Sarah King sat on a hill-top absently plucking up wild flowers.Dr Gerard sat
on a rough wall of stones near her.
She said suddenly and fiercely: "Why did you start all this?If it hadn't
been for you -"
Dr Gerard said slowly: "You think I should have kept silence?"
"Yes."
"Knowing what I knew?"
"You didn't know,"said Sarah.
The Frenchman sighed."I did know.But I admit one can never be absolutely
sure."
"Yes,one can,"said Sarah uncompromisingly.
The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders."You,perhaps!"
Sarah said: "You had fever -a high temperature -you couldn't be clear-headed
about the business.The syringe was probably there all the time.And you may have
made a mistake about the digitoxin or one of the servants may have meddled with
the case."
Gerard said cynically: "You need not worry!The evidence is almost bound to
be inconclusive.You will see,your friends the Boyntons will get away with it!"
Sarah said fiercely: "I don't want that,either."
He shook his head."You are illogical!"
"Wasn't it you -"Sarah demanded,"in Jerusalem -who said a great deal about
not interfering?And now look!"
"I have not interfered.I have only told what I know!"
"And I say you don't know it.Oh dear,there we are,back again!I'm arguing in
a circle."
Gerard said gently: "I am sorry,Miss King."
Sarah said in a low voice:
"You see,after all,they haven't escaped -any of them!She's still there!Even
from her grave she can still reach out and hold them.There was something -
terrible about her -she's just as terrible now she's dead!I feel -I feel she's
enjoying all this!"
She clenched her hands.Then she said in an entirely different tone,a light
everyday voice: "That little man's coming up the hill."
Dr Gerard looked over his shoulder.
"Ah!He comes in search of us,I think."
"Is he as much of a fool as he looks!"asked Sarah.
Dr Gerard said gravely: "He is not a fool at all."
"I was afraid of that,"said Sarah King.
With sombre eyes she watched the uphill progress of Hercule Poirot.
He reached them at last,uttered a loud "ouf"and wiped his forehead.Then he
looked sadly down at his patent leather shoes.
"Alas!"he said."This stony country!My poor shoes."
"You can borrow Lady Westholme's shoe-cleaning apparatus,"said Sarah
unkindly."And her duster.She travels with a kind of patent housemaid's
equipment."
"That will not remove the scratches,mademoiselle,"Poirot shook his head
sadly.
"Perhaps not.Why on earth do you wear shoes like that in this sort of
country?"
"Poirot pit his head a little on one side.
"I like to have the appearance soigne,"he said.
"I should give up trying for that in the desert,"said Sarah.
"Women do not look their best in the desert,"said Dr Gerard dreamily."but
Miss King here,yes -she always looks neat and well-turned out.But that Lady
Westholme in her great thick coats and skirts and those terrible unbecoming
riding breeches and boots -quelle horreur de femme!And the poor Miss Pierce -her
clothes so limp,like faded cabbage leaves,and the chains and the beads that
clink!Even young Mrs Boynton,who is a good-looking woman,is not what you call
chic!Her clothes are uninteresting."
Sarah said restively: "Well,I don't suppose M.Poirot climbed up here to talk
about clothes!"
"True,"said Poirot."I came to consult Dr Gerard -his opinion should be of
value to me -and yours,too,mademoiselle -you are young and up to date in your
psychology.I want to know,you see,all that you can tell me of Mrs Boynton."
"Don't you know all that by heart now?"asked Sarah.
"No.I have a feeling -more than a feeling -a certainty that the mental
equipment of Mrs Boynton is very important in this case.Such types as hers are
no doubt familiar to Dr Gerard."
"From my point of view she was certainly an interesting study,"said the
doctor.
"Tell me."
Dr Gerard was nothing loth.He described his own interest in the family
group,his conversation with Jefferson Cope,and the latter's complete misreading
of the situation.
"He is a sentimentalist,then,"said Poirot.
"Oh,essentially1He has ideals -based,really,on a deep instinct of
laziness.To take human nature at its best,and the world as a pleasant place is
undoubtedly the easiest course in life!Jefferson Cope has,consequently,not the
least idea what people are really like."
"That might be dangerous sometimes,"said Poirot.
Dr Gerard went on: "He persisted in regarding what I may describe as 'the
Boynton situation"as a case of mistaken devotion.Of the underlying
hate,rebellion,slavery and misery he had only the faintest notion."
"It is stupid,that,"Poirot commented.
"All the same,"went on Dr Gerard,"even the most wilfully obtuse of
sentimental optimists cannot be quite blind.I think,on the journey to Petra,Mr
Jefferson Cope's eyes were being opened."
And he described the conversation he had had with the American on the
morning of Mrs Boynton's death.
"That is an interesting story,that story of a servant girl,"said Poirot
thoughtfully."It throws light on the old woman's methods."
Gerard said: "It was altogether an odd strange morning,that!You have not
been to Petra,M.Poirot.If you go you must certainly climb to the Place of
Sacrifice.It has an -how shall I say?-an atmosphere1"He described the scene in
detail,adding: "mademoiselle here sat like a young judge,speaking of the
sacrifice of one to save many.You remember,Miss King?"
Sarah shivered."Don't!Don't let's talk of that day."
"No,no,"said Poirot."Let us talk of events further back in the past.I am
interested,Dr Gerard,in your sketch of Mrs Boynton's mentality.What I do not
quite understand is this,having brought her family into absolute subjection,why
did she then arrange this trip abroad where surely there was danger of outside
contacts and of her authority being weakened?"
Dr Gerard leaned forward excitedly.
"But,mon vieux,that is just it!Old ladies are the same all the world
over.They get bored!If their speciality is playing patience,they sicken of the
patience they know too well.They want to learn a new patience.And it is just the
same with an old lady whose recreation (incredible as it may sound)is the
dominating and tormenting of human creatures!Mrs Boynton -to speak of her as une
dompteuse -had tamed her tigers.There was perhaps some excitement as they passed
through the stage of adolescence.Lennox's marriage to Nadine was an
adventure.But then,suddenly,all was stale.Lennox is so sunk in melancholy that
it is practically impossible to wound or distress him.Raymond and Carol show no
signs of rebellion.Ginevra -ah!La pauvre Ginevra -she,from her mother's point of
view,gives the poorest sport of all.For Ginevra has found a way of escape!She
escapes from reality into fantasy.The more her mother goads her,the more easily
she gets a secret thrill out of being a persecuted heroine!From Mrs Boynton's
point of view it is all deadly dull.She seeks,like Alexander,new worlds to
conquer.And so she plans the voyage abroad.There will be the danger of her tamed
beasts rebelling,there will be opportunities for inflicting fresh pain!It sounds
absurd,does it not,but it was so!She wanted a new thrill."
Poirot took a deep breath."It is perfect,that.Yes,I see exactly what you
mean.It was so.It all fits in.She chose to live dangerously,la maman Boynton -
and she paid the penalty!"
Sarah leaned forward,her pale,intelligent face very serious."You mean,"she
said,"that she drove her victims too far and -and they turned on her -or -or one
of them did?"
Poirot bowed his head.
Sarah said,and her voice was a little breathless:
"Which of them?"
Poirot looked at her,at her hands clenched fiercely on the wild flowers,at
the pale rigidity of her face.
He did not answer -was indeed saved from answering,for at that moment Gerard
touched his shoulder and said: "Look."
A girl was wandering along the side of the hill.She moved with a strange
rhythmic grace that somehow gave the impression that she was not quite real.The
gold red of her hair shone in the sunlight,a strange secretive smile lifted the
beautiful corners of her mouth.Poirot drew in his breath.
He said: "How beautiful......How strangely movingly beautiful......That is
how Ophelia should be played -like a young goddess straying from another
world,happy because she has escaped out of the bondage of human joys and
griefs."
"Yes,yes,you are right,"said Gerard."It is a face to dream of,is it not?I
dreamt of it.In my fever I opened my eyes and saw that face -with its
sweet,unearthly smile......It was a good dream.I was sorry to wake......"
Then,with a return to his commonplace manner:
"That is Ginevra Boynton,"he said.
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