Poirot said:
“But perhaps, this time, there was to be no choice… Go on, Mademoiselle, what next?”
Elinor said:
“I put the sandwiches ready on a plate and I went down to the Lodge. Nurse Hopkins was there as well as Mary. I told them I had some sandwiches up at the house.”
Poirot was watching her. He said softly:
“Yes, and you all came up to the house together, did you not?”
“Yes. We—ate the sandwiches in the morning room.”
Poirot said in the same soft tone:
“Yes, yes—still in the dream… And then…”
“Then?” She stared. “I left her—standing by the window. I went out into the pantry. It was still like you say—in a dream… Nurse was there washing up… I gave her the paste pot.”
“Yes—yes. And what happened then? What did you think of next?”
Elinor said dreamily:
“There was a mark on Nurse’s wrist. I mentioned it and she said it was a thorn from the rose trellis by the Lodge. The roses by the Lodge… Roddy and I had a quarrel once—long ago—about the Wars of the Roses. I was Lancaster and he was York. He liked white roses. I said they weren’t real—they didn’t even smell! I liked red roses, big and dark and velvety and smelling of summer… We quarrelled in the most idiotic way. You see, it all came back to me—there in the pantry—and something—something broke—the black hate I’d had in my heart—it went away—with remembering how we were together as children. I didn’t hate Mary any more. I didn’t want her to die….”
She stopped.
“But later, when we went back into the morning room, she was dying….”
She stopped. Poirot was staring at her very intently. She flushed and said:
“Will you ask me—again—did I kill Mary Gerrard?”
Poirot rose to his feet. He said quickly:
“I shall ask you—nothing. There are things I do not want to know….”
Twelve
Dr. Lord met the train at the station as requested.
Hercule Poirot alighted from it. He looked very Londonified and was wearing pointed patent leather shoes.
Peter Lord scrutinized his face anxiously, but Hercule Poirot was giving nothing away.
Peter Lord said:
“I’ve done my best to get answers to your questions. First, Mary Gerrard left here for London on July 10th. Second, I haven’t got a housekeeper—a couple of giggling girls run my house. I think you must mean Mrs. Slattery, who was Ransome’s (my predecessor’s) housekeeper. I can take you to her this morning if you like. I’ve arranged that she shall be in.”
Poirot said:
“Yes, I think it would be as well if I saw her first.”
“Then you said you wanted to go to Hunterbury, I could come with you there. It beats me why you haven’t been there already. I can’t think why you wouldn’t go when you were down here before. I should have thought the first thing to be done in a case like this was to visit the place where the crime took place.”
Holding his head a little on one side, Hercule Poirot inquired:
“Why?”