Agatha Christie - Three Act Tragedy

A strange sound had interrupted him – a kind of choking cry. Every eye went to Sir Charles as he stood swaying, his face convulsed. The glass dropped from his hand on to the carpet, he took a few steps blindly, then collapsed.

There was a moment’s stupefied silence, then Angela Sutcliffe screamed and Egg started forward.

“Charles,” cried Egg. “Charles.”

She fought her way blindly forward. Mr. Satterthwaite gently held her back.

“Oh, dear God,” cried Lady Mary. “ Not another! ”

Angela Sutcliffe cried out:

“He’s been poisoned, too… This is awful. Oh, my God, this is too awful… ”

And suddenly collapsing on to a sofa, she began to sob and laugh – a horrible sound.

Poirot had taken charge of the situation. He was kneeling by the prostrate man. The others drew back while he made his examination. He rose to his feet, mechanically dusting the knees of his trousers. He looked round at the assembly. There was complete silence, except for the smothered sobs of Angela Sutcliffe.

“My friends,” began Poirot.

He got no further, for Egg spat out at him:

“You fool. You absurd play-acting little fool! Pretending to be so great and so wonderful, and to know all about everything. And now you let this happen. Another murder. Under your very nose… If you’d let the whole thing alone this wouldn’t have happened… It’s you who have murdered Charles – you – you – you… ”

She stopped, unable to get out the words.

Poirot nodded his head gravely and sadly.

“It is true, mademoiselle. I confess it. It is I who have murdered Sir Charles. But I, mademoiselle, am a very special kind of murderer. I can kill – and I can restore to life.” He turned and in a different tone of voice, an apologetic everyday voice, he said:

“A magnificent performance, Sir Charles. I congratulate you. Perhaps you would now like to take your curtain.”

With a laugh the actor sprang to his feet and bowed mockingly.

Egg gave a great gasp.

“M. Poirot, you – you beast .”

“Charles,” cried Angela Sutcliffe. “You complete devil… ”

“But why -?”

“How -?”

“What on earth -?”

By means of his upraised hand, Poirot obtained silence.

“Messieurs, messdames. I demand pardon of you all. This little farce was necessary to prove to you all, and incidentally, to prove to myself a fact which my reason already told me is true.”

“Listen. On this tray of glasses I placed in one glass a teaspoonful of plain water. That water represented pure nicotine. These glasses are of the same kind as those possessed by Sir Charles Cartwright and by Sir Bartholomew Strange. Owing to the heavy cut glass, a small quantity of a colourless liquid is quite undetectable. Imagine, then, the sport glass of Sir Bartholomew Strange. After it was put on the table somebody introduced into it a sufficient quantity of pure nicotine. That might have been done by anybody. The butler, the parlourmaid, or one of the guests who slipped into the dining room on his or her way downstairs. Dessert arrived, the port is taken round, the glass is filled. Sir Bartholomew drinks – and dies.”

“Tonight we have played a third tragedy – a sham tragedy – I asked Sir Charles to play the part of the victim. This he did magnificently. Now suppose for a minute that this was not a farce, but truth. Sir Charles is dead . What will be the steps taken by the police?”

Miss Sutcliffe cried:

“Why, the glass, of course.” She nodded to where the glass lay on the floor as it had fallen from Sir Charles’s hand. “You only put water in, but if it had been nicotine – ”

“Let us suppose it was nicotine.” Poirot touched the glass gently with his toe. “You are of opinion that the police would analyse the glass, and that traces of nicotine would be found?”

“Certainly.”

Poirot shook his head gently.

“You are wrong. No nicotine would be found.”

They stared at him.

“You see,” he smiled, “ that is not the glass from which Sir Charles drank.” With an apologetic grin he extended a glass from the tail pocket of his coat. “ This is the glass he used.”

He went on:

“It is, you see, the simple theory of the conjuring trick. The attention cannot be in two places at once. To do my conjuring trick I need the attention focused elsewhere. Well, there is a moment, a psychological moment. When Sir Charles falls – dead – every eye in the room is on his dead body. Everyone crowds forward to get near him, and no one, no one at all, looks at Hercule Poirot, and in that moment I exchange the glasses and no one sees…

“So you see, I prove my point… There was such a moment at Crow's Nest, there was such a moment at Melfort Abbey – and so, there was nothing in the cocktail glass and nothing in the port glass… ”

Egg cried:

“Who changed them?”

Looking at her, Poirot replied:

“That, we have still to find out… ”

“You don’t know?”

Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

Rather uncertainly, the guests made signs of departure. Their manner was a little cold. They felt they had been badly fooled.

With a gesture of the hand, Poirot arrested them.

“One little moment, I pray of you. There is one thing more that I have to say. Tonight, admittedly, we have played the comedy. But the comedy may be played in earnest – it may become a tragedy. Under certain conditions the murderer may strike a third time… I speak now to all of you here present. If anyone of you knows something – something that may bear in any way one this crime, I implore that person to speak now. To keep knowledge to oneself at this juncture may be dangerous – so dangerous that death may be the result of silence. Therefore I beg again – if anyone knows anything, let that person speak now… ”

It seemed to Sir Charles that Poirot’s appeal was addressed especially to Miss Wills. If so, it had no result. Nobody spoke or answered.

Poirot sighed. His hand fell.

“Be it so, then. I have given warning. I can do no more. Remember, to keep silence is dangerous… ”

But still nobody spoke.

Awkwardly the guests departed.

Egg, Sir Charles and Mr. Satterthwaite were left.

Egg had not yet forgiven Poirot. She sat very still, her cheeks flushed and her eyes angry. She wouldn’t look at Sir Charles.

“That was a damned clever bit of work, Poirot,” said Sir Charles appreciatively.

“Amazing,” said Mr. Satterthwaite with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t have believed that I wouldn’t have seen you do that exchange.”

“That is why,” said Poirot, “I could take no one into any confidence. The experiment could only be fair this way.”

“Was that the only reason you planned this – to see whether it could be done unnoticed?”

“Well, not quite, perhaps. I had one other aim.”

“Yes?”

“I wanted to watch the expression on one person’s face when Sir Charles fell dead.”

“Which person’s?” said Egg sharply.

“Ah, that is my secret.”

“And you did watch that person’s face?” asked Mr. Satterthwaite.

“Yes.”

“Well?”

Poirot did not reply. He merely shook his head.

“Won’t you tell us what you saw there?”

Poirot said slowly:

“I saw an expression of the utmost surprise… ”

Egg drew her breath in sharply.

“You mean,” she said, “ that you know who the murderer is ?”

“You can put it that way if you like, mademoiselle.”

“But then – but then – you know everything?”

Poirot shook his head.

“No; on the contrary I know nothing at all. For, you see, I do not know why Stephen Babbington was killed. Until I know that I can prove nothing. I can know nothing… It all hinges on that – the motive for Stephen Babbington’s death… ”