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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 83 из 147One of these ways was a great extravagance of language. She felt (and I think, psychologically quite truly) that if she were violent enough in speech she would have no temptation to violence in action. She found by experience that the method worked. That’s why I’ve heard Caro say things like “I’d like to cut so and so in pieces and boil him slowly in oil.” And she’d say to me, or to Amyas, “If you go on annoying me I shall murder you.” In the same way she quarrelled easily and violently. She recognized, I think, the impulse to violence that there was in her nature, and she deliberately gave it an outlet that way. She and Amyas used to have the most fantastic and lurid quarrels.’
Hercule Poirot nodded.
‘Yes, there was evidence of that. They quarrelled like cat and dog, it was said.’
Angela Warren said:
‘Exactly. That’s what is so stupid and misleading about evidence. Of course Caro and Amyas quarrelled! Of course they said bitter and outrageous and cruel things to each other! What nobody appreciates is that theyenjoyed quarrelling. But they did! Amyas enjoyed it too. They were that kind of couple. They both of them liked drama and emotional scenes. Most men don’t. They like peace. But Amyas was an artist. He liked shouting and threatening and generally being outrageous. It was like letting off steam to him. He was the kind of man who when he loses his collar stud bellows the house down. It sounds very odd, I know, but living that way with continual rows and makings-up was Amyas’s and Caroline’s idea of fun!’
She made an impatient gesture.
‘If they’d only not hustled me away and let me give evidence, I’d have told them that.’ Then she shrugged her shoulders. ‘But I don’t suppose they would have believed me. And anyway then it wouldn’t have been as clear in my mind as it is now. It was the kind of thing I knew but hadn’t thought about and certainly had never dreamed of putting into words.’
She looked across at Poirot.
‘You do see what I mean?’
He nodded vigorously.
‘I see perfectly-and I realize the absolute rightness of what you have said. There are people to whom agreement is monotony. They require the stimulant of dissension to create drama in their lives.’
‘Exactly.’
‘May I ask you, Miss Warren, what were your own feelings at the time?’
Angela Warren sighed.
‘Mostly bewilderment and helplessness, I think. It seemed a fantastic nightmare. Caroline was arrested very soon-about three days afterwards, I think.
Hercule Poirot nodded.
‘Yes, there was evidence of that. They quarrelled like cat and dog, it was said.’
Angela Warren said:
‘Exactly. That’s what is so stupid and misleading about evidence. Of course Caro and Amyas quarrelled! Of course they said bitter and outrageous and cruel things to each other! What nobody appreciates is that theyenjoyed quarrelling. But they did! Amyas enjoyed it too. They were that kind of couple. They both of them liked drama and emotional scenes. Most men don’t. They like peace. But Amyas was an artist. He liked shouting and threatening and generally being outrageous. It was like letting off steam to him. He was the kind of man who when he loses his collar stud bellows the house down. It sounds very odd, I know, but living that way with continual rows and makings-up was Amyas’s and Caroline’s idea of fun!’
She made an impatient gesture.
‘If they’d only not hustled me away and let me give evidence, I’d have told them that.’ Then she shrugged her shoulders. ‘But I don’t suppose they would have believed me. And anyway then it wouldn’t have been as clear in my mind as it is now. It was the kind of thing I knew but hadn’t thought about and certainly had never dreamed of putting into words.’
She looked across at Poirot.
‘You do see what I mean?’
He nodded vigorously.
‘I see perfectly-and I realize the absolute rightness of what you have said. There are people to whom agreement is monotony. They require the stimulant of dissension to create drama in their lives.’
‘Exactly.’
‘May I ask you, Miss Warren, what were your own feelings at the time?’
Angela Warren sighed.
‘Mostly bewilderment and helplessness, I think. It seemed a fantastic nightmare. Caroline was arrested very soon-about three days afterwards, I think.