She were to sleep and dreamt. There was a kind of Lady of Shalott looking out of the window of the house. There was a scratching noise coming from the chimney. Blows were coming from behind a great iron plate nailed up there. The clanging sounds of the hammer. Clang, clang, clang. Tuppence woke up. It was Mrs Copleigh knocking on the door. She came in brightly, put the tea down by Tuppence’s bed, pulled the curtains, hoped Tuppence had slept well. No one had ever, Tuppence thought, looked more cheerful than Mrs Copleigh did. She had had no bad dreams!
CHAPTER 9 A Morning in Market Basing
‘Ah well,’ said Mrs Copleigh, as she bustled out of the room.
‘Another day. That’s what I always when I wake up.’ say
‘Another day?’ thought Tuppence, sipping strong black tea.
‘I wonder if I’m making an idiot of myself…? Could be.
Wish I had Tommy here to talk to. Last night muddled me.’
Before she left her room, Tuppence made entries in her notebook on the various facts and names that she had heard the night before, which she had been far too tired to do when she went up to bed. Melodramatic stories, of the past, containing perhaps grains of truth here and there but mostly hearsay, malice, gossip, romantic imagination.
‘Really,’ thought Tuppence. ‘I’m beginning to know the love lives of a quantity of people right back to the eighteenth century, I think. But what does it all amount to? And what am I looking for? I don’t even know any longer. The awful thing is that I’ve got involved and I can’t leave off.’ Having a shrewd suspicion that the first thing she might be getting involved with was Miss Bligh, whom Tuppence recognized as the overall menace of Sutton Chancellor, she circumvented all kind offers of help by driving off to Market Basing post haste, only pausing, when the car was accosted by Miss Bligh with shrill cries, to explain to that lady that she had an urgent appointment… When would she be back? Tuppence was vague – Would she care to lunch? – Very kind of Miss Bligh, but Tuppence was afraid ‘Tea, then. Four-thirty I’ll expect you.’ It was almost a Royal Command. Tuppence smiled, nodded, let in the clutch and drove on.
Possibly, Tuppence thought – if she got anything interesting out of the house agents in Market Basing – Nellie Bligh might provide additional useful information. She was the kind of woman who prided herself on knowing all about everyone. The snag was that she would be determined to know all about Tuppence. Possibly by this afternoon Tuppence would have recovered sufficiently to be once more her own inventive sehq.
‘Remember, Mrs Blenkinsop,’ said Tuppence, edging round a sharp corner and squeezing into a hedge to avoid being annihilated by a frolicsome tractor of immense bulk.
Arrived in Market Basing she put the car in a parking lot in the main square, and went into the post office and entered a vacant telephone box.
The voice of Albert answered – using his usual response – a single ‘Hallo’ uttered in a suspicious voice.
‘Listen, Albert – I’ll be home tomorrow. In time for dinner, anyway – perhaps earlier. Mr Beresford will be back, too, unless he rings up. Get us something – chicken, I think.’ ‘Right, Madam. Where are you ‘ But Tuppence had rung off.
The life of Market Basing seemed centred in its important main square – Tuppence had consulted a classified directory before leaving the post office and three out of the four house and estate agents were situated in the square – the fourth in something called George Street.
Tuppence scribbled down the names and went out to look for them.
She started with Messrs. Lovebody & Slicker which appeared to be the most imposing.
A girl with spots received her.
‘I want to make some inquiries about a house.’ The girl received this news without interest. Tuppence might have been inquiring about some rare animal.
‘I don’t know, I’m sure,’ said the girl, looking round to ascertain if there was one of her colleagues to whom she could pass Tuppence on ‘A house,’ said Tuppence. ‘You are house agents, aren’t you?’ ‘House agents and auctioneers. The Cranberry Court auction’s on Wednesday if it’s that you’re interested in, catalogues two shilllrgs.’ ‘I’m not interested in auctions. I want to ask about a house.’ ‘Furnished?’ ‘Unfurnished – To buy – or rent.’ Spots brightened a little.