Dead Man’s Folly

Poirot visits Alec Legge at Mill Cottage, finding the young man packing in a cramped, untidy space strewn with books, clothes, and papers. Legge announces that his wife Sally has left him for Michael Weyman. Poirot suggests that if Sally has been unhappy, it is partly Legge’s fault for shutting her out, and offers an observation: some years earlier, Legge had aligned himself with a political cause viewed suspiciously in his profession. When pressure came to consolidate his position in a way he resisted, he faced threats and a tense meeting with a “young man in a turtle shirt.” Caught between political anxiety and personal strain, Legge became impossible to live with, driving Sally toward a man she compared favorably to her husband.

Poirot urges Alec to follow Sally to London, confide in her fully, and attempt reconciliation. Alec at first resents the intrusion, but then he bursts into laughter, admitting that divorce is costly—and humiliating. He jokes about throttling Weyman if he finds him, then he unexpectedly thanks Poirot and claps him on the shoulder with such force it nearly knocks him over. As Poirot steps into the darkening evening, his feet sore from the blow, he wonders where his investigation will take him next.