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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 93 из 147She said:
‘Amyas, Elsa says you want tomarry her. Is this true?’
Poor Amyas. I felt sorry for him. It makes a man feel a fool to have a scene of that kind forced upon him. He went crimson and started blustering. He turned on Elsa and asked her why the devil she couldn’t have held her tongue?
Caroline said: ‘Then itis true?’
He didn’t say anything, just stood there passing his finger round inside the neck of his shirt. He used to do that as a kid when he got into a jam of any kind. He said-and he tried to make the words sound dignified and authoritative-and of course couldn’t manage it, poor devil:
‘I don’t want to discuss it.’
Caroline said: ‘But we’re going to discuss it!’
Elsa chipped in and said:
‘I think it’s only fair to Caroline that she should be told.’
Caroline said, very quietly:
‘Is it true, Amyas?’
He looked a bit ashamed of himself. Men do when women pin them down in a corner.
She said:
‘Answer me, please. I’ve got to know.’
He flung up his head then-rather the way a bull does in the bull-ring. He snapped out:
‘It’s true enough-but I don’t want to discuss it now.’
And he turned and strode out of the room. I went after him. I didn’t want to be left with the women. I caught up with him on the terrace. He was swearing. I never knew a man swear more heartily. Then he raved:
‘Why couldn’t she hold her tongue? Why the devil couldn’t she hold her tongue? Now the fat’s in the fire. And I’ve got to finish that picture-do you hear, Phil? It’s the best thing I’ve done. The best thing I’ve ever done in mylife. And a couple of damn’ fool women want to muck it up between them!’
Then he calmed down a little and said women had no sense of proportion.
I couldn’t help smiling a little. I said:
‘Well, dash it all, old boy, you have brought this on yourself.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ he said, and groaned. Then he added: ‘But you must admit, Phil, that a man couldn’t be blamed for losing his head about her. Even Caroline ought to understand that.’
I asked him what would happen if Caroline got her back up and refused to give him a divorce.
But by now he had gone off into a fit of abstraction. I repeated the remark and he said absently:
‘Caroline would never be vindictive. You don’t understand, old boy.’
‘There’s the child,’ I pointed out.
He took me by the arm.
‘Amyas, Elsa says you want tomarry her. Is this true?’
Poor Amyas. I felt sorry for him. It makes a man feel a fool to have a scene of that kind forced upon him. He went crimson and started blustering. He turned on Elsa and asked her why the devil she couldn’t have held her tongue?
Caroline said: ‘Then itis true?’
He didn’t say anything, just stood there passing his finger round inside the neck of his shirt. He used to do that as a kid when he got into a jam of any kind. He said-and he tried to make the words sound dignified and authoritative-and of course couldn’t manage it, poor devil:
‘I don’t want to discuss it.’
Caroline said: ‘But we’re going to discuss it!’
Elsa chipped in and said:
‘I think it’s only fair to Caroline that she should be told.’
Caroline said, very quietly:
‘Is it true, Amyas?’
He looked a bit ashamed of himself. Men do when women pin them down in a corner.
She said:
‘Answer me, please. I’ve got to know.’
He flung up his head then-rather the way a bull does in the bull-ring. He snapped out:
‘It’s true enough-but I don’t want to discuss it now.’
And he turned and strode out of the room. I went after him. I didn’t want to be left with the women. I caught up with him on the terrace. He was swearing. I never knew a man swear more heartily. Then he raved:
‘Why couldn’t she hold her tongue? Why the devil couldn’t she hold her tongue? Now the fat’s in the fire. And I’ve got to finish that picture-do you hear, Phil? It’s the best thing I’ve done. The best thing I’ve ever done in mylife. And a couple of damn’ fool women want to muck it up between them!’
Then he calmed down a little and said women had no sense of proportion.
I couldn’t help smiling a little. I said:
‘Well, dash it all, old boy, you have brought this on yourself.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ he said, and groaned. Then he added: ‘But you must admit, Phil, that a man couldn’t be blamed for losing his head about her. Even Caroline ought to understand that.’
I asked him what would happen if Caroline got her back up and refused to give him a divorce.
But by now he had gone off into a fit of abstraction. I repeated the remark and he said absently:
‘Caroline would never be vindictive. You don’t understand, old boy.’
‘There’s the child,’ I pointed out.
He took me by the arm.