They do it with mirrors - Agatha Christie [38]
‘Eric Gulbrandsen, after endowment of the College and various fellowships and trusts and other charitable bequests, and having settled an equal sum on his daughter Mildred and on his adopted daughter Pippa (Gina’s mother), left the remainder of his vast fortune in trust, the income from it to be paid to Caroline for her lifetime.’
‘And after her death?’
‘After her death it was to be divided equally between Mildred and Pippa — or their children if they themselves had predeceased Caroline.’
‘So that in fact it goes to Mrs Strete and to Gina.’
‘Yes. Caroline has also quite a considerable fortune of her own — though not in the Gulbrandsen class. Half of this she made over to me four years ago. Of the remaining amount, she left ten thousand pounds to Juliet Bellever, and the rest equally divided between Alex and Stephen Restarick, her two stepsons.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Miss Marple. ‘That’s bad. That’s very bad.’
‘You mean?’
‘It means everyone in the house had a financial motive.’
‘Yes. And yet, you know, I can’t believe that any of these people would do murder. I simply can’t…Mildred is her daughter — and already quite well provided for. Gina is devoted to her grandmother. She is generous and extravagant, but has no acquisitive feelings. Jolly Bellever is fanatically devoted to Caroline. The two Restaricks care for Caroline as though she were really their mother. They have no money of their own to speak of, but quite a lot of Caroline’s income has gone towards financing their enterprises — especially so with Alex. I simply can’t believe either of those two would deliberately poison her for the sake of inheriting money at her death. I just can’t believe any of it, Miss Marple.’
‘There’s Gina’s husband, isn’t there?’
‘Yes,’ said Lewis gravely. ‘There is Gina’s husband.’
‘You don’t really know much about him. And one can’t help seeing that he’s a very unhappy young man.’
Lewis sighed.
‘He hasn’t fitted in here — no. He’s no interest in or sympathy for what we’re trying to do. But after all, why should he? He’s young, crude, and he comes from a country where a man is esteemed by the success he makes of life.’
‘Whilst here we are so very fond of failures,’ said Miss Marple.
Lewis Serrocold looked at her sharply and suspiciously.
She flushed a little and murmured rather incoherently:
‘I think sometimes, you know, one can overdo things the other way…I mean the young people with a good heredity, and brought up wisely in a good home — and with grit and pluck and the ability to get on in life — well, they are really, when one comes down to it — the sort of people a country needs.’
Lewis frowned and Miss Marple hurried on, getting pinker and pinker and more and more incoherent.
‘Not that I don’t appreciate — I do indeed — you and Carrie Louise — a really noble work — real compassion — and one should have compassion — because after all it’s what people are that counts — good and bad luck — and much more expected (and rightly) of the lucky ones. But I do think sometimes one’s sense of proportion — oh, I don’t mean you, Mr Serrocold. Really I don’t know what I mean — but the English are rather odd that way. Even in war, so much prouder of their defeats and their retreats than of their victories. Foreigners never can understand why we’re so proud of Dunkirk. It’s the sort of thing they’d prefer not to mention themselves. But we always seem to be almost embarrassed by a victory — and treat it as though it weren’t quite nice to boast about it. And look at all our poets! The Charge of the Light Brigade, and the little Revenge went down in the Spanish Main. It’s really a very odd characteristic when you come to think of it!’
Miss Marple drew a fresh breath.
‘What I really mean is that everything here must seem rather peculiar to young Walter Hudd.’
‘Yes,’ Lewis allowed. ‘I see your point. And Walter has certainly a fine war record. There’s no doubt about his bravery.’
‘Not that that helps,’ said Miss Marple candidly. ‘Because war is one thing, and everyday life is quite another. And actually to commit a