In a sense he lived in a fools paradise and yet it wasnt a fools paradise because to him she was what he thought her.
Though its hard to reconcile that with
She stopped.
Go on, mademoiselle, said Poirot.
She turned suddenly on me.
What have you said about Richard Carey?
About Mr Carey? I asked, astonished.
About her and Carey?
Well, I said, Ive mentioned that they didnt hit it off very well
To my surprise she broke into a fit of laughter.
Didnt hit it off very well!
You fool!
Hes head over ears in love with her.
And its tearing him to pieces because he worships Leidner too.
Hes been his friend for years.
That would be enough for her, of course. Shes made it her business to come between them.
But all the same Ive fancied
Eh bien?
She was frowning, absorbed in thought.
Ive fancied that shed gone too far for once that she was not only biter but bit!
Careys attractive. Hes as attractive as hell She was a cold devil but I believe she could have lost her coldness with him
I think its just scandalous what youre saying, I cried.
Why, they hardly spoke to each other!
Oh, didnt they? She turned on me.
A hell of a lot you know about it.
It was Mr Carey and Mrs Leidner in the house, but they used to meet outside.
Shed walk down the path to the river.
And hed leave the dig for an hour at a time.
They used to meet among the fruit trees.
I saw him once just leaving her, striding back to the dig, and she was standing looking after him.
I was a female cad, I suppose.
I had some glasses with me and I took them out and had a good look at her face.
If you ask me, I believe she cared like hell for Richard Carey
She broke off and looked at Poirot.
Excuse my butting in on your case, she said with a sudden rather twisted grin, but I thought youd like to have the local colour correct.
And she marched out of the room.
M. Poirot, I cried.
I dont believe one word of it all!
He looked at me and he smiled, and he said (very queerly I thought): You cant deny, nurse, that Miss Reilly has shed a certain illumination on the case.
Chapter 19.
A New Suspicion
We couldnt say any more just then because Dr Reilly came in, saying jokingly that hed killed off the most tiresome of his patients.
He and M. Poirot settled down to a more or less medical discussion of the psychology and mental state of an anonymous letter-writer.
The doctor cited cases that he had known professionally, and M. Poirot told various stories from his own experience.
It is not so simple as it seems, he ended.
There is the desire for power and very often a strong inferiority complex.
Dr Reilly nodded.
Thats why you often find that the author of anonymous letters is the last person in the place to be suspected.
Some quiet inoffensive little soul who apparently cant say Bo to a goose all sweetness and Christian meekness on the outside and seething with all the fury of hell underneath!
Poirot said thoughtfully: Should you say Mrs Leidner had any tendency to an inferiority complex?