She cried:

‘How absurd! Anyway, I’m sure that could be set aside by law…I’m sure you can’t dictate to people about whom they shall marry.’

‘If he had actually signed such a will, would you have complied with its provisions, mademoiselle?’

She stared.

‘I—I—’

She broke off. For two or three minutes she sat irresolute, looking down at her dangling slipper. A little piece of earth detached itself from the heel and fell on the carpet.

Suddenly Ruth Chevenix-Gore said:

‘Wait!’

She got up and ran out of the room. She returned almost immediately with Captain Lake by her side.

‘It’s got to come out,’ she said rather breathlessly. ‘You might as well know now. John and I were married in London three weeks ago.’

Chapter 10

Of the two of them, Captain Lake looked far the more embarrassed.

‘This is a great surprise, Miss Chevenix-Gore—Mrs Lake, I should say,’ said Major Riddle. ‘Did no one know of this marriage of yours?’

‘No, we kept it quite dark. John didn’t like that part of it much.’

Lake said, stammering a little:

‘I—I know that it seems rather a rotten way to set about things. I ought to have gone straight to Sir Gervase—’

Ruth interrupted:

‘And told him you wanted to marry his daughter, and have been kicked out on your head and he’d probably have disinherited me, raised hell generally in the house, and we could have told each other how beautifully we’d behaved! Believe me, my way was better! If a thing’s done, it’s done. There would still have been a row—but he’d have come round.’

Lake still looked unhappy. Poirot asked:

‘When did you intend to break the news to Sir Gervase?’

Ruth answered:

‘I was preparing the ground. He’d been rather suspicious about me and John, so I pretended to turn my attentions to Godfrey. Naturally, he was ready to go quite off the deep-end about that. I figured it out that the news I was married to John would come almost as a relief!’

‘Did anybody at all know of this marriage?’

‘Yes, I told Vanda in the end. I wanted to get her on my side.’

‘And you succeeded in doing so?’

‘Yes. You see, she wasn’t very keen about my marrying Hugo—because he was a cousin, I think. She seemed to think the family was so batty already that we’d probably have completely batty children. That was probably rather absurd, because I’m only adopted, you know. I believe I’m some quite distant cousin’s child.’

‘You are sure Sir Gervase had no suspicion of the truth?’

‘Oh, no.’

Poirot said:

‘Is that true, Captain Lake? In your interview with Sir Gervase this afternoon, are you quite sure the matter was not mentioned?’

‘No, sir. It was not.’

‘Because, you see, Captain Lake, there is certain evidence to show that Sir Gervase was in a highly-excitable condition after the time he spent with you, and that he spoke once or twice of family dishonour.’

‘The matter was not mentioned,’ Lake repeated. His face had gone very white.