夜雨聆风He sighed. His face took on a worried expression.
I went away quietly, realizing sadly how unfit Poirot was now for anysustained effort. His brain was still keen, but he was a sick and tired man.
Poirot had warned me not to try and penetrate the personality of X. Inmy own mind I still clung to my belief that I had penetrated that personal-ity. There was only one person at Styles who struck me as definitely evil.
By a simple question, however, I could make sure of one thing. The testwould be a negative one, but would nevertheless have a certain value.
I tackled Judith after breakfast.
‘Where had you been yesterday evening when I met you, you and MajorAllerton?’
The trouble is that when you are intent on one aspect of a thing, youtend to ignore all other aspects. I was quite startled when Judith flared outat me.
‘Really, Father, I don’t see what business it is of yours.’
I stared at her, rather taken aback. ‘I – I only asked.’
‘Yes, but why? Why do you have to be continually asking questions?
What was I doing? Where did I go? Who was I with? It’s really intoler-able!’
The funny part of it was, of course, that this time I was not really askingat all where Judith was. It was Allerton I was interested in.