Chapter 30 Chapter Thirty

We stare at her.I really think we did think she was insane at the time.Her accusation seems ridiculous. Colonel Melchett spoke first, and his tone was very polite, with a certain pity and tolerance. "This is absurd, Miss Marple," he said. "Young Redding has been completely cleared." "Of course," Miss Marple. "He promises that." "On the contrary," said Colonel Melchett dryly, "he tried his best to accuse himself of the crime." "Yes," said Miss Marple, "he deceived us in that way. I myself have been deceived as well as everyone.You remember, my dear Mr. Claremont, that I was quite astonished when I heard Redding confess to the crime.It totally messed up my mind and made me think he was innocent, when I had always thought he was guilty. "

"Then it is Laurence Redding you suspect?" "I know that in books it is always the least likely person who commits the crime. However, I have never found that rule true in real life. In real life, often the obvious is true. Although I have always liked Protheroe It's too big, and I still can't help but conclude that she's being manipulated by Mr. Redding and obeys him. Of course, he is not the kind of young man who wants to elope with a penniless woman. In his opinion, there is It was necessary to get rid of Colonel Protheroe, so he got rid of him. A perfectly charming, but amoral young man."

Colonel Melchett snorted impatiently for a while.Now, he suddenly burst into a call: "Nonsense, all nonsense! Redding's activities can be clearly explained until six fifty, and Haydock is sure that Prothero could not have been killed at that time." . I think you think you're smarter than doctors.Or are you saying, is Haydock lying on purpose?God knows what happened! " "I think that Dr. Haydock's evidence is absolutely credible. He is a very honest man. Of course, it was Mrs. Protheroe who killed Colonel Protheroe herself, not Mr. Redding." We stare at her again.Miss Marple straightened her lace triangle scarf, pushed back the woolen scarf that was loosely draped over her shoulders, and began to tell the most touching story in the most natural way in the world, in the gentle tone of an old lady Shocking event.

"I think it's only right now to say it. One's suspicions - even if they are so strong as to be insightful - are not the same thing as evidence. Unless you have an explanation that fits all the facts (which I have tonight Claremont), you can say it with real confidence. My own explanation is not quite perfect and flawed, but in a split second, just as I was leaving Mr. Claremont's room, and noticing the palm tree in the pot by the window, well, the whole thing became clear and clear. up! " "Crazy, really crazy," Melchett whispered to me. But Miss Marple, smiling serenely at us, continued in her gentle old lady's voice:

"I believe my reasoning, and I'm very, very sorry about that. Because I like them both. But you know what it's like to be human. In the beginning, when they both confessed very stupidly one after the other, I said no. Out of relief. I was wrong. So I began to suspect that there were others, and that they might have motives for getting rid of Colonel Protheroe. " "Seven people are suspected." I whispered. She smiles at me. "Yes, indeed. There was Archer, unlikely, but full of wine (so impulsive), you never know what he'd do. Of course, there was your Mary. She and Archer Love has been going on for a long time, and she has a queer temper. Motive and opportunity, and she's the only one at home! Old Mrs. Archer could easily get a pistol from Mr. Redding's and give it to one of them. Of course , and Lettice, who wants liberty and money, so that she can do as she pleases. I know of many cases in which pretty and elegant girls have almost no morals, but gentlemen never believe them to be."

I blink. "And tennis rackets," continued Miss Marple. "A tennis racket?" "Yes, the one Mrs. Price Ridley's Clara saw dropped on the parsonage lawn. Looks like Mr. Dennis came back from the tennis party earlier than he said. Boys of sixteen are very impulsive and unstable, for whatever motives it may be, for Lettice's sake or yours, and of course poor Mr. Howes and you, of course not. You two did it together, not separately, as the lawyer said." "Me?" I yelled, terrified. "Oh yes. I do have to apologize to you, I didn't really think it was you, but there is the issue of the missing money. Either you or Howes is to blame, Price Ridley The lady went around suggesting that you were the guilty one, chiefly because you were so vehemently opposed to any inquiry into the matter. Of course I always thought it was Mr. Howes myself, who kept reminding me of the unfortunate man I mentioned. Organist, but, nevertheless, one cannot be self-righteous."

"That's human nature," I said darkly. "Exactly. And, of course, dear Griselda." "But Mrs. Claremont has nothing to do with it," put in Melchett. "She came back by the six-fifty train." "That's just what she said," retorted Miss Marple. "One must never judge by what other people say. The six-fifty train was half an hour late that night. But at a quarter after seven. I saw her go out to the 'old house' with my own eyes. So it can be inferred that she must have come back by an earlier train, and indeed she was seen, but perhaps you know that?"

She looked at me questioningly. Something in her gaze forced me to produce the last anonymous letter, the one I had just opened.The letter recounts in detail how, at 6:20 on that critical day, Griselda was seen leaving Laurence Redding's cabin from behind. At that time, I didn't say a word, and my heart was full of doubts.I was once in a nightmare where there was an old relationship between Lawrence and Griselda, Prothero found out about it, he decided to let me know the truth, and Griselda jumped the wall, stole a pistol, killed someone .Just a nightmare, as I said, but for a few long minutes a cloak of horrific reality.

I wonder if Miss Marple is hinting at all this.Most likely yes.Few things escaped her notice. She nodded slightly and returned the anonymous letter to me. "It's been all over the village," she said, "but it's kind of unbelievable, isn't it? Especially when Mrs. Archer swore at the trial that when she left the cottage at noon, The pistol is still there." She paused for a moment, then continued: "But I've been very suspicious from this point on. What I'm going to say - and I think it's my duty - to give you my interpretation of the whole mystery. If you don't believe me, well, I'll do my best. I did my best. Even so, the self-confidence I embraced before I told the truth nearly cost poor Mr. Howes his life."

She paused again, and when she resumed speaking, her voice took on a different tone, less apologetic and more affirmative. "Let me turn to an interpretation of the truth. By Thursday afternoon the crime had been carefully planned, down to every detail. Lawrence Redding came first to visit the vicar, but he knew the vicar was away. He brought with him pistol, and then hid it in a flower pot on a shelf by the window. When the vicar came in, Lawrence explained that the purpose of his visit was to inform the vicar that he had decided to leave. At five-thirty, Lawrence Redding gave the The pastor called, pretending to be a woman's voice.

What a fine amateur actor he was, you remember. "Mrs. Protheroe and her husband have just gone out into the village. There is a very curious thing (though it happens that no one thinks that way) that Mrs. Protheroe has no handbag: for a woman it is indeed A most extraordinary thing. At exactly twenty past six, she passed my garden and stopped to talk to me, in order to give me an opportunity to notice that she was not carrying a gun, and that she was very All right. You see, they knew I was an observer. She went around the corner of the house to the study window. Poor Colonel sat at his desk, writing to you. He's deaf, we all know. Gun Putting it in a pot for her to fetch, she took out her pistol, came up behind him, shot him through the head, dropped the gun, and ran out like lightning, through the garden to the studio. Almost everyone would have sworn, Impossible to have time." "But what about the gunfire?" asked the colonel. "Didn't you hear the gunfire?" "I believe there is an invention called the Maxim silencer. I learned about it from detective stories. I wondered if it was possible that the sneeze my friend Clara heard was actually a gunshot. But no. Mr Redding met Mrs Protheroe at the studio door. They went in together, oh, that's the way of human nature, I'm afraid they know I won't leave the garden till they come out again!" I've never liked Miss Marple more, and her take on her own weaknesses is hilarious. "When they came out, they looked cheerful and natural. But here they actually made a mistake. Because if they had said goodbye like they said, they would have looked very different. But You see, that was their weakness. They hardly dared to show any panic. For the next ten minutes they worked hard to give themselves an alibi. At last, Mr. Redding arrived at the Vicarage, as late as possible. Get out of there. He may have seen you coming from a distant path, and could estimate the time accurately, he picked up the pistol and silencer, and left the fake letter, the time is obviously different in different ink. handwriting. When the false letter was detected, it would have looked like a clumsy attempt to blame Anne Protheroe. "However, when he put the letter on the table, he found the letter already written by Colonel Protheroe, which was beyond his expectations. He is a very clever young man, and the sight of this letter may be very important to him. It was very useful, so he took it away. He set the hands of the alarm clock to the same time as the letter. He actually knew that the alarm clock was a quarter of an hour soon. The same intention-to try to blame Mrs. Protheroe. Then, he Left, bumped into you outside the gate, and pretended to be distraught. Like I said, he's really smart.What would a murderer who committed a crime try to do?Of course, pretending to be innocent.Mr Redding, on the other hand, did not do that.He took off the suppressor, but walked into the Oath Office with the pistol and turned himself in, which was ridiculous and fooled everyone. " There is a certain charm in Miss Marple's account of the case.She carried such confidence that we both felt that the murder had been done in this way and could not have been done otherwise. "What about the gunshots in the bushes?" I asked. "Is that the coincidence you were talking about tonight?" "Oh, dear, no!" Miss Marple shook her head sharply. "That shot was by no means a coincidence. On the contrary, it was absolutely necessary that it should be heard, otherwise the suspicion of Mrs. Protheroe would continue. How Mr. Redding arranged it, I wonder." Not sure. But I know that picric acid explodes if you drop something heavy on it. Dear clergyman, you must remember that you met Mr. Redding in a place in the bushes, and he was holding a piece of The big rock, later on, where you picked up that crystal. The men are very scheming, and he puts the stone on the crystal and puts the fuse, I mean the match. The match took about twenty minutes to burn out, so that the explosion did not occur until about six-thirty, when he and Mrs. Protheroe had emerged from the studio and were in full view.A very safe play, because what's left in there later?It's just a big rock!But even that rock, he's trying to break free, and that's when you bump into him. " "I believe you're right!" I yelled, recalling the panic that Lawrence had when he first started seeing me that day.At the time, it seemed natural, but now... Miss Marple seemed to read my mind, for she nodded knowingly. "Yes," she said, "it must have shocked him quite a bit to meet you just then. But he covered it up nicely, pretending to bring it to my garden, only—" Miss Marple's tone suddenly became certain. "I don't need this kind of stone in my garden, which brings me back to Come up with the right idea! " During this time, Colonel Melcher sat in a daze. Now, he is showing signs of awakening.He snorted once or twice, blew his nose in bewilderment, and said: "Good boy! Hey, good boy!" Besides, he didn't say anything more.I think he was as impressed as I was by the convincing logic of Miss Marple's conclusions.However, at the time he was unwilling to admit it. Instead, he reached for the crumpled letter and asked sharply: "Fine. But how do you explain this guy Howes? Well, he did call to confess." "Yes, it just happened to be here. No doubt it was due to the preacher's sermon. You know, my dear Mr. Claremont, you did give a very moving sermon. Mr. Howes must have been deeply moved. He couldn't stand it any longer and felt he had to come clean about embezzling church funds." "what?" "Yes, thank God, that's what saved his life. (Because I hoped and believed he was saved. Dr. Haydock is so clever.) It seems to me that Mr. Redding kept the letter (Dangerous to do so , but I think he must have kept the letter in some safe place), biding his time until he made up his mind on whom to credit. He made up his mind very quickly, on Mr. Howes. I must You know, he was back here with Mr. Howes last night and spent a lot of time with him. I suspect he then swapped one of his cachets with Howes's and smuggled this letter into Howes' pajamas pocket. The poor young man will have swallowed the deadly cachet without knowing it, and after the death of Homees, there will be no evidence of him, and people will find this letter, and everyone will easily and concluded that it was he who killed Colonel Protheroe and committed suicide out of remorse. I suspect that Mr. Howes must have discovered the letter after swallowing the fatal capsule tonight. In his panic, The letter must have looked like a monstrosity, and the vicar's sermons had had such a strong effect on him, that it must have compelled him to tell the whole truth." "Man," Melchett said, "man, it's brilliant! I—I—don't believe it." He never said anything unconvincing like this.That must have sounded to him himself, for he went on to ask: "Can you explain the other call? The one to Mrs. Price Ridley from Mr. Redding's cottage." "Ah!" said Miss Marple, "that's what I call a coincidence. That call from dear Griseleda, or Dennis, I think it was one of them. They heard Pu Mrs. Rice Ridley was spreading rumors about the clergyman, and it had occurred to her (perhaps childishly) to silence her in this way. Coincidentally, the call came almost at the same time as the fake gunshot from the bushes.This leads people to believe that the two must be connected. " It occurred to me that the people who talked about that gunshot said it was "different" from normal gunshots.They are right.But how difficult it was to explain what the "difference" was, Colonel Melchett cleared his throat. "Your answer is very convincing, Miss Marple," he said, "but, if you will allow me to point out, there is not a shred of evidence." "I know," said Miss Marple, "but you believe it to be true, don't you?" There was a silence.Then the colonel said, almost reluctantly: "Yes, I do. Damn, that's the only way the case could have happened. But there is no evidence, not at all. " Miss Marple coughed. "So, I thought, maybe in this case—" "how?" "You can set a trap."