Murder in the Mews - Agatha Christie [59]
‘Odd business,’ said Major Riddle.
Poirot leaned forward. He tapped the lawyer on the knee.
‘But what is behind it? What was in the mind of Sir Gervase when he made that stipulation? There must have been something very definite…There must, I think, have been the image of another man…a man of whom he disapproved. I think, Mr Forbes, that you must know who that man was?’
‘Really, M. Poirot, I have no information.’
‘But you could make a guess.’
‘I never guess,’ said Mr Forbes, and his tone was scandalized.
Removing his pince-nez, he wiped them with a silk handkerchief and inquired:
‘Is there anything else that you desire to know?’
‘At the moment, no,’ said Poirot. ‘Not, that is, as far as I am concerned.’
Mr Forbes looked as though, in his opinion, that was not very far, and bent his attention on the chief constable.
‘Thank you, Mr Forbes. I think that’s all. I should like, if I may, to speak to Miss Chevenix-Gore.’
‘Certainly. I think she is upstairs with Lady Chevenix-Gore.’
‘Oh, well, perhaps I’ll have a word with — what’s his name? — Burrows, first, and the family-history woman.’
‘They’re both in the library. I will tell them.’
Chapter 7
‘Hard work, that,’ said Major Riddle, as the lawyer left the room. ‘Extracting information from these old-fashioned legal wallahs takes a bit of doing. The whole business seems to me to centre about the girl.’
‘It would seem so — yes.’
‘Ah, here comes Burrows.’
Godfrey Burrows came in with a pleasant eagerness to be of use. His smile was discreetly tempered with gloom and showed only a fraction too much teeth. It seemed more mechanical than spontaneous.
‘Now, Mr Burrows, we want to ask you a few questions.’
‘Certainly, Major Riddle. Anything you like.’
‘Well, first and foremost, to put it quite simply, have you any ideas of your own about Sir Gervase’s suicide?’
‘Absolutely none. It was the greatest shock to me.’
‘You heard the shot?’
‘No; I must have been in the library at the time, as far as I can make out. I came down rather early and went to the library to look up a reference I wanted. The library’s right the other side of the house from the study, so I shouldn’t hear anything.’
‘Was anyone with you in the library?’ asked Poirot.
‘No one at all.’
‘You’ve no idea where the other members of the household were at that time?’
‘Mostly upstairs dressing, I should imagine.’
‘When did you come to the drawing-room?’
‘Just before M. Poirot arrived. Everybody was there then — except Sir Gervase, of course.’
‘Did it strike you as strange that he wasn’t there?’
‘Yes, it did, as a matter of fact. As a rule he was always in the drawing-room before the first gong sounded.’
‘Have you noticed any difference in Sir Gervase’s manner lately? Has he been worried? Or anxious? Depressed?’
Godfrey Burrows considered.
‘No — I don’t think so. A little — well, preoccupied, perhaps.’
‘But he did not appear to be worried about any one definite matter?’
‘Oh, no.’
‘No — financial worries of any kind?’
‘He was rather perturbed about the affairs of one particular company — the Paragon Synthetic Rubber Company to be exact.’
‘What did he actually say about it?’
Again Godfrey Burrows’ mechanical smile flashed out, and again it seemed slightly unreal.
‘Well — as a matter of fact — what he said was, “Old Bury’s either a fool or a knave. A fool, I suppose. I must go easy with him for Vanda’s sake.”’
‘And why did he say that — for Vanda’s sake?’ inquired Poirot.
‘Well, you see, Lady Chevenix-Gore was very fond of Colonel Bury, and he worshipped her. Followed her about like a dog.’
‘Sir Gervase was not — jealous at all?’
‘Jealous?’ Burrows stared and then laughed. ‘Sir Gervase jealous? He wouldn’t know how to set about it. Why, it would never have entered his head that anyone could ever prefer another man to him. Such a thing couldn’t be, you understand.’
Poirot said gently:
‘You did not, I think, like Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore very much?’
Burrows flushed.
‘Oh, yes, I did. At least — well, all that