Chapter 21 Chapter 21 "Eleventh"

Lazarus walked quickly to her side. "My dear," he said, "my dear." Poirot opened the cupboard and poured out a glass of wine for her, and she handed it back to Poirot when she had drunk it. "It's better now. What do we do next?" She looked at Japp, but the inspector shook his head. "I'm on leave, Mrs. Rice. I'm just here to help an old friend. The police in Saint-Loup are in charge of this case." She looked at Poirot again, and asked: "Then M. Poirot represents the Saint-Loup police?" "Oh, what a strange idea, ma'am. I'm only a humble consulting detective."

At this moment Miss Nick took a quick look at those present, stepped forward and said to Poirot: "Wouldn't it be nice if we kept quiet and let the case settle quietly, M. Poirot?" "You wish so, miss?" "Yes. Anyway, I am the person involved, and now I will not be assassinated again." "That's right, you won't be plotted against again." "You are thinking about Magee? But, M. Poirot, in any case, Magee will not be resurrected. If you make all this public, you will only do Frederica a loss. She will be discriminated against by society and Slanderous. You always understand that she is innocent and does not deserve such punishment."

"You say you shouldn't?" "Of course not. I told you from the start that she married a brutal husband. You can prove it yourself tonight. Now that he's dead, let's put this nightmare to an end. Let the police go on Go after Maggie's killer in vain, they'll find nothing, and it'll be over." "Then what you mean, Miss, is that everyone is silent?" "Yes. Will you? Oh, let it be, my dear M. Poirot." Nick shook Poirot's arm coquettishly, like a favored child asking his father to buy her an expensive toy. Poirot looked around slowly.

"What do you say?" Everyone expressed their opinion. "I agree," I said, when Poirot looked at me. "Me too." This was Lazarus' opinion. "It couldn't be better." Challenger loved Nick even more now. "Let us forget all that has happened here this evening," agreed Mr. Croft without hesitation. "Of course you wish so." Japp glanced at Mr. Croft. "Hands up, my dear," said Mrs. Croft flatteringly to Nick.Nick gave her a contemptuous look, but did not answer. "Ellen, what about you?" "William and I won't let the wind slip. That's the end of it."

"Mr. Weiss?" "Fire cannot be contained in paper," said Charles Weiss, "Facts should always be what they are." "Charles!" Nick called. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I'm looking at it from the legal standpoint." Poirot suddenly laughed. "You are seven to one. Our good Japp is neutral." "I'm on vacation," Japp smiled. "It doesn't count." "Seven to one. Only Mr. Weiss disagreed. He stood on the grounds of law and morality. I know, Mr. Weiss, you are a man of noble character." Weiss shrugged and said:

"The situation is clear. There is only one thing we should do." "Good. You're an honest man. Oh, I'm on the side of the few. I'm for the bottom line." "M. Poirot!" Nick called. "Miss, you let me participate in this case. I took on this case according to your wish, so now you can't make me give up halfway." He made a gesture of obedience with his index finger.This gesture is very familiar to me.It symbolizes that the answer to the mystery is about to be revealed. "Sit down, sit down, all of you. I will tell you all the truth about this case—the strange case at Cliff House."

His uncharacteristically sullen countenance and solemn manner caused a mysterious shudder.We all sat down in silence, holding our breath. "Listen to me. I have a list here of all the people involved in this case. I have numbered the names from one to ten. This 'tenth' is someone we don't know yet, and he passed someone else It's related to this case. I didn't know who the 'tenth' was until tonight, but I felt the existence of this unknown before that. What happened tonight proved me right. "But yesterday I suddenly realized that I had made a principled mistake. I was too negligent. So I added another number to my list, eleventh."

"Another unknown person?" Weiss asked with a sneer. "Not exactly. I use the number tenth to represent unknown people. If there is another unknown person, it should be another tenth. For example, it can be written as 'tenth (a), tenth (b)' , because the so-called tenth is just another way of writing the concept of 'unknown'. The eleventh is different. It refers to a person who should have been included in the list in the first place but has been omitted by our negligence." Having said this, he bent over Frederica. "Cheer up, ma'am. Your husband wasn't the murderer. It was the Eleventh who shot Miss Magee."

She was startled. "Who is the eleventh?" Poirot nodded to Japp.Japp stepped forward, speaking in a tone reminiscent of the air he used to testify in court. "As soon as it was dark, I received a commission from M. Poirot, who took me secretly into the house, and hid behind the curtains in the drawing room. When you were all assembled here to hear the will, a young lady Went into the living room, turned on the light. She went to the fireplace, and opened a spring-loaded panel, which was an alcove. She took a pistol from there, and with it in her hand, she went out of the living room. I followed her, Watching her through a crack in the door. The hall was hung with the coats and shawls of the guests, and the lady wiped her pistol with a handkerchief and put it in the pocket of a gray Mrs. Smith's coat..."

Nick exclaimed. "Lies - not a single word is true!" Poirot designated her with one hand. "Look, this is the eleventh! It was Miss Nick who killed her cousin, Magdalene Buckley!" "Are you crazy or something?" Nick yelled. "Why should I kill Maggie?" "In order to inherit Michael Seton's legacy to Maggie! Her name is also Magdalene Buckley, and Captain Seton is engaged to her, not to you!" "you you……" She stood there trembling and unable to speak a word. Poirot turned to Japp: "Have you called the police yet?"

"Fighted. They are waiting in the main room now." "You're all crazy," Nick cried nervously.Then she walked quickly over to Frederica. "Freddy, give me your watch as a souvenir, will you?" Frederica hesitantly took off the jeweled watch from his wrist and handed it to Nick. "Thank you. We've seen a grotesque farce." "This is a farce you planned and directed at the Cliff House yourself, but the ending is not as good as you imagined. Yes, you shouldn't have rashly drawn Hercule Poirot into the play as the protagonist. This, Miss, that's where you made a mistake—a big mistake of your own making!"