Read The Case Of William Smith for Free Online Page B

looked down again.
    ‘Tell me what happened.’
    ‘There’s nothing to tell. I went in. I didn’t see either of the partners. I came out again, and bumped into an old boy in the street.’
    She bent lower.
    ‘What sort of an old boy?’
    ‘Looked like a clerk — highly respectable. First I thought he was tight, and then I thought he was ill. He asked me who I was, and I told him. Seemed a bit odd, the whole thing, but he said he was all right and went off.’
    ‘But you saw someone inside, in the office?’
    ‘Yes — Mr. Eversley’s secretary.’
    ‘What was she like?’
    He laughed.
    ‘She?’
    ‘Wasn’t it a woman? Secretaries are as a rule.’
    ‘Yes — rather a good-looking one. Not young, but quite a looker. I was trying to catch you out. I wanted to see if you knew her.’
    ‘I know you were. I do. Her name is Miss Jones. She’s Cyril Eversley’s secretary — he’s the senior partner. She’s been there a long time — something like fifteen years. Very efficient, and as you say, quite a looker.’ She lifted her eyes to his face. ‘What happened when you saw her?’
    ‘Well, just nothing. She’d given me rather a late appointment, just on six o’clock. Neither of the partners was there, and the office was packing up. She didn’t seem inclined to give me very much time. I showed her some of the creatures and asked if the firm would be interested in manufacturing them under our patents, but she hardly looked at them.’
    ‘What did she look at?’ said Katharine.
    ‘Well — me. My word she’s got a gimlet eye! I got the feeling I was a base-born black beetle all right. She said she didn’t think the things were in their line, but she’d tell Mr. Eversley about them and let me know. A couple of days later I got a line to say that Mr. Eversley wasn’t interested.’
    Katharine went back to her duck.
    ‘When was all this?’
    ‘Oh, just before Mr. Tattlecombe went into hospital.’
    ‘Then — who actually wrote the original letter — you, or Mr. Tattlecombe?’
    ‘Oh, I did.’
    ‘Wrote it, or typed it?’
    She heard him laugh.
    ‘You’ve never seen my writing, or you wouldn’t ask! I didn’t actually want them to turn us down, you know. It was in my very best typing, beautiful and legible and clear.’
    ‘And the signature?’
    ‘Oh, a quite recognizable William Smith.’
    Katharine said slowly and carefully,
    ‘That sounds like a frightful cross-examination. But I thought as I do know him, I could perhaps find out whether Cyril Eversley ever saw your letter. He mightn’t have, you know — he does leave quite a lot to Miss Jones. And I thought it would be easier if I knew what sort of letter it was, and whether it was signed by you or by Mr. Tattlecombe.’ She looked up to find him frowning and her colour rose. ‘Oh, I’m sorry!’
    The frown changed to an expression of dismay.
    ‘No — no — why do you say that? It’s most awfully good of you. I was just thinking — ’
    ‘What?’
    William registered candid surprise.
    ‘I don’t know. I got a sort of a come-over. I don’t even know what it was about. You said you’d find out if Eversley had ever had my letter, and I went into a sort of spin. The result of being cracked over the head, I expect — nothing to do with what you were saying. But I don’t think I’ll do anything more until Mr. Tattlecombe is about again. I don’t think he’d like it if he thought I was doing things while he was out of the way. You don’t feel as if I was being ungrateful, do you? Because I shouldn’t like you to think anything like that.’
    Katharine wasn’t thinking anything like that. She was thinking rather breathlessly that she had been on the edge of walking enthusiastically over a precipice, and she felt a good deal of gratitude to William’s scruples about Mr. Tattlecombe. Suppose he hadn’t had them. Suppose she had been confronted with the choice of going back on what she had offered or appearing in Cyril’s