Agatha Christie The Hollow Chapter I At 6:13 a.m. ... - bzelbublive.info

and the whole thing will die out." "Does it matter so much, Lucy?" "Of course itmatters! Ainswick r) "You should have been a boy, Lucy." But he smiled a little--forhe could not imagine Lucy being anything but feminine."It all depends on Edward's marrying— and Edward's so obstinate—that long headof his, like my father's. I hoped he'd get over Henrietta and marry some nice girl—but Isee now that that's hopeless. Then I thought that Henrietta's affair with John would runthe usual course. John's affairs were never, I imagined, very permanent. But I saw himlooking at her the other evening. He really cared about her. If only John were out of theway I felt that Henrietta would marry Edward. She's not the kind of person to cherisha memory and live in the past. So, you see, it all came to that—get rid of John Christow.""Lucy. You didn't— What did you do, Lucy?"Lady Angkatell got up again. She took two dead flowers out of a vase. "Darling,"she said, "you don't imagine for a moment, do you, that / shot John Christow? Idid have that silly idea about an accident. But then, you know, I remembered thatwe'd asked John Christow here—it's not as though he proposed himself. One can'task someone to be a guest and then arrange accidents. Even Arabs are most particularabout hospitality. So don't worry, will you, Henry?" She stood looking at him witha brilliant, affectionate smile. He said heavily: "I always worry about you, Lucy. ...""There's no need,darling. And you see, everything has actually turned out all right.John has been got rid of without our doing anything about it. It reminds me," said LadyAngkatell reminiscently, "of that man in Bombay who was so frightfully rude to me.He was run over by a tram three days later." She unbolted the French window andwent out into the garden. Sir Henry sat still, watching her tall slender figurewander down the path. He looked old and tired and his face was the face of a manwho lives at close quarters with fear. In the kitchen a tearful Doris Emmott waswilting under the stern reproof of Mr. Gudgeon. Mrs. Medway and Miss Simmonsacted as a kind of Greek Chorus. "Putting yourself forward and jumping toconclusions in a way only an inexperienced girl would do." "That's right," saidMrs. Medway."If you see me with a pistol in my hand, the proper thing to do is to come to me andsay, 'Mr. Gudgeon, will you be so kind as to give me an explanation?5" "Or youcould have come to me," put in Mrs. Medway. "Pm always willing to tell a younggirl what doesn't know the world what she ought to think." "What you should nothave done," said Gudgeon severely, "is to go babbling off to a policeman--and onlya Sergeant at that! Never get mixed up with the police more than you can help. It'spainful enough having them in the house at all." "Inexpressibly painful,"murmured Miss Simmons. "Such a thing never happened to me before." "We allknow," went on Gudgeon, "what her ladyship is like. Nothing her ladyshipdoes would ever surprise me--but the police don't know her ladyship the way we do,and it's not to be thought of that her ladyship should be worried with sillyquestions and suspicions just because she wanders about with firearms. It's the