Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

Hercule Poirot found the face of Mrs. Goodbody more and more interesting. She hardly needed makeup to play the witch. Although she was cheerful and amiable, people would naturally think of her when they saw her. The witch is coming.She laughed and said: "Yes, I was at the party, that's right, I used to play the part of the witch around here. Last year the vicar praised me for being so good at the festival, and he gave me a new pointed hat, Don't think witch hats don't last. Yes, I was there the other day. I can make up jingles, you know. Girls' names, one for Beatrice and one for Ann anyway Made it up for everyone, I told the impersonator and she yelled at the girl with the mirror, and at the same time, Master Nicholas and little Desmond let the pictures fall. Some pictures just made my stomach Broken laughing. These two boys are covered in hair and take turns taking pictures of each other to see what they look like! Look at their clothes! I saw Master Desmond the other day. It's unbelievable, the rose-coloured blouse with the canary yellow brooches, it's more fancy than the girls, and the girls just want to make the skirt shorter and shorter, but it's not much use, because they More wrapped up inside. Put on pantyhose and tights and stuff like that, when I was young only the girls in the chorus wore nothing else. They spend all their money on it. And Boys—I think they look like fishdogs, peacocks, and birds of paradise. Ah, I like brighter colors. I think it’s funny in the old days when I look at the pictures. Everyone has lace, curly hair, Wearing a samurai hat or something. It's an eye-opener for the girls, really. And tights, leggings, -- back in the old days, all girls thought of was wearing big bloomers with a big wrinkle around the neck My grandmother used to tell me about her ladies—did you know she was a servant in a rich Victorian family—her ladies (pre-Queen Victoria, I think)—that When it was the King with the round pearly head--ah, silly Billy, William IV, right--then her ladies, I mean the ladies my grandmother served, They always wear tulle gowns that are long to the ankle, very flowing, but they sprinkle water on the gown from time to time, so that it fits close to the body, and the lines are fully displayed, and they appear to behave elegantly and carefully, but It's not bad at all to make men swoon."

"I lent my glass ball to Mrs. Drake for a party. I bought it at a charity sale and it's hanging by the chimney, you see? It's dark blue, what a color. I used to put It's over the door." "Do you predict the future?" "I'm sure I can't say yes, can I?" she laughed. "The cops don't like it. They don't care about my prophecy, it's not worth mentioning, so to speak. This kind of place everyone knows each other very well, So it's easy to predict." "Can you see through your glass globe who murdered Young Joyce?"

"You're mistaken," said Mrs. Goodbody. "It's a vision through a crystal ball, not a glass ball, and you wouldn't be satisfied if I told you who I think did it. You'd say it doesn't make sense. , but a lot of things don't make sense." "What you said makes sense." "Overall it's not a bad place to live in, mostly decent people, but wherever you go some people are haunted by the devil. They're born that way." "A sorcery you mean? Is it ghost possession?" "No, that's not what it means," said Mrs. Goodbody sarcastically. "That's sheer nonsense. It's made up by people who love to pretend to be evil. Rape or something. No, I mean that nature." People like this, the descendants of the devil, just because of their nature, they feel that killing people is nothing but nodding, as long as they can get benefits, they will do it. They must get what they want, and they will never stop until they get it. Some of them look like She was as beautiful as an angel, and I knew a little girl, who was only seven years old, who smothered her little brother and sister. A pair of twins, five or six months old at the most, and she suffocated them to death in a pram. "

"Did this happen locally?" "No, no, not here. I think it's in Yorkshire. It's a shame, the little thing is so pretty, and if you put two wings on her dress and let her sing hymns, she'll be up to it, But she's unworthy, and very bad. You know what I mean, you're not a young man without sense, and there's always something wicked in the world." "Ah, yes!" said Poirot, "you have said it very well. I know it perfectly. If Joyce really saw a murder—" "Who says she saw it?" asked Mrs. Goodbody. "She said it herself."

"Why do you believe her? She's always lying." She glared at Poirot. "You don't believe her, do you?" "No," said Poirot, "I really believe it, and I believe it, though everyone says she is lying." "Family is really not like a family." Mrs. Goodbody said, "Take the Reynolds family as an example. Let's talk about Mr. Reynolds first. The real estate business is always not very good, and it doesn't make much money. Money. He didn't look like he could do it, and Mrs. Reynolds was always worried about one or the other. None of the three children looked like their parents. Ann was very bright and got good grades. She was so proud to be a teacher that no one would talk to her. The boys didn't even look at her. Joyce, she was not as bright as Ann, not even as good as her brother Leopold, she She always wants to be more knowledgeable and better than everyone else, she dares to say anything in order to attract attention. You can trust her, nine out of ten sentences are lies."

"What about the son?" "Leopold? Well, he's only nine years old, maybe ten, and he's really smart and dexterous, and he wants to study physics or something, and he's good at math, and he's making a splash in school. Yes. , he is just smart, I think he might be a scientist. In my opinion, if he really becomes a scientist, he will make a lot of good things, not like atomic bombs! He is studious and smart, but what he thinks is How to destroy half the world, together with us poor people, don't take Kyobold lightly. You know, he plays tricks on people and eavesdrops on people's secrets, and I think his pocket money is This way, it will not be given by his parents, they can’t give him much money, he always has a lot of money on hand, hidden in a drawer, placed under his socks, he buys things every day, many expensive mechanical devices, Where did he get all that money? I wonder. Must be eavesdropping on other people's secrets, and then making them pay to keep his mouth shut."

She paused to catch her breath. "Oh, I'm afraid I can't help you much." "What you say is very instructive to me," said Poirot. "People say what happened to the foreign girl who got away?" "I don't think it's gone far. 'Ding dong ding ding, cat down the well,' I keep thinking."