Hallowe'en Party / Вечеринка на Хэллоуин. Книга для чтения на английском языке

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�Ah, there I do not agree with you,’ said Poirot. �Some children I consider are most unattractive.’

�Well, I agree, they’re not brought up very well nowadays. Everything seems left to the school, and of course they lead very permissive lives. Have their own choice of friends and—er—oh, really, Monsieur Poirot.’

�Was she a nice child or not a nice child?’ said Poirot insistently.

Mrs Drake looked at him and registered censure.

�You must realize, Monsieur Poirot, that the poor child is dead.

�Dead or alive, it matters. Perhaps if she was a nice child, nobody would have wanted to kill her, but if she was not a nice child, somebody might have wanted to kill her, and did so—’

�Well, I suppose—Surely it isn’t a question of niceness, is it?’

�It could be. I also understand that she claimed to have seen a murder committed.’

�Oh that,’ said Mrs Drake contemptuously.

�You did not take that statement seriously?’

�Well, of course I didn’t.

�How did she come to say it?’

�Well, I think really they were all rather excited about Mrs Oliver being here. You are a very famous person, you must remember, dear,’ said Mrs Drake, addressing Mrs Oliver.

The word �dear’ seemed included in her speech without any accompanying enthusiasm.

�I don’t suppose the subject would ever have arisen otherwise, but the children were excited by meeting a famous authoress—’

�So Joyce said that she had seen a murder committed,’ said Poirot thoughtfully.

�Yes, she said something of the kind. I wasn’t really listening.’

�But you do remember that she said it?’

�Oh yes, she said it. But I didn’t believe it,’ said Mrs Drake. �Her sister hushed her up at once, very properly.’

And she was annoyed about that, was she?’

�Yes, she went on saying that it was true.’

�In fact, she boasted about it.’

�When you put it that way, yes.

�It might have been true, I suppose,’ said Poirot.

�Nonsense! I don’t believe it for one minute,’ said Mrs Drake. �It’s the sort of stupid thing Joyce would say.’

�She was a stupid girl?’

�Well, she was the kind, I think, who liked to show off.’ said Mrs Drake. �You know, she always wanted to have seen more or done more than other girls.’

�Not a very lovable character,’ said Poirot.