The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-08-17
bYyA8atha Christie

pduSeu. tnOuSnt LOT sure you u
know all this"
Julius said Tuppence firmly, sit
down in that armchair and tell me the
whole story with as few fancy turns
of speech as possible"
"Wel," began julius, "T got into
one of your dear old-fashioned first
class British compartments. The train
was just off. / did bit Of prospect
ing along the corridor to the next
coach. Wilmington was there right
enough. When / saw the skunk, with
his big sleek fat face. and thought of
poor little Jane in his clutches, felt
real mad that hadn't got gun with
me. I'd have tckled him up some.
"We got to Bournemouth all right.
Wilmington took cab and gave the
name of an hotel. did likewise, and
we drove up within three minutes Of
each other He hired room, and I
hired one too. So far 1t was all plain
sailing. Well, he just sat around In
the hotel lounge, reading the papers
and so on, till it was time for dinner.
81 began to think that there was
nothing doing, that he'd just come on
the trip for his health, but l remem-
bered that he hadn't changed for din
ner, though it was by way of being
a slap-up hotel, so 1t seemed likely
enough that he'd be, going out on his
real business afterward.
"Sure enough, about, nine o'clock, so
l. a hn
mighty pretty place by the way.
guess I'll take Jane there for spell
when find her-and then paid 1t Off
and struck off along those pine-woods
on the top of the cliff. l was there,
too, you understand. We walked,
maybe, for half an hour. There's
lot Of villas all the way along, but by
degrees they seemed to get more and
more thinned out, and in the end we
got to one that seemed the last of the
bunch.
at was a pretty black night, and
the carriage drive up to the house was
dark as pitch. / could hear him
ahead, though I couldn't see him.
turned a curve and was just In time
to see him ring the bell and get ad-
mitted to the house. / just stopped
where l was.
"whittington didn't come out again.
and by and by got kind of restive,
and began to mouch around. All the
ground floor windows were shuttered
tight, but upstairs on the first floor
(it was two-storied house) noticed
a window with a light burning and
the curtains not drawn.
snow, just opposite to that win
dow, there was tree growing. 1t
was about thirty foot away from the
house, maybe, and sort Of got 1t
into my head that, IL climbed up that
tree, I'd very likely be able to see
into that room. So I started up.
"It wasn't so easy by long chalk !
The rain had made the boughs mighty
slippery, and 1t was all could do
to keep foothold, but bit by bit l
managed It, until at last there was
level with the window.
"But then was disappointed. I
could only see sideways into the room.
Just as was going to give It up; and
climb down ANONYMOUSLY, someone
inside moved and threw his shadow
on my little bit Of wall-and, by gum,
1t was Wilmington
"After that. my blood was up. I'd
lust got to get look into that room.
It was up to me to figure out how.
noticed that there was long branch
running out from the tree In the right
direction. II could only swarm
about halfway along 1t, the PROPOSE
tion would be solved. Very cautiously,
inch by inch, l crawled along. At
last I got safely to where I wanted
to be.
"There was a table with lamp on
it In the middle of the room, and sit
ting at that table, facing toward me,
was Wilmington right enough. He
was talking to woman dressed as a
hospital nurse. She was sitting with
her back to me, so I couldn't see her
face. couldn't catch word Of what
they said. Wilmington seemed to be
doing all the talking, and the nurse
iust listened. He seemed very en-
phatic-once or twice he beat with
his fist on the table.
"Presently, he seemed to get to the
end of what he was saying. He got
mn. and so did she. He looked
towards the window and asked some,
thing-I guess It was whether 1t was
raining. Anyway, she came righ.
across and looked out. Just then the
moon cames out from behind the
| clouds. was scared the woman
would catch sight Of me. for was
| full in the moonlight. tried to
move back a bit. The Jerk gave
was too much for that rotten old
branch. with an almighty crash.
down II came, and Julius p. Hers
heimmer with iti''
'Oh, Julius" breathed Tuppencs,
Il >~~sxtoe1 ~ m ~ tft.IN