Short Stories

by Agatha Christie

  A shuddering sigh went through Mr Satterthwaite. He had observed the Corsican roads that morning. Naomi was regarding him thoughtfully.

  "I'm afraid my car would be no good to you," she said. "It's a terribly battered old bus. I bought it second-hand for a mere song. It will just get me up the hills - with coaxing. But I can't take passengers.

  There's quite a good garage, though, in the town. You can hire a car there."

  "Hire a car?" said the Duchess, scandalised. "What an idea. Who's that nice-looking man, rather yellow, who drove up in a four-seater just before lunch?"

  "I expect you mean Mr Tomlinson. He's a retired Indian judge."

  "That accounts for the yellowness," said the Duchess. "I was afraid it might be jaundice. He seems quite a decent sort of man. I shall talk to him."

  That evening, on coming down to dinner, Mr Satterthwaite found the Duchess resplendent in black velvet and diamonds, talking earnestly to the owner of the four-seater car. She beckoned authoritatively.

  "Come here, Mr Satterthwaite, Mr Tomlinson is telling me the most interesting things, and what do you think? He is actually going to take us an expedition tomorrow in his car."

  Mr Satterthwaite regarded her with admiration.

  "We must go in to dinner," said the Duchess. "Do come and sit at our table, Mr Tomlinson, and then you can go on with what you were telling me."

  "Quite a decent sort of man," the Duchess pronounced later.

  "With quite a decent sort of car," retorted Mr Satterthwaite.

  "Naughty," said the Duchess, and gave him a resounding blow on the knuckles with the dingy black fan she always carried. Mr Satterthwaite winced with pain.

  "Naomi is coming too," said the Duchess. "In her car. That girl wants taking out of herself. She's very selfish. Not exactly self-centred, but totally indifferent to everyone and everything. Don't you agree?"

  "I don't think that's possible," said Mr Satterthwaite, slowly. "I mean, everyone's interest must go somewhere. There are, of course, the people who revolve round themselves - but I agree with you, she's not one of that kind. She's totally uninterested in herself. And yet she's got a strong character - there must be something. I thought at first it was her art - but it isn't. I've never met anyone so detached from life. That's dangerous."

  "Dangerous? What do you mean?"

  "Well, you see - it must mean an obsession of some kind, and obsessions are always dangerous."

  "Satterthwaite," said the Duchess, "don't be a fool. And listen to me.

  About tomorrow -"

  Mr Satterthwaite listened. It was very much his ræle in life.

  They started early the following morning, taking their lunch with them. Naomi, who had been six months on the island, was to be the pioneer. Mr Satterthwaite went over to her as she sat waiting to start.

  "You are sure that - I can't come with you?" he said wistfully.

  She shook her head.

  "You'll be much more comfortable in the back of the other car. Nicely padded seats and all that. This is a regular old rattle trap. You'd leap in the air going over the bumps."

  "And then, of course, the hills."

  Naomi laughed.

  "Oh, I only said that to rescue you from the dickey. The Duchess could perfectly well afford to have hired a car. She's the meanest woman in England. All the same, the old thing is rather a sport, and I can't help liking her."

  "Then I could come with you after all?" said Mr Satterthwaite eagerly.

  She looked at him curiously.

  "Why are you so anxious to come with me?"

  "Can you ask?" Mr Satterthwaite made his funny old-fashioned bow.

  She smiled, but shook her head.

  "That isn't the reason," she said thoughtfully. "It's odd... But you can't come with me - not today."

  "Another day, perhaps," suggested Mr Satterthwaite politely.

  "Oh, another day!" she laughed suddenly, a very queer laugh, Mr Satterthwaite thought. "Another day! Well, we'll see."

  They started. They drove through the town, and the round the long curve of the bay, winding inland to cross a river and then back to the coast with its hundreds of little sandy coves. And then they began to climb. In and out, round nerve-shattering curves, upwards, ever upwards on the tortuous winding road. The blue bay was far below them, and on the other side of it Ajaccio sparkled in the sun, white, like a fairy city.

  In and out, in and out, with a precipice first one side of them, then the other. Mr Satterthwaite felt slightly giddy, he also felt slightly sick.

  The road was not very wide. And still they climbed.

  It was cold now. The wind came to them straight off the snow peaks.

  Mr Satterthwaite turned up his coat collar and buttoned it tightly under his chin.

  It was very cold. Across the water, Ajaccio was still bathed in sunlight, but up here thick grey clouds came drifting across the face of the sun. Mr Satterthwaite ceased to admire the view. He yearned for a steam-heated hotel and a comfortable arm-chair.

  Ahead of them Naomi's little two-seater drove steadily forward. Up, still up. They were on top of the world now. On either side of them were lower hills, hills sloping down to valleys. They looked straight across to the snow peaks. And the wind come tearing over them, sharp, like a knife. Suddenly Naomi's car stopped, and she looked back.

  "We've arrived," she said. "At the World's End. And I don't think it's an awfully good day for it."

  They all got out. They had arrived in a tiny village, with half a dozen stone cottages. An imposing name was printed in letters a foot high.

  "Cote Chiaveeri."

  Naomi shrugged her shoulders.

  "That's its official name, but I prefer to call it the World's End."

  She walked on a few steps, and Mr Satterthwaite joined her. They were beyond the houses now. The road stopped. As Naomi had said, this was the end, the back of beyond, the beginning of nowhere.

  Behind them the white ribbon of the road, in front of them - nothing.

  Only far, far below, the sea...

  Mr Satterthwaite drew a deep breath.

  "It's an extraordinary place. One feels that anything might happen here, that one might meet - anyone -"

  He stopped, for just in front of them a man was sitting on a boulder, his face turned to the sea. They had not seen him till this moment, and his appearance had the suddenness of a conjuring trick. He might have sprung from the surrounding landscape.

  "I wonder -" began Mr Satterthwaite.

  But at that minute the stranger turned, and Mr Satterthwaite saw his face.

  "Why, Mr Quin! How extraordinary! Miss Carlton Smith, I want to introduce my friend Mr Quin to you. He's the most unusual fellow.

  You are, you know. You always turn up in the nick of time -"

  He stopped, with the feeling that he had said something awkwardly significant, and yet for the life of him he could not think what it was.

  Naomi had shaken hands with Mr Quin in her usual abrupt style.

  "We're here for a picnic," she said. "And it seems to me we shall be pretty well frozen to the bone."

  Mr Satterthwaite shivered.

  "Perhaps," he said uncertainly, "we shall find a sheltered spot?"

  "Which this isn't," agreed Naomi. "Still, it's worth seeing, isn't it?"

  "Yes, indeed." Mr Satterthwaite turned to Mr Quin. "Miss Carlton Smith calls this place the world's end. Rather a good name, eh?"

  Mr Quin nodded his head slowly several times.

  "Yes - a very suggestive name. I suppose one only comes once in one's life to a place like that - a place where one can't go on any longer."

  "What do you mean?" asked Naomi sharply.

  He turned to her.

  "Well, usually, there's a choice, isn't there? To the right or to the left.

  Forward or back. Here - there's the road behind you and in front of you - nothing."

  Naomi stared at him. Suddenly she shivered and began to retrace her steps towards the others.
The two men fell in beside her. Mr Quin continued to talk, but his tone was now easily conversational.

  "Is the small car yours, Miss Carlton Smith?"

  "Yes."

  "You drive yourself? One needs, I think, a good deal of nerve to do that round here. The turns are rather appalling. A moment of inattention, a brake that failed to hold, and - over the edge - down down - down. It would be - very easily done."

  They had now joined the others. Mr Satterthwaite introduced his friend. He felt a tug at his arm. It was Naomi. She drew him apart from the others.

  "Who is he?" she demanded fiercely.

  Mr Satterthwaite gazed at her in astonishment.

  "Well, I hardly know. I mean, I have known him for some years now we have run across each other from time to time, but in the sense of knowing actually -"

  He stopped. These were futilities that he was uttering, and the girl by his side was not listening. She was standing with her head bent down, her hands clenched by her sides.

  "He knows things," she said. "He knows things... How does he know?"

  Mr Satterthwaite had no answer. He could only look at her dumbly, unable to comprehend die storm that shook her.

  "I'm afraid," she muttered.

  "Afraid of Mr Quin?"

  "I'm afraid of his eyes. He sees things..."

  Something cold and wet fell on Mr Satterthwaite's cheek. He looked up.

  "Why, it's snowing," he exclaimed, in great surprise.

  "A nice day to have chosen for a picnic," said Naomi.

  She had regained control of herself with an effort.

  What was to be done? A babel of suggestions broke out. The snow came down thick and fast. Mr Quin made a suggestion and everyone welcomed it. There was a little stone Cassecroute at the end of the row of houses. There was a stampede towards it.

  "You have your provisions," said Mr Quin, "and they will probably be able to make you some coffee."

  It was a tiny place, rather dark, for the one little window did little towards lighting it, but from one end came a grateful glow of warmth.

  And old Corsican woman was just throwing a handful of branches on the fire. It blazed up, and by its light the newcomers realised that others were before them.

  Three people were sitting at the end of a bare wooden table. There was something unreal about the scene to Mr Satterthwaite's eye, there was something even more unreal about the people.

  The woman who sat at the end of the table looked like a duchess that is, she looked more like a popular conception of a duchess. She was the ideal stage grande dame. Her aristocratic head was held high, her exquisitely dressed hair was of a snowy white. She was dressed in grey-soft draperies that fell about her in artistic folds.

  One long white hand supported her chin, the other was holding a roll spread with pßtû de foie gras. On her right was a man with a very white face, very black hair, and horn-rimmed spectacles. He was marvellously and beautifully dressed. At the moment his head was thrown back, and his left arm was thrown out as though he were about to declaim something.

  On the left of the white-haired lady was a jolly-looking little man with a bald head. After the first glance, nobody looked at him.

  There was just a moment of uncertainty, and then the Duchess (the authentic Duchess) took charge.

  "Isn't this storm too dreadful?" she said pleasantly, coming forward, and smiling a purposeful and efficient smile that she had found very useful when serving on Welfare and other committees. I suppose you've been caught in it just like we have? But Corsica is a marvellous place. I only arrived this morning."

  The man with the black hair got up, and the Duchess with a gracious smile slipped into his seat.

  The white-haired lady spoke.

  "We have been here a week," she said.

  Mr Satterthwaite started. Could anyone who had once heard that voice ever forget it? It echoed round the stone room, charged with emotion - with exquisite melancholy. It seemed to him that she had said something wonderful, memorable, full of meaning. She had spoken from her heart.

  He spoke in a hurried aside to Mr Tomlinson, "The man in spectacles is Mr Vyse - the producer, you know."

  The retired Indian judge was looking at Mr Vyse with a good deal of dislike.

  "What does he produce?" he asked. "Children?"

  "Oh, dear me, no," said Mr Satterthwaite, shocked by the mere mention of anything so crude in connection with Mr Vyse. "Plays."

  "I think," said Naomi, "I'll go out again. It's too hot in here." Her voice, strong and harsh, made Mr Satterthwaite jump. She made almost blindly, as it seemed, for the door, brushing Mr Tomlinson aside. But in the doorway itself she came face to face with Mr Quin, and he barred her way.

  "Go back and sit down," he said.

  His voice was authoritative. To Mr Satterthwaite's surprise the girl hesitated a minute and then obeyed. She sat down at the foot of the table as far from the others as possible.

  Mr Satterthwaite bustled forward and button-holed the producer.

  "You may not remember me," he began, "my name is Satterthwaite."

  "Of course!" A long bony hand shot out and enveloped the other's in a painful grip. "My dear man. Fancy meeting you here. You know Miss Nunn, of course?"

  Mr Satterthwaite jumped. No wonder that voice had been familiar.

  Thousands, all over England, had thrilled to those wonderful emotion-laden tones. Rosina Nunn! England's greatest emotional actress. Mr Satterthwaite too had lain under her spell. No one like her for interpreting a part - for bringing out the finer shades of meaning. He had thought of her always as an intellectual actress, one who comprehended and got inside the soul of her part.

  He might be excused for not recognising her. Rosina Nunn was volatile in her tastes. For twenty-five years of her life she had been a blonde. After a tour in the States she had returned with the locks of the raven, and she had taken up tragedy in earnest. This "French Marquise" effect was her latest whim.

  "Oh, by the way, Mr Judd - Miss Nunn's husband," said Vyse, carelessly introducing the man with the bald head.

  Rosina Nunn had had several husbands, Mr Satterthwaite knew. Mr Judd was evidently the latest.

  Mr Judd was busily unwrapping packages from a hamper at his side.

  He addressed his wife.

  "Some more pßtû, dearest? That last wasn't as thick as you like it."

  Rosina Nunn surrendered her roll to him, as she murmured simply, "Henry thinks of the most enchanting meals. I always leave the commissariat to him."

  "Feed the brute," said Mr Judd, and laughed. He patted his wife on the shoulder.

  "Treats her just as though she were a dog," murmured the melancholy voice of Mr Vyse in Mr Satterthwaite's car. "Cuts up her food for her. Odd creatures, women."

  Mr Satterthwaite and Mr Quin between them unpacked lunch. Hardboiled eggs, cold ham and gruyere cheese were distributed round the table. The Duchess and Miss Nunn appeared to be deep in murmured confidences. Fragments came along in the actress's deep contralto.

  "The bread must be lightly toasted, you understand? Then just a very thin layer of marmalade. Rolled up and put in the oven for one minute - not more. Simply delicious."

  "That woman lives for food," murmured Mr Vyse. "Simply lives for it.

  She can't think of anything else. I remember in Riders to the Sea you know and it's the fine quiet time I'll be having. I could not get the effect I wanted. At last I told her to think of peppermint creams she's very fond of peppermint creams. I got the effect at once - a sort of far-away look that went to your very soul."

  Mr Satterthwaite was silent. He was remembering.

  Mr Tomlinson opposite cleared his throat preparatory to entering into conversation.

  "You produce plays, I hear, eh? I'm fond of a good play myself. 'Jim the Penman,' now, that was a play."

  "My God," said Mr Vyse, and shivered down all the long length of him.

  "A tiny clove of garlic," said Miss Nunn to the Duchess. "You tell your cook.
It's wonderful."

  She sighed happily and turned to her husband.

  "Henry," she said plaintively, "I've never even seen the caviare."

  "You're as near as nothing to sitting on it," returned Mr Judd cheerfully. "You put it behind you on the chair."

  Rosina Nunn retrieved it hurriedly, and beamed round the table.

  "Henry is too wonderful. I'm so terribly absent-minded. I never know where I've put anything."

  "Like the day you packed your pears in your sponge bag," said Henry jocosely. "And then left it behind at the hotel. My word, I did a bit of wiring and phoning that day."

  "They were insured," said Miss Nunn dreamily. "Not like my opal."

  A spasm of exquisite heartrending grief flitted across her face.

  Several times, when in the company of Mr Quin, Mr Satterthwaite had had the feeling of taking part in a play. The illusion was with him very strongly now. This was a dream. Everyone had his part. The words "my opal" were his own cue. He leant forward.

  "Your opal, Miss Nunn?"

  "Have you got the butter, Henry? Thank you. Yes, my opal. It was stolen, you know. And I never got it back."

  "Do tell us," said Mr Satterthwaite.

  "Well - I was born in October - so it was lucky for me to wear opals, and because of that I wanted a real beauty. I waited a long time for it.

  They said it was one of the most perfect ones known. Not very large about the size of a two-shilling piece - but oh! the colour and the fire."

  She sighed. Mr Satterthwaite observed that the Duchess was fidgeting and seemed uncomfortable , but nothing could stop Miss Nunn now. She went on, and the exquisite inflections of her voice made the story sound like some mournful Saga of old.

  "It was stolen by a young man called Alec Gerard. He wrote plays."

  "Very good plays," put in Mr Vyse professionally. "Why, I once kept one of his plays for six months."

  "Did you produce it?" asked Mr Tomlinson.

  "Oh, no!" said Mr Vyse, shocked at the idea. "But do you know, at one time I actually thought of doing so?"

  "It had a wonderful part in it for me," said Miss Nunn. "'Rachel's Children,' it was called - though there wasn't anyone called Rachel in the play. He came to talk to me about it - at the theatre. I liked him.

  He was a nice-looking - and very shy, poor boy. I remember -" a beautiful faraway look stole over her face - "He bought me some peppermint creams. The opal was lying on the dressing-table. He'd been out in Australia, and he knew something about opals. He took it over to the light to look at it. I suppose he must have slipped it into his pocket then. I missed it as soon as he'd gone. There was a to-do.