Free Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie Page B

Tuppence, 'it's rather frightening. But you see I just wanted to find out and -'
    'And are you asking this tree? What is this tree anyway? A monkey puzzle, isn't it?'
    'That's right,' said Tuppence. 'How clever of you to know.'
    'Of course I know,' said Tommy. 'I know its other name too.'
    'So do I,' said Tuppence.
    They looked at each other.
    'Only at the moment I've forgotten it,' said Tommy. 'Is it an arti -'
    'Well, it's something very like that,' said Tuppence. 'I think that s good enough, don't you?'
    'What are you doing inside a prickly thing like that?'
    'Well, because when you get to the end of the hill, I mean, if you didn't put your feet down to stop completely you could be in the arti - or whatever it is.'
    'Do I mean arti -? What about urticaria? No that's nettles, isn't it? Oh well,' said Tommy, 'everyone to their own kind of amusement.'
    'I was just doing a little investigation, you know, of our latest problem.'
    'Your problem? My problem? Whose problem?'
    'I don't know,' said Tuppence. 'Both our problems, I hope.'
    'But not one of Beatrice's problems, or anything like that?'
    'Oh no. It's just that I wondered what other things there might be hidden in this house, so I went and looked at a lot of toys that seem to have been shoved away in a sort of queer old greenhouse probably years and years ago and there was this creature and there was Mathilde, which is a rocking-horse with a hole in its stomach.'
    'A hole in its stomach?'
    'Well, yes. People, I suppose, used to shove things in there. Children - for fun - and lots of old leaves and dirty papers and bits of sort of queer dusters and flannel, oily stuff that had been used to clean things with.'
    'Come on, let's go into the house,' said Tommy.
    'Well, Tommy,' said Tuppence, as she stretched out her feet to a pleasant wood fire which she had lit ready for his return in the drawing-room, 'let's have your news. Did you go to the Ritz Hotel Gallery to see the show?'
    'No. As a matter of fact, I didn't. I hadn't time, really.'
    'What do you mean, you hadn't time? I thought that's what you went for.'
    'Well, one doesn't always do the things that one went for.'
    'You must have gone somewhere and done something,' said Tuppence.
    'I found a new possible place to park a car.'
    'That's always useful,' said Tuppence. 'Where was that?'
    'Near Hounslow.'
    'What on earth did you want to go to Hounslow for?'
    'Well, I didn't actually go to Hounslow. There's a sort of car park there, then I took a tube, you know.'
    'What, a tube to London?'
    'Yes. Yes, it seemed the easiest way.'
    'You have rather a guilty look about you,' said Tuppence. 'Don't tell me I have a rival who lives in Hounslow?'
    'No,' said Tommy. 'You ought to be pleased with what I've been doing.'
    'Oh. Have you been buying me a present?'
    'No. No,' said Tommy, 'I'm afraid not. I never know what to give you, as a matter of fact.'
    'Well, your guesses are very good sometimes,' said Tuppence hopefully. 'What have you been really doing, Tommy, and why should I be pleased?'
    'Because I, too,' said Tommy, 'have been doing research.'
    'Everyone's doing research nowadays,' said Tuppence. 'You know, all the teenagers and all one's nephews or cousins or other people's sons and daughters, they're all doing research. I don't know actually what they do research into nowadays, but they never seem to do it, whatever it is, afterwards. They just have the research and a good time doing the research and they're very pleased with themselves and - well, I don't quite know what does come next.'
    'Betty, our adopted daughter, went to East Africa,' said Tommy. 'Have you heard from her?'
    'Yes, she loves it there - loves poking into African families and writing articles about them.'
    'Do you think the families appreciate her interest?' asked Tommy.
    'I shouldn't think so,' said Tuppence. 'In my father's parish I remember, everyone disliked the District Visitors - Nosey Parkers they called them.'
    'You may have something there,' said