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There was a silence. Li
‘All this is quite beside the point!’
‘No, it is not beside the point. I am explaining to you just why the unexpected appearances of Mademoiselle de Bellefort have upset you so much. It is because though she may be unwomanly and undignified in what she is doing, you have the i
‘That’s not true.’
Poirot shrugged his shoulders.
‘You refuse to be honest with yourself.’
‘Not at all.’
Poirot said gently:
‘I should say, Madame, that you have had a happy life, that you have been generous and kindly in your attitude towards others.’
‘I have tried to be,’ said Li
‘And that is why the feeling that you have deliberately caused injury to someone upsets you so much, and why you are so reluctant to admit the fact. Pardon me if I have been impertinent, but the psychology, it is the most important factor in a case.’
Li
Poirot nodded.
‘You have the clear brain. Yes, one ca
‘You mean,’ said Li
‘You must have courage, Madame; that is what it seems like to me.’
Li
‘Couldn’t you – talk to Jackie – to Miss de Bellefort? Reason with her?’
‘Yes, I could do that. I will do that if you would like me to do so. But do not expect much result. I fancy that Mademoiselle de Bellefort is so much in the grip of a fixed idea that nothing will turn her from it.’
‘But surely we can do something to extricate ourselves?’
‘You could, of course, return to England and establish yourselves in your own house.’
‘Even then, I suppose, Jacqueline is capable of planting herself in the village, so that I should see her every time I went out of the grounds.’
‘True.’
‘Besides,’ said Li
‘What is his attitude in this?’
‘He’s furious – simply furious.’
Poirot nodded thoughtfully.
Li
‘You will – talk to her?’
‘Yes, I will do that. But it is my opinion that I shall not be able to accomplish anything.’
Li
‘You spoke just now of certain threats she had made. Would you tell me what those threats were?’
Li
‘She threatened to – well – kill us both. Jackie can be rather – hot-headed sometimes.’
‘I see.’ Poirot’s tone was grave.
Li
‘You will act for me?’
‘No, Madame.’ His tone was firm. ‘I will not accept a commission from you. I will do what I can in the interests of humanity. That, yes. There is here a situation that is full of difficulty and danger. I will do what I can to clear it up – but I am not very sanguine as to my chance of success.’
Li
‘But you will not act for me?’
‘No, Madame,’ said Hercule Poirot.
Chapter 4
Hercule Poirot found Jacqueline de Bellefort sitting on the rocks directly overlooking the Nile. He had felt fairly certain that she had not retired for the night and that he would find her somewhere about the grounds of the hotel.
She was sitting with her chin cupped in the palms of her hands, and she did not turn her head or look around at the sound of his approach.
‘Mademoiselle de Bellefort?’ asked Poirot. ‘You permit that I speak to you for a little moment?’
Jacqueline turned her head slightly. A faint smile played round her lips.
‘Certainly,’ she said. ‘You are Monsieur Hercule Poirot, I think? Shall I make a guess? You are acting for Mrs Doyle, who has promised you a large fee if you succeed in your mission.’
Poirot sat down on the bench near her.
‘Your assumption is partially correct,’ he said, smiling. ‘I have just come from Madame Doyle, but I am not accepting any fee from her and, strictly speaking, I am not acting for her.’
‘Oh!’ Jacqueline studied him attentively. ‘Then why have you come?’ she asked abruptly.
Hercule Poirot’s reply was in the form of another question.
‘Have you ever seen me before, Mademoiselle?’
She shook her head.
‘No, I do not think so.’
‘Yet I have seen you. I sat next to you once at Chez Ma Tante. You were there with Monsieur Simon Doyle.’
A strange masklike expression came over the girl’s face. She said,
‘I remember that evening…’
‘Since then,’ said Poirot, ‘many things have occurred.’
‘As you say, many things have occurred.’
Her voice was hard with an undertone of desperate bitterness.
‘Mademoiselle, I speak as a friend. Bury your dead!’
She looked startled.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Give up the past! Turn to the future! What is done is done. Bitterness will not undo it.’
‘I’m sure that that would suit dear Li
Poirot made a gesture.
‘I am not thinking of her at this moment! I am thinking of you. You have suffered – yes – but what you are doing now will only prolong that suffering.’
She shook her head.
‘You’re wrong. There are times when I almost enjoy myself.’
‘And that, Mademoiselle, is the worst of all.’
She looked up swiftly.
‘You’re not stupid,’ she said. She added slowly, ‘I believe you mean to be kind.’
‘Go home, Mademoiselle. You are young, you have brains – the world is before you.’
Jacqueline shook her head slowly.
‘You don’t understand – or you won’t. Simon is my world.’
‘Love is not everything, Mademoiselle,’ Poirot said gently. ‘It is only when we are young that we think it is.’
But the girl still shook her head.
‘You don’t understand.’ She shot him a quick look. ‘You know all about it, of course? You’ve talked to Li
‘I know that you loved him.’
She was quick to perceive the inflection of his words. She repeated with emphasis:
‘We loved each other. And I loved Li
‘And he allowed himself to be – bought?’
Jacqueline shook her dark head slowly.
‘No, it’s not quite like that. If it were, I shouldn’t be here now… You’re suggesting that Simon isn’t worth caring for… If he’d married Li