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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 139 из 147Poirot asks?’
Angela Warren said bitterly: ‘Really, Carla! Have you no sense of decency? She was your mother-you-’
Carla’s voice rang out clear and fierce.
‘Yes, she was my mother. That’s why I’ve a right to ask you. I’m speaking forher. Iwant that letter read.’
Slowly, Angela Warren took out the letter from her bag and handed it to Poirot. She said bitterly:
‘I wish I had never shown it to you.’
Turning away from them she stood looking out of the window.
As Hercule Poirot read aloud Caroline Crale’s last letter, the shadows were deepening in the corners of the room. Carla had a sudden feeling of someone in the room, gathering shape, listening, breathing, waiting. She thought: ‘She’shere-my mother’s here. Caroline-Caroline Crale ishere in this room!’
Hercule Poirot’s voice ceased. He said:
‘You will all agree, I think, that that is a very remarkable letter. A beautiful letter, too, but certainly remarkable. For there is one striking omission in it-it contains no protestation of innocence.’
Angela Warren said without turning her head: ‘That was unnecessary.’
‘Yes, Miss Warren, it was unnecessary. Caroline Crale had no need to tell her sister that she was innocent-because she thought her sister knew that fact already-knew it for the best of all reasons. All Caroline Crale was concerned about was to comfort and reassure and to avert the possibility of a confession from Angela. She reiterates again and again-It’s all right, darling, it’s all right.’
Angela Warren said: ‘Can’t you understand? She wanted me to be happy, that’s all.’
‘Yes, she wanted you to be happy, that is abundantly clear. It is her one preoccupation. She has a child, but it is not that child of whom she is thinking-that is to come later. No, it is her sister who occupies her mind to the exclusion of everything else. Her sister must be reassured, must be encouraged to live her life, to be happy and successful. And so that the burden of acceptance may not be too great, Caroline includes that one very significant phrase: “One must pay one’s debts.”
‘That one phrase explains everything. It refers explicitly to the burden that Caroline has carried for so many years ever since, in a fit of uncontrolled adolescent rage, she hurled a paperweight at her baby sister and injured that sister for life. Now, at last, she has the opportunity to pay the debt she owes.
Angela Warren said bitterly: ‘Really, Carla! Have you no sense of decency? She was your mother-you-’
Carla’s voice rang out clear and fierce.
‘Yes, she was my mother. That’s why I’ve a right to ask you. I’m speaking forher. Iwant that letter read.’
Slowly, Angela Warren took out the letter from her bag and handed it to Poirot. She said bitterly:
‘I wish I had never shown it to you.’
Turning away from them she stood looking out of the window.
As Hercule Poirot read aloud Caroline Crale’s last letter, the shadows were deepening in the corners of the room. Carla had a sudden feeling of someone in the room, gathering shape, listening, breathing, waiting. She thought: ‘She’shere-my mother’s here. Caroline-Caroline Crale ishere in this room!’
Hercule Poirot’s voice ceased. He said:
‘You will all agree, I think, that that is a very remarkable letter. A beautiful letter, too, but certainly remarkable. For there is one striking omission in it-it contains no protestation of innocence.’
Angela Warren said without turning her head: ‘That was unnecessary.’
‘Yes, Miss Warren, it was unnecessary. Caroline Crale had no need to tell her sister that she was innocent-because she thought her sister knew that fact already-knew it for the best of all reasons. All Caroline Crale was concerned about was to comfort and reassure and to avert the possibility of a confession from Angela. She reiterates again and again-It’s all right, darling, it’s all right.’
Angela Warren said: ‘Can’t you understand? She wanted me to be happy, that’s all.’
‘Yes, she wanted you to be happy, that is abundantly clear. It is her one preoccupation. She has a child, but it is not that child of whom she is thinking-that is to come later. No, it is her sister who occupies her mind to the exclusion of everything else. Her sister must be reassured, must be encouraged to live her life, to be happy and successful. And so that the burden of acceptance may not be too great, Caroline includes that one very significant phrase: “One must pay one’s debts.”
‘That one phrase explains everything. It refers explicitly to the burden that Caroline has carried for so many years ever since, in a fit of uncontrolled adolescent rage, she hurled a paperweight at her baby sister and injured that sister for life. Now, at last, she has the opportunity to pay the debt she owes.