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Twenty-four,ELIMINATION ¹ OF THREE MURDERERS?,On arrival in London, Superintendent ² Battle came straight to Poirot. Anne and Rhoda had thenbeen gone an hour or more.,Without more ado, the superintendent recounted the result of his researches in Devonshire.,“We’re onto it—not a doubt of it,” he finished. “That’s what Shaitana was aiming at—with his‘domestic accident’ business. But what gets me is the motive ³. Why did she want to kill thewoman? ”,“I think I can help you there, my friend.
”,“This afternoon I conducted a little experiment. I induced mademoiselle and her friend to comehere. I put to them my usual questions as to what there was in the room that night.”,Battle looked at him curiously ⁴.,“You’re very keen on that question. ”,“Yes, it’s useful. It tells me a good deal. Mademoiselle Meredith was suspicious — verysuspicious. She takes nothing for granted, that young lady. So that good dog, Hercule Poirot, hedoes one of his best tricks. He lays a clumsy amateurish ⁵ trap. Mademoiselle mentions a case ofjewellery. I say was not that at the opposite end of the room from the table with the dagger ⁶.,Mademoiselle does not fall into the trap. She avoids it cleverly. And after that she is pleased withherself, and her vigilance relaxes. So that is the object of this visit—to get her to admit that sheknew where the dagger was, and that she noticed it! Her spirits rise when she has, as she thinks,defeated me. She talked quite freely about the jewellery. She has noticed many details of it. Thereis nothing else in the room that she remembers—except that a vase of chrysanthemums ⁷ needed itswater changing.
”,I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。,He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监 。