Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

She heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the cab pulling up. As it cruised through the silent night-time streets of Wyckhadden, she felt small and grubby and unwanted. Stay for the seance and then go home, home to Carsely.

Agatha went down for breakfast the following morning. They all, with the exception of Jennifer and Mary, greeted her amiably enough. Mary's eyes looked puffy with weeping.

I'm too upset about myself to worry about her, thought Agatha, angry with herself for still feeling guilty about Mary. I'm the dream murderer, she said to herself. First Mary then Jimmy, and all in one day. Damn that Janine. That's what made me rush Jimmy.

She ate a light breakfast of poached eggs on toast. Again, as she sipped her coffee, she thought longingly of how good a cigarette would taste. There was no cigarette machine in the hotel--nothing so vulgar. But there was one on the pier which had, remarkably enough in these wicked days, not been vandalized.

A good walk would take her mind off things. She walked miles that day along the beach by the restless sea. Then she returned to the hotel to tell the manager that she would be checking out on Saturday, in two days' time, and to get her bill ready. The sudden relief that she had made a definite decision to go home brightened her up.

As she was getting ready to go out for the seance that evening, there was a knock at the door. Agatha looked round the room for something to use as a weapon, decided she was paranoid, and opened the door and backed away from it quickly when she saw Jennifer standing there.

"I came to apologize," said Jennifer gruffly. "You only did it to help Mary. She had to know."

"That's all right, then," said Agatha, relieved. "Looking forward to the seance this evening?"

"Not particularly. Though I wouldn't mind exposing her as a fraud."

"But I thought you believed in her mother's medicines!"

"There's a lot to be said for old country remedies. But when it comes to fortune-telling and seances, I've never believed in that tommy-rot."

"Neither do I," said Agatha, who had no intention of telling Jennifer she'd had her palm read. "But that's why I think it will be quite fun--I mean, to see what tricks she gets up to. Daisy believes in seances, I gather."

"She did for a bit, but then she decided that Francie was a charlatan."

"How did she come to that conclusion? I wonder. It was she who sent me to Francie in the first place."

"Oh, I think she believed in her potions. I'd better go and get ready. What are you wearing?"

"I don't feel like dressing up tonight," said Agatha. "The weather's turned awfully cold. I wish I still had my fur coat."

"A lot of people don't approve of the wearing of fur," said Jennifer. "It could happen again if you got another."

"You're right," said Agatha ruefully. "They'll soon be stoning us in restaurants for eating meat, and all the animals will be killed off and we'll be left with only token species in zoos."

"Samuel Butler said if you carried that sort of argument to its logical conclusion, we'll all end up eating cabbages which have been humanely put to death."

"Who's Samuel Butler? Someone in this nanny government we've got?"

"He was a Victorian philosopher."

"Oh," said Agatha uncomfortably. She hated having the vast gaps in her literary education exposed.

"I'll leave you to it." Jennifer held out her hand. "No hard feelings?"

"None at all." Agatha felt her hand seized in a crushing grip like a man's.

After Jennifer had left, and Agatha had just finished dressing, her phone rang. She ran to answer it. "Jimmy?" she said.

"No, it's Harry here," creaked the elderly voice. "We're all ready to leave. The colonel's booked two taxis. Too cold to walk."

"Be right down," said Agatha. She replaced the receiver. Jimmy might at least have called.

They set out in their taxis. Agatha wondered what had happened between Mary and Jennifer to heal the breach. Mary was looking quite cheerful and once more she and Jennifer seemed the best of friends. Well, thought Agatha, I suppose Mary's too old to change the habit of a lifetime.

Janine's husband ushered them in. They crowded in the small hall removing coats and hats. Then he guided them through to a back room. It was brightly lit and furnished only with a round table covered in a black velvet cloth.

They seated themselves round it. "This is jolly exciting," said the colonel. "If it looks like ectoplasm, it's probably our Agatha having a sneaky cigarette." They all laughed except Agatha who said, "I haven't had a cigarette in ages. I'm cured."

The room became filled with strange sounds. "What on earth is that?" asked Harry.

"Whales," said Daisy. "It's a tape of the noises whales make. You can buy one in these Mystique shops."

Mary gave a nervous laugh. "I never knew any whales."

"I saw some performing dolphins in Florida once," said the colonel. "Jolly clever beasts. Do you know ..."