“I have not completely neglected that point,” said Poirot. “You may have noticed that I made each passenger write either a signature or an address. That is not conclusive, because some people do certain actions with the right hand and others with the left. Some write right-handed, but play golf left-handed. Still, it is something. Every person questioned took the pen in his or her right hand — with the exception of Princess Dragomiroff, who refused to write.”
“Princess Dragomiroff — impossible,” said M. Bouc.
“I doubt if she would have had the strength to inflict that left-handed blow
“More force than a woman could use
“No, I would not say that
“It might be a question
dubiously [ˈdju:bɪǝslɪ] particular [pǝˈtɪkjʋlǝ] inflict [ɪnˈflɪkt] considerable [kǝnˈsɪd(ǝ)rǝb(ǝ)l] physique [fɪˈzi:k] influence [ˈɪnflʋǝns]
“I doubt if she would have had the strength to inflict that left-handed blow,” said Dr. Constantine dubiously. ‘That particular wound had been inflicted with considerable force.”
“More force than a woman could use?”
“No, I would not say that. But I think more force than an elderly woman could display, and Princess Dragomiroff’s physique is particularly frail.”
“It might be a question of the influence of mind over body,” said Poirot. “Princess Dragomiroff has great personality and immense will-power. But let us pass from that for the moment.”