“I realized at once, not that she feared her husband, but that she disliked him. And at once, summing the matter up, I felt convinced that here was the exact character I had been looking for. Here was–not a selfindulgent woman–but a thwarted one. A plain girl, leading a dull existence, unable to attract the men she would like to attract, finally accepting a man she did not care for rather than be left an old maid. I could trace her growing dissatisfaction with life, her life in Smyrna exiled from all she cared for in life. Then the birth of her children and her passionate attachment to them.
“Her husband was devoted to her, but she came secretly to dislike him more and more.
He had speculated with her money and lost it–another grudge against him.
“There was only one thing that illumined her drab life, the expectation of her aunt Emily’s death. Then she would have money, independence, the means to educate her children as she wished–and remember education meant a lot to her–she was a professor’s daughter!
“She may have already planned the crime, or had the idea of it in her mind, before she came to England. She had a certain knowledge of chemistry 3 having assisted her father in the laboratory. She knew the nature of Miss ArundelFs complaint and she was well aware that phosphorus would be an ideal substance for her purpose.
“Then, when she came to Littlegreen House, a simpler method presented itself to her. The dog’s ball–a thread or string across the top of the stairs. A simple, ingenious woman’s idea.
“She made her attempt–and failed. I do not think that she had any idea that Miss Arundell was aware of the true facts of the matter. Miss Arundell5 s suspicions were directed entirely against Charles. I doubt if her manner to Bella showed any alteration. And so, quietly and determinedly, this self-contained, unhappy, ambitious woman put her original plan into execution. She found an excellent vehicle for the poison, some patent capsules that Miss Arundell was in the habit of taking after meals. To open a capsule, place the phosphorus inside and close it again, was child’s play. The capsule was replaced among the others. Sooner or later Miss Arundell would swallow it. Poison was not likely to be suspected. Even if, by some unlikely chance it was, she herself would be nowhere near Market Basing at the time.
“Yet she took one precaution. She obtained a double supply of chloral hydrate at the druggist’s, forging her husband’s name to the prescription. I have no doubt of what that was for–to keep by her in case anything went wrong.
“As I say, I was convinced from the first moment I saw her that Mrs. Tanios was the person I was looking for, but I had absolutely no proof of the fact. I had to proceed carefully.
If Mrs. Tanios had any idea I suspected her, I was afraid that she might proceed to a further crime. Furthermore, I believed that the idea of that crime had already occurred to her. Her one wish in life was to shake herself free of her husband.
“Her original murder had proved a bitter disappointment. The money, the wonderful all-intoxicating money, had all gone to Miss Lawson! It was a blow, but she set to work most intelligently. She began to work on Miss Lawson’s conscience which, I suspect, was already not too comfortable.” There was a sudden outburst of sobs. Miss Lawson took out her handkerchief and cried into it.
“It’s been dreadful,” she sobbed. “I’ve been wicked! Very wicked. You see, I was very curious about the will–why Miss Arundell had made a new one, I mean. And one day, when Miss Arundell was resting, I managed to unlock the drawer in the desk.
And then I found she’d left it all to me! Of course, I never dreamed it was so much. Just a few thousands–that’s all I thought it was.
And why not? After all, her own relations didn’t really care for her! But then, when she was so ill, she asked for the will. I could see–I felt sure–she was going to destroy it…. And that’s when I was so wicked. I told her she’d sent it back to Mr. Pur vis.