Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
with Amyas on a second occasion. Though Elsa falsely reported the gist of this conversation, she
did mention that Caroline had said to Amyas ’you and your women’, showing Poirot that in fact
Elsa was in the same category as all of Amyas’s other, discarded mistresses. After a disillusioned
and betrayed Elsa overheard this conversation, she recalled seeing Caroline help herself to the
coniine the day before and, under the pretence of fetching a cardigan, stole some of that poison
by drawing it off with a fountain pen filler. She poisoned Amyas in the first, warm beer, and was
then pleased to find that Caroline implicated herself still more seriously by bringing him another.
(When Caroline brought Amyas a beer and he exclaimed that ’everything tastes foul today,’ this
not only showed that he had already had a drink before the one Caroline brought him, but he
had had one which had tasted foul as well.)
Amyas’s last moments are spent working on his painting of Elsa, while she sits posing for
it. In the beginning he does not realize he has been poisoned, but as he gradually weakens he
apparently realizes it, because Meredith sees him give the painting a ”malevolent glare”. Poirot
notes the unusual vitality in the face of the portrait and says, ”It is a very remarkable picture. It
is the picture of a murderess painted by her victim — it is the picture of a girl watching her lover
die.”
Poirot’s explanation solves the case to the satisfaction of Carla and, most importantly, her
fiancé. But, as Elsa forces him to admit, it cannot be proven. Poirot states that though his
chances of getting a conviction are slim, he does not intend to simply leave her to her rich,
privileged life. Privately, however, she confides the full measure of her defeat. Caroline, having
earned redemption, went uncomplainingly to prison, where she died soon after. Elsa has always
felt that the husband and wife somehow escaped her, and her life has been empty since.
The last paragraph of the novel underlines this defeat. ’The chauffeur held open the door of
the car. Lady Dittisham got in and the chauffeur wrapped the fur rug around her knees.’
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