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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 81 из 147The undisciplined schoolgirl had given place to a vital and forceful woman, a woman of considerable mental power and gifted with abundant energy to accomplish ambitious purposes. She was a woman, Poirot felt sure, both happy and successful. Her life was full and vivid and eminently enjoyable.
She was not, incidentally, the type of woman that Poirot really liked. Though admiring the clear-cut precision of her mind, she had just a sufficientnuance of thefemme formidable about her to alarm him as a mere man. His taste had always been for the flamboyant and extravagant.
With Angela Warren it was easy to come to the point of his visit. There was no subterfuge. He merely recounted Carla Lemarchant’s interview with him.
Angela Warren’s severe face lighted up appreciatively.
‘Little Carla? She is over here? I would like to see her so much.’
‘You have not kept in touch with her?’
‘Hardly as much as I should have done. I was a schoolgirl at the time she went to Canada, and I realized, of course, that in a year or two she would have forgotten us. Of late years, an occasional present at Christmas has been the only link between us. I imagined that she would, by now, be completely immersed in the Canadian atmosphere and that her future would lie over there. Better so, in the circumstances.’
Poirot said: ‘One might think so, certainly. A change of name-a change of scene. A new life. But it was not to be so easy as that.’
And he then told of Carla’s engagement, the discovery she had made upon coming of age and her motives in coming to England.
Angela Warren listened quietly, her disfigured cheek resting on one hand. She betrayed no emotion during the recital, but as Poirot finished, she said quietly:
‘Good for Carla.’
Poirot was startled. It was the first time that he had met with this reaction. He said:
‘You approve, Miss Warren?’
‘Certainly. I wish her every success. Anything I can do to help, I will. I feel guilty, you know, that I haven’t attempted anything myself.’
‘Then you think that there is a possibility that she is right in her views.’
Angela Warren said sharply:
‘Of course she’s right. Caroline didn’t do it. I’ve always known that.’
Hercule Poirot murmured:
‘You surprise me very much indeed, mademoiselle. Everybody else I have spoken to-’
She cut in sharply:
‘You mustn’t go by that. I’ve no doubt that the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. My own conviction is based on knowledge-knowledge of my sister. I just know quite simply and definitely that Carocouldn’t have killed any one.
She was not, incidentally, the type of woman that Poirot really liked. Though admiring the clear-cut precision of her mind, she had just a sufficientnuance of thefemme formidable about her to alarm him as a mere man. His taste had always been for the flamboyant and extravagant.
With Angela Warren it was easy to come to the point of his visit. There was no subterfuge. He merely recounted Carla Lemarchant’s interview with him.
Angela Warren’s severe face lighted up appreciatively.
‘Little Carla? She is over here? I would like to see her so much.’
‘You have not kept in touch with her?’
‘Hardly as much as I should have done. I was a schoolgirl at the time she went to Canada, and I realized, of course, that in a year or two she would have forgotten us. Of late years, an occasional present at Christmas has been the only link between us. I imagined that she would, by now, be completely immersed in the Canadian atmosphere and that her future would lie over there. Better so, in the circumstances.’
Poirot said: ‘One might think so, certainly. A change of name-a change of scene. A new life. But it was not to be so easy as that.’
And he then told of Carla’s engagement, the discovery she had made upon coming of age and her motives in coming to England.
Angela Warren listened quietly, her disfigured cheek resting on one hand. She betrayed no emotion during the recital, but as Poirot finished, she said quietly:
‘Good for Carla.’
Poirot was startled. It was the first time that he had met with this reaction. He said:
‘You approve, Miss Warren?’
‘Certainly. I wish her every success. Anything I can do to help, I will. I feel guilty, you know, that I haven’t attempted anything myself.’
‘Then you think that there is a possibility that she is right in her views.’
Angela Warren said sharply:
‘Of course she’s right. Caroline didn’t do it. I’ve always known that.’
Hercule Poirot murmured:
‘You surprise me very much indeed, mademoiselle. Everybody else I have spoken to-’
She cut in sharply:
‘You mustn’t go by that. I’ve no doubt that the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. My own conviction is based on knowledge-knowledge of my sister. I just know quite simply and definitely that Carocouldn’t have killed any one.