Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie Page A

him the
     world. 'All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' How
     much greater the temptation up on high to be a God of Material Power.”
    Sarah assented, but her thoughts were so clearly elsewhere that Gerard observed her in
     some surprise. “You are pondering something very deeply,” he said.
    “Yes, I am.” She turned a perplexed face to him. “It's a wonderful idea - to have a place
     of sacrifice up here. I think, sometimes, don't you, that a sacrifice is necessary... I
     mean, one can have too much regard for life. Death isn't really so important as we make
     out.”
    “If you feel that, Miss King, you should not have adopted our profession. To us, death is
     - and must always be - the Enemy.”
    Sarah shivered. “Yes, I suppose you're right. And yet, so often, death might solve a
     problem. It might even mean fuller life...”
    “'It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people!'” quoted Gerard gravely.
    Sarah turned a startled face on him. “I didn't mean - ”
    She broke off. Jefferson Cope was approaching them. “Now this is really a most remarkable
     spot,” he declared. “Most remarkable, and I'm only too pleased not to have missed it. I
     don't mind confessing that though Mrs. Boynton is certainly a most remarkable woman. I
     greatly admire her pluck in being determined to come here. It does certainly complicate
     matters traveling with her. Her health is poor, and I suppose it naturally makes |her a
     little inconsiderate of other people's feelings, but it does not seem to occur to her that
     her family might like occasionally to go on excursions without her. She's just so used to
     them clustering round her that I suppose she doesn't think - ” Mr. Cope broke off. His
     nice kindly face looked a little disturbed and uncomfortable, “You know,” he said, “I
     heard a piece of information about Mrs. Boynton that disturbed me greatly.”
    Sarah was lost in her own thoughts again. Mr. Cope's voice just flowed pleasantly in her
     ears like the agreeable murmur of a remote stream, but Dr. Gerard said: “Indeed? What was
     it?”
    “My informant was a lady I came across in the hotel at Tiberias. It concerned a servant
     girl who had been in Mrs. Boynton's employ. This girl, I gather, was - had - ” Mr. Cope
     paused, glanced delicately at Sarah and lowered his voice. “She was going to have a child.
     The old lady, it seemed, discovered this but was apparently quite kind to the girl. Then a
     few weeks before the child was born she turned her out of the house.”
    Dr. Gerard's eyebrows went up. “Ah,” he said reflectively.
    “My informant seemed very positive of her facts. I don't know whether you agree with me,
     but that seems to me a very cruel and heartless thing to do. I cannot understand - ”
    Dr. Gerard interrupted him. “You should try to. That incident, I have no doubt, gave Mrs.
     Boynton a good deal of quiet enjoyment.”
    Mr. Cope turned a shocked face on him. “No, sir,” he said with emphasis. “That I cannot
     believe. Such an idea is quite inconceivable.”
    Softly Dr. Gerard quoted: “'So I returned and did consider all the oppressions done
     beneath the sun. And there was weeping and whining from those that were oppressed and had
     no comfort; for with their oppressors there was power, so that no one came to comfort
     them. Then I did praise the dead which are already dead, yea, more than the living which
     linger still in life; yea, he that is not is better than dead or living; for he doth not
     know of the evil that is wrought forever on earth...'” He broke off and said: “My dear
     sir, I have made a life's study of the strange things that go on in the human mind. It is
     no good turning one's face only to the fairer side of life. Below the decencies and
     conventions of everyday life, there lies a vast reservoir of strange things. There is such
     a thing, for instance, as delight