Christie, Agatha - The Rose and the Yew Tree by Christie Agatha

Author:Christie, Agatha [Christie, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

On the morning of the whist drive, Captain Carslake came and unburdened himself of a great deal of alarm and despondency.

‘There’s nothing in it,’ he said. ‘Of course there’s nothing in it! I’ve known little Mrs Burt all my life. She’s quite all right – very strictly brought up and all that – a thoroughly nice little woman. But you know what people’s minds are.’

I knew what his wife’s mind was. It was probably his criterion for judging other people’s.

He continued walking up and down and rubbing his nose in an exasperated fashion.

‘Gabriel’s a good-natured chap. He’s been nice to her. But he’s been careless – you can’t afford to be careless during an election.’

‘What you really mean is you can’t afford to be kind.’

‘Exactly – exactly. Gabriel’s been too kind – kind in public. Having morning coffee with her at the Ginger Cat café. It doesn’t look well. Why should he have coffee with her there?’

‘Why shouldn’t he?’

Carslake ignored that.

‘All the old cats are there having their elevenses at that time. Then I believe he walked quite a long way with her in the town the other morning – he actually carried her shopping bag for her.’

‘A Conservative gentleman could do no less,’ I murmured.

Carslake still paid no attention to my remarks.

‘And he gave her a lift in his car one day – out by Sprague’s farm it was. Quite a long way out. Made it look as though they’d been off together for an outing.’

‘After all, this is nineteen forty-five not eighteen forty-five,’ I said.

‘Things haven’t altered much down here,’ said Carslake. ‘I don’t mean the new bungalows and the arty crowd – they’re up-to-date, no morals to speak of – but they’ll vote Labour anyway. It’s the solid respectable old-fashioned part of the town that we’ve got to worry about. Gabriel will really have to be more careful.’

Half an hour later I had Gabriel burst in upon me in a white heat of indignation. Carslake had made tactful representations to him and the result had been the usual result of tactful words spoken in season.

‘Carslake,’ he said, ‘is a foul-minded old woman! Do you know what he’s had the cheek to say to me?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I know all about it. And by the way, this is the time of day when I rest. I don’t have visitors.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Gabriel. ‘You don’t need to rest. You’re perpetually resting. You’ve got to listen to what I have to say about this. Damn it, I’ve got to let off steam to someone, and as I told you the other day, it’s about all you’re good for, and you might as well make up your mind to listen gracefully to people when they want to hear the sound of their own voices!’

‘I remember the particularly charming way you put it,’ I said.

‘I really said it because I wanted to get under your skin.’

‘I knew that.’

‘I suppose it was rather a brutal thing to say, but after all, it’s no good your being thin-skinned.

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