AgathaChristie-ParkerPineDetective

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by Parker Pyne Detective (lit)


  Mr. Parker Pyne took a new file from a drawer. He

  wrote: "Interesting vestiges of a conscience noticeable

  in hardened Lounge Lizard. Note: Study develop-ments.''

  The Case of

  the Discontented Soldier

  Major Wilbraham hesitated outside the door of Mr.

  Parker Pyne's office to read, not for the first time, the

  advertisement from the morning paper which had

  brought him there. It was simple enough:

  The major took a deep breath and abruptly plunged

  through the swing door leading to the outer office. A

  plain young woman looked up from her typewriter and

  glanced at him inquiringly.

  "Mr. Parker Pyne?" said Major Wilbraham, blush-ing.

  "Come this way, please."

  17

  18

  Agatha Christie

  He followed her into an inner office--into the

  presence of the bland Mr. Parker Pyne.

  "Good morning," said Mr. Pyne. "Sit down, won't

  you? And now tell me what I can do for you."

  "My name is Wilbraham--" began the other.

  "Major? Colonel?" said Mr. Pyne.

  "Major."

  "Ah! And recently returned from abroad? India?

  East Africa?"

  "East Africa."

  "A fine country, I believe. Well, so you are home

  againmand you don't like it. Is that the trouble?"

  "You're absolutely right. Though how you knew--"

  Mr. Parker Pyne waved an impressive hand. "It is my

  business to know. You see, for thirty-five years of my

  life I have been engaged in the compiling of statistics in

  a government office. Now I have retired and it has oc-curred

  to me to use the experience I have gained in a

  · novel fashion. It is all so simple. Unhappiness can be

  classified under five main heads--no more, I assure

  you. Once you know the cause of a malady, the remedy

  should not be impossible.

  "I stand in the place of the doctor. The doctor first

  diagnoses the patient's disorder, then he recommends a

  course of treatment. There are cases where no treatment

  can be of any avail. If that is so, I say quite frankly that

  I can do nothing about it. But if I undertake a case, the

  cure is practically guaranteed.

  "I can assure you, Major Wilbraham, that ninety-six

  percent of retired empire builders--as I call them--are

  unhappy. They exchange an active life, a life full of re-sponsibility,

  a life of possible danger, for--what?

  Straitened means, a dismal climate and a general feeling

  of being a fish out of water."

  "All you've said is true," said the major. "It's the

  THE CASE OF THE DISCONTENTED SOLDIIR 1!

  boredom I object to. The boredom and the endles

  tittle-tattle about petty village matters. But what can I

  do about it? I've got a little money besides my pension.

  I've a nice cottage near Cobham. I can't afford to hun

  or shoot or fish. I'm not married. My neighbors are all

  pleasant folk, but they've no ideas beyond this island."

  "The long and short of the matter is that you find life

  tame," said Mr. Parker Pyne.

  "Damned tame."

  "You would like excitement, possibly danger?'

  asked Mr. Pyne.

  The soldier shrugged. "There's no such thing in thi

  tinpot country."

  "I beg your pardon," .said Mr. Pyne seriously.

  "There you are wrong. There is plenty of danger, plent

  of excitement, here in London if you know where to g

  for it. You have seen only the surface of our Englist

  life, calm, pleasant. But there is another side. If yo

  wish it, I can show you that other side."

  Major Wilbraham regarded him thoughtfully. There

  was something reassuring about Mr. Pyne. He

  large, not to say fat; he had a bald head of noble pro. portions, strong glasses and little twinkling eyes. And

  had an aura--an aura of dependability.

  "I should warn you, however," continued Mr. Pyne

  "that there is an element of risk."

  The soldier's eye brightened. "That's all right,"

  said. Then, abruptly: "And--your fees?"

  "My fee," said Mr. Pyne, "is fifty pounds, payable

  in advance. If in a month's time you are still in the same

  state of boredom, I will refund your money."

  Wilbraham considered. "Fair enough," he said a

  last. "I agree. I'll give you a check now."

  The transaction was completed. Mr. Parker Pyro

  pressed a buzzer on his desk.

  20

  Agatha Christie

  "It is now one O'clock," he said. "I am going to ask

  you to take a young lady out to lunch." The door

  opened. "Ah, Madeleine, my der, let me introduce

  Major Wilbraham, who is going to take you out to

  lunch."

  Wilbraham blinked slightly, whiC.h was hardly to be

  wondered at. The girl who entered the room was dark,

  languorous, with Wonderful eyes arid long black lashes,

  a perfect complexion and a voluptOOUS scarlet mouth.

  Her exquisite clothes set off the saYlng grace of her

  figure. From head to foot she was perfect.

  "Er--delighted," said Major Willraham.

  "Miss de Sara," said Mr. Parker IYne'

  "How very kind of you," murtoured Madeleine de

  Sara.

  "I have your address here," announced Mr. Parker

  Pyne. "Tomorrow eaorning you will receive my further

  instructions."

  Major Wilbrahaea and the lovely Madeleine departed.

  It was three o'clock When MadeleiOe returned.

  Mr. Parker Pyne looked up. "Well?" he demanded.

  Madeleine shook her head. "Scared of me," she said.

  "Thinks I'm a vamp.,,

  "I thought as much," said Mr. ?arker Pyne. "You

  carried out my instructions?,,

  "Yes. We discussed the occupants of the other tables

  freely. The type he likes is fair.laaired, blue-eyed,

  slightly anaemic, not too tall."

  "That should be easy," said Mr- Pyne. "Get me

  Schedule B and let me see what we hye in stock at pres-ent.''

  He ran his finger down a list, fitqally stopping at a

  name. "Freda Clegg. Yes, I think Ffeda Clegg will do

  excellently. I had better see Mrs. Oliver about it."

  THE CASE OF THE DISCONTENTEI SOLDIER

  The next day Major Wilbraham eceived a no

  which read:

  On Monday morning next at eleveh o'clock go to

  Eaglemont, Friars Lane, Hampsteaq, and ask for

  Mr. Jones. You will represent yourgelf as coming

  from the Guava Shipping Company.

  Obediently on the following Monqav

  ,wnlcn In

  pened

  to be Bank Hohday), tvlajor Wilbraham set for

  Eaglemont, Friars Lane. He set oht' I say, but

  never got there. For before he got there, something ha

  pened.

  All the world and his wife seemed t be on their w

  to Hampstead. Major Wilbraham g.t entangled

  crowds, suffocated in the tube and t-Cund it hard

  discover the whereabouts of Friars Lan.

  Friars Lane was a cul-de-sac, a negl%ted road full

  ruts, with houses on either side standb,

  ...... ?g back from ti

  road. They were largish hO
USeS winch had seen bett

  days and had been allowed to fall into Clisrepair.

  Wilbraham walked along peering at the half-erast

  names on the gateposts, when suddenly he heard sore

  thing that made him stiffen to attentiot, It was a kind.

  gurgling, half-choked cry.

  It came again and this time it was faihtly recognizat

  as the word "Help!" It came from insiqe the wall of ti

  house he was passing.

  Without a moment's hesitation, Major Wilbraha

  pushed open the rickety gate and sprinted noiselessly t

  the weed-covered drive. There in the hrubbery was

  girl struggling in the grasp of two enarnaous Negro¢

  She was putting up a brave fight, twiatino

  and kicking One Negro held hs hand a

  ·

  ..

  - . -ernermoum

  spite of her furious el-torts to get laer nead free.

  22

  Agatha Christie

  Intent on their struggle with the girl, neither of the

  blacks had noticed Wilbraham's approach. The first

  they knew of it was when a violent punch on the jaw

  sent the man who was covering the girl's mouth reeling

  backwards. Taken by surprise, the other man relin-quished

  his hold of the girl and turned. Wilbraham was

  ready for him. Once again his fist shot out, and the

  Negro reeled backwards and fell. Wilbraham turned on

  the other man, who was closing in behind him.

  But the two men had had enough. The second one

  rolled over, sat up; then, rising, he made a dash for the

  gate. His companion followed suit. Wilbraham started

  after them, but changed his mind and turned towards

  the girl, who was leaning against a tree, panting.

  "Oh, thank you!" she gasped. "It was terrible."

  Major Wilbraham saw for the first time who it was he

  had rescued so opportunely. She was a girl of about

  twenty-one or -two, fair-haired and blue-eyed, pretty in

  a rather colorless way.

  "If you hadn't come!" she gasped.

  "There, there," said Wilbraham soothingly. "It's all

  right now. I think, though, that we'd better get away

  from here. It's possible those fellows might come

  back."

  A faint smile came to the girl's lips. "I don't think

  they will--not after the way you hit them. Oh, it was

  splendid of you!"

  Major Wilbraham blushed under the warmth of her

  glance of admiration. "Nothin' at all," he said indis-tinctly.

  "All in day's work. Lady being annoyed. Look

  here, if you take my arm, can you walk? It's been a

  nasty shock, I know."

  "I'm all right now," said the girl. 'However, she took

  the proffered arm. She was still rather shaky. She

  glanced behind her at the house as they emerged

  THE CASE OF THE DISCONTENTED SOLDIER

  23

  through the gate. "I can't understand it," she mur-mured.

  "That's clearly an empty house."

  "It's empty, right enough," agreed the maj or looking

  up at the shuttered windows and general air of decay.

  "And yet it is Whitefriars." She pointed to a half-obliterated

  name on the gate. "And Whitefriars was the

  place I was to go."

  'Don't worry about anything now," said Wilbra-ham.

  "In a minute or two we'll be able to get a taxi.

  Then we'll drive somewhere and have a cup of coffee."

  At the end of the lane they came out into a more fre-quented

  street, and by good fortune a taxi had just set

  down a fare at one of the houses. Wilbraham hailed it,

  gave an address tO the driver and they got in.

  "Don't try to talk," he admonished his companion.

  "Just lie back. You've had a nasty experience."

  She smiled at him gratefully.

  "By the way--er--my name is Wilbraham."

  "Mine is Clegg--Freda Clegg."

  Ten minutes later, Freda was sipping hot coffee and

  looking gratefully across a small table at her rescuer.

  "It seems like a dream," she said. "A bad dream."

  She shuddered. "And only a short while ago I was wish-ing

  for something to happen--anything! Oh, I don't

  like adventures."

  "Tell me how it happened."

  ."Well, to tell you properly I shall have to talk a lot

  about myself, I'm afraid."

  "An excellent subject," said Wilbraham, with a bow.

  "I am an orphan. My father--he was a sea captain--died

  when I was eight. My mother died three years ago.

  I work in the City. I am with the Vacuum Gas Company

  --a clerk. One evening last week I found a gentleman

  waiting to see me when I returned to my lodgings. He

  was a lawyer, a Mr. Reid from Melbourne.

  24

  lgatha Christie

  "He was very polite and asked me several questions

  about my family. He explained that he had known my

  father many years ago. In fact, he had transacted some

  legal business for him. Then he told me the object of his

  visit. 'Miss Clegg,' he said, 'I have reason to suppose

  that you might benefit as the result of a financial transaction

  entered into by your father several years before

  he died.' I was very much surprised, of course.

  "'It is unlikely that you would ever have heard anything

  of the matter,' he explained. 'John Clegg never

  took the affair seriously, I fancy. However, it has

  materialized unexpectedly, but I am afraid any claim

  you might put in would depend on your ownership of

  certain papers. These papers would be part of your

  father's estate, and of course it is possible that they have

  been destroyed as worthless. Have you kept any of your

  father's papers?'

  "I explained that my mother had kept various things

  of my father's in an old sea chest. I had looked through

  it cursorily but had discovered nothing of interest.

  "'You would hardly be likely to recognize the importance

  of these documents, perhaps,' he said, smiling.

  "Well, I went to the chest, took out the few papers it

  contained and brought them to him. He looked at them,

  but said it was impossible to say offhand what might or

  might not be connected with the matter in question. He

  would' take them away with him and would communicate

  with me if anything turned up.

  "By the last post on Saturday I received a letter from

  him in which he suggested that I come to his house to

  discuss the matter. He gave me the address: Whitefriars,

  Friars Lane, Hampstead. I was to be there at a quarter

  to eleven this morning.

  "I was a little late finding the place. I hurried through

  the gate and up towards the house, when suddenly those

  THE CASE OF THE DISCONTENTED SOLDIER

  two dreadful men sprang at me 'from the bushes,

  hadn't time to cry out. One man put his hand over t

  mouth. I wrenched my head free and screamed for heL

  Luckily you heard me. If it hadn't been for you--" SI

  stopped. Her looks were more eloquent than furth

  words.

  "Very glad I happened to be on the spot. By Gad, I

  like to get hold of those two brutes. You'd never s

  them before
, I suppose?"

  She shook her head. "What do you think it means?'

  "Difficult to say. But one thing seems pretty sin

  There's something someone wants among your fathel

  papers. This man Reid told you a cock-and-bull story

  as to get the opportunity of looking through the

  Evidently what he wanted wasn't there."

  "Oh!" said Freda. "I wonder. When I got home (

  Saturday I thought my things had been tampered wit

  To tell you the truth, I suspected my landlady of haviL.

  pried about in my room out of curiosity. But now--"

  "Depend upon it, that's it. Someone gained admi

  sion to your room and searched it, without finding wh

  he was after. He suspected that you knew the value (

  this paper, whatever it was, and that you carried

  about on your person. So he planned this ambush.

  you had had it with you, it would have been taken fro

  you. I if not, you would have been held prisoner while [

  tried to make you tell where it was hidden."

  "But what can it possibly be?" cried Freda.

  "I don't know. But it must be something pretty go(

  for him to go to this length."

  "It doesn't seem possible."

  "Oh, I don't know. Your father was a sailor. He we

  to out-of-the-way places. He might have come acro

  something the value of which he never knew."

  "Do you really think so?" A pink flush of exciteme

 

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