Hercule Poirot's Christmas

The family gathers in Simeon’s room as he finishes a phone call to his lawyer, arranging to make a new will after Christmas. He then tells George that he is cutting his allowance, insults Magdalene’s background, and angers David by saying that his deceased mother had “the brains of a louse” (66). When David and Harry protest, Simeon erupts, “You’re not worth a penny piece, any of you! I’m sick of you all! You’re not men! You’re weaklings” (66). He declares that he has better sons somewhere due to his affairs and orders everyone out. Only Hilda remains. She accuses Simeon of gathering them all for his own cruel amusement and tells him that she is afraid for him. After she leaves, Simeon goes to his safe to look at his diamonds.

Superintendent Sugden arrives just before dinner, says that he is collecting for the Police Orphanage, and is taken up to see Simeon. In the pantry, Horbury startles and drops a coffee cup upon hearing a police superintendent is there. Relieved to learn the visit is for charity, Horbury leaves for the cinema. During a tense and silent dinner, Tressilian observes the family’s visible distress. After dinner, the ladies go to the drawing room, and the men remain in the dining room. David soon leaves to play the “Dead March” on the piano in the music room. Tressilian hears loud crashing from overhead followed by “a horrible high wailing scream that die[s] away in a choke or gurgle” (72). He runs upstairs, joining other members of the household. At Simeon’s locked door, Stephen and Hilda are already present. Harry and Alfred arrive and, with Stephen’s help, use an oak bench as a battering ram to break down the door. They find signs of a struggle and Simeon dead on the floor in a pool of blood.

Sugden arrives at the house just as the commotion begins and is admitted by Walter, the footman, who reports the murder. Sugden goes upstairs to the crime scene. He stops Pilar from pocketing “a wisp of rubber and a small object made of wood” that she picked up from the floor and orders everyone but Alfred and George out of the room (76).

Hercule Poirot is spending Christmas with Colonel Johnson, the chief constable of Middleshire. They discuss the nature of crime, with Poirot arguing that the forced goodwill and family tensions of Christmas make it a likely time for murder. Their debate is interrupted by a phone call from Sugden about the “brutal murder “ of the wealthy Simeon Lee. Johnson asks Poirot to accompany him to the scene at Longdale, and the detective agrees.

At Gorston Hall, Sugden explains the situation to Johnson and Poirot. He says that Simeon asked him to visit at 8:00 pm under the pretext of a charity collection. In their meeting, Simeon reported that a number of valuable uncut diamonds had been taken from his safe. He was uncertain if it was a theft or a practical joke, and he asked Sugden to return at 9:15 pm for a definitive answer. When Sugden returned, he heard screaming and commotion from inside the house before the footman let him in. Simeon’s throat was cut, severing his jugular.

Sugden produces the door key, showing faint scratches on the barrel indicating that it was turned from outside the room with a tool. He suggests that the murderer didn’t have time to arrange the scene to look like a suicide due to the commotion. The windows were secure, suggesting that it was an inside job. Sugden lists the family members and servants present in the house. He notes that Horbury was out at the time. Poirot and Johnson examine the bloody, disordered room. Poirot is struck by the sheer amount of violence and blood given how frail Simeon was. He learns Lydia made a similar comment, quoting Lady Macbeth: “Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (94).

Poirot, Sugden, and Johnson interview Alfred and Lydia. Alfred, deeply shaken, recounts last seeing his father around 5:45 pm. He describes hearing crashes and a scream from the dining room, where he was with Harry. Lydia was in the drawing room. She heard something heavy fall and then a scream. Both express shock when told the stones had been stolen and reported to police hours before the murder. Alfred offers to hire Poirot to find the killer and declares, “My father has got to be avenged” (104).

George suggests that no one in the household is capable of murder and that it must be the work of a patient who escaped from a mental hospital. He states that he hadn’t seen his father since Simeon addressed the whole family that afternoon. George says he was in the study and had just finished telephoning his Conservative agent in Westeringham regarding “[s]ome urgent matters” about his constituency when he heard the scream (106). Like Alfred, George is surprised to learn the diamonds had already been reported stolen.

Harry frankly admits that he returned after 20 years for his father’s money. He says that Alfred was furious about his return but that his father was delighted. He recounts Simeon’s gathering that afternoon, where the old man provoked the family by talking about changing his will. Harry suspects that the proposed alterations to the will would benefit himself and Pilar. He was in the dining room arguing with Alfred when the murder occurred. When told the door was locked from the outside, Harry expresses surprise, insisting he saw the key on the inside of the door. After Harry leaves, Sugden observes, “He’s afraid of something. I wonder why?” (113).

Magdalene recounts the argument that afternoon, noting how angry Alfred and David became but implying that Simeon said nothing that upset George. When asked her whereabouts during the murder, Magdalene hesitates and then says she had gone to the study to make a phone call to Westeringham. She claims to have been alone. After she leaves, Poirot notes that Simeon must have also provoked George, a detail Magdalene deliberately omitted. Noting the amusement that Simeon took from playing with his relatives’ desires and emotions, the detective observes, “It is there, I think, that the whole importance of the case lies…in the character of the dead man” (118).

David recounts his father’s insults during the afternoon meeting, including Simeon’s declaration that he was cutting George’s allowance, his mention that Magdalene had “lived with a naval officer” (122), and his implication that he had children outside of wedlock. At the time of the murder, David was in the music room playing the piano to escape an impending argument between Alfred and Harry. Hilda was with him during the murder, and he compares the scream to a sound “a soul in hell” would make (123).

Hilda explains that she persuaded David to come for Christmas, believing Simeon genuinely wanted a family reconciliation. She now realizes that Simeon’s true motive was to stir up strife by playing on his relatives’ greed and emotions, such as by having them overhear his call to his lawyer about a new will. She believes that he intended to leave a large sum to Pilar. Hilda doesn’t mention that she stayed behind to speak to Simeon after the others left. She says that she was with David in the music room when the murder occurred. She describes the scream as inhuman, like it came from “someone who had no soul” (130).

Pilar says she liked her grandfather and that she thinks he “must have been handsome” like Sugden when he was young (131). She admits that Simeon showed her the uncut diamonds, and she suspects Horbury stole them. She cheerfully recounts the afternoon argument as something that entertained her and mentions that Hilda stayed behind. At the time of the murder, Pilar was in her room getting ready to dance with Stephen. She ran to the scene with everyone else. She recalls David mentioning “the mills of God” when he saw the body. After she leaves, Johnson completes the saying: “The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small” (135).

Stephen explains how he is connected to the Lee family and says that he was invited by Simeon to stay for Christmas. He describes the Simeon Lee of his late father’s stories as a charming, generous man with a vengeful streak. After dinner, Stephen left Alfred and Harry to discuss family matters. He went to a ballroom and put on dance records, hoping Pilar would join him. He was still there when he heard the commotion and ran to help Harry break down the door. After he leaves, Johnson suggests that Stephen may have killed Simeon for the diamonds, but Poirot retorts, “Can one believe that that frail old man and that magnificent specimen of humanity struggled for some minutes overturning chairs and breaking china?” (142). The officers realize that the detective’s reasoning indicates “a weak man” or a woman is the culprit (142).

Tressilian doesn’t know for certain which men were in the dining room when the scream was heard. He recalls Lydia standing by the window in the drawing room and David playing the “Dead March” in the music room. He is certain Horbury left before 8:00 pm and couldn’t have reentered the house without being noticed. He recounts Horbury’s nervous reaction to the news of the superintendent’s arrival.

Horbury says he was at the cinema with his girlfriend, Doris Buckle, when the murder took place. He last saw Simeon at 7:30 pm. Simeon instructed Horbury to “put out the sherry and two glasses” (150), but the valet isn’t sure whom his employer intended to speak to that evening. When questioned about the diamonds, he initially feigns ignorance but is trapped by Poirot. He confesses that he overheard Simeon’s afternoon telephone call to police about a robbery, diamonds, and a meeting at eight o’clock. The officers believe he may have committed the theft, the murder, or both crimes. When they open the safe, Poirot, Sugden, and Johnson find a 15-year-old will in which Simeon leaves half his fortune to Alfred and instructs that the other half be divided equally between Harry, George, David, and Jennifer.