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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 134 из 147But anyone with the least flair for psychology can perceive at once that the exact opposite was the truth. You were always violently attracted towards Caroline Crale. You resented the fact, and tried to conquer it by steadfastly telling yourself her defects and reiterating your dislike. In the same way, Mr Meredith Blake had a tradition of devotion to Caroline Crale lasting over many years. In his story of the tragedy he represents himself as resenting Amyas Crale’s conduct onher account, but you have only to read carefully between the lines and you will see that the devotion of a lifetime had worn itself thin and that it was the young, beautiful Elsa Greer that was occupyinghis mind and thoughts.’
There was a splutter from Meredith, and Lady Dittisham smiled.
Poirot went on.
‘I mention these matters only as illustrations, though they have their bearing on what happened. Very well, then, I start on my backward journey-to learn everything I can about the tragedy. I will tell you how I set about it. I talked to the Counsel who defended Caroline Crale, to the Junior Counsel for the Crown, to the old solicitor who had known the Crale family intimately, to the lawyer’s clerk who had been in court during the trial, to the police officer in charge of the case-and I came finally to the five eye-witnesses who had been upon the scene. And from all of these I put together a picture-a composite picture of a woman. And I learned these facts:
‘That at no time did Caroline Crale protest her innocence(except in that one letter written to her daughter).
‘That Caroline Crale showed no fear in the dock, that she showed, in fact, hardly any interest, that she adopted throughout a thoroughly defeatist attitude. That in prison she was quiet and serene. That in a letter she wrote to her sister immediately after the verdict, she expressed herself as acquiescent in the fate that had overtaken her. And in the opinion of everyone I talked to (with one notable exception)Caroline Crale was guilty.’
Philip Blake nodded his head. ‘Of course she was!’
Hercule Poirot said:
‘But it was not my part to accept the verdict ofothers. I had to examine the evidence formyself. To examine the facts and to satisfy myself that the psychology of the case accorded itself with them. To do this I went over the police files carefully, and I also succeeded in getting five people who were on the spot to write me out their own accounts of the tragedy.
There was a splutter from Meredith, and Lady Dittisham smiled.
Poirot went on.
‘I mention these matters only as illustrations, though they have their bearing on what happened. Very well, then, I start on my backward journey-to learn everything I can about the tragedy. I will tell you how I set about it. I talked to the Counsel who defended Caroline Crale, to the Junior Counsel for the Crown, to the old solicitor who had known the Crale family intimately, to the lawyer’s clerk who had been in court during the trial, to the police officer in charge of the case-and I came finally to the five eye-witnesses who had been upon the scene. And from all of these I put together a picture-a composite picture of a woman. And I learned these facts:
‘That at no time did Caroline Crale protest her innocence(except in that one letter written to her daughter).
‘That Caroline Crale showed no fear in the dock, that she showed, in fact, hardly any interest, that she adopted throughout a thoroughly defeatist attitude. That in prison she was quiet and serene. That in a letter she wrote to her sister immediately after the verdict, she expressed herself as acquiescent in the fate that had overtaken her. And in the opinion of everyone I talked to (with one notable exception)Caroline Crale was guilty.’
Philip Blake nodded his head. ‘Of course she was!’
Hercule Poirot said:
‘But it was not my part to accept the verdict ofothers. I had to examine the evidence formyself. To examine the facts and to satisfy myself that the psychology of the case accorded itself with them. To do this I went over the police files carefully, and I also succeeded in getting five people who were on the spot to write me out their own accounts of the tragedy.