Читать книгу Poirot’s Early Cases - Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Mary Westmacott - Страница 12

That evening we returned to 88 Prince Albert Road and interviewed both Todd and Simpson. The former was a melancholy lantern-jawed man of forty-odd.

‘Oh! Yes, yes,’ he said vaguely. ‘Eliza. Yes. A good cook, I believe. And economical. I make a strong point of economy.’

‘Can you imagine any reason for her leaving you so suddenly?’

‘Oh, well,’ said Mr Todd vaguely. ‘Servants, you know. My wife worries too much. Worn out from always worrying. The whole problem’s quite simple really. “Get another, my dear,” I say. “Get another.” That’s all there is to it. No good crying over spilt milk.’

Mr Simpson was equally unhelpful. He was a quiet inconspicuous young man with spectacles.

‘I must have seen her, I suppose,’ he said. ‘Elderly woman, wasn’t she? Of course, it’s the other one I see always, Annie. Nice girl. Very obliging.’

‘Were those two on good terms with each other?’

Mr Simpson said he couldn’t say, he was sure. He supposed so.

‘Well, we get nothing of interest there, mon ami,’ said Poirot as we left the house. Our departure had been delayed by a burst of vociferous repetition from Mrs Todd, who repeated everything she had said that morning at rather greater length.

‘Are you disappointed?’ I asked. ‘Did you expect to hear something?’

Poirot shook his head.

‘There was a possibility, of course,’ he said. ‘But I hardly thought it likely.’

The next development was a letter which Poirot received on the following morning. He read it, turned purple with indignation, and handed it to me.

Mrs Todd regrets that after all she will not avail herself of Mr Poirot’s services. After talking the matter over with her husband she sees that it is foolish to call in a detective about a purely domestic affair. Mrs Todd encloses a guinea for consultation fee.