Free Endless Night by Agatha Christie

reporters or otherwise, knew the Guteman heiress was in England. There had been vague paragraphs in papers occasionally, describing her as in Italy or on someone’s yacht. We were married in the Registrar’s office with his clerk and a middle-aged typist as witnesses. He gave us a serious little harangue on the serious responsibilities of married life, and wished us happiness. Then we went out, free and married. Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rogers! We spent a week in a seaside hotel and then we went abroad. We had a glorious three weeks travelling about wherever the fancy took us and no expense spared.
    We went to Greece and we went to Florence, and to Venice and lay on the Lido, then to the French Riviera and then to the Dolomites. Half the places I forget the names of now. We took planes or chartered a yacht or hired large and handsome cars. And while we enjoyed ourselves, Greta, I gathered from Ellie, was still on the Home Front doing her stuff.
    Travelling about in her own way, sending letters and forwarding all the various post-cards and letters that Ellie had left with her.
    â€œThere’ll be a day of reckoning, of course,” said Ellie. “They’ll come down on us like a cloud of vultures. But we might as well enjoy ourselves until that happens.”
    â€œWhat about Greta?” I said. “Won’t they be rather angry with her when they find out?”
    â€œOh, of course,” said Ellie, “but Greta won’t mind. She’s tough.”
    â€œMightn’t it stop her getting another job?”
    â€œWhy should she get another job?” said Ellie. “She’ll come and live with us.”
    â€œNo!” I said.
    â€œWhat do you mean, no, Mike?”
    â€œWe don’t want anyone living with us,” I said.
    â€œGreta wouldn’t be in the way,” said Ellie, “and she’d be very useful. Really, I don’t know what I’d do without her. I mean, she manages and arranges everything.”
    I frowned. “I don’t think I’d like that. Besides, we want our own house—our dream house, after all, Ellie—we want it to ourselves.”
    â€œYes,” said Ellie, “I know what you mean. But all the same—” She hesitated. “I mean, it would be very hard on Greta not to have anywhere to live. After all, she’s been with me, done everything for me for four years now. And look how she’s helped me to get married and all that.”
    â€œI won’t have her butting in between us all the time!”
    â€œBut she’s not like that at all, Mike. You haven’t even met her yet.”
    â€œNo. No, I know I haven’t but—but it’s nothing to do with, oh with liking her or not. We want to be by ourselves, Ellie.”
    â€œDarling Mike,” said Ellie softly.
    We left it at that for the moment.
    During the course of our travels we had met Santonix. That was in Greece. He had been in a small fisherman’s cottage near the sea. I was startled by how ill he looked, much worse than when I had seen him a year ago. He greeted both Ellie and myself very warmly.
    â€œSo you’ve done it, you two,” he said.
    â€œYes,” said Ellie, “and now we’re going to have our house built, aren’t we?”
    â€œI’ve got the drawings for you here, the plans,” he said to me. “She’s told you, hasn’t she, how she came and ferreted me out and gave me her—commands,” he said, choosing the words thoughtfully.
    â€œOh! not commands,” said Ellie. “I just pleaded.”
    â€œYou know we’ve bought the site?” I said.
    â€œEllie wired and told me. She sent me dozens of photographs.”
    â€œOf course you’ve got to come and see it first,” said Ellie. “You mightn’t like the site.”
    â€œI do like it.”
    â€œYou can’t really know till you’ve seen it.”
    â€œBut I have seen it, child. I