The Man in the Brown Suit Agatha Christie (i read books .TXT) š
- Author: Agatha Christie
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With an incredibly swift movement, he stooped, swung up his arm and threw. There was a tinkle of breaking glass, as the object went through the window and disappeared into the blazing mass opposite.
āThere goes your only hope of establishing your innocence over the Kimberley affair. And now weāll talk. Iāll drive a bargain with you. Youāve got me cornered. Race will find all he needs in this house. Thereās a chance for me if I can get away. Iām done for if I stay, but so are you, young man! Thereās a skylight in the next room. A couple of minutesā start and I shall be all right. Iāve got one or two little arrangements all ready made. You let me out that way, and give me a startā āand I leave you a signed confession that I killed Nadina.ā
āYes, Harry,ā I cried. āYes, yes, yes!ā
He turned a stern face on me.
āNo, Anne, a thousand times, no. You donāt know what youāre saying.ā
āI do. It solves everything.ā
āIād never be able to look Race in the face again. Iāll take my chance, but Iām damned if Iāll let this slippery old fox get away. Itās no good, Anne. I wonāt do it.ā
Sir Eustace chuckled. He accepted defeat without the least emotion.
āWell, well,ā he remarked. āYou seem to have met your master, Anne. But I can assure you both that moral rectitude does not always pay.ā
There was a crash of rending wood, and footsteps surged up the stairs. Harry drew back the bolt. Colonel Race was the first to enter the room. His face lit at the sight of us.
āYouāre safe, Anne. I was afraidā āā He turned to Sir Eustace. āIāve been after you for a long time, Pedlerā āand at last Iāve got you.ā
āEverybody seems to have gone completely mad,ā declared Sir Eustace airily. āThese young people have been threatening me with revolvers and accusing me of the most shocking things. I donāt know what itās all about.ā
āDonāt you? It means that Iāve found the Colonel. It means that on January 8th last you were not at Cannes, but at Marlow. It means that when your tool, Madame Nadina, turned against you, you planned to do away with herā āand at last we shall be able to bring the crime home to you.ā
āIndeed? And from whom did you get all this interesting information? From the man who is even now being looked for by the police? His evidence will be very valuable.ā
āWe have other evidence. There is someone else who knew that Nadina was going to meet you at the Mill House.ā
Sir Eustace looked surprised. Colonel Race made a gesture with his hand. Arthur Minks alias the Rev. Edward Chichester alias Miss Pettigrew stepped forward. He was pale and nervous, but he spoke clearly enough:
āI saw Nadina in Paris the night before she went over to England. I was posing at the time as a Russian count. She told me of her purpose. I warned her, knowing what kind of man she had to deal with, but she did not take my advice. There was a wireless message on the table. I read it. Afterwards I thought I would have a try for the diamonds myself. In Johannesburg, Mr. Rayburn accosted me. He persuaded me to come over to his side.ā
Sir Eustace looked at him. He said nothing, but Minks seemed visibly to wilt.
āRats always leaving a sinking ship,ā observed Sir Eustace. āI donāt care for rats. Sooner or later, I destroy vermin.ā
āThereās just one thing Iād like to tell you, Sir Eustace,ā I remarked. āThat tin you threw out of the window didnāt contain the diamonds. It had common pebbles in it. The diamonds are in a perfectly safe place. As a matter of fact, theyāre in the big giraffeās stomach. Suzanne hollowed it out, put the diamonds in with cotton wool, so that they wouldnāt rattle, and plugged it up again.ā
Sir Eustace looked at me for some time. His reply was characteristic:
āI always did hate that blinking giraffe,ā he said. āIt must have been instinct.ā
XXXIVWe were not able to return to Johannesburg that night. The shells were coming over pretty fast, and I gathered that we were now more or less cut off, owing to the rebels having obtained possession of a new part of the suburbs.
Our place of refuge was a farm some twenty miles or so from Johannesburgā āright out on the veld. I was dropping with fatigue. All the excitement and anxiety of the last two days had left me little better than a limp rag.
I kept repeating to myself, without being able to believe it, that our troubles were really over. Harry and I were together and we should never be separated again. Yet all through I was conscious of some barrier between usā āa constraint on his part, the reason of which I could not fathom.
Sir Eustace had been driven off in an opposite direction accompanied by a strong guard. He waved his hand airily to us on departing.
I came out on to the stoep early on the following morning and looked across the veld in the direction of Johannesburg. I could see the great dumps glistening in the pale morning sunshine, and I could hear the low rumbling mutter of the guns. The revolution was not over yet.
The farmerās wife came out and called me in to breakfast. She was a kind, motherly soul, and I was already very fond of her. Harry had gone out at dawn and had not yet returned, so she informed me. Again I felt a stir of uneasiness pass over me. What was this shadow of which I was so conscious between us?
After breakfast I sat out on the stoep, a book in my hand which I did not read. I was so lost in my
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