The Burden by writing as Mary Westmacott Agatha Christie Page A

Henry:
    â€˜Be good to her, Henry. You will be good to her?’
    Henry, light-hearted as ever, said: ‘Darling Laura, what do you think?’

Chapter Five
1
    â€˜Do you really think it’s nice, Laura?’
    Shirley, now a wife of three months’ standing, asked the question eagerly.
    Laura, completing her tour of the flat (two rooms, kitchen, and bath), expressed warm approval.
    â€˜I think you’ve made it lovely.’
    â€˜It was awful when we moved in. The dirt! We’ve done most of it ourselves – not the ceilings, of course. It’s been such fun. Do you like the red bathroom? It’s supposed to be constant hot water, but it isn’t usually hot. Henry thought the redness would make it seem hotter – like hell!’
    Laura laughed.
    â€˜What fun you seem to have had.’
    â€˜We’re frightfully lucky to have found a flat at all. Actually some people Henry knew had it, and they passed it on to us. The only awkward thing is that they don’t seem to have paid any bills while they were here. Irate milkmen and furious grocers turn up all the time, but of course it’s nothing to do with us. It’s rather mean to bilk tradesmen, I think – especially small tradesmen. Henry doesn’t think it matters.’
    â€˜It may make it more difficult for you to get things on credit,’ said Laura.
    â€˜I pay our bills every week,’ said Shirley virtuously.
    â€˜Are you all right for money, darling? The garden’s been doing very well lately. If you want an extra hundred.’
    â€˜What a pet you are, Laura! No, we’re all right. Keep it in case there’s an emergency – I might have a really serious illness.’
    â€˜Looking at you, that seems an absurd idea.’
    Shirley laughed gaily.
    â€˜Laura, I’m terribly happy.’
    â€˜Bless you!’
    â€˜Hallo, here’s Henry.’
    Turning the latch-key, Henry entered, and greeted Laura with his usual happy air.
    â€˜Hallo, Laura.’
    â€˜Hallo, Henry. I think the flat’s lovely.’
    â€˜Henry, what’s the new job like?’
    â€˜New job?’ asked Laura.
    â€˜Yes. He chucked the other one. It was awfully stuffy. Nothing but sticking on stamps and going to the post.’
    â€˜I’m willing to start at the bottom,’ said Henry, ‘but not in the basement.’
    â€˜What’s this like?’ Shirley repeated impatiently.
    â€˜Promising, I think,’ said Henry. ‘Of course it’s early days to say.’
    He smiled charmingly at Laura and told her how very pleased they were to see her.
    Her visit went off very well, and she returned to Bellbury feeling that her fears and hesitations had been ridiculous.
2
    â€˜But Henry, how can we owe so much?’
    Shirley spoke in a tone of distress. She and Henry had been married just over a year.
    â€˜I know,’ Henry agreed, ‘that’s what I always feel! That one can’t owe all that. Unfortunately,’ he added sadly, ‘one always does.’
    â€˜But how are we going to be able to pay?’
    â€˜Oh, one can always stave things off,’ said Henry vaguely.
    â€˜It’s a good thing I got that job at the flower place.’
    â€˜Yes, it is, as it turns out. Not that I want you ever to feel you’ve got to work. Only if you like it.’
    â€˜Well, I do like it. I’d be bored to death doing nothing all day. All that happens is that one goes out and buys things.’
    â€˜I must say,’ said Henry, picking up a sheaf of accounts rendered, ‘this sort of thing is very depressing. I do hate Lady Day. One’s hardly got over Christmas, and income tax, and all that.’ He looked down at the topmost bill in his hand. ‘This man, the one who did the bookcases, is asking for his money in a very rude sort of way. I shall put him straight into the waste-paper basket.’ He suited the action to the word, and went on