THE SECRET ADVERSARY BY AGATHA CHRISTIE

“Lock the door on the outside, please, Miss Tuppence, and take out the key.

There must be no chance of anyone entering that room.”

The gravity of his manner impressed them, and Tuppence felt less ashamed of

her attack of “nerves.”

“Say,” remarked Julius suddenly, “there’s Tuppence’s bright boy. I guess

I’d better go down and ease his young mind. That’s some lad, Tuppence.”

“How did you get in, by the way?” asked Tuppence suddenly. “I forgot to

ask.”

“Well, Albert got me on the phone all right. I ran round for Sir James

here, and we came right on. The boy was on the look out for us, and was just a

mite worried about what might have happened to you. He’d been listening outside

the door of the flat, but couldn’t hear anything. Anyhow he suggested sending

us up in the coal lift instead of ringing the bell. And sure enough we landed in

the scullery and came right along to find you. Albert’s still below, and must be

just hopping mad by this time.” With which Julius departed abruptly.

“Now then, Miss Tuppence,” said Sir James, “you know this place better than

I do. Where do you suggest we should take up our quarters?”

Tuppence considered for a moment or two.

“I think Mrs. Vandemeyer’s boudoir would be the most comfortable,” she said

at last, and led the way there.

Sir James looked round approvingly.

“This will do very well, and now, my dear young lady, do go to bed and get

some sleep.”

Tuppence shook her head resolutely.

“I couldn’t, thank you, Sir James. I should dream of Mr. Brown all night!”

“But you’ll be so tired, child.”

“No, I shan’t. I’d rather stay up–really.”

The lawyer gave in.

Julius reappeared some minutes later, having reassured Albert and rewarded

him lavishly for his services. Having in his turn failed to persuade Tuppence to

go to bed, he said decisively:

“At any rate, you’ve got to have something to eat right away. Where’s the

larder?”

Tuppence directed him, and he returned in a few minutes with a cold pie and

three plates.

After a hearty meal, the girl felt inclined to pooh-pooh her fancies of

half an hour before. The power of the money bribe could not fail.

“And now, Miss Tuppence,” said Sir James, “we want to hear your

adventures.”

“That’s so,” agreed Julius.

Tuppence narrated her adventures with some complacence. Julius occasionally

interjected an admiring “Bully.” Sir James said nothing until she had finished,

when his quiet “well done, Miss Tuppence,” made her flush with pleasure.

“There’s one thing I don’t get clearly,” said Julius. “What put her up to

clearing out?”

“I don’t know,” confessed Tuppence.

Sir James stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“The room was in great disorder. That looks as though her flight was

unpremeditated. Almost as though she got a sudden warning to go from some one.”

“Mr. Brown, I suppose,” said Julius scoffingly.

The lawyer looked at him deliberately for a minute or two.

“Why not?” he said. “Remember, you yourself have once been worsted by

him.”

Julius flushed with vexation.

“I feel just mad when I think of how I handed out Jane’s photograph to him

like a lamb. Gee, if I ever lay hands on it again, I’ll freeze on to it

like–like hell!”

“That contingency is likely to be a remote one,” said the other dryly.

“I guess you’re right,” said Julius frankly. “And, in any case, it’s the

original I’m out after. Where do you think she can be, Sir James?”

The lawyer shook his head.

“Impossible to say. But I’ve a very good idea where she has been.”

“You have? Where?”

Sir James smiled.

“At the scene of your nocturnal adventures, the Bournemouth nursing home.”

“There? Impossible. I asked.”

“No, my dear sir, you asked if anyone of the name of Jane Finn had been

there. Now, if the girl had been placed there it would almost certainly be

under an assumed name.”

“Bully for you,” cried Julius. “I never thought of that!”

“It was fairly obvious,” said the other.

“Perhaps the doctor’s in it too,” suggested Tuppence.

Julius shook his head.

“I don’t think so. I took to him at once. No, I’m pretty sure Dr. Hall’s

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