‘I think it is. I’ve thought so for a long while. Anchor her down, you mean.’
‘Oh, I didn’t know she’d had offers to leave us.’
‘Lord, yes. She told Hera so when she took Hera home the other day, and Hera told me. She thought it was a plank in her platform and said as much. She said that, if Elsa went, there would be a hole which she herself could fill.’
‘Did she say that to Elsa?’
‘I shouldn’t think so.’
‘It isn’t like Elsa to talk about her own affairs.’
‘Oh, you know what women are. Even the best of them, given the chance to let their back hair down, will let it toss in the wind like the mane of Odin’s horse.’
‘I don’t believe Elsa would. If you don’t mind my saying so, I think Hera made the whole thing up.’
‘Quite possibly. You can see what a spot I’m going to be in, though, if we do make Elsa a partner. I’m all for it, mind you, but I’m in for a pretty rough time when it happens.’
‘Still, fair’s fair. She didn’t tell Hera about any offers she’s had, I’m certain of that. Her whole training is geared to her never talking out of turn. All the same, I’m prepared to bet that she has had offers and, human nature being what it is, one of those offers has only got to be big enough, if you see what I mean —’
‘Perfectly. Right, then, let’s go ahead. That’s what I meant when I talked of getting Elsa anchored here. We can’t afford to lose her.’
‘What about the name of the firm? Won’t she expect to have hers added to ours?’
‘Not at first, anyhow. I like the name Alexander Comrie and don’t want it altered. We could make that a condition, I think, but she’ll probably see for herself the point of keeping the name we’re known by. She’s a very sensible girl.’
So Elsa, obviously delighted, was added to the managerial strength and was adamant that the name of the firm should not be changed.
‘It wouldn’t inspire confidence,’ she said. ‘Alexander Comrie has such a nice, solid, Scottish sound about it and it’s known and respected all over the place.’ So Alexander Comrie we remained and all was gas and gaiters until Hera found out that we had made Elsa a full partner and that her name, although not in our trade title, was on our stationery.
‘What’s all this, and since when?’ she demanded one evening. She was spending the evening at my flat and turning it upside down as usual on one of her tidying-up blitzes.
‘What’s that?’
She had been tidying the shelves in my wardrobe — an operation I thought completely unnecessary, but one which she insisted upon carrying out from time to time, and had come upon a piece of paper on which I had scribbled down a list of things for my charwoman to send to the laundry. I had meant to copy the list on the official card the laundry always enclosed in the package when the washing came home, but had procrastinated.
‘What’s this on the agency’s notepaper?’ She came towards me and held out the scribbled-on sheet. I took it and looked it over.
‘Only a tentative laundry list,’ I said, as off-handedly as I could.
‘I can see that. You haven’t altered the trade name, but what is Elsa Moore’s name doing after Sandy’s full name and yours?’
‘You would hardly expect it to come in front of ours, would you?’
‘Oh, don’t hedge! You’ve made her a partner and I want an explanation.’
‘No explanation is due to you, my dear girl. If I had appeared at your flat with lipstick on my face, or if, in this quite unnecessary tidying-up which you know I hate, you had found a girl’s pants which you knew were not yours, you might be in order in asking certain questions, but what is on our official notepaper is our business, Sandy’s and mine, not yours.’
‘So that’s it! You have made her a partner!’
‘Yes, of course that’s it. Elsa has been with us and served the firm wonderfully well for more than five years. We decided to give some slight recognition to that fact, that is all. And now, for heaven’s sake, stop messing about with my shirts and ties and let’s have a drink.’
I folded the piece of paper, put it in my pocket and waited for the next outburst, but all she said was ‘You’ll be sorry for this.’
‘I am sorry — sorry that you found the laundry list, if you don’t like its printed heading. As a matter of fact, it was Sandy’s suggestion that we should let Elsa in and put her name on our notepaper, but, of course, I agreed. It is only to safeguard ourselves.’
‘Against what?’
‘Against losing her to another firm, of course. You know there was always the danger of that.’
‘Oh, yes? And you have never seen me as an efficient substitute? Oh, well!’
She accepted a drink in her usual graceful way and the only further reference she made to the unfortunate laundry list was to tell me to include the loose covers on the two armchairs in the bedroom. She left earlier than usual and, although I saw her home, she did not suggest that I should go in, so I knew that we had not finished with the subject of Elsa and the partnership.
Sally Lestrange turned up at the office two days later. She had made an appointment over the telephone and was received by Elsa and passed on to me. She was a pleasantly direct and business-like young woman and came to the point at once.
‘What are the chances of publication?’ she asked. ‘I don’t want to spend a lot of time on something which is never going to see the light of day. I’ve made that clear to Bull.’
‘As I told the man himself, it depends upon the material and upon how it’s handled. You know as much about that sort of thing as I do,’ I said.
‘Yes, but the material itself. I’ve talked to Bull and I can’t believe he’s got much to offer.’
‘Then turn him down.’
‘My grandmother would be disappointed if I did. No, I must carry on, I think. I just wondered what chance the thing might have.’
‘I’ll tell you what chance it could have,’ I said, struck by a sudden inspiration. ‘Make it clinical.’
‘Make it what?’
‘Turn it into a case history. Let Bull tell his story in his own way. Don’t sub-edit. Take him down verbatim if your shorthand will stand the strain of his vowels and elisions and then get Dame Beatrice to write an introduction to the book as a study of the psychology of a hangman’s assistant. Bull will be tremendously flattered and if she will do it we shall achieve publication all right. Some of her views are refreshingly unorthodox and will provoke controversy not only among the cognoscenti, but in the popular press.’
‘A bestseller!’ breathed Miss Lestrange.
‘Don’t count the chickens, of course, but at any rate, if you can get Dame Beatrice to agree, there will be no doubt about publication.’
‘She will agree. She wants to get in on this murder which seems to have happened where Bull lives and works. He tells me that it was this murder which sparked off the idea that he should write his memoirs. One thing does lead to another, doesn’t it?’
She was right enough there. The thing which led to another in my case was the new partnership. My private correspondence, delivered at my flat a couple of days later, included a registered packet which contained the engagement ring I had put on Hera’s finger some months earlier. It was her answer to the appointment of Elsa to our board of directors, as Sandy now grandly termed it.
I was not unduly disturbed. I was sorry that Hera was taking the matter so much to heart, but I had expected a vigorous reaction. It had come, so that was a relief. Besides, I felt that she would have second thoughts when she had had time to cool off. I felt sure that, when she had had a chance to think things over, she would have sense enough to realise that, if we were going to admit anybody to partnership, Elsa was the obvious choice. She had the knowledge and the experience. Besides, not only Sandy and myself, but the rest of the staff got on well with her. She was hardworking and conscientious and, better than that, she had flair, a wonderful way with difficult authors and a grand sense of humour.