Endless Night by Agatha Christie Read Free Book Online Page B

view clearly was that I could have helped it.
    â€œWhy didn’t you report to them when you got back to England?”
    â€œBecause I had other fish to fry,” I said.
    She raised her eyebrows. “More notions in your head? More wild ideas? What jobs have you been doing since?”
    â€œPetrol pump. Mechanic in a garage. Temporary clerk, washer-up in a sleazy nightclub restaurant.”
    â€œGoing down the hill in fact,” said my mother with a kind of grim satisfaction.
    â€œNot at all,” I said. “It’s all part of the plan. My plan!”
    She sighed. “What would you like, tea or coffee? I’ve got both.”
    I plumped for coffee. I’ve grown out of the tea-drinking habit. We sat there with our cups in front of us and she took a home-made cake out of a tin and cut us each a slice.
    â€œYou’re different,” she said, suddenly.
    â€œMe, how?”
    â€œI don’t know, but you’re different. What’s happened?”
    â€œNothing’s happened. What should have happened?”
    â€œYou’re excited,” she said.
    â€œI’m going to rob a bank,” I said.
    She was not in the mood to be amused. She merely said:
    â€œNo, I’m not afraid of your doing that.”
    â€œWhy not? Seems a very easy way of getting rich quickly nowadays.”
    â€œIt would need too much work,” she said. “And a lot of planning. More brainwork than you’d like to have to do. Not safe enough, either.”
    â€œYou think you know all about me,” I said.
    â€œNo, I don’t. I don’t really know anything about you, because you and I are as different as chalk and cheese. But I know when you’re up to something. You’re up to something now. What is it, Micky? Is it a girl?”
    â€œWhy should you think it’s a girl?”
    â€œI’ve always known it would happen some day.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by ‘some day?’ I’ve had lots of girls.”
    â€œNot the way I mean. It’s only been the way of a young man with nothing to do. You’ve kept your hand in with girls but you’ve never been really serious till now.”
    â€œBut you think I’m serious now?”
    â€œIs it a girl, Micky?”
    I didn’t meet her eyes. I looked away and said, “In a way.”
    â€œWhat kind of a girl is she?”
    â€œThe right kind for me,” I said.
    â€œAre you going to bring her to see me?”
    â€œNo,” I said.
    â€œIt’s like that, is it?”
    â€œNo, it isn’t. I don’t want to hurt your feelings but—”
    â€œYou’re not hurting my feelings. You don’t want me to see her in case I should say to you ‘Don’t.’ Is that it?”
    â€œI wouldn’t pay any attention if you did.”
    â€œMaybe not, but it would shake you. It would shake you somewhere inside because you take notice of what I say and think. There are things I’ve guessed about you—and maybe I’ve guessed rightand you know it. I’m the only person in the world who can shake your confidence in yourself. Is this girl a bad lot who’s got hold of you?”
    â€œBad lot?” I said and laughed. “If you only saw her! You make me laugh.”
    â€œWhat do you want from me? You want something. You always do.”
    â€œI want some money,” I said.
    â€œYou won’t get it from me. What do you want it for—to spend on this girl?”
    â€œNo,” I said, “I want to buy a first-class suit to get married in.”
    â€œYou’re going to marry her?”
    â€œIf she’ll have me.”
    That shook her.
    â€œIf you’d only tell me something!” she said. “You’ve got it badly, I can see that. It’s the thing I always feared, that you’d choose the wrong girl.”
    â€œWrong girl! Hell!” I shouted. I was angry.
    I went out of the house and I banged the