Read Online At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie - Free Book Online

He's known me ever since I was six. Come on, Bridget, we'll go there right away. We'll just have time.”
    “We'd better go out the back way,” said Bridget, “and then Mummy won't ask us where we're going.”
    Outside the old established business of Bollard and Whitley in Bond Street the two girls made their final arrangements.
    “Are you sure you understand, Bridget?”
    “I think so,” said Bridget in a far from happy voice.
    “First,” said Elvira, “we synchronize our watches.” Bridget brightened up a little. This familiar literary phrase had a heartening effect. They solemnly synchronized their watches, Bridget adjusting hers by one minute.
    “Zero hour will be twenty-five past exactly,” said Elvira. “That will give me plenty of time. Perhaps even more than I need, but it's better that way about.”
    “But supposing -” began Bridget.
    “Supposing what?” asked Elvira.
    “Well, I mean, supposing I really got run over?”
    “Of course you won't get run over,” said Elvira. “You know how nippy you are on your feet, and all London traffic is used to pulling up suddenly. It'll be all right.”
    Bridget looked far from convinced.
    “You won't let me down, Bridget, will you?”
    “All right,” said Bridget, “I won't let you down.”
    “Good,” said Elvira.
    Bridget crossed to the other side of Bond Street and Elvira pushed open the doors of Messrs. Bollard and Whitley, old-established jewellers and watchmakers. Inside there was a beautiful and hushed atmosphere. A frock-coated nobleman came forward and asked Elvira what he could do for her.
    “Could I see Mr Bollard?”
    “Mr Bollard. What name shall I say?”
    “Miss Elvira Blake.”
    The nobleman disappeared and Elvira drifted to a counter where, below plate glass, brooches, rings and bracelets showed off their jewelled proportions against suitable shades of velvet. In a very few moments Mr Bollard made his appearance. He was the senior partner of the firm, an elderly man of sixty odd. He greeted Elvira with warm friendliness.
    “Ah, Miss Blake, so you are in London. It's a great pleasure to see you. Now what can I do for you?”
    Elvira produced a dainty little evening wristwatch.
    “This watch doesn't go properly,” said Elvira. “Could you do something to it?”
    “Oh yes, of course. There's no difficulty about that.” Mr Bollard took it from her. “What address shall I send it to?”
    Elvira gave the address.
    “And there's another thing,” she said. “My guardian - Colonel Luscombe you know -”
    “Yes, yes, of course.”
    “He asked me what I'd like for a Christmas present,” said Elvira. “He suggested I should come in here and look at some different things. He said would I like him to come with me, and I said I'd rather come along first - because I always think it's rather embarrassing, don't you? I mean, prices and all that.”
    “Well, that's certainly one aspect,” said Mr Bollard, beaming in an avuncular manner. “Now what had you in mind, Miss Blake? A brooch, bracelet - a ring?”
    “I think really brooches are most useful,” said Elvira. “But I wonder - could I look at a lot of things?” She looked up at him appealingly. He smiled sympathetically.
    “Of course, of course. No pleasure at all if one has to make up one's mind too quickly, is it?”
    The next five or six minutes were spent very agreeably. Nothing was too much trouble for Mr Bollard. He fetched things from one case and another, brooches and bracelets piled up on the piece of velvet spread in front of Elvira. Occasionally she turned aside to look at herself in a mirror, trying the effect of a brooch or a pendant. Finally, rather uncertainly, a pretty little bangle, a small diamond wristwatch and two brooches were laid aside.
    “We'll make a note of these,” said Mr Bollard, “and then when Colonel Luscombe is in London next, perhaps he'll come in and see what he decides himself he'd like to give you.”
    “I think that way will be very