sorry that there aren’t any goldfish any more.’
‘You ought to have seen the ones with five tails. Wonderful, they was. Somebody’s dog fell in here once. Mrs Faggett’s, it was.’
He was contradicted. ‘No it wasn’t. It was somebody else, her name was Follyo, not Fagot–’
‘It was Foliatt and it was spelt with a plain f. Not a capital letter.’
‘Ah, don’t be silly. It was someone quite different. It was that Miss French, that was. Two small ffs she spelt it with.’
‘Did the dog drown?’ asked Tuppence.
‘No, he didn’t drown. He was only a puppy, you see, and his mother was upset and she went along and she pulled at Miss French’s dress. Miss Isabel was in the orchard picking apples and the mother dog pulled at her dress and Miss Isabel she come along and she saw the puppy drowning and she jumped right into this here and pulled it out. Wet through, she was, and the dress she was wearing was never fit for wearing again.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence, ‘what a lot of things seem to have gone on here. All right,’ she said, ‘I’ll be ready this afternoon. Perhaps two or three of you would come for me and take me to this Pensioners’ Palace Club.’
‘What three? Who’s going to come?’
Uproar happened immediately.
‘I’m coming…No, I’m not…No, Betty is…No, Betty shan’t come. Betty went the other day. I mean, she went to the cinema party the other day. She can’t go again.’
‘Well, settle it between you,’ said Tuppence, ‘and come here at half past three.’
‘I hope you’ll find it interesting,’ said Clarence.
‘It will be of historical interest,’ said the intellectual girl firmly.
‘Oh, shut up, Janet!’ said Clarence. He turned to Tuppence. ‘She’s always like that,’ he said, ‘Janet is. She goes to grammar school, that’s why. She boasts about it, see? A comprehensive wasn’t good enough for her and her parents made a fuss and now she’s at grammar school. That’s why she goes on like this all the time.’
II
Tuppence wondered, as she finished her lunch, whether the events of the morning would produce any sequel. Would anybody really come to escort her this afternoon and take her to the PPC? Was there any such thing really as the PPC or was it a nickname of some kind that the children had invented? Anyway, it might be fun, Tuppence thought, to sit waiting in case someone came.
However, the deputation was punctual to the minute. At half past three the bell rang, Tuppence rose from her seat by the fire, clapped a hat upon her head–an indiarubber hat because she thought it would probably rain–and Albert appeared to escort her to the front door.’
‘Not going to let you go with just anyone,’ he breathed into her ear.
‘Look here, Albert,’ whispered Tuppence, ‘is there really such a place as the PPC here?’
‘I thought that had something to do with visiting cards,’ said Albert, who was always prone to show his complete knowledge of social customs. ‘You know, what you leave on people when you’re going away or when you’re arriving, I’m not sure which.’
‘I think it’s something to do with pensioners.’
‘Oh yes, they’ve got a sort of a place. Yes. Built just