Endless night door Agatha Christie

Endless night (by Agatha Christie) A young man begins to tell his story. He dreams of a nice, happy life; a nice girl and living happy together in a beautiful house. That’s where it begins. He sees a nice house “Gypsy’s Acre”. But the local people tell him there’s a curse on the house; all kinds of accidents happened there. So they tell him he needs to forget all about it. The young man doesn’t believe in this sort of nonsense, this “curse thing”. You could say this 22 old man is restless. He likes changing of work and girls. But he wanted to find something. What this something is he doesn’t know. It could be a girl,… Sooner or later he would find it. One day he was walking in Bond Street and he saw a picture that fascinated him, but it cost 25000 pounds. Michael Rogers tells how he met Rudolf Santonix, a architect. Santonix wanted to built a house for Mike, if he had the money. Mike also tells, that something he is looking for he thinks is a girl, love. Mike went to the auction of the house and the land. It didn’t get sold, because the reserved price wasn’t bid. Then he walks, just foot by foot. Then he sees her, Ellie! They start to talk. Talk about the house. At the end of their conversation they wanted to see each other but didn’t know how. They walk to the village and talk some more. Ellie talks about Greta, a chaperone who arranges things for Ellie so she can do what she wants. They start meeting each other and talk about “their house” on Gypsy’s Acre. While Ellie is in France Gypsy’s Acre gets sold, all Mike knows is that some rich client bought it. Mike sees his mother. They’re totally different. She wants to know what Mike needs from her, but she also notices that something is different about him. At the end he admits it and asks money to get a suit to marry her. His mom wants to know if she isn’t a wrong girl. Mike goes away angrily. Ellie came back from France. It was a bit awkward. She tells him she has met Santonix and saw a house he has built and she tells him that she wants to let their house be built by Santonix. Mike sort of asks Ellie to marry him, but first he tells her, they will lead a whole new life. She of course says yes and tells him they will live on Gypsy’s Acre. Mike says it’s impossible, because it is already sold. Ellie says that it is not a problem, because she has bought it. Ellie needs to tell Mike something; she is very, very rich. It is no problem to Mike. They will live in a house that is built by Santonix on Gypsy’s Acre. But it will have to be quick, cause Santonix is ill. They will get married next week, just the two of them all alone. Looking back it was the happiest day of his life. Ellie and Mike got married. It were fine days. Both they enjoyed to find out how the other lived. Then Ellie tells Mike that Greta will live with them. Mike doesn’t want her to live with them. They travel and meet Santonix in Greece. He has made the plans for the house on Gypsy’s Acre. They talk about it and also talk about Santonix being ill. Ellie is kind of frightened of Santonix, maybe it’s his arrogance or something like that. And of course the curse thing, but Mike tells her she hasn’t have to believe that nonsense. Athens, Ellie ran up to people she knew. Now she will have to tell her stepmother. She will have to introduce Mike to her stepmother. And Ellie now also wants to meet Mike’s mother, which Mike doesn’t want to. So they write both to their families. When they came back in London Ellie arranged a meeting between Mike and her relations. Uncle Andrew was the first. They talk a bit about if they know what they’ve done, Andrew doesn’t agree completely but he’s on Ellie’s side. Then Andrew has a talk with Mike, about his life, the house and Greta. They feel the same way about Greta; she has way too much influence on Ellie. Then uncle Andrew has a talk with Ellie. When they say goodbye to Andrew Ellie gets a telegram; Greta will be in two days in London to meet them. The next morning Greta came over. She was beautiful. Mike meets her. The three of them talk about the house and about Ellie’s relations. These relations will come and visit them later. The rest of the family came. They all pretended to like Mike, but they were all double faced. Mike tells Ellie she is depending too much on Ellie and says she has to depend on him now. The house was finished. They went over and saw it. The weather turned bad and they went in. Then a stone was thrown trough the window. Mike thinks it are some boys, but Ellie thinks it is the curse. They will not let them be driven away. Mike and Ellie settle in and get to know the neighbourhood. The Major invites them and later on other neighbours invite them. One of them is Claudia Hardcastle. She and Ellie became good friends, who had the interest; riding. They both had an allergy too. Ellie tells her she can use her pills. After all the visiting they go home and Ellie plays on the guitare, those were happy moments. Ellie and Mike find an hidden cottage on their property. They will not tell anyone about it. Then one day Ellie sprains her ankle. Ellie wants to sent for Greta. Greta came and never left again. One day Mike and Greta have a row. They sort of make it up. Dr. Shaw comes to check on Ellie and checks her entirely. She shows him the pills she takes, but he says that they will not harm. Greta goes to the village and almost ran over the gypsy woman. Santonix is standing outside, looking into the house. Mike sees him. Santonix tells Mike to get rid of Greta, because she is evil. Mike doesn’t want Greta in their house either but he doesn’t want to hurt Ellie. Mike and Santonix go inside the house. He does friendly to Greta. Ellie still’s frightened of Santonix, because he can see trough people, see how they really are. Mike’s mum came to visit. Mike finds out Ellie already has visited her ones. He is a little bit mad. Ellie thinks the 2 new servants are guards sent by uncle Andrew. Mike goes to an auction. Ellie is going riding. They will meet each other for lunch. When Ellie doesn’t show up, Mike calls home. A servant tells him she hasn’t retuned yet from her ride. Mike gets worried. He and the Major go and look for her. They find her but it’s too late; she’s dead. There are no physical injuries. Maybe it was of the shock. A man tells them he has seen the gypsy woman going into the woods, where Ellie was found. Ellie died of a heart failure by shock, says dr. Shaw. Everything points to death by accident. Nobody knows what has caused the accident. After the questioning Mike goes to the Major and asks him if he thinks Mrs. Lee caused the accidents. Mike goes to Keene, who shows him a handkerchief with the initial C, which was found in the hidden cottage. The C of Claudia, who was married to Stanford Lloyd. Confusing. Ellie must be buried in America, so Mike has to go to America to arrange things. Mike wonders if someone is benefited with Ellie’s death. Greta arranged most of the things, and so Mike realizes how reliable Greta is. Mike goes to NY. Greta arranges everything at home. Mrs. Lee and Claudia are both death. Lippincott thought Mike was going to sell Gypsy’s Acre, but he is not going to do that. Santonix lays in the hospital and asked for Mike. Mike went over. Santonix said: “You should have gone the other way!” and then he died. Mike asks Greta to marry him. Everything was over now, no more pretending. He had what he wanted; the house and a wonderful woman Greta. They were both the same, they wanted the world, but then you need money. So they planned that Mike would marry a rich girl. He loved Ellie, not like Greta, he liked living with Ellie. Now everything was done, over. He came home, but then he saw Ellie. It couldn’t cause she was dead. She looked towards him but saw straight trough him. He knows why. She was born to Sweet Delight and he was born to Endless night. That’s what Santonix meant. He should have stayed married with Ellie. Lippincott has sent Mike a letter it contained a picture of him and Greta. He knew they knew each other. Mike gets scared. Mike thinks Lippincott suspects something. Greta tells him Mike is not the same. He does very strange. He likes killing. He was happy when Ellie went for morning ride and happy when he pushed Mrs. Lee. But he wants to use his hands. Greta is afraid. He fastened his hands round Greta’s neck, and killed her. He was wonderful happy when he killed her. People came. Mike told them he has killed Greta. He tells them also how he has killed Ellie. They already knew, because Claudia died the same way. A dr. asks Mike what he needs and he says he wants a ball point and lots of paper. He could have really loved Ellie, but the problem was that he wanted too much and get it on the easy way. He payed Mrs. Lee to frighten Ellie. She didn’t do just that, no, she also warned Ellie to get away from Mike. Endless night that was the end of his story. ”In my end is my beginning.” That’s what people say. But where does his story begin. He must try and think …