have been a premeditated crime.'
'I see.' Her hand waved softly to and fro, keeping the heat of the fire from her face. 'And, of course, it wasn't a premeditated crime, so I couldn't have killed him – eh, Monsieur Poirot?'
Poirot bowed. 'That is right, madame.'
'And yet -' she leaned forward, her waving hand stopped – 'I did kill Shaitana, Monsieur Poirot -'
Chapter 26
THE TRUTH
There was a pause – a very long pause. The room was growing dark. The firelight leaped and flickered. Mrs. Lorrimer and Hercule Poirot looked not at each other but at the fire. It was as though time was momentarily in abeyance. Then Hercule Poirot sighed and stirred. 'So it was that – all the time. Why did you kill him, madame?'
'I think you know why, Monsieur Poirot.'
'Because he knew something about you? Something that had happened long ago?'
'Yes.'
'And that something was – another death, madame?'
She bowed her head.
Poirot said gently, 'Why did you tell me? What made you send for me today?'
'You told me once that I should do so some day.'
'Yes – that is, I hoped – I knew, madame, that there was only one way of learning the truth as far as you were concerned, and that was by your own free will. If you did not choose to speak, you would not do so, and you would never give yourself away. But there was a chance – that you yourself might wish to speak.'
Mrs. Lorrimer nodded. 'It was clever of you to foresee that – the weariness, the loneliness -'
Her voice died away.
Poirot looked at her curiously. 'So it has been like that? Yes, I can understand it might be.'
'Alone – quite alone,' said Mrs. Lorrimer. 'No one knows what that means unless they have lived as I have lived, with the knowledge of what one has done.'
Poirot said gently. 'Is it an impertinence, madame, or may I be permitted to offer my sympathy?'
She bent her head a little.
'Thank you, Monsieur Poirot.'
There was another pause; then Poirot said, speaking in a slightly brisker tone, 'Am I to understand, madame, that you took the words Mr. Shaitana spoke at dinner as a direct menace aimed at you?'
She nodded. 'I realized at once that he was speaking so that one person should understand him. That person was myself. The reference to a woman's weapon being poison was meant for me. He knew. I had suspected it once before. He had brought the conversation round to a certain famous trial and I saw his eyes watching me. There was a kind of uncanny knowledge in them. But, of course, that night I was quite sure.'
'And you were sure, too, of his future intentions.'
Mrs. Lorrimer said dryly, 'It was hardly likely that the presence of Superintendent Battle and yourself was an accident. I took it that Shaitana was going to advertise his own cleverness by pointing out to you both that he had discovered something that no one else had suspected.'
'How soon did you make up your mind to act, madame?'
Mrs. Lorrimer hesitated a little.
'It is difficult to remember exactly when the idea came into my mind,' she said. 'I had noticed the dagger before going in to dinner. When we returned to the drawing-room I picked it up and slipped it into my sleeve. No one saw me do it. I made sure of that.'
'It would be dextrously done, I have no doubt, madame.'
'I made up my mind then exactly what I was going to do. I had only to carry it out. It was risky, perhaps, but I considered that it was worth trying.'
'That is your coolness, your successful weighing of chances coming into play. Yes, I see that.'
'We started to play bridge,' continued Mrs. Lorrimer. Her voice was cool and unemotional. 'At last an opportunity arose. I was dummy. I strolled across the room to the fireplace. Shaitana had dozed off to sleep. I looked over at the others. They were all intent on the game. I leaned over and – and did it -'
Her voice shook just a little, but instantly it regained its cool aloofness.
'I spoke to him. It came into my head that that would make a kind of alibi for me, I made some remark about the fire and then pretended he had answered me and went on again, saying something like 'I agree with you. I do not like radiators either.''
'He did not cry out at all?'
'No. I think he made a little grunt – that was all. It might have been taken for words from a distance.'
'And then?'
'And then I went back to the bridge table. The last trick was just being played.'
'And you sat down and resumed play?'
'Yes.'
'With sufficient interest in the game to be able to tell me nearly all the calling and the hands two days later.'
'Yes,' said Mrs. Lorrimer simply.
'Epatant!' said Hercule Poirot.
He leaned back in his chair. He nodded his head several times. Then, by way of a change, he shook it.
'But there is still something, madame, that I do not understand?'
'Yes?'
'It seems to me that there is some factor I have missed. You are a woman who considers and weighs everything carefully. You decide that, for a certain reason, you will run an enormous risk. You do run it – successfully. And then, not two weeks later, you change your mind. Frankly, madame, that does not seem to me to ring true.'
A queer little smile twisted her lips.
'You are quite right, Monsieur Poirot, there is one factor that you do not know. Did Miss Meredith tell you where she met me the other day?'
'It was, I think she said, near Mrs. Oliver's flat.'
'I believe that is so. But I meant the actual name of the street. Anne Meredith met me in Harley Street,'
'Ah!' He looked at her attentively. 'I begin to see.'
'Yes, I thought you would. I had been to see a specialist there. He told me what I already half suspected.'
Her smile widened. It was no longer twisted and bitter. It was suddenly sweet. 'I shall not play very much more bridge, Monsieur Poirot. Oh! he didn't say so in so many words. He wrapped up the truth a little. With great care, et cetera, I might live several years. But I shall not take any great care. I am not that kind of a woman.'
'Yes, yes, I begin to understand,' said Poirot.
'It made a difference, you see. A month – two months perhaps – not more. And then, just as I left the specialist, I saw Miss Meredith. I asked her to have tea with me.'
She paused, then went on. 'I am not, after all, a wholly wicked woman. All the time we were having tea, I was thinking. By my action the other evening I had not only deprived the man Shaitana of life, that was done and could not be undone, I had also to a varying degree affected unfavorably the lives of three other people. Because of what I had done, Doctor Roberts, Major Despard, and Anne Meredith, none of whom had injured me in any way, were passing through a very grave ordeal and might even be in danger. That, at least, I could undo. I don't know that I felt particularly moved by the plight of either Doctor Roberts or Major Despard – although both of them had presumably a much longer span of life in front of them than I had. They were men and could to a certain extent look
