chapter 24 news from paris
on the following day we had an unexpected visit.
geraldine marsh was announced.
i felt sorry for her as poirot greeted her and set a chair for her. her large dark eyes seemed wider and darker than ever. there were black circles round them as though she had not slept. her face looked extraordinarily haggard and weary for one so young – little more, really, than a child.
‘i have come to see you, m. poirot, because i don’t know how to go on any longer. i am so terribly worried and upset.’
‘yes, mademoiselle?’
his manner was gravely sympathetic.
‘ronald told me what you said to him that day. i mean that dreadful day when he was arrested.’ she shivered. ‘he told me that you came up to him suddenly, just when he had said that he supposed no one would believe him, and that you said to him: “i believe you.” is that true, m. poirot?’
‘it is true, mademoiselle, that is what i said.’
‘i know, but i meant not was it true you said it, but were the words really true. i mean, did you believe his story?’
terribly anxious she looked, leaning forward there, her hands clasped together.
‘the words were true, mademoiselle,’ said poirot quietly. ‘i do not believe your cousin killed lord edgware.’
‘oh!’ the colour came into her face, her eyes opened big and wide. ‘then you must think – that someone else did it!’
‘evidemment, mademoiselle.’ he smiled. ‘i’m stupid. i say things badly. what i mean is – you think you know who that somebody is?’
she leaned forward eagerly.
‘i have my little ideas, naturally – my suspicions, shall we say?’
‘won’t you tell me? please – please.’
poirot shook his head.
‘it would be – perhaps – unfair.’
‘then you have got a definite suspicion of somebody?’
poirot merely shook his head non-committally.
‘if only i knew a little more,’ pleaded the girl. ‘it would make it so much easier for me. and i might perhaps be able to help you. yes, really i might be able to help you.’
her pleading was very disarming, but poirot continued to shake his head.
‘the duchess of merton is still convinced it was my stepmother,’ said the girl thoughtfully. she gave a slight questioning glance at poirot.
he showed no reaction.
‘but i hardly see how that can be.’
‘what is your opinion of her? of your stepmother?’
‘well – i hardly know her. i was at school in paris when my father married her. when i came home, she was quite kind. i mean, she just didn’t notice i was there. i thought her very empty-headed and – well, mercenary.’
poirot nodded.
‘you spoke of the duchess of merton. you have seen much of her?’
‘yes. she has been very kind to me. i have been with her a great deal during the last fortnight. it has been terrible – with all the talk, and the reporters, and ronald in prison and everything.’ she shivered. ‘i feel i have no real friends. but the duchess has been wonderful, and he has been nice too – her son, i mean.’
‘you like him?’
‘he is shy, i think. stiff and rather difficult to get on with. but his mother talks a lot about him, so that i feel i know him better than i really do.’
‘i see. tell me, mademoiselle, you are fond of your cousin?’
‘of ronald? of course. he – i haven’t seen much of him the last two years – but before that he used to live in the house. i – i always thought he was wonderful. always joking and thinking up mad things to do. oh! in that gloomy house of ours it made all the difference.’
poirot nodded sympathetically, but he went on to make a remark that shocked me in its crudity.
‘you do not want to see him – hanged, then?’
‘no, no.’ the girl shivered violently. ‘not that. oh! if only it were her – my stepmother. it must be her. the duchess says it must.’
‘ah!’ said poirot. ‘if only captain marsh had stayed in the taxi – eh?’
‘yes – at least, what do you mean?’ her brow wrinkled. ‘i don’t understand.’
‘if he had not followed that man into the house. did you hear anyone come in, by the way?’
‘no, i didn’t hear anything.’
‘what did you do when you came into the house?’
‘i ran straight upstairs – to fetch the pearls, you know.’
‘of course. it took you some time to fetch them.’
‘yes. i couldn’t find the key to my jewel-case all at once.’
‘so often is that the case. the more in haste, the less the speed. it was some time before you came down, and then – you found your cousin in the hall?’
‘yes, coming from the library.’ she swallowed.
‘i comprehend. it gave you quite a turn.’
‘yes, it did.’ she looked grateful for his sympathetic tone. ‘it startled me, you see.’
‘quite, quite.’
‘ronnie just said: “hello, dina, got them?” from behind me – and it made me jump.’
‘yes,’ said poirot gently. ‘as i said before it is a pity he did not stay outside. then the taxi-driver would have been able to swear he never entered the house.’
she nodded. her tears began to fall, splashing unheeded on her lap. she got up. poirot took her hand.
‘you want me to save him for you – is that it?’
‘yes, yes – oh! please, yes. you don’t know . . .’ she stood there striving to control herself, clenching her hands.
‘life has not been easy for you, mademoiselle,’ said poirot gently. ‘i appreciate that. no, it has not been easy. hastings, will you get mademoiselle a taxi?’
i went down with the girl and saw her into the taxi. she had composed herself by now and thanked me very prettily.
i found poirot walking up and down the room, his brows knitted in thought. he looked unhappy.
i was glad when the telephone bell rang to distract him.
‘who is that? oh, it is japp. bonjour, mon ami.’
‘what’s he got to say?’ i asked, drawing nearer the telephone.
finally, after various ejaculations, poirot spoke. ‘yes, and who called for it? do they know?’ whatever the answer, it was not what he expected. his face dropped ludicrously.
‘are you sure?’
‘.........’
‘no, it is a little upsetting, that is all.’
‘.........’
‘yes, i must rearrange my ideas.’
‘.........’
‘comment?’
‘.........’
‘all the same, i was right about it. yes, a detail, as you say.’
‘.........’
‘no, i am still of the same opinion. i would pray of you to make still further inquiries of the restaurants in the neighbourhood of regent gate and euston, tottenham court road and perhaps oxford street.’
‘.........’
‘yes, a woman and a man. and also in the neighbour-hood of the strand just before midnight. comment?’
‘.........’
‘but, yes, i know that captain marsh was with the dortheimers. but there are other people in the world besides captain marsh.’
‘.........’
‘to say i have the head of a pig is not pretty. tout de même, oblige me in this matter, i pray of you.’
‘.........’
he replaced the receiver.
‘well?’ i asked impatiently.
‘is it well? i wonder. hastings, that gold box was bought in paris. it was ordered by letter and it comes from a well-known paris shop which specializes in such things. the letter was supposedly from a lady ackerley – constance ackerley the letter was signed. naturally there is no such person. the letter was received two days before the murder. it ordered the initials of (presumably) the writer in rubies and the inscription inside. it was a rush order – to be called for the following day. that is, the day before the murder.’
‘and was it called for?’
‘yes, it was called for and paid for in notes.’
‘who called for it?’ i asked excitedly. i felt we were getting near to the truth.
‘a woman called for it, hastings.’
‘a woman?’ i said, surprised.
‘mais oui. a woman – short, middle-aged, and wear - ing pince-nez.’
we looked at each other, completely baffled.
第二十四章 来自巴黎的消息
第二天，又有不速之客来访。
佣人通报说，杰拉尔丁。马什求见。
波洛与她寒喧并让座的时候，我觉得很同情她。她那双深褐色的大眼睛更大，更深了。眼睛四周有黑圈儿，好像是昨夜没睡似的。其实她还是个孩子。她的脸色憔悴而且疲倦，与她的年龄很不相称。
“波洛先生，我来找您，是因为我不知该怎样熬下去了。我非常担心。非常苦恼。”
“怎么了，小姐？”，
他的态度严肃中带着同情。
“罗纳德把您那天对他说的话告诉我了。我是指他被捕转那可怕的一天。”她浑身发抖，“他告诉我，就在他以为所有人都不会相信他的时候，您突然走上前来说，‘我相信您。’波洛先生，这是真的吗？”
“是真的，小姐。我是那么说的。”
“我知道，但我不是问您是否真的说了那话。我是说那话是真的吗。我是说，您相信他所讲的吗？”
她看起来非常焦急，两手交叉在胸前，身子向前倾着。
“小姐，那话是真的。”波洛镇静地说，“我不相信是您的堂哥杀了埃奇韦尔男爵。”
“噢！”她的脸有了血色，眼睛仍然睁得大大的“。那么。您一定以为——凶手是别人？”
“显然是的，小姐。”波洛笑了。
“我真笨。我不会说话。我的意思是——您认为您知道谁是凶手吗？”
她很急切地将身体前倾着。
“我自然有自己的一点想法——我的怀疑，可以这祥说。”
“能不能告诉我？请吧——请吧。”
波洛摇了摇头。
“这也许——大概——不公平。”
“那么，您已经肯定怀疑某个人了？”
波洛不置可否地摇了摇头。
“但愿我能再知道一点点，”女孩恳求道，“这会让我好过些。我也许能帮助你们。是的，我有可能帮助你们。”
她的恳求令人无法拒绝，但波洛仍然摇着头。
“默顿公爵夫人仍相信是我继母干的。”女孩心事重重地说着。她向波洛投去询问的目光。
他没有一点反应。
“但我认为不可能。”
“您对她意见如何？关于您的继母？”
“呃”几乎不了解她。我父亲娶她的时候，正在巴黎念书。当我回家以后，对我还不错。我是说，根本没注意我的存在。我认为她大脑很空虚——晤，贪钱。”
波洛点了点头。
“您说到了默顿公爵夫人。您见过她了？”
“是的。她对我非常好。在过去的两个星期里，常和她在一起。一切都是那么可怕——闲话，者，纳德在狱里以及其它的事。”她颤抖着。“我觉得自己没有朋友。但公爵夫人很好，——我是说她的儿子，很好。”
“您喜欢他吗？”
“他很腼腆，度呆板，难相处。但他的母亲讲了许多关于他的话，际上我更了解他。”
“我明白了。小姐，诉我，喜欢您的堂哥吗？”
“罗纳德？当然。他——我有两年没见他了。但以前他住在家里。我始终觉得他很了不起，开玩笑，能想出异想天开的事去做。噢！在我们那座阴沉的房子里，他在可就大不相同了。”
波洛同情地点点头，他接着问的一句话，么不加掩饰，让我吃惊。
“那么——您不愿意看到他被绞死了？”
“是的，的。”孩不断颤抖地说，不能那样。噢！真希望是她——我的继母。应该是她。公爵夫人说了，她。”
“啊！”波洛说，如果马什上尉呆在出租车里——呃？”
“是的——您至少得告诉我，是什么意思？”她的眉头紧皱，我不明白。”
“如果他没跟着那个人走进房子。顺便问一句，您听见有人进去了吗？”
“没有，我什么也没听见。”
“当您进了房子后，做了些什么？”
“我径直上楼去拿首饰，您知道的。”
“当然。您需要一些时间去拿。”
“是的。我不能找到装珠宝的匣子。”
“通常是那样的。越急越慢。您用了一些时间，然后下来。那么，您就发现您的堂哥在大厅里？”
“是的，从书房过来。”她咽了一口唾沫。
“我明白，这让您很吃惊。”
“是的，是这样的。”她很感激波洛同情的话语，“您知道。我吓了一跳。”
“是啊！是啊！”
“罗尼只是说，‘喂，戴娜，拿到了吗？’他从我背后说话，吓得我跳起来。”
“是的，”波洛温和地说，“就像我刚才所说的，他没呆在外面真是遗憾。要是那样，司机就可以证明他从未进过那房子。”
她点点头。眼泪流了出来，滴到她的膝上。她站了起来，波洛握住她的手。
“您想让我为您救他——是吗？”
“是的，是的。噢！请救救他吧！您不知道——”
她站在那，紧握着拳头。竭力控制着自己的情绪。
“小姐，生活对您不易啊。”波洛温和地说，“我理解。哦，是够您受的。黑斯廷斯，帮小姐叫辆车，好吗？”
我送女孩下去，送她上车。现在她已经镇静下来了。她很可爱地向我表示感谢。
我回来发现波洛正在踱来踱去，眉头紧锁，心事重重，很不开心的样子。
我很高兴这时电话铃响了，可以分分他的心。
“是谁？噢，是贾普。你好，老朋友。”
“他说什么？”我说着，凑近电话机。
他只是对着话筒发出各种不同的惊叹声，然后才说。“晤，谁定的？他们知道吗？”
不管回答是什么，反正是出乎他意料之外。他的脸又滑稽地沉了下来。
“你确定吗？”
“……”“不。只是有点烦，没别的。”“……”“是的，我必须重新考虑。”“怎么？”“……”“都一样，我是对的。正如你所说，一个枝节了。”“……”
“不。我还是那个观点。我请你再调查一下摄政门和尤斯顿车站，托特纳姆法院路，可能还有牛津街附近的餐馆。”“……”
“是的，一个男人和一个女人。还有在滨河街，半夜之前。是吗？”“……”
“是的。我知道马什上尉与多赛默一家在一起，难道这世上除了马什上尉以外，没有可能是别人了？”“……”
“说我猪脑可不好听。就这样吧，帮我这个忙，我求你了。”
他将听筒放回原处。
“怎么？”我急不可待地问。
“这样不错吗？我真不知道，黑斯廷斯，那匣子是在巴黎买的。是有人用信邮寄订购的。那商店是巴黎的一家名店。专门制造这类东西。定货的信据说署名是一位阿克利女士——康斯坦斯·阿克利。自然没有这个人。信是谋杀案发前两天收到的。信中指定在匣子里面用宝石镶出那个（假定的）写信者的姓名首写字母。那是加急定货——第二天就取货。也就是谋杀案的前一天。”“确实有人取货吗？”“是的，有人取货，而且用现钞付款。”“谁取的货？”我急切地问。我觉得就要水落石出了。
“一个女人去取的，黑斯廷斯。”“一个女人？”我惊讶地说。
“是的。一个女人——矮矮的，中等年纪并戴着夹鼻眼镜。”我们相互不解地望着对方。