chapter 29 poirot speaks
it fell to me to ring up inspector japp the following morning.
his voice sounded rather depressed. ‘oh! it’s you, captain hastings. well, what’s in the wind now?’
i gave him poirot’s message.
‘come round at eleven? well, i dare say i could. he’s not got anything to help us over young ross’s death, has he? i don’t mind confessing that we could do with something. there’s not a clue of any kind. most mysterious business.’
‘i think he’s got something for you,’ i said noncommittally. ‘he seems very pleased with himself at all events.’
‘that’s more than i am, i can tell you. all right, captain hastings. i’ll be there.’
my next task was to ring up bryan martin. to him i said what i had been told to say: that poirot had discovered something rather interesting which he thought mr martin would like to hear. when asked what it was, i said that i had no idea. poirot had not confided in me. there was a pause.
‘all right,’ said bryan at last. ‘i’ll come.’
he rang off.
presently, somewhat to my surprise, poirot rang up jenny driver and asked her, also, to be present.
he was quiet and rather grave. i asked him no questions.
bryan martin was the first to arrive. he looked in good health and spirits, but – or it might have been my fancy – a shade uneasy. jenny driver arrived almost immediately afterwards. she seemed surprised to see bryan and he seemed to share her surprise.
poirot brought forward two chairs and urged them to sit down. he glanced at his watch.
‘inspector japp will be here in one moment, i expect.’
‘inspector japp?’ bryan seemed startled. ‘yes – i have asked him to come here – informally – as a friend.’
‘i see.’
he relapsed into silence. jenny gave a quick glance at him then glanced away. she seemed rather preoccupied about something this morning.
a moment later japp entered the room.
he was, i think, a trifle surprised to find bryan martin and jenny driver there, but he made no sign. he greeted poirot with his usual jocularity.
‘well, m. poirot, what’s it all about? you’ve got some wonderful theory or other, i suppose.’
poirot beamed at him.
‘no, no – nothing wonderful. just a little story quite simple – so simple that i am ashamed not to have seen it at once. i want, if you permit, to take you with me through the case from the beginning.’
japp sighed and looked at his watch.
‘if you won’t be more than an hour –’ he said.
‘reassure yourself,’ said poirot. ‘it will not take as long as that. see here, you want to know, do you not, who it was killed lord edgware, who it was killed miss adams, who it was killed donald ross?’
‘i’d like to know the last,’ said japp cautiously.
‘listen to me and you shall know everything. see, i am going to be humble.’ (not likely! i thought unbelievingly.) ‘i am going to show you every step of the way – i am going to reveal how i was hoodwinked, how i displayed the gross imbecility, how it needed the conversation of my friend hastings and a chance remark by a total stranger to put me on the right track.’
he paused and then, clearing his throat, he began to speak in what i called his ‘lecture’ voice.
‘i will begin at the supper party at the savoy. lady edgware accosted me and asked for a private interview. she wanted to get rid of her husband. at the close of our interview she said – somewhat unwisely, i thought – that she might have to go round in a taxi and kill him herself. those words were heard by mr bryan martin, who came in at that moment.’
he wheeled round.
‘eh? that is so, is it not?’
‘we all heard,’ said the actor. ‘the widburns, marsh, carlotta – all of us.’
‘oh! i agree. i agree perfectly. eh bien, i did not have a chance to forget those words of lady edgware’s. mr bryan martin called on the following morning for the express purpose of driving those words home.’
‘not at all,’ cried bryan martin angrily. ‘i came –’
poirot held up a hand.
‘you came, ostensibly, to tell me a cock-and-bull story about being shadowed. a tale that a child might have seen through. you probably took it from an out-of-date film. a girl whose consent you had to obtain – a man whom you recognized by a gold tooth. mon ami, no young man would have a gold tooth – it is not done in these days – and especially in america. the gold tooth it is a hopelessly old-fashioned piece of dentistry. oh! it was all of a piece – absurd! having told your cock-and-bull story you get down to the real purpose of your visit – to poison my mind against lady edgware. to put it clearly, you prepare the ground for the moment when she murders her husband.’
‘i don’t know what you’re talking about,’ muttered bryan martin. his face was deathly pale.
‘you ridicule the idea that he will agree to a divorce! you think i am going to see him the following day, but actually the appointment is changed. i go to see him that morning and he does agree to a divorce. any motive for a crime on lady edgware’s part is gone. moreover, he tells me that he has already written to lady edgware to that effect.
‘but lady edgware declares that she never got that letter. either she lies, her husband lies, or somebody has suppressed it – who?
‘now i ask myself why does m. bryan martin give himself the trouble to come and tell me all these lies? what inner power drives him on. and i form the idea, monsieur, that you have been frantically in love with that lady. lord edgware says that his wife told him she wanted to marry an actor. well, supposing that is so, but that the lady changes her mind. by the time lord edgware’s letter agreeing to the divorce arrives, it is someone else she wants to marry – not you! there would be a reason, then, for you suppressing that letter.’
‘i never –’
‘presently you shall say all you want to say. now you will attend to me.
‘what, then, would be your frame of mind – you, a spoilt idol who has never known a rebuff ? as i see it, a kind of baffled fury, a desire to do lady edgware as much harm as possible. and what greater harm could you do her than to have her accused – perhaps hanged – for murder.’
‘good lord!’ said japp.
poirot turned to him.
‘but yes, that was the little idea that began to shape itself in my mind. several things came to support it. carlotta adams had two principal men friends – captain marsh and bryan martin. it was possible, then, that bryan martin, a rich man, was the one who suggested the hoax and offered her ten thousand dollars to carry it through. it has seemed to me unlikely all along that miss adams could ever have believed ronald marsh would have ten thousand dollars to give her. she knew him to be extremely hard up. bryan martin was a far more likely solution.’
‘i didn’t – i tell you –’ came hoarsely from the film actor’s lips.
‘when the substance of miss adams’ letter to her sister was wired from washington – oh! la, la! i was very upset. it seemed that my reasoning was wholly wrong. but later i made a discovery. the actual letter itself was sent to me and instead of being continuous, a sheet of the letter was missing. so, “he” might refer to someone who was not captain marsh.
‘there was one more piece of evidence. captain marsh, when he was arrested, distinctly stated that he thought he saw bryan martin enter the house. coming from an accused man that carried no weight. also m. martin had an alibi. that naturally! it was to be expected. if m. martin did the murder, to have an alibi was absolutely necessary.
‘that alibi was vouched for by one person only – miss driver.’
‘what about it?’ said the girl sharply.
‘nothing, mademoiselle,’ said poirot, smiling. ‘except that that same day i noticed you lunching with m. martin and that you presently took the trouble to come over and try to make me believe that your friend miss adams was specially interested in ronald marsh – not, as i was sure was the case – in bryan martin.’
‘not a bit of it,’ said the film star stoutly.
‘you may have been unaware of it, monsieur,’ said poirot quietly, ‘but i think it was true. it explains, as nothing else could, her feeling of dislike towards lady edgware. that dislike was on your behalf. you had told her all about your rebuff, had you not?’
‘well – yes – i felt i must talk to someone and she –’
‘was sympathetic. yes, she was sympathetic, i noticed it myself. eh bien, what happens next? ronald marsh, he is arrested. immediately your spirits improve. any anxiety you may have had is over. although your plan has miscarried owing to lady edgware’s change of mind about going to a party at the last minute, yet somebody else has become the scapegoat and relieved you of all anxiety on your own account. and then – at a luncheon party – you hear donald ross, that pleasant, but rather stupid young man, say something to hastings that seems to show that you are not so safe after all.’
‘it isn’t true,’ the actor bawled. the perspiration was running down his face. his eyes looked wild with horror. ‘i tell you i heard nothing – nothing – i did nothing.’
then, i think, came the greatest shock of the morning.
‘that is quite true,’ said poirot quietly. ‘and i hope you have now been sufficiently punished for coming to me – me, hercule poirot, with a cock-and-bull story.’
we all gasped. poirot continued dreamily.
‘you see – i am showing you all my mistakes. there were five questions i had asked myself. hastings knows them. the answer to three of them fitted in very well. who had suppressed that letter? clearly bryan martin answered that question very well. another question was what had induced lord edgware suddenly to change his mind and agree to a divorce? well, i had an idea as to that. either he wanted to marry again – but i could find no evidence pointing to that – or else some kind of blackmail was involved. lord edgware was a man of peculiar tastes. it was possible that facts about him had come to light which, while not entitling his wife to an english divorce, might yet be used by her as a lever coupled with the threat of publicity. i think that is what happened. lord edgware did not want an open scandal attached to his name. he gave in, though his fury at having to do so was expressed in the murderous look on his face when he thought himself unobserved. it also explains the suspicious quickness with which he said, “not because of anything in the letter,” before i had even suggested that that might be the case.
‘two questions remained. the question of an odd pair of pince-nez in miss adams’ bag which did not belong to her. and the question of why lady edgware was rung up on the telephone whilst she was at dinner at chiswick. in no way could i fit in m. bryan martin with either of those questions.
‘so i was forced to the conclusion that either i was wrong about mr martin, or wrong about the questions. in despair i once again read that letter of miss adams’ through very carefully. and i found something! yes, i found something!
‘see for yourselves. here it is. you see the sheet is torn? unevenly, as often happens. supposing now that before the “h” at the top there was an “s” . . .
‘ah! you have it! you see. not he – but she! it was a woman who suggested this hoax to carlotta adams.
‘well, i made a list of all the women who had been even remotely connected with the case. besides jane wilkinson, there were four – geraldine marsh, miss carroll, miss driver and the duchess of merton.
‘of those four, the one that interested me most was miss carroll. she wore glasses, she was in the house that night, she had already been inaccurate in her evidence owing to her desire to incriminate lady edgware, and she was also a woman of great efficiency and nerve who could have carried out such a crime. the motive was more obscure – but after all, she had worked with lord edgware some years and some motive might exist of which we were totally unaware.
‘i also felt that i could not quite dismiss geraldine marsh from the case. she hated her father – she had told me so. she was a neurotic, highly-strung type. suppose when she went into the house that night she had deliberately stabbed her father and then coolly proceeded upstairs to fetch the pearls. imagine her agony when she found that her cousin whom she loved devotedly had not remained outside in the taxi but had entered the house.
‘her agitated manner could be well explained on these lines. it could equally well be explained by her own innocence, but by her fear that her cousin really had done the crime. there was another small point. the gold box found in miss adams’ bag had the initial d in it. i had heard geraldine addressed by her cousin as “dina”. also, she was in a pensionnat in paris last november and might possibly have met carlotta adams in paris.
‘you may think it fantastic to add the duchess of merton to the list. but she had called upon me and i recognized in her a fanatical type. the love of her whole life was centred on her son, and she might have worked herself up to contrive a plot to destroy the woman who was about to ruin her son’s life.
‘then there was miss jenny driver –’
he paused, looking at jenny. she looked back at him, an impudent head on one side.
‘and what have you got on me?’ she asked.
‘nothing, mademoiselle, except that you were a friend of bryan martin’s – and that your surname begins with d.’
‘that’s not very much.’
‘there’s one thing more. you have the brains and the nerve to commit such a crime. i doubt if anyone else had.’
the girl lit a cigarette.
‘continue,’ she said cheerfully.
‘was m. martin’s alibi genuine or was it not? that was what i had to decide. if it was, who was it ronald marsh had seen go into the house? and suddenly i remembered something. the good-looking butler at regent gate bore a very marked resemblance to m. martin. it was he whom captain marsh had seen. and i formed a theory as to that. it is my idea that he discovered his master killed. beside his master was an envelope containing french banknotes to the value of a hundred pounds. he took these notes, slipped out of the house, left them in safe keeping with some rascally friend and returned, letting himself in with lord edgware’s key. he let the crime be discovered by the housemaid on the following morning. he felt in no danger himself, as he was quite convinced that lady edgware had done the murder, and the notes were out of the house and already changed before their loss was noticed. however, when lady edgware had an alibi and scotland yard began investigating his antecedents, he got the wind up and decamped.’
japp nodded approvingly.
‘i still have the question of the pince-nez to settle. if miss carroll was the owner then the case seemed settled. she could have suppressed the letter, and in arranging details with carlotta adams, or in meeting her on the evening of the murder, the pince-nez might have inadvertently found their way into carlotta adams’ bag.
‘but the pince-nez were apparently nothing to do with miss carroll. i was walking home with hastings here, somewhat depressed, trying to arrange things in my mind with order and method. and then the miracle happened!
‘first hastings spoke of things in a certain order. he mentioned donald ross having been one of thirteen at table at sir montagu corner’s and having been the first to get up. i was following out a train of thought of my own and did not pay much attention. it just flashed through my mind that, strictly speaking, that was not true. he may have got up first at the end of the dinner, but actually lady edgware had been the first to get up since she was called to the telephone. thinking of her, a certain riddle occurred to me – a riddle that i fancied accorded well with her somewhat childish mentality. i told it to hastings. he was, like queen victoria, not amused. i next fell to wondering who i could ask for details about m. martin’s feeling for jane wilkinson. she herself would not tell me, i knew. and then a passer-by, as we were all crossing the road, uttered a simple sentence.
‘he said to his girl companion that somebody or other “should have asked ellis”. and immediately the whole thing came to me in a flash!’
he looked round.
‘yes, yes, the pince-nez, the telephone call, the short woman who called for the gold box in paris. ellis, of course, jane wilkinson’s maid. i followed every step of it – the candles – the dim light – mrs van dusen – everything. i knew!’
第二十九章 波洛分析案件
第二天一早，由我来给贾普打电话。
他的声音听起来相当沮丧。
“唤！是你，黑斯廷斯上尉。那么，发生什么事了吗？”
我向他转达了波洛的口信。
“十一点钟的时候去？好吧，大概可以。关于罗斯的命莱，他有什么地方可以帮助我们吗？不瞒你说，我们正需要消息。现在什么线索也没有。真是件神秘的案子。”
“我想他有事情要对你讲，”我含糊地说，“他似乎对一切都很得意。”
“我可不行，我跟你说，黑斯廷斯。好吧，黑斯廷斯，我会到的。”
我的第二项任务是给布赖恩·马丁打电话。我对他讲了波洛交代我说的话。我说波洛已经发现了一些他认为布赖恩·马丁会愿意听的有趣事情。他问是什么，我说自己不知道，波洛没告诉我。那边停顿了片刻。
“好吧，”布赖恩最后说，“我会来的。”
他将电话挂了。
不久，令我惊讶的是。波洛又给詹尼。德赖弗打电话，也请她来一趟。
他静静地站在那儿，很严肃。我也就没问他什么问题。
布赖恩·马丁是最先到的。他看起来气色不错，兴致很高，但是——也许是我瞎想的——他有一点儿不安。詹尼。德赖弗差不多是接着立刻到的。她看到布赖恩·马丁似乎很惊奇。布赖恩也有同感。
波洛搬了两把椅子，请他们坐下。他看看自己的表。
“贾普警督一会就到，我想。”
“贾普警督？”布赖恩似乎很惊讶。
“是的——我让他来的——并非很正式，是以朋友身份。”
“我明白了。”
他不再问了。詹尼迅速瞥了他一眼，又看别处了。今天早晨。她似乎有些特别的心事。
不一会，贾普走进门来。
我觉得，他看见布赖恩·马丁和詹尼。德赖弗在座很惊讶。但他并未表现出来。他按通常的样子，嘻嘻哈哈地与波洛打招呼。
“啊，波洛，怎么回事？我想你又有了什么了不起的假想或别的什么了吧？”
波洛对他笑了。
“没有。没有。没什么了不起的东西。只是一段筒单的叙述——如此筒单，我真不好意思。竟然一时没注意。假如阁下允许的话，我愿意从头一步一步地讲给你听。”
贾普叹了口气。看看他的表。
“如果不超过一个小时——”他说。
“放心，”波洛说。“不会用那么长时问的。你看，你不是想知道是谁杀了埃奇韦尔男爵吗？你不是想知道是谁杀了亚当斯小姐？谁杀了庸纳德。罗斯吗？”
“我想知道最后一个疑问。”贾普小心地说。
“听我说。你就会明白一切了。看，我将很谦虚（我却不以为然地想。不太可能吧）。我将把案子发生的每一步骤都指出来——我将向你们讲讲我是如何被蒙蔽了。因此我又是多么愚昧。以及我的好友黑斯廷斯的话。和偶然听到的完全陌生路人的话是怎样帮我找到线索的。”
他停了停。然后清滑嗓子开始用那种被我称作“演讲”的语调讲开了。
“我要从萨伏依饭店的晚餐讲起。埃奇韦尔夫人遇见我。要我单独和她谈谈。她想摆脱她的丈夫。在谈话结束的时候。她说，她也许会雇辆出租车，亲自去杀掉他。我认为她这话是不明智的。当她说这话的时候。碰巧布赖恩·马丁先生进来，听到了这话。”
他转回身去。
“呃？是不是？”
“我们都听到了，”演员回答道，“威德伯思夫妇。马什，卡洛塔——我们所有人。”
“噢，我同意。我完全同意。那么，我始终不曾忘记埃奇韦尔夫人所讲的那句话。第二天早上，布赖恩·马丁先生来访，特别想要把她说的话的意思表达清楚。”
“根本不是那样，”布赖恩·马丁生气地叫道。“我来是——”
波洛扬起一只手阻止他说下去。
“从表面上看，你来是要告诉我，你曾被人跟踪。其实那是孩子都能看穿的把戏。你很可能是从过时的老片子上找来的。你说你必须征得一位女子的同意——还有一个镶金牙的男子。我的朋友，没有什么年轻人会镶金牙——现在不时兴了——特别是在美国。金牙是旧式牙科的手术。噢！这套——真是可笑！说过你被跟踪的故事后，你才开始说你真正想说的话——想让我对埃奇韦尔夫人有一个坏印象。再明白点儿说，你在预言她会杀她的丈夫。”
“我不知道你在讲什么。”布赖恩·马丁喃喃地说道，脸色变得惨白。
“你竭力嘲笑埃奇韦尔男爵会同意离婚的想法。你以为我准备在第二天去见他，事实上，我们的见面改期了。我是那天上午去见他的，而且他同意离婚了。那么，埃奇韦尔夫人这一方面就不存在杀人动机了。另外，他告诉我，他已经写信给埃奇韦尔夫人，告诉她那决定了。
“但是埃奇韦尔夫人说她根本没收到那封信。那么不是她在说谎，就是有人把那封信扣留了——那么会是谁呢？
“于是我想，马丁先生为什么不嫌麻烦，特地来对我撒谎呢？有什么内在力量驱使他？于是，我就有了这样的一个想法，先生，你曾经狂热地爱恋埃奇韦尔大人。埃奇韦尔男爵说，他的太太是想嫁给一个演员。那么，假定这是真的，可男爵夫人改变主意了。埃奇韦尔男爵关于同意离婚的信到达时，她想嫁的人——不是你。那么，你有充分的理由扣留那封信。”
“我从未——”
“一会你可以说你想说的。现在请听我说。
“那么，你打算做什么呢？你这个被观众宠坏了的偶像，从未碰过钉子的人，会有什么企图呢？就我感觉，你会非常愤慨，想尽量去伤害男爵夫人。那么世上还有什么办法比让她因谋杀罪被指控——上绞刑架更狠的呢？”
“天哪！”贾普说。
波洛转向他。
“但是，是真的。这就是我脑中逐渐形成的想法。有好几件事可以支持我这个想法。卡洛塔有两位主要的男友——马什上尉和布赖恩·马丁。布赖恩·马丁是个有钱的人。那么他就有可能建议那个骗人的把戏。答应她，办成此事，就给她一万美元。我一直以为，卡洛塔·亚当斯不会相信罗纳德。马什会给她一万美元，因为她知道他相当穷。布赖恩·马丁是更可能的解释了。”
“我没有——我告诉你——”那位电影演员吵吵地说。
“当亚当斯发给她妹妹的信从华盛顿被电传回来的时侯——噢！哎呀！我很不开心。好像我的推论完全错误了。但是后来。我有一个发现。真正的那封信并没有到我这，那是一封不连贯的。有一页没了的信。所以，‘他’有可能指另一位不是马什上尉的人。
“还有另外一个证据。当马什上尉被捕时，他清楚地说，他看到布赖恩·马丁走进房子。因为他是被控方，所以他的证词没有效力。而且马丁上尉也有不在现场的证据。那是自然的，我们可以想想，假如马丁先生是凶手，他当然要找必要的不在现场的证据。
“他的不在现场的证据，只有一个人可以为他保证——德赖弗小姐。”
“那怎么了？”女孩言辞锋利地问。
“没什么，小姐。”波洛笑着说，“只是我注意到，就在同一天，你和马丁先生共进午餐时，你特地走到我这边来”要我相信你的朋友亚当斯小姐对罗纳德。马什特别感兴趣——不是，本以为是的，是对布赖恩·马丁感兴趣。”
“一点也不对。”那个电影明星断然地说。
“先生，你也许未曾注意。”波洛镇静地说，“但我认为这是真的。这解释了她对埃奇韦尔的不喜欢。那种不喜欢是由于你，因为你告诉过她，你被简·威尔金森拒绝了，不是吗？”
“晤，是的，我觉得要找人谈谈而她——”
“她很有同情心。是的，她总是很同情别人的。这一点，我注意到了。那么，又发生了什么呢？罗纳德。马什被捕了。你的情绪马上好了起来。你就是有过优虑，现在也过去了。尽管由于埃奇韦尔夫人临时改变主意，去参加了晚会，改变了你的计划，但毕竟有人成了替罪羊，使你脱离了干系。后来，在午宴席上，你听到了唐纳德。罗斯——那个讨人喜欢、却很愚蠢的年轻人对黑斯廷斯讲的几句话。让你又不得安全了。”
“这不是真的！”演员吼道，他满脸冒汗。两眼因恐惧露出狂乱的目光，“我告诉你，我什么都没听到——什么都没有——我什么也没做。”
然后，我认为，那天上午最令人惊讶的事情发生了。
“这是真的。”波洛镇静地说，“你竟然到我，赫尔克里·波洛面前讲那种无稽之谈，我想你受的教训该够了吧。”
我们都吓了一大跳，波洛接着又梦幻般地讲自己的话。
“你们看，我给你们讲我犯的错误。我曾经问自己五个问题。黑斯廷斯知道是什么问题。其中有三个问题的答案与案情吻合。谁把那封信扣留了？很显然，布赖恩·马丁已经是个很好的解答了。另一个问题是为什么埃奇韦尔男爵突然改变主意，同意离婚了？关于这个问题，我有一个假定。不是他想再娶，就是其中有敲诈的情况。关于再娶，我找不出证据。关于有人敲诈，我就会想到这个。埃奇韦尔男爵是一个脾气很怪的人。也许有些不可告人的事已经暴露出来了。虽然按照英国的法律。他的妻子不能有英国式的离婚，但可能被她利用。威胁要公开。我想事实大概如此。埃奇韦尔男爵不想要公开的丑事玷污他的名声，所以他不得不让步，那么他脸上便带着一种恨恨的表情——他自己以为未被注意呢。这也说明为什么不等我提到也许与信有关。他就急忙说，。并非因为信中的什么话而改变主意。，
“还有两个问题。一个是亚当斯小姐手提袋里的那副奇怪的夹鼻眼镜，那不是她的。为什么有人在埃奇韦尔夫人用餐的时候打电话找她？我找不出布赖恩·马丁先生与此有俩联系？
“所以我不得不这样下结论，要么我对马丁先生的估计错了。要么是问题错了。绝望中，我又读了亚当斯小姐的那封信，读得非常仔细。结果，我找到了一些东西！是的，我找到了些东西。
“你们自己看吧，倍就在这里。你们看到有一页被扯去的痕迹吗？扯得不齐，这是正常现象。假定那个人前还有一个‘s’。”
“啊！这就明白了，你们明白了吧。不是‘他’，而是‘她’！是一位女士向卡洛塔·亚当斯提出那个骗局的。
“那么，我就把与这个案子有关的女士开了一个名单。除了简·威尔金森以外，还有四个人——杰拉尔丁。马什，卡罗尔小姐。德赖弗小姐和默顿公爵夫人。
“在这四个人中，最令我注意的是卡罗尔小姐。她戴眼镜，那天晚上，她在房子里面。由于她想加罪于埃奇韦尔夫人，所以曾提出不正确的证词。同时她也是一位非常能干，非常有胆量的女人，是可能犯这种罪的。谈到动机，却不太清楚。不过，她毕竟在埃奇韦尔男爵手下干过几年，也许可能有某种动机，只是我们完全不知道就是了。
“同时，我觉得不能完全排除杰拉尔丁。马什小姐。她恨她的父亲——这是她亲口对我说的。她是一种神经质、极端兴奋的类型。假设那天晚上她定进那房子，杀了她的父亲后，又冷静地走上褛去取首饰。她是很爱她的堂兄的。可是，
当她发现他并不是在外面等着，而是进来了。可以想象一下，她当时的心情有多么痛苦。
“她那激动的态度该如何解释呢？可以解释为她是无罪的。同时，她害怕是她堂兄杀的人。还有一小点。亚当斯小姐手袋里的金匣子，上面有首写字母d。d我听过她被她的堂兄称做‘戴娜’。另外，他去年十一月在巴黎的寄宿学校，很可能在巴黎遇见过卡洛塔·亚当斯。
“你们也许觉得我将默顿公爵夫人加人这个名单未免太荒诞了。但是，她曾找过我，我发现她是一位偏执狂型的人。她将全部的感情都寄托在她儿子身上。她以为简会毁了她儿子的一生，所以她设计圈套，希望置她于死地。
“此外。还有詹尼。德赖弗小姐——”
他停了停，望了望詹尼。她的脑袋歪到一边，不客气地回望着他。
“你要说我什么？”她问道。
“没什么。小姐。除了你是布赖恩·马丁的一个朋友——以及你的姓，第一个宇母是dd”
“这没什么呀。”
“还有一件事情。你有头脑和胆量来犯这个罪。我怀疑还有谁能这样。”
女孩点燃了一支香烟。
“说下去。”她高兴地说。
“马丁先生不在现场的证据是否真实，需要我来判断。如果是真实的。那罗纳德。马什看到的那个进房子的人是谁？突然，我记起了一点事情。摄政门的那个英俊管家与马丁先生相貌酷似。那么马什上尉看到的可能是他。所以我就有了一个假想。我以为，大概是他发现了主人被杀。主人身边有个信封，里边是法国钞票，值一百英镑。于是他就把钞票拿去，溜掉了。他把钞票放在了一个流氓朋友那里，然后回来，用埃奇韦尔男爵的钥匙开了大门。回到了男爵公馆，让女佣第二天发现凶杀菜。他觉得自己没有危险，因为他相信一定是埃奇韦尔夫人杀的人，而且那些法国钞票己经妥善地放在外面了，等到发现钞票遗失的时候，那钱早已兑换成英镑了。虽然如此，但埃奇韦尔夫人有不在现场的证据。而且伦敦警察厅开始调查他的身世，他得到了风声，便逃走了。”
贾普赞成地点着头。
“我还有那个夹鼻眼镜的问题要解决。假如卡罗尔小姐是眼镜的主人，那么案子就可以解决了。她有可能把那封信扣留了。在她与卡洛塔·亚当斯讨论细节的时候，或者她在凶杀棠发生的那天晚上，与她见面的时候，或许偶然将那副夹鼻眼镜丢到了卡洛塔·亚当斯的手袋里。
“但那副夹鼻眼镜显然与卡罗尔小姐无关。有一天我同这里的黑斯廷斯一同走回家去。当时他情绪有点低落，竭力想有条有理地将心中的几个问题整理一下，于是奇迹发生了。
“首先，黑斯廷斯谈到几件事。好像有一定的顺序。他谈到唐纳德。罗斯是赴蒙塔古。科纳爵士宴会十三位就餐者中第一个离席的。我当时在想自己一连串的问题，正在思考。所以并未注意。我只是在刹那间想到，严格地说，那不是事实。在终席的时候，他可能是最先起身离席的，但事实上，还有埃奇韦尔夫人。她因为管家请她去接电话，是先起身的。想起她来，我忽然想起一个谜来——这个谜与她孩子气的心理很符合。我将谜讲给黑斯廷斯，但他像维多利亚女王一样，毫不感兴趣。以后我就不知道该问谁才能得知马丁先生对简·威尔金森的感情。她自己是不会告诉我的，裁知道这一点。这时”们正过马路的时候，尔听到一个路人说了一个极简单的句子。
“他对他的女友说某人‘该去问问埃利斯’。于是我突然恍然大悟。”
他回头望了望。
“是的，的，个夹鼻眼镜，个电话。那个去取金匣子的矮女人，然是埃利斯，。威尔金森的女仆。于是我便一步一步地推断——那些蜡烛——幽暗的灯光一凡·范。杜森太太——一切符合。我完全明白了。”
