Battle nodded. He said:
“That was the beginning of it! As she told Miss Conway, she turned her thoughts and her undoubted mental ability to one aim and purpose.”
Lord Whitfield said incredulously:
“To get me convicted as a murderer? I can’t believe it.”
Bridget said, “It’s true, Gordon. You know, you were surprised yourself at the extraordinary way that everybody who annoyed you was instantly struck down.”
“There was a reason for that.”
“Honoria Waynflete was the reason,” said Bridget. “Do get it into your head, Gordon, that it wasn’t Providence that pushed Tommy Pierce out of the window, and all the rest of them. It was Honoria.”
Lord Whitfield shook his head.
“It all seems to me quite incredible!” he said.
Battle said:
“You say you got a telephone message this morning?”
“Yes—about twelve o’clock. I was asked to go to the Shaw Wood at once as you, Bridget, had something to say to me. I was not to come by car but to walk.”
Battle nodded.
“Exactly. That would have been the finish. Miss Conway would have been found with her throat cut; and beside her your knife with your fingerprints on it! And you yourself would have been seen in the vicinity at the time! You wouldn’t have had a leg to stand upon. Any jury in the world would have convicted you.”
“Me?” said Lord Whitfield, startled and distressed. “Anyone would have believed a thing like that of Me?”
Bridget said gently:
“I didn’t, Gordon. I never believed it.”
Lord Whitfield looked at her coldly, then he said stiffly:
“In view of my character and my standing in the county, I do not believe that anyone for one moment would have believed in such a monstrous charge!”
He went out with dignity and closed the door behind him.
Luke said:
“He’ll never realize that he was really in danger!”
Then he said:
“Go on, Bridget, tell me how you came to suspect the Waynflete woman.”
Bridget explained:
“It was when you were telling me that Gordon was the killer. I couldn’t believe it! You see, I knew him so well. I’d been his secretary for two years! I knew him in and out! I knew that he was pompous and petty and completely self-absorbed, but I knew, too, that he was a kindly person and almost absurdly tenderhearted. It worried him even to kill a wasp. That story about his killing Miss Waynflete’s canary—it was all wrong. He just couldn’t have done it. He’d told me once that he had jilted her. Now you insisted that it was the other way about. Well, that might be so! His pride might not have allowed him to admit that she had thrown him over. But not the canary story! That simply wasn’t Gordon! He didn’t even shoot because seeing things killed made him feel sick.
“So I simply knew that that part of the story was untrue. But if so, Miss Waynflete must have lied. And it was really, when you came to think of it, a very extraordinary lie! And I wondered suddenly if she’d told anymore lies. She was a very proud woman—one could see that. To be thrown over must have hurt her pride horribly. It would probably make her feel very angry and revengeful against Lord Whitfield—especially, I felt, if he turned up again later all rich and prosperous and successful. I thought, ‘Yes, she’d probably enjoy helping to fix a crime upon him.’ And then a curious sort of whirling feeling came in my brain and I thought—but suppose everything she says is a lie—and I suddenly saw how easily a woman like that could make a fool of a man! And I thought, ‘It’s fantastic, but suppose it was she who killed all these people and fed Gordon up with the idea that it was a kind of divine retribution!’ It would be quite easy for her to make him believe that. As I told you once, Gordon would believe anything! And I thought, ‘Could she have done all those murders?’ And I saw that she could! She could give a shove to a drunken man—and push a boy out of a window, and Amy Gibbs had died in her house. Mrs. Horton, too—Honoria Waynflete used to go and sit with her when she was ill. Dr. Humbleby was more difficult. I didn’t know then that Wonky Pooh had a nasty septic ear and that she infected the dressing she put on his hand. Miss Pinkerton’s death was even more difficult, because I couldn’t imagine Miss Waynflete dressed up as a chauffeur driving a Rolls.
“And then, suddenly, I saw that that was the easiest of the lot! It was the old shove from behind—easily done in a crowd. The car didn’t stop and she saw a fresh opportunity and told another woman she had seen the number of the car, and gave the number of Lord Whitfield’s Rolls.
“Of course, all this only came very confusedly through my head. But if Gordon definitely hadn’t done the murders—and I knew—yes, knew that he hadn’t—well, who had? And the answer seemed quite clear. ‘Someone who hates Gordon!’ Who hates Gordon? Honoria Waynflete, of course.
“And then I remembered that Miss Pinkerton had definitely spoken of a man as the killer. That knocked out all my beautiful theory, because, unless Miss Pinkerton was right, she wouldn’t have been killed…So I got you to repeat exactly Miss Pinkerton’s words and I soon discovered that she hadn’t actually said ‘man’ once. Then I felt that I was definitely on the right track! I decided to accept Miss Waynflete’s invitation to stay with her and I resolved to try to ferret out the truth.”
“Without saying a word to me?” said Luke angrily.
“But, my sweet, you were so sure—and I wasn’t sure a bit! It was all vague and doubtful. But I never dreamed that I was in any danger. I thought I’d have plenty of time….”
She shivered.
“Oh, Luke, it was horrible…Her eyes…And that dreadful, polite, inhuman laugh….”
Luke said with a slight shiver:
“I shan’t forget how I only got there just in time.”
He turned to Battle. “What’s she like now?”
“Gone right over the edge,” said Battle. “They do, you know. They can’t face the shock of not having been as clever as they thought they were.”
Luke said ruefully:
“Well, I’m not much of a policeman! I never suspected Honoria Waynflete once. You’d have done better, Battle.”
“Maybe, sir, maybe not. You’ll remember my saying that nothing’s impossible in crime. I mentioned a maiden lady, I believe.”
“You also mentioned an archbishop and a schoolgirl! Am I to understand that you consider all these people as potential criminals?”
Battle’s smile broadened to a grin.
“Anyone may be a criminal, sir, that’s what I meant.”
“Except Gordon,” said Bridget. “Luke, let’s go and find him.”
They found Lord Whitfield in his study busily making notes.
“Gordon,” said Bridget in a small meek voice. “Please, now that you know everything, will you forgive us?”
Lord Whitfield looked at her graciously.
“Certainly, my dear, certainly. I realize the truth. I was a busy man. I neglected you. The truth of the matter is as Kipling so wisely puts it: ‘He travels the fastest who travels alone. My path in life is a lonely one.’” He squared his shoulders. “I carry a big responsibility. I must carry it alone. For me there can be no companionship, no easing of the burden—I must go through life alone—till I drop by the wayside.”
Bridget said:
“Dear Gordon! You really are sweet!”
Lord Whitfield frowned.
“It is not a question of being sweet. Let us forget all this nonsense. I am a busy man.”
“I know you are.”
“I am arranging for a series of articles to start at once. Crimes committed by Women through the Ages.”
Bridget gazed at him with admiration.
“Gordon, I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Lord Whitfield puffed out his chest.
“So please leave me now. I must not be disturbed. I have a lot of work to get through.”
Luke and Bridget tiptoed from the
room.
“But he really is sweet!” said Bridget.
“Bridget, I believe you were really fond of that man!”
“Do you know, Luke, I believe I was.”
Luke looked out of the window.
“I’ll be glad to get away from Wychwood. I don’t like this place. There’s a lot of wickedness here, as Mrs. Humbleby would say. I don’t like the way Ashe Ridge broods over the village.”
“Talking of Ashe Ridge, what about Ellsworthy?”
Luke laughed a little shamefacedly.
“That blood on his hands?”
“Yes.”
“They’d sacrificed a white cock apparently!”
“How perfectly disgusting!”
“I think something unpleasant is going to happen to our Mr. Ellsworthy. Battle is planning a little surprise.”
Bridget said:
“And poor Major Horton never even attempted to kill his wife, and Mr. Abbot, I suppose, just had a compromising letter from a lady, and Dr. Thomas is just a nice unassuming young doctor.”
“He’s a superior ass!”
“You say that because you’re jealous of his marrying Rose Humbleby.”
“She’s much too good for him.”
“I always have felt you liked that girl better than me!”
“Darling, aren’t you being rather absurd?”
“No, not really.”
She was silent a minute and then said:
“Luke, do you like me now?”
He made a movement towards her but she warded him off.
“I said like, Luke—not love.”
“Oh! I see…Yes, I do…I like you, Bridget, as well as loving you.”
Bridget said:
“I like you, Luke….”
They smiled at each other—a little timidly—like children who have made friends at a party.
Bridget said:
“Liking is more important than loving. It lasts. I want what is between us to last, Luke. I don’t want us just to love each other and marry and get tired of each other and then want to marry someone else.”
“Oh! my dear Love, I know. You want reality. So do I. What’s between us will last forever because it’s founded on reality.”
“Is that true, Luke?”
“It’s true, my sweet. That’s why, I think, I was afraid of loving you.”
“I was afraid of loving you, too.”
“Are you afraid now?”
“No.”
He said:
“We’ve been close to Death for a long time. Now—that’s over! Now—we’ll begin to Live….”
* * *
The Agatha Christie Collection
THE HERCULE POIROT MYSTERIES
Match your wits with the famous Belgian detective.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Murder on the Links
Poirot Investigates
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
The Mystery of the Blue Train
Peril at End House
Lord Edgware Dies
Murder on the Orient Express
Three Act Tragedy
Death in the Clouds
The A.B.C. Murders
Murder in Mesopotamia
Cards on the Table
Murder in the Mews
Dumb Witness
Death on the Nile
Appointment with Death
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Sad Cypress
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Evil Under the Sun
Five Little Pigs
The Hollow
The Labors of Hercules
Taken at the Flood
The Underdog and Other Stories
Mrs. McGinty’s Dead
After the Funeral
Hickory Dickory Dock
Dead Man’s Folly
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Clocks
Third Girl
Hallowe’en Party
Elephants Can Remember
Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case
Explore more at www.AgathaChristie.com
* * *
* * *
The Agatha Christie Collection
THE MISS MARPLE MYSTERIES
Join the legendary spinster sleuth from St. Mary Mead in solving murders far and wide.
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Body in the Library
The Moving Finger
A Murder Is Announced
They Do It with Mirrors
A Pocket Full of Rye
4:50 From Paddington
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
A Caribbean Mystery
At Bertram’s Hotel
Nemesis
Sleeping Murder
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories
THE TOMMY AND TUPPENCE MYSTERIES
Jump on board with the entertaining crime-solving couple from Young Adventurers Ltd.
The Secret Adversary
Partners in Crime
N or M?
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Postern of Fate
Explore more at www.AgathaChristie.com
* * *
* * *
The Agatha Christie Collection
Don’t miss a single one of Agatha Christie’s stand-alone novels and short-story collections.
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Secret of Chimneys
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Mysterious Mr. Quin
The Sittaford Mystery
Parker Pyne Investigates
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
Murder Is Easy
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
And Then There Were None
Towards Zero
Death Comes as the End
Sparkling Cyanide
The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
Crooked House
Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
They Came to Baghdad
Destination Unknown
Ordeal by Innocence
Double Sin and Other Stories
The Pale Horse
Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
Endless Night
Passenger to Frankfurt
The Golden Ball and Other Stories
The Mousetrap and Other Plays
The Harlequin Tea Set
Explore more at www.AgathaChristie.com
* * *
About the Author
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She is the author of eighty crime novels and short-story collections, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott.
She first tried her hand at detective fiction while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I, creating the now legendary Hercule Poirot with her debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. With The Murder in the Vicarage, published in 1930, she introduced another beloved sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Additional series characters include the husband-and-wife crime-fighting team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, private investigator Parker Pyne, and Scotland Yard detectives Superintendent Battle and Inspector Japp.
Many of Christie’s novels and short stories were adapted into plays, films, and television series. The Mousetrap, her most famous play of all,opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history. Among herbest-known film adaptations are Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978), with Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov playing Hercule Poirot, respectively. On the small screen Poirot has been mostmemorably portrayed by David Suchet, and Miss Marple by Joan Hicksonand subsequently Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.
Christie was first married to Archibald Christie and then to archaeologist Sir
Max Mallowan, whom she accompanied on expeditions tocountries that would also serve as the settings for many of her novels. In 1971 she achieved one of Britain’s highest honors when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five. Her one hundred and twentieth anniversary was celebrated around the world in 2010.
www.AgathaChristie.com
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THE AGATHA CHRISTIE COLLECTION
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Secret of Chimneys
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Mysterious Mr. Quin
The Sittaford Mystery
Parker Pyne Investigates
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
Murder Is Easy
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
And Then There Were None
Towards Zero
Death Comes as the End
Sparkling Cyanide
The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
Crooked House
Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
They Came to Baghdad
Destination Unknown
Ordeal by Innocence
Double Sin and Other Stories
The Pale Horse
Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
Endless Night
Passenger to Frankfurt
The Golden Ball and Other Stories
The Mousetrap and Other Plays
The Harlequin Tea Set
The Hercule Poirot Mysteries
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Murder on the Links
Poirot Investigates
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
The Mystery of the Blue Train
Peril at End House
Lord Edgware Dies
Murder on the Orient Express
Three Act Tragedy
Death in the Clouds
The A.B.C. Murders
Murder in Mesopotamia
Cards on the Table
Murder in the Mews
Dumb Witness
Death on the Nile
Appointment with Death
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Sad Cypress
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Evil Under the Sun