Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

"Nice to meet you," said Lawrence, "come to my house." We went through the rusty gate and down the path, and he took the key from his pocket and put it in the lock. "You lock the door now," I said. "Yeah," he said with a wry smile, "it's a bit of an afterthought, isn't it? It's kind of like that. You know, Reverend," he said, holding the door open, and letting me in. "There's something about it that I don't like. It's too—how shall I put it—intimate. Someone knows about my pistol. That means the murderer, whoever he is, Must have really stayed in the house, and perhaps drank with me."

"Not necessarily," I objected, "the whole village of St. Mary Mead may know exactly where you keep your toothbrush and what kind of tooth powder you use." "But why are they interested in these things?" "Don't know," I said, "but that's what they are. If you change your shaving cream, it'll be a talking point for them too." "They must be short on news." "They are. Nothing exciting has ever happened here." "Oh, it's happening now, but it's gone too far." I agree with him. "Who the hell told them these things? Shaving cream or something."

"Perhaps it was old Mrs. Archer." "The shriveled old woman? She's an idiot, as far as I know." "That's just the disguise of the poor," I explained, "they hide behind a facade of stupidity. You may notice that the old lady has quite a head. By the way, she seemed pretty sure now that the pistol was there at noon on Thursday.What made her suddenly so sure? " "I don't know at all." "Do you think she's right?" "I don't know a thing about that either. I don't walk around with my inventory every day."

I looked around the small living room.Every shelf and every table is piled with objects of all kinds.Lawrence lived in an artist's chaotic environment that drove me crazy. "It's hard to find these things sometimes," he said, looking me in the eye. "On the other hand, everything is very convenient - not moved to one side." "Of course, nothing has been moved aside," I agree with him. "Perhaps it would have been better if the pistol had been moved aside earlier." "You know, I wish the coroner would say something like that. Coroners are dumbass. I thought I'd be blamed, or whatever they called it." "By the way," I asked, "the gun was Is it loaded?"

Lawrence shook his head. "I wouldn't be so careless. The gun is empty, but there's a box of ammunition beside it." "Apparently all six magazines were loaded and one of them had been fired." Lawrence nodded. "But whose hand shot it? Sir, unless the real murderer is found, the situation will not change. Until the day I die, I will be suspected of being involved in this case." "Don't say that, my boy." "But that's what I have to say." He became silent, frowning alone.Finally, he broke the silence and said: "Let me tell you how my business went last night. You know, old Miss Marple knows a thing or two."

"I believe she is somewhat unattractive for that reason." He continues to repeat his story. He followed Miss Marple's advice and went to the "old house".There, with Anne's help, he had a conversation with the parlormaid.Anne simply said: "Mr Redding wants to ask you a few questions, Ross." Then, she left the room. Lawrence felt a little nervous.Rose, a pretty girl of twenty-five, stared at him with clear eyes, which made him feel very embarrassed. "Yes--about the death of Colonel Protheroe." "Yes, sir." "You know, I'm desperate for the truth."

"Yes, sir." "I feel that maybe—someone might—well—perhaps by some chance—" At this time, Lawrence felt that he hadn't succeeded in the first place, and he couldn't help cursing Miss Marple and her ghost idea secretly. "I thought, can you help me?" "What's the matter, sir?" Rose still had the air of a maid, polite and eager to be helpful, but also very aloof. "Damn it," said Lawrence, "didn't you talk about it in the maids' room?" This method of attack made Rose flush slightly.There was a slight change in her indifferent attitude.

"Sir, are you in the maid's room?" "Or in the janitor's room, or in the shoe-shiner's lounge, or somewhere you're talking? There must be somewhere." Ross grinned twice, and Lawrence felt a little hopeful. "Listen, Rose, you're a very nice girl. I'm sure you understand how I feel. I don't want to be hanged. I didn't murder your master, but many people think I did. Can't you help Shall I give it a shot?" I can imagine that Lawrence must have looked very pitiful when he said this.His handsome head was thrown back, and his blue Irish eyes were begging.Rose's heart softened and he gave in.

"Oh, sir, I'm sure—if only one of us could help you. We don't think you did it at all, sir. We really don't." "I know, my dear girl, but that doesn't make me immune to the suspicion of the police." "Police!" Rose shook his head. "I can tell you, sir, we don't think the Inspector is very nice. Slack, that's how he introduced himself. That's the way cops are." "Anyway, the police are hard to deal with. Now, Rose, you say you're going to help me as much as you can. I can't help feeling that there's a lot we don't know. The lady, for example, who died in Colonel Protheroe's I went to see him the night before."

"Mrs. Lestrands?" "Yes, Mrs. Lestrands. I cannot help feeling that her visit was a little strange." "Yes, indeed, sir, we all say so." "yes?" "She came here. Wanted the Colonel. They had a lot of talk, of course--no one knew a bit what she was here for. Mrs Simmons, she's the housekeeper, sir, and she thinks she's always been a bad fellow. But , after hearing what Grady had to say, oh, I don't know what to make of it." "What did Grady say?" "Oh, nothing, sir, it's just—we're talking, you know."

Lawrence looked at her.He felt that she was hesitant to speak. "I should like to know what her conversation with Colonel Protheroe was about." "Yes, sir." "I think you know that, Ross." "Me? Oh no, sir, I really don't know. How should I know?" "Listen, Rose. You said you were going to help me. If you hear something, and you hear something--these things may seem unimportant, but anything... I can't thank you enough. After all , someone might—could happen to—just happen to hear something." "But I haven't, sir, really, I haven't." "Then the others will always hear," said Lawrence sharply. "Oh, sir—" "Just tell me, Ross." "I believe, I don't know what Grady is going to say." "She'll want you to tell me. By the way, who is Grady?" "She's the kitchen maid, sir. You see, she just happened to be out to see a boyfriend, and she happened to pass the window—the study window—and the master was there with the lady. Of course, he talked very loudly, and the master always That's right. Naturally, it's a little strange—I mean—" "It's so natural," said Lawrence, "I mean, it's almost impossible not to eavesdrop." "But, of course, she didn't tell anyone but me. We both thought it was weird. But Grady couldn't say anything, you know, because if it was known that she went out to meet a - a - a friend Well, Mrs. Pratt—that is, the cook—would be very unhappy. But, I'm sure, she'd be willing to tell you anything, sir." "So, can I go to the kitchen and talk to her?" This suggestion took Ross by surprise. "Oh, no, sir, it must not be like that! Grady is a very nervous girl." Finally, after a detailed discussion of the difficulties, the problem was finally solved.A private meeting in the bush was arranged. It was here, as planned, that Lawrence met a nervous Grady, who he thought she was more a shivering rabbit than a human being.After ten minutes, the girl calmed down.Grady, with a quivering brow, explained that it never occurred to her--she shouldn't, that she didn't think Rose would betray her, and that she meant no harm anyway, and she really meant no harm, and that if Mrs Pratt Hearing about it would make life very difficult for her. Lawrence reassured, cajoled, persuaded—and finally, Grady agreed to speak out. "I hope you can guarantee that you will no longer spread rumors, sir." "of course not." "Besides, it won't involve me in court trouble." "Never." "Won't you tell the mistress, too?" "Not under any circumstances." "If it gets to Mrs. Pratt's ears—" "No. Here, tell me, Grady." "Are you sure there's nothing wrong with that?" "Of course. Someday you'll be glad you saved my life from the gallows." Grady let out a small cry of surprise. "Oh, I really don't like that, sir. Oh, I've heard very little of it—by accident, as you may say." "I totally understand." "But the master was clearly angry. 'After all these years'--he was saying--'It's an abomination that you dared to come here!'--I couldn't hear what the lady was saying--but A moment later he said 'I totally refuse'—” "It's all - I can't remember all the words - as if they were having a rowdy argument about something and she asked him to do something and he refused. 'How dare you come here, shame on you!' he said and said 'You can't see her--I won't--' which made me prick up my ears. It seemed that the lady was going to tell Mrs. Protheroe a thing or two, and he was terrified. So, my heart Thinking, 'Whoa, never thought the owner would be like this. He's so different. Maybe, after he's exposed, he's going to lose his face.' No idea 'men are all the same,' I said to my boyfriend afterwards. He disagreed and argued with me instead, but he did admit that he was surprised it would be Colonel Protheroe—a deacon who passed out communion trays and read passages from the Bible on Sundays. 'But it's the kind of people,' I said, 'that are often the worst.' That's what my mother said, many times." Grady paused, out of breath, and Lawrence deftly brought her back to the original topic. "Did you hear anything else?" "Oh, it's hard to remember, sir. It's pretty much the same thing. Once or twice he said: 'I don't believe it.' That sort of thing. 'Whatever Haydock says, I don't believe it either.'" "He Did you say that, did you? Say 'whatever Haydock says'?" "Yes. He also said it was all a scam." "Did you not hear what the old lady said at all?" "Only at the end of the meeting. She must have got up and went to the window. I heard her say something. It gave me the creeps, really. I'll never forget it. 'By this time tomorrow night, you might be dead,'" she said .She said that, so evil. As soon as I heard about the murder, I said to Rose: 'It's fulfilled, it's fulfilled!'” Lawrence wondered.He was chiefly in doubt as to how plausible Grady's story was.The main part, he thought, was true, but he suspected that, since the murder, she would be embellishing the story, making it up.In particular, he doubts the veracity of the last sentence.He thought it was because of the murder that she had said so. " He thanked Grady, paid her a modest fee, and assured her that Pratt would not know of her actions.When he left the "old house", he was still full of doubts. One thing was clear, Mrs. Lestrands' meeting with Colonel Protheroe was certainly not a peaceful one, and he certainly did not want his wife to know about it. I thought of the deacon that Miss Marple was talking about having an affair. Is this a case similar to that? Haydock intervened to further my bewilderment.He spared Mrs. Lestrands from testifying at the trial, doing his best to protect her from the police. How long can he protect her like this? She was a strange woman--a very attractive woman.In any case, even I myself would prefer not to link her to the murder. Something inside of me said, "It can't be her." Why? A mischievous elf in my head replied, "Because she's a gorgeous, attractive woman. That's why." As Miss Marple said, human nature is unfathomable.