Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Poirot's Interpretation

"Poirot, you old chap," I said, "I kind of want to kill you! Why do you lie to me when you've already done it?" We are sitting in the library.Exciting days have passed.In the room below, John and Mary are reunited, while Alfred Inglethorp and Miss Howard are in custody.Now, at last, I asked Poirot to speak to me, in order to quench the curiosity that was still burning in me. Poirot did not answer me immediately, but at last he spoke: "I have not deceived you, my friend, at least I have allowed you to deceive yourself." "Really? Why do you say that?"

"Well, it is difficult to explain. You see, my friend, that you have such an honest character, and such a frank countenance, that--it is after all impossible to conceal your feelings! If I To tell you what I think, when you first saw Mr. Alfred Inglethorp, that sly gentleman would--in such an expressive manner of yours--'Sniff To the secret'! Then say 'goodbye' to our attempt to catch him!" "I think I have more diplomacy than you can praise me." "My friend," begged Poirot, "don't be angry, I beseech you! Your help is most valuable. It is only this very fine character of yours that makes me hesitate."

"Hmm," I mumbled, calming down a bit. "But I still think you can give me a hint." "I did, my friend. I gave a few. You didn't catch it. Now think about it, did I tell you that I believed John Cavendish was guilty? On the contrary, didn't I tell you that he Will he be acquitted?" "Yes, but—" "Besides, didn't I immediately start talking about the difficulty of bringing the murderer to justice? You don't understand that I'm talking about two completely different people?" "No," I said, "I don't understand!"

"And," continued Poirot, "didn't I repeat several times at the beginning that I would not let Mr. Inglethorp be arrested now? That should mean that some kind of information has been passed on to you." "You mean you suspected him even then?" "Yes. In the first place, Mrs. Inglethorp's death benefited everyone else, but her husband the most. There was no escape from it. When I went to Styles with you on the first day, the crime How it was committed I have no idea, but from what I know of Mr Inglethorp I realize that it would be difficult to find any evidence linking him to the crime. Manor, I knew at once that it was Mrs. Inglethorp who burned the will; look, by the way, you can't complain about that, friend, for I've done everything I can to force you to recognize the matter of having a fire in a bedroom in the middle of summer. matter of importance.”

"Yes, yes," I said eagerly. "Go ahead." "Well, my friend, as I say, I am very shaky in my opinion that Mr. Inglethorp is guilty. In fact, the evidence against him is so great that I am inclined to believe that He didn't do any of those things." "When did your opinion change?" "At the time, I felt that the harder I tried to acquit him, the more he tried to get himself arrested. Later, when I found out that Inglethorp and Mrs Rex had no illicit relationship. It was in fact John When Cavendish took an interest in that woman, I was totally sure."

"why?" "It's very simple. If Inglethorp had had an affair with Mrs. Rex, his silence was quite understandable. But when I found out that it was rumored throughout the village that John had been raped by the farmer's pretty wife When attracted, his silence has a completely different interpretation. The excuse that he is afraid of gossip is nonsense, because no gossip can tie his hands. His attitude strongly prompted me to think, I was gradually compelled to draw the inference that Alfred Inglethorp wished to be arrested. Well! From that time on, I decided accordingly that he should not be arrested."

"Wait a minute. I don't understand why he wants to be arrested?" "Because, my friends, the laws of your country say that a man who has been acquitted of a crime can never be tried again for the same crime, aha! His idea--good indeed! No doubt he has a way You see, he knew that in his position he must be suspected, so he conceived this very ingenious idea of ​​preparing a whole lot of fabricated evidence against himself. He hoped to be arrested. When the time came, He can present his unassailable alibi—so, hey, change it, and his old life is safe!" "But I still don't understand how he can prove his alibi. He went to the pharmacy?"

Poirot stared at me in amazement. "Is it possible? My poor friend! Don't you know that it was Miss Howard who went to the drugstore?" "Miss Howard?" "Of course it was her. Who else? It would have been easy for her. She was tall, with a deep, manly voice; and, remember, she and Inglethorp were cousins, and between them There are obvious resemblances between them, especially in their gait and manner. It couldn't be simpler. They are a clever couple!" "I'm still a little fuzzy about how exactly the bromide thing went," I said. "Good! I'll describe the whole story for you as best I can. I'm inclined to think that Miss Howard was the prime mover in this incident. Do you remember when she said her father was a doctor? She probably matched him. or she got the idea from a book Cynthia kept many of them when she was preparing for her exams. In any case, she was familiar with adding bromide to a mixture containing strychnine. It is possible that the idea came to her very suddenly. Mrs. Inglethorp had a box of bromide powder which she took occasionally at night. What could be better than taking a pack or two in the dark How easily could this powder be dissolved in the big bottle of tonic that Mrs. Inglethorp had just bought from Coote's? The risk was practically nil. The catastrophe would not have happened until almost two weeks later. Even if someone saw both of them Whichever one of them has been exposed to this tonic, they will forget it by then. Miss Howard planned her own quarrel and left this house. The interval of time, and her absence, will beat all Doubt. Yes, that's a brilliant idea! If they did it, they might never be able to conclusively prove that the crime was theirs. But they didn't get enough of it. They tried to be smarter people - which led them to destruction."

Poirot puffed a fine puff of snow, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "They arranged a plan to cast suspicion on John Cavendish by going to the village pharmacy and buying some dinarin, and signing the register in imitation of his handwriting. "On Monday, Mrs. Inglethorp will take her last dose of tonic. Therefore, at six o'clock on Monday afternoon, Alfred Inglethorp deliberately arranged for many people to see him go to a house far away from the village. Miss Howard had concocted in advance a wild story about him and Mrs. Rex to explain his subsequent silence. At six o'clock Miss Howard disguised herself as Alfred Inglethorp , went to the drugstore, bought strychnine under the name of Poison Dog, and signed Alfred Inglethorp's name in John's handwriting, which he had carefully learned beforehand.

"However, if John could also give an alibi, it would be of no use, so she wrote him another anonymous note - again imitating his handwriting - and took him to a remote place, It was highly unlikely that anyone would see him there. "So far so good. Miss Howard back at Middlingham, Alfred Inglethorp back at Stiles. Nothing can do him any harm, for Miss Howard's hand There was strychnine, and afterward it was only necessary to use that as bait to cast suspicion on John Cavendish. "But now there's a breakdown. Mrs. Inglethorp didn't take her medicine that night. Cutting the bell-wire, Cynthia's absence—which Inglethorp had arranged through his wife—was all in vain. So, then—he Just made a mistake.

"Mrs. Inglethorp was out, and he sat down to write to his accomplice. He was afraid that she might panic because their plan had not worked out. Perhaps Mrs. Inglethorp returned sooner than he expected. Suddenly He seemed a little alarmed at the sound, and hastily closed and locked his writing-desk, fearing that if he remained in the room he might have to open it again, and Mrs. Inglethorp might have to open it again before he wrote the letter. He saw it before he got it in his hands, so he went out and turned around in the woods, hardly dreaming that Mrs. Inglethorp would open his desk and find this piece of incriminating evidence. . "And, as we know, the following happened. Mrs. Inglethorp read the unfinished letter, and felt the treachery of her husband and of Miss Evelyn Howard, though unfortunately It was the remark about the bromide that did not alarm her mind. She knew she was in danger--but did not know where. She decided not to say a word to her husband, but sat down and gave Her lawyer wrote to ask him to come the next day, and she decided to immediately burn the will that had just been made. She kept the fatal letter." "Then her husband forcibly broke open the lock of the briefcase to find the letter?" "Yes, we can see from the amount of risk he took that he was fully aware of its significance. There is absolutely nothing to link him to this crime other than that letter." "But there is one more thing I don't understand. Why didn't he burn the letter immediately after he got it?" "Because he dared not take the greatest risk—keep it to himself." "I don't understand." "To look at it from his point of view. I found he had just five minutes to deal with it - we were on the scene immediately after five minutes, because before that, Annie was dusting the stairs, and anyone who passed to the right side, she would have seen it. Picture that for yourself! He opened the room with the key from the other room—they were all alike—and walked in. He hurried to the briefcase—it was the lock Now, not knowing where the key was was a blow to him, because it meant that his presence in the room could not be concealed as much as he had hoped. But he knew very well that for this Evidence be damned, everything must be risked. Quick, he picked the lock with his pocket knife and rummaged through the papers inside until he found what he was looking for. "But now a new embarrassment arises: he dares not keep this thing with him. He may have been seen leaving the room, and he may be searched. If this thing is found on him, then It was all over. Probably, at this very moment, he heard Mr. Wells and John leaving the boudoir downstairs. He must act quickly. Where could he hide this dreadful thing? Wastebasket It's all preserved, and sure to be inspected anyway. Couldn't burn it, and dared not keep it. He looked around, and saw—what do you think, friend?" I shake my head. "At once he tore the letter into thin strips, and rolled them into twists, and inserted them among the other twists in the bottle on the mantelpiece." I let out a cry. "No one would think of going there," continued Poirot. "When he is free, he can come back and burn the only evidence against him." "So it's been in the paper twister bottle in Mrs. Inglethorp's bedroom, right under our noses?" I said aloud. Poirot nodded. "Yes, my friend. That's where I found my 'last link', and I owe you credit for this very fluke discovery." "To me?" "Yes. Do you remember when you told me that my hands were shaking as I was fiddling with the liturgical objects on the mantelpiece?" "Yes, but I don't see—" "No, but I see it. You must know, my friend, that I remember that I had put all the things on the mantelpiece together early that morning when we were there together. And if they had been put , there is no need to tidy them up, otherwise, someone else must have touched them during this period." "Oh," I muttered, "that explains your eccentric behavior. You rushed to Stiles so quickly and found it still there?" "Yes, it's a race against time." "But I still don't understand why Inglethorp is so foolish as to leave it there when he has plenty of chances to burn it." "Oh, he has no chance. I'll see." "you?" "Yes, you remember, didn't you still blame me, saying that I regarded this family as a bosom friend in this matter?" "yes." "Oh, my friend, I saw but one chance. At the time, I was not sure whether Inglethorp had committed the crime, and if he had, I reckoned he would not have this thing with him, but would have It was hidden somewhere, and with the help of the whole family I was able to effectively prevent him from burning it down. He was already under suspicion, and by making it public I had a dozen amateur detectives on my side. Served, they would have kept watch over him, and just as he himself was conscious of their watch, he dared not go any further to burn this evidence. He was therefore forced to leave the estate, leaving it in a paper-twisted bottle." "But Miss Howard has no doubt had ample opportunity to help him." "Yes, but Miss Howard didn't know it existed. According to their original plan, she must not speak to Alfred Inglethorp. They should be bitter rivals, so in John Cavendy None of them would have dared to risk an interview until I was quite sure of being convicted. Of course, I had a watcher in place to keep an eye on Mr. Inglethorp, hoping that sooner or later he would lead me to the hiding place. but he was too cunning to take any chances. The letter was safe there, for no one thought of throwing it there during the first week, and after that it was impossible to do so. Possibly. But if we get as lucky as you say, we may never get him." "I understand now; but when did you begin to suspect Miss Howard?" "Since I discovered that she had lied at the interrogation about the letter she had received from Mrs. Inglethorp." "Well, what lie did you withdraw?" "Have you read the letter? Do you remember the general outline?" "I still remember a little bit." "Then you must recall that Mrs. Inglethorp's handwriting has a peculiarity in that she leaves a great deal of space between the words. But if you look at the date on the head of that letter , and you'll see, July 17th, those words are quite different in this respect. Do you see what I mean?" "No," I admitted, "I don't understand." "That letter was written not on the 17th, but on the 7th - the day after Miss Howard left, don't you understand? Putting a '1' in front of the '7' makes it '17th'." "But why?" "That's exactly the question I asked myself. Why did Miss Howard hide the letter from the 17th and hand over this fake one instead? Because she didn't want to have the one from the 17th. And why? Suspicion was at once in my head. You must remember that I said that it is wise to be wary of a man who is not telling you the truth." "But," I exclaimed indignantly, "after that, you gave me two reasons why Miss Howard couldn't have committed the crime!" "And for very good reasons," said Poirot. "Because they were a stumbling block to me for a long time, until I thought of a very important fact: She and Alfred were cousins. She couldn't have committed the crime single-handedly, but the opposite reason But it cannot be ruled out that she was an accomplice. Besides, her hatred was too violent! It concealed a completely opposite feeling. There was no doubt that there was an affair between them long before he came to Stiles relationship. They had already plotted their sinister plan—that he should marry this rich but rather stupid old lady, induce her to make a will leaving him all her property, and then, through a most ingeniously conceived criminal If all goes according to their plan, they will probably leave England afterward, and live together on the money of their poor victims. "They were a very cunning, shameless couple. She made many secret preparations for a very different ending when the suspicion was directed at him. She came from Middlingham with all the evil she had. Doubts don't fall on her, she goes in and out of the house unnoticed. She hides strychnine and glasses in John's room. She puts beard in the attic. She's gotta keep those things Sooner or later it will be discovered in time." "I don't quite see why they're going to try to pin the blame on John," I said. "It's much easier for them to blame Lawrence." "Yes, but that was pure chance. All the evidence against Lawrence arose out of pure chance. In fact, it evidently troubled the conspirators as well." "Lawrence's attitude is regrettable," I said thoughtfully. "Yes. Of course you know what's behind that?" "have no idea." "He thinks Miss Cynthia is guilty in the case, don't you understand?" "Don't know," I exclaimed, greatly surprised. "This is impossible!" "Exactly. I've had pretty much the same idea myself. I had it in my head when I asked Mr. Wells the first question about wills. Then came her bromating agent." Powder, as Dorcas says, and she can play the man so well. In fact, there is more evidence against her than against anyone." "You are joking, Poirot!" "No. Shall I tell you what made Mr. Lawrence look so pale when he first entered his mother's room on that unfortunate night? It was because, while his mother lay there apparently poisoned, When he turned his head, he saw that the door to Miss Cynthia's room was not bolted." "But he openly says he saw it bolted!" I exclaimed. "Indeed," said Poirot dryly. "This just deepened my suspicion. It's not the case. He's protecting Miss Cynthia." "But why did he shield her?" "Because he is in love with her." I laughed. "You are quite mistaken, Poirot! I have come across the fact that not only is he not in love with her, but he certainly does not like her." "Who told you that, friend?" "Cynthia herself." "The poor child! Is she very worried?" "She said she didn't care at all." "That means she must care very much," said Poirot. "They're exactly like—a couple of lovers!" "What you say about Lawrence astonishes me," I said. "Why? That's perfectly clear. Doesn't he put on a sullen face every time Miss Cynthia talks or jokes with his brother? His too clever head thinks Miss Cynthia is in love with Mr. John." and when he entered his mother's room, he observed that she had evidently been poisoned. He hastened to the conclusion that Miss Cynthia must know something in the matter. He almost dismissed it with despair. Everything. First, he crushed the coffee cup with his foot. He remembered that she had accompanied his mother upstairs the night before, and he was determined not to let anyone have the opportunity to test the contents of the cup. Faintly and uselessly clinging to the 'natural death' argument. "And what about the 'extra large coffee mug'?" "I'm sure Mrs. Cavendish hid the cup, but I must find out. Mr. Laurence had no idea what I meant; but, on reflection, he concluded that if he could find an extra-large A coffee mug, and his crush would be free from suspicion. So he totally gets it." "One more thing. What did Mrs. Inglethorp mean when she died?" "Certainly denounced on her husband." "Oh, Poirot," I said with a sigh, "I think you've explained the whole thing. I'm glad the whole case has come to such a happy conclusion. Even John and Mary are reconciled." "Thanks to me." "What do you mean—thanks to you?" "My dear friend, do you not realize that this is a mere trial to reconcile them? I believe that John Cavendish still loves his wife, and his wife loves him as much." But it turned out that they were very estranged. It was all caused by misunderstanding. She married him without love. He knew it. He is a sensitive person. If she doesn't care about him, he won't force himself to To please her. Her love was aroused by his withdrawal. And they were both so proud that their pride kept them at a stubborn distance. He was unwittingly entwined with Mrs. Rex. Now, she also deliberately cultivated a friendship with Dr. Bauerstein, remember that you found me thinking about an important decision on the day John Cavendish was arrested?" "Remember, I understood your distress very well at that time." "Forgive me, my friend, but you don't understand at all. I was trying to decide whether to get John Cavendish off at once. I could have done him off—though it might have made the proof true." Of the criminals who committed the crime and failed. They were kept in the dark about my true attitude until the last moment - which partly explains my success." "You mean you could have saved John Cavendish from trial?" "Yes, my friend. But at last I decided to support 'One Woman's Happiness.' Only by passing them through the rapids can these two proud characters be reconciled." I was silent and stared at Poirot in astonishment.How unreasonable the little man's words are!Who in the world but this Poirot would have thought of restoring the happiness of the couple by a murder trial! "I see what you're thinking, my friend," said Poirot, smiling at me. "No one but Hercar Poirot would have attempted such a thing! But you would be wrong to condemn it. The happiness of a man and a woman is the greatest matter in the whole world." His words reminded me of earlier events.I recall Mary, pale and exhausted, lying on the sofa, listening, listening.A bell rang from below.She stood up abruptly.Poirot had opened the door, and nodded politely into her anguished eyes: "There, ma'am," he said. "I've brought him back to you." He stood aside, and I saw the look in Mary's eyes as I stepped outside the door, where John Cavendish had wrapped his wife in his arms. In my arms. "Perhaps you are right, Poirot," I said softly. "Yes, it's the biggest event in the world." Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Cynthia poked her head inside. "I—I just—" "Come in, please," I said, jumping to my feet. She came in, but did not sit down. "I—just wanted to tell you something—" "yes?" Cynthia stood for a moment, fiddling with a little tassel uneasily, and then suddenly exclaimed: "How kind of you!" She kissed me first, then Poirot, and ran out of the room. "What on earth does that mean?" I asked in amazement. It was very pleasant to be kissed by Cynthia, but this kind of public kissing dampened the fun a little. "It means that she has discovered that M. Fangrence does not dislike her as much as she had thought," replied Poirot philosophically. "But--" "he came." At this moment, Lawrence stepped into the door. "Ah! Mr. Laurence," cried Poirot. "We have to congratulate you, don't we?" Laurence blushed, then smiled awkwardly.A man in love always looks embarrassed.Cynthia looked very charming now. I sighed. "What's the matter, friend?" "Nothing," I said sadly. "They are two lovely women!" "You don't like either of them, do you?" said Poirot at last. "It's all right. Take it easy, my friend. We might hunt again together, who knows? Then—" (full text)