In the novel Cards on the Table, Anne Meredith was a young woman, formerly a companion to several elderly women. Mr Shaitana had met Poirot at an art exhibition and wanted Poirot to come to dinner to view his unique collection--a group of people he believed to be murderers who had gotten away with their crimes. Anne Meredith was one of the guests and part of Shaitana's "collection". Although Shaitana did not specify the kind of crime he believed Anne to be involved in, over dinner he alluded to a "domestic kind of accident" as one of the possibilities.
Anne was described as being in her early twenties, of medium height, and pretty. She had brown hair in curls which "clustered in her neck", grey eyes which were large and wide apart.
Anne had met Mr Shaitana about nine months before the events of the novel, at the winter sports in Switzerland. She had not known him well at first, but he started to take a fancy to her, going out of his way to pay her compliments. He did not try to seduce her, but his elaborate manners made her uncomfortable.
Anne was born in Quetta, British Raj. Her father was Major John Meredith. When she was eleven years old, her mother died. A few years later, when she was fifteen, her father retired, and they went to live in Cheltenham. When she was eighteen, her father died, leaving her with practically no money.
Anne was not particularly well-educated, and did not know typing or shorthand, or any other skills. A friend in Cheltenham found her a job with Mrs Eldon, as a nursery governess and mother's help. Anne worked for the Eldons for two years, and then the family went abroad.
After that, Anne worked as a live-in companion to Emily Deering, an aunt of her friend, Rhoda Dawes. Mrs Deering was very keen on gardening, so Anne spent a lot of time weeding and putting in bulbs. Mrs Deering has cancer, and when her health worsened, she had to get a regular nurse, and so no longer required Anne's services.
After Rhoda's father remarried, she began looking for a cottage, and someone to share it with. She bought Wendon Cottage in Wallingford, and asked Anne to live there with her.
It is later revealed that after working for Mrs Eldon and before going to Mrs Deering, Anne had worked as a live-in companion to Mrs Benson, who had taken hat paint—poison—from an old Syrup of Figs bottle, and died. Anne had been using the paint to brighten up a garden hat, and the bottle had broken, so Mrs Benson told her to put it in the old Syrup of Figs bottle. The bottle was put on the top shelf in the bathroom. Mrs Benson took Syrup of Figs regularly, and one night she went into the bathroom and accidentally poured herself a dose from the bottle containing the hat paint. Superintendent Battle believes that Anne deliberately killed Mrs Benson by swapping the two bottles.
Hercule Poirot asked Anne to call on him, and asked her what she remembered of the room in which Mr Shaitana was killed. She mentioned a case of Egyptian jewellery. Poirot also showed her some expensive silk stockings, and asked her to select six pairs which seemed the most desirable, saying that they were Christmas gifts for his nieces and grand-nieces. Anne did so, and after she left, Poirot counted seventeen pairs of stockings when there should have been nineteen. He suggested to Superintendent Battle that Anne was the kind of girl who was poor but loved pretty things, and might have occasionally helped herself to things from her employers. Mrs Eldon was untidy, and would have put such disappearances down to her own carelessness. However, Anne may have been stealing from Mrs Benson, and if Mrs Benson accused her of theft, it would have provided a motive for murder.
Anne was attracted to John Despard, and was jealous of Rhoda, because she was so bright, ready to talk, and enthusiastic. She felt that Rhoda reduced her to the background, and she wanted to keep Major Despard to herself.
Anne later caused a rowing accident, to try to get rid of Rhoda. She wanted to prevent Rhoda from telling anyone about Mrs Benson. However, Major Despard witnessed the accident, and saved Rhoda. He then went back for Anne, but she went under before he or Superintendent Battle could get there. They got her out of the water, and Superintendent Battle performed artificial respiration, but was unable to save her.
Portrayals[]
Agatha Christie's Poirot[]
In the film adaptation of Cards on the Table in Series 10 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot drama series, the portrayal of Anne Meredith is slightly different. Here she is still a lady's companion who had served any employers including Mrs Benson and also lives with Rhoda Dawes who in this case was Mrs Benson's niece. Mr Shaitana suspected that Anne had poisoned Mrs Benson by swopping silver polish for syrup of figs. As seen in several flashbacks in which Anne gave an account of the incident, Anne had accidentally broken a bottle of silver polish. Some polish remained and Mrs Benson was rather stingy so Anne put the polish into an empty syrup of figs bottle. For some reason, the bottle found its way into the bath cabinet and Mrs Benson consumed some and died.
Poirot did the same stocking test as in the original novel and concluded that Anne was a thief. However he also concluded that Anne was not the real killer. Rhoda Dawes killed her aunt. Mrs Benson had caught Anne stealing. Rhoda could not bear to have her friend sent away or reported to the police so she swopped the bottles to kill her aunt. However Anne was made to think that she was the killer. This was how Rhoda maintained her hold over Anne. In this adaptation also, Major Despard was interested in Anne and not Rhoda. Likewise, Rhoda could not bear to see Anne leave, so she tried to kill Anne by drowning her. Despard arrived at the river bank in time and managed to save Anne but not Rhoda and Despard and Anne pair off at the end.
In this adaptation also, Mrs Lorrimer is revealed as the mother of Anne. She had killed Anne's father, her first husband, Herbert Meredith by pushing him down the stairs, an event which Anne witnessed as a child. She then confessed this to Poirot. She also confessed to killing Shaitana as a way of protecting Anne. Mrs Lorrimer told Poirot she believed she saw Anne plunge the dagger in. Adding the mother-daughter relationship in this adaptation was probably done to give a more plausible reason why Mrs Lorrimer should want to protect Anne.
Anne Meredith was portrayed by Lyndsey Marshal.
Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie[]
In Cartes sur table, the French adaptation for the series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, the parallel character is Elise Schlumberger.