Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie Page A

here now. I happened to see him at Paddington. I got my car out and came down here. I knew I could beat the train easily.”
    “But why?”
    Despard hesitated just for a minute. “I may have been presumptuous, but I had the impression that you were, perhaps, what is called 'alone in the world.'”
    “She's got me,” said Rhoda.
    Despard shot a quick glance at her, rather liking the gallant boyish figure that leaned against the mantelpiece and was following his words so intensely. They were an attractive pair, these two.
    “I'm sure she couldn't have a more devoted friend than you, Miss Dawes,” he said courteously, “but it occurred to me that in the peculiar circumstances the advice of someone with a good dash of worldly wisdom might not be amiss. Frankly, the situation is this. Miss Meredith is under suspicion of having committed murder. The same applies to me and to the two other people who were in the room last night. Such a situation is not agreeable - and it has its own peculiar difficulties and dangers, which someone as young and inexperienced as you are, Miss Meredith, might not recognize. In my opinion you ought to put yourself in the hands of a thoroughly good solicitor. Perhaps you have already done so?”
    Anne Meredith shook her head.
    “I never thought of it.”
    “Exactly as I suspected. Have you got a good man - a London man for choice?”
    Again Anne shook her head.
    “I've hardly ever needed a solicitor.”
    “There's Mr. Bury,” said Rhoda. “But he's about a hundred and two and quite gaga,”
    “If you'll allow me to advise you, Miss Meredith, I recommend your going to Mr. Myherne, my own solicitor. Jacobs, Peel and Jacobs is the actual name of the firm. They're first-class people, and they know all the ropes.”
    Anne had got paler. She sat down.
    “Is it really necessary?” she asked in a low voice.
    “I should say emphatically so. There are all sorts of legal pitfalls,”
    “Are these people very expensive?”
    “That doesn't matter a bit,” said Rhoda. “That will be quite all right, Major Despard. I think everything you say is quite true. Anne ought to be protected.”
    “Their charges will, I think, be quite reasonable,” said Despard. He added seriously, “I really do think it's a wise course, Miss Meredith.”
    “Very well,” said Anne slowly. “I'll do it if you think so.”
    “Good.”
    Rhoda said warmly, “I think it's awfully nice of you, Major Despard. Really frightfully nice.”
    Anne said, “Thank you.”
    She hesitated and then said, “Did you say Superintendent Battle was coming here?”
    “Yes. You mustn't be alarmed by that. It's inevitable.”
    “Oh, I know. As a matter of fact I've been expecting him.”
    Rhoda said impulsively, “Poor darling - it's nearly killing her, this business. It's such a shame so frightfully unfair.”
    Despard said, “I agree - it's a pretty beastly business, dragging a young girl into an affair of this kind. If anyone wanted to stick a knife into Shaitana, they ought to have chosen some other place or time.”
    Rhoda asked squarely, “Who do you think did it - Doctor Roberts or that Mrs. Lorrimer?”
    A very faint smile stirred Despard's mustache.
    “May have done it myself for all you know.”
    “Oh, no,” cried Rhoda. “Anne and I know you didn't do it.”
    He looked at them both with kindly eyes.
    A nice pair of kids. Touchingly full of faith and trust. A timid little creature, the Meredith girl. Never mind, Myherne would see her through. The other was a fighter. He doubted if she would have crumpled up in the same way if she'd been in her friend's place. Nice girls - he'd like to know more about them.
    These thoughts passed through his mind. Aloud he said, “Never take anything for granted, Miss Dawes. I don't set as much value on human life as most people do. All this hysterical fuss about road deaths, for instance. Man is always in danger - from traffic, from germs, from a hundred and one things. As well be