Chapter 23 A NEW THEORY 

It was exactly eleven o'clock when Poirot presented himself at Van Aldin's hotel. He found the millionaire alone. 

"You are punctual, M. Poirot," he said, with a smile, as he rose to greet the detective. 

"I am always punctual," said Poirot. "The exactitude - always do I observe it. Without order and method -" 

He broke off. "Ah, but it is possible that I have said these things to you before. Let us come at once to the object of my visit." 

"Your little idea?" 

"Yes, my little idea." Poirot smiled. "First of all, Monsieur, I should like to interview once more the maid, Ada Mason. She is here?" 

"Yes, she's here." 

"Ah!" 

Van Aldin looked at him curiously. He rang the bell, and a messenger was dispatched to find Mason. 

Poirot greeted her with his usual politeness, which was never without effect on that particular class. 

"Good afternoon, Mademoiselle," he said cheerfully. "Be seated, will you not, if Monsieur permits." 

"Yes, yes, sit down, my girl," said Van Aldin. 

"Thank you, sir," said Mason primly, and she sat down on the extreme edge of a chair. She looked bonier and more acid than ever. 

"I have come to ask you yet more questions," said Poirot. "We must get to the bottom of this affair. Always I return to the question of the man in the train. You have been shown the Comte de la Roche. You say that it is possible he was the man, but you are not sure." 

"As I told you, sir, I never saw the gentleman's face. That is what makes it so difficult." 

Poirot beamed and nodded. 

"Precisely, exactly. I comprehend well the difficulty. Now, Mademoiselle, you have been in the service of Madame Kettering two months, you say. During that time, how often did you see your master?" 

Mason reflected a minute or two, and then said: 

"Only twice, sir." 

"And was that near to, or far away?" 

"Well once, sir, he came to Curzon Street. I was upstairs, and I looked over the banisters and saw him in the hall below. I was a bit curious like, you understand, knowing the way things - er - were." Mason finished up with her discreet cough. 

"And the other time?" 

"I was in the Park, sir, with Annie - one of the housemaids, sir, and she pointed out the master to me walking with a foreign lady." 

Again Poirot nodded. 

"Now listen, Mason, this man whom you saw in the carriage talking to your mistress at the Gare de Lyon, how do you know it was not your master?" 

"The master, sir? Oh, I don't think it would have been." 

"But you are not sure," Poirot persisted. 

"Well - I never thought of it, sir." 

Mason was clearly upset at the idea. 

"You have heard that your master was also on the train. What more natural than that it should be he who came along the corridor." 

"But the gentleman who was talking to the mistress must have come from outside, sir. He was dressed for the street. In an overcoat and soft hat." 

"Just so, Mademoiselle, but reflect a minute. The train has just arrived at the Gare de Lyon. Many of the passengers promenade themselves upon the quay. Your mistress was about to do so, and for that purpose had doubtless put on her fur coat, eh?" 

"Yes, sir," agreed Mason. 

"Your master, then, does the same. The train is heated, but outside in the station it is cold. He puts on his overcoat and his hat and he walks along beside the train, and looking up at the lighted windows he suddenly sees Madame Kettering. Until then he has had no idea that she was on the train. Naturally, he mounts the carriage and goes to her compartment. She gives an exclamation 

of surprise at seeing him and quickly shuts the door between the two compartments since it is possible that their conversation may be of a private nature." 

He leaned back in his chair and watched the suggestion slowly take effect. No one knew better than Hercule Poirot that the class to which Mason belongs cannot be hurried. 

He must give her time to get rid of her own preconceived ideas. At the end of three minutes she spoke: 

"Well, of course, sir, it might be so. I never thought of it that way. The master is tall and dark, and just about that build. It was seeing the hat and coat that made me say it was a gentleman from outside. Yes, it might have been the master. I would not like to say either way, I am sure." 

"Thank you very much, Mademoiselle. I shall not require you any further. Ah, just one thing more." He took from his pocket the cigarette case he had already shown to Katherine. "Is that your mistress's case?" he said to Mason. 

"No, sir, it is not the mistress's - at least -" 

She looked suddenly startled. An idea was clearly working its way to the forefront of her mind. 

"Yes," said Poirot encouragingly. 

"I think, sir - I can't be sure, but I think - it is a case that the mistress bought to give to the master." 

"Ah," said Poirot in a noncommittal manner. 

"But whether she ever did give it to him or not, I can't say, of course." 

"Precisely," said Poirot, "precisely. That is all, I think, Mademoiselle. I wish you good afternoon." 

Ada Mason retired discreetly, closing the door noiselessly behind her. 

Poirot looked across at Van Aldin, a faint smile upon his face. The millionaire looked thunderstruck. 

"You think - you think it was Derek?" he queried, "but - everything points the other way. Why, the Count has actually been caught red-handed with the jewels on him." 

"No." 

"But you told me -" 

"What did I tell you?" 

"That story about the jewels. You showed them to me." 

"No." 

Van Aldin stared at him. 

"You mean to say you didn't show them to me." 

"No." 

"Yesterday - at the tennis?" 

"No." 

"Are you crazy, M. Poirot, or am I?" 

"Neither of us is crazy," said the detective. "You ask me a question; I answer it. You say have I not shown you the jewels that day? I reply - no. What I showed you, Van Aldin, was a first-class imitation, not to be distinguished except by an expert from the real ones." 

第二十三章 推测

    时钟刚敲过十一点，波洛就出现在冯·阿尔丁下榻的饭店里了。只有百万富翁一个人在室内。

    “象往常一样，您总是很准时，波洛先生！”冯·阿尔丁迎接着侦探。

    “准时和守秩序是人的两大美德。怎样，书归正传吧。”

    “您那小小的想法？”

    “对，我那小小的想法。”波洛微笑着说道。“不过，首先我必须再同女仆谈谈。

她在吗？”

    “嗯，她在。”

    “太好了。”

    冯·阿尔丁好奇地瞅着波洛。他吩咐了一声，过了一会儿女仆走进了屋子。

    波洛以他那习惯的礼节欢迎了她，这使她这种地位的人感到，他是有礼貌的，并无轻慢相待之意。

    “马松小姐，早晨好，请坐。”

    “谢谢，先生。”马松不自然地说道，坐在椅子边上，显得百无聊赖而又精神萎顿。

    “我只是想向您询问几个问题。”波洛开始说道。“我们把罗歇伯爵指给您看了。

您说，此人可能是火车上的那个，但是又不能肯定。”

    “我当时没看清那个人的脸。”

    “当然！我完全明白。您在您的主人凯特林夫人那里只服务了两个月。在这段时间里您是否经常看到您的老爷？”

    她思考了一下回答道：“只见过他两次，先生。”

    “现在请您注意，小姐。您怎么能够断定，在火车上同夫人谈话的那个人不是您家的主人凯特林先生呢？”

    “凯特林先生？我从来没有这样想过。”

    “您当然也听说过，您家主人也在同一列车上。因此，如果那位女士在同自己的丈夫谈话，不是十分自然的事吗？”

    “可是，那位先生是从外面上的火车。他身穿礼服，还罩着外衣，戴着帽子。”

    “完全正确，小姐。不过请您再想一下。火车刚到里昂站，下车去散步的旅客很多。

您的女主人也有这种想法，下车去透透气，因此也把大衣披在身上。”

    “是的，先生。”女仆应和着说道。

    “是吧，您看怎样！火车里面很热，外面很冷。那位先生穿上了外衣，戴上了帽子，到车厢外沿着列车去散步，从一个亮着灯光的窗口里，他突然看到凯特林夫人。在此之前，他根本不知道夫人也乘这次列车。当然，他就又上了火车，走到夫人的包厢里去。

当夫人发现他的时候，吃惊地叫了一声，随后便关上了同您的包厢相通的门，往后谈的当然就是些私房话了。”

    波洛把身子往靠背上一仰，注意观察着，他的这些暗示的话语在慢慢地起作用。他应该给这位女郎一点时间，以便使她能够把这些新的推测同往事联系在一起。她紧张地思索一阵子之后说道：“这完全可能，我从前没有这样想过。凯特林先生的个头也很高，也是黑头发，身段很象火车上的那个人。是的，完全可能是凯特林先生。”

    “谢谢，小姐，我不过多地耽误您了。只是还有一个问题。”他掏出烟盒，就是给卡泰丽娜看的那个烟盒。他问：“这个烟盒是夫人的吗？”

    “不，这不是我那敬爱的夫人的烟盒，但外表有点象。”她好象转念间有了新的想法。

    “嗯？”波洛询问地嗯了一声。

    “先生，我只是这样想，当然这完全是推测，这可能是夫人才买的烟盒，想赠送给那位先生。”

    “噢，您是这样想的。”

    “但是，我不能断定，我是否见过这个烟盒。”

    “好吧，就这些，小姐。非常感谢！”艾达·马松立即退出了房间，把房门轻轻地带上。

    波洛带着一种难以察觉的微笑看着冯·阿尔丁。

    百万富翁现在的心情坏透了。

    “您认为，是德里克？”他问道。“可是，到目前为止所有的材料都证明伯爵是凶手。可以说宝石把他送上了断头台。”

    “不。”

    “怎么不是呢？是您亲自对我说的……”

    “我对您说什么了？”

    “您还亲自给我看了那些宝石。”

    “没有。”

    冯·阿尔丁不知所措。

    “您敢说，您没有给我看过那些宝石？”

    “我敢说。”

    “波洛，不是您疯了，就是我有精神病。”

    “咱俩谁也没疯。”老侦探心平气和地说道。“您向我提问题，我回答。您问我，是不是我给您看了那些宝石，我回答说，没有。我给您看的那些东西，是头等复制品，就是行家也很难把它们同原物区别开来。”