{"id":2419,"date":"2026-01-03T22:28:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/spiders-web-christie-agatha\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:28:21","slug":"spiders-web-christie-agatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/spiders-web-christie-agatha\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider’s Web – Christie, Agatha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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Chapter 1<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Copplestone Court, the elegant, eighteenth-century country home of Henry and Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, set in gently undulating hilly country in Kent, looked handsome even at the close of a rainy March afternoon. In the tastefully furnished ground-floor drawing-room, with French windows onto the garden, two men stood near a console table on which there was a tray with three glasses of port, each marked with a sticky label, one, two and three. Also on the table was a pencil and sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

Sir Rowland Delahaye, a distinguished-looking man in his early fifties with a charming and cultivated manner, seated himself on the arm of a comfortable chair and allowed his companion to blindfold him. Hugo Birch, a man of about sixty and inclined to be somewhat irascible in manner, then placed in Sir Rowland\u2019s hand one of the glasses from the table. Sir Rowland sipped, considered for a moment, and then said, \u2018I should think\u2013yes\u2013definitely\u2013yes, this is the Dow \u2019forty-two.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hugo replaced the glass on the table, murmuring \u2018Dow \u2019forty-two\u2019, made a note on the paper, and handed over the next glass. Again Sir Rowland sipped the wine. He paused, took another sip, and then nodded affirmatively. \u2018Ah, yes,\u2019 he declared with conviction. \u2018Now, this is a very fine port indeed.\u2019 He took another sip. \u2018No doubt about it. Cockburn \u2019twenty-seven.\u2019<\/p>\n

He handed the glass back to Hugo as he continued, \u2018Fancy Clarissa wasting a bottle of Cockburn \u2019twenty-seven on a silly experiment like this. It\u2019s positively sacrilegious. But then women just don\u2019t understand port at all.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hugo took the glass from him, noted his verdict on the piece of paper on the table, and handed him the third glass. After a quick sip, Sir Rowland\u2019s reaction was immediate and violent. \u2018Ugh!\u2019 he exclaimed in disgust. \u2018Rich Ruby port-type wine. I can\u2019t imagine why Clarissa has such a thing in the house.\u2019<\/p>\n

His opinion duly noted, he removed the blindfold. \u2018Now it\u2019s your turn,\u2019 he told Hugo.<\/p>\n

Taking off his horn-rimmed spectacles, Hugo allowed Sir Rowland to blindfold him. \u2018Well, I imagine she uses the cheap port for jugged hare or for flavouring soup,\u2019 he suggested. \u2018I don\u2019t imagine Henry would allow her to offer it to guests.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018There you are, Hugo,\u2019 Sir Rowland declared as he finished tying the blindfold over his companion\u2019s eyes. \u2018Perhaps I ought to turn you around three times like they do in Blind Man\u2019s Buff,\u2019 he added as he led Hugo to the armchair and turned him around to sit in it.<\/p>\n

\u2018Here, steady on,\u2019 Hugo protested. He felt behind him for the chair.<\/p>\n

\u2018Got it?\u2019 asked Sir Rowland.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Then I\u2019ll swivel the glasses around instead,\u2019 Sir Rowland said as he moved the glasses on the table slightly.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s no need to,\u2019 Hugo told him. \u2018Do you think I\u2019m likely to be influenced by what you said? I\u2019m as good a judge of port as you are any day, Roly, my boy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t be too sure of that. In any case, one can\u2019t be too careful,\u2019 Sir Rowland insisted.<\/p>\n

Just as he was about to take one of the glasses across to Hugo, the third of the Hailsham-Browns\u2019 guests came in from the garden. Jeremy Warrender, an attractive young man in his twenties, was wearing a raincoat over his suit. Panting, and obviously out of breath, he headed for the sofa and was about to flop into it when he noticed what was going on. \u2018What on earth are you two up to?\u2019 he asked, as he removed his raincoat and jacket. \u2018The three-card trick with glasses?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019 the blindfolded Hugo wanted to know. \u2018It sounds as though someone\u2019s brought a dog into the room.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s only young Warrender,\u2019 Sir Rowland assured him. \u2018Behave yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, I thought it sounded like a dog that\u2019s been chasing a rabbit,\u2019 Hugo declared.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve been three times to the lodge gates and back, wearing a mackintosh over my clothes,\u2019 Jeremy explained as he fell heavily onto the sofa. \u2018Apparently the Herzoslovakian Minister did it in four minutes fifty-three seconds, weighed down by his mackintosh. I went all out, but I couldn\u2019t do any better than six minutes ten seconds. And I don\u2019t believe he did, either. Only Chris Chattaway himself could do it in that time, with or without a mackintosh.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Who told you that about the Herzoslovakian Minister?\u2019 Sir Rowland enquired.<\/p>\n

\u2018Clarissa.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Clarissa!\u2019 exclaimed Sir Rowland, chuckling.<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, Clarissa.\u2019 Hugo snorted. \u2018You shouldn\u2019t pay any attention to what Clarissa tells you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Still chuckling, Sir Rowland continued, \u2018I\u2019m afraid you don\u2019t know your hostess very well, Warrender. She\u2019s a young lady with a very vivid imagination.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jeremy rose to his feet. \u2018Do you mean she made the whole thing up?\u2019 he asked, indignantly.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, I wouldn\u2019t put it past her,\u2019 Sir Rowland answered as he handed one of the three glasses to the still blindfolded Hugo. \u2018And it certainly sounds like her idea of a joke.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Does it, indeed? You just wait till I see that young woman,\u2019 Jeremy promised. \u2018I\u2019ll certainly have something to say to her. Gosh, I\u2019m exhausted.\u2019 He stalked out to the hall carrying his raincoat.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stop puffing like a walrus,\u2019 Hugo complained. \u2018I\u2019m trying to concentrate. There\u2019s a fiver at stake. Roly and I have got a bet on.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, what is it?\u2019 Jeremy enquired, returning to perch on an arm of the sofa.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s to decide who\u2019s the best judge of port,\u2019 Hugo told him. \u2018We\u2019ve got Cockburn \u2019twenty-seven, Dow \u2019forty-two, and the local grocer\u2019s special. Quiet now. This is important.\u2019 He sipped from the glass he was holding, and then murmured rather non-committally, \u2018Mmm-ah.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well?\u2019 Sir Roland queried. \u2018Have you decided what the first one is?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t hustle me, Roly,\u2019 Hugo exclaimed. \u2018I\u2019m not going to rush my fences. Where\u2019s the next one?\u2019<\/p>\n

He held on to the glass as he was handed another. He sipped and then announced, \u2018Yes, I\u2019m pretty sure about those two.\u2019 He sniffed at both glasses again. \u2018This first one\u2019s the Dow,\u2019 he decided as he held out one glass. \u2018The second was the Cockburn,\u2019 he continued, handing the other glass back as Sir Rowland repeated, \u2018Number three glass the Dow, number one the Cockburn\u2019, writing as he spoke.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, it\u2019s hardly necessary to taste the third,\u2019 Hugo declared, \u2018but I suppose I\u2019d better go through with it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Here you are,\u2019 said Sir Rowland, handing over the final glass.<\/p>\n

After sipping from it, Hugo made an exclamation of extreme distaste. \u2018Tschah! Ugh! What unspeakable muck.\u2019 He returned the glass to Sir Rowland, then took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his lips to get rid of the offending taste. \u2018It\u2019ll take me an hour to get the taste of that stuff out of my mouth,\u2019 he complained. \u2018Get me out of this, Roly.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Here, I\u2019ll do it,\u2019 Jeremy offered, rising and moving behind Hugo to remove his blindfold while Sir Rowland thoughtfully sipped the last of the three glasses before putting it back on the table.<\/p>\n

\u2018So that\u2019s what you think, Hugo, is it? Glass number two, grocer\u2019s special?\u2019 He shook his head. \u2018Rubbish! That\u2019s the Dow \u2019forty-two, not a doubt of it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hugo put the blindfold in his pocket. \u2018Pah! You\u2019ve lost your palate, Roly,\u2019 he declared.<\/p>\n

\u2018Let me try,\u2019 Jeremy suggested. Going to the table, he took a quick sip from each glass. He paused for a moment, sipped each of them again, and then admitted, \u2018Well, they all taste the same to me.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You young people!\u2019 Hugo admonished him. \u2018It\u2019s all this confounded gin you keep on drinking. Completely ruins your palate. It\u2019s not just women who don\u2019t appreciate port. Nowadays, no man under forty does, either.\u2019<\/p>\n

Before Jeremy had a chance to reply to this, the door leading to the library opened, and Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, a beautiful dark-haired woman in her late twenties, entered. \u2018Hello, my darlings,\u2019 she greeted Sir Rowland and Hugo. \u2018Have you settled it yet?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, Clarissa,\u2019 Sir Rowland assured her. \u2018We\u2019re ready for you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I know I\u2019m right,\u2019 said Hugo. \u2018Number one\u2019s the Cockburn, number two\u2019s the port-type stuff, and three\u2019s the Dow. Right?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Nonsense,\u2019 Sir Rowland exclaimed before Clarissa could answer. \u2018Number one\u2019s the Dow, two\u2019s the Cockburn, and three\u2019s the port-type stuff. I\u2019m right, aren\u2019t I?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Darlings!\u2019 was Clarissa\u2019s only immediate response. She kissed first Hugo and then Sir Rowland, and continued, \u2018Now one of you take the tray back to the dining-room. You\u2019ll find the decanter on the sideboard.\u2019 Smiling to herself, she selected a chocolate from a box on an occasional table.<\/p>\n

Sir Rowland had picked up the tray with the glasses on it, and was about to leave with them. He stopped. \u2018The decanter?\u2019 he asked, warily.<\/p>\n

Clarissa sat on the sofa, tucking her feet up under her. \u2018Yes,\u2019 she replied. \u2018Just one decanter.\u2019 She giggled. \u2018It\u2019s all the same port, you know.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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