Dead Man’s Folly. Agatha Christie
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Название: Dead Man’s Folly

Автор: Agatha Christie

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Ужасы и Мистика

Серия: Poirot

isbn: 9780007422258

isbn:

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      Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by

      Collins 1956

      Copyright © 1956 Agatha Christie Ltd.

      All rights reserved.

       www.agathachristie.com

      Ebook Edition 2010 ISBN: 9780007422258

      Version: 2019-03-29

      The moral right of the author is asserted

      All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 ebooks.

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007556878

      Ebook Edition 2010 ISBN: 9780007422258

      Version: 2019-03-29

      To Peggy and Humphrey Trevelyan

      Contents

      Copyright

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

      E-Book Extras

      About Agatha Christie

      The Agatha Christie Collection

       www.agathachristie.com

       About the Publisher

       Chapter 1

      I

      It was Miss Lemon, Poirot’s efficient secretary, who took the telephone call.

      Laying aside her shorthand notebook, she raised the receiver and said without emphasis, ‘Trafalgar 8137.’

      Hercule Poirot leaned back in his upright chair and closed his eyes. His fingers beat a meditative soft tattoo on the edge of the table. In his head he continued to compose the polished periods of the letter he had been dictating.

      Placing her hand over the receiver, Miss Lemon asked in a low voice:

      ‘Will you accept a personal call from Nassecombe, Devon?’

      Poirot frowned. The place meant nothing to him.

      ‘The name of the caller?’ he demanded cautiously.

      Miss Lemon spoke into the mouthpiece.

      ‘Air-raid?’ she asked doubtingly. ‘Oh, yes – what was the last name again?’

      Once more she turned to Hercule Poirot.

      ‘Mrs Ariadne Oliver.’

      Hercule Poirot’s eyebrows shot up. A memory rose in his mind: windswept grey hair…an eagle profile…

      He rose and replaced Miss Lemon at the telephone.

      ‘Hercule Poirot speaks,’ he announced grandiloquently.

      ‘Is that Mr Hercules Porrot speaking personally?’ the suspicious voice of the telephone operator demanded.

      Poirot assured her that that was the case.

      ‘You’re through to Mr Porrot,’ said the voice.

      Its thin reedy accents were replaced by a magnificent booming contralto which caused Poirot hastily to shift the receiver a couple of inches farther from his ear.

      ‘M. Poirot, is that really you?’ demanded Mrs Oliver.

      ‘Myself in person, Madame.’

      ‘This is Mrs Oliver. I don’t know if you’ll remember me –’

      ‘But of course I remember you, Madame. Who could forget you?’

      ‘Well, people do sometimes,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘Quite often, in fact. I don’t think that I’ve got a very distinctive personality. Or perhaps it’s because I’m always doing different things to my hair. But all that’s neither here nor there. I hope I’m not interrupting you when you’re frightfully busy?’

      ‘No, no, you do not derange me in the least.’

      ‘Good gracious – I’m sure I don’t want to drive you out of your mind. The fact is, I need you.’

      ‘Need СКАЧАТЬ