'Something at Churston?'
'No—not at Churston . . . . Before that . . . . No matter, presently it will come to me . . . .'
He looked at me (perhaps I had not been attending very closely), laughed and began once more to hum.
'Poirot,' I said. 'Go to the devil!'
XX. Lady Clarke
There was an air of deep and settled melancholy over Combeside when we came for the second time. This may, perhaps, have been partly due to the weather—it was a moist September day with a little humidity in the air —and partly no doubt it was the semi-shut state of autumn in the small house.
The downstairs rooms were closed and shuttered, and the room into which we were shown smelt damp and airless.
A capable-looking hospital nurse came to us there pulling down her starched cuffs.
'M. Poirot?' she said briskly. 'I am Nurse Capstick. I got Mr. Clarke's letter saying you were coming.'
Poirot inquired after Lady Clarke's health.
'Not bad at all really, all things considered.'
'All things considered,' I presumed meant considering she was under sentence of death.
'One can't hope for much improvement, of course, but some treatment has made things a little easier for her. Dr. Logan is quite pleased with her condition.'
'But it is true, is it not, that she can never recover?'
'Oh, we never actually say that,' said Nurse Capstick, shocked by this plain speaking.
'I suppose her husband's death was a terrible shock to her?'
'Well M. Poirot if you understand what I mean, it wasn't of a shock as it would have been to anyone in full possession of health and faculties. Things are dimmed by Lady Clarke in her condition.''
'Pardon my asking, but was she deeply attached to her husband and he to her?'
'Oh, yes, they were a very happy couple. He was very worried and upset about her, poor man. It's always worse for a doctor, you know. They can't buoy themselves up with false hopes. I'm afraid it preyed on his mind very much to begin with.'
'To begin with? Not so much afterwards?'
'One gets used to everything, doesn't one? And then Sir Carmichael had his collection. A hobby is a great consolation to a man. He used to run up to sales occasionally, and then he and Miss Grey were busy recataloguing and rearranging the museum on a new system.'
'Oh, yes—Miss Grey. She has left, has she not?'
'Yes—I'm very sorry about it—but ladies do take these fancies sometimes when they're not well. And there's no arguing with them. It's better to give in. Miss Grey was very sensible about it.'
'Has Lady Clarke always disliked her?'
'No—that is to say, not disliked. As a matter of fact, I think she rather liked her to begin with. But there, I mustn't keep you gossiping. My patient will be wondering what has become of us.'
She led us upstairs to a room on the first floor. What had at one time been a bedroom had been turned into a cheerful-looking sitting room.
Lady Clarke was sitting in a big armchair near the window. She was painfully thin, and her face had the grey, haggard look of one who suffers much pain. She had a slightly far-away, dreamy look, and I noticed that the pupils of her eyes were mere pinpoints.
'This is M. Poirot whom you wanted to see,' said Nurse Capstick in her high, cheerful voice.
'Oh, yes, M. Poirot,' said Lady Clarke vaguely. She extended her hand.
'My friend Captain Hastings, Lady Clarke.'
'How do you do? So good of you both to come.'
We sat down as her vague gesture directed. There was a silence. Lady Clarke seemed to have lapsed into a dream.
Presently with a slight effort she roused herself. 'It was about Car, wasn't it? About Car's death. Oh, yes.'
She sighed, but still in a far-away manner, shaking her head. 'We never thought it would be that way round . . . I was so sure I should be the first to go . . . .' She mused a minute or two. 'Car was very strong—wonderful for his age. He was never ill. He was nearly sixty—but he seemed more like fifty . . . . Yes, very strong . . . .'
She relapsed again into her dream. Poirot, who was well acquainted with the effects of certain drugs and of how they give their taker the impression of endless time, said nothing. Lady Clarke said suddenly: 'Yes—it was good of you to come. I told Franklin. He said he wouldn't forget to tell you. I hope Franklin isn't going to be foolish . . . he's so easily taken in, in spite of having knocked about the world so much. Men are like that. They remain boys . . . Franklin, in particular.''
'He has an impulsive nature,' said Poirot.
'Yes—yes . . . And very chivalrous. Men are so foolish that way. Even Car—' Her voice trailed off.
She shook her head with a febrile impatience. 'Everything's so dim . . . . One's body is a nuisance, M. Poirot, especially when it gets the upper hand. One is conscious of nothing else—whether the pain will hold off or not— nothing else seems to matter.'
'I know, Lady Clarke. It is one of the tragedies of this life.'
'It makes me so stupid. I cannot even remember what it was I wanted to say to you.'
'Was it something about your husband's death?'
'Car's death? Yes, perhaps . . . . Mad, poor creature—the murderer, I mean. It's all the noise and the speed nowadays—people can't stand it. I've always been sorry for mad people—their heads must feel so queer. And then, being shut up—it must be so terrible. But what else can one do? If they kill people . . .'
She shook her head—gently pained. 'You haven't caught him yet?' she asked.
'No, not yet.'
'He must have been hanging round here that day.'
'There were so many strangers about, Lady Clarke. It is the holiday season.'
'Yes—I forgot . . . . But they keep down by the beaches, they don't come up near the house.'
'No stranger came to the house that day.'
'Who says so?' demanded Lady Clarke, with a sudden vigour.
Poirot looked slightly taken aback. 'The servants,' he said. 'Miss Grey.'
Lady Clarke said very distinctly: 'That girl is a liar!'
I started on my chair. Poirot threw me a glance.
Lady Clarke was going on, speaking now rather feverishly. 'I didn't like her. I never liked her. Car thought all the world of her. Used to go on about her being an orphan and alone in the world. What's wrong with being an orphan? Sometimes it's a blessing in disguise. You might have a good-for-nothing father and a mother who drank— then you would have something to complain about. Said she was so brave and such a good worker. I dare say she did her work well! I don't know where all this bravery came in!'
'Now don't excite yourself, dear,' said Nurse Capstick, intervening. 'We mustn't have you getting tired.'
'I soon sent her packing! Franklin had the impertinence to suggest that she might be a comfort to me. Comfort to me indeed! The sooner I saw the last of her the better—that's what I said! Franklin's a fool! I didn't want him getting mixed up with her. He's a boy! No sense! 'I'll give her three months' salary, if you like,' I said. 'But out she goes. I don't want her in the house a day longer.' There's one thing about being ill—men can't argue with you. He did what I said and she went.'
'Went like a martyr, I expect—with more sweetness and bravery!'
'Now, dear, don't get so excited. It's bad for you.'
Lady Clarke waved Nurse Capstick away. 'You were as much of a fool about her as anyone else.'
'Oh! Lady Clarke, you mustn't say that. I did think Miss Grey a very nice girl—so romantic-looking, like someone out of a novel.'
