Chapter 10 Chapter Ten The Maiden of Pompeii

At eleven o'clock the next morning Inspector Elliott drove into Bath and stopped near the Hotel Bonnash, which was in the courtyard opposite the entrance to the Roman Baths. Those who say it is always raining in Bath insult this noble town.The towering eighteenth-century houses in this noble town look like eighteenth-century widows, pretending not to see trains or automobiles.But it was really pouring rain this morning.Elliott was in a bad mood when he entered the hotel, and he wanted to find someone to complain about, or to drop the case and tell the inspector general that he was quitting.

He slept very little last night and has been conducting routine questioning since eight o'clock in the morning.He could not remove from his mind the image of Wilbur Emmet in a raving state--his plastered hair, his red nose and blotchy face--that had been last night's last nightmare. Elliot goes to the hotel desk and asks to see Dr. Gideon Fell. Dr. Phil is in the upstairs room.Although it's late, Dr. Phil hasn't started his activities yet.Eliot found him sitting at the breakfast table in his flannel nightgown the size of a tent, drinking coffee, smoking cigars, and reading detective novels.

Dr. Fell's glasses, fastened on wide black ribbons, clamped tightly around his nose.His short mustache stood up, his cheeks bulged in and out, and the gentle rise and fall of his deep breath enlivened his big purple nightgown, as if he was trying to figure out who the murderer was.When Elliott entered, he stood up suddenly, nearly knocking over the table, rising like a sea monster under a submarine.The radiant welcome was reflected on his face, giving it a pink, transparent glow, and Elliott felt much better. "Whoa!" said Dr. Phil, rubbing his hands together. "That's great! Sit down, sit down. Something must be up, huh?"

"Inspector Headley asked me to come to you, sir." "That's right," Dr. Fell chuckled, and leaned back in his chair to look at the guest, as if Elliott was someone he had never met.His delight enliven the room, "I am drinking water. The name of this water has a delicate, spacious, adventurous sound - Crasingensiterabimusaequor. But the actual performance is not as good as the name, and I am drinking the tenth or fifteenth sip." After taking off, I rarely want to sing drinking songs." "But should you drink that much, sir?" "All drinks deserve that much," said Dr. Phil firmly. "If I can't do something beautifully, I won't do it at all. How are you, Inspector?"

Elliott tried to muster up his courage: "I'm better," he admitted. "Oh," Dr. Phil's face was no longer radiant, he blinked, "I guess you're here for the Chesney case?" "Have you heard?" "Well, yes," sniffed Dr. Phil, "my waiter, a good fellow who can't hear the bell but is a good lip-reader, told me this morning. He got it from the milkman. Well, the milkman got this from somewhere. Besides, I! Well, I know Chesney somewhat." Dr. Phil looked disturbed.He scratched his oily little nose, "I met Chesney and his family at a reception six months ago, and then he wrote me a letter." - The doctor hesitated slightly.

"It's easier if you know his family," Elliott said slowly. "I didn't just come to you with a case. I had a personal problem. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what to do." Do, but there's the problem. You know Chesney's niece, Marjorie Wells?" "Yes." Dr. Phil looked at him with sharp small eyes. Elliot stood up: "I'm in love with her," he shouted.He knew he had startled the Doctor; his ears were burning.If Dr. Fell had chuckled under his breath at that moment, if Dr. Fell had asked him to lower his voice, he might have walked out of the room, defending his Scottish dignity.He couldn't help it, that's how he felt.But Dr. Phil just nodded.

"Pretty comprehensible," he said, in a low, loud voice, in rather unexpected agreement. "Why?" "I've only seen her twice before," cried Elliott, "once at Pompeii, and once at—never mind for now. As I said, I don't know what's wrong with me, I didn't She's idealized. When I saw her again last night, I could barely remember what she looked like the previous two times. I knew she could be a poisonous murderer, or a sharp-tongued traitor. When I approached the group in Pompeii— - you don't know that, but I'm there - and she's standing in the garden with her hat off and the sun on her arms; I just stand there and look at her and I turn and walk away. She moves , Talking, and turning my head attracted me. I don't know what's wrong.

"I dare not follow them and make friends with them, even though that's what Mr Harding did. I don't know why I couldn't force myself to do it, it wouldn't just be because I heard they were arranging her to marry Harding Help me, I didn't even think of that. If I think of Harding, I think it's because of my bad luck, so let it be! All I know is, number one, I'm in love with her; Second, I had to get the idea of ​​falling in love with her out of my mind because it was just crazy. I don't think you understand." Except for the sound of Dr. Phil's breathing and the sound of rain outside the window, the room was peaceful.

"If you think I don't understand," said the Doctor gravely, "you're looking down on me. Go on." "That's all, sir, I'm thinking of her." "Always, right?" "Yes! You want to know about the second time I saw her. It was destiny. I knew I would meet her again. Met someone once, tried to forget her or run away from her, and you met her every time you turned around The second time I saw her was five days ago, at the little pharmacy near the Royal Albert Dock. "When I saw them in Pompeii, I overheard Mr. Chesney mentioning the name and date of the ship on which they were going to return. I left Italy the next day and returned home a week before they did. Last Thursday, the 29th , I just happened to be on a case near the Royal Albert Dock." - Elliott stopped talking - "I can't even tell you the truth, can I?" he asked bitterly. "Yes, I made excuses to be there that day, but the rest must be coincidence—or so you judge.

"This pharmacist's poison register was under suspicion. He seemed to be selling more poison than normal, that's why I was there. I went in and asked to see his poison register and he gave it to me right away See, and seated me in the little consulting room at the back of the dispensary. I was going through the register, and a customer came in. I couldn't see the customer, and she couldn't see me; she thought there was no one else in the dispensary, but I knew her voice .That's Marjorie Wells, looking for 'photographic' potassium cyanide." Elliott stopped talking again.It wasn't a room at the Hotel Bonnash that he had in mind.He seemed to see the dirty pharmacy in the twilight of the afternoon and smell the chemicals.There was creosote on the floor, the tops of squat glass bottles shimmered; in the shadows on the other side of the pharmacy was a dirty mirror.He saw the image of Marjorie Wells in the mirror, her eyes rolled up, leaning against the counter and asking: Potassium cyanide "for photography."

"Probably because I was there," continued Elliott, "the pharmacist asked her questions about why she bought potassium cyanide and what it was for. Her answers showed that she knew photography as I knew Sanskrit. There's a mirror on the other side of the pharmacy. Just when she was very confused, she just glanced into the mirror. She must have seen me, although I don't think she saw me clearly. Suddenly, she called the pharmacist - well, I just Say no more—and run out of the pharmacy. "Nice job, huh?" he added rudely. —Dr. Phil was silent. "I think there's something wrong with the pharmacist," Elliott said slowly, "although I didn't find anything. But the most important thing is that Inspector Headley gave me—I—Sodbury Cross poisoning case, I have read every detail of it in the papers." "You didn't reject the case?" "No, sir. Can I refuse? I must tell the Inspector I know?" "Humph." "Yes, you think I shouldn't be involved in the case. You're right." "God, I don't think so," said Dr. Fell, opening his eyes. "Your conscience won't allow you to do that. Stop talking nonsense and go on with the investigation." "Driving here last night, I was thinking of every possible way out. Some of the ideas were so crazy that when I thought about them this morning, I felt uneasy. I thought about annihilating the evidence against her. I even thought about taking her to the South Pacific." He paused; but Dr. Phil only nodded sympathetically, as if he understood what he was thinking; Elliott felt reassured, and went on, "I hope the Chief of Police—that is, Major Crowe—hasn't noticed anything." But I must have been acting weird from the start, and showing off from time to time, the worst part was when the girl almost recognized me. She didn't quite recognize me, which means she didn't associate me with the mirror in the pharmacy ...but she knows she's seen me before and she's been trying to remember. For the rest, I'm trying to go into this case without prejudice—another compromise, isn't it—and handle it like a normal case It. I don't know if I made it, but you see me here today." Dr. Phil mused, "Tell me, aside from the chocolate shop murders, did you find any evidence last night that led you to think she might have killed Marcus Chesney?" "No, on the contrary. She has an unassailable alibi." "Then what are we arguing about? Why don't you go on with the case happily?" "I don't know, sir, that's the problem. The case is so odd and interesting and elusive. It's been a magic box from the start." Dr. Phil leaned back, puffed on his cigar, his face focused.He shook his shoulders and puffed a few more puffs on his cigar, as if he had a lot to say.Even the ribbons on the glasses are clamoring. He said, "Let's check your emotional problems. Don't run away, it could be delusion or it could be love, but I'm going to ask you a question anyway. Assume this girl is the murderer, wait a minute! I said, Assume this girl A murderer. Listen, these are not cases where you can easily find clues, and I think it is necessary to actively investigate. They are not manslaughter; Would you like to know?" "I have no idea." "However, you agree that there is a need to find out?" "I think so." "Very well," said Dr. Phil, taking another few puffs of his cigar, "now let's look at things the other way. Assume the girl is perfectly innocent. No, don't choke me; keep your romanticism grounded. Assume the girl Completely innocent, what are you going to do?" "I don't understand, sir." "You said you were in love with her?" It dawned on Elliott: "Oh, stop," he said, "I don't think I have a chance. You should have seen the look on her face when she looked at Harding. I saw that look. I tell you, sir, yesterday The hardest thing I did was to be fair to Harding. I have nothing against Harding, he seems pretty decent. All I can say is that whenever I talk to Harding, I feel uncomfortable." —He felt tinnitus again. "Last night I had all kinds of fantasies. I pictured myself arresting Harding - yes, handcuffing him - and she looked at me, and all the flattery came to mind. But the emotions It's that easy to open, at least I can't. Harding is a distraction. You can't kill when you're in the same room with two people looking at you; Room Happens. Harding may be a money hunter (I think he is) but there are a lot of them in the world. Harding never heard of Sodburycross before he met the Chesneys in Italy. So forget Harding, forget me too." "Besides your conscience," Dr. Phil said critically, "you have to get rid of your humility too. Humility is a fine virtue, but no woman can stand it. We'll get through it, though. No. ?" "what?" "How are you feeling now?" Dr. Phil asked. Elliott suddenly felt better; he wanted to drink a cup of coffee and smoke a cigarette, as if his wisdom had been reborn.He didn't understand why, but even the color of the room was different. "Hmph," Dr. Phil scratched his nose, "what should we do now? You forgot that I only knew the outline of the case, and you didn't let me know what it was all about. What are you going to do? You're going to look like an idiot Why don't you go back and tell Hadley that you're quitting? Or should we look at the facts and see what happened? I'll follow your orders." "Yes!" Elliot roared, "Yes, we will handle the case together." "Very well. Sit down, then," said Dr. Phil sternly, "and tell me what happened." Eliot spent half an hour explaining what happened.He ends with the cyanic acid in the bathroom medicine chest— "Here's the thing, we didn't leave the house until three o'clock. Everyone denied having anything to do with the cyanic acid, swore they didn't know there was hydrogen acid in the bathroom, said they didn't see it at the gala dinner that night. I visited too Mr Emmett, but he is in poor health." He remembered the bedroom well, neat but unattractive, like Emmett.He remembered the slender body contorted in the sheets, the strong electric lights, the neat arrangement of pomade and ties on the dressing table, the pile of letters and bills on the work table.Beside the desk stood a small suitcase containing syringes, small scissors, and what Elliot looked like to be surgical tools.The wallpaper has a peach-like yellow-red pattern. "Emmet talks a lot, but you can't hear him, except he calls 'Marjorie' sometimes and they try to calm him down. That's it, sir. I've told you everything I know, And I want to know if you can understand. I want to know if you can explain the mystery of the case." Dr. Phil nodded slowly and vigorously."I think I can," he said.