The Murder on the Links Agatha Christie (inspirational books for students .txt) đ
- Author: Agatha Christie
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âYou are the Juge dâInstruction, M. Hautet?â she queried.
âYes, but I forbidâ ââ
âMy name is Bella Duveen. I wish to give myself up for the murder of Mr. Renauld.â
XXVI I Receive a LetterâMy Friend:
âYou will know all when you get this. Nothing that I can say will move Bella. She has gone out to give herself up. I am tired out with struggling.
âYou will know now that I deceived you, that where you gave me trust I repaid you with lies. It will seem, perhaps, indefensible to you, but I should like, before I go out of your life forever, to show you just how it all came about. If I knew that you forgave me, it would make life easier for me. It wasnât for myself I did itâ âthatâs the only thing I can put forward to say for myself.
âIâll begin from the day I met you in the boat train from Paris. I was uneasy then about Bella. She was just desperate about Jack Renauld, sheâd have lain down on the ground for him to walk on, and when he began to change, and to stop writing so often, she began getting in a state. She got it into her head that he was keen on another girlâ âand of course, as it turned out afterwards, she was quite right there. Sheâd made up her mind to go to their Villa at Merlinville, and try and see Jack. She knew I was against it, and tried to give me the slip. I found she was not on the train at Calais, and determined I would not go on to England without her. Iâd an uneasy feeling that something awful was going to happen if I couldnât prevent it.
âI met the next train from Paris. She was on it, and set upon going out then and there to Merlinville. I argued with her for all I was worth, but it wasnât any good. She was all strung up and set upon having her own way. Well, I washed my hands of it. Iâd done all I could! It was getting late. I went to an hotel, and Bella started for Merlinville. I still couldnât shake off my feeling of what the books call âimpending disaster.â
âThe next day cameâ âbut no Bella. Sheâd made a date with me to meet at the hotel, but she didnât keep it. No sign of her all day. I got more and more anxious. Then came an evening paper with the news.
âIt was awful! I couldnât be sure, of courseâ âbut I was terribly afraid. I figured it out that Bella had met Papa Renauld and told him about her and Jack, and that heâd insulted her or something like that. Weâve both got terribly quick tempers.
âThen all the masked foreigner business came out, and I began to feel more at ease. But it still worried me that Bella hadnât kept her date with me.
âBy the next morning, I was so rattled that Iâd just got to go and see what I could. First thing, I ran up against you. You know all thatâ ââ ⊠When I saw the dead man, looking so like Jack, and wearing Jackâs fancy overcoat, I knew! And there was the identical paper-knifeâ âwicked little thing!â âthat Jack had given Bella! Ten to one it had her fingermarks on it. I canât hope to explain to you the sort of helpless horror of that moment. I only saw one thing clearlyâ âI must get hold of that dagger, and get right away with it before they found out it was gone. I pretended to faint, and whilst you were away getting water I took the thing and hid it away in my dress.
âI told you that I was staying at the HĂŽtel du Phare, but of course really I made a beeline back to Calais, and then on to England by the first boat. When we were in mid-Channel, I dropped that little devil of a dagger into the sea. Then I felt I could breathe again.
âBella was at our digs in London. She looked like nothing on Godâs earth. I told her what Iâd done, and that she was pretty safe for the time being. She stared at me, and then began laughingâ ââ ⊠laughingâ ââ ⊠laughingâ ââ ⊠it was horrible to hear her! I felt that the best thing to do was to keep busy. Sheâd go mad if she had time to brood on what sheâd done. Luckily we got an engagement at once.
âAnd then, I saw you and your friend, watching us that nightâ ââ ⊠I was frantic. You must suspect, or you wouldnât have tracked us down. I had to know the worst, so I followed you. I was desperate. And then, before Iâd had time to say anything, I tumbled to it that it was me you suspected, not Bella! Or at least that you thought I was Bella since Iâd stolen the dagger.
âI wish, honey, that you could see back into my mind at that momentâ ââ ⊠youâd forgive me, perhapsâ ââ ⊠I was so frightened, and muddled, and desperate.â ââ ⊠All I could get clearly was that you would try and save me. I didnât know whether youâd be willing to save herâ ââ ⊠I thought very likely notâ âit wasnât the same thing! And I couldnât risk it! Bellaâs my twinâ âIâd got to do the best for her. So I went on lying.â ââ ⊠I felt meanâ âI feel mean still.â ââ ⊠Thatâs allâ âenough too, youâll say, I expect. I ought to have trusted you.â ââ ⊠If I hadâ â
âAs soon as the news was in the paper that Jack Renauld had been arrested, it was all up. Bella wouldnât even wait to see how things went.â ââ âŠ
âIâm very tired.â ââ ⊠I canât write any more.â ââ âŠâ
She had begun to sign herself Cinderella, but had crossed that out and
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