It had not come to your doorstep to die, Mr Leeds, and you knew it; it had come there to try to get at you. It wanted to sink its teeth in you just once. I say you knew it, because when you squatted beside the dog and put your hand on it, it snarled. It would not have snarled if it had felt your hand as the soothing and sympathetic touch of a trusted friend in its last agony; indeed not; it snarled because it knew you, at the end, to be unworthy of its love and trust, and it scorned and hated you. That snarl alone is enough to convict you. Do you remember that snarl, Mr Leeds? Will you ever forget it? Your old friend Nobby, his last words for you-
Leeds' head went forward, dropping, and his hands came up to cover his face.
He made no sound, and no one else did either. The silence darted around us and into us, coming out from Leeds. Then Lina Darrow took in a breath with a sighing, sobbing sound, and Annabel got up and went to her.
“Take him, Mr Archer, Wolfe said grimly. “I'm through with him, and it's about time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I'm sitting at a window overlooking a fiord, typing this on a new portable I bought for the trip. In here it's pleasant. It's late in the season for outdoors in Norway, but if you run hard to keep your blood going you can stand it. I got a letter yesterday which read as follows:
Dear Archie:
The chickens came from Mr Haskins, Friday, four of them, and they were satisfactory. Marko came to dinner. He misses Fritz, he says. I have given
Fritz a raise.
Mr Cramer dropped in for a talk one day last week. He made some rather pointed comments about you, but on the whole behaved himself tolerably.
I am writing this longhand because I do not like the way the man sent by the agency types.
Vanda peetersiana has a raceme 29 in. long. Its longest last year was 22 in.
We have found three snails in the warm room. I thought of mailing them to Mr
Hewitt but didn't.
Mr Leeds hanged himself in the jail at White Plains yesterday and was dead when discovered. That of course cancels your promise to Mr Archer to return in time for the trial, but I trust you will not use it as an excuse to prolong your stay.
We have received your letters and they were most welcome. I have received an offer of $315 for the furniture in your office but am insisting on $350. Fritz says he has written you. I am beginning to feel more like myself. My bestregards, N. W.
I let Lily read it. “Darn him anyhow, she said. “No message, not a mention of me. My Pete! Huh. Fickle Fatty.
“You'd be the last, I told her, “that he'd ever send a message to. You're the only woman that ever got close enough to him, at least in my time, to make him smell of perfume.
This file was created with BookDesigner program
bookdesigner@the-ebook.org
21/08/2007
