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

told the Inspector and he quite understands."Lady Angkatell shook her head. She said gently: "You really shouldn't have saidthat. Gudgeon. I'll talk to the Inspector myself." Gudgeon made a slight movementand Lady Angkatell said very charmingly: "I do appreciate your motives.Gudgeon. I know how you always try to save us trouble and annoyance." Sheadded in gentle dismissal, "That will be all now." Gudgeon hesitated, threw a fleetingglance towards Sir Henry and then at the Inspector, then bowed and moved towardsthe door. Grange made a motion as though to stop him, but for some reason hewas not able to define to himself, he let his arm fall again. Gudgeon went out andclosed the door. Lady Angkatell dropped into a chair and smiled at the two men.She said conversationally:"You know, I really do think that was very charming of Gudgeon. Quitefeudal, if you know what I mean. Yes, feudal is the right word." Grange saidstiffly: "Am I to understand. Lady Angkatell, that you yourself have some furtherknowledge about the matter?" "Of course. Gudgeon didn't find it in the hallat all. He found it when he took the eggs out." "The eggs?" Inspector Grangestared at her. "Out of the basket," said Lady Angkatell. She seemed to thinkthat everything was now quite clear. Sir Henry said gently:"You must tell us a little more, my dear. Inspector Grange and I are still at sea.""Oh!" Lady Angkatell set herself to be explicit. "The pistol you see was in the basket,under the eggs." "What basket and what eggs. Lady Angkatell?" "Thebasket I took down to the farm. The pistol was in it, and then I put the eggs in ontop of the pistol and forgot all about it. And when we found poor John Christowdead by the pool, it was such a shock I let go of the basket and Gudgeon just caught itin time (because of the eggs, I mean. If I'd dropped it they would have been broken), andhe brought it back to the house. And later I asked him about writing the date onthe eggs--a thing I always do--otherwise one eats the fresher eggs sometimes beforethe older ones--and he said all that had been attended to--and now that I remember, hewas rather emphatic about it. And that is what I mean by being feudal. He found thepistol and put it back in here--I suppose really because there were police in the house.Servants are always so worried by police, I find. Very nice and loyal--but also quitestupid, because, of course. Inspector, it's the truth you want to hear, isn't it?" AndLady Angkatell finished up by giving the Inspector a beaming smile. "The truth iswhat I mean to get," said Grange rather grimly. Lady Angkatell sighed. "Itall seems such a fuss, doesn't it?" she said. "I mean, all this hounding people down.I don't suppose whoever it was thatshot John Christow really meant to shoot him--not seriously, I mean. If it was Gerda,I'm sure she didn't. In fact, I'm really surprised that she didn't miss--it's the sort ofthing that one would expect of Gerda. And I she's really a very nice, kind creature. Andif you go and put her in prison and hang ・her, what on earth is going to happen to the(children? If she did shoot John, she's probably dreadfully sorry about it now. It's bad