Читать книгу The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Убийство Роджера Экройда онлайн

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‘What did you say to her?’ I asked.

‘What could I say? She saw, of course, the awful shock it had been to me. And then there was the question, what was my duty in the matter? She had made me, you see, an accessory after the fact. She saw all that, I think, quicker than I did. I was stunned, you know. She asked me for twenty-four hours – made me promise to do nothing till the end of that time. And she steadfastly refused to give me the name of the scoundrel who had been blackmailing her. I suppose she was afraid that I might go straight off and hammer him, and then the fat would have been in the fire as far as she was concerned. She told me that I should hear from her before twenty-four hours had passed. My god! I swear to you, Sheppard, that it never entered my head what she meant to do. Suicide! And I drove her to it.’

‘No, no,’ I said. ‘Don’t take an exaggerated view of things. The responsibility for her death doesn’t lie at your door.’

‘The question is, what am I to do now? The poor lady is dead. Why rake up past trouble?’