"And what did Mr Crale say to that?"
"Apparently he turned, on Miss Greer and shouted at her,
'What the devil do you mean by blurting that out?
Haven't you got the sense to hold your tongue?'
"Miss Greer said,
'I think Caroline ought to recognize the truth.'
"Mrs Crale said to her husband,
'Is it true, Amyas?'
"He wouldn't look at her, it seems, turned his face away and mumbled something.
"She said,
'Speak out.
I've got to know.'
Whereupon he said,
'Oh, it's true enough - but I don't want to discuss it now.' "Then he flounced out of the room again, and Miss Greer said:
"'You see!' and went on with something about its being no good for Mrs Crale to adopt a dog-in-the-manger attitude about it. They must all behave like rational people.
She herself hoped that Caroline and Amyas would always remain good friends."
"And what did Mrs Crale say to that?" asked Poirot curiously.
"According to the witnesses she laughed. She said,
'Over my, dead body, Elsa.' "She went to the door, and Miss Greer called after her,
'What do you mean?'
"Mrs Crale looked back and said,
'I'll kill Amyas before I give him up to you.'"
Hale paused.
"Pretty damning - eh?" "Yes."
Poirot seemed thoughtful.
"Who overheard this scene?"
"Miss Williams was in the room, and Philip Blake.
Very awkward for them."
"Their accounts of the scene agree?"
"Near enough - you never get two witnesses to remember a thing exactly alike.
You know that as well as I do, M. Poirot."
Poirot nodded. He said thoughtfully,
"Yes, it will be interesting to see -" He stopped with the sentence unfinished.
Hale went on:
"I instituted a search of the house.
In Mrs. Crale's bedroom I found in a bottom drawer, tucked way underneath some winter stockings, a small bottle labeled jasmine scent.
It was empty.
I fingerprinted it.
The only prints on it were those of Mrs Crale.
On analysis it was found to contain faint traces of oil of jasmine and a strong solution of coniine.
"I cautioned Mrs Crale and showed her the bottle.
She replied readily. She had, she said, been in a very unhappy state of mind. After listening to Mr Meredith Blake's description of the drug she had slipped back to the laboratory, had emptied out a bottle of jasmine scent which was in her bag, and had filled the bottle up with coniine solution.
I asked her why she had done this and she said,
'I don't want to speak of certain things more than I can help, but I had received a had shock. My husband was proposing to leave me for another woman.
If that was so, I didn't want to live.
That is why I took it.'"
Hale paused. Poirot said,
"After all, it is likely enough."
"Perhaps, M. Poirot.
But it doesn't square with what she was overheard to say.