Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Ending

"Do you want me to explain?" Poirot glanced at everyone with a smug smile on his face, but he tried his best to pretend to be modest.I know him best. We had sat down in the living room, and the number had dwindled.The servants withdrew wisely, and the Crofts followed the police.All that was left was me, Frederica, Lazarus, Challenger, and Wes. "Well, I have to admit, I was fooled and treated as a clown-like toy. In your terms, I was led around by the nose by Miss Nick, a bratty yellow-haired girl-me! The world-renowned master detective Hull Clay Poirot! Oh, ma'am, you said your friend was a gifted liar—how right you were!"

"Nick is always lying," said Frederica, indifferent to the compliment, "so I don't believe her anecdotes about her narrow escape." "But I, a big fool, believed her." "Did these accidents happen?" I was still baffled until now. "It's all fake, but it's well laid out to create an impression." "What impression?" "The impression that Miss Nick lives in peril. But I'll start earlier. Let me tell you the story as it is, because I've put the facts together and made it what it really is. "More than a year ago, Miss Nick was such a person: young, beautiful, shameless, blindly attached to her cliff villa."

Charles Weiss nodded. "She is attached to the villa, I told you." "You're right. Miss Nick loves her old house, but she has no money. It's mortgaged, and if it doesn't come back, she risks losing her Cliff House. She needs money--dreams, but can't. She soon met young Seton at Torquay, and attracted him. She knew that Seton was his uncle's heir, whatever happened, and she was especially moved by the wealth of his uncle. Good! She judged the situation , thought it was a turn of events, and it was time to do it. She had to make Seton swoon over her, and propose to her. But there was a loophole in the network Nick had cast around Seton, which she didn't know about. Nick's beauty It can make people ecstasy at first sight, but her personality can only make people feel interesting. As for her connotation, people can see it at a glance, which makes people feel dull. We say that short-lived love can be won by charming appearance, but it is never Yu's loyalty can only be maintained by a good heart. Nick was cultivated by her prodigal grandfather since she was a child, and her virtues can be imagined. So although Seton was attracted to her, he was not fascinated by her, he just I just thought Nick was very interesting. When they met in Scarborough, he took her on that plane for a ride around. Unexpectedly, just as Miss Nick was working hard, the weather was not perfect, and Seton met Maggie, the two fell in love at first sight.

"Miss Nick was dumbfounded now. She couldn't figure out why Seton would escape from her seamless love network and fall in love with an honest girl without beauty and charm. But after all, facts are always facts , Seton felt that Maggie was the only girl in the world worthy of his pursuit. They hit it off and got secretly engaged. "There is only one person who knows, and that is Miss Nick. For poor Miss Magee was not on her guard, and told her everything to this cousin. She no doubt read her some of her fiancé's letters, so Nick The young lady learned of Seton's will, which she hadn't noticed at the time, but which she remembered.

"Then Sir Matthew died suddenly, and at the same time came the news of Michael Seton's disappearance. Then a sinister idea arose in the mind of the young girl. The two ladies, Nick and Magee, had the same name, Magdalene Buckley, but Seton didn't know this. He thought Miss Nick's name was Nick. So he didn't specifically specify which Magdalene Buckley the property was left to in his will. But everyone knew that Seyton Don was a good friend of Nick's, and everyone believed that Seton was engaged to Nick. No one would be surprised if she claimed to be Seton's fiancée. But Maggie had to be got rid of if she wanted to be an impostor.

"Time was short. She wrote to ask Magee to come to Saint-Loup to keep her company. Then she set about arranging the accidents that nearly cost her her life, laying an ambush for a chance of killing Miss Magee. The rope in the picture was made by herself." She broke the brakes of the car herself. One day a rock accidentally rolled down the cliff, and she made up another adventure. "That's when she saw my name in the papers (I told you, Hastings, that my name was known to all women and children). She had the audacity to use me in this murder. Oh What a comedy! So I was drawn into the scene she was directing, believing she was in real trouble. In doing so, she made herself a valuable witness, and I wanted her Picking up a friend to live with was exactly what she wanted.

"She seized the opportunity to ask Miss Magee to come to Saint-Loup a day earlier. "The crime was actually quite simple. She left the dining room, confirmed Seton's death on the radio, and started to carry out her plan. She had enough time to get Seton's letter to Miss Magee out of her trunk." She dug them out and read them one by one. She selected a few of them for her own purposes and took them into her bedroom, and burned the rest. Next, while everyone was watching the fireworks, she and Magee left us and went back to the house. She called Her cousin tied her shawl—Maggie's coat had been hidden beforehand—and followed her quietly out of the house, shooting her while the fireworks exploded. Then she ran back quickly and put the The gun hid in a secret alcove (she thought no one knew there was such an alcove), turned and went upstairs. When she heard a noise in the garden, indicating that the body had been found, she came down. This is The history of her crime.

"After going down the stairs she ran into the garden through the French windows. How realistic it is! It's amazing! A man who is lucky enough to see such a performance never will be forgotten. The servant Ellen said it was a building. Ominous house, I agree. Miss Nick's crime was inspired by this old haunted house." "But those poisoned chocolates," Frederica said, "I still don't understand." "It was part of the scheme. Don't you see that if Nick's life is still in danger after Maggie's dead, it proves that Maggie's death was pure manslaughter? When she thinks the time is right, she calls Call Mrs. Rice and ask her for a box of chocolates."

"So it was her voice on the phone?" "Yes. The simplest explanation is often the closest to the truth. She just changed her voice a little. In this way, when you are questioned, you can't make up your mind. If you can't make up your mind, you will inevitably hesitate, Then the phone thing will be seen as your fabrication. When the chocolate arrives, how easy it is. She puts three of them in cocaine (which she cleverly has with her), and sends me flowers. The left card was put into the box, and then the box was wrapped again. When the nurse came to her again, she unpacked the package in front of the nurse, lifted the cover, found the card, and ate a piece of poisoned chocolate. Poisoned just like that—but not too sick to be saved. She knew exactly what dose was fatal, what dose showed symptoms of poisoning but was irrelevant.

"What amazes me about this is that she would think of using my card, the one I sent with the flowers! Oh, hell! It's such a simple thing to do, and it's beyond the reach of most people." No one said anything for a while.Then Frederica asked: "Why did she put the pistol in my coat pocket?" "I knew you'd ask that question, ma'am. You're asking it at the right time. Tell me, do you ever sense that Miss Nick doesn't like you? Or does she already hold a grudge against you?" "It's hard to say," said Frederica hesitantly. "There was no real love between us. She used to like me."

"Tell me, Mr. Lazarus—this is not the time for politeness—was there ever any relationship between you and Miss Nick?" "No," Lazarus shook her head. "She attracted me for a while, but then, for some reason, I distanced myself from her." "Ah," said Poirot, nodding his head in a "pretty predictable" manner, "that's her misfortune. She can attract people, but she can't make people passionate, and in the end, people will leave me alone." Go. Instead of growing fond of her, you fell in love with her friend, and she began to hate Mrs. Rice--Mrs. Rice with a rich friend by her side. When she made her will last winter she was If you like your wife, it will be different later. "She remembers her will, but doesn't know it's been impounded by Croft, and thinks it's in its place. Then it can be seen that Mrs. Rice's wish to kill Nick is easily explained. Motive. So she called Mrs. Chocolate for chocolates. Will read this evening, Mrs. named as chattel heir - and then found in Mrs.'s pocket the pistol with which Maggie was killed! Think Mrs. That would give you sufficient grounds and evidence for your arrest. It would be all the more suspicious if you found the pistol yourself in your pocket and intended to throw it away." "She must hate me," muttered Frederica. "Yes, ma'am, you have what she doesn't—love to not only get but to keep." "I'm probably stupid," said Challenger. "I still don't quite understand about Nick's will." "Don't you understand? It's not the same thing as Nick's case, but it's very simple. The Crofts are hiding here for fear of being discovered by the police. They saw an opportunity in Miss Nick's operation. Nick didn't have a will and they persuaded her to make one and offered to take it and mail it off - actually withheld. That way, if something happened to her, that is, if she died, they could forge it A will in which Nick left them everything in return for a mysterious incident in Australia involving Philip Buckley - it was known that Nick's father Philip had indeed been to Australia. "But Miss Nick's operation was a success, so their hopes were dashed, and a forgery of a will was meaningless, at least for the time. But then those fatal accidents happened, and Nick's life was threatened. Crove Hope was rekindled in the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Te. Finally, I announced that Miss Nick had died of poisoning. This opportunity was finally waited for. A forged will was immediately sent to Mr. Weiss. Of course, they did not know Nick at all. They thought she was much richer than she looked. They didn't know anything about the mortgage on the house." "I want to know, M. Poirot," said Lazarus, "how did you know this? When did you begin to suspect Miss Nick?" "Ah, I'm ashamed to say that I've been led by the nose for so long. Something confuses me because I feel like there's always something wrong with my logic. What Miss Nick told me and was told Mine was always different, unfortunately I always trusted her. "Then I suddenly got a revelation that Miss Nick had made a mistake. When I persuaded her to find a reliable relative to live with her, she agreed to me, but concealed the fact that she had written a letter Get Maggie to come over on Tuesday. It seems to her that the secret will be kept to herself after Maggie's death, so it's safe. But it's a mistake. "Because Maggie Buckley wrote home as soon as she got here, in which she wrote naively: 'I don't see any reason why she should telegraph me so urgently, and she might as well come on Tuesday. ' Note the statement: 'Tuesday's not a bad thing to come' can only mean one thing, and that is that Magee will come on Tuesday anyway if he doesn't come on Monday. So I see that Miss Nick said lied, or concealed the truth. "That's when I saw her in a different light for the first time. I stopped believing everything she said and looked at what she had to offer from the opposite angle. I remembered her words Contradictions with other people's statements. I asked myself, what if Miss Nick lied every time and not someone else? "I took a shortcut and asked myself the question: What has actually happened up to this point? "So I saw that the only thing that actually happened was that Maggie Buckley was killed. That's the only thing that happened, but who benefits from Maggie's death? "Then it occurred to me that - not long before I considered the subject, Hastings made some good remarks about people's names, saying that Margaret had many nicknames - Magee, Margot, etc. Etc. So I wondered what Miss Magee's real name was? "All at once a new idea struck me. It occurred to me that her name was Magdalene! It was a common name in the Buckley family, Miss Nick told me so. Two Magdalene Buckleys! if……" "I immediately remembered the letters I'd read of Michael Seton. Yes, it's not out of the question. Scarborough was mentioned, but Nick and Seton were in Scarborough. Maggie was with them too, Maggie's mother told me so. "That explains a question I've never been able to answer: Why are there so few of Seton's letters? If a girl keeps love letters, she keeps them all, not just a few of them. Then Miss Nick Why did you keep these few letters? Is there something special about these few letters? "I then remembered that one thing these letters had in common was that none of them mentioned the addressee's name or nickname. The initial address was not a name but always something like 'dear'. There was no mention of her Nickname - Nick. "There's another loophole - which I should have discovered right away - which gives a further leak." "What is it?" "Ah, this is it. Miss Nick had her appendix cut on February 27th last year. There is a letter from Michael Seton dated March 2nd. There is not a single word about the operation, not a word of regards." No words. This circumstance should remind me of the fact that these letters were originally addressed to someone else. "Then I went through the questions on the list of suspects again. I answered them from a new perspective and from a new perspective. "With the exception of a few isolated questions, all doubts were cleared up. I also answered a question that had puzzled me earlier: Why did Miss Nick buy a black dress? The answer was, she must Dressed very much like her cousin so that when Maggie puts on her red shawl it provides the necessary conditions for 'manslaughter'. This answer is convincing. The answer can only be so, not seen So Nick went to buy a black dress for his fiancé's mourning. Because a girl doesn't pre-order mourning clothes before her beloved's death is confirmed--impossible, far-fetched explanations don't make sense . "Now, it's up to me to direct the epilogue to Nick's play. When I asked about the secret alcove, she flatly denied that there was such a thing. But if there was—I don't see Why would Len have made up this alcove out of thin air—Nick must have known that. So I thought, why is she trying to deny it? Is it possible for her to hide a pistol in there and then take it out later for some purpose? Put the blame on someone? "I showed Miss Nick that I distrusted Mrs. Rice as much as she should have been in Nick's scheme: all doubts were directed at Mrs. Rice. I had foreseen that Nick would not be able to resist such a situation. The temptation of the idea: to add the most critical physical evidence to Mrs. Rice! Besides, it is good for her own safety, because if Ellen remembers the location of the alcove, she will open it, and at the same time, she will find that pistol. "We were all gathered in the dining room, and she waited outside by herself to play the ghost. No one would be let out of our room under the circumstances. She took the pistol out of the alcove and put it away when she thought it was the safest moment." into Mrs. Rice's coat pocket. "So, finally—she was caught." Frederica shuddered. "But I'm still glad I gave her the watch." "Yes, ma'am." She lifted her eyelids for a lightning-fast glance at him. "you know too?" "What about Ellen?" I interjected. "Does she know about this? Or is she suspicious?" "No, I asked her. She told me that the reason she didn't go out to see the fireworks that night and stayed in the house was, as she said, because she had a premonition that something was going to happen. Miss Nick urged her to go out to see the fireworks that night. Fireworks made her uneasy. She knew Miss Nick didn't like Mrs. Rice. Ellen said to me, 'I have a premonition in my bones.' But she thought it was Mrs. who suffered. She said she knew Miss Nick's temper ——an elusive ghost girl.” "Yes," murmured Frederica, "that's what we'll say about her--a ghost girl, a suicide ghost girl in a corner. But I got her off with dignity." Poirot took her hand and kissed it solemnly. Charles Weiss was disturbed. "It's a very unpleasant business," he said calmly, "and I think I must prepare to defend her in court." "I'm afraid it won't help," said Poirot politely, "if my conjectures are right." He turned suddenly to Challenger. "You kept the drugs here?" he said. "In those watches?" "I, I—" the seaman began to stammer. "Don't lie to me. You look like a gentleman, but you can only fool Hastings, not me. What a good thing you've done - drug smuggling - you and your uncle in Harley Street! " "Monsieur Poirot!" Challenger stood up. My little friend stared darkly at him. "You're the useful 'boyfriend' - you can deny it if you like. You weren't in Devonport the day of the murder, you were smuggling! Why, don't you agree? If you don't want to make a fuss about it Get out of the hands of the police!" To my great amazement, he actually escaped from the room in a flash.I stared blankly at the door, unable to close my mouth. Poirot threw back his head and laughed. "I told you, my friend. Your intuition has only one function, and it is to turn black and white. It is very remarkable!" "The cocaine was in the watch—" I said. "Yes, yes, that's why Miss Nick was able to get the narcotic while she was in the infirmary. Now that her own stock has run out, she begged for Mrs. Rice's newly filled watch." "Is she so addicted?" "No, no, she's just doing it for fun, not addicted. But tonight she's going to put her cocaine to another use. This time she's going to use the full amount—a lethal dose." "You mean—" I called out. "That's the best way. It's much more respectable than going to the guillotine. But, hey, how can we tell the truth in front of Mr. Weiss, who is loyal to the law? From an official standpoint, I don't know anything. In the watch I'm just making random guesses." "Your guesses are always right, M. Poirot," said Frederica. "I must go," said Charles Weiss.The expression on his face when he left us was frosty and disapproving. Poirot looked from Frederica to Lazarus. "You're getting married, aren't you?" "soon." "Really, Monsieur Poirot," said Frederica, "I'm not such a drug addict as you think. I'm down to a very small amount. Now, I think, happiness is at hand, and I'll never I don't need this kind of watch any more." "I wish you happiness, madame," said Poirot tenderly, "you have suffered many unspeakable sufferings, but you still have a kind heart." "I'll take care of her," Lazarus said, "my business is down, but I'm sure I'll get through it. Even if I'm broke—ah, Frederica doesn't care about being poor, she'll be with I'm with you." For the first time she smiled radiantly. "It's getting late," said Poirot, looking at the clock. We all stood up. "We spent an unusual evening in this unusual old house," said Poirot. "Yes, an old and ominous house, as Ellen said..." He looked up at the portrait of old Nicholas on the wall, and suddenly pulled Lazarus aside. "I beg your pardon, but there is but one of all my questions which I do not understand. Tell me, why did you pay fifty pounds for that picture? I should be very obliged if you would enlighten me— You see, then there's nothing I don't understand about the case." Lazarus looked at him unresponsively for a minute or two, then smiled. "You see, M. Poirot," said he, "I am a businessman." "Exactly." "That painting was worth twenty pounds at most. I know if I offered fifty pounds she would suspect that it might be worth more than that. She would try to get another estimate. And then she would see I paid a lot more than it was worth. Next time I want to buy her painting, she won't ask for an appraisal." "So what?" "There is an inconspicuous painting hanging on the other end of the wall. Have you seen it? That painting is worth at least five thousand pounds!" Lazarus said regretfully. "Ah," said Poirot with a sigh of relief, "now I understand everything!" end of text