Read Online Red Shadow by Patricia Wentworth - Free Book Online

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    Catherine Werner went down the stair, pushed open the first door she came to, and entered a small room furnished as a study. Alec Stevens looked up from the writing-table as she came in.
    â€œWhat do you want? I’m busy,” he said, speaking English.
    Catherine came up to the table. She rested the tips of her fingers on it and looked at him—hard.
    â€œWhat did you want to talk to her like that for?” she said in Russian.
    â€œSpeak English!” said Alec Stevens. “You have improved, but you need all the practice that you can get. Even now you could not pass for English as I do. And you must not only not speak Russian—you mustn’t so much as think Russian. Waking or sleeping, there must be nothing but English.”
    Her expression did not change in the least.
    â€œI asked you a question, Sasha,” she said.
    â€œAnd you are not to call me Sasha.”
    Trina laughed.
    â€œMy dear Alec—I asked you a question. I asked you why you wanted to talk to Laura like that.”
    Alec Stevens laid down his pen and began to light a cigarette.
    â€œWell, I didn’t do it for fun, my dear. I wanted to see how she would react when I mentioned Vassili.”
    â€œI thought she was going to faint.”
    â€œBut she didn’t faint. She’s much better. I am really quite satisfied—the experiment told me what I wanted to know.”
    Catherine leaned forward a little.
    â€œI won’t have experiments tried on her—she’s my patient!”
    Alec Stevens blew out a lazy cloud of smoke.
    â€œAnd mine, liebchen. ”
    â€œIt’s a dangerous game to pretend to be a doctor.”
    He inhaled comfortably.
    â€œWhere’s the danger? She’s getting well, isn’t she? The whole of Harley Street couldn’t do more for her than that. She’s getting well like a house on fire. Vassili is in luck—she’s a healthy creature as well as a beautiful one. When she gets her colour back, she’ll be worth looking at. Did you see her flush when I startled her? A wonderfully sensitive skin. But I don’t suppose she has any temperament. What should you say?”
    Trina’s eyes flashed black lightnings.
    â€œI should say you had better be careful. Vassili won’t stand poaching.”
    â€œBah! He isn’t in love with her. She’s not his sort—he likes a girl who’ll sit on his knee. Besides, he’s a long way off—and people who are recalled to Moscow don’t always come back. They’ll be wanting him before long.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” she said breathlessly.
    He made a gesture with his cigarette.
    â€œAbsolutely nothing. What should I mean? I like to score you off—you rise so easily. And there, my dear, I make you a present of two new idioms. You can practise introducing them into conversation. But remember a little idiom goes a long way. Overdo it, and you are the comic foreigner at once.”
    Catherine sprang back from the table.
    â€œYou will laugh at me once too often! Yes, I tell you so! I will not have it! And I will not be kept in the dark and made the catspaw!”
    â€œ A catspaw, my dear. The use of the definite article is a thing you’ve got to watch—it’s a hopeless giveaway.”
    Catherine put her hands behind her.
    â€œI keep my temper because I do not choose to compliment you by losing it. No doubt you are seeing how I shall react. Very well then—here I am—and I am warning you that you can go too far. I ask you now, seriously, why are you so interested in Laura’s progress? Why do you test her? Has anything happened?”
    â€œThe lawyer wants to come down and see her,” said Alec Stevens, frowning.
    â€œHer lawyer?”
    He laughed.
    â€œHe’s her lawyer now. He was Bertram Hallingdon’s lawyer. He wants to come down and see Bertram Hallingdon’s heiress—and I want the exact psychological moment