Отель Hotel by Артур Хейли

Author:Артур Хейли [Хейли, Артур]
Language: rus
Format: epub
Tags: Иностранные языки, Литература 20 века, Зарубежная классика
Publisher: ООО «ЛитРес», www.litres.ru
Published: 2020-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

9

A second after knocking at the door of room 1410, Christine Francis wondered why she had come. Maybe she was, at this moment, just plain lonely, wanting to offset her disappointment in learning she would not meet Peter this evening.

Christine knocked again, more sharply. The door opened to reveal Albert Wells. He was fully dressed. He looked well and there was color in his face, which brightened as he saw Christine. “I was hoping you’d come, miss.”

She said, surprised, “I thought…”

“I sent the hotel doctor for Dr. Uxbridge. He said I was fine, and the nursing service was no longer needed.” He beamed.

As she followed him into the room, he asked, “Did you knock before? I’m sorry. I guess my mind was on this.” He pointed to a table near the window. On it was a large and intricate jigsaw puzzle, of which about two thirds was completed. “Or I thought it was Bailey.”

Christine asked curiously, “Who’s Bailey?”

“If you stay a minute, you’ll meet him.”

She leaned over the jigsaw puzzle, inspecting it, “I used to do these a long time ago with my father.”

“I set out one of these when I want to think. Sometimes I discover the key piece, and the answer to what I’m thinking about, around the same time.”

Abruptly there was a sharp, authoritative knock at the outer door.

She was surprised, when the door opened, to see a uniformed hotel valet. He had a collection of suits, which he put into a closet and returned to the door, where he stopped with his palm outstretched.

“I already took care of you,” Albert Wells said with amusement in his voice. “When the suit was picked up this morning. You’re Bailey. I tipped your friend Barnum.”

Bailey grinned sheepishly and went out, closing the door behind him.

“What was all that about?” asked Christine.

The little man chuckled, “It’s a simple thing, miss. Hotel valets work in pairs, but the one who picks up a suit is never the one who delivers it back. They figure it that way, so mostly they get tipped twice.”

She laughed. “How did you find out?”

“A valet told me once.”

“You don’t like tipping, Mr. Wells?”

“I tipped Barnum well this morning – sort of paying in advance for the bit of fun I had with Bailey just now. What I don’t like is to be taken for a fool. And many here figure they can get away with anything. It’s because you don’t have good management, though it could be good.”

“Peter McDermott told me exactly the same thing – almost in those words.”

“Now there’s a smart young man. We had a talk yesterday.”

“Peter came here? I didn’t know.”

“Are you going to marry him, miss?”

She protested, “Whatever gave you that idea?”

Albert Wells chuckled, reminding her of a mischievous elf.

“I sort of guessed – by the way you said his name just now. If that young man has the kind of sense, he’ll find out he doesn’t have to look much further, miss.”

“You read people’s minds, then you make them feel terrible.

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