Megan Barnard looked at him for a few minutes in silence whilst she smoked. Then, at last, she spoke. Her words made me jump.
Betty, she said, was an unmitigated little ass!
Chapter 11
Megan Barnard
As I said, Megan Barnards words, and still more the crisp business-like tone in which they were uttered, made me jump.
Poirot, however, merely bowed his head gravely.
A la bonne heure[145], he said. You are intelligent, mademoiselle.
Megan Barnard said, still in the same detached tone:
I was extremely fond of Betty. But my fondness didnt blind me from seeing exactly the kind of silly little fool she wasand even telling her so upon occasions! Sisters are like that.
And did she pay any attention to your advice?
Probably not, said Megan cynically.
Will you, mademoiselle, be precise.
The girl hesitated for a minute or two.
Poirot said with a slight smile:
I will help you. I heard what you said to Hastings. That your sister was a bright, happy girl with no men friends. It wasun peu[146]the opposite that was true, was it not?
Megan said slowly:
There wasnt any harm in Betty. I want you to understand that. Shed always go straight[147]. Shes not the weekending kind. Nothing of that sort. But she liked being taken out and dancing andoh, cheap flattery and compliments and all that sort of thing.
And she was prettyyes?
This question, the third time I had heard it, met this time with a practical response.
Megan slipped off the table, went to her suitcase, snapped it open and extracted something which she handed to Poirot.
In a leather frame was a head and shoulders of a fair-haired, smiling girl. Her hair had evidently recently been permed, it stood out from her head in a mass of rather frizzy curls. The smile was arch and artificial. It was certainly not a face that you could call beautiful, but it had an obvious and cheap prettiness.
Poirot handed it back, saying:
You and she do not resemble each other, mademoiselle.
Oh! Im the plain one of the family. Ive always known that. She seemed to brush aside the fact as unimportant.
In what way exactly do you consider your sister was behaving foolishly? Do you mean, perhaps, in relation to Mr Donald Fraser?
Thats it, exactly. Dons a very quiet sort of person but hewell, naturally hed resent certain thingsand then
And then what, mademoiselle?
His eyes were on her very steadily.
It may have been my fancy but it seemed to me that she hesitated a second before answering.
I was afraid that he mightchuck her altogether. And that would have been a pity. Hes a very steady and hardworking man and would have made her a good husband.
Poirot continued to gaze at her. She did not flush under his glance but returned it with one of her own equally steady and with something else in itsomething that reminded me of her first defiant, disdainful manner.
So it is like that, he said at last. We do not speak the truth any longer.
She shrugged her shoulders and turned towards the door.
Well, she said. Ive done what I could to help you.
Poirots voice arrested her.
Wait, mademoiselle. I have something to tell you. Come back.
Rather unwillingly, I thought, she obeyed.
Somewhat to my surprise, Poirot plunged into the whole story of the ABC letters, the murder of Andover, and the railway guide found by the bodies.
He had no reason to complain of any lack of interest on her part. Her lips parted, her eyes gleaming, she hung on his words.
Is this all true, M. Poirot?
Yes, it is true.
You really mean that my sister was killed by some horrible homicidal maniac?
Precisely?
She drew a deep breath.
Oh! BettyBettyhowhow ghastly!
You see, mademoiselle, that the information for which I ask you can give freely without wondering whether or not it will hurt anyone.
Yes, I see that now.
Then let us continue our conversation. I have formed the idea that this Donald Fraser has, perhaps, a violent and jealous temper, is that right?
Megan Barnard said quietly:
Megan Barnard said quietly:
Im trusting you now, M. Poirot. Im going to give you the absolute truth. Don is, as I say, a very quiet persona bottled-up person, if you know what I mean. He cant always express what he feels in words. But underneath it all he minds things terribly. And hes got a jealous nature. He was always jealous of Betty. He was devoted to herand of course she was very fond of him, but it wasnt in Betty to be fond of one person and not notice anybody else. She wasnt made that way. Shed got awell, an eye for any nice-looking man whod pass the time of day with her. And of course, working in the Ginger Cat, she was always running up against men[148]especially in the summer holidays. She was always very pat with her tongue and if they chaffed her shed chaff back again. And then perhaps shed meet them and go to the pictures[149] or something like that. Nothing seriousnever anything of that kindbut she just liked her fun. She used to say that as shed got to settle down[150] with Don one day she might as well have her fun now while she could.
Megan paused and Poirot said:
I understand. Continue.
It was just that attitude of mind of hers that Don couldnt understand. If she was really keen on him he couldnt see why she wanted to go out with other people. And once or twice they had flaming big rows about it.