case. On the face of it, it looked as though Mr.
Rhodes must have murdered his wife. But I could
see that Mr. Petherick was quite convinced of his
client's innocence and Mr. Petherick was a very
shrewd man.
At the inquest Mr. Rhodes had told a hesitating
and rambling story about some woman who had
written threatening letters to his wife. His story, I
gathere
d, had been unconvincing in the extreme.
Appealed to by Mr. Petherick, he explained him-self.
"Frankly," he said, "I never believed it. I
thought Amy had made most of it up."
Mrs. Rhodes, I gathered, was one of those ro-mantic
liars who go through life embroidering
everything that happens to them. The amount of
adventures that, according to her own account,
happened to her in a year was simply incredible. If
she slipped on a bit of banana peel it was a case of
near escape from death. If a lamp-shade caught
fire, she was rescued from a burning building at
the hazard of her life. Her husband got into the
habit of discounting her statements. Her tale as to
some woman whose child she had injured .in a
motor accident and who had vowed vengeance on
her--wellmMr. Rhodes had simply not taken any
136
Agatha Christie
notice of it. The incident had happened before he
married his wife and although she had read him