The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie [85]
‘The big ones were sent down to Cape Town. I heard from Pagett before I left the Falls, and he enclosed the receipt for their storage. He’s leaving Cape Town today by the by, to join Sir Eustace in Johannesburg.’
‘I see,’ I said thoughtfully. ‘And the small ones, where are they?’
‘I suppose Sir Eustace has got them with him.’
I turned the matter over in my mind.
‘Well,’ I said at last, ‘it’s awkward–but it’s safe enough. We’d better do nothing for the present.’
Suzanne looked at me with a little smile.
‘You don’t like doing nothing, do you, Anne?’
‘Not very much,’ I replied honestly.
The one thing I could do was to get hold of a time-table and see what time Guy Pagett’s train would pass through Kimberley. I found that it would arrive at 5.40 on the following afternoon and depart again at 6. I wanted to see Pagett as soon as possible, and that seemed to me a good opportunity. The situation on the Rand was getting very serious, and it might be a long time before I got another chance.
The only thing that livened up the day was a wire dispatched from Johannesburg. A most innocent-sounding telegram:
‘Arrived safely. All going well. Eric here, also Eustace, but not Guy. Remain where you are for the present. Andy.’
II
Eric was our pseudonym for Race. I chose it because it is a name I dislike exceedingly. There was clearly nothing to be done until I could see Pagett. Suzanne employed herself in sending off a long soothing cable to the far-off Clarence. She became quite sentimental over him. In her way–which of course is quite different from me and Harry–she is really fond of Clarence.
‘I do wish he was here, Anne,’ she gulped. ‘It’s such a long time since I’ve seen him.’
‘Have some face-cream,’ I said soothingly.
Suzanne rubbed a little on the tip of her charming nose.
‘I shall want some more face-cream soon too,’ she remarked, ‘and you can only get this kind in Paris.’ She sighed. ‘Paris!’
‘Suzanne,’ I said, ‘very soon you’ll have had enough of South Africa and adventure.’
‘I should like a really nice hat,’ admitted Suzanne wistfully. ‘Shall I come with you to meet Guy Pagett tomorrow?’
‘I prefer to go alone. He’d be shyer speaking before two of us.’
So it came about that I was standing in the doorway of the hotel on the following afternoon, struggling with a recalcitrant parasol that refused to go up, whilst Suzanne lay peacefully on her bed with a book and a basket of fruit.
According to the hotel porter, the train was on its good behaviour today and would be almost on time, though he was extremely doubtful whether it would ever get through to Johannesburg. The line had been blown up, so he solemnly assured me. It sounded cheerful!
The train drew in just ten minutes late. Everybody tumbled out on the platform and began walking up and down feverishly. I had no difficulty in espying Pagett. I accosted him eagerly. He gave his usual nervous start at seeing me–somewhat accentuated this time.
‘Dear me, Miss Beddingfeld, I understood that you had disappeared.’
‘I have reappeared again,’ I told him solemnly. ‘And how are you, Mr Pagett?’
‘Very well, thank you–looking forward to taking up my work again with Sir Eustace.’
‘Mr Pagett,’ I said, ‘there is something I want to ask you. I hope that you won’t be offended, but a lot hangs on it, more than you can possibly guess. I want to know what you were doing at Marlow on the 8th of January last?’
He started violently.
‘Really, Miss Beddingfeld–I–indeed–’
‘You were there, weren’t you?’
‘I–for reasons of my own I was in the neighbourhood, yes.’
‘Won’t you tell me what those reasons were?’
‘Sir Eustace has not already told you?’
‘Sir Eustace? Does he know?’
‘I am almost sure that he does. I hoped he had not recognized me, but from the hints he has let drop, and his remarks, I fear it is only too certain. In any case, I meant to make a clean breast of the matter and offer my resignation. He is a peculiar man, Miss Beddingfeld, with an abnormal sense