The Golden Ball and Other Stories Read online

  54 Agatha Christie

  herself. "But there again, no one would take me without experience. I could go somewhere, I dare say, as a Willing

  Young Girl--but they don't pay willing young girls anything

  to speak of."

  She sighed again, propped the paper up in front of her, and attacked the poached egg with all the vigour of healthy

  youth.

  When the last mouthful had been despatched, she turned the paper and studied the Agony and Personal column while

  she drank her tea. The Agony column was always the last

  hope.

  Had she but possessed a couple of thousand pounds, the thing would have been easy enough. There were at least

  seven unique opportunities--all yielding not less than three

  thousand a year. Jane's lip curled a little.

  "If I had two thousand pounds," she murmured, "it wouldn't be easy to separate from it."

  She cast her eyes rapidly down to the bottom of the column and ascended with the ease born of long practice.

  There was the lady who gave such wonderful prices for castoff clothing. "Ladies' wardrobes inspected at their own

  dwellings." There were the gentlemen who bought ANYTHINGbut

  principally TEETH. There were ladies of title

  going abroad who would dispose of their furs at a ridiculous

  figure. There was the distressed clergyman and the hardworking

  widow, and the disabled officer, all needing sums

  varying from fifty pounds to two thousand. And then suddenly

  Jane came to an abrupt halt. She put down her teacup

  and read the advertisement through again.

  "There's a catch in it, of course," she murmured. "There always is a catch in these sort of things. I shall have to be

  careful. But still--"

  The advertisement which so intrigued Jane Cleveland ran as follows:

  If a young lady of twenty-five to thirty years of age, eyes dark blue, very fair hair, black lashes and

  brows, straight nose, slim figure, height five feet seven

  inches, good mimic and able to speak French, will

  call at 7 Endersleigh Street, between 5 and 6 P.M.,

  she will hear of something to her advantage.

  JANE IN SEARCH OF A JOB 55

  "Guileless Gwendolen, or why girls go wrong," murmured Jane. "I shall certainly have to be careful. But there

  are too many specifications, really, for that sort of thing. I

  wonder now... Let us overhaul the catalogue."

  She proceeded to do so.

  "Twenty-five to thirty--I'm twenty-six. Eyes dark blue, that's right. Hair very fair--black lashes and brows--all

  O.K. Straight nose? Ye-es--straight enough, anyway. It

  doesn't hook or turn up. And I've got a slim figure--slim

  even for nowadays. I'm only five feet six inches--but I

  could wear high heels. I am a good mimic--nothing wonderful,

  but I can copy people's voices, and I speak French

  like an angel or a Frenchwoman. In fact, I'm absolutely the

  goods. They ought to tumble over themselves with delight

  when I turn up. Jane Cleveland, go in and win."

  Resolutely Jane tore out the advertisement and placed it in her handbag. Then she demanded her bill, with a new

  briskness in her voice.

  At ten minutes to five Jane was reconnoitring in the neighbourhood of Endersleigh Street. Endersleigh Street itself

  is a small street sandwiched between two larger streets

  in the neighbourhood of Oxford Circus. It is drab, but respectable.

  No. 7 seemed in no way different from the neighbouring houses. It was composed like they were of offices. But

  looking up at it, it dawned upon Jane for the first time that

  she was not the only blue-eyed, fair-haired, straight-nosed,

  slim-figured gift of between twenty-five and thirty years of

  age. London was evidently full of such girls, and forty or

  fifty of them at least were grouped outside No.7 Endersleigh

  Street.

  "Competition," said Jane. "I'd better join the queue quickly."

  She did so, just as three more girls turned the corner of the street. Others followed them. Jane amused herself by

  taking stock of her immediate neighbours. In each case she

  managed to find something wrong--fair eyelashes instead

  of dark, eyes more grey than blue, fair hair that owed its

  fairness to art and not to nature, interesting variations in

  noses, and figures that only an all-embracing charity could

  have described as slim. Jane's spirits rose.

  56 Agatha Christie

  "I believe I've got as good an all-around chance as anyone,"

  she murmured to herself. "I wonder what it's all

  about? A beauty chorus, I hope."

  The queue was moving slowly but steadily forward. Presently

  a second stream of girls began, issuing from inside

  the house. Some of them tossed their heads, some of them

  smirked.

  "Rejected," said Jane with glee. "I hope to goodness they

  won't be full up before I get in."

  And still the queue of girls moved forward. There were

  anxious glances in tiny mirrors, and a frenzied powdering

  of noses. Lipsticks were brandished freely.

  "I wish I had a smarter hat," said Jane to herself sadly.

  At last it was her turn. Inside the door of the house was

  a glass door at one side, with the legend Messrs. Cuthbertsons

  inscribed on it. It was through this glass door that

  the applicants were passing one by one. Jane's turn came.

  She drew a deep breath and entered.

  Inside was an outer office, obviously intended for clerks.

  At the end was another glass door. Jane was directed to

  pass through this, and did so. She found herself in a smaller

  room. There was a big desk in it, and behind the desk was

  a keen-eyed man of middle age with a thick, rather foreign-looking

  moustache. His glance swept over Jane, then he

  pointed to a door on the left.

  "Wait in there, please," he said crisply.

  Jane obeyed. The apartment she entered was already

  occupied. Five girls sat there, all very upright and all glaring

  at each other. It was clear to Jane that she had been included

  among the likely candidates, and her spirits rose. Nevertheless,

  she was forced to admit that these five girls were

  equally eligible with herself as far as the terms of the ad~

  vertisement went.

  The time passed. Streams of girls were evidently passing

  through the inner office. Most of them were dismissed

  through another door giving on the corridor, but every now

  and then a recruit arrived to swell the select assembly. At

  half-past six there were fourteen girls assembled there.

  Jane heard a murmur of voices from the inner office,

  and then the foreigh-looking gentleman, whom she had nicknamed

  in her mind "the Colonel" owing to the military

  JANE IN SEARCH Of A JOB 57

  character of his moustaches, appeared in the doorway.

  "I will see you ladies one at a time, if you please," he

  announced. "In the order in which you arrived, please."

  Jane was, of course, the sixth on the list. Twenty minutes

  elapsed before she was called in. "The Colonel" was standing

  with his hands behind his back. He put her through a

  rapid catechism, tested her knowledge of French, and measured

  her height.

  "It is possible, mademoiselle," he Sai
d in French, "that

  you may suit. I do not know. But it is possible."

  "What is this post, may I ask?" said Jane bluntly.

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  "That I cannot tell you as yet. If you are chosen--then

  you shall know."

  "This seems very mysterious," objected Jane. "I couldn't

  possibly take up anything without knowing all about it. Is

  it connected with the stage, may I ask?',

  "The stage? Indeed, no."

  "Oh!" said Jane, rather taken aback.

  He was looking at her keenly.

  "You have intelligence, yes? Anti discretion?"

  "I've quantities of intelligence and discretion," said Jane

  calmly. "What about the pay?"

  "The pay will amount to two thousand pounds--for a fortnight's work."

  "Oh!" said Jane faintly.

  She was too taken aback by the naunificence of the sum

  named to recover all at once.

  The Colonel resumed speaking.

  "One other young lady I have already selected. You and

  she are equally suitable. There may be ol:hers I have not yet

  seen. I will give you instructions as to your further pro

  ceedings. You know Harridge's Hotel?"

  Jane gasped. Who in England did not know Harridge's

  Hotel, that famous hostelry situated tnoclestly in a bystreet

  of Mayfair, where notabilities and royalties arrived and departed

  as a matter of course? Only this morning Jane had

  read of the arrival of the Grand Duchess Iauline of Ostrova.

  She had come over to open a big bazaar in aid of Russian

  refugees, and was, of course, staying at Harridge's.

  "Yes," said Jane, in answer to the Cclonel's question.

  58

  Agatha Christie

  "Very good. Go there. Ask for Count Strepfitch. Send

  up your card--you have a card?"

  Jane produced one. The Colonel took it from her and

  inscribed in the corner a minute P. He handed the card back

  to her.

  "That ensures that the count will see you. He will understand

  that you come from me. The final decision lies

  with him-,and another. If he considers you suitable, he

  will explain matters to you, and you can accept or decline

  his propo, sal. Is' that satisfactory?"

  "Perfectly satisfactory," said Jane.

  "So far," she murmured to herself as she emerged into

  the street, "I can't see the catch. And yet, there must be

  one. There's no such thing as money for nothing. It must

  be crime! There's nothing else left."

  Her spirits rose. In moderation Jane did not object to

  crime. The papers had been full lately of the exploits of

  various girl bandits. Jane had seriously thought of becoming

  one if all else failed.

  She entered the exclusive portals of Harridge's with slight

  trepidation. More than ever, she wished that she had a new

  hat.

  But she walked bravely up to the bureau and produced

  her card and asked for Count Streptitch without a shade of

  hesitation in her manner. She fancied that the clerk looked

  at her rather curiously. He took the card, however, and gave

  it to a small page boy with some low-voiced instructions

  which Jane did not catch. Presently the page returned, and Jane was invited to accompany him. They went up in the

  lift and along a corridor to some big double doors where

  the page knocked. A moment later Jane found herself in a big room, facing a tall thin man with a fair beard, who was

  holding her card in a languid white hand.

  "Miss Jane Cleveland," he read slowly. "I am Count

  Streptitch."

  His lips parted suddenly in what was presumably intended

  to be a smile, disclosing two rows of white even

  teeth. But no effect of merriment was obtained.

  "I understand that you applied in answer to our advertisement,''

  continued the count. "The good Colonel Kranin

  sent you on here."

  JANE IN SEARCH OF A JOB

  "He was a colonel," thought lane, pleased with her

  spicacity, but she merely bowed her head.

  "You will pardon me if I ask you a few questions.9"

  He did not wait for a reply, but proceeded to put Jan through a catechism very similar to that of Colonel Kranin

  Her replies seemed to satisfy him. He nodded his head one

  or twice.

  "I will ask you now, mademoiselle, to walk to the doo

  and back again slowly."

  "Perhaps they want me to be a mannequin," thought Jane

  as she complied. "But they wouldn't pay two thousan

  pounds to a mannequin. Still, I suppose I'd better not as

  questions yet awhile."

  Count Streptitch was frowning. He tapped on the tabl

  with his white fingers. Suddenly he rose, and opening th

  door of an adjoining room, he spoke to someone inside.

  He returned to his seat, and a short middle-aged lad

  came through the door, closing it behind her. She was plum' and extremely ugly, but had nevertheless the air of being

  person of importance.

  "Well, Anna Michaelovna," said the count. "What d,

  you think of her?"

  The lady looked Jane up and down much as though, th,

  girl had been a waxwork at a show. She made no pretenc

  of any greeting.

  "She might do," she said at length. "Of actual likene,

  in the real sense of the word, there is very little. But th

  figure and the colouring are very good, better than any

  the others. What do you think of it, Feodor Alexandro

  itch?"

  "I agree with you, Anna Michaelovna."

  "Does she speak French?"

  "Her French is excellent."

  Jane felt more and more of a dummy. Neither of thcs

  strange people appeared to remember that she was a huma being.

  "But will she be discreet?" asked the lady, frownin

  heavily at the girl.

  "This is the Princess Poporensky," said Count Streptitc

  to Jane in French. "She asks whether you can be discreet?

  Jane addressed her reply to the princess.

  60

  Agatha Christie

  "Until I have had the position explained to me, I can

  hardly make promises."

  "It is just what she says there, the little one," remarked

  the lady. "I think she is intelligent, Feodor Alexandrovitch--more

  intelligent than the others. Tell me, little one,

  have you also courage?"

  "I don't know," said Jane, puzzled. "I don't particularly

  like being hurt, but I can bear it."

  "Ah! That is not what I mean. You do not mind danger,

  no?"

  "Oh I" said Jane. "Danger! That's all right. I like danger."

  "And you are poor? You would like to earn much money?"

  "Try me," said Jane with something approaching enthusiasm.

  Count Streptitch and Princess Poporensky exchanged

  glances. Then, simultaneously, they nodded.

  "Shall I explain matters, Anna Michaelovna?" the former

  asked.

  The princess shook her head.

  "Her Highness wishes to do that herself."

  "It is unnecessary--and unwise."

  "Nevertheless those are her commands. I was to bring

  the girl in as soon as you had done with her."

  Streptitch shrugged his shoulders. Clearly he was not

  pleased. Equ
ally clearly he had no intention of disobeying

  the edict. He turned to Jane.

  "The Princess Poporensky will present you to Her Highness

  the Grand Duchess Pauline. Do not be alarmed."

  Jane was not in the least alarmed. She was delighted at

  the idea of being presented to a real live grand duchess.

  There was nothing of the Socialist about Jane. For the moment

  she had even ceased to worry about her hat.

  The Princess Poporensky led the way, waddling along

  with a gait that she managed to invest with a certain dignity

  in spite of adverse circumstances. They passed through the

  adjoining room, which was a kind of antechamber, and the

  princess knocked upon a door in the farther wall. A voice

  from inside replied and the princess opened the door and

  passed in, Jane close upon her heels.

  "Let me present to you, madame," said the princess in

  a solemn voice, "Miss Jane Cleveland."

  .IANE IN SEARCH OF A JOB

  61

  A young woman who had been sitting in a big armchair at the other end of the room jumped up and ran forward.

  She stared fixedly at Jane for a minute or two, and then

  laughed merrily.

  "But this is splendid, Anna," she cried. "I never imagined we should succeed so well. Come, let us see ourselves side

  by side."

  Taking Jane's arm, she drew the girl across the room, pausing before a full-length mirror which hung on the wall.

  "You see?" she cried delightedly. "It is a perfect match!" Already, with her first glance at the Grand Duchess Pauline,

  Jane had begun to understand. The Grand Duchess

  was a young woman perhaps a year or two older than Jane.

  She had the same shade of fair hair, and the same slim

  figure. She was, perhaps, a shade taller. Now that they

  stood side by side, the likeness was very apparent. Detail

  for detail, the colouring was almost exactly' the same.

  The Grand Duchess clapped her hands. She seemed an extremely cheerful young woman.

  "Nothing could be better," she declared. "You must congratulate Feodor Alexandrovitch for me, Anna. He has indeed

  done well."

  "As yet, mad-ane," murmured the princess in a low voice, "this young woman does not know what is required of her."

  "True," said the Grand Duchess, becoming somewhat calmer in manner. "I forgot. Well, I will enlighten her.