The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie [41]
‘Married a perfectly decent respectable girl.’
‘Major Burnaby,’ said Emily, ‘forgive me putting it this way—but didn’t you get the wind up rather easily about him?’
The Major rubbed his nose with the embarrassed air that always came over him when the table-turning was mentioned.
‘Yes, there’s no denying it, I did. I knew the whole thing was tommy rot and yet—’
‘You felt somehow it wasn’t,’ said Emily helpfully.
The Major nodded.
‘That’s why I wonder—’ said Emily.
The two men looked at her.
‘I can’t quite put what I mean in the way I want,’ said Emily. ‘What I mean is this: You say that you don’t believe in all this table-turning business—and yet, in spite of the awful weather and what must have seemed to you the absurdity of the whole thing—you felt so uneasy that you had to set out, no matter what the weather conditions, and see for yourself that Captain Trevelyan was all right. Well, don’t you think that may have been because—because there was something in the atmosphere?
‘I mean,’ she continued desperately as she saw no trace of comprehension in the Major’s face, ‘that there was something in someone else’s mind as well as yours. And that somehow or other you felt it.’
‘Well, I don’t know,’ said the Major. He rubbed his nose again. ‘Of course,’ he added hopefully, ‘women do take these things seriously.’
‘Women!’ said Emily. ‘Yes,’ she murmured softly to herself, ‘I believe somehow or other that’s it.’
She turned abruptly to Major Burnaby.
‘What are they like, these Willetts?’
‘Oh, well,’ Major Burnaby cast about in his mind, he was clearly no good at personal description. ‘Well—they are very kind you know—very helpful and all that.’
‘Why do they want to take a house like Sittaford House at this time of year?’
‘I can’t imagine,’ said the Major. ‘Nobody does,’ he added.
‘Don’t you think it’s very queer?’ persisted Emily.
‘Of course, it’s queer. However, there’s no accounting for tastes. That’s what the Inspector said.’
‘That’s nonsense,’ said Emily. ‘People don’t do things without a reason.’
‘Well, I don’t know,’ said Major Burnaby cautiously. ‘Some people don’t. You wouldn’t, Miss Trefusis. But some people—’ He sighed and shook his head.
‘You are sure they hadn’t met Captain Trevelyan before?’
The Major scouted the idea. Trevelyan would have said something to him. No, he was as astonished himself as anyone could be.
‘So he thought it queer?’
‘Of course, I’ve just told you we all did.’
‘What was Mrs Willett’s attitude towards Captain Trevelyan?’ asked Emily. ‘Did she try and avoid him?’
A faint chuckle came from the Major.
‘No, indeed she didn’t. Pestered the life out of him always asking him to come and see them.’
‘Oh!’ said Emily thoughtfully. She paused and then said. ‘So she might—just possibly she might have taken Sittaford House just on purpose to get acquainted with Captain Trevelyan.’
‘Well,’ the Major seemed to turn it over in his mind. ‘Yes, I suppose she might have. Rather an expensive way of doing things.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Emily. ‘Captain Trevelyan wouldn’t have been an easy person to get to know otherwise.’
‘No, he wouldn’t,’ agreed the late Captain Trevelyan’s friend.
‘I wonder,’ said Emily.
‘The Inspector thought of that too,’ said Burnaby.
Emily felt a sudden irritation against Inspector Narracott. Everything that she thought of seemed to have already been thought of by the Inspector. It was galling to a young woman who prided herself on being sharper than other people.
She rose and held out her hand.
‘Thank you very much,’ she said simply.
‘I wish I could help you more,’ said the Major. ‘I’m rather an obvious sort of person—always have been. If I were a clever chap I might be able to hit upon something that might be a clue. At any rate count on me for anything you want.’
‘Thank you,’ said Emily. ‘I will.’
‘Good-bye, sir,’ said Enderby. ‘I shall be along in the morning with my camera, you know.’
Burnaby grunted.
Emily and Charles retraced their steps to Mrs Curtis’s.
‘Come into my room, I want to talk to you,’ said Emily.
She sat on the one