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‘It was a beastly thing to say. But, after all, one might as well be honest.’
She forestalled my next words.
‘No, Charles, I’m not going to say any more. I’ve probably said too much already. But I was determined to come and meet you tonight—to see you myself and make you understand. We can’t settle anything until this is cleared up.’
‘At least tell me about it.’
She shook her head.
‘I don’t want to.’
‘But—Sophia—’
‘No, Charles. I don’t want you to see us from my angle. I want you to see us unbiased from the outside point of view.’
‘And how am I to do that?’
She looked at me, a queer light in her brilliant blue eyes.
‘You’ll get that from your father,’ she said.
I had told Sophia in Cairo that my father was Assistant Commissioner[16 - Assistant Commissioner = AC– помощник комиссара] of Scotland Yard. He still held that office. At her words, I felt a cold weight settling down on me.
‘It’s as bad as that, then?’
‘I think so. Do you see a man sitting at a table by the door all alone—rather a nice-looking stolid ex-Army type?’
‘Yes.’
‘He was on Swinly Dean platform this evening when I got into the train.’
‘You mean he’s followed you here?’
‘Yes. I think we’re all—how does one put it[17 - how does one put it? – как это называют?]?—under observation. They more or less hinted that we’d all better not leave the house. But I was determined to see you.’ Her small square chin shot out pugnaciously. ‘I got out of the bathroom window and shinned down the water-pipe.’ ‘Darling!’
‘But the police are very efficient. And of course there was the telegram I sent you. Well—never mind—we’re here—together… But from now on, we’ve both got to play a lone hand[18 - to play a lone hand (зд.)– действовать в одиночку].’
She paused and then added:
‘Unfortunately—there’s no doubt—about our loving each other.’
‘No doubt at all,’ I said. ‘And don’t say unfortunately. You and I have survived a world war, we’ve had plenty of near escapes from sudden death—and I don’t see why the sudden death of just one old man—how old was he, by the way?’
‘Eighty-seven.’
‘Of course. It was in the Times. If you ask me, he just died of old age, and any self-respecting GP[19 - GP – семейный врач] would accept the fact.’
‘If you’d known my grandfather,’ said Sophia, ‘you’d have been surprised at his dying of anything!’
Chapter 3
I’d always taken a certain amount of interest in my father’s police work, but nothing had prepared me for the moment when I should come to take a direct and personal interest in it.
I had not yet seen the Old Man. He had been out when I arrived, and after a bath, a shave, and a change I had gone out to meet Sophia. When I returned to the house, however, Glover told me that he was in his study.
He was at his desk, frowning over a lot of papers. He jumped up when I came in.
‘Charles! Well, well, it’s been a long time.’
Our meeting, after five years of war, would have disappointed a Frenchman. Actually all the emotion of reunion was there all right. The Old Man and I are very fond of[20 - to be fond of – быть привязанным к к.-л.] each other, and we understand each other pretty well.
‘I’ve got some whisky,’ he said. ‘Say when[21 - Say when – скажи, когда хватит]. Sorry I was out when you got here. I’m up to the ears in work. Hell of a case just unfolding.’
I leaned back[22 - to lean back – откинуться] in my chair and lit a cigarette.
‘Aristide Leonidews?’ I asked.
His brows came down quickly over his eyes. He shot me a quick appraising glance. His voice was polite and steely.
‘Now what makes you say that, Charles?’
‘I’m right then?’
‘How did you know about this?’
‘Information received.’
The Old Man waited.
‘My information,’ I said, ‘came from the stable[23 - from the stable – из первых рук] itself.’
‘Come on, Charles, let’s have it[24 - let's have it (разг.)– говори же].’
‘You mayn’t like it,’ I said. I met Sophia Leonides out in Cairo. I fell in love with her. I’m going to marry her. I met her tonight. She dined with me.’
‘Dined with you? In London? I wonder just how she managed to do that! The family was asked—oh, quite politely, to stay put[25 - to stay put – никуда не отлучаться].’
‘Quite so. She shinned down a pipe from the bathroom window.’
The Old Man’s lips twitched for a moment into a smile.
She seems,’ he said, ‘to be a young lady of some resource[26 - of resource – находчивый].’
‘But your police force is fully efficient,’ I said. ‘A nice Army type tracked her to Mario’s. I shall figure in the reports you get. Five foot eleven, brown hair, brown eyes, dark-blue pin-stripe suit[27 - pin-stripe suit – костюм в узкую полоску], etc.’
The Old Man looked at me hard.
‘Is this—serious?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s serious, Dad.’
There was a moment’s silence.
‘Do you mind?’ I asked.
‘I shouldn’t have minded—a week ago. They’re a well-established family—the girl will have money—and I know you. You don’t lose your head easily. As it is—’
‘Yes, Dad?’
‘It may be all right, if—’
‘If what?’
‘If the right person did it.’
It was the second time that night I had heard that phrase. I began to be interested.
‘Just who is the right person?’
He threw a sharp glance at me.
‘How much do you know about it all?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’ He looked surprised. ‘Didn’t the girl tell you?’
‘No. She said she’d rather I saw it all—from an outside point of view.’
‘Now I wonder why that was?’
‘Isn’t it rather obvious?’
‘No, Charles. I don’t think it is.’
He walked up and down frowning. He had lit a cigar and the cigar had gone out. That showed me just how disturbed the old boy was.
‘How much do you know about the family?’ he shot at me.
‘Damn all! I know there was the old man and a lot of sons and grandchildren and in-laws. I haven’t got the ramifications[28 - ramifications (зд.)– родственные связи] clear.’ I paused and then said, ‘You’d better put me in the picture, Dad.’
‘Yes.’ He sat down. ‘Very well then—I’ll begin at the beginning—with Aristide Leonides. He arrived in England when he was twenty-four.’
‘A Greek from Smyrna.’
‘You do know that much?’
‘Yes, but it’s about all I do know.’
The door opened and Glover came in to say that Chief Inspector Taverner was here.
‘He’s in charge of the case,’ said my father. ‘We’d better have him in. He’s been checking up on the family. Knows more about them than I do.’
I asked if the local police had called in the Yard.
‘It’s in our jurisdiction. Swinly Dean is Greater London[29 - Greater London – Большой Лондон. Аминистративно-территориальная единица; состоит из Лондона и частей графств Мидлсекс, Эссекс, Кент, Суррей, Хартфордшир; делится на 32 района и Сити].’ I nodded as Chief Inspector Taverner came into the room. I knew Taverner from many years back. He greeted me warmly and congratulated me on my safe return.
‘I’m putting Charles in the picture,’ said the Old Man. ‘Correct me if I go wrong, Taverner. Leonides came to London in 188’. He started up a little restaurant in Soho. It paid. He started up another. Soon he owned seven or eight of them. They all paid hand over fist.’
‘Never made any mistakes in anything he hand led,’ said Chief Inspector Taverner.
‘He’d got a natural flair,’ said my father. ‘In the end he was behind most of the well-known restaurants in London. Then he went into the catering business in a big way.’
‘He was behind a lot of other businesses as well,’ said Taverner. ‘Second-hand clothes trade, cheap jewellery stores, lots of things. Of course,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘he was always a twister.’
‘You mean he was a crook?’ I asked.
Taverner shook his head.
‘No, I don’t mean that. Crooked, yes—but not a crook. Never anything outside the law. But he was the sort of chap that thought up all the ways you can get round the law. He’s cleaned up[30 - to clean up – сорвать куш] a packet that way even in this last war, and old as he was. Nothing he did was ever illegal— but as soon as he’d got on to it, you had to have a law about it, if you know what I mean. But by that time he’d gone on to the next thing.’
‘He doesn’t sound a very attractive character,’ I said.
‘Funnily enough[31 - funnily enough – как ни странно], he was attractive. He’d got personality, you know. You could feel it. Nothing much to look at. Just a gnome—ugly little fellow—but magnetic—women always fell for him.’
‘He made a rather astonishing marriage,’ said my father. ‘Married the daughter of a country squire—an MFH[32 - MFH – Master of Foxhounds; хозяин гончих (титул главы охотничьего общества и владельца своры гончих)].’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Money?’
The Old Man shook his head.
‘No, it was a love match. She met him over some catering arrangements for a friend’s wedding—and she fell for him. Her parents cut up rough, but she was determined to have him. I tell you, the man had charm—there was something exotic and dynamic about him that appealed to her. She was bored stiff with her own kind.’
‘And the marriage was happy?’
‘It was very happy, oddly enough. Of course their respective friends didn’t mix (those were the days before money swept aside all class distinctions) but that didn’t seem to worry them. They did without friends. He built a rather preposterous house at Swinly Dean and they lived there and had eight children.’
‘This is indeed a family chronicle.’
‘Old Leonides was rather clever to choose Swinly Dean. It was only beginning to be fashionable then. The second and third golf courses hadn’t been made. There was a mixture of Old Inhabitants who were passionately fond of their gardens and who liked Mrs Leonides, and rich City men who wanted to be in with Leonides, so they could take their choice of acquaintances. They were perfectly happy, I believe, until she died of pneumonia in 1905.’
‘Leaving him with eight children?’
‘One died in infancy. Two of the sons were killed in the last war. One daughter married and went to Australia and died there. An unmarried daughter was killed in a motor accident. Another died a year or two ago. There are two still living—the eldest son, Roger, who is married but has no children, and Philip, who married a well-known actress and has three children. Your Sophia, Eustace, and Josephine.’
‘And they are all living at—what is it?—Three Gables?’
‘Yes. The Roger Leonides were bombed out early in the war. Philip and his family have lived there since 1937. And there’s an elderly aunt, Miss de Haviland, sister of the first Mrs Leonides. She always loathed her brother-in-law apparently, but when her sister died she considered it her duty to accept her brother-in-law’s invitation to live with him and bring up the children.’
