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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 91 из 147Elsa herself was openly and flagrantly rude to Caroline. She was top dog and she knew it-and no scruples of good breeding restrained her from overt bad manners. The result was that Crale spent most of his time scrapping with the girl Angela when he wasn’t painting. They were usually on affectionate terms, though they teased and fought a good deal. But on this occasion there was an edge in everything Amyas said or did, and the two of them really lost their tempers with each other. The fourth member of the party was the governess. ‘A sour-faced hag,’ Amyas called her. ‘She hates me like poison. Sits there with her lips set together, disapproving of me without stopping.’
It was then that he said:
‘God damn all women! If a man is to have any peace he must steer clear of women!’
‘You oughtn’t to have married,’ I said. ‘You’re the sort of man who ought to have kept clear of domestic ties.’
He replied that it was too late to talk about that now. He added that no doubt Caroline would be only too glad to get rid of him. That was the first indication I had that something unusual was in the wind.
I said: ‘What’s all this? Is this business with the lovely Elsa serious then?’ He said with a sort of groan:
‘Sheis lovely, isn’t she? Sometimes I wish I’d never seen her.’
I said: ‘Look here, old boy, you must take a hold on yourself. You don’t want to get tied up with any more women.’ He looked at me and laughed. He said: ‘It’s all very well for you to talk. I can’t let women alone-simply can’t do it-and if I could, they wouldn’t let me alone!’ Then he shrugged those great shoulders of his, grinned at me and said: ‘Oh well, it will all pan out in the end, I expect. And you must admit the picture is good?’
He was referring to the portrait he was doing of Elsa, and although I had very little technical knowledge of painting, even I could see that it was going to be a work of especial power.
Whilst he was painting, Amyas was a different man. Although he would growl, groan, frown, swear extravagantly, and sometimes hurl his brushes away, he was really intensely happy.
It was only when he came back to the house for meals that the hostile atmosphere between the women got him down. That hostility came to a head on Sept. 17th. We had had an embarrassing lunch. Elsa had been particularly-really, I thinkinsolent is the only word for it! She had ignored Caroline pointedly, persistently addressing the conversation to Amyas as though he and she were alone in the room.
It was then that he said:
‘God damn all women! If a man is to have any peace he must steer clear of women!’
‘You oughtn’t to have married,’ I said. ‘You’re the sort of man who ought to have kept clear of domestic ties.’
He replied that it was too late to talk about that now. He added that no doubt Caroline would be only too glad to get rid of him. That was the first indication I had that something unusual was in the wind.
I said: ‘What’s all this? Is this business with the lovely Elsa serious then?’ He said with a sort of groan:
‘Sheis lovely, isn’t she? Sometimes I wish I’d never seen her.’
I said: ‘Look here, old boy, you must take a hold on yourself. You don’t want to get tied up with any more women.’ He looked at me and laughed. He said: ‘It’s all very well for you to talk. I can’t let women alone-simply can’t do it-and if I could, they wouldn’t let me alone!’ Then he shrugged those great shoulders of his, grinned at me and said: ‘Oh well, it will all pan out in the end, I expect. And you must admit the picture is good?’
He was referring to the portrait he was doing of Elsa, and although I had very little technical knowledge of painting, even I could see that it was going to be a work of especial power.
Whilst he was painting, Amyas was a different man. Although he would growl, groan, frown, swear extravagantly, and sometimes hurl his brushes away, he was really intensely happy.
It was only when he came back to the house for meals that the hostile atmosphere between the women got him down. That hostility came to a head on Sept. 17th. We had had an embarrassing lunch. Elsa had been particularly-really, I thinkinsolent is the only word for it! She had ignored Caroline pointedly, persistently addressing the conversation to Amyas as though he and she were alone in the room.