Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot 24)

“What’s Linda to do with it?”

“Arlena’s not good for Linda. She isn’t really. Linda, I think, feels things a good deal.”

Kenneth Marshall applied a match to his pipe. Between puffs he said:

“Yes—there’s something in that. I suppose Arlena and Linda aren’t very good for each other. Not the right thing for a girl perhaps. It’s a bit worrying.”

Rosamund said:

“I like Linda—very much. There’s something—fine about her.”

Kenneth said:

“She’s like her mother. She takes things hard like Ruth did.”

Rosamund said:

“Then don’t you think—really—that you ought to get rid of Arlena?”

“Fix up a divorce?”

“Yes. People are doing that all the time.”

Kenneth Marshall said with sudden vehemence:

“Yes, and that’s just what I hate.”

“Hate?” She was startled.

“Yes. Sort of attitude to life there is nowadays. If you take on a thing and don’t like it, then you get yourself out of it as quick as possible! Dash it all, there’s got to be such a thing as good faith. If you marry a woman and engage yourself to look after her, well it’s up to you to do it. It’s your show. You’ve taken it on. I’m sick of quick marriage and easy divorce. Arlena’s my wife, that’s all there is to it.”

Rosamund leaned forward. She said in a low voice:

“So it’s like that with you? ‘Till death do us part?’”

Kenneth Marshall nodded his head.

He said:

“That’s just it.”

Rosamund said:

“I see.”

II

Mr. Horace Blatt, returning to Leathercombe Bay down a narrow twisting lane, nearly ran down Mrs. Redfern at a corner.

As she flattened herself into the hedge, Mr. Blatt brought his Sunbeam to a halt by applying the brakes vigorously.

“Hullo-ullo-ullo,” said Mr. Blatt cheerfully.

He was a large man with a red face and a fringe of reddish hair round a shining bald spot.

It was Mr. Blatt’s apparent ambition to be the life and soul of any place he happened to be in. The Jolly Roger Hotel, in his opinion, given somewhat loudly, needed brightening up. He was puzzled at the way people seemed to melt and disappear when he himself arrived on the scene.

“Nearly made you into strawberry jam, didn’t I?” said Mr. Blatt gaily.