Chapter 5 Chapter Four Miss Arundell Wrote a Letter

It's Friday. Relatives have already left. They left on Wednesday as originally planned.All of them had offered to stay longer, but all had been refused.Miss Arundell was lost in thought.She often did not hear Minnie Lawson talking to her.She stared at her and asked her to repeat what she had just said. "She's frightened, unfortunately," said Miss Lawson. She exaggerated to others, in a doomed, gloomy tone, that she could really bring the dead back to life. "I daresay she won't recover." But old Doctor Granger did his best to help her recover. He told her that by the end of the week she would be able to come downstairs, her bones intact, much to Dr Granger's displeasure.What kind of patient was she to a doctor like him who was running around for his life?If all his patients were like this old woman, he would have to take down the opening sign and close the door!

Emily Arundell answered energetically—she and Dr. Granger were long-lived comrades-in-arms.He's bullying, she's contemptuous of everything—how much pleasure (she) they often get in each other's company! But now, after the old doctor trudged away, the old lady lay there, frowning, thinking--thinking--listening indifferently to Minnie Lawson beside her, and there was something in her words. Words—Suddenly, she cleared her head and heard Lawson's harsh words. Bob was sprawled on a rug at the corner of the mistress's bed, and Miss Lawson was bending over him, chirping aloud, "Poor little Bob, if only our little Bob knew how poor he is." Will your mistress be as happy as she is now for what she did?"

Miss Arundell immediately snatched up the words: "Minnie, you've been convicted of a fool. Where's your sense of justice as an Englishman? In this country, men and women, everyone is innocent until there is no evidence that they committed a crime. Don't you know that? " "Oh, but we do know..." Emily said sharply: "We don't know anything, Minnie. Don't bother me if you touch this and that. Don't you know anything about reproaching us in the sick room? Get out of here and take Ellen Call!" Miss Lawson bowed respectfully and withdrew.

Miss Emily Arundell, watching her going back, felt herself somewhat to blame.Minnie was a bit of an anomaly, but she was a hard worker. After a while, she frowned and looked sad. She was very unhappy.The competitive old woman hates incompetence very much.But in this special situation, she became helpless and helpless. At times, she doesn't trust her organs or her memory for things.There is really no one around her that she can trust. Half an hour later, the door opened with a bang, and Miss Lawson came in stealthily, holding a glass of gravy in her hand. She saw the hostess lying there with her eyes closed and stopped beside her, bewildered.Then Emily Arundell burst out words with such force and determination that Miss Lawson almost threw away her glass.

"Mary Fox," said Miss Arundell. "You want the box, my dear?" said Miss Lawson. "Do you want the box?" "You're deaf, Minnie. I've got nothing to do with boxes. I mean Mary Fox. The woman I met in Cheltenham last year. She's the sister of a clergyman in the Vicarage of Exeter Cathedral. ...pass me the glass. You spilled all the gravy in the saucer. Don't walk on tiptoe when you go into the house. You don't know how annoying it is. Go downstairs! Get the London telephone book Bring it." "Honey, can I look up the phone number for you? Or look up the address?"

"If I wanted you to do that, I'd have told you. Do as I tell you. Get the phone book here, and put the pens and ink and stationery by my bed." Miss Lawson obeyed. She had brought all the things the old woman needed, and was about to leave the house when Emily Arundell said suddenly: "Minnie, you're an honest good man. Don't take my yelling. The inside story is worse than my injury. You've always been so patient and so kind to me." Miss Lawson came out of the room blushing, and at the same time burst out a stream of incoherent words from her lips. Miss Arundell was sitting on the bed writing a letter.She wrote slowly and carefully, pausing several times because of thinking, and underlined many sentences.On this piece of paper she crossed out inappropriate sentences, and crossed out again—because she was brought up, and she was taught not to waste paper at school.Finally, with a long sigh of satisfaction, she signed the letter and put it in an envelope.She wrote her name on the envelope.Then, she took out another sheet of paper and wrote a second letter.This time, she typed out a draft, and after repeated reading, revisions and deletions, she copied it into a formal letter.She read through the written letter carefully, and was more than satisfied that it conveyed what she wanted to say, and put it in an envelope, sealed it, and addressed it to: Harchester, Solicitor Purvis Service, Mr. William Purvis.

She picked up the first letter again, addressed to M. Hercule Poirot.She opened the phone book with the address, looked it up and wrote it down. There was a soft knock on the door. Miss Arundell hastily stuffed the addressed letter--to Hercule Poirot--into the pencil case. She didn't want to arouse Minnie's curiosity.Minnie was too inquisitive. She said "Come in!" and soon lay down on the pillow, relieved. She has taken improvisational measures.