Curtain - Agatha Christie [73]
‘Yes, there was a third angle. Boyd Carrington. Mrs Franklin was a disappointed woman. That was at the root of her neurotic illness. She was ambitious both socially and financially. She married Franklin because she expected him to have a brilliant career.
‘He was brilliant but not in her way. His brilliance would never bring him newspaper notoriety, or a Harley Street reputation. He would be known to half a dozen men of his own profession and would publish articles in learned journals. The outside world would not hear of him – and he would certainly not make money.
‘And here is Boyd Carrington – home from the East – just come into a baronetcy and money, and Boyd Carrington has always felt tenderly sentimental towards the pretty seventeen-year-old girl he nearly asked to marry him. He is going to Styles, he suggests the Franklins come too – and Barbara comes.
‘How maddening it is for her! Obviously she has lost none of her old charm for this rich attractive man, but he is old-fashioned – not the type of man to suggest divorce. And John Franklin, too, has no use for divorce. If John Franklin were to die, then she could be Lady Boyd Carrington – and oh what a wonderful life that would be!
‘Norton, I think, found her only too ready a tool.
‘It was all too obvious, Hastings, when you come to think of it. Those first few tentative attempts at establishing how fond she was of her husband. She overdid it a little – murmuring about “ending it all” because she was a drag on him.
‘And then an entirely new line. Her fears that Franklin might experiment upon himself.
‘It ought to have been so obvious to us, Hastings! She was preparing us for John Franklin to die of physostigmine poisoning. No question, you see, of anyone trying to poison him – oh no – just pure scientific research. He takes the harmless alkaloid, and it turns out to be harmful after all.
‘The only thing was it was a little too swift. You told me that she was not pleased to find Boyd Carrington having his fortune told by Nurse Craven. Nurse Craven was an attractive young woman with a keen eye for men. She had had a try at Dr Franklin and had not met with success. (Hence her dislike for Judith.) She is carrying on with Allerton, but she knows quite well he is not serious. Inevitable that she should cast her eye on the rich and still attractive Sir William – and Sir William was, perhaps, only too ready to be attracted. He had already noticed Nurse Craven as a healthy, good-looking girl.
‘Barbara Franklin has a fright and decides to act quickly. The sooner she is a pathetic, charming and not inconsolable widow the better.
‘And so, after a morning of nerves, she sets the scene.
‘Do you know, mon ami, I have some respect for the Calabar bean. This time, you see, it worked. It spared the innocent and slew the guilty.
‘Mrs Franklin asks you all up to her room. She makes coffee with much fuss and display. As you tell me, her own coffee is beside her, her husband’s on the other side of the bookcase-table.
‘And then there are the shooting stars and everyone goes out and only you, my friend, are left, you and your crossword puzzle and your memories – and to hide emotion you swing round the bookcase to find a quotation in Shakespeare.
‘And so they come back and Mrs Franklin drinks the coffee full of the Calabar bean alkaloids that were meant for dear scientific John, and John Franklin drinks the nice plain cup of coffee that was meant for clever Mrs Franklin.
‘But you will see, Hastings, if you think a minute, that although I realized what had happened, I saw that there was only one thing to be done. I could not prove what had happened. And if Mrs Franklin’s death was thought to be anything but suicide suspicion would inevitably fall on either