XIII
Colonel Johnson had had no time to do more than clear his throat when the door opened again and
Hilda Lee came in.
Hercule Poirot looked at her with interest. He had to admit to himself that the wives these
Lees had married were an interesting study. The swift intelligence and greyhound grace of Lydia,
the meretricious1 airs and graces of Magdalene, and now, the solid comfortable strength of Hilda.
made her appear. Her mouse-brown hair was unflecked with grey and her steady hazel eyes set in
Colonel Johnson was talking in his kindliest tone.
“. . . A great strain on all of you,” he was saying. “I gather from your husband, Mrs. Lee, that
this is the first time you have been to Gorston Hall?”
She bowed her head.
“Were you previously5 acquainted with your father-in-law, Mr. Lee?”
Hilda replied in her pleasant voice:
“No. We were married soon after David left home. He always wanted to have nothing to do
with his family. Until now we have not seen any of them.”
“How, then, did this visit come about?”
“My father-in-law wrote to David. He stressed his age and his desire that all his children
should be with him this Christmas.”
“And your husband responded to this appeal?”
Hilda said:
“His acceptance was, I am afraid, all my doing—I misunderstood the situation.”
Poirot interposed. He said:
“Will you be so kind as to explain yourself a little more clearly, madame? I think what you
can tell us may be of value.”
She turned to him immediately.
She said:
assumed that he was old and lonely and that he really wanted to be reconciled to all his children.”
“And what was his real motive, in your opinion, madame?”
Hilda hesitated a moment. Then she said slowly:
“I have no doubt—no doubt at all—that what my father-in-law really wanted was not to
“In what way?”
Hilda said in a low voice:
“It amused him to—to appeal to the worst instincts in human nature. There was—how can I
put it?—a kind of diabolical8 impishness about him. He wished to set every member of the family
at loggerheads with one another.”
Johnson said sharply: “And did he succeed?”
“Oh, yes,” said Hilda Lee. “He succeeded.”
Poirot said:
“We have been told, madame, of a scene that took place this afternoon. It was, I think, rather
a violent scene.”
She bowed her head.
“Will you describe it to us—as truthfully as possible, if you please.”
She reflected a minute.
“When we went in my father-in-law was telephoning.”
“To his lawyer, I understand?”
“Yes, he was suggesting that Mr.—was it Charlton?—I don’t quite remember the name—
should come over as he, my father-in-law, wanted to make a new will. His old one, he said, was
quite out of date.”
Poirot said:
“Think carefully, madame; in your opinion did your father-in-law deliberately9 ensure that
you should all overhear this conversation, or was it just by chance that you overheard it?”
Hilda Lee said:
“I am almost sure that he meant us to overhear.”
“Yes.”
“So that, really, he may not have meant to alter his will at all?”
“No, I think that part of it was quite genuine. He probably did wish to make a new will—but
he enjoyed underlining the fact.”
not perhaps those that an English officer of the law would ask. But I have a great desire to know
what form you think that new will would have taken. I am asking, you perceive, not for your
knowledge, but simply for your opinion. Les femmes, they are never slow to form an opinion, Dieu
merci.”
Hilda Lee smiled a little.
“I don’t mind saying what I think. My husband’s sister Jennifer married a Spaniard, Juan
Estravados. Her daughter, Pilar, has just arrived here. She is a very lovely girl—and she is, of
course, the only grandchild in the family. Old Mr. Lee was delighted with her. He took a
tremendous fancy to her. In my opinion, he wished to leave her a considerable sum in his new
will. Probably he had only left her a small portion or even nothing at all in an old one.”
“Did you know your sister-in-law at all?”
the marriage. Jennifer herself died a year ago. Pilar was left an orphan14. This is why Mr. Lee sent
for her to come and live with him in England.”
“And the other members of the family, did they welcome her coming?”
Hilda said quietly:
“I think they all liked her. It was very pleasant to have someone young and alive in the
house.”
“And she, did she seem to like being here?”
Hilda said slowly:
“I don’t know. It must seem cold and strange to a girl brought up in the South—in Spain.”
Johnson said:
“Can’t be very pleasant being in Spain just at present. Now, Mrs. Lee, we’d like to hear your
account of the conversation this afternoon.”
Poirot murmured:
“I apologize. I have made the digressions.”
Hilda Lee said:
“After my father-in-law finished telephoning, he looked round at us and laughed, and said we
up and see him this evening. He said he wanted to be in good form for Christmas Day. Something
like that.”
“Then—” Her brows knit in an effort of remembrance. “I think he said something about its
being necessary to be one of a large family to appreciate Christmas, and then he went on to speak
of money. He said it would cost him more to run this house in future. He told George and
old-fashioned idea, I’m afraid. I don’t wonder it annoyed her. He said his own wife had been
clever with her needle.”
Poirot said gently:
“Is that all that he said about her?”
Hilda flushed.
and that upset him very much. And then, suddenly Mr. Lee began shouting at us all. He worked
himself up about it. I can understand, of course, how he felt—”
Poirot said gently, interrupting her:
“How did he feel?”
“He was disappointed, of course,” she said. “Because there are no grandchildren—no boys, I
mean—no Lees to carry on. I can see that that must have festered for a long time. And suddenly he
namby-pamby old women—something like that. I felt sorry for him, then, because I realized how
his pride was hurt by it.”
“And then?”
“And then,” said Hilda slowly, “we all went away.”
“That was the last you saw of him?”
She bowed her head.
“Where were you at the time the crime occurred?”
“I was with my husband in the music room. He was playing to me.”
“And then?”
“We heard tables and chairs overturned upstairs, and china being broken—some terrible
struggle. And then that awful scream as his throat was cut. . . .”
Poirot said:
“Was it such an awful scream? Was it”—he paused—“like a soul in hell?”
Hilda Lee said:
“It was worse than that!”
“What do you mean, madame?”
Poirot said gravely:
“So—you have judged him, madame?”
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1
meretricious
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| adj.华而不实的，俗艳的 | |
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2
dowdy
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| adj.不整洁的；过旧的 | |
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3
beacons
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| 灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台 | |
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4
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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5
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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6
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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7
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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10
fomenting
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| v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的现在分词 ) | |
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11
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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13
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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14
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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15
glum
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| adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的 | |
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16
economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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17
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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18
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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