Poirot nodded.
"Very well.
Now on that morning my brother Meredith called me up.
He was in a pretty good stew.
One of his hell brews was missing, and it was a fairly deadly hell brew.
What did I do?
I told him to come along and we'd talk it over. Decide what was best to be done.
'Decide what was best.' It beats me now how I could have been such a hesitating fool!
I ought to have gone to Amyas straight away and warned him.
I ought to have said,
'Caroline's pinched one of Meredith's patent poisons, and you and Elsa had better look out for yourselves.'"
Blake got up. He strode up and down in his excitement.
"Do you suppose I haven't gone over it in my mind again again?
I knew.
I had the chance to save him and I dallied about - waiting for Meredith!
Why hadn't I the sense to realize that Caroline wasn't going to have any qualms or hesitancies?
She'd taken that stuff to use - and she'd use it at the very first opportunity.
She wouldn't wait till Meredith discovered his loss.
I knew - of course I knew that Amyas was in deadly danger and I did nothing!"
"I think you reproach yourself unduly, monsieur. You had not much time -"
The other interrupted him.
"Time?
I had plenty of time.
Any amount of courses were open to me.
I could have gone to Amyas, as I say; but there was the chance, of course, that he wouldn't believe me.
Amyas wasn't the sort of man who'd believe easily in his own danger.
He'd have scoffed at the notion. And he never thoroughly understood the sort of devil Caroline was.
But I could have gone to her. I could have said,
'I know what you're up to.
I know what you're planning to do.
But if Amyas or Elsa dies of coniine poisoning, you'll be hanged by your neck!'
That would have stopped her.
Or I might have rung up the police.
Oh, there were things that could have been done - and, instead, I let myself be influenced by Meredith's slow, cautious methods!
'We must be sure - talk it over - make quite certain who could have taken it...'
Old fool - never made a quick decision in his life!
A good thing for him he was the eldest son and has an estate to live on.
If he'd ever tried to make money he'd have lost every penny he had."
"You had no doubt yourself who had taken the poison?" Poirot asked.
"Of course not.
I knew at once it must be Caroline.
You see, I knew Caroline very well."
"That is very interesting," Poirot said.
"I want to know, Mr Blake, what kind of a woman Caroline Crale was."
Philip Blake said sharply,
"She wasn't the injured that innocent people thought she was at the time of the trial!"
"What was she, then?"
Blake sat down again. He said seriously,
"Would you really like to know?"
"I would like to know very much indeed."