Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty

Will after will, they kept lying in their wills, they used to hide them somewhere, and so on, he tried to focus on the forger, the wills that were brought to notarization were undoubtedly forged, Mr. Fullerton is both careful and capable. As a lawyer, he does not have full evidence and reasons to win the case. He will never let his client go to court easily. Turning a corner, he suddenly recalled that he should not let his thoughts run wild, but pay attention to his feet.Is this a shortcut to Captain Spence's house?From a straight-line distance, maybe yes, but it will definitely be much better to walk on the road.The trail wasn't grassy or slippery, but it was full of hard rocks, and he stopped.

There are two people in front of him. Sitting on a big rock is Mitchell Garfield. He has a drawing board on his lap. He is concentrating on drawing a sketch. Not far from him, there is a slender stream of water , standing next to Miranda, Butler, Hercule Poirot, forgetting the pain in his feet, was completely attracted by the beauty of the person.Mitchell, Garfield is undoubtedly a handsome man, he finds it difficult to figure out whether he likes Mitchell, Garfield, it is always not easy to figure out whether he likes good-looking people.Of course women can be very beautiful, but he really doesn't know if he likes beautiful men or not.At least he didn't want to be a handsome man.But there is no problem, it is impossible for him to do it himself.The only thing that makes him proud is his beard, which is well groomed and trimmed.No one he knew had a beard that good, nor half as good.He was never handsome or good-looking, and of course he could never be described as pretty.

And what about Miranda?Once again, he felt that her attractiveness lay in her dignity. He didn't know what was going on in his heart, and there were too many times like this.She wouldn't easily say what she was thinking, and he suspected that she wouldn't necessarily know even if it happened.He thinks that her ideas are very novel and peculiar, and she is easy to meditate.He also felt that she was too fragile, very fragile. He seemed to know more about her, maybe he just felt that he knew more. It was just a guess at the moment, but he felt that the possibility was very high. Mitchell, Garfield looked up, and he said:

"Ha! Good afternoon, Mr. Beard." "Can I have a look at your masterpiece? Wouldn't it bother you? I don't want to offend you too much." "Look," Mitchell, Garfield replied, "it doesn't have any effect on me." He added softly, "I'm having a good time painting." Poirot stood behind him.He nodded.This pencil drawing is so lightly drawn that the lines are almost indistinguishable.He is not bad at drawing, thought Poirot.Not only can he set up juice gardens, he exclaimed: "Wonderful!" "Heroes see the same thing." Mitchell Garfield said.

It was hard to tell from his words whether he was praising the painting or the model. "Why?" asked Poirot. "Why do I paint? Do you think I have a reason?" "Maybe." "That's right. There are one or two things I don't want to forget if I leave here, and Miranda is one of them." "Will you easily forget her?" "It's very easy to forget. I am like this, but if you forget something or someone, you can't firmly remember a face, a smile, a tree, a flower, a scenery, just remember The feeling when I saw it in the past, but I can’t see those images in front of my eyes, how to put it, it is sometimes painful. So I recorded it and it was fleeting in a blink of an eye.”

"But Shichang Garden will not, it will always be preserved here." "Really? It will change soon too, it won't be what it is without people, it will be controlled by the forces of nature, it will need love and care and technology, if some committee takes over (often ), then it will, develop,. Plant the most popular bushes here, make more paths, add a few rows of stools at a certain distance, and even put up some litter boxes. Oh, they are so careful to maintain Waiting for the scenery of the garden, but this kind of beauty cannot be preserved, the scenery here is primitive and wild, and it is much more difficult to maintain this kind of wildness than simply not letting the garden go barren."

"Monsieur Poirot," came Miranda's voice from across the stream. Poirot took a few steps forward so that he could hear what she was saying. "Oh, you're here, you're here for a portrait, aren't you?" She shook her head. "I didn't come here for the portrait on purpose, it was just a coincidence." "Yeah," Mitchell-Garfield said, "yes, just by chance. Sometimes you can have that kind of luck." "Did you just take a walk in your favorite garden?" "I was actually looking for the well," said Miranda.

"A well?" "There used to be a wishing fountain in this forest." "In the old quarry? I didn't know there were wells in the quarry." "There used to be a woods around the quarry. This one has trees. Mitchell knows where the well is, but he won't tell me." "Isn't that more interesting," Mitchell Garfield said, "keep looking, especially if you don't even know if there is one, it's more fun." "Old Mrs. Goodbody knows." She added; "She's a witch." "Yes," said Mitchell, "she is the local witch, M. Poirot. There are witches in many places, and they seldom say they are witches, but they are known to either prophesy the future or give your begonias Cast spells, or wilt your peonies, and sometimes keep farmers' cows from milking, and sometimes even give aphrodisiacs."

"It's a wishing well," said Miranda. "People used to come here to make a wish. They had to go around the well three times backwards. It's on a hillside, so it's not easy to go around." Her eyes fell behind Poirot. "I'll find it someday," she said, "and it's all right if you don't tell me. Mrs. Goodbody says it's around here, but it's sealed up, oh! for years. It was said that it was sealed because it was dangerous. A child fell into it many years ago. His name was Kitty, I forgot what his last name was. Maybe someone else fell into it."

"Then you can believe it," Mitchell and Garfield said. "It's a local legend, but there really is a wishing fountain in Xiaozhong Village." "Of course," Miranda said. "I know that well. It's a very commonplace," she said. There was no sound of splashing water when we entered." "Ah, what a pity." "I'll let you know when I find it," Miranda said. "Don't always believe what the witch says. I don't believe that a child or anyone else fell in. It might be a cat that fell in and drowned." "The spring dings and the cat falls in the well," said Miranda.She stood up.

"I have to go," she said, "Mother is waiting for me." She walked carefully around the rocks, smiled at the two, and walked along a narrower path on the other side of the creek. "The spring ding dong ding," Poirot asked thoughtfully, "the letter is there, Mitchell, Garfield, has she made a mistake?" Mitchell, Garfield stared at him for a while, then smiled. "She's right," he said, "there's a well, as she said, that's sealed up. I think it might be dangerous, but I don't think it's a well of hope. Mrs. Goodbody It's probably nonsense, but there is a wishing tree, it should be said that there used to be a wishing tree. There is a beech tree halfway up the mountain, and people used to fall back there three times before making a wish." "Now? Do people still go there?" "I won't go. The tree was killed by lightning six years ago, and it was split in half. There is no such thing as a wish coming true." "Did you tell Miranda?" "No, I'd rather she believed there was a wishing fountain. A dead tree wouldn't interest her, would it?" "I must go," said Poirot. "Going back to the police friend's house?" "right." "You seem tired." "I am tired," said Hercule Poirot, "I am very tired." "I'd be much better off with espadrilles or loafers." "Well, yes, but that's okay." "I see. You dress really well, and on the whole you have a very distinctive beard, which is very rare." "Thanks for the compliment," said Poirot. "It's too eye-catching, who else would not take a second look?" Poirot said, tilting his head to one side, "You just said that you painted to record Miranda. Are you going to leave here, then?" "I thought about it, yes." "I think it's good for you to live here." "Oh, yes, quite right. I have a house to live in. It's a small one, but I designed it myself. I have a job, too, but it doesn't satisfy me like it used to, so I'm restless." "Why isn't work as satisfying as it used to be?" "Because people want me to do the last thing I want to do. Some people want me to help with their gardens, some people buy some land and build houses and ask me to design gardens." "Are you tending the gardens for Mrs. Deshark?" "Yes, she wants me to. I've made some suggestions. She seems to agree, too, but I don't think," he added thoughtfully, "I can't trust her." "You mean she won't let you do as you please?" "I mean she has her own opinion, and while she's attracted to my point of view, she suddenly asks for something completely different. Sometimes it's just practical, expensive and fancy. She might threaten me and insist on If she wants to do it, if I don't listen, we will quarrel. So it's better for me to go before the quarrel. Not only with Mrs. Drake, but also a lot of neighbors. I'm also a little famous , there is no need to stay in one place far away, I can leave here and find another place to live in another corner of England or Normandy." "Look for a place to transform nature? Go there to do experiments, where you can grow some flowers and plants that have never been planted before, and the sun will not die, and the frost will not wither? Find a piece of uncultivated virgin land, where you can live a comfortable life like Adam? Have you always been restless?" "I never stay in one place for long." "Have you ever been to Greece?" "I've been. I really want to go to Greece again. Yes, you remind me that there is a garden on the side of a mountain in Greece. There seem to be only cypresses and bare rocks. But if you want to do it, you can do it. Can't Tian?" "A garden where gods walk—" "Yes, you can really guess people's minds, M. Poirot." "I hope so. There are many things I want to know, but I just can't figure it out." "You're gossiping, aren't you?" "Yes, unfortunately you hit the mark." "Want to investigate murder, arson or sudden death?" "Almost. I don't seem to have thought of setting fire. Please tell me, Mr. Garfield. You've been here for some time. Do you know a young man named Leslie Ferrier?" "Yes, I remember him. He works for a law firm in Manchester, isn't it? Fullerton, Harrison and Leadbetter. A clerk, very handsome." "He died suddenly, didn't he?" "Yes, got stabbed to death one night. I heard it was with a woman. People seem to think the police know who did it, but they can't get any evidence. He's hooked up with a woman named Sandra." Well, I forget the surname. Her husband owns a tavern down here, and she had an affair with Leslie, and then Leslie got into another girl, so I heard." "Sandra is upset?" "Of course she wouldn't like it. You don't know. The girls are all over him. Two or three of them are very close to him." "Are they all English?" "Why do you ask this? Of course it's not limited to British women. As long as they can speak some English, they can understand what he is saying, and he can understand each other." "There must always be some foreign girls in this area, right?" "Of course, where is there not? Little sitters—you can find them here and there, ugly and handsome, honest and dishonest, some are a great help to mothers, some are useless, and some go away .” "Like Olga?" "Yeah, like Olga." "Is Leslie a friend of Olga's?" "Oh, that's what you thought. Yes, yes. I think Mrs. Llewellyn Smythe probably didn't know. Olga was quite discreet, I think. She said seriously one day that she wanted to talk to Somebody went back home to marry. I don't know if it's real or she made it up, Leslie was pretty attractive to girls, I don't know how he got into Olga—she's not very pretty. But—" He After a moment's thought, "—she's very affectionate, maybe the English lad finds it attractive. Anyway, Leslie's in for her, and his other girlfriends aren't happy." "Very interesting," said Poirot. "I thought you would give me the information I want." Mitchell, Garfield looked at him curiously. "Really? Why are you asking all this? Why are you talking about Leslie? Why are you bringing up these old sesame seeds and rotten millet?" "Oh, just want to know, want to know the ins and outs. I also want to know the past, more than Olga, Seminova and Leslie Ferrier's secret date behind Mrs. Llewellyn Smythe's back." It's early." "Then I don't know. It's just my own idea. I often see them together, but Olga never told me. As for Leslie, Ferrier, I hardly know him." "I want to know about the earlier events. I hear he has a rather shady past." "I've heard it is, but it's all local rumors. Mr. Fullerton took him and tried to reform him. Old Fullerton was a good man." "I heard that he committed the crime of forging documents?" "right." "It's a first-time offender, and it's said that it's justifiable. His mother has been ill for a long time, and his father is an alcoholic. Anyway, he was given a lighter sentence." "I never knew the details. It seems that the accountants found out immediately after he started to do something. I don't have a deep impression, it's just hearsay, forged documents, yes, he was accused of forging documents" "And when Mrs. Llewellyn Smythe died, her will was found to be a forgery when it was notarized." "Oh, I see your train of thought. You think there is a connection between the two things." "The man had a history of successful forgery with a girl who, once the will had been accepted and notarized, would have received the major part of a considerable estate." "Yes Yes." "And this girl fell in love with the person who committed the crime of forgery. He left his girlfriend and threw himself into the arms of this foreign girl." "You're implying that the forger was Leslie, Ferrier." "It seems possible, what do you think?" "It is said that Olga is good at imitating Mrs. Llewellyn Smythe's handwriting, but I have always doubted that she did write letters for Mrs. Llewellyn Smythe, but I don't think the handwriting will be too similar, up to no To the point of being real, but if she's with Leslie it's a different story, I bet he did a great job and he's totally confident it's going to pass, but he should have known at the time, he got caught on his first offence, This time too, once the scandal is exposed and the lawyers start making trouble, calling in experts to verify the handwriting and asking all kinds of questions, she will probably lose her mind and have a big fight with Leslie. Let him do it all." He shook his head violently. Why are you talking to me about this in my beautiful forest? " "I just want to understand the situation." "It's better not to know, it's better never to know, it's better to let it go, not to get to the bottom of it, not to contribute to it." "You seek beauty," said Hercule Poirot, "at no cost; I seek truth, and always have been truth." Mitchell, Garfield laughed: "Go back to your cop friends, and leave me in my heaven, far away from me, Satan the devil."