The Secret Adversary

by Agatha Christie

  CHAPTER XI. JULIUS TELLS A STORY

  DRESSED appropriately, Tuppence duly sallied forth for her “afternoonout.” Albert was in temporary abeyance, but Tuppence went herself to thestationer’s to make quite sure that nothing had come for her. Satisfiedon this point, she made her way to the _Ritz_. On inquiry she learntthat Tommy had not yet returned. It was the answer she had expected, butit was another nail in the coffin of her hopes. She resolved to appealto Mr. Carter, telling him when and where Tommy had started on hisquest, and asking him to do something to trace him. The prospect ofhis aid revived her mercurial spirits, and she next inquired for JuliusHersheimmer. The reply she got was to the effect that he had returnedabout half an hour ago, but had gone out immediately.

  Tuppence’s spirits revived still more. It would be something to seeJulius. Perhaps he could devise some plan for finding out whathad become of Tommy. She wrote her note to Mr. Carter in Julius’ssitting-room, and was just addressing the envelope when the door burstopen.

  “What the hell----” began Julius, but checked himself abruptly. “I begyour pardon, Miss Tuppence. Those fools down at the office would have itthat Beresford wasn’t here any longer--hadn’t been here since Wednesday.Is that so?”

  Tuppence nodded.

  “You don’t know where he is?” she asked faintly.

  “I? How should I know? I haven’t had one darned word from him, though Iwired him yesterday morning.”

  “I expect your wire’s at the office unopened.”

  “But where is he?”

  “I don’t know. I hoped you might.”

  “I tell you I haven’t had one darned word from him since we parted atthe depot on Wednesday.”

  “What depot?”

  “Waterloo. Your London and South Western road.”

  “Waterloo?” frowned Tuppence.

  “Why, yes. Didn’t he tell you?”

  “I haven’t seen him either,” replied Tuppence impatiently. “Go on aboutWaterloo. What were you doing there?”

  “He gave me a call. Over the phone. Told me to get a move on, andhustle. Said he was trailing two crooks.”

  “Oh!” said Tuppence, her eyes opening. “I see. Go on.”

  “I hurried along right away. Beresford was there. He pointed out thecrooks. The big one was mine, the guy you bluffed. Tommy shoved a ticketinto my hand and told me to get aboard the cars. He was going to sleuththe other crook.” Julius paused. “I thought for sure you’d know allthis.”

  “Julius,” said Tuppence firmly, “stop walking up and down. It makes megiddy. Sit down in that armchair, and tell me the whole story with asfew fancy turns of speech as possible.”

  Mr. Hersheimmer obeyed.

  “Sure,” he said. “Where shall I begin?”

  “Where you left off. At Waterloo.”

  “Well,” began Julius, “I got into one of your dear old-fashionedfirst-class British compartments. The train was just off. First thing Iknew a guard came along and informed me mighty politely that I wasn’tin a smoking-carriage. I handed him out half a dollar, and that settledthat. I did a bit of prospecting along the corridor to the next coach.Whittington was there right enough. When I saw the skunk, with his bigsleek fat face, and thought of poor little Jane in his clutches, I feltreal mad that I hadn’t got a gun with me. I’d have tickled him up some.

  “We got to Bournemouth all right. Whittington took a cab and gave thename of an hotel. I did likewise, and we drove up within three minutesof each other. He hired a room, and I hired one too. So far it was allplain sailing. He hadn’t the remotest notion that anyone was on to him.Well, he just sat around in the hotel lounge, reading the papers and soon, till it was time for dinner. He didn’t hurry any over that either.

  “I began to think that there was nothing doing, that he’d just come onthe trip for his health, but I remembered that he hadn’t changed fordinner, though it was by way of being a slap-up hotel, so it seemedlikely enough that he’d be going out on his real business afterwards.

  “Sure enough, about nine o’clock, so he did. Took a car across thetown--mighty pretty place by the way, I guess I’ll take Jane there fora spell when I find her--and then paid it off and struck out along thosepine-woods on the top of the cliff. I was there too, you understand.We walked, maybe, for half an hour. There’s a lot of villas all the wayalong, but by degrees they seemed to get more and more thinned out, andin the end we got to one that seemed the last of the bunch. Big house itwas, with a lot of piny grounds around it.

  “It was a pretty black night, and the carriage drive up to the house wasdark as pitch. I could hear him ahead, though I couldn’t see him. Ihad to walk carefully in case he might get on to it that he was beingfollowed. I turned a curve and I was just in time to see him ring thebell and get admitted to the house. I just stopped where I was. It wasbeginning to rain, and I was soon pretty near soaked through. Also, itwas almighty cold.

  “Whittington didn’t come out again, and by and by I got kind of restive,and began to mouch around. All the ground floor windows were shutteredtight, but upstairs, on the first floor (it was a two-storied house) Inoticed a window with a light burning and the curtains not drawn.

  “Now, just opposite to that window, there was a tree growing. It wasabout thirty foot away from the house, maybe, and I sort of got it intomy head that, if I climbed up that tree, I’d very likely be able to seeinto that room. Of course, I knew there was no reason why Whittingtonshould be in that room rather than in any other--less reason, in fact,for the betting would be on his being in one of the reception-roomsdownstairs. But I guess I’d got the hump from standing so long in therain, and anything seemed better than going on doing nothing. So Istarted up.

  “It wasn’t so easy, by a long chalk! The rain had made the boughs mightyslippery, and it was all I could do to keep a foothold, but bit by bit Imanaged it, until at last there I was level with the window.

  “But then I was disappointed. I was too far to the left. I could onlysee sideways into the room. A bit of curtain, and a yard of wallpaperwas all I could command. Well, that wasn’t any manner of good to me, butjust as I was going to give it up, and climb down ignominiously, someone inside moved and threw his shadow on my little bit of wall--and, bygum, it was Whittington!

  “After that, my blood was up. I’d just _got_ to get a look into thatroom. It was up to me to figure out how. I noticed that there was a longbranch running out from the tree in the right direction. If I could onlyswarm about half-way along it, the proposition would be solved. But itwas mighty uncertain whether it would bear my weight. I decided I’djust got to risk that, and I started. Very cautiously, inch by inch, Icrawled along. The bough creaked and swayed in a nasty fashion, and itdidn’t do to think of the drop below, but at last I got safely to whereI wanted to be.

  “The room was medium-sized, furnished in a kind of bare hygienic way.There was a table with a lamp on it in the middle of the room, andsitting at that table, facing towards me, was Whittington right enough.He was talking to a woman dressed as a hospital nurse. She was sittingwith her back to me, so I couldn’t see her face. Although the blindswere up, the window itself was shut, so I couldn’t catch a word of whatthey said. Whittington seemed to be doing all the talking, and the nursejust listened. Now and then she nodded, and sometimes she’d shakeher head, as though she were answering questions. He seemed veryemphatic--once or twice he beat with his fist on the table. The rain hadstopped now, and the sky was clearing in that sudden way it does.

  “Presently, he seemed to get to the end of what he was saying. He gotup, and so did she. He looked towards the window and asked something--Iguess it was whether it was raining. Anyway, she came right across andlooked out. Just then the moon came out from behind the clouds. Iwas scared the woman would catch sight of me, for I was full in themoonlight. I tried to move back a bit. The jerk I gave was too much forthat rotten old branch. With an almighty crash, down it came, and JuliusP. Hersheimmer with it!”

  “Oh, Julius,” breathed Tu
ppence, “how exciting! Go on.”

  “Well, luckily for me, I pitched down into a good soft bed of earth--butit put me out of action for the time, sure enough. The next thing Iknew, I was lying in bed with a hospital nurse (not Whittington’s one)on one side of me, and a little black-bearded man with gold glasses,and medical man written all over him, on the other. He rubbed his handstogether, and raised his eyebrows as I stared at him. ‘Ah!’ he said. ‘Soour young friend is coming round again. Capital. Capital.’

  “I did the usual stunt. Said: ‘What’s happened?’ And ‘Where am I?’ ButI knew the answer to the last well enough. There’s no moss growing onmy brain. ‘I think that’ll do for the present, sister,’ said the littleman, and the nurse left the room in a sort of brisk well-trained way.But I caught her handing me out a look of deep curiosity as she passedthrough the door.

  “That look of hers gave me an idea. ‘Now then, doc,’ I said, and triedto sit up in bed, but my right foot gave me a nasty twinge as I did so.‘A slight sprain,’ explained the doctor. ‘Nothing serious. You’ll beabout again in a couple of days.’”

  “I noticed you walked lame,” interpolated Tuppence.

  Julius nodded, and continued:

  “‘How did it happen?’ I asked again. He replied dryly. ‘You fell, witha considerable portion of one of my trees, into one of my newly plantedflower-beds.’

  “I liked the man. He seemed to have a sense of humour. I felt sure thathe, at least, was plumb straight. ‘Sure, doc,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry aboutthe tree, and I guess the new bulbs will be on me. But perhaps you’dlike to know what I was doing in your garden?’ ‘I think the facts docall for an explanation,’ he replied. ‘Well, to begin with, I wasn’tafter the spoons.’

  “He smiled. ‘My first theory. But I soon altered my mind. By the way,you are an American, are you not?’ I told him my name. ‘And you?’ ‘I amDr. Hall, and this, as you doubtless know, is my private nursing home.’

  “I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to put him wise. I was just thankfulfor the information. I liked the man, and I felt he was straight, butI wasn’t going to give him the whole story. For one thing he probablywouldn’t have believed it.

  “I made up my mind in a flash. ‘Why, doctor,’ I said, ‘I guess I feelan almighty fool, but I owe it to you to let you know that it wasn’tthe Bill Sikes business I was up to.’ Then I went on and mumbled outsomething about a girl. I trotted out the stern guardian business, and anervous breakdown, and finally explained that I had fancied I recognizedher among the patients at the home, hence my nocturnal adventures. Iguess it was just the kind of story he was expecting. ‘Quite a romance,’he said genially, when I’d finished. ‘Now, doc,’ I went on, ‘will yoube frank with me? Have you here now, or have you had here at any time,a young girl called Jane Finn?’ He repeated the name thoughtfully. ‘JaneFinn?’ he said. ‘No.’

  “I was chagrined, and I guess I showed it. ‘You are sure?’ ‘Quite sure,Mr. Hersheimmer. It is an uncommon name, and I should not have beenlikely to forget it.’

  “Well, that was flat. It laid me out for a space. I’d kind of hopedmy search was at an end. ‘That’s that,’ I said at last. ‘Now, there’sanother matter. When I was hugging that darned branch I thought Irecognized an old friend of mine talking to one of your nurses.’ Ipurposely didn’t mention any name because, of course, Whittington mightbe calling himself something quite different down here, but the doctoranswered at once. ‘Mr. Whittington, perhaps?’ ‘That’s the fellow,’ Ireplied. ‘What’s he doing down here? Don’t tell me _his_ nerves are outof order?’

  “Dr. Hall laughed. ‘No. He came down to see one of my nurses, NurseEdith, who is a niece of his.’ ‘Why, fancy that!’ I exclaimed. ‘Is hestill here?’ ‘No, he went back to town almost immediately.’ ‘What apity!’ I ejaculated. ‘But perhaps I could speak to his niece--NurseEdith, did you say her name was?’

  “But the doctor shook his head. ‘I’m afraid that, too, is impossible.Nurse Edith left with a patient to-night also.’ ‘I seem to be realunlucky,’ I remarked. ‘Have you Mr. Whittington’s address in town?I guess I’d like to look him up when I get back.’ ‘I don’t know hisaddress. I can write to Nurse Edith for it if you like.’ I thanked him.‘Don’t say who it is wants it. I’d like to give him a little surprise.’

  “That was about all I could do for the moment. Of course, if the girlwas really Whittington’s niece, she might be too cute to fall into thetrap, but it was worth trying. Next thing I did was to write out a wireto Beresford saying where I was, and that I was laid up with a sprainedfoot, and telling him to come down if he wasn’t busy. I had to beguarded in what I said. However, I didn’t hear from him, and my footsoon got all right. It was only ricked, not really sprained, so to-day Isaid good-bye to the little doctor chap, asked him to send me word ifhe heard from Nurse Edith, and came right away back to town. Say, MissTuppence, you’re looking mighty pale!”

  “It’s Tommy,” said Tuppence. “What can have happened to him?”

  “Buck up, I guess he’s all right really. Why shouldn’t he be? See here,it was a foreign-looking guy he went off after. Maybe they’ve goneabroad--to Poland, or something like that?”

  Tuppence shook her head.

  “He couldn’t without passports and things. Besides I’ve seen that man,Boris Something, since. He dined with Mrs. Vandemeyer last night.”

  “Mrs. Who?”

  “I forgot. Of course you don’t know all that.”

  “I’m listening,” said Julius, and gave vent to his favourite expression.“Put me wise.”

  Tuppence thereupon related the events of the last two days. Julius’sastonishment and admiration were unbounded.

  “Bully for you! Fancy you a menial. It just tickles me to death!” Thenhe added seriously: “But say now, I don’t like it, Miss Tuppence, I suredon’t. You’re just as plucky as they make ‘em, but I wish you’d keepright out of this. These crooks we’re up against would as soon croak agirl as a man any day.”

  “Do you think I’m afraid?” said Tuppence indignantly, valiantlyrepressing memories of the steely glitter in Mrs. Vandemeyer’s eyes.

  “I said before you were darned plucky. But that doesn’t alter facts.”

  “Oh, bother _me!_” said Tuppence impatiently. “Let’s think about whatcan have happened to Tommy. I’ve written to Mr. Carter about it,” sheadded, and told him the gist of her letter.

  Julius nodded gravely.

  “I guess that’s good as far as it goes. But it’s for us to get busy anddo something.”

  “What can we do?” asked Tuppence, her spirits rising.

  “I guess we’d better get on the track of Boris. You say he’s been toyour place. Is he likely to come again?”

  “He might. I really don’t know.”

  “I see. Well, I guess I’d better buy a car, a slap-up one, dress as achauffeur and hang about outside. Then if Boris comes, you could makesome kind of signal, and I’d trail him. How’s that?”

  “Splendid, but he mightn’t come for weeks.”

  “We’ll have to chance that. I’m glad you like the plan.” He rose.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To buy the car, of course,” replied Julius, surprised. “What make doyou like? I guess you’ll do some riding in it before we’ve finished.”

  “Oh,” said Tuppence faintly, “I _like_ Rolls-Royces, but----”

  “Sure,” agreed Julius. “What you say goes. I’ll get one.”

  “But you can’t at once,” cried Tuppence. “People wait ages sometimes.”

  “Little Julius doesn’t,” affirmed Mr. Hersheimmer. “Don’t you worry any.I’ll be round in the car in half an hour.”

  Tuppence got up.

  “You’re awfully good, Julius. But I can’t help feeling that it’s rathera forlorn hope. I’m really pinning my faith to Mr. Carter.”

  “Then I shouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Just an idea of mine.”

&n
bsp; “Oh; but he must do something. There’s no one else. By the way, I forgotto tell you of a queer thing that happened this morning.”

  And she narrated her encounter with Sir James Peel Edgerton. Julius wasinterested.

  “What did the guy mean, do you think?” he asked.

  “I don’t quite know,” said Tuppence meditatively. “But I think that, inan ambiguous, legal, without prejudishish lawyer’s way, he was trying towarn me.”

  “Why should he?”

  “I don’t know,” confessed Tuppence. “But he looked kind, andsimply awfully clever. I wouldn’t mind going to him and telling himeverything.”

  Somewhat to her surprise, Julius negatived the idea sharply.

  “See here,” he said, “we don’t want any lawyers mixed up in this. Thatguy couldn’t help us any.”

  “Well, I believe he could,” reiterated Tuppence obstinately.

  “Don’t you think it. So long. I’ll be back in half an hour.”

  Thirty-five minutes had elapsed when Julius returned. He took Tuppenceby the arm, and walked her to the window.

  “There she is.”

  “Oh!” said Tuppence with a note of reverence in her voice, as she gazeddown at the enormous car.

  “She’s some pace-maker, I can tell you,” said Julius complacently.

  “How did you get it?” gasped Tuppence.

  “She was just being sent home to some bigwig.”

  “Well?”

  “I went round to his house,” said Julius. “I said that I reckoned a carlike that was worth every penny of twenty thousand dollars. Then I toldhim that it was worth just about fifty thousand dollars to me if he’dget out.”

  “Well?” said Tuppence, intoxicated.

  “Well,” returned Julius, “he got out, that’s all.”