The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie [88]
‘I am quite at a loss to understand you, Sir Eustace. I suppose you are joking.’
‘I am an amusing fellow sometimes, when I take the trouble, but I can assure you that I am not trying to be funny this minute.’
‘I hoped that as I was a good way off you had not recognized me, Sir Eustace.’
‘Recognized you where?’
‘At Marlow, Sir Eustace?’
‘At Marlow? What the devil were you doing at Marlow?’
‘I thought you understood that–’
‘I’m beginning to understand less and less. Go back to the beginning of the story and start again. You went to Florence–’
‘Then you don’t know after all–and you didn’t recognize me!’
‘As far as I can judge, you seem to have given yourself away needlessly–made a coward of by your conscience. But I shall be able to tell better when I’ve heard the whole story. Now, then, take a deep breath and start again. You went to Florence–’
‘But I didn’t go to Florence. That is just it.’
‘Well, where did you go, then?’
‘I went home–to Marlow.’
‘What the devil did you want to go to Marlow for?’
‘I wanted to see my wife. She was in delicate health and expecting–’
‘Your wife? But I didn’t know you were married!’
‘No, Sir Eustace, that is just what I am telling you. I deceived you in this matter.’
‘How long have you been married?’
‘Just over eight years. I had been married just six months when I became your secretary. I did not want to lose the post. A resident secretary is not supposed to have a wife, so I suppressed the fact.’
‘You take my breath away,’ I remarked. ‘Where has she been all these years?’
‘We have had a small bungalow on the river at Marlow, quite close to the Mill House, for over five years.’
‘God bless my soul,’ I muttered. ‘Any children?’
‘Four children, Sir Eustace.’
I gazed at him in a kind of stupor. I might have known, all along, that a man like Pagett couldn’t have a guilty secret. The respectability of Pagett has always been my bane. That’s just the kind of secret he would have–a wife and four children.
‘Have you told this to anyone else?’ I demanded at last, when I had gazed at him in fascinated interest for quite a long while.
‘Only Miss Beddingfeld. She came to the station at Kimberley.’
I continued to stare at him. He fidgeted under my glance.
‘I hope, Sir Eustace, that you are not seriously annoyed?’
‘My dear fellow,’ I said, ‘I don’t mind telling you here and now that you’ve blinking well torn it!’
I went out seriously ruffled. As I passed the corner curioshop, I was assailed by a sudden irresistible temptation and went in. The proprietor came forward obsequiously, rubbing his hands.
‘Can I show you something? Furs, curios?’
‘I want something quite out of the ordinary,’ I said. ‘It’s for a special occasion. Will you show me what you’ve got?’
‘Perhaps you will come into my back room? We have many specialities there.’
That is where I made a mistake. And I thought I was going to be so clever. I followed him through the swinging portières.
Chapter 32
(Anne’s Narrative Resumed)
I had great trouble with Suzanne. She argued, she pleaded, she even wept before she would let me carry out my plan. But in the end I got my own way. She promised to carry out my instructions to the letter and came down to the station to bid me a tearful farewell.
I arrived at my destination the following morning early. I was met by a short black-bearded Dutchman whom I had never seen before. He had a car waiting and we drove off. There was a queer booming in the distance, and I asked him what it was. ‘Guns,’ he answered laconically. So there was fighting going on in Jo’burg!
I gathered that our objective was a spot somewhere in the suburbs of the city. We turned and twisted and made several detours to get there, and every minute the guns were nearer. It was an exciting time. At last we stopped before a somewhat ramshackle building. The door was opened by a Kafir boy. My guide signed to me to enter. I stood irresolute in the dingy square hall. The man passed