JК
Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 32 из 147And in any case Ican’t see that kind of thing happening. It’s true that Mr Meredith Blake was given to recommending quack nostrums of his own concocting, but I don’t see Mr Crale trying any of them. And if he did he’d probably talk and joke about it. Besides, whyshould Mr Meredith Blake want to kill Mr Crale? Everything goes to show that he was on very good terms with him. They all were. Mr Philip Blake was his best friend. Miss Greer was in love with him. Miss Williams disapproved of him, I imagine, very strongly-but moral disapprobation doesn’t lead to poisoning. Little Miss Warren scrapped with him a lot, she was at a tiresome age-just off to school, I believe, but he was quite fond of her and she of him. She was treated, you know, with particular tenderness and consideration in that house. You may have heard why. She was badly injured when she was a child-injured by Mrs Crale in a kind of maniacal fit of rage. That rather shows, doesn’t it, that she was a pretty uncontrolled sort of person? To go for a child-and maim her for life!’
‘It might show,’ said Poirot thoughtfully, ‘that Angela Warren had good reason to bear a grudge against Caroline Crale.’
‘Perhaps-but not against Amyas Crale. And anyway Mrs Crale was devoted to her young sister-gave her a home when her parents died, and, as I say, treated her with special affection-spoiled her badly, so they say. The girl was obviously fond of Mrs Crale. She was kept away from the trial and sheltered from it all as far as possible-Mrs Crale was very insistent about that, I believe. But the girl was terribly upset and longed to be taken to see her sister in prison. Caroline Crale wouldn’t agree. She said that sort of thing might injure a girl’s mentality for life. She arranged for her to go to school abroad.’
He added:
‘Miss Warren’s turned out a very distinguished woman. Traveller to weird places. Lectures at the Royal Geographical-all that sort of thing.’
‘And no one remembers the trial?’
‘Well, it’s a different name for one thing. They hadn’t even the same maiden name. They had the same mother but different fathers. Mrs Crale’s name was Spalding.’
‘This Miss Williams, was she the child’s governess, or Angela Warren’s?’
‘Angela’s. There was a nurse for the child-but she used to do a few little lessons with Miss Williams every day, I believe.’
‘Where was the child at the time?’
‘She’d gone with the nurse to pay a visit to her grandmother. A Lady Tressillian. A widow lady who’d lost her own two little girls and who was devoted to this kid.
‘It might show,’ said Poirot thoughtfully, ‘that Angela Warren had good reason to bear a grudge against Caroline Crale.’
‘Perhaps-but not against Amyas Crale. And anyway Mrs Crale was devoted to her young sister-gave her a home when her parents died, and, as I say, treated her with special affection-spoiled her badly, so they say. The girl was obviously fond of Mrs Crale. She was kept away from the trial and sheltered from it all as far as possible-Mrs Crale was very insistent about that, I believe. But the girl was terribly upset and longed to be taken to see her sister in prison. Caroline Crale wouldn’t agree. She said that sort of thing might injure a girl’s mentality for life. She arranged for her to go to school abroad.’
He added:
‘Miss Warren’s turned out a very distinguished woman. Traveller to weird places. Lectures at the Royal Geographical-all that sort of thing.’
‘And no one remembers the trial?’
‘Well, it’s a different name for one thing. They hadn’t even the same maiden name. They had the same mother but different fathers. Mrs Crale’s name was Spalding.’
‘This Miss Williams, was she the child’s governess, or Angela Warren’s?’
‘Angela’s. There was a nurse for the child-but she used to do a few little lessons with Miss Williams every day, I believe.’
‘Where was the child at the time?’
‘She’d gone with the nurse to pay a visit to her grandmother. A Lady Tressillian. A widow lady who’d lost her own two little girls and who was devoted to this kid.