Welcome to Episode Three of my serialisation of Agatha Christie's tale of Bolshevist revolution looming on the streets of London: The Secret Adversary. Thank you for all your kind words on this latest entry to our series of Tales for Our Time. Gareth Wigmore, a Mark Steyn Club member from the English Midlands, cheers:
Hooray! One of my favourite Christie tales.
However, Veronica, doyenne of our Kiwi Clubbers in Auckland, demurs a little:
Two things stand out about this story for me thus far: firstly, that it was possible and therefore believable to the readers of this novel, back in 1922, that a couple of unemployed, albeit fairly posh, young people could live cheaply in historic and famous parts of London (Piccadilly! Belgravia! The Ritz! Tommy belongs to a gentleman's club!) at least for a while, without resorting to anything edgier and/or more legally dubious than becoming 'Young Adventurers' for hire (how London's contemporary 'Young Adventurers', the Albanians in their supercars, would laugh!) and secondly, that I can't see what is so very remarkable about the name 'Jane Finn'.
Jane was a completely stock-standard Christian name back then and 'Finn' is hardly very out of the way as a name either, I mean 'Tuppence' is a great deal more exotic, even her real moniker of 'Prudence' was a pretty niche choice from the Archdeacon and wife by the early twentieth century.
Why then did 'Jane Finn' strike Tommy as so totally outlandish and odd a handle that he remembered it, and relayed it to Tuppence, from an overheard scrap of conversation in the street?
I realize that all kinds of plot advancement must hinge upon him doing so, however Dame Agatha could've chosen a much weirder, and therefore more naturally memorable name, to conjure with. I can't really see 'Jane Finn' lodging itself in anyone's brain for longer than five seconds but maybe it's just me.
Rollicking good yarn so far nonetheless :)
Re fashionable accommodations, in fairness Tuppence says ironically that her hostel is in "what was charitably called Southern Belgravia" - which would be Pimlico. I'm sure it's come up in the world since, but when my young self briefly took lodgings there Pimlico's back streets were still pretty grotty and affordable.
As for the memorability or otherwise of the name "Jane Finn", presumably Tommy is unacquainted with the great ornithologist Frank Finn, author of The Birds of Calcutta. Possibly he found it arresting and unforgettable because he was thinking of Fin, the non-binary offspring of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.
At any rate, in tonight's episode, Tuppence expresses a yen for lunch at the Grill Room of the Piccadilly Hotel:
"Is this a new brand of humour? Or is your brain really unhinged?" inquired Tommy.
"Your last supposition is the correct one. I have come into money, and the shock has been too much for me! For that particular form of mental trouble an eminent physician recommends unlimited Hors d'œuvre, Lobster à l'américane, Chicken Newberg, and Pêche Melba! Let's go and get them!"
"Tuppence, old girl, what has really come over you?"
"Oh, unbelieving one!" Tuppence wrenched open her bag. "Look here, and here, and here!"
"Great Jehosaphat! My dear girl, don't wave Fishers aloft like that!
"They're not Fishers. They're five times better than Fishers, and this one's ten times better!"
Tommy groaned.
"I must have been drinking unawares! Am I dreaming, Tuppence, or do I really behold a large quantity of five-pound notes being waved about in a dangerous fashion?"
"Fishers" are one-pound notes, named for Sir Warren Fisher, the civil servant whose signature they bore for two decades:
But, as Tuppence explains, what she's loaded with are five times better than Fishers:
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Episode Three simply by clicking here and logging-in.
You can enjoy The Secret Adversary episode by episode, night by night, twenty minutes before you lower your lamp. Or, alternatively, do feel free to binge-listen: you can find all the earlier instalments here.
If you've yet to hear any of our first sixty-something Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. Or, if you need an extra-special present for someone, why not give your loved one a Gift Membership and start him or her off with over five dozen cracking yarns? And please join me tomorrow for another episode of The Secret Adversary.
