AgathaChristie-HerculePoirotsCasebook

by Hercule Poirot's Casebook (lit)

  to

  talk

  a

  . tll

  '

  .

  .

  I. w(rs,n t

  a D hat

  w o.

  man

  the

  one n

  the Chanel model

  - t s

  me,he

  at?es

  -

  t nantry,

  I

  mean.

  I

  thought

  it

  was.

  I

  rec

  °

  gnizedhe

  r ?n )nce.

  She's

  really

  rather

  marvellous,

  isn't

  she?

  I

  meant

  '

  -

  sJ/.,; nderstand

  how

  people

  go

  uite

  er

  t

  .....

  car/el .

  .

  q

  a v

  abou

  her.

  ane

  lull l -- s y expects them

  to!

  That's

  half the

  battle.

  116

  Those other people who came last night are called Gold. He's

  terribly good-looking.'

  'Honeymooners?' murmured Sarah in a stifled voice.

  Miss Lyall shook her head in an experienced manner.

  'Oh, no - her clothes aren't new enough. You can always tell

  brides! Don't you think it's the most fascinating thing in the

  world to watch'people, M. Poirot, and see what you can fred

  out about them by just looking?'

  'Not just looking, darling,' said Sarah sweetly. 'You ask a lot

  of questions, too.'

  'I haven't even spoken to the Golds yet,' said Miss Lyall

  with dignity. 'And anyway I don't se why one shouldn't be

  interested in one's fellow-creatures? Human nature is simply

  fascinating. Don't you think so, M. Poirot?'

  This time she paused long enough to allow her companion to

  reply.

  Without taking his eyes offthe blue water, M. Poirot replied:

  Pamela was shocked.

  'Oh, M. Poirot! I don't think anything's so interesting - so

  incalculable as a human being!'

  'Incalculable? That, no.'

  'Oh, but they are. Just as you think you've got them

  beautifully taped - they do something completely unexpected.'

  Hercule Poirot shook his head.

  'No, no, that is not true. It is most rare that anyone does an

  action that is not clans son caractbre. It is in the end

  monotonous.'

  'I don't agree with you at all!' said Miss Pamela Lyall.

  She was silent for quite a minute and a half before returning

  to the attack.

  'As soon as I see people I begin wondering about them what

  they're like - what relations they are to each other - what

  they're thinking and feeling. It's - oh, it's quite thrilling.'

  'Hardly that,' said Hercule Poirot. 'Nature repeats herself

  more than one would imagine. The sea,' he added thoughtfully,

  'has infinitely more variety.'

  117

  Sarah turned her head sideways and asked:

  'You think that human beings tend to reproduce certain

  patterns? Stereotyped patterns?'

  'Prcisment,' said Poirot, and traced a design in the sand

  with his £mger.

  'What's that you're drawing?' asked Pamela curiously.

  'A triangle,' said Poirot.

  But Pamela's attention had been diverted elsewhere.

  'Here are the Chantrys,' she said.

  A woman was coming down the beach - a tall woman, very

  conscious of herself and her body. She gave a half-nod and

  smile and sat down a little distance away on the beach. The

  scarlet and gold silk wrap slipped down from her shoulders.

  She was wearing a white bathing-dress.

  Pamela sighed.

  'Hasn't she got a lovely figure?'

  But Poirot was looking at her face - the face of a woman of

  thirty-nine who had been famous since sixteen for her beauty.

  He knew, as everyone knew, all about Valentine Chantry,.

  She had been famous for many things - for her caprices, for her

  wealth, for her enormous sapphire-blue eyes, for her matrimonial

  ventures and adventures. She had had five husbands

  and innumerable lovers. She had in mm been the wife of an

  Italian count, of ar American steel magnate, of a tennis

  professional, of a racing motorist. Of these four the American

  had died, but the others had been shed negligently in the

  divorce court. Six months ago she had married a fifth time a

  commander in the .navy.

  He it was who came striding down the beach behind her.

  Silent, dark - with a pugnacious jaw and a sullen manner. A

  touch of the primeval ape about him.

  She said:

  'Tony darling - my cigarette case...'

  He had it ready for her - lighted her cigarette - helped her

  to slip the straps of the white bathing-dress from her shoulders.

  She lay, arms outstretched in the sun. He sat by her like some

  wild beast that guards it prey.

  118

  Pamela said, h. her voice just lowered sufficiently:

  'You know :ey invest me frightfully... He's such a brute!

  So silent and - m0sort ofgIowering. I suppose a woman of her kind

  likes that. It rmstmst be le controlling a tiger! I wonder how long

  it will last. Sk oae get tired of them very soon, I believe -especially

  noWflabadays. All the same, if she tried to get rid of him,

  I think he might ;rht be dangerous.'

  Another couphlple cae down the beach - rather shyly. They

  were the newC0,mers 0fthe night before. Mx and Mxs Douglas

  Gold as Miss L:J Lyall knew from her inspection of the hotel

  visitors' book. She knew, too, for such were the Italian

  regulations - teiiaeir Clfistian names and their ages as set down

  from their passpotports.

  Mr Dougl a Caxeron Gold was thirty-one and Mrs

  Marjorie Emro PA Gold was thirty-five.

  Miss Lyall'shobbyin life, as has been said, was the study of

  human beings. IhTUnlikemost English people, she was capable of

  speaking to stmgangers on sight instead of allowing four days to

  a week to elaple before making the first cautious advance as is

  the customary gnl3ritish habit. She, therefore, noting the slight

  hesitancy and shy/yness of Mrs Gold's advance, called out:

  'Good molng, isn't it a lovely day?'

  Mrs Gold was m.s a small woman - rather like a mouse. She was

  not bad-loolg, g, indeed her features were regular and her

  complexion g00cl-.bd, but she had a certain air of diffidence and

  dowdiness thata,anade her liable to be overlooked. Her husband,

  on the other hcbxd, was extremely good-looking, in an almost

  theatrical mm:er. Very fair, crisply curling hair, blue eyes,

  broad shoulden, a, narrow hips. He looked more like a young

  man on the stay te thana young man in real life, but the moment

  he opened his narnouth that impression faded. He was quite

  natural and zrff,fected, even, perhaps, a little stupid.

  Mrs Goldl00keed gratefully at Pamela and sat d
own near her.

  'What a ]0vel3lely shade of brown you are. I feel terribly

  underdone!'

  'One has to k,ke a frightful lot of trouble to brown evenly,'

  sighed Miss LtILll.

  119

  She paused a minute and then went on:

  'You've only just arrived, haven't you?'

  'Yes. Last night. We came on the Vapo d'Italia boat.'

  'Have you ever been to Rhodes before?'

  'No. It is lovely, isn't it?'

  Herhusband said:

  'Pity it's such a long way to come.'

  'Yes, if it were only nearer England '

  In a muffled voice Sarah said:

  'Yes, but then it would be awful. Rows and rows of people

  laid out like fish on a slab. Bodies everywhere!'

  'That's true, of course,' said Douglas Gold. 'It's a nuisance

  the Italian exchange is so absolutely ruinous at present.'

  'It does make a difference, doesn't it?'

  The conversation was running on strictly stereotyped lines.

  It could hardly have been called brilliant.

  A little way along the beach, Valentine Chantry stirred and

  sat up. With one hand she held her bathing-dress in position

  across her breast.

  She yawned, a wide yet delicate cat-like yawn. She glanced

  casually down the beach. Her eyes slanted past Marjorie Gold

  - and stayed thoughtfully on the crisp, golden head of Douglas

  Gold.

  She moved her shoulders sinuously. She spoke and her voice

  was raised a little higher than it need have been.

  'Tony darling - isn't it divine - this sun? I simply must have

  been a sun worshipper once - don't you think so?'

  Her husband grunted something in reply that failed to reach

  the others. Vaienfine Chantry went on in that high, drawling

  voice.

  'Just pull that towel a little flatter, will you, darling?'

  She took infinite pains in the resettling of her beautiful body.

  'Douglas Gold was looking now. His eyes were frankly

  interested.

  Mrs Gold chirped happily in a subdued key to Miss Lyall.

  'What a beautiful woman!'

  120

  Pamela, as delighted to give as to receive information,

  replied in a lower voice:

  'That's Valentine Chantry - you know, who used to be

  Valentine Dacres - she is rather marvellous, isn't she? He's

  simply crazy about her - won't let her out of his sight!'

  Mrs Gold looked once more along the beach. Then she said:

  'The sea really is lovely - so blue. I think we ought to go in

  now, don't you, Douglas?'

  He was still watching Valentine Chantry and took a minute

  or two to answer. Then he said, rather absently:

  'Go in? Oh, yes, rather, in a minute.'

  Marjorie Gold got up and strolled down to the water's edge.

  Valentine Chantry rolled over a little on one side. Her eyes

  looked along at Douglas Gold. Her scarlet mouth curved

  faintly into a smile.

  The neck of Mr Douglas Gold became slightly red.

  Valentine Chantry said:

  'Tony darling - would you mind? I want a little pot of face-cream

  - it's up on the dressing-table. I meant to bring it down.

  Do get it for me - there's an angel.'

  The commander rose obediently. He stalked off into the

  hotel.

  Marjorie Gold plunged into the sea, calling out:

  'It's lovely, Douglas - so warm. Do come.'

  Pamela Lyall said to him:

  'Aren't you going in?'

  He answered vaguely:

  'Oh! I like to get well hot-ted up first.'

  Valentine Chantry stirred. Her head was lifted for a moment

  as though to recall her husband - but he was just passing inside

  the wall of the hotel garden.

  'I like my dip the last thing,' explained Mr Gold.

  Mrs Chantry sat up again. She picked up a flask of sun-bathing

  oil. She had some difficulty with it - the screw top

  seemed to resist her efforts.

  She spoke loudly and petulantly.

  'Oh, dear - I can't get this thing undone!'

  121

  She looked towards the other group 'I

  wonder '

  Always gallant, Poirot rose to his feet, but Douglas Gold had

  the advantage of youth and suppleness. He was by her side in

  a moment.

  'Can I do it for you?'

  'Oh, thank you -' It was the sweet, empty drawl again.

  'You are kind. I'm such a fool at undoing things - I always

  seem to screw themthe wrong way. Oh! you've done it! Thank

  you ever so much -'

  Hercule Poirot smiled to himself.

  He got up and wandered along the beach in the opposite

  direction. He did not go very far but his progress was leisurely.

  As he was on his way back, Mrs Gold came out of the sea and

  joined him. She had been swimming. Her face, under a

  singularly unbecoming bathing cap, was radiant.

  She said breathlessly, 'I do love the sea. And it's so warm and

  love. ly here.'

  She was, he perceived, an enthusiastic bather.

  She said, 'Douglas and I are simply mad on bathing, tie can

  stay in for hours.'

  And at that liercule Poirot's eyes slid over her shoulder to

  the spot on the beach where that enthusiastic bather, Mr

  Douglas Gold, was sitting talking to Valentine Chantry.

  His wife said:

  'I can't think why he doesn't come ...'

  Her voice held a kind of childish bewilderment.

  Poirot's eyes rested thoughtfully on Valentine Chantry. He

  thought that other women in their time had made that same

  remark.

  Beside him, he heard Mrs Gold draw in her breath sharply.

  She said - and her voice was cold:

  'She's supposed to be very attractive, I believe. But Douglas

  doesn't like that type of woman.'

  Hercule Poirot did not reply.

  Mrs Gold plunged into the sea again.

  122

  She swam away from the shore with slow, steady strokes.

  You could see that she loved the water.

  Poirot retraced his steps to the group on the beach.

  It had been augmented by the arrival of old General Barnes,

  a veteran who was usually in the company of the young. He was

  sitting now between Pamela and Sarah, and he and Pamela

  were engaged in dishing up various scandals with appropriate

  embellishments.

  Commander Chantry had returned from his errand. He and

  Douglas Gold were sitting on either side of Valentine.

  Valentine was sitting up very straight between the two men

  and talking. She talked easily and lightly in her sweet, drawling

  voice, turning her head to take first one man and then the other

  in the conversation.

  She was just finishing an anecdote.

  '- and what do you think the foolish man said? "It may have

  been only a minut, e, but I'd remember you anywhere, Mum!"

  Didn't he, Tony? And you know, I thought it was so sweet of

  him. I do think it's such a kind world - I mean, everybody is so

  frightfully kind to me always - I don't know why - they just are.

  But I said to Tony - d'you remember, darling - "Tony, if you

  want to be a teeny-weeny bit jealous, you can be jealous of that

  commissionaire." Because he really was too adorable.
..'

  There was a pause and Douglas Gold said:

  'Good fellows - some of these commissionaires.'

  'Oh, yes - but he took such trouble - really an immense

  amount of trouble - and seemed just pleased to be able to help

  me.'

  Douglas Gold said:

  'Nothing odd about that. Anyone would for you, I'm sure.'

  She cried delightedly:

  'How nice of you! Tony, did you hear that?'

  Commander Chantry grunted.

  His wife sighed:

  'Tony never makes pretty speeches - do you, my lamb?'

  Her white hand with its long red nails ruffled up his dark

  head.

  123

  He gave her a sudden sidelong look. She murmured:

  'I don't really know how he puts up with me. He's simply

  frightfully clever - absolutely frantic with brains - and I just go

  on talking nonsense the whole time, but he doesn't seem to

  mind. Nobody minds what I do or say - everybody spoils me.

  I'm sure it's frightfully bad for me.'

  -Commander Chantry said across her to the other man:

  'That your missus in the sea?'

  'Yes. Expect it's about time I joir;ed her.'

  Valentine murmured:

  'But it's so lovely here in the sun. You mustn't go into the sea

  yet. Tony darling, I don't think I shall actually bathe today not

  my first day. I might get a chill or something. But why

  don't you go in now, Tony darling? Mr - Mr Gold will stay and

  keep me company while you're in.'

  Chantry said rather grimly:

  'No, thanks. Shan't go in just yet. Your wife seems to be

  waving to you, Gold.'

  Valentine said:

  'How well your wife swims. I'm sure she's one of those

  terribly efficient women who do everything well. They always

  frighten me so because I feel they despise me. I'm so frightfully

  bad at everything - an absolute duffe?, aren't I, Tony darling?'

  But again Commander Chantry only grunted.

  His wife murmured affectionately: