“Now I’ve got you here at last,” said Mrs. Oliver, “I want to know all about everything.”
She looked at Poirot with determination and asked severely1:
“Why haven’t you come sooner?”
“My excuses, Madame, I have been much occupied assisting the police with their inquiries2.”
“It’s criminals who do that. What on earth made you think of Rowena Drake being mixed up ina murder? Nobody else would have dreamed of it?”
“It was simple as soon as I got the vital clue.”
“What do you call the vital clue?”
“Water. I wanted someone who was at the party and who was wet, and who shouldn’t have beenwet. Whoever killed Joyce Reynolds would necessarily have got wet. You hold down a vigorouschild with its head in a full bucket of water, and there will be struggling and splashing and you arebound to be wet. So something has got to happen to provide an innocent explanation of how yougot wet. When everyone crowded into the dining room for the Snapdragon, Mrs. Drake took Joycewith her to the library. If your hostess asks you to come with her, naturally you go. And certainlyJoyce had no suspicion of Mrs. Drake. All Miranda had told her was that she had once seen amurder committed. And so Joyce was killed and her murderer was fairly well soaked with water.
There must be a reason for that and she set about creating a reason. She had to get a witness as tohow she got wet. She waited on the landing with an enormous vase of flowers filled with water. Indue course Miss Whittaker came out from the Snapdragon room—it was hot in there. Mrs. Drakepretended to start nervously3, and let the vase go, taking care that it flooded her person as it crasheddown to the hall below. She ran down the stairs and she and Miss Whittaker picked up the piecesand the flowers while Mrs. Drake complained at the loss of her beautiful vase. She managed togive Miss Whittaker the impression that she had seen something or someone coming out of theroom where a murder had been committed. Miss Whittaker took the statement at its face value, butwhen she mentioned it to Miss Emlyn, Miss Emlyn realized the really interesting thing about it.
And so she urged Miss Whittaker to tell me the story.
“And so,” said Poirot, twirling his moustaches, “I, too, knew who the murderer of Joyce was.”
“And all the time Joyce had never seen any murder committed at all!”
“Mrs. Drake did not know that. But she had always suspected that someone had been there inthe Quarry4 Wood when she and Michael Garfield had killed Olga Seminoff, and might have seen ithappen.”
“When did you know it had been Miranda and not Joyce?”
“As soon as common sense forced me to accept the universal verdict that Joyce was a liar5. ThenMiranda was clearly indicated. She was frequently in the Quarry Wood, observing birds andsquirrels. Joyce was, as Miranda told me, her best friend. She said: ‘We tell each othereverything.’ Miranda was not at the party, so the compulsive liar Joyce could use the story herfriend had told her of having once seen a murder committed—probably in order to impress you,Madame, the well-known crime writer.”
“That’s right, blame it all on me.”
“No, no.”
“Rowena Drake,” mused6 Mrs. Oliver. “I still can’t believe it of her.”
“She had all the qualities necessary. I have always wondered,” he added, “exactly what sort ofwoman Lady Macbeth was. What would she be like if you met her in real life? Well, I think I havemet her.”
“And Michael Garfield? They seem such an unlikely pair.”
“Interesting—Lady Macbeth and Narcissus, an unusual combination.”
“Lady Macbeth,” Mrs. Oliver murmured thoughtfully.
“She was a handsome woman — efficient and competent — a born administrator7 — anunexpectedly good actress. You should have heard her lamenting8 over the death of the little boyLeopold and weeping large sobs9 into a dry handkerchief.”
“Disgusting.”
“You remember I asked you who, in your opinion, were or were not nice people.”
“Was Michael Garfield in love with her?”
“I doubt if Michael Garfield has ever loved anyone but himself. He wanted money—a lot ofmoney. Perhaps he believed at first he could influence Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe to dote upon him tothe extent of making a Will in his favour—but Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe was not that kind ofwoman.”
“What about the forgery10? I still don’t understand that. What was the point of it all?”
“It was confusing at first. Too much forgery, one might say. But if one considered it, thepurpose of it was clear. You had only to consider what actually happened.
“Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s fortune all went to Rowena Drake. The codicil12 produced was soobviously forged that any lawyer would spot it. It would be contested, and the evidence of expertswould result in its being upset, and the original Will would stand. As Rowena Drake’s husbandhad recently died she would inherit everything.”
“But what about the codicil that the cleaning woman witnessed?”
“My surmise13 is that Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe discovered that Michael Garfield and RowenaDrake were having an affair—probably before her husband died. In her anger Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe made a codicil to her Will leaving everything to her au pair girl. Probably the girl toldMichael about this—she was hoping to marry him.”
“I thought it was young Ferrier?”
“That was a plausible14 tale told me by Michael. There was no confirmation15 of it.”
“Then if he knew there was a real codicil why didn’t he marry Olga and get hold of the moneythat way?”
“Because he doubted whether she really would get the money. There is such a thing as undueinfluence. Mrs. Llewellyn- Smythe was an elderly woman and a sick woman also. All herpreceding Wills had been in favour of her own kith and kin—good sensible Wills such as lawcourts approve of. This girl from foreign parts had been known to her only a year—and had nokind of claim upon her. That codicil even though genuine could have been upset. Besides, I doubtif Olga could have put through the purchase of a Greek island—or would even have been willingto do so. She had no influential16 friends, or contacts in business circles. She was attracted toMichael, but she looked upon him as a good prospect17 matrimonially, who would enable her to livein England—which is what she wanted to do.”
“And Rowena Drake?”
“She was infatuated. Her husband had been for many years a crippled invalid18. She was middle-aged19 but she was a passionate20 woman, and into her orbit came a young man of unusual beauty.
Women fell for him easily—but he wanted—not the beauty of women—but the exercise of hisown creative urge to make beauty. For that he wanted money—a lot of money. As for love—heonly loved himself. He was Narcissus. There is an old French song I heard many years ago—”
He hummed softly.
“Regarde, Narcisse
Regarde dans l’eau
Regarde, Narcisse, que tu es beau
Il n’y a au monde
Que la Beauté
Et la Jeunesse,
Hélas! Et la Jeunesse…
Regarde, Narcisse…
Regarde dans l’eau….”
“I can’t believe—I simply can’t believe that anyone would do murder just to make a garden ona Greek island,” said Mrs. Oliver unbelievingly.
“Can’t you? Can’t you visualize21 how he held it in his mind? Bare rock, perhaps, but so shapedas to hold possibilities. Earth, cargoes22 of fertile earth to clothe the bare bones of the rocks—andthen plants, seeds, shrubs23, trees. Perhaps he read in the paper of a shipping24 millionaire who hadcreated an island garden for the woman he loved. And so it came to him—he would make agarden, not for a woman, but—for himself.”
“It still seems to me quite mad.”
“Yes. That happens. I doubt if he even thought of his motive25 as sordid26. He thought of it only asnecessary for the creation of more beauty. He’d gone mad on creation. The beauty of the QuarryWood, the beauty of other gardens he’d laid out and made—and now he envisaged27 even more—awhole island of beauty. And there was Rowena Drake, infatuated with him. What did she mean tohim but the source of money with which he could create beauty. Yes—he had become mad,perhaps. Whom the gods destroy, they first drive mad.”
“He really wanted his island so much? Even with Rowena Drake tied round his neck as well?
Bossing him the whole time?”
“Accidents can happen. I think one might possibly have happened to Mrs. Drake in due course.”
“One more murder?”
“Yes. It started simply. Olga had to be removed because she knew about the codicil—and shewas also to be the scapegoat28, branded as a forger11. Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe had hidden the originaldocument, so I think that young Ferrier was given money to produce a similar forged document.
So obviously forged that it would arouse suspicion at once. That sealed his death warrant. LesleyFerrier, I soon decided29, had had no arrangement or love affair with Olga. That was a suggestionmade to me by Michael Garfield, but I think it was Michael who paid money to Lesley. It wasMichael Garfield who was laying siege to the au pair girl’s affections, warning her to keep quietabout this and not tell her employer, speaking of possible marriage in the future but at the sametime marking her down cold-bloodedly as the victim whom he and Rowena Drake would need ifthe money was to come to them. It was not necessary for Olga Seminoff to be accused of forgery,or prosecuted30. She needed only to be suspected of it. The forgery appeared to benefit her. It couldhave been done by her very easily, there was evidence to the effect that she did copy heremployer’s handwriting and if she was suddenly to disappear, it would be assumed that she hadbeen not only a forger, but quite possibly might have assisted her employer to die suddenly. So ona suitable occasion Olga Seminoff died. Lesley Ferrier was killed in what is purported31 to havebeen a gang knifing or a knifing by a jealous woman. But the knife that was found in the wellcorresponds very closely with the knife wounds that he suffered. I knew that Olga’s body must behidden somewhere in this neighbourhood, but I had no idea where until I heard Miranda one dayinquiring about a wishing well, urging Michael Garfield to take her there. And he was refusing.
Shortly afterwards when I was talking to Mrs. Goodbody, I said I wondered where that girl haddisappeared to, and she said ‘Ding dong dell, pussy’s in the well’ and then I was quite sure thegirl’s body was in the wishing well. I discovered it was in the wood, in the Quarry Wood, on anincline not far from Michael Garfield’s cottage and I thought that Miranda could have seen eitherthe actual murder or the disposal of the body later. Mrs. Drake and Michael feared that someonehad been a witness—but they had no idea who it was—and as nothing happened they were lulledinto security. They made their plans—they were in no hurry, but they set things in motion. Shetalked about buying land abroad—gave people the idea she wanted to get away from WoodleighCommon. Too many sad associations, referring always to her grief over her husband’s death.
Everything was nicely in train and then came the shock of Hallowe’en and Joyce’s suddenassertion of having witnessed a murder. So now Rowena knew, or thought she knew, who it hadbeen in the wood that day. So she acted quickly. But there was more to come. Young Leopoldasked for money—there were things he wanted to buy, he said. What he guessed or knew isuncertain, but he was Joyce’s brother, and so they probably thought he knew far more than hereally did. And so—he, too, died.”
“You suspected her because of the water clue,” said Mrs. Oliver. “How did you come to suspectMichael Garfield?”
“He fitted,” said Poirot simply. “And then—the last time I spoke32 to Michael Garfield, I wassure. He said to me, laughing—‘Get thee beyond me, Satan. Go and join your police friends.’ AndI knew then, quite certainly. It was the other way round. I said to myself: ‘I am leaving you behindme, Satan.’ A Satan so young and beautiful as Lucifer can appear to mortals….”
There was another woman in the room—until now she had not spoken, but now she stirred inher chair.
“Lucifer,” she said. “Yes, I see now. He was always that.”
“He was very beautiful,” said Poirot, “and he loved beauty. The beauty that he made with hisbrain and his imagination and his hands. To it he would sacrifice everything. In his own way, Ithink, he loved the child Miranda—but he was ready to sacrifice her—to save himself. He plannedher death very carefully—he made of it a ritual and, as one might put it, indoctrinated her with theidea. She was to let him know if she were leaving Woodleigh Common—he instructed her to meethim at the Inn where you and Mrs. Oliver lunched. She was to have been found on KilterburyRing—there by the sign of the double axe33, with a golden goblet34 by her side—a ritual sacrifice.”
“Mad,” said Judith Butler. “He must have been mad.”
“Madame, your daughter is safe—but there is something I would like to know very much.”
“I think you deserve to know anything I can tell you, Monsieur Poirot.”
“She is your daughter—was she also Michael Garfield’s daughter?”
Judith was silent for a moment, and then she said, “Yes.”
“But she doesn’t know that?”
“No. She has no idea. Meeting him here was a pure coincidence. I knew him when I was ayoung girl. I fell wildly in love with him and then—and then I got afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Yes. I don’t know why. Not of anything he would do or that sort of thing, just afraid of hisnature. His gentleness, but behind it, a coldness and a ruthlessness. I was even afraid of his passionfor beauty and for creation in his work. I didn’t tell him I was going to have a child. I left him—Iwent away and the baby was born. I invented the story of a pilot husband who had had a crash. Imoved about rather restlessly. I came to Woodleigh Common more or less by chance. I had gotcontacts in Medchester where I could find secretarial work.
“And then one day Michael Garfield came here to work in the Quarry Wood. I don’t think Iminded. Nor did he. All that was over long ago, but later, although I didn’t realize how oftenMiranda went there to the Wood, I did worry—”
“Yes,” said Poirot, “there was a bond between them. A natural affinity35. I saw the likenessbetween them—only Michael Garfield, the follower36 of Lucifer the beautiful, was evil, and yourdaughter has innocence37 and wisdom, and there is no evil in her.”
He went over to his desk and brought back an envelope. Out of it he drew a delicate pencildrawing.
“Your daughter,” he said.
Judith looked at it. It was signed “Michael Garfield.”
“He was drawing her by the stream,” said Poirot, “in the Quarry Wood. He drew it, he said, sothat he should not forget. He was afraid of forgetting. It wouldn’t have stopped him killing38 her,though.”
Then he pointed39 to a pencilled word across the top left hand corner.
“Can you read that?”
She spelt it out slowly.
“Iphigenia.”
“Yes,” said Poirot, “Iphigenia. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, so that he should get a windto take his ships to Troy. Michael would have sacrificed his daughter so that he should have a newGarden of Eden.”
“He knew what he was doing,” said Judith. “I wonder—if he would ever have had regrets?”
Poirot did not answer. A picture was forming in his mind of a young man of singular beautylying by the megalithic stone marked with a double axe, and still clasping in his dead fingers thegolden goblet he had seized and drained when retribution had come suddenly to save his victimand to deliver him to justice.
It was so that Michael Garfield had died—a fitting death, Poirot thought—but, alas40, there wouldbe no garden blossoming on an island in the Grecian Seas….
Instead there would be Miranda—alive and young and beautiful.
He raised Judith’s hand and kissed it.
“Goodbye, Madame, and remember me to your daughter.”
“She ought always to remember you and what she owes you.”
“Better not—some memories are better buried.”
He went on to Mrs. Oliver.
“Good night, chère Madame. Lady Macbeth and Narcissus. It has been remarkably41 interesting. Ihave to thank you for bringing it to my notice—”
“That’s right,” said Mrs. Oliver in an exasperated42 voice, “blame it all on me as usual!”
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1
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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7
administrator
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| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
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lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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10
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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forger
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| v.伪造；n.（钱、文件等的）伪造者 | |
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12
codicil
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| n.遗嘱的附录 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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14
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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15
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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17
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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20
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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21
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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envisaged
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| 想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scapegoat
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| n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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purported
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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goblet
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| n.高脚酒杯 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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