Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

"I'm sorry, Olive. Believe me I'm very sorry for you. For your sake, I've given him a chance. I told you he'd be safer keeping him there, and I ran halfway Earth has come to him to bring him the punishment he deserved for killing Elsa." "I don't understand, I don't understand anything. Who are you?" "I thought you knew! I am Boris Andrei Pavlov Gradel, Elsa's cousin. I came from Poland to America to study, and because of the situation in Europe, my uncle called I was naturalized in the United States, so I changed my name to Andrew Peters. During the war, I went back to Europe and participated in the war against aggression. Then I brought my uncle and Elsa from Poland to the United States. Elsa's situation ... I told you. She is the leading scientist of our time. It was she who discovered the ZE split. Betterton was a young Canadian who assisted Professor Mannheim in his experiments. He was familiar with his work, and he also That's all. He wooed Elsa and married her with ulterior motives, so that he could connect him with the scientific work she was doing. When her experiment was about to succeed, he realized the significance of ZE's split, deliberately poisoned his wife."

"Oh, no, no!" "Yes, no one suspected it at the time. Betterton feigned pain, then threw himself into his work and announced the ZE split as his own discovery. This brought him everything he needed: fame and public recognition First-rate scientist. Later he thought it wiser to leave America and come to England. Then went to work at Harwell. "I stayed in Europe for a while after the war. Since I knew German, Russian and Polish, I did useful work there. I was deeply troubled by the letters Elsa wrote to me before she was murdered. Her illness and The cause of death seemed mysterious and inexplicable to me. Later, when I returned to the United States, I began to investigate the matter. I will not talk about the whole process of the investigation, but I confirmed my suspicions. I asked for an autopsy. There was a young man in my law firm who was a good friend of Betterton's. He was going to Europe at the time, and I think he told Betterton about the request for an autopsy when he visited Betterton, and Betterton became nervous. At that time, I think, he had approached the representatives of our friend Mr. Aristides. At any rate, he found the best opportunity to avoid arrest and conviction for murder. He accepted Aristides The conditions put forward by Adams, his own conditions were to completely change his appearance. Of course, the actual situation later was that he was completely confined in the leprosy hospital. Moreover, since he could not contribute scientifically, he knew that he would instead Dangerous. He was never a brilliant scientist."

"So you followed him?" "Yes, I came to England when the sensational news of the disappearance of the scientist Thomas Betterton was published in the newspapers. A very good scientist friend once told me that a Mrs. Speed ​​from the United He made a gesture. When I got to London, I learned that this lady had been in contact with Betterton. I lied to her, pretended to her leftist views, and boasted about my scientific talents. I thought Betterton Paused behind the Iron Curtain where no one can find him. Well, if no one else can find him, I must find him.” As he spoke, he became very agitated and angry, “Elsa is first-rate She was beautiful and gentle, but she was killed by someone she loved and trusted. So, I swear, if necessary, I will kill Betterton with my own hands."

"I get it," Hilary said. "Oh, I get it now." Peters said: "I wrote to you in my Polish name when I came to England to tell you the truth." He looked at her and said, "I didn't expect you to believe me, and there has been no reply." He shrugged. Shrugging, "Then I went to the intelligence people, I pretended to be a Polish officer, rigid, very conformist foreigner, I was suspicious of anyone at that time, and finally found Jessop." He took a breath and went on. : "My tracking has come to an end this morning, and I will file a request for Betterton's extradition and send him to the United States for trial. If he is found not guilty, I will have nothing to say." He added solemnly : "But he will not be innocent, the evidence is overwhelming."

He paused, gazing into the sunny garden facing the sea, and said: "Too bad it was to find him, and I fell in love with you when I saw you. It's too bad, Olive, you're hard Believe me, I am the one responsible for sending your husband to the electric chair. We cannot but see this fact. Even if you can forgive this matter, you will never forget it." He stood up and continued, "I have put this matter I will tell you the ins and outs of the matter, goodbye!" After he finished speaking, he turned to leave, but Hilary grabbed him and said: "Wait a minute," she said, "wait a minute, there's something you don't understand. I'm not Betterton's wife. Olive Betterton died in Casablanca. Jessop asked me to impersonate her. "

He turned and stared at her. "Aren't you Olive Betterton?" "no." "My God," said Andy Peters, "my God!" and he sank down on the chair beside her. "Olive," he said. "Olive, my love." "Don't call me Olive. My name is Hilary, Hilary Craven." "Hillary?" he asked, "I'm going to change it and call you Hillary." He put his hand on Hillary's. At the other end of the balcony, Jessop and LeBlanc were discussing how to deal with several technical problems at hand.Before Jessop could finish his sentence, he suddenly asked absent-mindedly, "What are you talking about?"

LeBlanc said, "I said, darling, it looks like we can't sue that beast of Aristides yet." "Yes! Yes! That Aristides is a tumbler. He always saves the day. But this time he's going to spend a lot of money, and he won't be happy. But Aristides always has He's going to die one day. I can tell from his appearance that he's going to see Hades soon." Leblanc said: "What caught your attention, my friend?" "Those two," said Jessop, "I sent Hilary Craven on a trip to an unknown destination, but it ended as well as a classic British comedy usually does."

LeBlanc felt dazed for a moment, and then suddenly realized, he said: "Ah! Yes! You are talking about your Shakespeare allusion." Jessop said: "You Frenchmen are very well-read!" (full text)