Burden by Agatha Christie

Author:Agatha Christie
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Classics, Siblings, Family, Mystery & Detective, Juvenile Fiction, Romance: Modern, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary, Women Sleuths, Fiction - General, Traditional British, General, Romance - General
ISBN: 9780515095524
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1988-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

"I said that I did not think that it was likely. Henry would never have thought of such a thing. He would have gone on living for years-years, with Shirley waiting on him and enduring his selfishness and bad temper, sacrificing all her life to him. I wanted her to be happy, to have her life and live it. She'd met Richard Wilding not long before. They'd fallen in love with each other."

"Yes, she told me."

"She might have left Henry in the ordinary course of events. But a Henry ill, crippled, dependent upon her-that Henry she would never leave. Even if she no longer cared for him, she would never have left him. Shirley was loyal, she was the most loyal person I've ever known. Oh, can't you see? I couldn't bear her whole life to be wasted, ruined. I didn't care what they did to me."

"But actually they didn't do anything to you."

"No. Sometimes-I wish they had."

"Yes, I dare say you do feel like that. But there's nothing really they could do. Even if it wasn't a mistake, if the doctor suspected same merciful impulse in your heart, or even an unmerciful one, he would know that there was no case, and he wouldn't be anxious to make one. If there had been any suspicion of Shirley having done it, it would have been a different matter."

"There was never any question of that. A maid actually heard Henry say to me that he hadn't had his tablets and ask me to give them to him."

"Yes, it was all made easy for you-very easy." He looked up at her. "How do you feel about it now?"

"I wanted Shirley to be free to-"

"Leave Shirley out of it. This is between you and Henry. How do you feel about Henry? That it was all for the best?"

"No."

"Thank God for that."

"Henry didn't want to die. I killed him."

"Do you regret?"

"If you mean-would I do it again?-yes."

"Without remorse?"

"Remorse? Oh yes. It was a wicked thing to do. I know that. I've lived with it ever since. I can't forget."

"Hence the Foundation for Sub-Normal Children? Good works? A course of duty, stern duty. It's your way of making amends."

"It's all I can do."

"Is it any use?"

"What do you mean? It's worthwhile."

"I'm not talking of its use to others. Does it help you?"

"I don't know. . . ."

"It's punishment you want, isn't it?"

"I want, I suppose, to make amends."

"To whom? Henry? But Henry's dead. And from all I've heard, there's nothing that Henry would care less about than sub-normal children. You must face it, Laura, you can't make amends."

She stood motionless for a moment, like one stricken. Then she flung back her head, the colour rose in her cheeks. She looked at him defiantly, and his heart leapt in sudden admiration.

"That's true," she said. "I've been trying, perhaps, to dodge that. You've shown me that I can't. I told you I didn't believe in God, but I do, really. I know that what I've done was evil.

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