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Mrs. Inglethorp didn't have a candle, only a reading-lamp." "Then, if there had been a large patch of candle grease on the floor, you think you would have been sure to have seen it?" "Yes, sir, and I would have taken it out with a piece of blotting-paper and a hot iron." Then Poirot repeated the question he had put to Dorcas: "Did your mistress ever have a green dress?" "No, sir."
On September 15th John Cavendish appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey, charged with "The Wilful Murder of Emily Agnes Inglethorp," and pleaded "Not Guilty." Sir Ernest Heavywether, the famous K. C., had been engaged to defend him. Mr. Philips, K. C., opened the case for the Crown. The murder, he said, was a most premeditated and cold-blooded one.
"Because, so long as the evidence against him was vague and intangible, it was very hard to disprove. But, in his anxiety, the criminal has drawn the net so closely that one cut will set Inglethorp free." I was silent. And in a minute or two, Poirot continued: "Let us look at the matter like this. Here is a man, let us say, who sets out to poison his wife.
"A letter in the murderer's own hand-writing, mes amis! Had it been a little clearer in its terms, it is possible that Mrs. Inglethorp, warned in time, would have escaped. As it was, she realized her danger, but not the manner of it." In the deathly silence, Poirot pieced together the slips of paper and, clearing his throat, read: "'Dearest Evelyn: 'You will be anxious at hearing nothing.
No one took much notice of that at the inquest but now it has a very different significance. We must find out who did take that coffee to Mrs. Inglethorp eventually, or who passed through the hall whilst it was standing there. From your account, there are only two people whom we can positively say did not go near the coffee Mrs. Cavendish, and Mademoiselle Cynthia." "Yes, that is so."
"Cynthia," called Mrs. Inglethorp, "do you think you could write a few notes for me?" "Certainly, Aunt Emily." She jumped up promptly, and something in her manner reminded me that her position was a dependent one, and that Mrs. Inglethorp, kind as she might be in the main, did not allow her to forget it. My hostess turned to me. "John will show you your room. Supper is at half-past seven.
No suspicion had entered the prisoner's head that anyone could possibly have mistaken his voice for that of Mr. Inglethorp. He naturally concluded that his stepmother had had two quarrels. The prosecution averred that on Monday, July 16th, the prisoner had entered the chemist's shop in the village, disguised as Mr. Inglethorp.
A little gasp ran round the circle at this plain speaking. "Good heavens!" cried Inglethorp, starting up. "What a monstrous idea! I poison my dearest Emily!" "I do not think" Poirot watched him narrowly "that you quite realize the unfavourable nature of your evidence at the inquest. Mr.
"But, as it will never do if John, too, can prove an alibi, she writes him an anonymous note still copying his hand-writing which takes him to a remote spot where it is exceedingly unlikely that anyone will see him. "So far, all goes well. Miss Howard goes back to Middlingham. Alfred Inglethorp returns to Styles.
Possibly she applied oil to the hinges, for I found that it opened quite noiselessly when I tried it. She put off her project until the early hours of the morning as being safer, since the servants were accustomed to hearing her move about her room at that time. She dressed completely in her land kit, and made her way quietly through Mademoiselle Cynthia's room into that of Mrs. Inglethorp."
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