Arthur Hastings and Elizabeth Cole

Arthur Hastings and Elizabeth Cole share a bond formed through loneliness and suffering, but their connection becomes most consequential after Hercule Poirot’s death. Poirot’s final message asks Hastings to find Elizabeth and tell her that her father was murdered by Stephen Norton, not by her sister Margaret; the truth, he hopes, will release Elizabeth from the belief that her family is tainted and give her a reason to resume her life.

Recognition and shared loneliness

Hastings’s sympathy for Elizabeth grows after she reveals who she really is and recounts the tragedy that ruined her life. He sees their unhappiness as a point of connection between them and suspects that Elizabeth may nevertheless have a second chance at happiness. Their relationship begins not as a formal alliance but as an attentive recognition of parallel isolation: he takes an interest in her because he understands that suffering can create a bond.

That understanding is sharpened when Hastings tells Elizabeth that he is depressed by bad news about his dear old friend, Hercule Poirot. Elizabeth responds by asking whether the news concerns Poirot. Their exchange places Hastings’s grief in the foreground and shows Elizabeth’s concern for what has affected him, even as her own past remains a central part of their connection.

Age, family, and the possibility of a future

Hastings tells Elizabeth that her life is beginning. She questions that reassurance by asking whether a new beginning is plausible at thirty-five. He counters that thirty-five is not old, adding that he wishes he were that age and that he is not blind to her attractiveness. Elizabeth blushes at the implication, and the exchange gives their sympathy a note of personal warmth without establishing a romantic relationship between them.

When Elizabeth says that Stephen Norton and she are only friends, she explains that they have a good deal in common and describes him as kind. Hastings answers that this is all the better. His response reflects the trust Elizabeth places in the friendship as she understands it at the time; the later revelation that Norton was responsible for her father’s murder profoundly changes the meaning of that apparent kindness.

Their discussion also exposes the different forms their loneliness takes. Hastings says that his children are scattered around the world and that Judith has her work and does not need him. Elizabeth replies that children do not need their parents until they are in trouble, presenting this as a fundamental law. She says that she is lonelier than Hastings because her two sisters live far away, one in America and the other in Italy. Their exchange makes their bond specific: Hastings feels the distance of an adult child, while Elizabeth describes separation from her sisters and the isolation left by her family’s tragedy.

Care after Poirot’s death

After Poirot dies, Judith is especially kind to Hastings, spending substantial time with him and helping make the arrangements. Elizabeth Cole and Boyd Carrington are kind to him as well. These acts of care place Elizabeth within Hastings’s circle of support during bereavement and show that their earlier sympathy is not confined to conversation. Hastings also observes that Elizabeth seems less affected by Norton’s death than he expected; if she feels deep grief, she keeps it to herself.

Poirot’s final appeal

Poirot’s last message turns Hastings’s connection with Elizabeth into a responsibility. He calls Hastings lonely and asks him to follow the advice of his old friend: travel to find Elizabeth, whose other name is Elizabeth Litchfield, and let her read the manuscript or tell her what it contains. Hastings is to explain that he, too, might have done what Margaret Litchfield did, but Margaret had no watchful Poirot at hand. Poirot’s comparison is meant to help Elizabeth understand the circumstances without leaving her trapped in the belief that her sister murdered their father.

The message identifies Stephen Norton as the killer, describing him as the family friend who had appeared sympathetic and trustworthy. Hastings is asked to replace Elizabeth’s inherited nightmare with the truth: her father was killed by Norton, not by Margaret. The revelation reinterprets the friendship Elizabeth had described as kind and familiar, and it gives Hastings a concrete way to act on the sympathy that first connected them.

A relationship directed toward repair

Poirot frames the appeal around Elizabeth’s future. He argues that a woman who is still young and attractive should not refuse life because she believes herself tainted, and he assigns Hastings the task of telling her so. The instruction joins factual disclosure to emotional repair: Hastings must not only correct her understanding of the murder but also challenge the shame that has shaped her sense of what remains possible.

The relationship therefore ends not with a narrated reunion or a confirmed romantic outcome, but with a charge to seek Elizabeth and speak. Hastings is positioned as a witness who can carry the truth from Poirot to her. Their shared loneliness gives that task personal weight, while Poirot’s revelation offers Elizabeth a chance to understand her family’s tragedy without treating its guilt as her own.