{"id":2357,"date":"2026-01-03T22:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/five-little-pigs-christie-agatha\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:25:08","slug":"five-little-pigs-christie-agatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/five-little-pigs-christie-agatha\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Little Pigs – Christie, Agatha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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Introduction<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

CARLA<\/span> LEMARCHANT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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H<\/span><\/span>ercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room.<\/p>\n

There had been nothing distinctive in the letter she had written. It had been a mere request for an appointment, with no hint of what lay behind that request. It had been brief and businesslike. Only the firmness of the handwriting had indicated that Carla Lemarchant was a young woman.<\/p>\n

And now here she was in the flesh\u2014a tall, slender young woman in the early twenties. The kind of young woman that one definitely looked at twice. Her clothes were good, an expensive well-cut coat and skirt and luxurious furs. Her head was well poised on her shoulders, she had a square brow, a sensitively cut nose and a determined chin. She looked very much alive. It was her aliveness, more than her beauty, which struck the predominant note.<\/p>\n

Before her entrance, Hercule Poirot had been feeling old\u2014now he felt rejuvenated\u2014alive\u2014keen!<\/p>\n

As he came forward to greet her, he was aware of her dark grey eyes studying him attentively. She was very earnest in that scrutiny.<\/p>\n

She sat down and accepted the cigarette that he offered her. After it was lit she sat for a minute or two smoking, still looking at him with that earnest, thoughtful gaze.<\/p>\n

Poirot said gently:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it has to be decided, does it not?\u201d<\/p>\n

She started. \u201cI beg your pardon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her voice was attractive, with a faint, agreeable huskiness in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are making up your mind, are you not, whether I am a mere mountebank, or the man you need?\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled. She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yes\u2014something of that kind. You see, Mr. Poirot, you\u2014you don\u2019t look exactly the way I pictured you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I am old, am I not? Older than you imagined?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that too.\u201d She hesitated. \u201cI\u2019m being frank, you see. I want\u2014I\u2019ve got to have\u2014the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRest assured,\u201d said Hercule Poirot. \u201cI am<\/span> the best!\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla said: \u201cYou\u2019re not modest\u2026All the same, I\u2019m inclined to take you at your word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot said placidly:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne does not, you know, employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think<\/span>. It is this\u201d\u2014he tapped his egg-shaped head\u2014\u201cthis<\/span> that functions!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d said Carla Lemarchant. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ve come to you. I want you, you see, to do something fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat,\u201d said Hercule Poirot, \u201cpromises well!\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked at her in encouragement.<\/p>\n

Carla Lemarchant drew a deep breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name,\u201d she said, \u201cisn\u2019t Carla. It\u2019s Caroline. The same as my mother\u2019s. I was called after her.\u201d She paused. \u201cAnd though I\u2019ve always gone by the name of Lemarchant\u2014my real name is Crale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot\u2019s forehead creased a moment perplexedly. He murmured: \u201cCrale\u2014I seem to remember\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was a painter\u2014rather a well-known painter. Some people say he was a great painter. I<\/span> think he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot said: \u201cAmyas Crale?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d She paused, then she went on: \u201cAnd my mother, Caroline Crale, was tried for murdering him!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAha,\u201d said Hercule Poirot. \u201cI remember now\u2014but only vaguely. I was abroad at the time. It was a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen years,\u201d said the girl.<\/p>\n

Her face was very white now and her eyes two burning lights.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you understand? She was tried and convicted<\/span>\u2026She wasn\u2019t hanged because they felt that there were extenuating circumstances\u2014so the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. But she died only a year after the trial. You see? It\u2019s all over\u2014done\u2014finished with\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot said quietly: \u201cAnd so?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl called Carla Lemarchant pressed her hands together. She spoke slowly and haltingly but with an odd, pointed emphasis.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to understand\u2014exactly\u2014where I come in. I was five years old at the time it\u2014happened. Too young to know anything about it. I remember my mother and my father, of course, and I remember leaving home suddenly\u2014being taken to the country. I remember the pigs and a nice fat farmer\u2019s wife\u2014and everybody being very kind\u2014and I remember, quite clearly, the funny way they used to look at me\u2014everybody\u2014a sort of furtive look. I knew, of course, children do, that there was something wrong\u2014but I didn\u2019t know what.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I went on a ship\u2014it was exciting\u2014it went on for days, and then I was in Canada and Uncle Simon met me, and I lived in Montreal with him and with Aunt Louise, and when I asked about Mummy and Daddy they said they\u2019d be coming soon. And then\u2014and then I think I forgot\u2014only I sort of knew that they were dead without remembering anyone actually telling me so. Because by that time, you see, I didn\u2019t think about them any more. I was very happy, you know. Uncle Simon and Aunt Louise were sweet to me, and I went to school and had a lot of friends, and I\u2019d quite forgotten that I\u2019d ever had another name, not Lemarchant. Aunt Louise, you see, told me that that was my name in Canada and that seemed quite sensible to me at the time\u2014it was just my Canadian name\u2014but as I say I forgot in the end that I\u2019d ever had any other.\u201d<\/p>\n

She flung up her defiant chin. She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at me. You\u2019d say\u2014wouldn\u2019t you? if you met me: \u2018There goes a girl who\u2019s got nothing to worry about!\u2019 I\u2019m well off, I\u2019ve got splendid health, I\u2019m sufficiently good to look at, I can enjoy life. At twenty, there wasn\u2019t a girl anywhere I\u2019d have changed places with.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut already, you know, I\u2019d begun to ask questions. About my own mother and father. Who they were and what they did? I\u2019d have been bound to find out in the end\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it was, they told me the truth. When I was twenty-one. They had to then, because for one thing I came into my own money. And then, you see, there was the letter. The letter my mother left for me when she died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her expression changed, dimmed. Her eyes were no longer two burning points, they were dark dim pools. She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I learnt the truth. That my mother had been convicted of murder. It was\u2014rather horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

She paused.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something else I must tell you. I was engaged to be married. They said we must wait\u2014that we couldn\u2019t be married until I was twenty-one. When I knew, I understood why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot stirred and spoke for the first time. He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what was your fianc\u00e9\u2019s reaction?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn? John didn\u2019t care. He said it made no difference\u2014not to him. He and I were John and Carla\u2014and the past didn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She leaned forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still engaged. But all the same, you know, it does<\/span> matter. It matters to me. And it matters to John too\u2026It isn\u2019t the past that matters to us\u2014it\u2019s the future.\u201d She clenched her hands. \u201cWe want children, you see. We both want children. And we don\u2019t want to watch our children growing up and be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot said:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you not realize that amongst every one\u2019s ancestors there has been violence and evil?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand. That\u2019s so, of course. But then, one doesn\u2019t usually know about it. We do. It\u2019s very near to us. And sometimes\u2014I\u2019ve seen John just look at me. Such a quick glance\u2014just a flash. Supposing we were married and we\u2019d quarrelled\u2014and I saw him look at me and\u2014and wonder?<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot said: \u201cHow was your father killed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla\u2019s voice came clear and firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was poisoned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot said: \u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a silence.<\/p>\n

Then the girl said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice:<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness you\u2019re sensible. You see that it does matter\u2014and what it involves. You don\u2019t try and patch it up and trot out consoling phrases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand very well,\u201d said Poirot. \u201cWhat I do not understand is what you want of me?<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla Lemarchant said simply:<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to marry John! And I mean to marry John! And I want to have at least two girls and two boys. And you\u2019re going to make that possible!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean\u2014you want me to talk to your fianc\u00e9? Ah no, it is idiocy what I say there! It is something quite different that you are suggesting. Tell me what is in your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, Mr. Poirot. Get this\u2014and get it clearly. I\u2019m hiring you to investigate a case of murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mean\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do mean. A case of murder is a case of murder whether it happened yesterday or sixteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my dear young lady\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, Mr. Poirot. You haven\u2019t got it all yet. There\u2019s a very important point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was innocent,\u201d said Carla Lemarchant.<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot rubbed his nose. He murmured:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, naturally\u2014I comprehend that\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t sentiment. There\u2019s her letter. She left it for me before she died. It was to be given to me when I was twenty-one. She left it for that one reason\u2014that I should be quite sure. That\u2019s all that was in it. That she hadn\u2019t done it\u2014that she was innocent\u2014that I could be sure of that always.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot looked thoughtfully at the young vital face staring so earnestly at him. He said slowly:<\/p>\n

\u201cTout de m\u00eame\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Carla smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, mother wasn\u2019t like that! You\u2019re thinking that it might be a lie\u2014a sentimental lie?\u201d She leaned forward earnestly. \u201cListen, Mr. Poirot, there are some things that children know quite well. I can remember my mother\u2014a patchy remembrance, of course, but I remember quite well the sort<\/span> of person she was. She didn\u2019t tell lies\u2014kind lies. If a thing was going to hurt she always told you so. Dentists, or thorns in your finger\u2014all that sort of thing. Truth was a\u2014a natural impulse to her. I wasn\u2019t, I don\u2019t think, especially fond of her\u2014but I trusted her. I still<\/span> trust her! If she says she didn\u2019t kill my father then she didn\u2019t kill him! She wasn\u2019t the sort of person who would solemnly write down a lie when she knew she was dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Hercule Poirot bowed his head.<\/p>\n

Carla went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s all right for me<\/span> marrying John. I<\/span> know it\u2019s all right. But he doesn\u2019t<\/span>. He feels that naturally I would think my mother was innocent. It\u2019s got to be cleared up, Mr. Poirot. And you\u2019re<\/span> going to do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot said slowly:<\/p>\n

\u201cGranted that what you say is true, mademoiselle, sixteen years have gone by!\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla Lemarchant said: \u201cOh! of course it\u2019s going to be difficult!<\/span> Nobody but you<\/span> could do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot\u2019s eyes twinkled slightly. He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou give me the best butter\u2014hein?<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard about you. The things you\u2019ve done. The way<\/span> you have done them. It\u2019s psychology that interests you, isn\u2019t it? Well, that doesn\u2019t change with time. The tangible things are gone\u2014the cigarette end and the footprints and the bent blades of grass. You can\u2019t look for those any more. But you can go over all the facts of the case, and perhaps talk to the people who were there at the time\u2014they\u2019re all alive still\u2014and then\u2014and then, as you said just now, you can lie back in your chair and think. And you\u2019ll know what really happened\u2026<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot rose to his feet. One hand caressed his moustache. He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cMademoiselle, I am honoured! I will justify your faith in me. I will investigate your case of murder. I will search back into the events of sixteen years ago and I will find out the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla got up. Her eyes were shining. But she only said:<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot shook an eloquent forefinger.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne little moment. I have said I will find out the truth. I do not, you understand, have the bias. I do not accept your assurance of your mother\u2019s innocence. If she was guilty\u2014eh bien,<\/span> what then?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carla\u2019s proud head went back. She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m her daughter. I want the truth!<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot said:<\/p>\n

\u201cEn avant,<\/span> then. Though it is not that, that I should say. On the contrary. En arri\u00e8re\u2026<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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Book Preview Introduction CARLA LEMARCHANT Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room. There had been nothing distinctive in the letter she had written. It had been a mere request for an appointment, with no hint of what lay behind that request. It had been … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agatha-christie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}