Sad Cypress
An elderly stroke victim dies without having arranged a will…Beautiful young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock, accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard, her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison.Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, only one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty: Hercule Poirot was all that stood between Elinor and the gallows…
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Sad Cypress
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
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First published in Great Britain by Collins 1940
Agatha Christie® Poirot® Sad Cypressâ¢
Copyright © 1940 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved
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Title lettering by Ghost Design
Cover photograph © Ilona Wellman/Trevillion Images
Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008129576
Ebook Edition © MAY 2015 ISBN: 9780007422760
Version: 2018-08-06
TO PETER AND PEGGY MCLEOD
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew
O prepare it;
My part of death no one so true;
Did share it.
Shakespeare.
Contents
âElinor Katharine Carlisle. You stand charged upon this indictment with the murder of Mary Gerrard upon the 27th of July last. Are you guilty or not guilty?â
Elinor Carlisle stood very straight, her head raised. It was a graceful head, the modelling of the bones sharp and well defined. The eyes were a deep vivid blue, the hair black. The brows had been plucked to a faint thin line.
There was a silenceâquite a noticeable silence.
Sir Edwin Bulmer, Counsel for the Defence, felt a thrill of dismay.
He thought:
âMy God, sheâs going to plead guilty⦠Sheâs lost her nerveâ¦â
Elinor Carlisleâs lips parted. She said:
âNot guilty.â
Counsel for the Defence sank back. He passed a handkerchief over his brow, realizing that it had been a near shave.
Sir Samuel Attenbury was on his feet, outlining the case for the Crown.
âMay it please your lordship, gentlemen of the jury, on the 27th of July, at half-past three in the afternoon, Mary Gerrard died at Hunterbury, Maidensfordâ¦â
His voice ran on, sonorous and pleasing to the ear. It lulled Elinor almost into unconsciousness. From the simple and concise narrative, only an occasional phrase seeped through to her conscious mind.
ââ¦Case a peculiarly simple and straightforward oneâ¦
â⦠It is the duty of the Crownâ¦prove motive and opportunityâ¦
â⦠No one, as far as can be seen, had any motive to kill this unfortunate girl, Mary Gerrard, except the accused. A young girl of a charming dispositionâliked by everybodyâwithout, one would have said, an enemy in the worldâ¦â
Mary, Mary Gerrard! How far away it all seemed now. Not real any longerâ¦
â⦠Your attention will be particularly directed to the following considerations:
1. What opportunities and means had the accused for administering poison?
2. What motive had she for so doing?
âIt will be my duty to call before you witnesses who can help you to form a true conclusion on these mattersâ¦
â⦠As regards the poisoning of Mary Gerrard, I shall endeavour to show you that no one had any opportunity to commit this crime except the accusedâ¦â
Elinor felt as though imprisoned in a thick mist. Detached words came drifting through the fog.
â⦠Sandwichesâ¦
â⦠Fish pasteâ¦
â⦠Empty houseâ¦â
The words stabbed through the thick enveloping blanket of Elinorâs thoughtsâpin-pricks through a heavy muffling veilâ¦
The court. Faces. Rows and rows of faces! One particular face with a big black moustache and shrewd eyes. Hercule Poirot, his head a little on one side, his eyes thoughtful, was watching her.
She thought: Heâs trying to see just exactly why I did it⦠Heâs trying to get inside my head to see what I thoughtâwhat I feltâ¦
