Miss Livingstone showed in a guest. “Mr. Hercules Porrett.”
As soon as Miss Livingstone had left the room, Poirot shut the door after her and sat down byhis friend, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver.
He said, lowering his voice slightly, “I depart2.”
“You do what?” said Mrs. Oliver, who was always slightly startled3 by Poirot’s methods ofpassing on information.
“I depart. I make the departure. I take a plane to Geneva.”
“You sound as though you were UNO or UNESCO or something.”
“No. It is just a private visit that I make.”
“Have you got an elephant in Geneva?”
“Well, I suppose you might look at it that way. Perhaps two of them.”
“I haven’t found out anything more,” said Mrs. Oliver. “In fact I don’t know who I can go to, tofind out anymore.”
“I believe you mentioned, or somebody did, that your goddaughter, Celia Ravenscroft, had ayoung brother.”
“Yes. He’s called Edward, I think. I’ve hardly ever seen him. I took him out once or twice fromschool, I remember. But that was years ago.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s at university, in Canada I think. Or he’s taking some engineering4 course there. Do youwant to go and ask him things?”
“No, not at the moment. I should just like to know where he is now. But I gather he was not inthe house when this suicide5 happened?”
“You’re not thinking—you’re not thinking for a moment that he did it, are you? I mean, shot hisfather and his mother, both of them. I know boys do sometimes. Very queer6 they are sometimeswhen they’re at a funny age.”
“He was not in the house,” said Poirot. “That I know already from my police reports.”
“Have you found out anything else interesting? You look quite excited.”
“I am excited in a way. I have found out certain things that may throw light upon what wealready know.”
“Well, what throws light on what?”
“It seems to me possible now that I can understand why Mrs. Burton-Cox approached you asshe did and tried to get you to obtain information for her about the facts of the suicide of theRavenscrofts.”
“You mean she wasn’t just being a nosey parker?”
“No. I think there was some motive7 behind it. This is where, perhaps, money comes in.”
“Money? What’s money got to do with that? She’s quite well off, isn’t she?”
“She has enough to live upon, yes. But it seems that her adopted son whom she regardsapparently as her true son—he knows that he was adopted although he knows nothing about thefamily from which he really came. It seems that when he came of age he made a Will, possiblyurged by his adopted mother to do so. Perhaps it was merely hinted8 to him by some friends of hersor possibly by some lawyer that she had consulted. Anyway, on coming of age he may have feltthat he might as well leave everything to her, to his adopted mother. Presumably9 at that time hehad nobody else to leave it to.”
“I don’t see how that leads to wanting news about a suicide.”
“Don’t you? She wanted to discourage the marriage. If young Desmond had a girlfriend, if heproposed to marry her in the near future, which is what a lot of young people do nowadays—theywon’t wait or think it over. In that case, Mrs. Burton-Cox would not inherit10 the money he left,since the marriage would invalidate any earlier Will, and presumably if he did marry his girl hewould make a new Will leaving everything to her and not to his adopted mother.”
“And you mean Mrs. Burton-Cox didn’t want that?”
“She wanted to find something that would discourage him from marrying the girl. I think shehoped, and probably really believed as far as that goes, that Celia’s mother killed her husband,afterwards shooting herself. That is the sort of thing that might discourage a boy. Even if herfather killed her mother, it is still a discouraging thought. It might quite easily prejudice andinfluence a boy at that age.”
“You mean he’d think that if her father or mother was a murderer11, the girl might havemurderous tendencies?”
“Not quite as crude12 as that but that might be the main idea, I should think.”
“But he wasn’t rich, was he? An adopted child.”
“He didn’t know his real mother’s name or who she was, but it seems that his mother, who wasan actress and a singer and who managed to make a great deal of money before she became ill anddied, wanted at one time to get her child returned to her and when Mrs. Burton-Cox would notagree to that, I should imagine she thought about this boy a great deal and decided13 that she wouldleave her money to him. He will inherit this money at the age of twenty-five, but it is held in trustfor him until then. So of course Mrs. Burton-Cox doesn’t want him to marry, or only to marrysomeone that she really approves of or over whom she might have influence.”
“Yes, that seems to me fairly reasonable. She’s not a nice woman though, is she?”
“No,” said Poirot, “I did not think her a very nice woman.”
“And that’s why she didn’t want you coming to see her and messing about with things andfinding out what she was up to.”
“Possibly,” said Poirot.
“Anything else you have learnt?”
“Yes, I have learnt—that is only a few hours ago really—when Superintendent14 Garrowayhappened to ring me up about some other small matters, but I did ask him and he told me that thehousekeeper, who was elderly, had very bad eyesight.”
“Does that come into it anywhere?”
“It might,” said Poirot. He looked at his watch. “I think,” he said, “it is time that I left.”
“You are on your way to catch your plane at the airport?”
“No. My plane does not leave until tomorrow morning. But there is a place I have to visit today—a place that I wish to see with my own eyes. I have a car waiting outside now to take me there—”
“What is it you want to see?” Mrs. Oliver asked with some curiosity15.
“Not so much to see—to feel. Yes—that is the right word—to feel and to recognize what it willbe that I feel. .?.?.”
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1
departure
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| n.离开，起程；背离，违反 | |
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depart
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| v.离开，启程 | |
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startled
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| adj.受惊吓的v.使惊跳，使大吃一惊( startle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
engineering
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| n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵 | |
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5
suicide
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| n.自杀，自毁，自杀性行为 | |
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6
queer
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| adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的 | |
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7
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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8
hinted
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| vt.暗示（hint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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presumably
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| adv.据推测，大概，可能 | |
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10
inherit
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| vt.继承(金钱等)，经遗传而得(性格、特征) | |
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11
murderer
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| n.杀人犯，凶手 | |
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crude
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| adj.粗鲁的，简陋的，天然的，未加工的；n.原油 | |
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13
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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15
curiosity
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| n.好奇心，新奇的事物，珍品 | |
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