'Oh, no – just half an hour or so.'
Poirot's inquiring gaze seemed to make him a little uneasy.
'Might as well confess,' he said with a twinkle. 'I hoped to get a loan – but I didn't get it. I'm afraid my wife's aunt didn't take to me as much as she might. Pity, because I liked her. She was a sporting old lady.'
'May I ask you a frank question. Dr Tanios?' Was there or was there not a momentary apprehension in Tanios's eye?
'Certainly, M. Poirot.'
'What is your opinion of Charles and Theresa Arundell?'
The doctor looked slightly relieved.
'Charles and Theresa?' He looked at his wife with an affectionate smile. 'Bella, my dear, I don't suppose you mind my being frank about your family?'
She shook her head, smiling faintly.
'Then it's my opinion they're rotten to the core, both of them! Funnily enough I like Charles the best. He's a rogue, but he's a likable rogue. He's no moral sense, but he can't help that. People are born that way.'
'And Theresa?'
He hesitated.
'I don't know. She's an amazingly attractive young woman. But she's quite ruthless, I should say. She'd murder any one in cold blood if it suited her book. At least that's my fancy. You may have heard, perhaps, that her mother was tried for murder.'
'And acquitted,' said Poirot.
'As you say 'and acquitted,'' said Tanios quickly. 'But all the same, it makes one wonder sometimes.'
'You met the young man to whom she is engaged?'
'Donaldson? Yes, he came to supper one night.'
'What do you think of him?'
'A very clever fellow. I fancy he'll go far – if he gets the chance. It takes money to specialize.'
'You mean that he is clever in his profession?'
'That is what I mean, yes. A first-class brain.' He smiled. 'Not quite a shining light in society yet. A little precise and prim in manner. He and Theresa make a comic pair. The attraction of opposites. She's a social butterfly and he's a recluse.'
The two children were bombarding their mother.
'Mother, can't we go in to lunch? I'm so hungry. We'll be late.'
Poirot looked at his watch and gave an exclamation.
'A thousand pardons! I delay your lunch hour.'
Glancing at her husband, Mrs Tanios said uncertainly:
'Perhaps we can offer you -'
Poirot said quickly:
'You are most amiable, madame, but I have a luncheon engagement for which I am already late.'
He shook hands with both the Tanioses and with the children. I did the same.
We delayed for a minute or two in the hall. Poirot wanted to put through a telephone call. I waited for him by the hall porter's desk. I was standing there when I saw Mrs Tanios come out into the hall and look searchingly around. She had a hunted, harried look. She saw me and came swiftly across to me.
'Your friend – M. Poirot – I suppose he has gone?'
'No, he is in the telephone box.'
'Oh.'
'You wanted to speak to him?'
She nodded. Her air of nervousness increased.
Poirot came out of the box at that moment and saw us standing together. He came quickly across to us.
'M. Poirot,' she began quickly in a low, hurried voice. 'There is something that I would like to say – that I must tell you -'
'Yes, madame.'
'It is important – very important. You see -'
She stopped. Dr Tanios and the two children had just emerged from the writing-room. He came across and joined us.
'Having a few last words with M. Poirot, Bella?' His tone was good-humoured, the smile on his face pleasantness itself.
'Yes -' She hesitated, then said, 'Well, that is really all, M. Poirot. I just wanted you to tell Theresa that we will back her up in anything she decides to do. I quite see that the family must stand together.'
She nodded brightly to us, then taking her husband's arm she moved off in the direction of the dining- room.
I caught Poirot by the shoulder.
'That wasn't what she started to say, Poirot!'
He shook his head slowly, watching the retreating couple.
'She changed her mind,' I went on.
'Yes, mon ami, she changed her mind.'
'Why?'
'I wish I knew,' he murmured.
'She will tell us some other time,' I said hopefully.
'I wonder. I rather fear – she may not…'
Chapter 18
'A NIGGER IN THE WOODPILE'
We had lunch at a small restaurant not far away. I was eager to learn what he made of the various members of the Arundell family.
'Well, Poirot?' I asked impatiently.
With a look of reproof Poirot turned his whole attention to the menu. When he had ordered he leaned back in his chair, broke his roll of bread in half and said with a slightly mocking intonation:
'Well, Hastings?'
'What do you think of them now you've seen them all?'
Poirot replied slowly:
'Ma foi, I think they are an interesting lot! Really, this case is an enchanting study! It is, how do you say, the box of surprises? Look how each time I say, 'I got a letter from Miss Arundell before she died,' something crops up. From Miss Lawson I learn about the missing money. Mrs Tanios says at once, 'About my husband?' Why about her husband? Why should Miss Arundell write to me, Hercule Poirot, about Dr Tanios?'
'That woman has something on her mind,' I said.
'Yes, she knows something. But what? Miss Peabody tells us that Charles Arundell would murder his grandmother for twopence. Miss Lawson says that Mrs Tanios would murder any one if her husband told her to do so. Dr Tanios says that Charles and Theresa are rotten to the core, and he hints that their mother was a murderess and says apparently carelessly that Theresa is capable of murdering any one in cold blood.
'They have a pretty opinion of each other, all these people! Dr Tanios thinks, or says he thinks, that there was undue influence. His wife, before he came in, evidently did not think so. She does not want to contest the will at first. Later she veers round. See you, Hastings – it is a pot that boils and seethes and every now and then a significant fact comes to the surface and can be seen. There is something in the depths there – yes, there is something! I swear it, by my faith as Hercule Poirot, I swear it!'
I was impressed in spite of myself by his earnestness.
After a minute or two I said:
'Perhaps you are right, but it seems so vague – so nebulous.'
