‘The blows of a pick axe…They are breaking up the concrete foundation of the Folly…What a good place to bury a body – where a tree has been uprooted and the earth is already disturbed. A little later, to make all safe, concrete over the ground where the body lies, and, on the concrete, erect a Folly…’ He added gently: ‘Sir George’s Folly…The Folly of the owner of Nasse House.’

A long shuddering sigh escaped Mrs Folliat.

‘Such a beautiful place,’ said Poirot. ‘Only one thing evil…The man who owns it…’

‘I know.’ Her words came hoarsely. ‘I have always known…Even as a child he frightened me…Ruthless…Without pity…And without conscience…But he was my son and I loved him…I should have spoken out after Hattie’s death…But he was my son. How could I be the one to give him up? And so, because of my silence – that poor silly child was killed…And after her, dear old Merdell…Where would it have ended?’

‘With a murderer it does not end,’ said Poirot.

She bowed her head. For a moment or two she stayed so, her hands covering her eyes.

Then Mrs Folliat of Nasse House, daughter of a long line of brave men, drew herself erect. She looked straight at Poirot and her voice was formal and remote.

‘Thank you, M. Poirot,’ she said, ‘for coming to tell me yourself of this. Will you leave me now? There are some things that one has to face quite alone…’

E-Book Extras: The Poirots: Essay by Charles Osborne

E-Book Extras

The Poirots

Essay by Charles Osborne

The Poirots

The Poirots

The Mysterious Affair at Styles; The Murder on the Links; Poirot Investigates; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; The Big Four; The Mystery of the Blue Train; Black Coffee; Peril at End House; Lord Edgware Dies; Murder on the Orient Express; Three-Act Tragedy; Death in the Clouds; The ABC Murders; Murder in Mesopotamia; Cards on the Table; Murder in the Mews; Dumb Witness; Death on the Nile; Appointment with Death; Hercule Poirot’s Christmas; Sad Cypress; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Evil Under the Sun; Five Little Pigs; The Hollow; The Labours of Hercules; Taken at the Flood; Mrs McGinty’s Dead; After the Funeral; Hickory Dickory Dock; Dead Man’s Folly; Cat Among the Pigeons; The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding; The Clocks; Third Girl; Hallowe’en Party; Elephants Can Remember; Poirot’s Early Cases; Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)