1、Chapter 1Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room.There had been nothing distinctive in the letter she had written. It had been a mere request for an appointment, with no hint of what lay behind that request. It had been brief and bu
2、sinesslike. Only the firmness of the handwriting had indicated that Carla Lemarchant was a young woman.And now here she was in the flesh - a tall, slender young woman in the early twenties. The kind of young woman that one definitely looked at twice. Her clothes were good: an expensive, well-cut coa
3、t and skirt and luxurious furs. Her head was well poised on her shoulders, she had a square brow, a sensitively cut nose, and a determined chin. She looked very much alive. It was her aliveness more than her beauty that struck the predominant note.Before her entrance, Hercule Poirot had been feeling
4、 old - now he felt rejuvenated, alive - keen! As he came forward to greet her, he was aware of her dark-gray eyes studying him attentively. She was very earnest in that scrutiny.She sat down and accepted the cigarette that he offered her. After it was lit she sat for a minute or two smoking, still l
5、ooking at him with that earnest, thoughtful scrutiny.Poirot said gently, Yes, it has to be decided, does it not?She started. I beg your pardon? Her voice was attractive, with a faint, agreeable huskiness in it.You are making up your mind - are you not? - whether I am a mere mountebank or the man you
6、 need.She smiled. She said, Well, yes - something of that kind. You see, M. Poirot, you - you dont look exactly the way I pictured you.And I am old, am I not? Older than you imagined?Yes, that, too. She hesitated. Im being frank, you see. I want - Ive got to have - the best.Rest assured, said Hercul
7、e Poirot, I am the best!Carla said, Youre not modest. All the same, Im inclined to take you at your word.Poirot said placidly, One does not, you know, employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It i
8、s enough for me to sit back in my chair and think. It is this - he tapped his egg-shaped head - this, that functions!I know, said Carla Lemarchant. Thats why Ive come to you. I want you, you see, to do something fantastic!That, said Hercule Poirot, promises well!He looked at her in encouragement.Car
9、la Lemarchant drew a deep breath. My name, she said, isnt Carla. Its Caroline. The same as my mothers. I was called after her. She paused. And though Ive always gone by the name of Lemarchant - ever since I can remember almost - that isnt my real name. My real name is Crale.Hercule Poirots forehead
10、creased a moment perplexedly. He murmured, Crale - I seem to remember.She said, My father was a painter - rather a well-known painter. Some people say he was a great painter. I think he was.Amyas Crale?Yes.She paused, then she went on. And my mother, Caroline Crale, was tried for murdering him!Aha,
11、said Poirot. I remember now - but only vaguely. I was abroad at the time. It was a long time ago.Sixteen years, said the girl. Her face was very white now and her eyes were two burning lights. Do you understand? She was tried and convicted. She wasnt hanged because they felt that there were extenuat
12、ing circumstances, so the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. But she died only a year after the trial. You see? Its all over - done - finished with.Poirot said quietly, And so?The girl called Carla Lemarchant pressed her hands together. She spoke slowly and haltingly but with an odd,
13、 pointed emphasis. Youve got to understand - exactly - where I come in. I was five years old at the time it - happened. Too young to know anything about it. I remember my mother and my father, of course, and I remember leaving home suddenly - being taken to the country. I remember the pigs and a nic
14、e fat farmers wife - and everybody being very kind - and I remember, quite clearly, the funny way they used to look at me - everybody - a sort of furtive look. I knew, of course, children do, that there was something wrong - but I didnt know what.And then I went on a ship - it was exciting - it went
15、 on for days and then I was in Canada and Uncle Simon met me, and I lived in Montreal with him and with Aunt Louise, and when I asked about Mummy and Daddy they said theyd be coming soon. And then - and then I think I forgot - only I sort of knew that they were dead without remembering anyone actual
16、ly telling me so. Because by that time, you see, I didnt think about them any more. I was very happy, you know. Uncle Simon and Aunt Louise were sweet to me, and I went to school and had a lot of friends, and Id quite forgotten that Id ever had another name, not Lemarchant. Aunt Louise, you see, tol
17、d me that that was my name in Canada and that seemed quite sensible to me at the time - it was just my Canadian name - but as I say I forgot in the end that Id ever had any other.She flung up her defiant chin. She said,Look at me. Youd say - wouldnt you? - if you met me: There goes a girl whos got n
18、othing to worry about! Im well off, Ive got splendid health, Im sufficiently good to look at, I can enjoy life. At twenty, there wasnt a girl anywhere Id have changed places with.But already, you know, Id begun to ask questions. About my own mother and father. Who they were and what they did. Id hav
19、e been bound to find out in the end. As it was, they told me the truth. When I was twenty-one. They had to then, because for one thing I came into my own money. And then, you see, there was the letter. The letter my mother left for me when she died.Her expression changed, dimmed. Her eyes were no lo
20、nger two burning points - they were dark, dim pools. She said, Thats when I learned the truth. That my mother had been convicted of murder. It was - rather horrible.She paused. Theres something else I must tell you. I was engaged to be married. They said we must wait - that we couldnt be married unt
21、il I was twenty-one. When I knew, I understood why.Poirot stirred and spoke for the first time. He said, And what was your fiancs reaction?John? John didnt care. He said it made no difference to him. He and I were John and Carla - and the past didnt matter.She leaned forward. Were still engaged. But
22、 all the same, you know, it does matter. It matters to me. And it matters to John, too. It isnt the past that matters to us - its the future. She clenched her hands. We want children, you see. We both want children. And we dont want to watch our children growing up and be afraid.Do you not realize,
23、Poirot said, that among everyones ancestors there has been violence and evil?You dont understand. Thats so, of course. But, then, one doesnt usually know about it. We do. Its very near to us. And - sometimes - Ive seen John just - look at me. Such a quick glance - just a flash. Supposing we were mar
24、ried and wed quarreled - and I saw him look at me and - and wonder?Hercule Poirot said, How was your father killed?Carlas voice came clear and firm. He was poisoned.Hercule Poirot said, I see.There was a silence.Then the girl said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, Thank goodness, youre sensible. You
25、see that it does matter - and what it involves. You dont try to patch it up and trot out consoling phrases.I understand very well, said Poirot. What I do not understand is what you want of me?I want to marry John! Carla Lemarchant said simply. And I mean to marry John! And I want to have at least tw
26、o girls and two boys. And youre going to make that possible!You mean - you want me to talk to your fianc? Ah, no, it is idiocy what I say there! It is something quite different that you are suggesting. Tell me what is in your mind.Listen, M. Poirot. Get this - and get it clearly. Im hiring you to in
27、vestigate a case of murder.Do you mean -Yes, I do mean. A case of murder is a case of murder whether it happened yesterday or sixteen years ago.But, my dear young lady -Wait, M. Poirot You havent got it all yet. Theres a very important point.Yes?My mother was innocent, said Carla Lemarchant.Hercule
28、Poirot rubbed his nose. He murmured, Well, naturally - I comprehend that -It isnt sentiment. Theres her letter. She left it for me before she died. It was to be given to me when I was twenty-one. She left it for that one reason - that I should be quite sure. Thats all that was in it. That she hadnt
29、done it - that she was innocent - that I could be sure of that always. Hercule Poirot looked thoughtfully at the young, vital face staring so earnestly at him. He said slowly, Tout de mme -Carla smiled. No, Mother wasnt like that! Youre thinking that it might be a lie - a sentimental lie. She leaned
30、 forward earnestly. Listen, M. Poirot, there are some things that children know quite well. I can remember my mother - a patchy remembrance, of course, but I remember quite well the sort of person she was. She didnt tell lies - kind lies. If a thing was going to hurt she always told you so. Dentists
31、, or thorns in your finger - all that sort of thing. Truth was a - a natural impulse to her. I wasnt, I dont think, specially fond of her - but I trusted her. I still trust her! If she says she didn t kill my father, then she didnt kill him! She wasnt the sort of person who would solemnly write down
32、 a lie when she knew she was dying.Slowly, almost reluctantly, Hercule Poirot bowed his head.Carla went on. Thats why its all right for me to marry John. I know its all right. But he doesnt. He feels that naturally I would think my mother was innocent. Its got to be cleared up, M. Poirot. And youre
33、going to do it!Hercule Poirot said slowly, Granted that what you say is true, mademoiselle, sixteen years have gone by!Carla Lemarchant said, Oh, of course its going to be difficult! Nobody but you could do it!Hercule Poirots eyes twinkled slightly. You give me the best butter - hein? he said.Ive he
34、ard about you, Carla said. The things youve done. The way you have done them. Its psychology that interests you, isnt it? Well, that doesnt change with time. The tangible things are gone - the cigarette end and the footprints and the bent blades of grass. You cant look for those any more. But you ca
35、n go over all the facts of the case, and perhaps talk to the people who were there at the time - they re all alive still - and then - and then, as you said just now, you can lie back in your chair and think. And youll know what really happened.Hercule Poirot rose to his feet. One hand caressed his m
36、ustache. He said, Mademoiselle, I am honored! I will justify your faith in me. I will investigate your case of murder. I will search back into the events of sixteen years ago and I will find out the truth.Carla got up. Her eyes were shining. But she only said, Good. Hercule Poirot shook an eloquent
37、forefinger. One little moment. I have said I will find out the truth. I do not, you understand, have the bias. I do not accept your assurance of your mothers innocence. If she was guilty - eh bien, what then?Carlas head went back. Im her daughter, she said. I want the truth! Hercule Poirot said, En
38、avant, then. Though it is not that, that I should say. On the contrary. En arrire!Do I remember the Crale case? asked Sir Montague Depleach. Certainly I do. Remember it very well. Most attractive woman. But unbalanced, of course. No self-control. He glanced sideways at Poirot. What makes you ask me
39、about it?I am interested.Not really tactful of you, my dear man, said Depleach, showing his teeth in his sudden famous wolfs smile, which had been reputed to have such a terrifying effect upon witnesses. Not one of my successes, you know. I didnt get her off.I know that.Sir Montague shrugged his sho
40、ulders. He said:Of course, I hadnt quite as much experience then as I have now. All the same, I think I did all that could humanly be done. One cant do much without co-operation. We did get it commuted to penal servitude. Provocation, you know. Lots of respectable wives and mothers got up a petition
41、. There was a lot of sympathy for her.He leaned back, stretching out his long legs. His face took on a judicial, appraising look.If shed shot him, you know, or even knifed him - Id have gone all out for manslaughter. But poison - no, you cant play tricks with that. Its tricky - very tricky.What was
42、the defense? asked Hercule Poirot.He knew because he had already read the newspaper files but he saw no harm in playing completely ignorant to Sir Montague.Oh, suicide. Only thing you could go for. But it didnt go down well. Crale simply wasnt that kind of man! You never met him, I suppose? No? Well
43、, he was a great, blustering, vivid sort of chap. Great beer drinker. Went in for the lusts of the flesh and enjoyed them. You cant persuade a jury that a man like that is going to sit down and quietly do away with himself. It just doesnt fit. No, I was afraid I was up against a losing proposition f
44、rom the first. And she wouldnt play up! I knew wed lost as soon as she went into the box. No fight in her at all. But there it is - if you dont put your client into the box, the jury draw their own conclusions.Poirot said, Is that what you meant when you said just now that one cannot do much without
45、 co-operation?Absolutely, my dear fellow. Were not magicians, you know. Half the battle is the impression the accused makes on the jury. Ive known juries time and again bring in verdicts dead against the judges summing up. He did it, all right - thats the point of view. Or He never did a thing like
46、that - dont tell me. Caroline Crale didnt even try to put up a fight.Why was that?Sir Montague shrugged his shoulders. Dont ask me. Of course, she was fond of the fellow. Broke her awful up when she came to and realized what shed done. Dont believe she ever rallied from the shock.So in your opinion
47、she was guilty?Depleach looked rather startled. He said, Er - well, I thought we were taking that for granted.Did she ever admit to you that she was guilty?Depleach looked shocked. Of course not - of course not. We have our code, you know. Innocence is always - er - assumed. If youre so interested its a pity you cant get hold of old Mayhew. Mayhews were the solicitors who briefed me. Old Mayhew could have told you more than I can. But there - hes joined the great majority. Theres young George Mayhew, of cour
