Agatha Christie

“ He thought it was an ordinary house. He didn’t know.
He remembered suddenly that he must be calm, very calm. You couldn't find the House unless you were very calm. It was no use looking for the House in a hurry, or being excited.
If he could only keep calm! But it was so hot! Hot? It was cold—yes, cold. These weren't cliffs, they were icebergs—jagged, cold icebergs.
He was so tired. He wouldn’t go on looking—it was no good—Ah! here was a lane—that was better than icebergs, anyway. How pleasant and shady it was in the cool, green lane. And those trees—they were splendid! ”

“ She looked across at Maisie and laughed mockingly.
“You see,” she said. “They won’t let me.”
Then, without waiting for a reply to her somewhat enigmatical remark, she plunged into a strange haunting melody, a thing of weird harmonies and curious measured rhythm, quite unlike anything Segrave had ever heard before. ”

“ I shall never marry.”
He stayed a little while considering, then he said very gently:
“Can't you tell me why?”
“I could, but more than anything in the world I want not to tell you.”
Again he was silent, then he looked up suddenly and a singularly attractive smile illumined his faun’s face.
“I see,” he said, “So you won’t let me come inside the House—not even to peep in for a second? The blinds are to stay down.”
Allegra leaned forward and laid her hand on his.
“I will tell you this much. You dream of your House. But I—I don’t dream, My dreams are nightmares!” ”

“ I can live on my friends with the greatest ease, and I’m careful to make no pretence of gratitude.”
“There’s no one quite like you, Allegra. You don’t mind in the least what you say.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I mind very much—I take care and thought about the matter. My seeming outspokenness is always calculated. I’ve got to be careful. This job has got to carry me on to old age.”
“Why not marry? I know heaps of people have asked you.”
Allegra’s face grew suddenly hard.
“I can never marry.”
“Because—” Maisie left the sentence unfinished, looking at her friend. ”

“ He was taken aback.
“It is all very sad,” said Maisie. She hesitated just a minute, then went on. “You see, she died in—well, practically an asylum. There’s insanity in the family. The grandfather shot himself, and one of Allegra’s aunts is a hopeless imbecile, and another drowned herself.”
John Segrave made an inarticulate sound.
“I thought I ought to tell you,” said Maisie virtuously. “We're such friends, aren’t we? And of course Allegra is very attractive. Lots of people have asked her to marry them, but naturally she won’t marry at all—she couldn't, could she?” ”

“ Anyway, a fortnight later she persuaded her father to ask John Segrave to dinner. It was an intimate dinner, her- self and her father, John Segrave, and a girlfriend who was staying with her.
The girlfriend was moved to make a few remarks.
“On approval, I suppose, Maisie? Later, father will do it up in a nice little parcel and bring it home from the city as a present to his dear little daughter, duly bought and paid for.”
“Allegra! You are the limit.”
Allegra Kerr laughed.
“You do take fancies, you know, Maisie. I like that hat—I must have it! If hats, why not husbands?” ”

“ It was the Thing that had looked out from the House.
She caught his momentary recoil.
“You see,” she whispered. “You see— But I wish Maisie hadn’t told you. It takes everything from you.”
“Everything?”
“Yes. There won't even be the dreams left. For now—you'll never dare to dream of the House again.”
The West African sun poured down, and the heat was intense.
John Segrave continued to moan.
“I can’t find it. I ean’t find it.”
The little English doctor with the red head and the tremendous jaw scowled down upon his patient in that bullying manner which he had made his own. ”

“ Maisie and her father stopped speaking.
“I'm so sorry, Mr. Wetterman. I’m throwing glasses on the floor.”
“My dear Allegra, it doesn’t matter at all, not at all.”
Beneath his breath John Segrave said quickly: “Broken glass. That’s bad luck. I wish—it hadn’t happened.”
“Don’t worry. How does it go? ‘Ill luck thou canst not bring where ill luck has its home.’”
She turned once more to Wetterman. John, resuming conversation with Maisie, tried to place the quotation. He got it at last. They were the words used by Sieglinde in the Walkure when Sigmund offers to leave the house. ”

“ The outside of me is all right, 1 know.”
“I haven't seen the inside of the house yet,” said John Segrave. “When I do I know it will be quite as beautiful as the outside.”
He spoke slowly and gravely, giving the words a meaning that she chose to ignore.
“There is something more I want to tell you—if you will listen.”
“I will listen,” said Allegra.
“I am chucking up this job of mine. I ought to have done it long ago—I see that now. I have been content to drift along knowing I was an utter failure, without caring much, just living from day to day. A man shouldn't do that. ”

“ “Pride comes in handy for masking one’s feelings—it doesn’t stop you from feeling them.” ”

“ Insolence, plain speaking, a dash of wit now and again (not too much lest I should have to live up to it) , and behind it all, a very shrewd observation of human nature. People rather like being told how horrible they really are. That’s why they flock to popular preachers. ”

“ There was a huge black furniture van moving slowly away from the House. The last tenant, of course, moving out with his goods. He went up to the men in charge of the van and spoke to them. There was something rather sinister about that van, it was so very black. The horses were black, too, with freely flowing manes and tails, and the men all wore black clothes and gloves. ”

“ The poor relation type of girl, all willingness to do without a fire in her room and content to do odd jobs and help dear Cousin So and So, I observed to be at a premium. Nobody really wants her—except those people who can’t keep their servants, and they treat her like a galley slave. ”

“ Is a man’s business to find something he can do and make a success of it. I’m chucking this, and taking on something else—quite a different sort of thing. It's a kind of expedition in West Africa—I can’t tell you the details. They're not supposed to be known; but if it comes off—well, I shall be a rich man.”
“So you, too, count success in terms of money?”
“Money,” said John Segrave, “means just one thing to me—you! ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1976, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 47 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”