Джозефина Тэй - A Shilling for Candles

“Are you drinking a toast?” Erica asked. “I’ll give you one. To Robin’s success in California!”

They drank it with a will.

“If you don’t like the ranch,” Erica said, “wait till I am twenty-one and I’ll buy it from you.”

“Would you like that sort of life?” His tone was eager.

“Of course I should.” She turned to Grant, beginning to say something.

“You’ll have to come out and see it long before you’re twenty-one,” Robin persisted.

“Yes, that would be nice.” She was sincere but inattentive. “Mr. Grant” (for some reason she never called him Inspector) “if I get those tickets from Mr. Mills myself will you come with me to the Circus at Christmas?”

She was very faintly pink, as if she had asked a forward thing. A phenomenon in Erica, who was forward by nature and never knew it.

“Of course I will,” Grant said, “with the greatest pleasure.”

“All right,” she said. “That’s a promise.” She lifted her glass. “To Olympia, at Christmas!”

“To Olympia at Christmas!” Grant said.

THE END

Josephine Tey(1896–1952) is the pen name of Elizabeth Mackintosh, a Scottish mystery writer who also used the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. A physical education teacher, Tey turned to writing after leaving her profession as a teacher to care for her aging father. Her most popular series of mystery novels featured Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, the most famous of which, The Daughter of Time , was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the British Crime Writer’s Association.

Harper Perennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the Harper Perennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Human voice (Lat.).

Clerk (Fr.).

Neat (Fr.).

Here: small barred window in a door (Fr.).

Outrageous (Fr.).