死亡约会 Part II Chapter 18（1）（在线收听）

Chapter 18

‘Come,’ said Hercule Poirot. ‘We have still a little way to go! Dr Gerard has invoked thepsychology. So let us now examine the psychological side of this case. We have taken the facts,we have established a chronological sequence of events, we have heard the evidence. Thereremains—the psychology. And the most important psychological evidence concerns the deadwoman—it is the psychology of Mrs Boynton herself that is the most important thing in this case.

‘Take from my list of specified facts points three and four. Mrs Boynton took definite pleasurein keeping her family from enjoying themselves with other people. Mrs Boynton, on the afternoonin question, encouraged her family to go away and leave her.

‘These two facts, they contradict each other flatly! Why, on this particular afternoon, shouldMrs Boynton suddenly display a complete reversal of her usual policy? Was it that she felt asudden warmth of the heart—an instinct of benevolence? That, it seems to me from all I haveheard, was extremely unlikely! Yet there must have been a reason. What was that reason?

‘Let us examine closely the character of Mrs Boynton. There have been many different accountsof her. She was a tyrannical old martinet—she was a mental sadist—she was an incarnation of evil—she was crazy. Which of these views is the true one?

‘I think myself that Sarah King came nearest to the truth when in a flash of inspiration inJerusalem she saw the old lady as intensely pathetic. But not only pathetic—futile!

‘Let us, if we can, think ourselves into the mental condition of Mrs Boynton. A human creatureborn with immense ambition, with a yearning to dominate and to impress her personality on otherpeople. She neither sublimated that intense craving for power—nor did she seek to master it—no,mesdames and messieurs—she fed it! But in the end—listen well to this—in the end what did itamount to? She was not a great power! She was not feared and hated over a wide area! She wasthe petty tyrant of one isolated family! And as Dr Gerard said to me—she became bored like anyother old lady with her hobby and she sought to extend her activities and to amuse herself bymaking her dominance more precarious! But that led to an entirely different aspect of the case! Bycoming abroad, she realized for the first time how extremely insignificant she was!

‘And now we come directly to point number ten — the words spoken to Sarah King inJerusalem. Sarah King, you see, had put her finger on the truth. She had revealed fully anduncompromisingly the pitiful futility of Mrs Boynton’s scheme of existence! And now listen verycarefully—all of you—to what her exact words to Miss King were. Miss King has said that MrsBoynton spoke “so malevolently—not even looking at me”. And this is what she actually said,“I’ve never forgotten anything—not an action, not a name, not a face.”

‘Those words made a great impression on Miss King. Their extraordinary intensity and the loudhoarse tone in which they were uttered! So strong was the impression that they left on her mindthat I think she quite failed to realize their extraordinary significance!

‘Do you see that significance, any of you?’ He waited a minute. ‘It seems not…