Poirot looked with interest at the tall,dignified young woman who entered
the room.He rose and bowed to her politely."Mrs Lennox Boynton?Hercule Poirot,at
your service."
Nadine Boynton sat down.Her thoughtful eyes were on Poirot's face.
"I hope you do not mind,madame,my intruding on your sorrow in this way?"
Her eyes did not waver.She did not reply at once.Her eyes remained steady
and grave.At last she gave a sigh and said: "I think it is best for me to be
quite frank with you,M.Poirot."
"I agree with you,madame."
"You apologized for intruding upon my sorrow.That sorrow,M.Poirot,does not
exist and it is idle to pretend that it does.I had no love for my mother-in-law
and I cannot honestly say that I regret her death."
"Thank you,madame,for your plain speaking."
Nadine went on: "Still,although I cannot pretend sorrow,I can admit to
another feeling -remorse."
"remorse?"Poirot's eyebrows went up.
"Yes.Because,you see,it was I who brought about her death.For that I blame
myself bitterly."
"What is this you ate saying,madame?"
"I am saying that I was the cause of my mother-in-law's death.I was
acting,as I thought,honestly-but the result was unfortunate.To all intents and
purposes,I killed her."
Poirot leaned back in his chair."Will you be so kind as to elucidate this
statement,madame?"
Nadine bent her head.
"Yes,that is what I wish to do.My first reaction,naturally,was to keep my
private affairs to myself,but I see that the time has come when it would be
better to speak out.I have no doubt,M.Poirot,that you have often received
confidences of a somewhat intimate mature?"
"That,yes."
"Then I will tell you quite simply what occurred.My married
life,M.Poirot,has not been particularly happy.My husband is not entirely to
blame for that -his mother's influence over him has been unfortunate -but I have
been feeling for some time that my life was becoming intolerable."
She paused and then went on:
"On the afternoon of my mother-in-law's death I came to a decision.I have a
friend -a very good friend.He has suggested more than once that I should throw
in my lot with him.On that afternoon I accepted his proposal."
"You decided to leave your husband?"
"Yes."
"Continue,madame."
Nadine said in a lower voice:
"Having once made my decision,I wanted to -to establish it as soon as
possible.I walked home to the camp by myself.My mother-in-law was sitting
alone,there was no one about,and I decided to break the news to her there and
then.I got a chair -sat down by her and told her abruptly what I had decided."
"She was surprised?"
"Yes,I am afraid it was a great shock to her.She was both surprised and
angry -very angry.She -she worked herself into quite a state about it!Presently
I refused to discuss the matter any longer.I got up and walked away."Her voice
dropped."I -I never saw her again alive."
Poirot nodded his head slowly.He said: "I see."
Then he said: "You think her death was the result of the shock?"
"It seems to me almost certain.You see,she had already over-exerted herself
considerably getting to this place.My news,and her anger at it,would do the
rest......I feel additionally guilty because I have had a certain amount of
training in illness and so I,more than anyone else,ought to have realized the
possibility of such a thing happening."
Poirot sat in silence for some minutes,then he said:
"What exactly did you do when you left her?"
"I took the chair I had brought out back into my cave,then I went down to
the marquee.My husband was there."
Poirot watched her closely as he said:
"Did you tell him of your decision?Or had you already told him?"
There was a pause,an infinitesimal pause before Nadine said: "I told him
then."
"How did he take it?"
She answered quietly: "He was very upset."
"Did he urge you to reconsider your decision?"
she shook her head.
"He -he didn't say very much.You see,we had both known for some time that
something like this might happen."
Poirot said: "You will pardon me,but -the other man was,of course,Mr
Jefferson Cope?"
She bent her head."Yes."
There was a long pause,then,without any change of voice,Poirot asked: "do
you own a hypodermic syringe,madame?"
"Yes-no."
His eyebrows rose.
She explained: "I have an old hypodermic amongst other things in a
travelling medicine chest,but it is in our big luggage which we left in
Jerusalem."
"I see."
There was a pause,then she said,with a shiver of uneasiness: "why did you
ask me that,M.Poirot?"
He did not answer the question.Instead he put one of his own."Mrs Boynton
was,I believe,taking a mixture containing digitalis?"
"Yes."
He thought that she was definitely watchful now.
"That was for her heart trouble?"
"Yes."
"Digitalis is,to some extent,a cumulative drug?"
"I believe it is.I do not know very much about it."
"If Mrs Boynton had taken a big overdose of digitalis -"
She interrupted him quickly but with decision.
"She did not.She was always most careful.So was I if I measured the dose for
her."
"There might have been an overdose in this particular bottle.A mistake of
the chemist who made it up?"
"I think that is very unlikely,"she replied quietly.
"Ah,well:the analysis will soon tell us."
Nadine said: "Unfortunately the bottle was broken."
Poirot eyed her with sudden interest.
"Indeed.Who broke it?"
"I'm not quite sure.One of the servants,I think.In carrying my mother-in-
law's body into her cave,there was a good deal of confusion and the light was
very poor.A table got knocked over."
Poirot eyed her steadily for a minute or two.
"That,"he said,"is very interesting."
Nadine Boynton shifted wearily in her chair.
"You are suggesting,I think,that my mother-in-law did not die of shock,but
of an overdose of digitalis?"she said,and went on: "That seems to me most
improbable."
Poirot leaned forward.
"Even when I tell you that Dr Gerard,the French physician who was staying in
the camp,had missed an appreciable quantity of a preparation of digitoxin from
his medicine chest?"
Her face grew very pale.He saw the clutch of her hand on the table.Her eyes
dropped.She sat very still.She was like a Madonna carved in stone.
"Well,madame,"said Poirot at last,"what have you to say to that?"
The seconds ticked on but she did not speak.It was quite two minutes before
she raised her head,and he started a little when he saw the look in her eyes.
"M.Poirot,I did not kill my mother-in-law.That you know!She was alive and
well when I left her.There are many people who can testify to
that!Therefore,being innocent of the crime,I can venture to appeal to you.Why
must you mix yourself up in this business?If I swear to you on my honour that
justice and only justice has been done,will you not abandon this inquiry?There
has been so much suffering-you do not know.Now that at last there is peace and
the possibility of happiness,must you destroy it all?"
Poirot sat up very straight.His eyes shone with a green light."Let me be
clear,madame;what are you asking me to do?"
"I am telling you that my mother-in-law died a natural death and I am asking
you to accept that statement."
"Let us be definite.You believe that your mother-in-law was deliberately
killed,and you are asking me to condone murder!"
"I am asking you to have pity!"
"Yes -on someone who had no pity!"
"You do not understand -it was not like that."
"Did you commit the crime yourself,madame,that you know so well?"
Nadine shook her head.She showed no signs of guilt."No,"she said
quietly."She was alive when I let her."
"And then -what happened?You know -or you suspect?"
Nadine said passionately:
"I have heard,M.Poirot,that once,in that affair of the Orient Express,you
accepted an official verdict of what had happened?"
Poirot looked at her curiously."I wonder who told you that?"
"Is it true?"
He said slowly: "That case was -different."
"No.No,it was not different!The man who was killed was evil"-her voice
dropped-"as she was......"
Poirot said: "The moral character of the victim has nothing to do with it!A
human being who has exercised the right of private judgement and taken the life
of another human being is not safe to exist amongst the community.I tell you
that!I,Hercule Poirot!"
"How hard you are!"
"Madame,in some ways I am adamant.I will not condone murder!That is the
final word of Hercule Poirot."
She got up.Her dark eyes flashed with sudden fire.
"Then go on!Bring ruin and misery into the lives of innocent people!I have
nothing more to say."
"But I,I think,madame,that you have a lot to say......"
"No,nothing more."
"But,yes.What happened,madame,after you left your mother-in-law?Whilst you
and your husband were in the marquee together?"
She shrugged her shoulders."How should I know?"
"You do know -or you suspect."
She looked him straight in the eyes."I know nothing,M.Poirot."
Turning she left the room.
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