Agatha Christie - Why Didn't They Ask Evans

'You can see that the matter might have been very grave,' said Mr Spragge severely, but with a severity tempered by benevolence. 'I took it that some extremely questionable business was afoot. Whether connected with the Maltravers case or with my client, Mr Carstairs -' Frankie interrupted him.

'Was Alan Carstairs a client of yours?' she inquired excitedly.

'He was. He consulted me when he was last in England a month ago. You know Mr Carstairs, Lady Frances?' 'I think I may say I do,' said Frankie.

'A most attractive personality,' said Mr Spragge. 'He brought quite a breath of the - er - wide open spaces into my office.' 'He came to consult you about Mr Savage's will, didn't he?' said Frankie.

'Ah!' said Mr Spragge. 'So it was you who advised him to come to me? He couldn't remember just who it was. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for him.' 'Just what did you advise him to do?' asked Frankie. 'Or would it be unprofessional to tell me?' 'Not in this case,' said Mr Spragge smiling. 'My opinion was that there was nothing to be done - nothing, that is, unless Mr Savage's relatives were prepared to spend a lot of money on fighting the case - which I gather they were not prepared, or indeed in a position, to do. I never advise bringing a case into court unless there is every hope of success. The law. Lady Frances, is an uncertain animal. It has twists and turns that surprise the non-legal mind. Settle out of court has always been my motto.' 'The whole thing was very curious,' said Frankie thoughtfully.

She had a little of the sensation of walking barefoot over a floor covered with tin tacks. At any minute she might step on one - and the game would be up.

'Such cases are less uncommon than you might think,' said Mr Spragge.

'Cases of suicide?' inquired Frankie.

'No, no, I meant cases of undue influence. Mr Savage was a hard-headed business man, and yet he was clearly as wax in this woman's hands. I've no doubt she knew her business thoroughly.' 'I wish you'd tell me the whole story properly,' said Frankie boldly. 'Mr Carstairs was - well, was so heated, that I never seemed to get the thing clearly.' 'The case was extremely simple,' said Mr Spragge. 'I can run over the facts to you - they are accessible to everyone - so there is no objection to my doing so.' 'Then tell me all about it,' said Frankie.

'Mr Savage happened to be travelling back from the United States to England in November of last year. He was, as you know, an extremely wealthy man with no near relations. On this voyage he made the acquaintance of a certain lady - a - er - Mrs Templeton. Nothing much is known about Mrs Templeton except that she was a very good-looking woman and had a husband somewhere conveniently in the background.' 'The Caymans,' thought Frankie.

'These ocean trips are dangerous,' went on Mr Spragge, smiling and shaking his head. 'Mr Savage was clearly very much attracted. He accepted the lady's invitation to come down and stay at her little cottage at Chipping Somerton.

Exactly how often he went there I have not been able to ascertain, but there is no doubt that he came more and more under this Mrs Templeton's influence.

'Then came the tragedy. Mr Savage had for some time been uneasy about his state of health. He feared that he might be suffering from a certain disease ' 'Cancer?' said Frankie.

'Well, yes, as a matter of fact, cancer. The subject became quite an obsession with him. He was staying with the Templetons at the time. They persuaded him to go up to London and consult a specialist. He did so. Now here. Lady Frances, I preserve an open mind. That specialist - a very distinguished man who has been at the top of his profession for many years - swore at the inquest that Mr Savage was not suffering from cancer and that he had told him so, but that Mr Savage was so obsessed by his own belief that he could not accept the truth when he was told it. Now, strictly without prejudice. Lady Frances, and knowing the medical profession, I think things may have gone a little differently.

'If Mr Savage's symptoms puzzled the doctor he may have spoken seriously, pulled a long face, spoken of certain expensive treatments and while reassuring him as to cancer yet have conveyed the impression that something was seriously wrong.

Mr Savage, having heard that doctors usually conceal from a patient the fact that he is suffering from that disease, would interpret this according to his own lights. The doctor's reassuring words were not true - he had got the disease he thought he had.

'Anyway, Mr Savage came back to Chipping Somerton in a state of great mental distress. He saw ahead of him a painful and lingering death. I understand some members of his family had died of cancer and he determined not to go through what he had seen them suffer. He sent for a solicitor - a very reputable member of an eminently respectable firm - and the latter drew up a will there and then which Mr Savage signed and which he then delivered over to the solicitor for safe keeping. On that same evening Mr Savage took a large overdose of chloral, leaving a letter behind in which he explained that he preferred a quick and painless death to a long and painful one.

'By his will Mr Savage left the sum of seven hundred thousand pounds free of legacy duty to Mrs Templeton and the remainder to certain specified charities.' Mr Spragge leaned back in his chair. He was now enjoying himself.

'The jury brought in the usual sympathetic verdict of Suicide while of Unsound Mind, but I do not think that we can argue from that that he was necessarily of unsound mind when he made the will. I do not think that any jury would take it so.

The will was made in the presence of a solicitor in whose opinion the deceased was undoubtedly sane and in possession of his senses. Nor do I think we can prove undue influence. Mr Savage did not disinherit anyone near and dear to him - his only relatives were distant cousins whom he seldom saw. They actually lived in Australia, I believe.' Mr Spragge paused.

'Mr Carstairs' contention was that such a will was completely uncharacteristic of Mr Savage. Mr Savage had no liking for organized charities and had always held very strong opinions as to money passing by blood relationship. However, Mr Carstairs had no documentary proof of these assertions and, as I pointed out to him, men change their opinions. In contesting such a will, there would be the charitable organizations to deal with as well as Mrs Templeton. Also, the will had been admitted to probate.' 'There was no fuss made at the time?' asked Frankie.

'As I say, Mr Savage's relatives were not living in this country and they knew very little about the matter. It was Mr Carstairs who took the matter up. He returned from a trip into the interior of Africa, gradually leamt the details of this business and came over to this country to see if something could be done about it. I was forced to tell him that in my view there was nothing to be done. Possession is nine points of the law, and Mrs Templeton was in possession. Moreover, she had left the country and gone, I believe, to the South of France to live. She refused to enter into any communication on the matter. I suggested getting counsel's opinion but Mr Carstairs decided that it was not necessary and took my view that there was nothing to be done - or, alternatively, that whatever might have been done at the time, and in my opinion that was exceedingly doubtful, it was now too late to do it.' 'I see,' said Frankie. 'And nobody knows anything about this Mrs Templeton?' Mr Spragge shook his head and pursed his lips.

'A man like Mr Savage, with his knowledge of life, ought to have been less easily taken in - but -' Mr Spragge shook his head sadly as a vision of innumerable clients who ought to have known better and who had come to him to have their cases settled out of court passed across his mind.