Hercule Poirot's Casebook

her life, useful to somebody. Surely you see - it is so obvious.

Mr Farley glanced at that communication - one glance would

have told him that it was the wrong letter - and yet he knew

nothing. Why? Because he could not see it properly,t'

Inspector Barnett said sharply, 'Didn't he have his glasses

on?'

Hercule Poirot smiled. 'Yes,' he said. 'He had his glasses on.

That is what makes it so very interesting.'

He leaned forward.

'Mr Farley's dream was very important. He dreamed, you

see, that he committed suicide. And a little later on, he did

commit suicide. That is to say he was alone in a room and wa

found there with a revolver by him, and no one entered or lei'

the room at the time that he was shot. What does that mean? 1

means, does it not, that it must be suicide!'

'Yes,' said Sfllingfleet.

Hercule Poirot shook his head.

'On the contrary,' he said. 'It was murder. An unusual and:

very cleverly planned murder.'

Again he leaned forward, tapping the table, his eyes green

and shining.

166

'Why did Mr Farley not allow me to go into his own room

that evening? What was there in there that I must not be

allowed to see? I think, my friends, that there was- Benedict

Farley himselfI'

He smiled at the blank faces.

'Yes, yes, it is not nonsense what I say. Why could the Mr

Farley to whom I had been talking not realize the difference

between two totally dissimilar letters? Because, roes amis, he

was a man of nom.l sight wearing a pair of very powerful

glasses. Those glasses would render a man of normal eyesight

practically blind. Isn't that so, Doctor?'

S tillingfieet murmured, 'That's so - of course.'

'Why did I feel that in talking to Mr Farley I was talking to a mountebank, to an actor playing a part! Consider the setting.

The dim room, the green-shaded light turned blindingly

away from the figure in the chair. What did I see- the £amous

patchwork dressing-gown, the beaked nose (faked with that

. useful substance, nose putty) the white crest of hair, the

.i POwerful lenses concealing the eyes. What evidence is there

' "i!i that Mr Farley ever had a dream? Only the story I was told

and the evidence of Mrs Farley. What evidence is there that

Benedict Farley kept a revolver in his desk? Again only the

story told me and the word of Mrs Farley. Two people

carried this fraud through- Mrs Farley and Hugo

Cornworthy. Cornworthy wrote the letter to me, gave instructions

to the butler, went out ostensibly to the cinema,

but let himself in again immediately with a key, went to his

room, made himself up, and played the part of Benedict

Farley.

'And so we come to this afternoon. The opportunity for

which Mr Cornworthy has been waiting arrives. There are

two witnesses on the landing to swear that'no one goes in or

· out of Benedict Farley's room. Cornworthy waits until a

particularly heavy batch of traffic is about to pass. Then he

leans out of his window, and with the lazy-tongs which he has

167

purloined from the desk next door he holds an object against

the window of that room. Benedict Farley comes to t[.

window. Cornworthy snatches back the tongs and as Farle,.

leans out, and the lorries are passing outside, Cornworthy

shoots him with the revolver that he has ready. There is a

blank wall opposite, remember. There can be no witness of

the crime. Cornworthy waits for over half-an hour, then

gathers up some papers, conceals the lazy-tongs and the

revolver between them and gOeS out on to the landing and

into the next room. He replaces the tongs on the desk, lays

down the revolver after pressing the dead man's pounds gers on it,

and hurries out with the news of Mr Farley's "suicide."

'He arranges that the letter to me shall be found and that I

shall arrive with my story- the story I heard from MrFarley's

own lips - of his extraordinary "dream" - the strange com-pulsion

he felt to kill himselE A few credulous people will

discuss the hypnotism theory - but the main result will be to

confirm without a doubt that the actual hand that held the

revolver was Benedict Farley's own.'

Hercule Poirot's eyes went to the widow's face - he noted

with satisfaction the dismay - the ashy pallor - the blind

fear ....

'And in due course,' he finished gently, 'the happy ending

would have been achieved. A quarter of a million and two

hearts that beat as one .... '

John Stillingfieet, MD, and Hercule Poirot walked along the

side of Northway House. On their right was the towering

wall of the factory. Above them, on their left, were the

windows of Benedict Farley's and Hugo Cornworthy's

rooms. Hercule Poirot stopped and picked up a small object-a

black stuffed cat.

'Voild,' he said. 'That is what Cornworthy held in the

lazy-tongs against Farley's window. You remember, he

hated cats? Naturally he rushed to the window.'

168

'Why on earth didn't Cornworthy come out and pick it up

' after he'd dropped it?'

'How could he? To do so would have been definitely

suspicious. After all, if this object were found what would

anyone think- that some child had wandered round here and

dropped it.'

'Yes,' said Sti!lingfleet with a sigh. 'That's probably what