The Mirror Crack'd - Agatha Christie [22]
‘That might happen to almost anybody nowadays,’ said Mrs Bantry.
‘Not quite,’ said Miss Marple, ‘most people have a sense of protection. They realise when it’s unwise to say or do something because of the person or persons who are taking in what you say, and because of the kind of character that those people have. But as I say, Alison Wilde never thought of anybody else but herself — She was the sort of person who tells you what they’ve done and what they’ve seen and what they’ve felt and what they’ve heard. They never mention what any other people said or did. Life is a kind of one-way track — just their own progress through it. Other people seem to them just like — like wall-paper in a room.’ She paused and then said, ‘I think Heather Badcock was that kind of person.’
Mrs Bantry said, ‘You think she was the sort of person who might have butted into something without knowing what she was doing?’
‘And without realising that it was a dangerous thing to do,’ said Miss Marple. She added, ‘It’s the only reason I can possibly think of why she should have been killed. If of course,’ added Miss Marple, ‘we are right in assuming that murder has been committed.’
‘You don’t think she was blackmailing someone?’ Mrs Bantry suggested.
‘Oh, no,’ Miss Marple assured her. ‘She was a kind, good woman. She’d never have done anything of that kind.’ She added vexedly, ‘The whole thing seems to me very unlikely. I suppose it can’t have been —’
‘Well?’ Mrs Bantry urged her.
‘I just wondered if it might have been the wrong murder,’ said Miss Marple thoughtfully.
The door opened and Dr Haydock breezed in, Miss Knight twittering behind him.
‘Ah, at it already, I see,’ said Dr Haydock, looking at the two ladies. ‘I came in to see how your health was,’ he said to Miss Marple, ‘but I needn’t ask. I see you’ve begun to adopt the treatment that I suggested.’
‘Treatment, Doctor?’
Dr Haydock pointed a finger at the knitting that lay on the table beside her. ‘Unravelling,’ he said. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’
Miss Marple twinkled very slightly in a discreet, old-fashioned kind of way.
‘You will have your joke, Doctor Haydock,’ she said.
‘You can’t pull the wool over my eyes, my dear lady. I’ve known you too many years. Sudden death at Gossington Hall and all the tongues of St Mary Mead are wagging. Isn’t that so? Murder suggested long before anybody even knows the result of the inquest.’
‘When is the inquest to be held?’ asked Miss Marple.
‘The day after tomorrow,’ said Dr Haydock, ‘and by that time,’ he said, ‘you ladies will have reviewed the whole story, decided on the verdict and decided on a good many other points too, I expect. Well,’ he added, ‘I shan’t waste my time here. It’s no good wasting time on a patient that doesn’t need my ministrations. Your cheeks are pink, your eyes are bright, you’ve begun to enjoy yourself. Nothing like having an interest in life. I’ll be on my way.’ He stomped out again.
‘I’d rather have him than Sandford any day,’ said Mrs Bantry.
‘So would I,’ said Miss Marple. ‘He’s a good friend, too,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘He came, I think, to give me the go-ahead sign.’
‘Then it was murder,’ said Mrs Bantry. They looked at each other. ‘At any rate, the doctors think so.’
Miss Knight brought in cups of coffee. For once in their lives, both ladies were too impatient to welcome this interruption. When Miss Knight had gone Miss Marple started immediately.
‘Now then, Dolly, you were there —’
‘I practically saw it happen,’ said Mrs Bantry, with modest pride.
‘Splendid,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I mean — well, you know what I mean. So you can tell me just exactly what happened from the moment she arrived.’
‘I’d been taken into the house,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘Snob status.’
‘Who took you in?’
‘Oh, a willowy-looking young man. I think he’s Marina Gregg’s secretary or something like that. He took me in, up the staircase. They were having a kind of reunion reception committee at the top of the stairs.’
‘On the landing?’ said Miss