弱者的愤怒10

"For the moment shall we just say - in the Tower room?"For the first time, a look of fear sprang into the girl's eyes. She began to speak, then checkedherself. Poirot watched her small white hands clenching¹ themselves on the edge of the desk.

"I wonder if I did go into the Tower room that evening?" she mused². "Before dinner, I mean. Idon't think so. I am almost sure I didn t. If that scrap³ has been in the Tower room all this time, itseems to me a very extraordinary thing the police did not find it right away.""The police," said the little man, "do not think of things that Hercule Poirot thinks of.""I may have run in there for a minute just before dinner," mused Lily Margrave, "or it may havebeen the night before. I wore the same dress then. Yes, I am almost sure it was the night before.""I think not," said Poirot evenly.

"Why?"

He only shook his head slowly from side to side.

"What do you mean?" whispered the girl.

She was leaning forward, staring at him, all the color ebbing⁴ out of her face.

"You do not notice, Mademoiselle, that this fragment is stained? There is no doubt about it, thatstain is human blood.""You mean -?"

"I mean, Mademoiselle, that you were in the Tower room after the crime was committed, notbefore. I think you will do well to tell me the whole truth, lest worse should befall you."He stood up now, a stern little figure of a man, his forefinger⁵ pointed⁶ accusingly at the girl.

"How did you find out?" gasped⁷ Lily.

"No matter, Mademoiselle. I tell you Hercule Poirot knows. I know all about Captain HumphreyNaylor, and that you went down to meet him that night."Lily suddenly put her head down on her arms and burst into tears. Immediately Poirot relinquishedhis accusing attitude.

"There, there, my little one," he said, patting the girl on the shoulder. "Do not distress⁸ yourself.

Impossible to deceive Hercule Poirot; once realize that and all your troubles will be at an end. Andnow you will tell me the whole story, will you not? You will tell old Papa Poirot?""It is not what you think, it isn't, indeed. Humphrey - my brother - never touched a hair of hishead.""Your brother, eh?" said Poirot. "So that is how the land lies. Well, if you wish to save him fromsuspicion, you must tell me the whole story now, without reservations."Lily sat up again, pushing back the hair from her forehead. After a minute or two, she began tospeak in a low, clear voice.

"I will tell you the truth, M. Poirot. I can see now that it would be absurd to do anything else. Myreal name is Lily Naylor, and Humphrey is my only brother. Some years ago, when he was out inAfrica, he discovered a gold mine, or rather, I should say, discovered the presence of gold. I can'ttell you this part of it properly, because I don't understand the technical details, but what itamounted to was this:

"The thing seemed likely to be a very big undertaking⁹, and Humphrey came home with letters toSir Reuben Astwell in the hopes of getting him interested in the matter. I don't understand therights of it even now, but I gather that Sir Reuben sent out an expert to report, and that hesubsequently told my brother that the expert's report was unfavorable and that he, Humphrey, hadmade a great mistake. My brother went back to Africa on an expedition into the interior and waslost sight of. It was assumed that he and the expedition had perished.

"It was soon after that that a company was formed to exploit the Mpala Cold Fields. When mybrother got back to England he at once jumped to the conclusion that these gold fields wereidentical with those he had discovered. Sir Reuben Astwell had apparently¹⁰ nothing to do with thiscompany, and they had seemingly discovered the place on their own. But my brother was notsatisfied; he was convinced that Sir Reuben had deliberately¹¹ swindled him.

"He became more and more violent and unhappy about the matter. We two are alone in the world,M. Poirot, and as it was necessary then for me to go out and earn my own living, I conceived theidea of taking a post in this household and trying to find out if any connection existed between SirReuben and the Mpala Gold Fields. For obvious reasons I concealed¹² my real name, and I'll admitfrankly that I used a forged reference.

"There were many applicants¹³ for the post, most of them with better qualifications than mine, so -well, M. Poirot, I wrote a beautiful letter from the Duchess of Perthshire who I knew had just goneto America. I thought a Duchess would have a great effect upon Lady Astwell, and I was quiteright. She engaged me on the spot.

"Since then I have been that hateful thing, a spy, and until lately with no success. Sir Reuben is nota man to give away his business secrets, but when Victor Astwell came back from Africa he wasless guarded in his talk, and I began to believe that, after all, Humphrey had not been mistaken.

My brother came down here about a fortnight before the murder, and I crept out of the house tomeet him secretly at night. I told him the things Victor Astwell had said, and he became veryexcited and assured me I was definitely on the right track.

"But after that things began to go wrong; someone must have seen me stealing out of the houseand have reported the matter to Sir Reuben. He became suspicious and hunted up my references,and soon discovered the fact that they were forged. The crisis came on the day of the murder. Ithink he thought I was after his wife's jewels. Whatever his suspicions were, he had no intention toallow me to remain any longer at Mon Repos, though he agreed not to prosecute¹⁴ me on account ofthe references. Lady Astwell took my part throughout and stood up valiantly¹⁵ to Sir Reuben."She paused. Poirot's face was very grave.

"And now, Mademoiselle," he said, "we come to the night of the murder."Lily swallowed hard and nodded her head.

"To begin with, M, Poirot, I must tell you that my brother had come down again, and that I hadarranged to creep out and meet him once more. I went up to my room, as I have said, but I did notgo to bed. Instead, I waited till I thought everyone was asleep, and then stole downstairs again andout by the side door. I met Humphrey and acquainted him in a few hurried words what hadoccurred. I told him that I believed the papers he wanted were in Sir Reuben's safe in the Towerroom, and we agreed as a last desperate adventure to try and get hold of them that night.

"I was to go in first and see that the way was clear. I heard the church clock strike twelve as I wentin by the side door. I was halfway¹⁶ up the stairs leading to the Tower room, when I heard a thud ofsomething falling, and a voice cried out, 'My God!' A minute or two afterward¹⁷ the door of theTower room opened, and Charles Leverson came out. I could see his face quite clearly in themoonlight, but I was crouching¹⁸ some way below him on the stairs where it was dark, and he didnot see me at all.

"He stood there a moment swaying on his feet and looking ghastly. He seemed to be listening;then with an effort he seemed to pull himself together and, opening the door into the Tower room,called out something about there being no harm done. His voice was quite jaunty¹⁹ and debonair,but his face gave the lie to it. He waited a minute more, and then slowly went on upstairs and outof sight.

"When he had gone I waited a minute or two and then crept to the Tower room door, I had afeeling that something tragic²⁰ had happened. The main light was out, but the desk lamp was on, andby its light I saw Sir Reuben lying on the floor by the desk. I don't know how I managed it, but Inerved myself at last to go over and kneel down by him. I saw at once that he was dead, struckdown from behind, and also that he couldn't have been dead long; I touched his hand and it wasstill quite warm. It was just horrible, M. Poirot. Horrible!"She shuddered²¹ again at the remembrance.

 

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