www.freeclassicebooks.com

anywhere his lady love would be cleared of suspicion. And he was perfectly

right."

One thing more. What did Mrs. Inglethorp mean by her dying words?"

They were, of course, an accusation against her husband."

Dear me, Poirot," I said with a sigh, "I think you have explained everything.

I am glad it has all ended so happily. Even John and his wife are

reconciled."

Thanks to me."

How do you mean--thanks to you?"

My dear friend, do you not realize that it was simply and solely the trial

which has brought them together again? That John Cavendish still loved his

wife, I was convinced. Also, that she was equally in love with him. But they

had drifted very far apart. It all arose from a misunderstanding. She married

him without love. He knew it. He is a sensitive man in his way, he would not

force himself upon her if she did not want him. And, as he withdrew, her

love awoke. But they are both unusually proud, and their pride held them

inexorably apart. He drifted into an entanglement with Mrs. Raikes, and she

deliberately cultivated the friendship of Dr. Bauerstein. Do you remember

the day of John Cavendish's arrest, when you found me deliberating over a

big decision?"

Yes, I quite understood your distress."

Pardon me, mon ami, but you did not understand it in the least. I was

trying to decide whether or not I would clear John Cavendish at once. I

could have cleared him--though it might have meant a failure to convict the

real criminals. They were entirely in the dark as to my real attitude up to the

very last moment--which partly accounts for my success."

Do you mean that you could have saved John Cavendish from being

brought to trial?"

"Yes, my friend. But I eventually decided in favour of 'a woman's happiness'.

Nothing but the great danger through which they have passed could have

brought these two proud souls together again."

198

The Mysterious Affair at Styles