I was engaged to educate Angela, not to offer unasked advice to Mrs Crale.
To do so would have been most impertinent."
"You liked Mrs Crale?"
"I was very fond of Mrs Crale." The efficient voice softened, held warmth and feeling. "Very fond of her and very sorry for her."
"And your pupil - Angela Warren?" Poirot leaned forward, his eyes fixed hard on Miss Williams's.
Chapter 6 "She was a most interesting girl - one of the most interesting pupils I have had," Miss Williams said.
"A really good brain.
Undisciplined, quick-tempered, most difficult to manage in many ways, but really a very fine character." She paused and then went on. "I always hoped that she would accomplish something worth while.
And she has!
You have read her book - on the Sahara?
And she excavated those very interesting tombs in the Fayum!
Yes, I am proud of Angela.
I was not at Alderbury very long - two years and a half - but I always cherish the belief that I helped to stimulate her mind and encourage her taste for archaeology."
"I understand," Poirot murmured, "that it was decided to continue her education by sending her to school.
You must have resented that decision."
"Not at all, M. Poirot. I thoroughly concurred in it." She paused and went on. "Let me make the matter clear to you.
Angela was a dear girl, really a very dear girl - warm-hearted and impulsive - but she was also what I call a difficult girl.
That is, she was at a difficult age.
There is always a moment where a girl feels unsure of herself - neither child nor woman.
At one minute Angela would be sensible and mature - quite grown-up, in fact - but a minute later she would relapse into being a hoydenish child - playing mischievous tricks and being rude and losing her temper.
"Girls, you know, feel difficult at that age - they are terribly sensitive. Everything that is said to them they resent. They are annoyed at being treated like children and then they suddenly feel shy at being treated like adults.
Angela was in that state.
She had fits of temper, would suddenly resent teasing and flare out, and then she would be sulky for days at a time, sitting about and frowning; then again she would be in wild spirits, climbing trees, rushing about with the garden boys, refusing to submit to any kind of authority.
"When a girl gets to that stage, school is very helpful She needs the stimulation of other minds - that and the wholesome discipline of a community help her to become a reasonable member of society.
Angela's home conditions were not what I would have called ideal.
Mrs Crale spoiled her, for one thing. Angela had only to appeal to her and Mrs Crale always backed her up.
The result was that Angela considered she had first claim upon her sister's time and attention, and it was in these moods of hers that she used to clash with Mr Crale.
"Mr Crale naturally thought that he should come first and he intended to.
He was really very fond of the girl - they were good companions and used to spar together quite amiably, but there were times when Mr Crale used suddenly to resent Mrs Crale's preoccupation with Angela. Like all men, he was a spoiled child - he expected everybody to make a fuss over him. Then he and Angela used to have a real set-to - and very often Mrs Crale would take Angela's side. Then he would be furious. On the other hand, if she supported him, Angela would be furious.
It was on these occasions that Angela used to revert to childish ways and play some spiteful trick on him.
"He had a habit of tossing off his drinks, and she once put a lot of salt into his drink.
The whole thing, of course, acted as an emetic, and he was inarticulate with fury.
But what really brought things to a head was when she put a lot of slugs into his bed.
He had a queer aversion for slugs. He lost his temper completely and said that the girl had to be sent away to school. He wasn't going to put up with all this petty nonsense any more.
"Angela was terribly upset - though actually she had once or twice expressed a wish herself to go to a large school, but she chose to make a huge grievance of it.
Mrs Crale didn't want her to go, but allowed herself to be persuaded - largely owing, I think, to what I said to her on the subject.
I pointed out to her that it would be greatly to Angela's advantage, and that I thought it would really be a great benefit to the girl.
So it was settled that she should go to Helston - a very fine school on the south coast - in the autumn term.
"But Mrs Crale was still unhappy about it all those holidays. And Angela kept up a grudge against Mr Crale whenever she remembered.
It wasn't really serious, you understand, M. Poirot, but it made a kind of undercurrent that summer to - well - to everything else that was going on."
"Meaning - Elsa Greer?" Poirot said.
Miss Williams said sharply, "Exactly."
"What was your opinion of Elsa Greer?"
"I had no opinion of her at all.
A thoroughly unprincipled young woman."
"She was very young."
"Old enough to know better.
I can see no excuse for her - none at all."
"She fell in love with him, I suppose -"
Miss Williams interrupted with a snort: