Poirotwenton:

"So you might as well come back and

sit down and give me the answer to the

question I asked you just now."

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Oldfield came

back and resumed his seat.

He said, colouring up to his eyebrows:

"I suppose it's possible that they've

been saying things about Miss Moncrieffe.

Jean Moncrieffe is my dispenser, a very

fine girl indeed."

"How long has she worked for you ?"

"For three years."

"Did your wife like her ?"

"Er — well, no, not exactly."

"She was jealous ?"

"It was absurd!"

Poirot smiled.

65

He said:

"The jealousy of wives is proverbial.

But I will tell you something. In my experience

jealousy, however far-fetched and

extravagant it may seem, is nearly always

based on reality. There is a saying, is there

not, that the customer is always right?

Well, the same is true of the jealous husband

or wife. However little concrete evidence

there may be, fundamentally they

are always right."

Dr. Oldfield said robustly:

"Nonsense. I've never said anything to

Jean Moncrieffe that my wife couldn't

have overheard."

"That, perhaps. But it does not alter

the truth of what I said." Hercule Poirot

leaned forward. His voice was urgent, compelling.

"Doctor Oldfield, I am going to

do my utmost in this case. But I must have

from you the most absolute frankness

without regard to conventional appearances

or to your own feelings. It is true, is it not, that you had ceased to care for your wife for some time before she died ?"

Oldfield was silent for a minute or two.

Then he said:

"This business is killing me. I must

66

have hope. Somehow or other I feel that

you will be able to do something for me.

I will be honest with you, M. Poirot. I did

not care deeply for my wife. I made her, I

think, a good husband, but I was never

really in love with her."

"And this girl, Jean?"

The perspiration came out in a fine

dew on the doctor's forehead. He said:

cc! --I should have asked her to marry

me before now if it weren't for all this

scandal and talk."

Poirot sat back in his chair. He said:

"Now at last we have come to the true

facts! Eh bien, Doctor Oldfield, I will take

up your case. But remember this --it is

the truth that I shall seek out."

Oldfield said bitterly:

"It isn't the truth that's going to hurt

me!"

He hesitated and said:

"You know, I've contemplated the possibility

of an action for slander! If I could

pin anyone down to a definite accusation

--surely then I should be vindicated ? At

least, sometimes I think so. ... At other

times I think it would only make things

worse --give bigger publicity to the whole

67

He said:

"The jealousy of wives is proverbial.

But I will tell you something. In my experience

jealousy, however far-fetched and

extravagant it may seem, is nearly always