slavery. He wanted to be free before it was too
late .... Yes, I'm sure that's how it was ....
When did you guessmthat it was he?"
"His self-control was too perfect," said Poirot
simply. "No matter how galling his wife's con-duct,
it never seemed to touch him. That meant
either that he was so used to it that it no longer
214
Agatha Christie
stung him, or else--eh bien--I decided on the
latter alternative .... And I was right ....
"And then there was his insistence on his con-juring
ability--the evening before the crime. He
pretended to give himself away. But a man like
Clapperton doesn't give himself away. There must
be a reason. So long as people thought he had
been a conjuror they weren't likely to think of his
having been a ventriloquist."
"And the voice we heard--Mrs. Clapperton's
voice?"
"One of the stewardesses had a voice not unlike
hers. I induced her to hide behind the stage and
taught her the words to say."
"It was a trick--a cruel trick," cried out Ellie.
"I do not approve of murder," said Hercule
Poirot.
"One of the most Imaginative and fertile
plot creators of all time!"-Ellery Queen