Ordeal by Innocence
4/5
()
About this ebook
Soon to be a limited streaming series starring Anna Chancellor and Bill Nighy
Considered by critics the one of the best of Agatha Christie’s later novels, and a personal favorite for Christie herself, Ordeal by Innocence is a psychological thriller involving crimes from both past and present.
According to the courts, Jacko Argyle bludgeoned his mother to death with a poker. The sentence was life imprisonment. But when Dr. Arthur Calgary arrives with the proof that confirms Jacko’s innocence, it is too late—Jacko died behind bars following a bout of pneumonia. Worse still, the doctor’s revelations reopen old wounds in the family, increasing the likelihood that the real murderer will strike again.
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.
Read more from Agatha Christie
The Island: A Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crooked House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sparkling Cyanide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Floating Admiral Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Passenger to Frankfurt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Towards Zero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Came to Baghdad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ask a Policeman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Destination Unknown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Ordeal by Innocence
Related ebooks
The Blood-Stained Pavement: A Miss Marple Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sparkling Cyanide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Murder Is Announced: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Coffee Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Regatta Mystery And Other Stories: Featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Mr. Parker Pyne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sittaford Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Four: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Passenger to Frankfurt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Elephants Can Remember: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder in the Mews: Four Cases of Hercule Poirot: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril at End House: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil Under the Sun: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5N or M?: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At Bertram's Hotel: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Towards Zero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Third Girl: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One, Two, Buckle my Shoe: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on the Links: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nemesis: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Destination Unknown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Caribbean Mystery: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lord Edgware Dies: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Pocket Full of Rye: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poirot Investigates: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Mystery, Thriller & Crime Fiction For You
Deja Dead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story Of A Doctor Who Got Away With Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tuesday Night Club: A Miss Marple Short Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Daughter of Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Four: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death in the Clouds: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poirot Investigates: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curtain: Poirot's Last Case: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Du Jour: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife: A Parker Pyne Short Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5But I Trusted You: Ann Rule's Crime Files #14 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaudy Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5N or M?: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Caribbean Mystery: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baltimore Blues: The First Tess Monaghan Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dead Man's Mirror: A Hercule Poirot Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil Under the Sun: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. McGinty's Dead: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five Red Herrings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Third Girl: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Spellmans Strike Again: Document #4 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sad Cypress: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cat Among the Pigeons: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Ordeal by Innocence
23 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Told from the point of view (though not in first person) of man who is hit by a lorry (truck) and forgets a chance encounter which happens to prove an alibi for a young man accused of murdering his mother. By the time the witness remembers, the young man has been convicted and has died in prison. But when the witness comes forward, it creates a new danger for (and from) the real murderer. It also gives the opportunity for a romance between the witness and a member of the victim's household.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5There is something quite theatrical about this novel, almost as it was written for the stage with a voice-over.The two voices we mainly hear are those of Dr Calgary who arrives with the tidings that Jacko must have been innocent, and Mr Marshall, the lawyer who provides legal advice. We see the Argyle family/household through their eyes as they assess each member for their possible guilt or innocence. Others assess each of the family members too.ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE appears to be a version of a locked room mystery, that is, one of those people with entry to the house must be the murderer. This person need not have been obviously present in the house, but could have been admitted freely by the victim, without the others knowing he/she was there. Jacko, the black sheep of the family, was such a convenient culprit because he was such a conniving and unpleasant character and because therefore the real murderer could regard himself/herself as safe from suspicion.Once Jacko is cleared posthumously then it becomes clear that another family member is guilty and so the innocence of all is tainted. No-one is free from suspicion as in a sense they all alibi each other.As Jacko has died in prison two years earlier this is now a "cold case" and almost every member of the Argyle family wishes that the case had not been re-opened. Members of the family wish the whole thing would go away and the effective investigation is carried on independently by three outsiders: the police inspector Huish, Phillip who is Mary's husband, and Dr. Calgary.What I really liked about ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE was the ending. After some dramatic events, Dr. Calgary finishes what he started. The final denouement is very similar to Poirot's method of pulling the threads together.Originally published in 1958 as a book, it was also serialised in both UK and the US.ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE was originally a stand alone, but in 2007, with the script changed heavily from the original novel, it became a "Miss Marple" in the British ITV series, with Geraldine McEwan playing the leading role.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is one of the last Christie's I'll be reviewing for the Cool Down With AC challenge this summer. I fell a little behind schedule when I needed a break from the Christie a week schedule I was on. This is one of the stand alone novels and was one Agatha Christie's top ten personal favorites making a must read. In this novel we have Dr. Arthur Calgary, who after having suffered a concussion, suddenly remembers an important piece of information in a murder case. Unfortunately by the time he delivers the news, the son of the family has died in prison after being accused of the murder of his adopted mother. Dr. Calgary swears that he can provide an alibi for the son Jacko for the time of the murder and is somewhat mystified when no one in the family seems very happy to hear the news. It turns out, the mother Rachel was a somewhat polarizing figure in the family. She adopted many children during the war but it seems that it was to fulfill a need in her rather than a need in them. You would think that the largely poor and abandoned children would feel only happiness at being adopted into a wealthy loving family but this is not the case for all of them. Things aren't what they seem in typical Christie fashion and the hunt is on for Rachel Argyle's true killer before the victim count stacks up. I enjoyed this book very much. I don't usually figure out the killer but I have read so many of her books now that I am starting to hone in on the who done it. This was a very interesting commentary on adoption. i love how Christie is able to take something you assume and flip it. This is another recommended read from the queen of crime.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I started reading this on a plane and thought how much more appropriate it would have been to read "Death in the Clouds".... the book started off in a style which to me as an avid Christie fan was unfamiliar. Nevertheless the book did contain a good deal of the wit and humour that is expected in Christie's novels and presented an interesting "closed room" murder mystery. The problem was the room was too tightly closed and everyone had an alibi as tight as a drum. Backed into a corner many second rate writers resort to the device of deus ex machina to resolve the unresolvable.I was disapponited that Christie fell back on this unsatisfying method of storytelling. The evidence of a child came out of the blue and was so nebulous as to signify very little in the unfolding of the tale, whilst the reader does not get to share in the detections of Dr. Calgary, and the ending of the novel was rather dubious. As an entertainment this was a perfect piece of airport reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordeal by Innocence is one of Agatha Christie’s later ‘stand-alone’ novels, i.e. it features neither Poirot nor Miss Marple. The setup is quite simple: the wealthy, do-gooder matriarch of a family of adopted children has been murdered, it seems, by one of her now-adult charges, who’s been duly convicted, and has died in prison. But then an unexpected witness shows up with an iron-clad alibi for the unfortunate convict, and the whole case is opened up again, sowing doubt and discord amongst the widower and his surviving children.This is not an unflawed effort – it’s longer than it needs to be, with too much dialogue spent recapping the facts of the case.But it’s an interesting read. I’m particularly fond of Christie’s recurring theme – worked out in detail here – of nature vs. nurture in the development of personality and temperament. Christie critically examines the blank-slate theory of development (although she would not have known it by that name) and finds it sorely lacking. Recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another of her books without Poirot or Miss Marple. Jacko Argyle died in prison having been convicted for killing his mother, except he is innocent and Dr Calgary, the man who proves Jacko innocent, is stunned by how disturbed Jacko's family are by his revelation as this means that one of them must be guilty. Lots of twists and turns to this plot and, of course, more death, but the revelation of the murderer and the motive is satisfactory.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Amusing aggie, oddly enough it was filmed as a Miss Marple and she's not in it!
Book preview
Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie
One
I
It was dusk when he came to the Ferry.
He could have been there much earlier. The truth was, he had put it off as long as he could.
First his luncheon with friends in Redquay; the light desultory conversation, the interchange of gossip about mutual friends—all that had meant only that he was inwardly shrinking from what he had to do. His friends had invited him to stay on for tea and he had accepted. But at last the time had come when he knew that he could put things off no longer.
The car he had hired was waiting. He said good-bye and left to drive the seven miles along the crowded coast road and then inland down the wooded lane that ended at the little stone quay on the river.
There was a large bell there which his driver rang vigorously to summon the ferry from the far side.
You won’t be wanting me to wait, sir?
No,
said Arthur Calgary. I’ve ordered a car to meet me over there in an hour’s time—to take me to Drymouth.
The man received his fare and tip. He said, peering across the river in the gloom:
Ferry’s coming now, sir.
With a soft-spoken good night he reversed the car and drove away up the hill. Arthur Calgary was left alone waiting on the quayside. Alone with his thoughts and his apprehension of what was in front of him. How wild the scenery was here, he thought. One could fancy oneself on a Scottish loch, far from anywhere. And yet, only a few miles away, were the hotels, the shops, the cocktail bars and the crowds of Redquay. He reflected, not for the first time, on the extraordinary contrasts of the English landscape.
He heard the soft plash of the oars as the ferry boat drew in to the side of the little quay. Arthur Calgary walked down the sloping ramp and got into the boat as the ferryman steadied it with a boat-hook. He was an old man and gave Calgary the fanciful impression that he and his boat belonged together, were one and indivisible.
A little cold wind came rustling up from the sea as they pushed off.
’Tis chilly this evening,
said the ferryman.
Calgary replied suitably. He further agreed that it was colder than yesterday.
He was conscious, or thought he was conscious, of a veiled curiosity in the ferryman’s eyes. Here was a stranger. And a stranger after the close of the tourist season proper. Moreover, this stranger was crossing at an unusual hour—too late for tea at the café by the pier. He had no luggage so he could not be coming to stay. (Why, Calgary wondered, had he come so late in the day? Was it really because, subconsciously, he had been putting this moment off? Leaving as late as possible, the thing that had to be done?) Crossing the Rubicon—the river … the river … his mind went back to that other river—the Thames.
He had stared at it unseeingly (was it only yesterday?) then turned to look again at the man facing him across the table. Those thoughtful eyes with something in them that he had not quite been able to understand. A reserve, something that was being thought but not expressed….
I suppose,
he thought, they learn never to show what they are thinking.
The whole thing was pretty frightful when one came right down to it. He must do what had to be done—and after that—forget!
He frowned as he remembered the conversation yesterday. That pleasant, quiet, noncommittal voice, saying:
You’re quite determined on your course of action, Dr. Calgary?
He had answered, hotly:
"What else can I do? Surely you see that? You must agree? It’s a thing I can’t possibly shirk."
But he hadn’t understood the look in those withdrawn grey eyes, and had been faintly perplexed by the answer.
One has to look all around a subject—consider it from all aspects.
Surely there can be only one aspect from the point of view of justice?
He had spoken hotly, thinking for a moment that this was an ignoble suggestion of hushing up
the matter.
In a way, yes. But there’s more to it than that, you know. More than—shall we say—justice?
I don’t agree. There’s the family to consider.
And the other had said quickly: "Quite—oh, yes—quite. I was thinking of them."
Which seemed to Calgary nonsense! Because if one were thinking of them—
But immediately the other man had said, his pleasant voice unchanged:
It’s entirely up to you, Dr. Calgary. You must, of course, do exactly as you feel you have to do.
The boat grounded on the beach. He had crossed the Rubicon.
The ferryman’s soft West Country voice said:
That will be fourpence, sir, or do you want a return?
No,
Calgary said. There will be no return.
(How fateful the words sounded!)
He paid. Then he asked:
Do you know a house called Sunny Point?
Immediately the curiosity ceased to be veiled. The interest in the old man’s eyes leaped up avidly.
Why, surely. ’Tis there, up along to your right—you can just see it through them trees. You go up the hill and along the road to the right, and then take the new road through the building estate. ’Tis the last house—at the very end.
Thank you.
You did say Sunny Point, sir? Where Mrs. Argyle—
Yes, yes—
Calgary cut him short. He didn’t want to discuss the matter. Sunny Point.
A slow and rather peculiar smile twisted the ferryman’s lips. He looked suddenly like an ancient sly faun.
"It was her called the house that—in the war. It were a new house, of course, only just been built—hadn’t got a name. But the ground ’tis built on—that wooded spit—Viper’s Point, that is! But Viper’s Point wouldn’t do for her—not for the name of her house. Called it Sunny Point, she did. But Viper’s Point’s what we allus call it."
Calgary thanked him brusquely, said good evening, and started up the hill. Everyone seemed to be inside their houses, but he had the fancy that unseen eyes were peering through the windows of the cottages; all watching him with the knowledge of where he was going. Saying to each other, He’s going to Viper’s Point….
Viper’s Point. What a horrible apposite name that must have seemed….
For sharper than a serpent’s tooth….
He checked his thoughts brusquely. He must pull himself together and make up his mind exactly what he was going to say….
II
Calgary came to the end of the nice new road with the nice new houses on either side of it, each with its eighth of an acre of garden; rock plants, chrysanthemums, roses, salvias, geraniums, each owner displaying his or her individual garden taste.
At the end of the road was a gate with sunny point in Gothic letters on it. He opened the gate, passed through, and went along a short drive. The house was there ahead of him, a well-built, characterless modern house, gabled and porched. It might have stood on any good-class suburban site, or a new development anywhere. It was unworthy, in Calgary’s opinion, of its view. For the view was magnificent. The river here curved sharply round the point almost turning back on itself. Wooded hills rose opposite; up-stream to the left was a further bend of the river with meadows and orchards in the distance.
Calgary looked for a moment up and down the river. One should have built a castle here, he thought, an impossible, ridiculous, fairy tale castle! The sort of castle that might be made of gingerbread or of frosted sugar. Instead there was good taste, restraint, moderation, plenty of money and absolutely no imagination.
For that, naturally, one did not blame the Argyles. They had only bought the house, not built it. Still, they or one of them (Mrs. Argyle?) had chosen it….
He said to himself: You can’t put it off any longer …
and pressed the electric bell beside the door.
He stood there, waiting. After a decent interval he pressed the bell again.
He heard no footsteps inside but, without warning, the door swung suddenly open.
He moved back a step, startled. To his already overstimulated imagination, it seemed as though Tragedy herself stood there barring his way. It was a young face; indeed it was in the poignancy of its youth that tragedy had its very essence. The Tragic Mask, he thought, should always be a mask of youth … Helpless, fore-ordained, with doom approaching … from the future….
Rallying himself, he thought, rationalizing: Irish type.
The deep blue of the eyes, the dark shadow round them, the upspringing black hair, the mournful beauty of the bones of the skull and cheekbones—
The girl stood there, young, watchful and hostile.
She said:
Yes? What do you want?
He replied conventionally.
Is Mr. Argyle in?
Yes. But he doesn’t see people. I mean, people he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know you, does he?
No. He doesn’t know me, but—
She began to close the door.
Then you’d better write….
I’m sorry, but I particularly want to see him. Are you—Miss Argyle?
She admitted it grudgingly.
I’m Hester Argyle, yes. But my father doesn’t see people—not without an appointment. You’d better write.
I’ve come a long way …
She was unmoved.
They all say that. But I thought this kind of thing had stopped at last.
She went on accusingly, You’re a reporter, I suppose?
No, no, nothing of the sort.
She eyed him suspiciously as though she did not believe him.
Well, what do you want then?
Behind her, some way back in the hall, he saw another face. A flat homely face. Describing it, he would have called it a face like a pancake, the face of a middle-aged woman, with frizzy yellowish grey hair plastered on top of her head. She seemed to hover, waiting, like a watchful dragon.
It concerns your brother, Miss Argyle.
Hester Argyle drew in her breath sharply. She said, without belief, Michael?
No, your brother Jack.
She burst out: "I knew it! I knew you’d come about Jacko! Why can’t you leave us in peace? It’s all over and finished with. Why go on about it?"
You can never really say that anything is finished.
"But this is finished! Jacko is dead. Why can’t you let him be? All that’s over. If you’re not a journalist, I suppose you’re a doctor, or a psychologist, or something. Please go away. My father can’t be disturbed. He’s busy."
She began to close the door. In a hurry, Calgary did what he ought to have done at first, pulled out the letter from his pocket and thrust it towards her.
I have a letter here—from Mr. Marshall.
She was taken aback. Her fingers closed doubtfully on the envelope. She said uncertainly:
From Mr. Marshall—in London?
She was joined now suddenly by the middle-aged woman who had been lurking in the recesses of the hall. She peered at Calgary suspiciously and he was reminded of foreign convents. Of course, this should have been a nun’s face! It demanded the crisp white coif or whatever you called it, framed tightly round the face, and the black habit and veil. It was the face, not of a contemplative, but of the lay-sister who peers at you suspiciously through the little opening in the thick door, before grudgingly admitting you and taking you to the visiting parlour, or to Reverend Mother.
She said: You come from Mr. Marshall?
She made it almost an accusation.
Hester was staring down at the envelope in her hand. Then, without a word, she turned and ran up the stairs.
Calgary remained on the doorstep, sustaining the accusing and suspicious glance of the dragon-cumlay-sister.
He cast about for something to say, but he could not think of anything. Prudently, therefore, he remained silent.
Presently Hester’s voice, cool and aloof, floated down to them.
Father says he’s to come up.
Somewhat unwillingly, his watchdog moved aside. Her expression of suspicion did not alter. He passed her, laid his hat on a chair, and mounted the stairs to where Hester stood waiting for him.
The inside of the house struck him as vaguely hygienic. It could almost, he thought, have been an expensive nursing home.
Hester led him along a passage and down three steps. Then she threw open a door and gestured to him to pass through it. She came in behind him, closing the door after her.
The room was a library, and Calgary raised his head with a sense of pleasure. The atmosphere of this room was quite different from the rest of the house. This was a room where a man lived, where he both worked and took his ease. The walls were lined with books, the chairs were large, rather shabby, but easeful. There was a pleasant disorder of papers on the desk, of books lying about on tables. He had a momentary glimpse of a young woman who was leaving the room by a door at the far end, rather an attractive young woman. Then his attention was taken by the man who rose and came to greet him, the open letter in his hand.
Calgary’s first impression of Leo Argyle was that he was so attenuated, so transparent, as hardly to be there at all. A wraith of a man! His voice when he spoke was pleasant, though lacking in resonance.
Dr. Calgary?
he said. Do sit down.
Calgary sat. He accepted a cigarette. His host sat down opposite him. All was done without hurry, as though in a world where time meant very little. There was a faint gentle smile on Leo Argyle’s face as he spoke, tapping the letter gently with a bloodless finger as he did so.
Mr. Marshall writes that you have an important communication to make to us, though he doesn’t specify its nature.
His smile deepened as he added: Lawyers are always so careful not to commit themselves, aren’t they?
It occurred to Calgary with a faint shock of surprise, that this man confronting him was a happy man. Not buoyantly or zestfully happy, as is the normal way of happiness—but happy in some shadowy but satisfactory retreat of his own. This was a man on whom the outer world did not impinge and who was contented that this should be so. He did not know why he should be surprised by this—but he was.
Calgary said:
It is very kind of you to see me.
The words were a mere mechanical introduction. I thought it better to come in person than to write.
He paused—then said in a sudden rush of agitation, It is difficult—very difficult….
Do take your time.
Leo Argyle was still polite and remote.
He leaned forward; in his gentle way he was obviously trying to help.
Since you bring this letter from Marshall, I presume that your visit has to do with my unfortunate son Jacko—Jack, I mean—Jacko was our own name for him.
All Calgary’s carefully prepared words and phrases had deserted him. He sat here, faced with the appalling reality of what he had to tell. He stammered again.
It’s so terribly difficult….
There was a moment’s silence, and then Leo said cautiously:
If it helps you—we’re quite aware that Jacko was—hardly a normal personality. Nothing that you have to tell us will be likely to surprise us. Terrible as the tragedy was, I have been fully convinced all along that Jacko was not really responsible for his actions.
Of course he wasn’t.
It was Hester, and Calgary started at the sound of her voice. He had momentarily forgotten about her. She had sat down on the arm of a chair just behind his left shoulder. As he turned his head, she leaned forward eagerly towards him.
Jacko was always awful,
she said confidentially. He was just the same as a little boy—when he lost his temper, I mean. Just caught up anything he could find and—and went for you….
Hester—Hester—my dear.
Argyle’s voice was distressed.
Startled, the girl’s hand flew to her lips. She flushed and spoke with the sudden awkwardness of youth.
I’m sorry,
she said. I didn’t mean—I forgot—I—I oughtn’t to have said a thing like that—not now that he’s—I mean, now that it’s all over and … and….
Over and done with,
said Argyle. All of this is in the past. I try—we all try—to feel that the boy must be regarded as an invalid. One of Nature’s misfits. That, I think, expresses it best.
He looked at Calgary. You agree?
No,
said Calgary.
There was a moment’s silence. The sharp negative had taken both his listeners aback. It had come out with almost explosive force. Trying to mitigate its effect, he said awkwardly:
I—I’m sorry. You see, you don’t understand yet.
Oh!
Argyle seemed to consider. Then he turned his head towards his daughter. Hester, I think perhaps you’d better leave us—
I’m not going away! I’ve got to hear—to know what it’s all about.
It may be unpleasant—
Hester cried out impatiently:
"What does it matter what other awful things Jacko may have done? That’s all over."
Calgary spoke quickly.
Please believe me—there is no question of anything that your brother has done—quite the opposite.
I don’t see—
The door at the far end of the room opened and the young woman whom Calgary had just glimpsed earlier came back into the room. She wore an outdoor coat now, and carried a small attaché-case.
She spoke to Argyle.
I’m going now. Is there anything else—
There was a momentary hesitation on Argyle’s part (he would always hesitate, Calgary thought) and then he laid a hand on her arm and drew her forward.
Sit down, Gwenda,
he said. This is—er—Dr. Calgary. This is Miss Vaughan, who is who is—
Again he paused as though in doubt. Who has been my secretary for some years now.
He added: Dr. Calgary has come to tell us something—or—ask us something—about Jacko—
To tell you something,
Calgary interrupted. And although you don’t realize it, every moment you are making it more difficult for me.
They all looked at him in some surprise, but in Gwenda Vaughan’s eyes, he saw a flicker of something that looked like comprehension. It was as though he and she were momentarily in alliance, as though she had said: Yes—I know how difficult the Argyles can be.
She was an attractive young woman, he thought, though not so very young—perhaps thirty-seven or eight. A well-rounded figure, dark hair and eyes, a general air of vitality and good health. She gave the impression of being both competent and intelligent.
Argyle said with a frosty touch in his manner: I am not at all aware of making things difficult for you, Dr. Calgary. Such was certainly not my intention. If you will come to the point—
"Yes, I know. Forgive me for saying what I did. But it is the persistence with which you—and your daughter—are continually underlining that things are now over—done with—finished. They are not over. Who is it who said: ‘Nothing is ever settled until—’"
‘Until it is settled right,’
Miss Vaughan finished for him. Kipling.
She nodded at him encouragingly. He felt grateful to her.
But I’ll come to the point,
Calgary went on. When you’ve heard what I have to say, you’ll understand my—my reluctance. More, my distress. To begin with, I must mention a few things about myself. I am a geophysicist, and have recently formed part of an Antarctic expedition. I only returned to England a few weeks ago.
The Hayes Bentley Expedition?
asked Gwenda.
He turned towards her gratefully.
Yes. It was the Hayes Bentley Expedition. I tell you this to explain my background, and also to explain that I have been out of touch for about two years with—with current events.
She went on helping him:
You mean—with such things as murder trials?
Yes, Miss Vaughan, that is exactly what I mean.
He turned to Argyle.
Please forgive me if this is painful, but I must just check over with you certain times and dates. On November 9th, the year before last, at about six o’clock in the evening, your son, Jack Argyle (Jacko to you), called here and had an interview with his mother, Mrs. Argyle.
My wife, yes.
He told her that he was in trouble and demanded money. This had happened before—
Many times,
said Leo with a sigh.
"Mrs. Argyle refused. He became abusive, threatening. Finally he flung away and left, shouting out that he was coming back and that she had ‘jolly well got to stump up.’ He said, ‘You don’t want me to go to prison, do you?’ and she replied, ‘I am beginning to