Margaret Litchfield

Margaret Litchfield is Elizabeth Cole’s sister, whose father’s murder has left Elizabeth convinced that she is marked by a family crime. The revelation that Margaret did not kill him—and that Stephen Norton, a trusted family friend, did—reverses the meaning of Elizabeth’s painful past and gives Poirot’s final letter its urgent purpose: to restore the possibility of a life she has felt unable to claim.

Identity and Family History

Margaret is identified in the final explanation as Elizabeth Cole’s sister and as the daughter of a murdered father. The account does not provide a fuller biography or describe the circumstances of her life beyond her connection to the crime and to Elizabeth’s enduring distress.

For Elizabeth, the unresolved question of who killed their father has become inseparable from the prospect of marriage and a future. She speaks of her sister as either a murderess or insane, unable to settle which possibility is worse. Her uncertainty shows how the family tragedy has persisted not merely as a mystery but as a lasting burden on her sense of herself.

The Accusation and Its Effect

Elizabeth’s understanding is not simply that Margaret was implicated in the death: she treats the possibility that her sister killed their father as a reason she herself cannot contemplate marriage. When Arthur Hastings recalls Elizabeth’s earlier words, “It wasn't Maggie,” he recognizes that her own instinct has already resisted the accusation, even though she says she believes it to be true.

Hastings tells her that her sister did not kill their father. Elizabeth reacts with disbelief and asks who could have told him. At that point, she has not yet been given the explanation that will resolve the contradiction between her conviction and her earlier, involuntary defense of Margaret.

The Truth Revealed

Poirot’s closing message names Stephen Norton as the person who killed Elizabeth and Margaret’s father. He characterizes Norton as a sympathetic family friend, an “honest Iago,” whose trusted position concealed his guilt. Margaret is therefore cleared of the murder attributed to her, while Norton’s apparent respectability becomes part of the truth Elizabeth needs to hear.

The revelation also connects Margaret’s case to Poirot’s judgment of Hastings. Poirot tells his friend that he, too, might have done what Margaret did, but that Margaret had no watchful Poirot at hand. This comparison places her alleged act within the book’s larger concern with people pushed toward violence, while the actual solution distinguishes the family’s suffering from the guilt of the person who killed their father.

Narrative Role and Aftermath

Margaret is chiefly present through the consequences of the accusation for Elizabeth and through Poirot’s eventual correction of it. Her identity as the supposed killer has shaped her sister’s understanding of marriage and of whether she may safely pursue happiness; the truth about Norton is meant to lift that weight. Poirot urges Hastings to find Elizabeth, share the explanation, and tell her that she need not refuse life because she believes herself tainted by her family history.

The ending does not report Margaret’s own response or establish further details of her life. Instead, her exoneration is conveyed through the message intended for Elizabeth. The decisive change is in what the sisters’ past means: their father was killed by Norton, not by Margaret, and Elizabeth’s belief that the crime defines her future can finally be challenged.