For the third time colour swept over Elinor Carlisle's face. This time it was a burning tide. She said, 'Did Peter Lord tell you that?'
Poirot said gently, 'It was then, wasn't it? When you looked through the window and saw her making her will. It was then, was it not, that it struck you how funny it would be – and how convenient – if Mary Gerrard should happen to die?'
Elinor said in a low, suffocated voice, 'He knew – he looked at me and he knew -'
Poirot said, 'Dr. Lord knows a good deal. He is no fool, that young man with the freckled face and the sandy hair.'
Elinor said in a low voice, 'Is it true that he sent you to – help me?'
'It is true, Mademoiselle.'
She sighed and said, 'I don't understand. No, I don't understand.'
Poirot said, 'Listen, Miss Carlisle. It is necessary that you tell me just what happened that day when Mary Gerrard died – where you went, what you did. More than that, I want to know even what you thought.'
She stared at him. Then slowly a queer little smile came to her lips. She said, 'You must be an incredibly simple man. Don't you realize how easy it is for me to lie to you?'
Hercule Poirot said placidly, 'It does not matter.'
She was puzzled. 'Not matter?'
'No. For lies, Mademoiselle, tell a listener just as much as truth can. Sometimes they tell more. Come, now, commence. You met your housekeeper, the good Mrs. Bishop. She wanted to come and help you. You would not let her. Why?'
'I wanted to be alone.'
'Why?'
'Why? Why? Because I wanted to – to think.'
'You wanted to imagine – yes. And then what did you do next?'
Elinor, her chin raised defiantly, said, 'I bought some paste for sandwiches.'
'Two pots?'
'Two.'
'And you went to Hunterbury. What did you do there?'
'I went up to my aunt's room and began to go through her things.'
'What did you find?'
'Find?' She frowned. 'Clothes – old letters – photographs – jewellery.'
Poirot said, 'No secrets?'
'Secrets? I don't understand you.'
'Then let us proceed. What next?'
Elinor said, 'I came down to the pantry and I cut sandwiches.'
Poirot said softly, 'And you thought – what?'
Her blue eyes flashed suddenly. She said, 'I thought of my namesake, Eleanor of Aquitaine.'
Poirot said, 'I understand perfectly.'
'Do you?'
'Oh, yes. I know the story. She offered Fair Rosamond, did she not, the choice of a dagger or a cup of poison. Rosamond chose the poison.'
Elinor said nothing. She was white now.
Poirot said, 'But perhaps, this time, there was to be no choice. Go on, Mademoiselle, what next?'
Elinor said, 'I put the sandwiches ready on a plate and I went down to the lodge. Nurse Hopkins was there as well as Mary. I told them I had some sandwiches up at the house.'
Poirot was watching her. He said softly, 'Yes, and you all came up to the house together, did you not?'
'Yes. We – ate the sandwiches in the morning-room.'
Poirot said in the same soft tone, 'Yes, yes – still in the dream. And then – '
'Then?' She stared. 'I left her – standing by the window. I went out into the pantry. It was still like you say – in a dream. Nurse was there washing up. I gave her the paste-pot.'
'Yes – yes. And what happened then? What did you think of next?'
Elinor said dreamily, 'There was a mark on Nurse's wrist. I mentioned it and she said it was a thorn from the rose trellis by the lodge. The roses by the lodge… Roddy and I had a quarrel once – long ago – about the Wars of the Roses. I was Lancaster and he was York. He liked white roses. I said they weren't real – they didn't even smell! I liked red roses, big and dark and velvety and smelling of summer. We quarrelled in the most idiotic way. You see, it all came back to me – there in the pantry – and something – something broke – the black hate I'd had in my heart – it went away – with remembering how we were together as children. I didn't hate Mary any more. I didn't want her to die.'
She stopped.
'But later, when we went back into the morning-room, she was dying.'
She stopped. Poirot was staring at her very intently. She flushed and said, 'Will you ask me – again – did I kill Mary Gerrard?'
Poirot rose to his feet. He said quickly, 'I shall ask you – nothing. There are things I do not want to know.'
Chapter 19
I
Dr. Lord met the train at the station as requested.
Hercule Poirot alighted from it. He looked very Londonified and was wearing pointed patent-leather shoes. Peter Lord scrutinized his face anxiously, but Hercule Poirot was giving nothing away.
Peter Lord said, 'I've done my best to get answers to your questions. First, Mary Gerrard left here for London on July 10th. Second, I haven't got a housekeeper – a couple of giggling girls run my house. I think you must mean Mrs. Slattery, who was Ransome's (my predecessor's) housekeeper. I can take you to her this morning if you like. I've arranged that she shall be in.'
Poirot said, 'Yes, I think it would be as well if I saw her first.'
'Then you said you wanted to go to Hunterbury. I could come with you there. It beats me why you haven't been there already. I can't think why you wouldn't go when you were down here before. I should have thought the first thing to be done in a case like this was to visit the place where the crime took place.'
Holding his head a little on one side, Hercule Poirot inquired, 'Why?'
'Why?' Peter Lord was rather disconcerted by the question. 'Isn't it the usual thing to do?'
Hercule Poirot said, 'One does not practice detection with a textbook! One uses one's natural intelligence.'
Peter Lord said, 'You might find a clue of some sort there.'
Poirot sighed. 'You read too much detective fiction. Your police force in this country is quite admirable. I have no doubt that they searched the house and grounds most carefully.'
'For evidence against Elinor Carlisle – not for evidence in her favour.'
Poirot sighed. 'My dear friend, it is not a monster – this police force! Elinor Carlisle was arrested because sufficient evidence was found to make out a case against her – a very strong case, I may say. It was useless for me to go over ground when the police had gone over it already.'
'But you do want to go there now?' objected Peter.
Hercule Poirot nodded his head. He said, 'Yes – now it is necessary. Because now I know exactly what I am looking for. One must understand with the cells of one's brain before one uses one's eyes.'
'Then you do think there might be – something – there still?'
