Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie Read Free Book Online Page B

was.”
    Roddy said:
    â€œShe’d have hated it like hell—every minute of it!”
    â€œI know.”
    Roddy said:
    â€œIt’s marvellous the way you and I always see alike over things.”
    Elinor said in a low voice:
    â€œYes it is.”
    He said:
    â€œWe’re both feeling the same thing at this minute: just utter thankfulness that she’s out of it all ….”
    II
    Nurse O’Brien said:
    â€œWhat is it, Nurse? Can’t you find something?”
    Nurse Hopkins, her face rather red, was hunting through the little attaché case that she had laid down in the hall the preceding evening.
    She grunted:
    â€œMost annoying. How I came to do such a thing I can’t imagine!”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    Nurse Hopkins replied not very intelligibly:
    â€œIt’s Eliza Rykin—that sarcoma, you know. She’s got to have double injections—night and morning—morphine. Gave her thelast tablet in the old tube last night on my way here, and I could swear I had the new tube in here, too.”
    â€œLook again. Those tubes are so small.”
    Nurse Hopkins gave a final stir to the contents of the attaché case.
    â€œNo, it’s not here! I must have left it in my cupboard after all! Really, I did think I could trust my memory better than that. I could have sworn I took it out with me!”
    â€œYou didn’t leave the case anywhere, did you, on the way here?”
    â€œOf course not!” said Nurse Hopkins sharply.
    â€œOh, well, dear,” said Nurse O’Brien, “it must be all right? ”
    â€œOh, yes! The only place I’ve laid my case down was here in this hall, and nobody here would pinch anything! Just my memory, I suppose. But it vexes me, if you understand, Nurse. Besides, I shall have to go right home first to the other end of the village and back again.”
    Nurse O’Brien said:
    â€œHope you won’t have too tiring a day, dear, after last night. Poor old lady. I didn’t think she would last long.”
    â€œNo, nor I. I daresay Doctor will be surprised!”
    Nurse O’Brien said with a tinge of disapproval:
    â€œHe’s always so hopeful about his cases.”
    Nurse Hopkins, as she prepared to depart, said:
    â€œAh, he’s young! He hasn’t our experience.”
    On which gloomy pronouncement she departed.
    III
    Dr. Lord raised himself up on his toes. His sandy eyebrows climbed right up his forehead till they nearly got merged in his hair.
    He said in surprise:
    â€œSo she’s conked out—eh?”
    â€œYes, Doctor.”
    On Nurse O’Brien’s tongue exact details were tingling to be uttered, but with stern discipline she waited.
    Peter Lord said thoughtfully:
    â€œConked out?”
    He stood for a moment thinking, then he said sharply:
    â€œGet me some boiling water.”
    Nurse O’Brien was surprised and mystified, but true to the spirit of hospital training, hers not to reason why. If a doctor had told her to go and get the skin of an alligator she would have murmured automatically, “Yes, Doctor,” and glided obediently from the room to tackle the problem.
    IV
    Roderick Welman said:
    â€œDo you mean to say that my aunt died intestate —that she never made a will at all? ”
    Mr. Seddon polished his eyeglasses. He said:
    â€œThat seems to be the case.”
    Roddy said:
    â€œBut how extraordinary!”
    Mr. Seddon gave a deprecating cough.
    â€œNot so extraordinary as you might imagine. It happens oftener than you would think. There’s a kind of superstition about it. People will think they’ve got plenty of time. The mere fact of making a will seems to bring the possibility of death nearer to them. Very odd—but there it is!”
    Roddy said:
    â€œDidn’t you ever—er—expostulate with her on the subject?”
    Mr. Seddon replied drily:
    â€œFrequently.”
    â€œAnd what did she say?”
    Mr. Seddon