Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie [59]
‘My hero!’ murmured Virginia.
Bill peered at her suspiciously through the darkness. He heard a faint sound which might have been either a sob or a laugh. Then he grasped the poker firmly and rose to his feet. He felt that he was fully alive to the situation.
Very softly, he turned the handle of the door. It yielded and swung gently inwards. Bill felt Virginia close beside him. Together they moved noiselessly into the room.
At the farther end of the room, the torch was playing upon the Holbein picture. Silhouetted against it was the figure of a man, standing on a chair and gently tapping on the panelling. His back, of course, was to them, and he merely loomed up as a monstrous shadow.
What more they might have seen cannot be told, for at that moment Bill’s nails squeaked upon the parquet floor. The man swung round, directing the powerful torch full upon them and almost dazzling them with the sudden glare.
Bill did not hesitate.
‘Go,’ he roared to Virginia, and sprang for his man, as she obediently pressed down the switch of the electric lights.
The big chandelier should have been flooded with light; but instead, all that happened was the click of the switch. The room remained in darkness.
Virginia heard Bill curse freely. The next minute the air was filled with panting, scuffling sounds. The torch had fallen to the ground and extinguished itself in the fall. There was the sound of a desperate struggle going on in the darkness, but as to who was getting the better of it, and indeed as to who was taking part in it, Virginia had no idea. Had there been anyone else in the room besides the man who was tapping the panelling? There might have been. Their glimpse had been only a momentary one.
Virginia felt paralysed. She hardly knew what to do. She dared not try to join in the struggle. To do so might hamper and not aid Bill. Her one idea was to stay in the doorway, so that anyone trying to escape should not leave the room that way. At the same time, she disobeyed Bill’s express instructions and screamed loudly and repeatedly for help.
She heard doors opening upstairs, and a sudden gleam of light from the hall and the big staircase. If only Bill could hold his man until help came.
But at that minute there was a final terrific upheaval. They must have crashed into one of the figures in armour, for it fell to the ground with a deafening noise. Virginia saw dimly a figure springing for the window, and at the same time heard Bill cursing and disengaging himself from fragments of armour.
For the first time, she left her post, and rushed wildly for the figure at the window. But the window was already unlatched. The intruder had no need to stop and fumble for it. He sprang out and raced away down the terrace and round the corner of the house. Virginia raced after him. She was young and athletic, and she turned the corner of the terrace not many seconds after her quarry.
But there she ran headlong into the arms of a man who was emerging from a small side door. It was Mr Hiram P. Fish.
‘Gee! It’s a lady,’ he exclaimed. ‘Why, I beg your pardon, Mrs Revel. I took you for one of the thugs fleeing from justice.’
‘He’s just passed this way,’ cried Virginia breathlessly. ‘Can’t we catch him?’
But even as she spoke, she knew it was too late. The man must have gained the park by now, and it was a dark night with no moon. She retraced her steps to the Council Chamber, Mr Fish by her side, discoursing in a soothing monotone upon the habits of burglars in general, of which he seemed to have a wide experience.
Lord Caterham, Bundle and various frightened servants were standing in the doorway of the Council Chamber.
‘What the devil’s the matter?’ asked Bundle. ‘Is it burglars? What are you and Mr Fish doing, Virginia? Taking a midnight stroll?’
Virginia explained the events of the evening.
‘How frightfully exciting,’ commented Bundle. ‘You don’t usually get a murder and a burglary crowded into one weekend. What’s the matter with the lights in here? They’re all right