Read Online The Big Four by Agatha Christie - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Agatha Christie
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penalty for improper use, 100 francs, I think?”
“Oh! you are going to pull that?”
“Or rather a friend of mine, Pierre Combeau, will do so. Then, while he is arguing with the guard, and making a big scene, and all the train is agog with interest, you and I will fade quietly away.”
We duly carried out Poirot's plan. Pierre Combeau, an old crony of Poirot's, and who evidently knew my little friend's methods pretty well, fell in with the arrangements.
The communication cord was pulled just as we got to the outskirts of Paris. Combeau “made a scene” in the most approved French fashion and Poirot and I were able to leave the train without any one being interested in our departure. Our first proceeding was to make a considerable change in our appearance. Poirot had brought the materials for this with him in a small case. Two loafers in dirty blue blouses were the result. We had dinner in an obscure hostelry, and started back to Paris afterwards.
It was close on eleven o'clock when we found ourselves once more in the neighbourhood of Madame Olivier's villa. We looked up and down the road before slipping into the alleyway. The whole place appeared to be perfectly deserted. One thing we could be quite certain of, no one was following us.
“I do not expect them to be here yet,” whispered Poirot to me. “Possibly they may not come until tomorrow night, but they know perfectly well that there are only two nights on which the radium will be there.”
Very cautiously we turned the key in the garden door. It opened noiselessly and we stepped into the garden. And then, with complete unexpectedness, the blow fell. In a minute we were surrounded, gagged and bound. At least ten men must have been waiting for us. Resistance was useless. Like two helpless bundles we were lifted up and carried along. To my intense astonishment, they took us towards the house and not away from it. With a key they opened the door into the laboratory and carried us into it. One of the men stooped down before the big safe. The door of it swung open. I felt an unpleasant sensation down my spine. Were they going to bundle us into it, and leave us there to asphyxiate slowly?
However, to my amazement, I saw that from the inside of the safe steps led down beneath the floor. We were thrust down this narrow way and eventually came out into a big subterranean chamber. A woman stood there, tall and imposing, with a black velvet mask covering her face. She was clearly in command of the situation by her gestures of authority. The men slung us down on the floor and left us - alone with the mysterious creature in the mask. I had no doubt who she was.
This was the unknown Frenchwoman - Number Three of the Big Four.
She knelt down beside us and removed the gags, but left us bound, then rising and facing us, with a sudden swift gesture she removed her mask.
It was Madame Olivier!
“M. Poirot,” she said, in a low mocking tone. “The great, the wonderful, the unique M. Poirot. I sent a warning to you yesterday morning. You chose to disregard it - you thought you could pit your wits against us. And now, you are here!”
There was a cold malignity about her that froze me to the marrow. It was so at variance with the burning fire of her eyes. She was mad - mad - with the madness of genius!
Poirot said nothing. His jaw had dropped, and he was staring at her.
“Well,” she said softly, “this is the end. We cannot permit our plans to be interfered with. Have you any last request to make?”
Never before, or since, have I felt so near death.
Poirot was magnificent. He neither flinched nor paled, just stared at her with unabated interest.
“Your psychology interests me enormously, madame,” he said quietly. “It is a pity that I have so short a time to devote to studying it. Yes, I have a request to make. A condemned man is always allowed a last smoke, I believe. I have my cigarette case on me. If you would permit -” He looked down at his
“Oh! you are going to pull that?”
“Or rather a friend of mine, Pierre Combeau, will do so. Then, while he is arguing with the guard, and making a big scene, and all the train is agog with interest, you and I will fade quietly away.”
We duly carried out Poirot's plan. Pierre Combeau, an old crony of Poirot's, and who evidently knew my little friend's methods pretty well, fell in with the arrangements.
The communication cord was pulled just as we got to the outskirts of Paris. Combeau “made a scene” in the most approved French fashion and Poirot and I were able to leave the train without any one being interested in our departure. Our first proceeding was to make a considerable change in our appearance. Poirot had brought the materials for this with him in a small case. Two loafers in dirty blue blouses were the result. We had dinner in an obscure hostelry, and started back to Paris afterwards.
It was close on eleven o'clock when we found ourselves once more in the neighbourhood of Madame Olivier's villa. We looked up and down the road before slipping into the alleyway. The whole place appeared to be perfectly deserted. One thing we could be quite certain of, no one was following us.
“I do not expect them to be here yet,” whispered Poirot to me. “Possibly they may not come until tomorrow night, but they know perfectly well that there are only two nights on which the radium will be there.”
Very cautiously we turned the key in the garden door. It opened noiselessly and we stepped into the garden. And then, with complete unexpectedness, the blow fell. In a minute we were surrounded, gagged and bound. At least ten men must have been waiting for us. Resistance was useless. Like two helpless bundles we were lifted up and carried along. To my intense astonishment, they took us towards the house and not away from it. With a key they opened the door into the laboratory and carried us into it. One of the men stooped down before the big safe. The door of it swung open. I felt an unpleasant sensation down my spine. Were they going to bundle us into it, and leave us there to asphyxiate slowly?
However, to my amazement, I saw that from the inside of the safe steps led down beneath the floor. We were thrust down this narrow way and eventually came out into a big subterranean chamber. A woman stood there, tall and imposing, with a black velvet mask covering her face. She was clearly in command of the situation by her gestures of authority. The men slung us down on the floor and left us - alone with the mysterious creature in the mask. I had no doubt who she was.
This was the unknown Frenchwoman - Number Three of the Big Four.
She knelt down beside us and removed the gags, but left us bound, then rising and facing us, with a sudden swift gesture she removed her mask.
It was Madame Olivier!
“M. Poirot,” she said, in a low mocking tone. “The great, the wonderful, the unique M. Poirot. I sent a warning to you yesterday morning. You chose to disregard it - you thought you could pit your wits against us. And now, you are here!”
There was a cold malignity about her that froze me to the marrow. It was so at variance with the burning fire of her eyes. She was mad - mad - with the madness of genius!
Poirot said nothing. His jaw had dropped, and he was staring at her.
“Well,” she said softly, “this is the end. We cannot permit our plans to be interfered with. Have you any last request to make?”
Never before, or since, have I felt so near death.
Poirot was magnificent. He neither flinched nor paled, just stared at her with unabated interest.
“Your psychology interests me enormously, madame,” he said quietly. “It is a pity that I have so short a time to devote to studying it. Yes, I have a request to make. A condemned man is always allowed a last smoke, I believe. I have my cigarette case on me. If you would permit -” He looked down at his
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