Five Little Pigs

‘Extenuating circumstances! That’s just it. If ever there were extenuating circumstances, there were in this case. Amyas Crale was an old friend-his family and mine had been friends for generations, but one has to admit that his conduct was, frankly, outrageous. He was an artist, of course, and presumably that explains it. But there it is-he allowed a most extraordinary set of affairs to arise. The position was one that no ordinary decent man could have contemplated for a moment.’

Hercule Poirot said:

‘I am interested that you should say that. It had puzzled me, that situation. Not so does a well-bred man, a man of the world, go about his affairs.’

Blake’s thin, hesitating face had lit up with animation. He said:

‘Yes, but the whole point is that Amyas never was an ordinary man! He was a painter, you see, and with him painting came first-really sometimes in the most extraordinary way! I don’t understand these so-called artistic people myself-never have. I understood Crale a little because, of course, I’d known him all my life. His people were the same sort as my people. And in many ways Crale ran true to type-it was only where art came in that he didn’t conform to the usual standards. He wasn’t, you see, an amateur in any way. He was first-class-really first-class. Some people say he’s a genius. They may be right. But as a result, he was always what I should describe as unbalanced. When he was painting a picture-nothing else mattered, nothing could be allowed to get in the way. He was like a man in a dream. Completely obsessed by what he was doing. Not till the canvas was finished did he come out of this absorption and start to pick up the threads of ordinary life again.’

He looked questioningly at Poirot and the latter nodded.

‘You understand, I see. Well, that explains, I think, why this particular situation arose. He was in love with this girl. He wanted to marry her. He was prepared to leave his wife and child for her. But he’d started painting her down here, and he wanted to finish that picture. Nothing else mattered to him. He didn’tsee anything else. And the fact that the situation was a perfectly impossible one for the two women concerned, doesn’t seem to have occurred to him.’

‘Did either of them understand his point of view?’

‘Oh yes-in a way. Elsa did, I suppose. She was terrifically enthusiastic about his painting. But it was a difficult position for her-naturally. And as for Caroline-’

He stopped. Poirot said:

‘For Caroline-yes, indeed.’

Meredith Blake said, speaking with a little difficulty:

‘Caroline-I had always-well, I had always been very fond of Caroline. There was a time when-when I hoped to marry her. But that was soon nipped in the bud. Still, I remained, if I may say so, devoted to-to her service.’

Poirot nodded thoughtfully. That slightly old-fashioned phrase expressed, he felt, the man before him very typically. Meredith Blake was the kind of man who would devote himself readily to a romantic and honourable devotion. He would serve his lady faithfully and without hope of reward. Yes, it was all very much in character.

He said, carefully weighing the words:

‘You must have resented this-attitude-onher behalf?’

‘I did. Oh, I did. I-I actually remonstrated with Crale on the subject.’

‘When was this?’

‘Actually the day before-before it all happened. They came over to tea here, you know. I got Crale aside and I-I put it to him. I even said, I remember, that it wasn’t fair on either of them.’

‘Ah, you said that?’

‘Yes. I didn’t think-you see, that herealized.’

‘Possibly not.’

‘I said to him that it was putting Caroline in a perfectly unendurable position. If he meant to marry this girl, he ought not to have her staying in the house and-well-more or less flaunt her in Caroline’s face. It was, I said, an unendurable insult.’

Poirot asked curiously: ‘What did he answer?’

Meredith Blake replied with distaste:

‘He said: “Caroline must lump it.” ’

Hercule Poirot’s eyebrows rose.

‘Not,’ he said, ‘a very sympathetic reply.’

‘I thought it abominable. I lost my temper. I said that no doubt, not caring for his wife, he didn’t mind how much he made her suffer, but what, I said, about the girl? Hadn’t he realized it was a pretty rotten position forher? His reply to that was that Elsa must lump it too!

‘Then he went on: “You don’t seem to understand, Meredith, that this thing I’m painting is the best thing I’ve done. It’sgood, I tell you. And a couple of jealous quarrelling women aren’t going to upset it-no, by hell, they’re not.”

‘It was hopeless talking to him. I said he seemed to have taken leave of all ordinary decency. Painting, I said, wasn’t everything. He interrupted there. He said: “Ah, but it is tome.”