Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Calgary said apologetically, "It's kind of you to see me again, Mr. Marshall." "You're welcome," said the lawyer. "You know, I went to Sunny Point to meet Jack Argyle's family." "yes." "I suppose you've heard by now about my visit?" "Yes, Dr. Calgary, that's right." "What may be difficult for you to understand is why I came to see you again... You know, things didn't turn out exactly as I thought." "Yes," said the lawyer, "yes, perhaps." His voice was cold and unfeeling as usual, but there was something in it that encouraged Calgary to continue.

"I thought, you know," Calgary went on, "that it was over. I was prepared for—how should I put it—their natural indignant reaction. Although the concussion I suppose was probably providence, but From their point of view, they can be forgiven for being outraged at me. I am prepared for that, as I said. But I also hope that their outrage will be cleared by the gratitude of Jack Argyle. It was overturned. However, the result was not as I expected. Not at all." "I see." "Perhaps. Mr. Marshall, you kind of anticipated what was going to happen? I remember being puzzled by your attitude the last time I was here. Did you foresee the attitude I was going to encounter?"

"You haven't told me, Dr. Calgary, what kind of attitude it is." Arthur Calgary drew his chair forward. "I thought I was ending something, giving a different ending to - let's say - a chapter that had already been written. But I began to feel, I began to understand that I was not ending something, but To start something. Something completely new. You think, is that right?" Mr. Marshall nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, "so to speak. I do think—I admit—that you didn't fully understand the implications. You couldn't, because, of course, apart from legal reports, you Know nothing about the factual background.”

"Yes, yes, I understand now, too much." He raised his voice and went on excitedly. "It's not relief, it's not gratitude. It's apprehension. Worrying about what might happen. Am I right?" Marshall said cautiously: "I think maybe you're quite right. You have to remember that I didn't know what to say." "If that's the case," Calgary continued, "then I can go back to work without feeling that I've made the only amends I can. I'm still implicated. A new factor is responsible. I can't just let it go." The lawyer cleared his throat. "That may be a rather unrealistic view, Dr. Calgary."

"I don't think it is — not really. People have to be responsible for their actions, and not just the actions, but the consequences of their actions. Just nearly two years ago, I gave a young man a lift on the road. I In doing so, the direction of a chain of events has been determined. I don't feel like I can get away with it." The lawyer still shook his head. "Well, then," said Arthur Calgary impatiently. "Impractical, if you like. But my feelings, my conscience, are still at stake. My only desire is to make amends for what my powers could not have prevented. I have not. The strange thing is Instead, I made it worse for those who were already suffering. But I still don't quite understand why."

"Yes," said Marshall slowly, "yes, you won't understand why. For the past eighteen months or so, you've been out of touch with the civilized world. You haven't seen the daily papers, reports of the course of the crime, and A little background on the family. Probably you wouldn't see them anyway, but you'd hear about them, I suppose. The truth is very simple, Dr. Calgary. It's no secret. It was public at the time. Ultimately Yes. If it wasn't Jack Argyle—and according to you, he couldn't have committed the crime, who did it? Which brings us back to the circumstances when the crime occurred. It happened between 7pm and 7.30pm. The deceased's house was full of her family and servants. The house itself was securely locked, with the doors and windows shut. If anyone had entered it must have been Mrs. Argyle He let him in, or he had the key himself. In other words, it must be someone she knew. In some ways, it was like the Borden case in the United States, where Mr. Borden and his wife were in the Knocked down with an ax one Sunday morning. No one in the house heard a thing, saw no one approaching the house. You can see, Dr. Calgary, why that family, as you say, treated you Is the news brought to them not relief but distress?"

Calgary said slowly, "You mean they'd rather Jack Argyle be guilty?" "Oh, yes," said Marshall. "Yes, absolutely. If I may say, a little cynically, that there were unpleasant murders in the family, Jack Argyle was the perfect answer. He had always been a problem child, a bad boy, a temper Violent man. The family circle can forgive him. They can grieve for him, sympathize with him, declare to themselves, to each other, and to the world that it wasn't really his fault, that psychologists can Says it all! Nice, very very convenient.” "And now—" Calgary paused.

"And now," said Mr. Marshall, "it's different, of course. Quite different. It's almost alarming, perhaps," said Calgary smartly, "and the news I bring is not welcome to you, is it?" ?” "I must admit it. Yes. Yes, I must admit that I am—disturbed. A case that was satisfactorily concluded—yes, I will continue to use the word 'satisfactory'—now It unfolded again." "Is it official?" Calgary asked. "I mean—from the police point of view. Will the case be reopened?" "Oh, without a doubt," said Marshall. "When Jack was convicted on a strong case - the jury took fifteen minutes - it was over as far as the police were concerned. But now, with a posthumous amnesty granted, the case has reopened. Carried out."

"Then the police will re-investigate?" "I think it's almost a certainty. Of course," Marshall went on, touching his chin thoughtfully, "it's open to question whether they'll be able to achieve anything after all this time, because of certain features of the case." Doubtful...I doubt it myself. They may know someone in that house is guilty. They may be smart enough to know who this so-and-so is. But it's not easy to find definitive proof." "I understand," Calgary said. "I see... yes, that's what she meant." The lawyer suddenly said, "Who are you talking about?"

"That girl," Calgary said. "Hester Argyle." "Ah, yes. Young Hester." He asked curiously, "What did she tell you?" "She's talking about innocent people," Calgary said. "She said it wasn't the guilty but the innocent who mattered. Now I see what she meant..." Marshall shot him a sharp look. "I thought maybe you understood." "She meant what you were saying," said Arthur Calgary. "She means that the family is under suspicion again—" Marshall interrupted. "Barely counts again," he said. "The family has never been under suspicion before. It was pointed to Jack Argyle in the first place."

Calgary flicked his interruption away. "A family will be under suspicion," he said, "and may be under suspicion for a long time—maybe forever. If one of them is guilty, they may not know which one. They will look at each other—suspect . . . Yes, it is Worst thing. They won't know which one..." There was a silence. Marshall looked at Calgary with calm eyes, but said nothing. "That's scary, you know..." Calgary said. His thin and sensitive face reveals his inner feelings. "Yes, it's scary... Year after year, we continue to be ignorant, look at each other, maybe suspicion will affect the relationship between each other, destroy love, destroy trust..." Marshall cleared his throat. "Isn't you—er—that's a little too realistic?" "No," said Calgary, "I don't think so. I think maybe, sorry, Mr. Marshall, I know that better than you do, and I can imagine, you know, what that might mean." Silence again. "It means," said Calgary, "that it's the innocent who are going to suffer ... and the innocent don't deserve to suffer. Only the guilty, and that's why -- that's why I can't just walk away. Go away and say 'I've done the right thing, I've done my best - I've done justice' because you know I haven't done justice. The guilty are not condemned, the innocent are not free from guilt shadow." "I think you're a little impulsive, Dr. Calgary. There's some truth to what you say, no doubt, but I don't see how—well, what can you do about it." "Yeah, I don't see it either," Calgary said frankly. "But it means I have to try my best. That's the real reason I've come to you, Mr. Marshall. I think—I think I have a right to know—the background." "Oh, well," said Marshall, slightly briskly. "It's no secret either. I can tell you any facts you want. I have nothing to say other than the facts. I've never been close to the family. Our firm has represented Mrs. Argyle for many years. We handle her Some legal stuff and the establishment of various trust funds. I know Mrs. Argyle quite well, and I know her husband. As for the atmosphere of Sunny Point, the temperament and personality of the people who live there, I just like you may Will tell, through second-hand information from Mrs. Argyle." "I know all about it," Calgary said, "but I've got to find a place to start. I know none of the kids are hers. Are they all adopted?" "That's right. Mrs. Argyle's real name is Rachel Constant, the only daughter of the very rich Rudolph Constant. Her mother is American, and she is very rich herself. Rudolph Constant has many philanthropic endeavors, and at the same time Raising his daughter was also interested in these philanthropic endeavors as he grew up. He and his wife died in a plane crash, and Rachel later contributed the vast fortune she inherited from her parents to what we might broadly call Charity. She is interested in these philanthropic acts and handles some social welfare affairs in person. That’s how she met Leo Argyle, a professor at Oxford University who is very interested in economics and social reform. To understand Mrs. Argyle is to understand that one of the great tragedies of her life was her inability to bear children. Like so many good people, this inability gradually cast a shadow over her entire life. After consulting various specialists , it was clear that she would never have any hope of being a mother, and she had to seek as much consolation as she could. She first adopted a child from the slums of New York—now Mrs. Durant. Mrs. Argyle devoted herself almost entirely to children. Charitable. When the war broke out in 1939 she established a war nursery under the auspices of the Department of Sanitation, and bought the house you visited, Sunny Point." "It was called 'Snake Point' at the time," Calgary said. "Yes, yes. I believe that was the original name. Ah, yes, maybe it ended up being better than the name she picked out herself - Sunny Point. In 1940 she housed about a dozen or ten Six children, mostly children with unsatisfactory guardians or unable to evacuate with their own families. These children were well cared for. They had a luxurious home. I persuaded her, pointing out to her that after years of war Afterwards, the children will have a hard time returning to their own homes from this luxury. She ignores my words. She loves those children dearly, and eventually plans to pick out some of them, those from particularly unsatisfactory The children of the family, or orphans, joined her family. The result was five children: Mary, now married to Philip Durant; Michael, who worked at Drymouth; Tina, a biracial; and, of course, Jack. They see the Argyles as their parents grown up. Both have the best education money can buy. They should both be successful, if circumstances matter. They Really has every advantage. Jack has always been unsatisfactory. He steals people's money in school and has to be taken away. He got into trouble in his first year of college. Twice came close to being sentenced to prison. He had always had a bad temper. However, you may have guessed all this. Twice embezzlement was settled by the Argyles. Twice he was paid to build a business. Twice it collapsed. After death, the petty money is still paid out, really paid out, to his widow." "His widow? No one ever told me he was married." "Ouch," said the lawyer, with a ruffled thumbs-up. "I wasn't careful, I forgot, of course, you didn't read the papers. I can say that none of the Argyle family knew he was married. His wife showed up very dismayed as soon as he was arrested." 'Sunny Cape'. Mr. Argyle treated her very well. She was a nice young man, danced at a ballroom in Drymouth. I forgot to tell you about her maybe because she remarried a few weeks after Jack's death .Her current husband is an electrician and lives, I believe, in Drymouth." "I've got to meet her," Calgary said.He went on to say accusingly, "She's the first person I should have met." "Of course, of course. I'll give you the address. I really can't figure out why I didn't mention it when you first came to see me." Karl Grammer remained silent. "She was such a - er - negligible factor," the lawyer said apologetically. "Not even in the papers about her much—she never visited her husband in prison—or took any interest in him—" Calgary was lost in thought.Now he says: "Can you tell me who was in the house the night Mrs. Argyle was killed?" Marshall gave him a sharp look. "Leo Argyle, of course, and the youngest daughter, Hester. Mary Durant was there with her crippled husband. He had just come out of the hospital. Then there was Kirsty Lindstrom—you may Seen—she was a Swedish trained nurse masseuse who came to help at Mrs. Car salesman and Tina works at the Hongming County Library and lives in an apartment on the ground floor there." Marshall paused, then continued: "And Miss Fern, Mr. Argyle's secretary. She had left the house when the body was found." "I've seen her too," Calgary said. "She seemed very—admired Mr. Argyle." "Yes—yes. I believe an announcement of an engagement may be made soon." "what!" "He's been very lonely since his wife died," said the lawyer slightly disapprovingly. "Yes," said Calgary. Then he said: "Motive, Mr. Marshall?" "My dear Dr. Calgary, I really cannot guess at that!" "I think you can. As you said yourself, some facts can be ascertained." "There is no immediate pecuniary benefit to either. Mrs. Argyle has set up a series of prudent trusts, in a way you know is widely practiced nowadays. The beneficiaries of these trusts are all the children. There are three trustees. Trustees, I'm one of them, Leo Argyle is one, and the third is an American lawyer, a distant cousin of Mrs. beneficiaries benefit.” "And Mr. Argyle? Did he benefit financially from his wife's death?" "Not very good. Most of her wealth, as I told you, went into trusts. She left him what was left of hers, but it didn't add up to much." "And Miss Lindstrom?" "Mrs. Argyle bought out a good retirement pension for Miss Lindstrom some years ago," Marshall went on petulantly. "Motive? I don't see any motive at all. Certainly not financial." motivation." "What about the emotional side? Were there any particular -- frictions?" "I'm afraid I can't help you in this regard," said Marshall decisively. "I'm not an observer of their family life." "Is there anyone who can?" Marshall thought about it for a while.Then he said, almost reluctantly: "You can go see the local doctor. Uh—Dr. Macmaster, I think that's his name. He's retired now, but lives around there. He's a doctor at a war nursery. He must know Seen a lot of life situations in Sunny Cape at the same time. Whether you can convince him to tell you anything is up to you. But I think if he chooses carefully, he might be able to help, though - forgive me for that Say — do you think you can do anything that the police could more easily do but can't?" "I don't know," Calgary said. "Probably not. But one thing I do know. I must try. Yes, I must try."