The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie Page B

should have to come to some financial arrangement, of course. What with one thing and another—the War—your poor father—”
    â€œAnd Chubby now,” said Lenox. “He is an expensive luxury if you like.”
    â€œShe was a nice girl as I remember her,” murmured Lady Tamplin, pursuing her own line of thought—“quiet, never wanted to shove herself forward, not a beauty, and never a manhunter.”
    â€œShe will leave Chubby alone, then?” said Lenox.
    Lady Tamplin looked at her in protest. “Chubby would never—” she began.
    â€œNo,” said Lenox, “I don’t believe he would; he knows a jolly sight too well which way his bread is buttered.”
    â€œDarling,” said Lady Tamplin, “you have such a coarse way of putting things.”
    â€œSorry,” said Lenox.
    Lady Tamplin gathered up the Daily Mail and her négligé, a vanity bag, and various odd letters.
    â€œI shall write to dear Katherine at once,” she said, “and remind her of the dear old days at Edgeworth.”
    She went into the house, a light of purpose shining in her eyes.
    Unlike Mrs. Samuel Harfield, correspondence flowed easily from her pen. She covered four sheets without pause or effort, and on rereading it found no occasion to alter a word.
    Katherine received it on the morning of her arrival in London. Whether she read between the lines of it or not is another matter. She put it in her handbag and started out to keep the appointment she had made with Mrs. Harfield’s lawyers.
    The firm was an old established one in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and after a few minutes’ delay Katherine was shown into the presence of the senior partner, a kindly, elderly man with shrewd blue eyes and a fatherly manner.
    They discussed Mrs. Harfield’s will and various legal matters for some twenty minutes, then Katherine handed the lawyer Mrs. Samuel’s letter.
    â€œI had better show you this, I suppose,” she said, “though it is really rather ridiculous.”
    He read it with a slight smile.
    â€œRather a crude attempt, Miss Grey. I need hardly tell you, I suppose, that these people have no claim of any kind upon the estate, and if they endeavour to contest the will no court will uphold them.”
    â€œI thought as much.”
    â€œHuman nature is not always very wise. In Mrs. Samuel Harfield’s place, I should have been more inclined to make an appeal to your generosity.”
    â€œThat is one of the things I want to speak to you about. I should like a certain sum to go to these people.”
    â€œThere is no obligation.”
    â€œI know that.”
    â€œAnd they will not take it in the spirit it is meant. They will probably regard it as an attempt to pay them off, though they will not refuse it on that account.”
    â€œI can see that, and it can’t be helped.”
    â€œI should advise you, Miss Grey, to put that idea out of your mind.”
    Katherine shook her head. “You are quite right, I know, but I should like it done all the same.”
    â€œThey will grab at the money and abuse you all the more afterwards.”
    â€œWell,” said Katherine, “let them if they like. We all have our own ways of enjoying ourselves. They were, after all, Mrs. Harfield’s only relatives, and though they despised her as a poor relation and paid no attention to her when she was alive, it seems to me unfair that they should be cut off with nothing.”
    She carried her point, though the lawyer was still unwilling, and she presently went out into the streets of London with a comfortable assurance that she could spend money freely and make what plans she liked for the future. Her first action was to visit the establishment of a famous dressmaker.
    A slim, elderly Frenchwoman, rather like a dreaming duchess, received her, and Katherine spoke with a certain näveté.
    â€œI want, if I may, to