The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie [38]
‘And there ain’t no place,’ wailed Alfred. ‘Look round for yourself, your ladyship, if you don’t believe me.’
Bundle was forced to admit that there was something in this argument. But she had the true spirit of one undertaking adventures.
‘Nonsense,’ she said with determination. ‘There has got to be a place.’
‘But there ain’t one,’ wailed Alfred.
Never had a room shown itself more unpropitious for concealment. Dingy blinds were drawn down over the dirty window panes, and there were no curtains. The window sill outside, which Bundle examined, was about four inches wide! Inside the room there were the table, the chairs and the cupboards.
The second cupboard had a key in the lock. Bundle went across and pulled it open. Inside were shelves covered with an odd assortment of glasses and crockery.
‘Surplus stuff as we don’t use,’ explained Alfred. ‘You can see for yourself, my lady, there’s no place here as a cat could hide.’
But Bundle was examining the shelves.
‘Flimsy work,’ she said. ‘Now then, Alfred, have you got a cupboard downstairs where you could shove all this glass? You have? Good. Then get a tray and start to carry it down at once. Hurry–there’s no time to lose.’
‘You can’t, my lady. And it’s getting late, too. The cooks will be here any minute now.’
‘Mr Mosgo–whatnot doesn’t come till later, I suppose?’
‘He’s never here much before midnight. But oh, my lady–’
‘Don’t talk so much, Alfred,’ said Bundle. ‘Get that tray. If you stay here arguing, you will get into trouble.’
Doing what is familiarly known as ‘wringing his hands’, Alfred departed. Presently he returned with a tray, and having by now realized that his protests were useless, he worked with a nervous energy quite surprising.
As Bundle had seen, the shelves were easily detachable. She took them down, ranged them upright against the wall, and then stepped in.
‘H’m,’ she remarked. ‘Pretty narrow. It’s going to be a tight fit. Shut the door on me carefully, Alfred–that’s right. Yes, it can be done. Now I want a gimlet.’
‘A gimlet, my lady?’
‘That’s what I said.’
‘I don’t know–’
‘Nonsense, you must have a gimlet–perhaps you’ve got an auger as well. If you haven’t got what I want, you’ll have to go out and buy it, so you’d better try hard to find the right thing.’
Alfred departed and returned presently with quite a creditable assortment of tools. Bundle seized what she wanted and proceeded swiftly and efficiently to bore a small hole at the level of her right eye. She did this from the outside so that it should be less noticeable, and she dared not make it too large lest it should attract attention.
‘There, that’ll do,’ she remarked at last.
‘Oh, but, my lady, my lady–’
‘Yes?’
‘But they’ll find you–if they should open the door.’
‘They won’t open the door,’ said Bundle. ‘Because you are going to lock it and take the key away.’
‘And if by chance Mr Mosgorovsky should ask for the key?’
‘Tell him it’s lost,’ said Bundle briskly. ‘But nobody’s going to worry about this cupboard–it’s only here to attract attention from the other one and make it a pair. Go on, Alfred, someone might come at any time. Lock me in and take the key and come and let me out when everyone’s gone.’
‘You’ll be taken bad, my lady. You’ll faint–’
‘I never faint,’ said Bundle. ‘But you might as well get me a cocktail. I shall certainly need it. Then lock the door of the room again–don’t forget–and take the door keys back to their proper doors. And Alfred–don’t be too much of a rabbit. Remember, if anything goes wrong, I’ll see you through.’
‘And that’s that,’ said Bundle to herself, when having served the cocktail, Alfred had finally departed.
She was not nervous lest Alfred’s nerve should fail and he should give her away. She knew that his sense of self-preservation was far too strong for that. His training alone helped him to conceal private emotions beneath the mask of a well-trained servant.
Only one thing worried Bundle. The interpretation she