Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie [72]
“Just a little,” he said, and smiled.
Her expression wavered and then she, too, smiled.
“I suppose really,” she said confidentially, “I’ve been dramatizing myself again.”
“It’s rather a habit of yours, I suspect,” said Calgary.
“That’s why I thought I should do well on the stage,” said Hester. “But I didn’t. I was no good at all. Oh, I was a lousy actress.”
“You’ll get all the drama you want out of ordinary life, I should say,” said Calgary. “Now I’m going to put you in a taxi, my dear, and you go off to Curtis’s. And wash your face and brush your hair,” he went on. “Have you got any luggage with you?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve got a sort of overnight bag.”
“Good.” He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Hester,” he said again. “We’ll think of something.”
Nineteen
I
“I want to talk to you, Kirsty,” said Philip.
“Yes, of course, Philip.”
Kirsten Lindstrom paused in her task. She had just brought in some washing which she was putting away in the chest of drawers.
“I want to talk to you about all this business,” said Philip. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“There is too much talk already,” said Kirsten. “That is my view.”
“But it would be as well, wouldn’t it,” said Philip, “to come to some conclusion among ourselves. You know what’s going on at present, don’t you?”
“Things are going wrong everywhere,” said Kirsten.
“Do you think Leo and Gwenda will ever get married now?”
“Why not?”
“Several reasons,” said Philip. “First of all, perhaps, because Leo Argyle being an intelligent man, realizes that a marriage between him and Gwenda will give the police what they want. A perfectly good motive for the murder of his wife. Or, alternatively, because Leo suspects that Gwenda is the murderer. And being a sensitive man, he doesn’t really like taking as a second wife the woman who killed his first wife. What do you say to that?” he added.
“Nothing,” said Kirsten, “what should I say?”
“Playing it very close to your chest, aren’t you, Kirsty?”
“I don’t understand you.”
“Who are you covering up for, Kirsten?”
“I am not ‘covering up,’ as you call it, for anyone. I think there should be less talk and I think people should not stay on in this house. It is not good for them. I think you, Philip, should go home with your wife to your own home.”
“Oh, you do, do you? Why, in particular?”
“You are asking questions,” said Kirsten. “You are trying to find out things. And your wife does not want you to do it. She is wiser than you are. You might find out something you did not want to find out, or that she did not want you to find out. You should go home, Philip. You should go home very soon.”
“I don’t want to go home,” said Philip. He spoke rather like a petulant small boy.
“That is what children say,” said Kirsten. “They say I don’t want to do this and I don’t want to do that, but those who know more of life, who see better what is happening, have to coax them to do what they do not want to do.”
“So this is your idea of coaxing, is it?” said Philip. “Giving me orders.”
“No, I do not give you orders. I only advise you.” She sighed. “I would advise all of them the same way. Micky should go back to his work as Tina has gone back to her library. I am glad Hester has gone. She should be somewhere where she is not continually reminded of all this.”
“Yes,” said Philip. “I agree with you there. You’re right about Hester. But what about you yourself, Kirsten? Oughtn’t you to go away too?”
“Yes,” said Kirsten with a sigh. “I ought to go away.”
“Why don’t you?”
“You would not understand. It is too late for me to go away.”
Philip looked at her thoughtfully. Then he said:
“There are so many variations, aren’t there—variations on a single theme. Leo thinks Gwenda did it, Gwenda thinks Leo did it. Tina knows something that makes her suspect who did it. Micky knows who did it but doesn’t care. Mary thinks Hester did it.” He paused and then went on, “But the truth is, Kirsty, that those are only variations on a theme as I said. We know who did it quite well, don’t we, Kirsty. You and I?”
She shot a