The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie [55]
‘He must be a very handsome fellow,’ said Sir Eustace plaintively. ‘Some young whipper-snapper in Durban, I suppose, who puts my mature charms completely in the shade. By the way, Pagett’s going down in the car in a minute or two. He could take you to the station.’
‘Oh, no, thank you,’ I said hastily. ‘Mrs Blair and I have got our own taxi ordered.’
To go down with Guy Pagett was the last thing I wanted! Sir Eustace looked at me attentively.
‘I don’t believe you like Pagett. I don’t blame you. Of all the officious, interfering asses–going about with the air of a martyr, and doing everything he can to annoy and upset me!’
‘What has he done now?’ I inquired with some curiosity.
‘He’s got hold of a secretary for me. You never saw such a woman! Forty, if she’s a day, wears pince-nez and sensible boots and an air of brisk efficiency that will be the death of me. A regular slab-faced woman.’
‘Won’t she hold your hand?’
‘I devoutly hope not!’ exclaimed Sir Eustace. ‘That would be the last straw. Well, goodbye, liquid eyes. If I shoot a lion I shan’t give you the skin–after the base way you’ve deserted me.’
He squeezed my hand warmly and we parted. Suzanne was waiting for me in the hall. She was to come down to see me off.
‘Let’s start at once,’ I said hastily, and motioned to the man to get a taxi.
Then a voice behind me made me start:
‘Excuse me, Miss Beddingfeld, but I’m just going down in a car. I can drop you and Mrs Blair at the station.’
‘Oh, thank you,’ I said hastily. ‘But there’s no need to trouble you. I–’
‘No trouble at all, I assure you. Put the luggage in, porter.’
I was helpless. I might have protested further, but a slight warning nudge from Suzanne urged me to be on my guard.
‘Thank you, Mr Pagett,’ I said coldly.
We all got into the car. As we raced down the road into the town, I racked my brains for something to say. In the end Pagett himself broke the silence.
‘I have secured a very capable secretary for Sir Eustace,’ he observed. ‘Miss Pettigrew.’
‘He wasn’t exactly raving about her just now,’ I remarked.
Pagett looked at me coldly.
‘She is a proficient shorthand-typist,’ he said repressively.
We pulled up in front of the station. Here surely he would leave us. I turned with outstretched hand–but no.
‘I’ll come and see you off. It’s just eight o’clock, your train goes in a quarter of an hour.’
He gave efficient directions to porters. I stood helpless, not daring to look at Suzanne. The man suspected. He was determined to make sure that I did go by the train. And what could I do? Nothing. I saw myself, in a quarter of an hour’s time, steaming out of the station with Pagett planted on the platform waving me adieu. He had turned the tables on me adroitly. His manner towards me had changed, moreover. It was full of an uneasy geniality which sat ill upon him, and which nauseated me. The man was an oily hypocrite. First he tried to murder me, and now he paid me compliments! Did he imagine for one minute that I hadn’t recognized him that night on the boat? No, it was a pose, a pose which he forced me to acquiesce in, his tongue in his cheek all the while.
Helpless as a sheep, I moved along under his expert directions. My luggage was piled in my sleeping compartment–I had a two-berth one to myself. It was twelve minutes past eight. In three minutes the train would start.
But Pagett had reckoned without Suzanne.
‘It will be a terribly hot journey, Anne,’ she said suddenly. ‘Especially going through the Karoo tomorrow. You’ve got some eau-de-Cologne or lavender water with you, haven’t you?’
My cue was plain.
‘Oh, dear,’ I cried. ‘I left my eau-de-Cologne on the dressing-table at the hotel.’
Suzanne’s habit of command served her well. She turned imperiously to Pagett.
‘Mr Pagett. Quick. You’ve just time. There’s a chemist almost opposite the station. Anne must have some eau-de-Cologne.’
He hesitated, but Suzanne’s imperative manner was too much for him. She is a born autocrat. He went. Suzanne followed him with her eyes till he disappeared.
‘Quick, Anne, get out the other side–in case