The Case of the Discontented Husband Page 2
“Is he the one?”
“Yes, and I’m damned if I’ll have him in my house!”
“You must,” said Madeleine. “Don’t worry, I’ll attend to him. Say that on thinking things over you have no objection and that you know she won’t mind you asking me to stay on, too.”
“Oh dear!” sighed Mr. Wade.
“Now don’t lose heart,” said Madeleine. “Everything is going splendidly. Another fortnight—and all your troubles will be over.”
“A fortnight? Do you really think so?” demanded Mr. Wade.
“Think so? I’m sure of it,” said Madeleine.
A week later Madeleine de Sara entered Mr. Parker Pyne’s office and sank wearily into a chair.
“Enter the Queen of the Vamps,” said Mr. Parker Pyne, smiling.
“Vamps!” said Madeleine. She gave a hollow laugh. “I’ve never had such uphill work being a vamp. That man is obsessed by his wife! It’s a disease.”
Mr. Parker Pyne smiled. “Yes, indeed. Well, in one way it made our task easier. It is not every man, my dear Madeleine, whom I would expose to your fascination so lightheartedly.”
The girl laughed. “If you knew the difficulty I had to make him even kiss me as though he liked it!”
“A novel experience for you, my dear. Well, is your task accomplished?”
“Yes, I think all is well. We had a tremendous scene last night. Let me see, my last report was three days ago?”
“Yes.”
“Well, as I told you, I only had to look at that miserable worm, Sinclair Jordan, once. He was all over me—especially as he thought from my clothes that I had money. Mrs. Wade was furious, of course. Here were both her men dancing attendance on me. I soon showed where my preference lay. I made fun of Sinclair Jordan, to his face and to her. I laughed at his clothes, and at the length of his hair. I pointed out that he had knock knees.”
“Excellent technique,” said Mr. Parker Pyne appreciatively.
“Everything boiled up last night. Mrs. Wade came out in the open. She accused me of breaking up her home. Reggie Wade mentioned the little matter of Sinclair Jordan. She said that that was only the result of her unhappiness and loneliness. She had noticed her husband’s abstraction for some time, but had no idea as to the cause of it. She said they had always been ideally happy, that she adored him and he knew it, and that she wanted him and only him.
“I said it was too late for that. Mr. Wade followed his instructions splendidly. He said he didn’t give a damn! He was going to marry me! Mrs. Wade could have her Sinclair as soon as she pleased. There was no reason why the divorce proceedings shouldn’t be started at once; waiting six months was absurd.
“Within a few days, he said, she should have the necessary evidence and could instruct her solicitors. He said he couldn’t live without me. Then Mrs. Wade clutched her chest and talked about her weak heart and had to be given brandy. He didn’t weaken. He went up to town this morning, and I’ve no doubt she’s gone after him by this time.”
“So that’s all right,” said Mr. Pyne cheerfully. “A very satisfactory case.”
The door flew open. In the doorway stood Reggie Wade.
“Is she here?” he demanded, advancing into the room. “Where is she?” He caught sight of Madeleine. “Darling!” he cried. He seized both her hands. “Darling, darling. You knew, didn’t you, that it was real last night—that I meant every word I said to Iris? I don’t know why I was blind so long. But I’ve known for the last three days.”
“Known what?” said Madeleine faintly.
“That I adored you. That there was no woman in the world for me but you. Iris can bring her divorce and when it’s gone through you’ll marry me, won’t you? Say you will, Madeleine, I adore you.”
He caught the paralysed Madeleine in his arms just as the door flew open again, this time to admit a thin woman dressed in untidy green.
“I thought so,” said the newcomer. “I followed you! I knew you’d go to her!”
“I can assure you—” began Mr. Parker Pyne, recovering from the stupefaction that had descended upon him.
The intruder took no notice of him. She swept on: “Oh, Reggie, you can’t want to break my heart! Only come back! I’ll not say a word about this. I’ll learn golf. I won’t have any friends you don’t care about. After all these years, when we’ve been so happy together—”
“I’ve never been happy till now,” said Mr. Wade, still gazing at Madeleine. “Dash it all, Iris, you wanted to marry that ass Jordan. Why don’t you go and do it?”
Mrs. Wade gave a wail. “I hate him! I hate the very sight of him.” She turned to Madeleine. “You wicked woman! You horrible vampire—stealing my husband from me.”
“I don’t want your husband,” said Madeleine distractedly.
“Madeleine!” Mr. Wade was gazing at her in agony.
“Please go away,” said Madeleine.
“But look here, I’m not pretending. I mean it.”
“Oh, go away!” cried Madeleine hysterically. “Go away!”
Reggie moved reluctantly towards the door. “I shall come back,” he warned her. “You’ve not seen the last of me.” He went out, banging the door.
“Girls like you ought to be flogged and branded!” cried Mrs. Wade. “Reggie was an angel to me always till you came along. Now he’s so changed I don’t know him.” With a sob, she hurried out after her husband.
Madeleine and Mr. Parker Pyne looked at each other.
“I can’t help it,” said Madeleine helplessly. “He’s a very nice man—a dear—but I don’t want to marry him. I’d no idea of all this. If you knew the difficulty I had making him kiss me!”
“Ahem!” said Mr. Parker Pyne. “I regret to admit it, but it was an error of judgement on my part.” He shook his head sadly, and drawing Mr. Wade’s file towards him, wrote across it:
FAILURE—owing to natural causes.
N.B.—They should have been foreseen.
About the Author
AGATHA CHRISTIE is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976.
www.AgathaChristie.com
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
AGATHA CHRISTIE® PARKER PYNE INVESTIGATES™ are registered trademarks of Agatha Christie Limited in the UK and elsewhere. All rights reserved.
“The Case of the Discontented Husband” was previously published as part of Parker Pyne Investigates short story collection, copyright © 1934 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition NOVEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780062302557
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Agatha Christie, The Case of the Discontented Husband
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