{"id":2415,"date":"2026-01-03T22:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/sleeping-murder-christie-agatha\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:28:09","slug":"sleeping-murder-christie-agatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/sleeping-murder-christie-agatha\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleeping Murder – Christie, Agatha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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One<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

A HOUSE<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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G<\/span><\/span>wenda Reed stood, shivering a little, on the quayside.<\/p>\n

The docks and the custom sheds and all of England that she could see, were gently waving up and down.<\/p>\n

And it was in that moment that she made her decision\u2014the decision that was to lead to such very momentous events.<\/p>\n

She wouldn\u2019t go by the boat train to London as she had planned.<\/p>\n

After all, why should she? No one was waiting for her, nobody expected her. She had only just got off that heaving creaking boat (it had been an exceptionally rough three days through the Bay and up to Plymouth) and the last thing she wanted was to get into a heaving swaying train. She would go to a hotel, a nice firm steady hotel standing on good solid ground. And she would get into a nice steady bed that didn\u2019t creak and roll. And she would go to sleep, and the next morning\u2014why, of course\u2014what a splendid idea! She would hire a car and she would drive slowly and without hurrying herself all through the South of England looking about for a house\u2014a nice house\u2014the house that she and Giles had planned she should find. Yes, that was a splendid idea.<\/p>\n

In that way she would see something of England\u2014of the England that Giles had told her about and which she had never seen; although, like most New Zealanders, she called it Home. At the moment, England was not looking particularly attractive. It was a grey day with rain imminent and a sharp irritating wind blowing. Plymouth, Gwenda thought, as she moved forward obediently in the queue for Passports and Customs, was probably not the best of England.<\/p>\n

On the following morning, however, her feelings were entirely different. The sun was shining. The view from her window was attractive. And the universe in general was no longer waving and wobbling. It had steadied down. This was England at last and here she was, Gwenda Reed, young married woman of twenty-one, on her travels. Giles\u2019s return to England was uncertain. He might follow her in a few weeks. It might be as long as six months. His suggestion had been that Gwenda should precede him to England and should look about for a suitable house. They both thought it would be nice to have, somewhere, a permanency. Giles\u2019s job would always entail a certain amount of travelling. Sometimes Gwenda would come too, sometimes the conditions would not be suitable. But they both liked the idea of having a home\u2014some place of their own. Giles had inherited some furniture from an aunt recently, so that everything combined to make the idea a sensible and practical one.<\/p>\n

Since Gwenda and Giles were reasonably well-off the prospect presented no difficulties.<\/p>\n

Gwenda had demurred at first at choosing a house on her own. \u201cWe ought to do it together,\u201d she had said. But Giles had said laughingly: \u201cI\u2019m not much of a hand at houses. If you<\/span> like it, I<\/span> shall. A bit of a garden, of course, and not some brand-new horror\u2014and not too big. Somewhere on the south coast was my idea. At any rate, not too far inland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas there any particular place?\u201d Gwenda asked. But Giles said No. He\u2019d been left an orphan young (they were both orphans) and had been passed around to various relations for holidays, and no particular spot had any particular association for him. It was to be Gwenda\u2019s house\u2014and as for waiting until they could choose it together, suppose he were held up for six months? What would Gwenda do with herself all that time? Hang about in hotels? No, she was to find a house and get settled in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you mean is,\u201d said Gwenda, \u201cdo all the work!\u201d<\/p>\n

But she liked the idea of finding a home and having it all ready, cosy and lived in, for when Giles came back.<\/p>\n

They had been married just three months and she loved him very much.<\/p>\n

After sending for breakfast in bed, Gwenda got up and arranged her plans. She spent a day seeing Plymouth which she enjoyed and on the following day she hired a comfortable Daimler car and chauffeur and set off on her journey through England.<\/p>\n

The weather was good and she enjoyed her tour very much. She saw several possible residences in Devonshire but nothing that she felt was exactly right. There was no hurry. She would go on looking. She learned to read between the lines of the house agents\u2019 enthusiastic descriptions and saved herself a certain number of fruitless errands.<\/p>\n

It was on a Tuesday evening about a week later that the car came gently down the curving hill road into Dillmouth and on the outskirts of that still charming seaside resort, passed a For Sale board where, through the trees, a glimpse of a small white Victorian villa could be seen.<\/p>\n

Immediately Gwenda felt a throb of appreciation\u2014almost of recognition. This was her<\/span> house! Already she was sure of it. She could picture the garden, the long windows\u2014she was sure that the house was just what she wanted.<\/p>\n

It was late in the day, so she put up at the Royal Clarence Hotel and went to the house agents whose name she had noted on the board the following morning.<\/p>\n

Presently, armed with an order to view, she was standing in the old-fashioned long drawing room with its two french windows giving on to a flagged terrace in front of which a kind of rockery interspersed with flowering shrubs fell sharply to a stretch of lawn below. Through the trees at the bottom of the garden the sea could be seen.<\/p>\n

This is my<\/span> house, thought Gwenda. It\u2019s home.<\/span> I feel already as though I know every bit of it.<\/p>\n

The door opened and a tall melancholy woman with a cold in the head entered, sniffing. \u201cMrs. Hengrave? I have an order from Messrs. Galbraith and Penderley. I\u2019m afraid it\u2019s rather early in the day\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hengrave, blowing her nose, said sadly that that didn\u2019t matter at all. The tour of the house began.<\/p>\n

Yes, it was just right. Not too large. A bit old-fashioned, but she and Giles could put in another bathroom or two. The kitchen could be modernized. It already had an Aga, fortunately. With a new sink and up-to-date equipment\u2014<\/p>\n

Through all Gwenda\u2019s plans and preoccupations, the voice of Mrs. Hengrave droned thinly on recounting the details of the late Major Hengrave\u2019s last illness. Half of Gwenda attended to making the requisite noises of condolence, sympathy and understanding. Mrs. Hengrave\u2019s people all lived in Kent\u2014anxious she should come and settle near them \u2026 the Major had been very fond of Dillmouth, secretary for many years of the Golf Club, but she herself\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes \u2026 Of course \u2026 Dreadful for you \u2026 Most natural \u2026 Yes, nursing homes are<\/span> like that \u2026 Of course \u2026 You must be\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the other half of Gwenda raced along in thought: Linen cupboard here, I expect \u2026 Yes. Double room\u2014nice view of sea\u2014Giles will like that. Quite a useful little room here\u2014Giles might have it as a dressing room \u2026 Bathroom\u2014I expect the bath has a mahogany surround\u2014Oh yes, it has!<\/span> How lovely\u2014and standing in the middle of the floor! I shan\u2019t change that<\/span>\u2014it\u2019s a period piece!<\/p>\n

Such an enormous bath!<\/p>\n

One could have apples on the surround. And sail boats\u2014and painted ducks. You could pretend you were in the sea \u2026 I know: we\u2019ll make that dark back spare room into a couple of really up-to-date green and chromium bathrooms\u2014the pipes ought to be all right over the kitchen\u2014and keep this just as it is\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cPleurisy,\u201d said Mrs. Hengrave. \u201cTurning to double pneumonia on the third day\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrible,\u201d said Gwenda. \u201cIsn\u2019t there another bedroom at the end of this passage?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was\u2014and it was just the sort of room she had imagined it would be\u2014almost round, with a big bow window. She\u2019d have to do it up, of course. It was in quite good condition, but why were people like Mrs. Hengrave so fond of that mustard-cum-biscuit shade of wall paint?<\/p>\n

They retraced their steps along the corridor. Gwenda murmured, conscientiously, \u201cSix, no, seven bedrooms, counting the little one and the attic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boards creaked faintly under her feet. Already she felt that it was she and not Mrs. Hengrave who lived here! Mrs. Hengrave was an interloper\u2014a woman who did up rooms in mustard-cum-biscuit colour and liked a frieze of wisteria in her drawing room. Gwenda glanced down at the typewritten paper in her hand on which the details of the property and the price asked were given.<\/p>\n

In the course of a few days Gwenda had become fairly conversant with house values. The sum asked was not large\u2014of course the house needed a certain amount of modernization\u2014but even then \u2026 And she noted the words \u201cOpen to offer.\u201d Mrs. Hengrave must be very anxious to go to Kent and live near \u201cher people\u201d\u2026.<\/p>\n

They were starting down the stairs when quite suddenly Gwenda felt a wave of irrational terror sweep over her. It was a sickening sensation, and it passed almost as quickly as it came. Yet it left behind it a new idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house isn\u2019t\u2014haunted, is it?\u201d demanded Gwenda.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hengrave, a step below, and having just got to the moment in her narrative when Major Hengrave was sinking fast, looked up in an affronted manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that I am aware of, Mrs. Reed. Why\u2014has anyone\u2014been saying something of the kind?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve never felt or seen anything yourself? Nobody\u2019s died<\/span> here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather an unfortunate question, she thought, a split second of a moment too late, because presumably Major Hengrave\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband died in the St. Monica\u2019s Nursing Home,\u201d said Mrs. Hengrave stiffly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, of course. You told me so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hengrave continued in the same rather glacial manner: \u201cIn a house which was presumably built about a hundred years ago, there would normally be deaths during that period. Miss Elworthy from whom my dear husband acquired this house seven years ago, was in excellent health, and indeed planning to go abroad and do missionary work, and she did not mention any recent demises in her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gwenda hastened to soothe the melancholy Mrs. Hengrave down. They were now once more in the drawing room. It was a peaceful and charming room, with exactly the kind of atmosphere that Gwenda coveted. Her momentary panic just now seemed quite incomprehensible. What had<\/span> come over her? There was nothing wrong with the house.<\/p>\n

Asking Mrs. Hengrave if she could take a look at the garden, she went out through the french windows onto the terrace.<\/p>\n

There should be steps here, thought Gwenda, going down to the lawn.<\/p>\n

But instead there was a vast uprising of forsythia which at this particular place seemed to have got above itself and effectually shut out all view of the sea.<\/p>\n

Gwenda nodded to herself. She would alter all that.<\/p>\n

Following Mrs. Hengrave, she went along the terrace and down some steps at the far side onto the lawn. She noted that the rockery was neglected and overgrown, and that most of the flowering shrubs needed pruning.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hengrave murmured apologetically that the garden had been rather neglected. Only able to afford a man twice a week. And quite often he<\/span> never turned up.<\/p>\n

They inspected the small but adequate kitchen garden and returned to the house. Gwenda explained that she had other houses to see, and that though she liked Hillside (what a commonplace name!) very much, she could not decide immediately.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hengrave parted from her with a somewhat wistful look and a last long lingering sniff.<\/p>\n

Gwenda returned to the agents, made a firm offer subject to surveyor\u2019s report and spent the rest of the morning walking round Dillmouth. It was a charming and old-fashioned little seaside town. At the far, \u201cmodern\u201d end, there were a couple of new-looking hotels and some raw-looking bungalows, but the geographical formation of the coast with the hills behind had saved Dillmouth from undue expansion.<\/p>\n

After lunch Gwenda received a telephone call from the agents saying that Mrs. Hengrave accepted her offer. With a mischievous smile on her lips Gwenda made her way to the post office and despatched a cable to Giles.<\/p>\n

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Have bought a house. Love. Gwenda.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll tickle him up,\u201d said Gwenda to herself. \u201cShow him that the grass doesn\u2019t grow under my<\/span> feet!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

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