Зло под солнцем / Evil Under the Sun - стр. 21
Rosamund laughed, her equilibrium suddenly restored. She took out a cigarette and lit it. She said:
“You certainly know how to deal with women, M. Poirot. I now feel like taking the opposite point of view and arguing with you in favour of careers for women. Of course I’m damned well off as I am – and I know it!”
“Then everything in the garden – or shall we say at the seaside? – is lovely, Mademoiselle.”
“Quite right.”
Poirot, in his turn, extracted his cigarette case and lit one of those tiny cigarettes which it was his affectation to smoke. Regarding the ascending haze with a quizzical eye, he murmured:
“So Mr – no, Captain – Marshall is an old friend of yours, Mademoiselle?”
Rosamund sat up. She said:
“Now how do you know that? Oh, I suppose Ken told you.”
Poirot shook his head. “Nobody has told me anything. After all, Mademoiselle, I am a detective. It was the obvious conclusion to draw.”
Rosamund Darnley said: “I don’t see it.”
“But consider!” The little man’s hands were eloquent. “You have been here a week. You are lively, gay, without a care. Today, suddenly, you speak of ghosts, of old times. What has happened? For several days there have been no new arrivals until last night when Captain Marshall and his wife and daughter arrive. Today the change! It is obvious!”
Rosamund Darnley said: “Well, it’s true enough. Kenneth Marshall and I were more or less children together. The Marshalls lived next door to us. Ken was always nice to me – although condescending, of course, since he was four years older. I’ve not seen anything of him for a long time. It must be – fifteen years at least.”
Poirot said thoughtfully: “A long time.”
Rosamund nodded.
There was a pause and then Hercule Poirot said:
“He is sympathetic, yes?”
Rosamund said warmly: “Ken’s a dear. One of the best. Frightfully quiet and reserved. I’d say his only fault is a penchant for making unfortunate marriages.”
Poirot said in a tone of great understanding: “Ah…”
Rosamund Darnley went on. “Kenneth’s a fool – an utter fool where women are concerned! Do you remember the Martingdale case?”
Poirot frowned. “Martingdale? Martingdale? Arsenic, was it not?”
“Yes. Seventeen or eighteen years ago. The woman was tried for the murder of her husband.”
“And he was proved to have been an arsenic eater and she was acquitted?”
“That’s right. Well, after her acquittal, Ken married her. That’s the sort of damn silly thing he does.”
Hercule Poirot murmured: “But if she was innocent?”
Rosamund Darnley said impatiently: “Oh, I daresay she was innocent. Nobody really knows! But there are plenty of women to marry in the world without going out of your way to marry one who’s stood trial for murder.”