西班牙箱子之谜2

The papers vary a good deal in their accounts. I shouldn't like to guarantee that the facts as statedare more than sixty per cent accurate.""That is probably a conservative estimate," murmured Poirot. "Thank you, Miss Lemon, for thetrouble you have taken."The facts were sensational¹ but clear enough. Major Charles Rich, a well-to-do bachelor, had givenan evening party to a few of his friends, at his apartment. These friends consisted of Mr. and Mrs.

Clayton, Mr. and Mrs. Spence, and a Commander McLaren. Commander McLaren was a very oldfriend of both Rich and the Claytons. Mr. and Mrs. Spence, a younger couple, were fairly recentacquaintances. Arnold Clayton was in the Treasury². Jeremy Spence was a junior civil servant.

Major Rich was forty-eight, Arnold Clayton was fifty-five, Commander McLaren was forty-six,Jeremy Spence was thirty-seven. Mrs. Clayton was said to be "some years younger than herhusband." One person was unable to attend the party. At the last moment, Mr. Clayton was calledaway to Scotland on urgent business, and was supposed to have left King's Cross by the 8:15 train.

The party proceeded as such parties do. Everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves. It wasneither a wild party nor a drunken one. It broke up about 11:45. The four guests left together andshared a taxi. Commander McLaren was dropped first at his club and then the Spences droppedMargharita Clayton at Cardigan Gardens just off Sloane Street and went on themselves to theirhouse in Chelsea.

The gruesome discovery was made on the following morning by Major Rich's manservant,William Burgess. The latter did not live in. He arrived early so as to clear up the sitting roombefore calling Major Rich with his early morning tea. It was whilst clearing up that Burgess wasstartled to find a big stain discoloring the light-colored rug on which stood the Spanish chest. Itseemed to have seeped³ through from the chest, and the valet immediately lifted up the lid of thechest and looked inside. He was horrified⁴ to find there the body of Mr. Clayton, stabbed throughthe neck.

Obeying his first impulse, Burgess rushed out into the street and fetched the nearest policeman.

Such were the bald facts of the case. But there were further details. The police had immediatelybroken the news to Mrs. Clayton, who had been "completely prostrated⁵." She had seen herhusband for the last time at a little after six o'clock on the evening before. He had come homemuch annoyed, having been summoned to Scotland on urgent business in connection with someproperty that he owned. He had urged his wife to go to the party without him. Mr. Clayton hadthen called in at his and Commander McLaren's club, had had a drink with his friend, and hadexplained the position. He had then said, looking at his watch, that he had just time on his way toKing's Cross, to call in on Major Rich and explain. He had already tried to telephone him, but theline had seemed to be out of order.

According to William Burgess, Mr. Clayton arrived at the flat at about 7:55. Major Rich was outbut was due to return any moment, so Burgess suggested that Mr. Clayton should come in andwait. Clayton said he had no time but would come in and write a note. He explained that he wason his way to catch a train at King's Cross. The valet showed him into the sitting room and himselfreturned to the kitchen, where he was engaged in the preparation of canapés for the party. Thevalet did not hear his master return, but about ten minutes later, Major Rich looked into thekitchen and told Burgess to hurry out and get some Turkish cigarettes, which were Mrs. Spence'sfavorite smoking. The valet did so and brought them to his master in the sitting room. Mr. Claytonwas not there, but the valet naturally thought he had already left to catch his train.

Major Rich's story was short and simple. Mr. Clayton was not in the flat when he himself came inand he had no idea that he had been there. No note had been left for him and the first he heard ofMr. Clayton's journey to Scotland was when Mrs. Clayton and the others arrived.

There were two additional items in the evening papers. Mrs. Clayton who was "prostrated withshock" had left her flat in Cardigan Gardens and was believed to be staying with friends.

The second item was in the stop press. Major Charles Rich had been charged with the murder ofArnold Clayton and had been taken into custody⁶.

"So that is that," said Poirot, looking up at Miss Lemon. "The arrest of Major Rich was to beexpected. But what a remarkable⁷ case. What a very remarkable case! Do you not think so?""I suppose such things do happen, M. Poirot," said Miss Lemon without interest.

"Oh certainly! They happen every day. Or nearly every day. But usually they are quiteunderstandable - though distressing⁸.""It is certainly a very unpleasant business.""To be stabbed to death and stowed away in a Spanish chest is certainly unpleasant for the victim -supremely so. But when I say this is a remarkable case, I refer to the remarkable behavior of MajorRich."Miss Lemon said with faint distaste: "There seems to be a suggestion that Major Rich and Mrs.

Clayton were very close friends... It was a suggestion and not a proved fact, so I did not includeit.""That was very correct of you. But it is an inference that leaps to the eye. Is that all you have tosay?"Miss Lemon looked blank. Poirot sighed, and missed the rich colorful imagination of his friendHastings. Discussing a case with Miss Lemon was uphill work.

"Consider for a moment this Major Rich. He is in love with Mrs. Clayton - granted... He wants todispose of her husband - that, too, we grant, though if Mrs. Clayton is in love with him, and theyare having the affair together, where is the urgency? It is, perhaps, that Mr. Clayton will not givehis wife the divorce? But it is not of all this that I talk. Major Rich, he is a retired⁹ soldier, and it issaid sometimes that soldiers are not brainy. But, tout¹⁰ de même, this Major Rich, is he, can he be, acomplete imbecile?"Miss Lemon did not reply. She took this to be a purely¹¹ rhetorical question.

"Well," demanded Poirot. "What do you think about it all?""What do I think?" Miss Lemon was startled.

"Mais oui - you!"

Miss Lemon adjusted her mind to the strain put upon it. She was not given to mental speculationof any kind unless asked for it. In such leisure moments as she had, her mind was filled with thedetails of a superlatively perfect filing system. It was her only mental recreation.

"Well -" she began, and paused.

"Tell me just what happened - what you think happened, on that evening. Mr. Clayton is in thesitting room writing a note, Major Rich comes back - what then?""He finds Mr. Clayton there. They - I suppose they have a quarrel. Major Rich stabs him. Then,when he sees what he has done, he - he puts the body in the chest. After all, the guests, I suppose,might be arriving any minute.""Yes, yes. The guests arrive! The body is in the chest. The evening passes. The guests depart. Andthen -""Well, then, I suppose Major Rich goes to bed and - Oh!""Ah," said Poirot. "You see it now. You have murdered a man. You have concealed¹² his body in achest. And then - you go peacefully to bed, quite unperturbed by the fact that your valet willdiscover the crime in the morning.""I suppose it's possible that the valet might never have looked inside the chest?""With an enormous pool of blood on the carpet underneath¹³ it?""Perhaps Major Rich didn't realize that the blood was there.""Was it not somewhat careless of him not to look and see?""I dare say he was upset," said Miss Lemon. Poirot threw up his hands in despair.

Miss Lemon seized the opportunity to hurry from the room.

The mystery of the Spanish chest was, strictly¹⁴ speaking, no business of Poirot's. He was engagedat the moment in a delicate mission for one of the large oil companies where one of the high upswas possibly involved in some questionable¹⁵ transaction. It was hush¹⁶- hush, important, andexceedingly lucrative¹⁷. It was sufficiently¹⁸ involved to command Poirot's attention, and had the greatadvantage that it required very little physical activity. It was sophisticated and bloodless. Crime atthe highest levels.

The mystery of the Spanish chest was dramatic and emotional, two qualities which Poirot hadoften declared to Hastings could be much overrated - and indeed frequently were so by the latter.

 

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