The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie [103]
‘I shall stick to the old ship, I think, though it’s awfully good of Hersheimmer. But I feel you’d be more at home in London.’
‘I don’t see where I come in.’
‘I do,’ said Tommy positively.
Tuppence stole a glance at him sideways.
‘There’s the money, too,’ she observed thoughtfully.
‘What money?’
‘We’re going to get a cheque each. Mr Carter told me so.’
‘Did you ask how much?’ inquired Tommy sarcastically.
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence triumphantly. ‘But I shan’t tell you.’
‘Tuppence, you are the limit!’
‘It has been fun, hasn’t it, Tommy? I do hope we shall have lots more adventures.’
‘You’re insatiable, Tuppence. I’ve had quite enough adventures for the present.’
‘Well, shopping is almost as good,’ said Tuppence dreamily. ‘Thinking of buying old furniture, and bright carpets, and futurist silk curtains, and a polished dining-table, and a divan with lots of cushions–’
‘Hold hard,’ said Tommy. ‘What’s all this for?’
‘Possibly a house–but I think a flat.’
‘Whose flat?’
‘You think I mind saying it, but I don’t in the least! Ours, so there!’
‘You darling!’ cried Tommy, his arms tightly round her. ‘I was determined to make you say it. I owe you something for the relentless way you’ve squashed me whenever I’ve tried to be sentimental.’
Tuppence raised her face to his. The taxi proceeded on its course round the north side of Regent’s Park.
‘You haven’t really proposed now,’ pointed out Tuppence. ‘Not what our grandmothers would call a proposal. But after listening to a rotten one like Julius’s, I’m inclined to let you off.’
‘You won’t be able to get out of marrying me, so don’t you think it.’
‘What fun it will be,’ responded Tuppence. ‘Marriage is called all sorts of things, a haven, a refuge, and a crowning glory, and a state of bondage, and lots more. But do you know what I think it is?’
‘What?’
‘A sport!’
‘And a damned good sport too,’ said Tommy.
About Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Mrs Christie is the author of eighty crime novels and short story collections, nineteen plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.
Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of World War I (during which she served in the Voluntary Aid Detachments). In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian investigator who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. After having been rejected by a number of houses, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920.
In 1926, now averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her masterpiece. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by William Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relationship that lasted for fifty years and produced over seventy books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie’s works to be dramatised—as Alibi—and to have a successful run in London’s West End. The Mousetrap, her most famous play, opened in 1952 and runs to this day at St Martin’s Theatre in the West End; it is the longest-running play in history.
Agatha Christie was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976, since when a number of her books have been published: the bestselling novel Sleeping Murder appeared in 1976, followed by An Autobiography and the short story collections Miss Marple’s Final Cases; Problem at Pollensa Bay; and While the Light Lasts. In 1998, Black Coffee was the first of her plays to be novelised by Charles Osborne, Mrs Christie’s biographer.
The Agatha Christie Collection
Christie Crime Classics
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Secret of Chimneys
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Mysterious Mr Quin
The Sittaford Mystery
The Hound of Death
The Listerdale Mystery