AGATHA CHRISTIE. By the Pricking of My Thumbs

‘Clever, isn’t it?’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘It was done a long time ago, you know, when they altered the house. The priest’s hole, you know, they used to call this room but I don’t think it was really a priest’s hole. No, nothing to do with priests. I’ve never thought so. Come through. This is where i live now.’

She gave another push. The wall in front of her also swung back and a minute or two later they were in a large attractive-looking room with windows that gave out on the canal and the hill opposite.

‘A lovely room, isn’t it?’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘Such a lovely view. I always liked it. I lived here for a time as a girl, you kllOW.’

‘Oh, I see.’

‘Not a lucky house,’ said Mxs Lancastcr.”No, they always said it wasn’t a lucky house. I think, you know,’ she added, ‘I think I’ll shut up this again. One can’t be too careful, can one?’

She stretched out a hand and pushed the door they had come through back again. There was a sharp click as the mechanism swung into place.

‘I suppose,’ said Tuppence, ‘that this was one of the alterations they made to the house when they wanted to use it as a hiding place.’

‘They did a lot of alterations,’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘Sit down, do. Do you like a high chair or a low one? I like a high one myself. I’m rather rheumatic, you know. I suppose you thought there might have been a child’s body there,’ added

Mrs Lancaster. ‘An absurd idea really, don’t you think so?’ ‘Yes, perhaps.’

‘Cops.and robbers,’ said Mrs Lancaster, with an indulgent air. ‘One is so foolish when one is young, you know. All that sort of thing. Gangs – big robberies – it has such an appeal for one when one is young. One thinks being a gunman’s moll would be the most wonderful thing in the world. I thought so once. Believe me -‘ she leaned forward and tapped Tuppence on the knee ‘- believe me, it’s not true. It isn’t really. I thought so once, but one wants more than that, you know. There’s no thrill really in just stealing things and getting away with it. It needs good organization, of course.’ ‘You mean Mrs Johnson or Miss Bligh – whichever you call her ‘ ‘Well, of course, she’s always Nellie Bligh to me. But for some reason or other – to facilitate things, she says – she calls herself Mrs Johnson now and then. But she’s never been married, you know. Oh no. She’s a regular spinster.’ A sound of knocking came to them from below.

‘Dear me,’ said Mrs Lancaster, ‘that must be the Perrys back again. I’d no idea they were going to be back so soon.’ The knocking went on.

‘Perhaps we ought to let them in,’ suggested Tuppence.

‘No, dear, we won’t do that,’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘I can’t stand people always interfering. We’re having such a nice little talk up here, aren’t we? I think we’ll just stay up here – oh dear, now they’re calling under the window. Just look out and see who it is.’ Tuppence went to the window.

‘It’s Mr Perry,’ she said.

From below, Mr Perry shouted, ‘Julia! Julia!’ ‘Impertinence,’ said Mrs Lancaster. ‘I don’t allow people like Amos Perry to call me by my Christian name. No, indeed.

Don’t worry, dear,’ she added, ‘we’re quite safe here. And we can have a nice little talk. I’ll tell you all about myself- I’ve really had a very interesting life – Eventful – Sometimes I think I ought to write it down. I was mixed up, you see. I was a wild girl, and I was mixed up with – well, really just a common gang of criminals. No other word for it. Some of them very undesirable people. Mind you, there were nice people among them. Quite good class.’ ‘Miss Bligh?’ ‘No, no, Miss Bligh never had anything to do with crime.

Not Nellie Bligh. Oh no, she’s very churchy, you know.

Religious. All that. But there are different ways of religion.

Perhaps you know that, do you?’ ‘I suppose there are a lot of different sects,’ Tuppence suggested.

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