Dead Man’s Folly

Poirot travels again to see Mrs. Folliat, who greets him with weary civility. Refusing tea, he explains why he has come: three people are dead, and Merdell’s fall from the quay was no accident. Poirot reveals that Merdell recognized someone: Mrs. Folliat’s younger son, James, who everyone thought had been killed in the war but who had in fact deserted. Mrs. Folliat passed James off as dead, later helping him assume a new identity as “Sir George Stubbs” by arranging his marriage to Hattie, a wealthy but mentally limited girl who was under Mrs. Folliat’s care at the time. Once they were married, Hattie’s fortune became James’s, and Mrs. Folliat believed they would live quietly at Nasse House.

However, this is not what happened. Although Mrs. Folliat did not know it, James was already married to a criminal woman from Trieste, who took on Hattie’s role as Lady Stubbs after she was murdered. The deception nearly succeeded, but the impending visit of Hattie’s cousin de Sousa threatened exposure. James and his wife knew that de Sousa would immediately recognize the difference between the real Hattie and a fake one. Additionally, Merdell had already exposed the truth to Marlene, prompting the couple to plan Marlene’s murder. Poirot describes how the impostor alternated disguises over 24 hours, deceiving those at Nasse House before vanished into hiding.

Poirot accuses Mrs. Folliat of knowing Hattie was dead. She denies his story as fantasy, but Poirot opens the window to the sound of pickaxes breaking concrete at the Folly. He explains that beneath the foundation lies Hattie’s body, buried in disturbed ground and sealed under construction to hide the crime. Mrs. Folliat shudders as Poirot calls it “Sir George’s Folly,” the one evil in an otherwise beautiful place.

At last, Mrs. Folliat admits she has always known James was ruthless and without conscience. Love kept her silent after Hattie’s murder, a silence that enabled further killings. Poirot tells her that with a murderer, it never ends. She hides her face and thanks him for telling her personally. Then, she asks him to leave, saying, “There are some things that one has to face quite alone….”