Agatha Christie

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

A Hercule Poirot Mystery

To Dorothy North who likes detective stories and cream, in the hope it may make up to her for the absence of the latter!

ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE

I

Mr. Morley was not in the best of tempers at breakfast. He complained of the bacon, wondered why the coffee had to have the appearance of liquid mud, and remarked that breakfast cereals were each one worse than the last.

Mr. Morley was a small man with a decided jaw and a pugnacious chin. His sister, who kept house for him, was a large woman rather like a female grenadier. She eyed her brother thoughtfully and asked whether the bath water had been cold again.

Rather grudgingly, Mr. Morley said it had not.

He glanced at the paper and remarked that the Government seemed to be passing from a state of incompetence to one of positive imbecility!

Miss Morley said in a deep bass voice that it was Disgraceful!

As a mere woman she had always found whatever Government happened to be in power distinctly useful. She urged her brother on to explain why the Governmentâs present policy was inconclusive, idiotic, imbecile and frankly suicidal!

When Mr. Morley had expressed himself fully on these points, he had a second cup of the despised coffee and unburdened himself of his true grievance.

âThese girls,â he said, âare all the same! Unreliable, self-centredânot to be depended on in any way.â

Miss Morley said interrogatively:

âGladys?â

âIâve just had the message. Her auntâs had a stroke and sheâs had to go down to Somerset.â

Miss Morley said:

âVery trying, dear, but after all hardly the girlâs fault.â

Mr. Morley shook his head gloomily.

âHow do I know the aunt has had a stroke? How do I know the whole thing hasnât been arranged between the girl and that very unsuitable young fellow she goes about with? That young man is a wrong âun if I ever saw one! Theyâve probably planned some outing together for today.â

âOh, no, dear, I donât think Gladys would do a thing like that. You know, youâve always found her very conscientious.â

âYes, yes.â

âAn intelligent girl and really keen on her work, you said.â

âYes, yes, Georgina, but that was before this undesirable young man came along. Sheâs been quite different latelyâquite differentâabsentmindedâupsetânervy.â

The Grenadier produced a deep sigh. She said:

âAfter all, Henry, girls do fall in love. It canât be helped.â

Mr. Morley snapped:

âShe oughtnât to let it affect her efficiency as my secretary. And today, in particular, Iâm extremely busy! Several very important patients. It is most trying!â

âIâm sure it must be extremely vexing, Henry. How is the new boy shaping, by the way?â

Henry Morley said gloomily:

âHeâs the worst Iâve had yet! Canât get a single name right and has the most uncouth manners. If he doesnât improve I shall sack him and try again. I donât know whatâs the good of our education nowadays. It seems to turn out a collection of nitwits who canât understand a single thing you say to them, let alone remember it.â

He glanced at his watch.

âI must be getting along. A full morning, and that Sainsbury Seale woman to fit in somewhere as she is in pain. I suggested that she should see Reilly, but she wouldnât hear of it.â

âOf course not,â said Georgina loyally.

âReillyâs very ableâvery able indeed. First-class diplomas. Thoroughly up-to-date in his work.â

âHis hand shakes,â said Miss Morley. âIn my opinion he drinks.â

Her brother laughed, his good temper restored. He said:

âIâll be up for a sandwich at half past one as usual.â

II

At the Savoy Hotel Mr. Amberiotis was picking his teeth with a toothpick and grinning to himself.

Everything was going very nicely.

He had had his usual luck. Fancy those few kind words of his to that idiotic hen of a woman being so richly repaid. Oh! wellâcast your bread upon the waters. He had always been a kindhearted man. And generous! In the future he would be able to be even more generous. Benevolent visions floated before his eyes. Little Dimitri â¦ And the good Constantopopolus struggling with his little restaurant â¦ What pleasant surprises for themâ¦.

The toothpick probed unguardedly and Mr. Amberiotis winced. Rosy visions of the future faded and gave way to apprehensions of the immediate future. He explored tenderly with his tongue. He took out his notebook. Twelve oâclock. 58, Queen Charlotte Street.

He tried to recapture his former exultant mood. But in vain. The horizon had shrunk to six bare words:

â58, Queen Charlotte Street. Twelve oâclock.â

III

At the Glengowrie Court Hotel, South Kensington, breakfast was over. In the lounge, Miss Sainsbury Seale was sitting talking to Mrs. Bolitho. They occupied adjacent tables in the dining room and had made friends the day after Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs arrival a week ago.

Miss Sainsbury Seale said:

âYou know, dear, it really has stopped aching! Not a twinge! I think perhaps Iâll ring upââ

Mrs. Bolitho interrupted her.

âNow donât be foolish, my dear. You go to the dentist and get it over.â

Mrs. Bolitho was a tall, commanding female with a deep voice. Miss Sainsbury Seale was a woman of forty odd with indecisively bleached hair rolled up in untidy curls. Her clothes were shapeless and rather artistic, and her pince-nez were always dropping off. She was a great talker.

She said now wistfully:

âBut really, you know, it doesnât ache at all.â

âNonsense, you told me you hardly slept a wink last night.â

âNo, I didnâtâno, indeedâbut perhaps, now, the nerve has actually died.â

âAll the more reason to go to the dentist,â said Mrs. Bolitho firmly. âWe all like to put it off, but thatâs just cowardice. Better make up oneâs mind and get it over!â

Something hovered on Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs lips. Was it the rebellious murmur of: âYes, but itâs not your tooth!â

All she actually said, however, was:

âI expect youâre right. And Mr. Morley is such a careful man and really never hurts one at all.â

IV

The meeting of the Board of Directors was over. It had passed off smoothly. The report was good. There should have been no discordant note. Yet to the sensitive Mr. Samuel Rotherstein there had been something, some nuance in the chairmanâs manner.

There had been, once or twice, a shortness, an acerbity, in his toneâquite uncalled for by the proceedings.

Some secret worry, perhaps? But somehow Rotherstein could not connect a secret worry with Alistair Blunt. He was such an unemotional man. He was so very normal. So essentially British.

There was, of course, always liver â¦ Mr. Rothersteinâs liver gave him a bit of trouble from time to time. But heâd never known Alistair to complain of his liver. Alistairâs health was as sound as his brain and his grasp of finance. It was not annoying heartinessâjust quiet well-being.

And yetâthere was somethingâonce or twice the chairmanâs hand had wandered to his face. He had sat supporting his chin. Not his normal attitude. And once or twice he had seemed actuallyâyes, distrait.

They came out of the boardroom and passed down the stairs.

Rotherstein said:

âCanât give you a lift, I suppose?â

Alistair Blunt smiled and shook his head.

âMy carâs waiting.â He glanced at his watch. âIâm not going back to the city.â He paused. âAs a matter of fact Iâve got an appointment with the dentist.â

The mystery was solved.

V

Hercule Poirot descended from his taxi, paid the man and rang the bell of 58, Queen Charlotte Street.

After a little delay it was opened by a boy in page boyâs uniform with a freckled face, red hair, and an earnest manner.

Hercule Poirot said:

âMr. Morley?â

There was in his heart a ridiculous hope that Mr. Morley might have been called away, might be indisposed, might not be seeing patients today â¦ All in vain. The page boy drew back, Hercule Poirot stepped inside, and the door closed behind him with the quiet remorselessness of unalterable doom.

The boy said: âName, please?â

Poirot gave it to him, a door on the right of the hall was thrown open and he stepped into the waiting room.

It was a room furnished in quiet good taste and, to Hercule Poirot, indescribably gloomy. On the polished (reproduction) Sheraton table were carefully arranged papers and periodicals. The (reproduction) Hepplewhite sideboard held two Sheffield plated candlesticks and an Ã©pergne. The mantelpiece held a bronze clock and two bronze vases. The windows were shrouded by curtains of blue velvet. The chairs were upholstered in a Jacobean design of red birds and flowers.

In one of them sat a military-looking gentleman with a fierce moustache and a yellow complexion. He looked at Poirot with an air of one considering some noxious insect. It was not so much his gun he looked as though he wished he had with him, as his Flit spray. Poirot, eyeing him with distaste, said to himself, âIn verity, there are some Englishmen who are altogether so unpleasing and ridiculous that they should have been put out of their misery at birth.â

The military gentleman, after a prolonged glare, snatched up The Times, turned his chair so as to avoid seeing Poirot, and settled down to read it.

Poirot picked up Punch.

He went through it meticulously, but failed to find any of the jokes funny.

The page boy came in and said, âColonel Arrow-Bumby?ââand the military gentleman was led away.

Poirot was speculating on the probabilities of there really being such a name, when the door opened to admit a young man of about thirty.

As the young man stood by the table, restlessly flicking over the covers of magazines, Poirot looked at him sideways. An unpleasant and dangerous looking young man, he thought, and not impossibly a murderer. At any rate he looked far more like a murderer than any of the murderers Hercule Poirot had arrested in the course of his career.

The page boy opened the door and said to midair:

âMr. Peerer.â

Rightly construing this as a summons to himself, Poirot rose. The boy led him to the back of the hall and round the corner to a small lift in which he took him up to the second floor. Here he led him along a passage, opened a door which led into a little anteroom, tapped at a second door; and without waiting for a reply opened it and stood back for Poirot to enter.

Poirot entered to a sound of running water and came round the back of the door to discover Mr. Morley washing his hands with professional gusto at a basin on the wall.

VI

There are certain humiliating moments in the lives of the greatest of men. It has been said that no man is a hero to his valet. To that may be added that few men are heroes to themselves at the moment of visiting their dentist.

Hercule Poirot was morbidly conscious of this fact.

He was a man who was accustomed to have a good opinion of himself. He was Hercule Poirot, superior in most ways to other men. But in this moment he was unable to feel superior in any way whatever. His morale was down to zero. He was just that ordinary, craven figure, a man afraid of the dentistâs chair.

Mr. Morley had finished his professional ablutions. He was speaking now in his encouraging professional manner.

âHardly as warm as it should be, is it, for the time of year?â

Gently he led the way to the appointed spotâto The Chair! Deftly he played with its head rest, running it up and down.

Hercule Poirot took a deep breath, stepped up, sat down and relaxed his head to Mr. Morleyâs professional fiddlings.

âThere,â said Mr. Morley with hideous cheerfulness. âThat quite comfortable? Sure?â

In sepulchral tones Poirot said that it was quite comfortable.

Mr. Morley swung his little table nearer, picked up his little mirror, seized an instrument and prepared to get on with the job.

Hercule Poirot grasped the arms of the chair, shut his eyes and opened his mouth.

âAny special trouble?â Mr. Morley inquired.

Slightly indistinctly, owing to the difficulty of forming consonants while keeping the mouth open, Hercule Poirot was understood to say that there was no special trouble. This was, indeed, the twice yearly overhaul that his sense of order and neatness demanded. It was, of course, possible that there might be nothing to do â¦ Mr. Morley might, perhaps, overlook that second tooth from the back from which those twinges had come â¦ He mightâbut it was unlikelyâfor Mr. Morley was a very good dentist.

Mr. Morley passed slowly from tooth to tooth, tapping and probing, murmuring little comments as he did so.

âThat filling is wearing down a littleânothing serious, though. Gums are in pretty good condition, Iâm glad to see.â A pause at a suspect, a twist of the probeâno, on again, false alarm. He passed to the lower side. One, twoâon to three?âNoââThe dog,â Hercule Poirot thought in confused idiom, âhas seen the rabbit!â

âA little trouble here. Not been giving you any pain? Hm, Iâm surprised.â The probe went on.

Finally Mr. Morley drew back, satisfied.

âNothing very serious. Just a couple of fillingsâand a trace of decay on that upper molar. We can get it all done, I think, this morning.â

He turned on a switch and there was a hum. Mr. Morley un-hooked the drill and fitted a needle to it with loving care.

âGuide me,â he said briefly, and started the dread work.

It was not necessary for Poirot to avail himself of this permission, to raise a hand, to wince, or even to yell. At exactly the right moment, Mr. Morley stopped the drill, gave the brief command âRinse,â applied a little dressing, selected a new needle and continued. The ordeal of the drill was terror rather than pain.

Presently, while Mr. Morley was preparing the filling, conversation was resumed.

âHave to do this myself this morning,â he explained. âMiss Nevill has been called away. You remember Miss Nevill?â

Poirot untruthfully assented.

âCalled away to the country by the illness of a relative. Sort of thing that does happen on a busy day. Iâm behindhand already this morning. The patient before you was late. Very vexing when that happens. It throws the whole morning out. Then I have to fit in an extra patient because she is in pain. I always allow a quarter of an hour in the morning in case that happens. Still, it adds to the rush.â

Mr. Morley peered into his little mortar as he ground. Then he resumed his discourse.

âIâll tell you something that Iâve always noticed, M. Poirot. The big peopleâthe important peopleâtheyâre always on timeânever keep you waiting. Royalty, for instance. Most punctilious. And these big City men are the same. Now this morning Iâve got a most important man comingâAlistair Blunt!â

Mr. Morley spoke the name in a voice of triumph.

Poirot, prohibited from speech by several rolls of cotton wool and a glass tube that gurgled under his tongue, made an indeterminate noise.

Alistair Blunt! Those were the names that thrilled nowadays. Not Dukes, not Earls, not Prime Ministers. No, plain Mr. Alistair Blunt. A man whose face was almost unknown to the general publicâa man who only figured in an occasional quiet paragraph. Not a spectacular person.

Just a quiet nondescript Englishman who was the head of the greatest banking firm in England. A man of vast wealth. A man who said Yes and No to Governments. A man who lived a quiet, unobtrusive life and never appeared on a public platform or made speeches. Yet a man in whose hands lay supreme power.

Mr. Morleyâs voice still held a reverent tone as he stood over Poirot ramming the filling home.

âAlways comes to his appointments absolutely on time. Often sends his car away and walks back to his office. Nice, quiet, unassuming fellow. Fond of golf and keen on his garden. Youâd never dream he could buy up half Europe! Just like you and me.â

A momentary resentment rose in Poirot at this offhand coupling of names. Mr. Morley was a good dentist, yes, but there were other good dentists in London. There was only one Hercule Poirot.

âRinse, please,â said Mr. Morley.

âItâs the answer, you know, to their Hitlers and Mussolinis and all the rest of them,â went on Mr. Morley, as he proceeded to tooth number two. âWe donât make a fuss over here. Look how democratic our King and Queen are. Of course, a Frenchman like you, accustomed to the Republican ideaââ

âI ah nah a FrahahâI ahâah a Benyon.â

âTchutâtchutââ said Mr. Morley sadly. âWe must have the cavity completely dry.â He puffed hot air relentlessly on it.

Then he went on:

âI didnât realize you were a Belgian. Very interesting. Very fine man, King Leopold, so Iâve always heard. Iâm a great believer in the tradition of Royalty myself. The training is good, you know. Look at the remarkable way they remember names and faces. All the result of trainingâthough of course some people have a natural aptitude for that sort of thing. I, myself, for instance. I donât remember names, but itâs remarkable the way I never forget a face. One of my patients the other day, for instanceâIâve seen that patient before. The name meant nothing to meâbut I said to myself at once, âNow where have I met you before?â Iâve not remembered yetâbut it will come back to meâIâm sure of it. Just another rinse, please.â

The rinse accomplished, Mr. Morley peered critically into his patientâs mouth.

âWell, I think that seems all right. Just closeâvery gently â¦ Quite comfortable? You donât feel the filling at all? Open again, please. No, that seems quite all right.â

Hercule Poirot descended, a free man.

âWell, good-bye, M. Poirot. Not detected any criminals in my house, I hope?â

Poirot said with a smile:

âBefore I came up, every one looked to me like a criminal! Now, perhaps, it will be different!â

âAh, yes, a great deal of difference between before and after! All the same, we dentists arenât such devils now as we used to be! Shall I ring for the lift for you?â

âNo, no, I will walk down.â

âAs you likeâthe lift is just by the stairs.â

Poirot went out. He heard the taps start to run as he closed the door behind him.

He walked down the two flights of stairs. As he came to the last bend, he saw the Anglo-Indian Colonel being shown out. Not at all a bad-looking man, Poirot reflected mellowly. Probably a fine shot who had killed many a tiger. A useful manâa regular outpost of Empire.

He went into the waiting room to fetch his hat and stick which he had left there. The restless young man was still there, somewhat to Poirotâs surprise. Another patient, a man, was reading the Field.

Poirot studied the young man in his newborn spirit of kindliness. He still looked very fierceâand as though he wanted to do a murderâbut not really a murderer, thought Poirot kindly. Doubtless, presently, this young man would come tripping down the stairs, his ordeal over, happy and smiling and wishing no ill to anyone.

The page boy entered and said firmly and distinctly:

âMr. Blunt.â

The man at the table laid down the Field and got up. A man of middle height, of middle age, neither fat nor thin. Well-dressed, quiet.

He went out after the boy.

One of the richest and most powerful men in Englandâbut he still had to go to the dentist just like anybody else, and no doubt felt just the same as anybody else about it!

These reflections passing through his mind, Hercule Poirot picked up his hat and stick and went to the door. He glanced back as he did so, and the startled thought went through his mind that that young man must have very bad toothache indeed.

In the hall Poirot paused before the mirror there to adjust his moustaches, slightly disarranged as the result of Mr. Morleyâs ministrations.

He had just completed their arrangement to his satisfaction when the lift came down again and the page boy emerged from the back of the hall whistling discordantly. He broke off abruptly at the sight of Poirot and came to open the front door for him.

A taxi had just drawn up before the house and a foot was protruding from it. Poirot surveyed the foot with gallant interest.

A neat ankle, quite a good quality stocking. Not a bad foot. But he didnât like the shoe. A brand new patent leather shoe with a large gleaming buckle. He shook his head.

Not chicâvery provincial!

The lady got out of the taxi, but in doing so she caught her other foot in the door and the buckle was wrenched off. It fell tinkling on to the pavement. Gallantly, Poirot sprang forward and picked it up, restoring it with a bow.

Alas! Nearer fifty than forty. Pince-nez. Untidy yellow-grey hairâunbecoming clothesâthose depressing art greens! She thanked him, dropping her pince-nez, then her handbag.

Poirot, polite if no longer gallant, picked them up for her.

She went up the steps of 58, Queen Charlotte Street, and Poirot interrupted the taxi driverâs disgusted contemplation of a meagre tip.

âYou are free, hein?â

The taxi driver said gloomily: âOh, Iâm free.â

âSo am I,â said Hercule Poirot. âFree of care!â

He saw the taxi manâs air of deep suspicion.

âNo, my friend, I am not drunk. It is that I have been to the dentist and I need not go again for six months. It is a beautiful thought.â

THREE, FOUR, SHUT THE DOOR

I

It was a quarter to three when the telephone rang.

Hercule Poirot was sitting in an easy chair happily digesting an excellent lunch.

He did not move when the bell rang but waited for the faithful George to come and take the call.

âEh bien?â he said, as George, with a âJust a minute, sir,â lowered the receiver.

âItâs Chief Inspector Japp, sir.â

âAha?â

Poirot lifted the receiver to his ear.

âEh bien, mon vieux,â he said. âHow goes it?â

âThat you, Poirot?â

âNaturally.â

âI hear you went to the dentist this morning? Is that so?â

Poirot murmured:

âScotland Yard knows everything!â

âMan of the name of Morley. 58, Queen Charlotte Street?â

âYes.â Poirotâs voice had changed. âWhy?â

âIt was a genuine visit, was it? I mean you didnât go to put the wind up him or anything of that sort?â

âCertainly not. I had three teeth filled if you want to know.â

âWhat did he seem like to youâmanner much as usual?â

âI should say so, yes. Why?â

Jappâs voice was rigidly unemotional.

âBecause not very much later he shot himself.â

âWhat?â

Japp said sharply:

âThat surprises you?â

âFrankly, it does.â

Japp said:

âIâm not too happy about it myself â¦ Iâd like to have a talk with you. I suppose you wouldnât like to come round?â

âWhere are you?â

âQueen Charlotte Street.â

Poirot said:

âI will join you immediately.â

II

It was a police constable who opened the door of 58. He said respectfully:

âM. Poirot?â

âItâs I, myself.â

âThe Chief Inspector is upstairs. Second floorâyou know it?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âI was there this morning.â

There were three men in the room. Japp looked up as Poirot entered.

He said:

âGlad to see you, Poirot. Weâre just going to move him. Like to see him first?â

A man with a camera who had been kneeling near the body got up.

Poirot came forward. The body was lying near the fireplace.

In death Mr. Morley looked very much as he had looked in life. There was a little blackened hole just below his right temple. A small pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand.

Poirot shook his head gently.

Japp said:

âAll right, you can move him now.â

They took Mr. Morley away. Japp and Poirot were left alone.

Japp said:

âWeâre through all the routine. Fingerprints, etc.â

Poirot sat down. He said:

âTell me.â

Japp pursed his lips. He said:

âHe could have shot himself. He probably did shoot himself. There are only his fingerprints on the gunâbut Iâm not quite satisfied.â

âWhat are your objections?â

âWell, to begin with, there doesnât seem to be any reason why he should shoot himself â¦ He was in good health, he was making money, he hadnât any worries that anyone knew of. He wasnât mixed up with a womanâat least,â Japp corrected himself cautiously, âas far as we know he wasnât. He hasnât been moody or depressed or unlike himself. Thatâs partly why I was anxious to hear what you said. You saw him this morning, and I wondered if youâd noticed anything.â

Poirot shook his head.

âNothing at all. He wasâwhat shall I sayânormality itself.â

âThen that makes it odd, doesnât it? Anyway, you wouldnât think a man would shoot himself in the middle of business hours, so to speak. Why not wait till this evening? That would be the natural thing to do.â

Poirot agreed.

âWhen did the tragedy occur?â

âCanât say exactly. Nobody seems to have heard the shot. But I donât think they would. There are two doors between here and the passage and they have baize fitted round the edgesâto deaden the noise from the victims of the dental chair, I imagine.â

âVery probably. Patients under gas sometimes make a lot of noise.â

âQuite. And outside, in the street, thereâs plenty of traffic, so you wouldnât be likely to hear it out there.â

âWhen was it discovered?â

âRound about one thirtyâby the page boy, Alfred Biggs. Not a very bright specimen, by all accounts. It seems that Morleyâs twelve thirty patient kicked up a bit of a row at being kept waiting. About one ten the boy came up and knocked. There was no answer and apparently he didnât dare come in. Heâd got in a few rows already from Morley and he was nervous of doing the wrong thing. He went down again and the patient walked out in a huff at one fifteen. I donât blame her. Sheâd been kept waiting three-quarters of an hour and she wanted her lunch.â

âWho was she?â

Japp grinned.

âAccording to the boy she was Miss Shirtyâbut from the appointment book her name was Kirby.â

âWhat system was there for showing up patients?â

âWhen Morley was ready for his next patient he pressed that buzzer over there and the boy then showed the patient up.â

âAnd Morley pressed the buzzer last?â

âAt five minutes past twelve, and the boy showed up the patient who was waiting. Mr. Amberiotis, Savoy Hotel, according to the appointment book.â

A faint smile came to Poirotâs lips. He murmured:

âI wonder what our page boy made of that name!â

âA pretty hash, I should say. Weâll ask him presently if we feel like a laugh.â

Poirot said:

âAnd at what time did this Mr. Amberiotis leave?â

âThe boy didnât show him out, so he doesnât know â¦ A good many patients just go down the stairs without ringing for the lift and let themselves out.â

Poirot nodded.

Japp went on:

âBut I rang up the Savoy Hotel. Mr. Amberiotis was quite precise. He said he looked at his watch as he closed the front door and it was then twenty-five minutes past twelve.â

âHe could tell you nothing of importance?â

âNo, all he could say was that the dentist had seemed perfectly normal and calm in his manner.â

âEh bien,â said Poirot. âThen that seems quite clear. Between five and twenty past twelve and half past one something happenedâand presumably nearer the former time.â

âQuite. Because otherwiseââ

âOtherwise he would have pressed the buzzer for the next patient.â

âExactly. The medical evidence agrees with that for what itâs worth. The divisional surgeon examined the bodyâat twenty past two. He wouldnât commit himselfâthey never do nowadaysâtoo many individual idiosyncrasies, they say. But Morley couldnât have been shot later than one oâclock, he saysâprobably considerably earlierâbut he wouldnât be definite.â

Poirot said thoughtfully:

âThen at twenty-five minutes past twelve our dentist is a normal dentist, cheerful, urbane, competent. And after that? Despairâmiseryâwhat you willâand he shoots himself?â

âItâs funny,â said Japp. âYouâve got to admit, itâs funny.â

âFunny,â said Poirot, âis not the word.â

âI know it isnât reallyâbut itâs the sort of thing one says. Itâs odd, then, if you like that better.â

âWas it his own pistol?â

âNo, it wasnât. He hadnât got a pistol. Never had had one. According to his sister there wasnât such a thing in the house. There isnât in most houses. Of course he might have bought it if heâd made up his mind to do away with himself. If so, weâll soon know about it.â

Poirot asked:

âIs there anything else that worries you?â

Japp rubbed his nose.

âWell, there was the way he was lying. I wouldnât say a man couldnât fall like thatâbut it wasnât quite right somehow! And there was just a trace or two on the carpetâas though something had been dragged along it.â

âThat, then, is decidedly suggestive.â

âYes, unless it was that dratted boy. Iâve a feeling that he may have tried to move Morley when he found him. He denies it, of course, but then he was scared. Heâs that kind of young ass. The kind thatâs always putting their foot in it and getting cursed, and so they come to lie about things almost automatically.â

Poirot looked thoughtfully round the room.

At the washbasin on the wall behind the door, at the tall filing cabinet on the other side of the door. At the dental chair and surrounding apparatus near the window, then along to the fireplace and back to where the body lay; there was a second door in the wall near the fireplace.

Japp had followed his glance. âJust a small office through there.â He flung open the door.

It was as he had said, a small room, with a desk, a table with a spirit lamp and tea apparatus and some chairs. There was no other door.

âThis is where his secretary worked,â explained Japp. âMiss Nevill. It seems sheâs away today.â

His eyes met Poirotâs. The latter said:

âHe told me, I remember. That againâmight be a point against suicide?â

âYou mean she was got out of the way?â

Japp paused. He said:

âIf it wasnât suicide, he was murdered. But why? That solution seems almost as unlikely as the other. He seems to have been a quiet, inoffensive sort of chap. Who would want to murder him?â

Poirot said:

âWho could have murdered him?â

Japp said:

âThe answer to that isâalmost anybody! His sister could have come down from their flat above and shot him, one of the servants could have come in and shot him. His partner, Reilly, could have shot him. The boy Alfred could have shot him. One of the patients could have shot him.â He paused and said, âAnd Amberiotis could have shot himâeasiest of the lot.â

Poirot nodded.

âBut in that caseâwe have to find out why.â

âExactly. Youâve come round again to the original problem. Why? Amberiotis is staying at the Savoy. Why does a rich Greek want to come and shoot an inoffensive dentist?â

âThatâs really going to be our stumbling block. Motive!â

Poirot shrugged his shoulders. He said:

âIt would seem that death selected, most inartistically, the wrong man. The Mysterious Greek, the Rich Banker, the Famous Detectiveâhow natural that one of them should be shot! For mysterious foreigners may be mixed up in espionage and rich bankers have connections who will benefit by their deaths and famous detectives may be dangerous to criminals.â

âWhereas poor old Morley wasnât dangerous to anybody,â observed Japp gloomily.

âI wonder.â

Japp whirled round on him.

âWhatâs up your sleeve now?â

âNothing. A chance remark.â

He repeated to Japp those few casual words of Mr. Morleyâs about recognizing faces, and his mention of a patient.

Japp looked doubtful.

âItâs possible, I suppose. But itâs a bit far-fetched. It might have been someone who wanted their identity kept dark. You didnât notice any of the other patients this morning?â

Poirot murmured:

âI noticed in the waiting room a young man who looked exactly like a murderer!â

Japp said, startled: âWhatâs that?â

Poirot smiled:

âMon cher, it was upon my arrival here! I was nervous, fancifulâenfin, in a mood. Everything seemed sinister to me, the waiting room, the patients, the very carpet on the stairs! Actually, I think the young man had very bad toothache. That was all!â

âI know what it can be,â said Japp. âHowever, weâll check up on your murderer all the same. Weâll check up on everybody, whether itâs suicide or not. I think the first thing is to have another talk with Miss Morley. Iâve only had a word or two. It was a shock to her, of course, but sheâs the kind that doesnât break down. Weâll go and see her now.â

III

Tall and grim, Georgina Morley listened to what the two men had said and answered their questions. She said with emphasis:

âItâs incredible to meâquite incredibleâthat my brother should have committed suicide!â

Poirot said:

âYou realize the alternative, Mademoiselle?â

âYou meanâmurder.â She paused. Then she said slowly: âIt is trueâthat alternative seems nearly as impossible as the other.â

âBut not quite as impossible?â

âNoâbecauseâoh, in the first case, you see, I am speaking of something I knowâthat is: my brotherâs state of mind. I know he had nothing on his mindâI know that there was no reasonâno reason at all why he should take his own life!â

âYou saw him this morningâbefore he started work?â

âAt breakfastâyes.â

âAnd he was quite as usualânot upset in any way?â

âHe was upsetâbut not in the way you mean. He was just annoyed!â

âWhy was that?â

âHe had a busy morning in front of him, and his secretary and assistant had been called away.â

âThat is Miss Nevill?â

âYes.â

âWhat used she to do for him?â

âShe did all his correspondence, of course, and kept the appointment book, and filed all the charts. She also saw to the sterilizing of the instruments and ground up his fillings and handed them to him when he was working.â

âHad she been with him long?â

âThree years. She is a very reliable girl and we areâwere both very fond of her.â

Poirot said:

âShe was called away owing to the illness of a relative, so your brother told me.â

âYes, she got a telegram to say her aunt had had a stroke. She went off to Somerset by an early train.â

âAnd that was what annoyed your brother so much?â

âYe-es.â There was a faint hesitation in Miss Morleyâs answer. She went on rather hurriedly. âYouâyou mustnât think my brother unfeeling. It was only that he thoughtâjust for a momentââ

âYes, Miss Morley?â

âWell, that she might have played truant on purpose. Oh! Please donât misunderstand meâIâm quite certain that Gladys would never do such a thing. I told Henry so. But the fact of the matter is, that she has got herself engaged to rather an unsuitable young manâHenry was very vexed about itâand it occurred to him that this young man might have persuaded her to take a day off.â

âWas that likely?â

âNo, Iâm sure it wasnât. Gladys is a very conscientious girl.â

âBut it is the sort of thing the young man might have suggested?â

Miss Morley sniffed.

âQuite likely, I should say.â

âWhat does he do, this young fellowâwhat is his name, by the way?â

âCarter, Frank Carter. He isâor wasâan insurance clerk, I believe. He lost his job some weeks ago and doesnât seem able to get another. Henry saidâand I daresay he was rightâthat he is a complete rotter. Gladys had actually lent him some of her savings and Henry was very annoyed about it.â

Japp said sharply:

âDid your brother try to persuade her to break her engagement?â

âYes, he did, I know.â

âThen this Frank Carter would, quite possibly, have a grudge against your brother.â

The Grenadier said robustly:

âNonsenseâthat is if you are suggesting that Frank Carter shot Henry. Henry advised the girl against young Carter, certainly; but she didnât take his adviceâshe is foolishly devoted to Frank.â

âIs there anyone else you can think of who had a grudge against your brother?â

Miss Morley shook her head.

âDid he get on well with his partner, Mr. Reilly?â

Miss Morley replied acidly:

âAs well as you can ever hope to get on with an Irishman!â

âWhat do you mean by that, Miss Morley?â

âWell, Irishmen have hot tempers and they thoroughly enjoy a row of any kind. Mr. Reilly liked arguing about politics.â

âThat was all?â

âThat was all. Mr. Reilly is unsatisfactory in many ways, but he was very skilled in his professionâor so my brother said.â

Japp persisted:

âHow is he unsatisfactory?â

Miss Morley hesitated, then said acidly:

âHe drinks too muchâbut please donât let that go any further.â

âWas there any trouble between him and your brother on that subject?â

âHenry gave him one or two hints. In dentistry,â continued Miss Morley didactically, âa steady hand is needed, and an alcoholic breath does not inspire confidence.â

Japp bowed his head in agreement. Then he said:

âCan you tell us anything of your brotherâs financial position?â

âHenry was making a good income and he had a certain amount put by. We each had a small private income of our own left to us by our father.â

Japp murmured with a slight cough:

âYou donât know, I suppose, if your brother left a will?â

âHe didâand I can tell you its contents. He left a hundred pounds to Gladys Nevill, otherwise everything comes to me.â

âI see. Nowââ

There was a fierce thump on the door. Alfredâs face then appeared round it. His goggling eyes took in each detail of the two visitors as he ejaculated:

âItâs Miss Nevill. Sheâs backâand in a rare taking. Shall she come in, she wants to know?â

Japp nodded and Miss Morley said:

âTell her to come here, Alfred.â

âO.K.,â said Alfred, and disappeared. Miss Morley said with a sigh and in obvious capital letters:

âThat Boy is a Sad Trial.â

IV

Gladys Nevill was a tall, fair, somewhat anemic girl of about twenty-eight. Though obviously very upset, she at once showed that she was capable and intelligent.

Under the pretext of looking through Mr. Morleyâs papers, Japp got her away from Miss Morley down to the little office next door to the surgery.

She repeated more than once:

âI simply cannot believe it! It seems quite incredible that Mr. Morley should do such a thing!â

She was emphatic that he had not seemed troubled or worried in any way.

Then Japp began:

âYou were called away today, Miss Nevillââ

She interrupted him.

âYes, and the whole thing was a wicked practical joke! I do think itâs awful of people to do things like that. I really do.â

âWhat do you mean, Miss Nevill?â

âWhy, there wasnât anything the matter with Aunt at all. Sheâd never been better. She couldnât understand it when I suddenly turned up. Of course I was ever so gladâbut it did make me mad. Sending a telegram like that and upsetting me and everything.â

âHave you got that telegram, Miss Nevill?â

âI threw it away, I think, at the station. It just said, Your aunt had a stroke last night. Please come at once.â

âYou are quite sureâwellââ Japp coughed delicatelyââthat it wasnât your friend, Mr. Carter, who sent that telegram?â

âFrank? Whatever for? Oh! I see, you meanâa put-up job between us? No, indeed, Inspectorâneither of us would do such a thing.â

Her indignation seemed genuine enough and Japp had a little trouble in soothing her down. But a question as to the patients on this particular morning restored her to her competent self.

âThey are all here in the book. I daresay you have seen it already. I know about most of them. Ten oâclock, Mrs. Soamesâthat was about her new plate. Ten thirty, Lady Grantâsheâs an elderly ladyâlives in Lowndes Square. Eleven oâclock, M. Hercule Poirot, he comes regularlyâoh, of course this is himâsorry, M. Poirot, but I really am so upset! Eleven thirty, Mr. Alistair Bluntâthatâs the banker, you knowâa short appointment, because Mr. Morley had prepared the filling last time. Then Miss Sainsbury Sealeâshe rang up speciallyâhad toothache and so Mr. Morley fitted her in. A terrible talker, she is, never stopsâthe fussy kind, too. Then twelve oâclock, Mr. Amberiotisâhe was a new patientâmade an appointment from the Savoy Hotel. Mr. Morley gets quite a lot of foreigners and Americans. Then twelve thirty, Miss Kirby. She comes up from Worthing.â

Poirot asked:

âThere was here when I arrived a tall military gentleman. Who would he be?â

âOne of Mr. Reillyâs patients, I expect. Iâll just get his list for you, shall I?â

âThank you, Miss Nevill.â

She was absent only a few minutes. She returned with a similar book to that of Mr. Morley.

She read out:

âTen oâclock, Betty Heath (thatâs a little girl of nine). Eleven oâclock, Colonel Abercrombie.â

âAbercrombie!â murmured Poirot. âCâetait Ã§a!â

âEleven thirty, Mr. Howard Raikes. Twelve oâclock, Mr. Barnes. That was all the patients this morning. Mr. Reilly isnât so booked up as Mr. Morley, of course.â

âCan you tell us anything about any of these patients of Mr. Reillyâs?â

âColonel Abercrombie has been a patient for a long time, and all Mrs. Heathâs children come to Mr. Reilly. I canât tell you anything about Mr. Raikes or Mr. Barnes, though I fancy I have heard their names. I take all the telephone calls, you seeââ

Japp said:

âWe can ask Mr. Reilly ourselves. I should like to see him as soon as possible.â

Miss Nevill went out. Japp said to Poirot:

âAll old patients of Mr. Morleyâs except Amberiotis. Iâm going to have an interesting talk with Mr. Amberiotis presently. Heâs the last person, as it stands, to see Morley alive, and weâve got to make quite sure that when he last saw him, Morley was alive.â

Poirot said slowly, shaking his head:

âYou have still to prove motive.â

âI know. Thatâs what is going to be the teaser. But we may have something about Amberiotis at the Yard.â He added sharply: âYouâre very thoughtful, Poirot!â

âI was wondering about something.â

âWhat was it?â

Poirot said with a faint smile:

âWhy Chief Inspector Japp?â

âEh?â

âI said, âWhy Chief Inspector Japp?â An officer of your eminenceâis he usually called in to a case of suicide?â

âAs a matter of fact, I happened to be nearby at the time. At Lavenhamâsâin Wigmore Street. Rather an ingenious system of frauds theyâve had there. They telephoned me there to come on here.â

âBut why did they telephone you?â

âOh, thatâthatâs simple enough. Alistair Blunt. As soon as the Divisional Inspector heard heâd been here this morning, he got on to the Yard. Mr. Blunt is the kind of person we take care of in this country.â

âYou mean that there are people who would like himâout of the way?â

âYou bet there are. The Reds, to begin withâand our Black-shirted friends, too. Itâs Blunt and his group who are standing solid behind the present Government. Good sound Conservative finance. Thatâs why, if there were the least chance that there was any funny stuff intended against him this morning, they wanted a thorough investigation.â

Poirot nodded.

âThat is what I more or less guessed. And that is the feeling I haveââhe waved his hands expressivelyââthat there was, perhapsâa hitch of some kind. The proper victim wasâshould have beenâAlistair Blunt. Or is this only a beginningâthe beginning of a campaign of some kind? I smellâI smellââ he sniffed the air, ââbig money in this business!â

Japp said:

âYouâre assuming a lot, you know.â

âI am suggesting that ce pauvre Morley was only a pawn in the game. Perhaps he knew somethingâperhaps he told Blunt somethingâor they feared he would tell Blunt somethingââ

He stopped as Gladys Nevill entered the room.

âMr. Reilly is busy on an extraction case,â she said. âHe will be free in about ten minutes if that will be all right?â

Japp said that it would. In the meantime, he said, he would have another talk to the boy Alfred.

V

Alfred was divided between nervousness, enjoyment, and a morbid fear of being blamed for everything that had occurred! He had only been a fortnight in Mr. Morleyâs employment, and during that fortnight he had consistently and unvaryingly done everything wrong. Persistent blame had sapped his self-confidence.

âHe was a bit rattier than usual, perhaps,â said Alfred in answer to a question, ânothing else as I can remember. Iâd never have thought he was going to do himself in.â

Poirot interposed.

âYou must tell us,â he said, âeverything that you can remember about this morning. You are a very important witness, and your recollections may be of immense service to us.â

Alfredâs face was suffused by vivid crimson and his chest swelled. He had already given Japp a brief account of the morningâs happenings. He proposed now to spread himself. A comforting sense of importance oozed into him.

âI can tell you orl right,â he said. âJust you ask me.â

âTo begin with, did anything out of the way happen this morning?â

Alfred reflected a minute and then said rather sadly: âCanât say as it did. It was orl just as usual.â

âDid any strangers come to the house?â

âNo, sir.â

âNot even among the patients?â

âI didnât know as you meant the patients. Nobody come what hadnât got an appointment, if thatâs what you mean. They were all down in the book.â

Japp nodded. Poirot asked:

âCould anybody have walked in from outside?â

âNo, they couldnât. Theyâd have to have a key, see?â

âBut it was quite easy to leave the house?â

âOh, yes, just turn the handle and go out and pull the door to after you. As I was saying most of âem do. They often come down the stairs while Iâm taking up the next party in the lift, see?â

âI see. Now just tell us who came first this morning and so on. Describe them if you canât remember their names.â

Alfred reflected a minute. Then he said: âLady with a little girl, that was for Mr. Reilly and a Mrs. Soap or some such name for Mr. Morley.â

Poirot said:

âQuite right. Go on.â

âThen another elderly ladyâbit of a toff she wasâcome in a Daimler. As she went out a tall military gent come in, and just after him, you came,â he nodded to Poirot.

âRight.â

âThen the American gent cameââ

Japp said sharply:

âAmerican?â

âYes, sir. Young fellow. He was American all rightâyou could tell by his voice. Come early, he did. His appointment wasnât till eleven thirtyâand whatâs more he didnât keep itâneither.â

Japp said sharply:

âWhatâs that?â

âNot him. Come in for him when Mr. Reillyâs buzzer went at eleven thirtyâa bit later it was, as a matter of fact, might have been twenty to twelveâand he wasnât there. Must have funked it and gone away.â He added with a knowledgeable air, âThey do sometimes.â

Poirot said:

âThen he must have gone out soon after me?â

âThatâs right, sir. You went out after Iâd taken up a toff what come in a Rolls. Cooâit was a loverly car, Mr. Bluntâeleven thirty. Then I come down and let you out, and a lady in. Miss Some Berry Seal, or something like thatâand then Iâwell, as a matter of fact I just nipped down to the kitchen to get my elevenses, and when I was down there the buzzer wentâMr. Reillyâs buzzerâso I come up and, as I say, the American gentleman had hooked it. I went and told Mr. Reilly and he swore a bit, as is his way.â

Poirot said:

âContinue.â

âLemme see, what happened next? Oh, yes, Mr. Morleyâs buzzer went for that Miss Seal, and the toff came down and went out as I took Miss Whatsername up in the lift. Then I come down again and two gentlemen cameâone a little man with a funny squeaky voiceâI canât remember his name. For Mr. Reilly, he was. And a fat foreign gentleman for Mr. Morley.

âMiss Seal wasnât very longânot above a quarter of an hour. I let her out and then I took up the foreign gentleman. Iâd already taken the other gent into Mr. Reilly right away as soon as he came.â

Japp said:

âAnd you didnât see Mr. Amberiotis, the foreign gentleman, leave?â

âNo, sir, I canât say as I did. He must have let himself out. I didnât see either of those two gentlemen go.â

âWhere were you from twelve oâclock onwards?â

âI always sit in the lift, sir, waiting until the front doorbell or one of the buzzers goes.â

Poirot said:

âAnd you were perhaps reading?â

Alfred blushed again.

âThere ainât no harm in that, sir. Itâs not as though I could be doing anything else.â

âQuite so. What were you reading?â

âDeath at Eleven-Forty-Five, sir. Itâs an American detective story. Itâs a corker, sir, it really is! All about gunmen.â

Poirot smiled faintly. He said:

âWould you hear the front door close from where you were?â

âYou mean anyone going out? I donât think I should, sir. What I mean is, I shouldnât notice it! You see, the lift is right at the back of the hall and a little round the corner. The bell rings just behind it, and the buzzers too. You canât miss them.â

Poirot nodded and Japp asked:

âWhat happened next?â

Alfred frowned in a supreme effort of memory.

âOnly the last lady, Miss Shirty. I waited for Mr. Morleyâs buzzer to go, but nothing happened and at one oâclock the lady who was waiting, she got rather ratty.â

âIt did not occur to you to go up before and see if Mr. Morley was ready?â

Alfred shook his head very positively.

âNot me, sir. I wouldnât have dreamed of it. For all I knew the last gentleman was still up there. Iâd got to wait for the buzzer. Of course if Iâd knowed as Mr. Morley had done himself inââ

Alfred shook his head with morbid relish.

Poirot asked:

âDid the buzzer usually go before the patient came down, or the other way about?â

âDepends. Usually the patient would come down the stairs and then the buzzer would go. If they rang for the lift, that buzzer would go perhaps as I was bringing them down. But it wasnât fixed in any way. Sometimes Mr. Morley would be a few minutes before he rang for the next patient. If he was in a hurry, heâd ring as soon as they were out of the room.â

âI seeââ Poirot paused and then went on:

âWere you surprised at Mr. Morleyâs suicide, Alfred?â

âKnocked all of a heap, I was. He hadnât no call to go doing himself in as far as I can seeâoh!â Alfredâs eyes grew large and round. âOoâerâhe wasnât murdered, was he?â

Poirot cut in before Japp could speak.

âSupposing he were, would it surprise you less?â

âWell, I donât know, sir, Iâm sure. I canât see whoâd want to murder Mr. Morley. He wasâwell, he was a very ordinary gentleman, sir. Was he really murdered, sir?â

Poirot said gravely:

âWe have to take every possibility into account. That is why I told you you would be a very important witness and that you must try and recollect everything that happened this morning.â

He stressed the words and Alfred frowned with a prodigious effort of memory.

âI canât think of anything else, sir. I canât indeed.â

Alfredâs tone was rueful.

âVery good, Alfred. And you are quite sure no one except patients came to the house this morning?â

âNo stranger did, sir. That Miss Nevillâs young man came roundâand in a rare taking not to find her here.â

Japp said sharply:

âWhen was that?â

âSome time after twelve it was. When I told him Miss Nevill was away for the day, he seemed very put out and he said heâd wait and see Mr. Morley. I told him Mr. Morley was busy right up to lunch time, but he said: Never mind, heâd wait.â

Poirot asked:

âAnd did he wait?â

A startled look came into Alfredâs eyes. He said:

âCorâI never thought of that! He went into the waiting room, but he wasnât there later. He must have got tired of waiting, and thought heâd come back another time.â

VI

When Alfred had gone out of the room, Japp said sharply:

âDâyou think it wise to suggest murder to that lad?â

Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

âI think soâyes. Anything suggestive that he may have seen or heard will come back to him under the stimulus, and he will be keenly alert to everything that goes on here.â

âAll the same, we donât want it to get about too soon.â

âMon cher, it will not. Alfred reads detective storiesâAlfred is enamoured of crime. Whatever Alfred lets slip will be put down to Alfredâs morbid criminal imagination.â

âWell, perhaps you are right, Poirot. Now weâve got to hear what Reilly has to say.â

Mr. Reillyâs surgery and office were on the first floor. They were as spacious as the ones above but had less light in them, and were not quite so richly appointed.

Mr. Morleyâs partner was a tall, dark young man, with a plume of hair that fell untidily over his forehead. He had an attractive voice and a very shrewd eye.

âWeâre hoping, Mr. Reilly,â said Japp, after introducing himself, âthat you can throw some light on this matter.â

âYouâre wrong then, because I canât,â replied the other. âIâd say thisâthat Henry Morley was the last person to go taking his own life. I might have done itâbut he wouldnât.â

âWhy might you have done it?â asked Poirot.

âBecause Iâve oceans of worries,â replied the other. âMoney troubles, for one! Iâve never yet been able to suit my expenditure to my income. But Morley was a careful man. Youâll find no debts, nor money troubles, Iâm sure of that.â

âLove affairs?â suggested Japp.

âIs it Morley you mean? He had no joy of living at all! Right under his sisterâs thumb he was, poor man.â

Japp went on to ask Reilly details about the patients he had seen that morning.

âOh, I fancy theyâre all square and aboveboard. Little Betty Heath, sheâs a nice childâIâve had the whole family one after another. Colonel Abercrombieâs an old patient, too.â

âWhat about Mr. Howard Raikes?â asked Japp.

Reilly grinned broadly.

âThe one who walked out on me? Heâs never been to me before. I know nothing about him. He rang up and particularly asked for an appointment this morning.â

âWhere did he ring up from?â

âHolborn Palace Hotel. Heâs an American, I fancy.â

âSo Alfred said.â

âAlfred should know,â said Mr. Reilly. âHeâs a film fan, our Alfred.â

âAnd your other patient?â

âBarnes? A funny precise little man. Retired Civil Servant. Lives out Ealing way.â

Japp paused a minute and then said:

âWhat can you tell us about Miss Nevill?â

Mr. Reilly raised his eyebrows.

âThe bee-yewtiful blonde secretary? Nothing doing, old boy! Her relations with old Morley were perfectly pewerâIâm sure of it.â

âI never suggested they werenât,â said Japp, reddening slightly.

âMy fault,â said Reilly. âExcuse my filthy mind, wonât you? I thought it might be an attempt on your part to cherchez la femme.

âExcuse me for speaking your language,â he added parenthetically to Poirot. âBeautiful accent, havenât I? It comes of being educated by nuns.â

Japp disapproved of this flippancy. He asked:

âDo you know anything about the young man she is engaged to? His name is Carter, I understand. Frank Carter.â

âMorley didnât think much of him,â said Reilly. âHe tried to get la Nevill to turn him down.â

âThat might have annoyed Carter?â

âProbably annoyed him frightfully,â agreed Mr. Reilly cheerfully.

He paused and then added:

âExcuse me, this is a suicide you are investigating, not a murder?â

Japp said sharply:

âIf it were a murder, would you have anything to suggest?â

âNot I! Iâd like it to be Georgina! One of those grim females with temperance on the brain. But Iâm afraid Georgina is full of moral rectitude. Of course I could easily have nipped upstairs and shot the old boy myself, but I didnât. In fact, I canât imagine anyone wanting to kill Morley. But then I canât conceive of his killing himself.â

He addedâin a different voice:

âAs a matter of fact, Iâm very sorry about it â¦ You mustnât judge by my manner. Thatâs just nervousness, you know. I was fond of old Morley and I shall miss him.â

VII

Japp put down the telephone receiver. His face, as he turned to Poirot, was rather grim.

He said:

âMr. Amberiotis isnât feeling very wellâwould rather not see any one this afternoon.

âHeâs going to see meâand heâs not going to give me the slip either! Iâve got a man at the Savoy ready to trail him if he tries to make a getaway.â

Poirot said thoughtfully:

âYou think Amberiotis shot Morley?â

âI donât know. But he was the last person to see Morley alive. And he was a new patient. According to his story, he left Morley alive and well at twenty-five minutes past twelve. That may be true or it may not. If Morley was all right then weâve got to reconstruct what happened next. There was still five minutes to go before his next appointment. Did someone come in and see him during that five minutes? Carter, say? Or Reilly? What happened? Depend upon it, by half past twelve, or five-and-twenty to one at the latest, Morley was deadâotherwise heâd either have sounded his buzzer or else sent down word to Miss Kirby that he couldnât see her. No, either he was killed, or else somebody told him something which upset the whole tenor of his mind, and he took his own life.â

He paused.

âIâm going to have a word with every patient he saw this morning. Thereâs just the possibility that he may have said something to one of them that will put us on the right track.â

He glanced at his watch.

âMr. Alistair Blunt said he could give me a few minutes at four fifteen. Weâll go to him first. His house is on Chelsea Embankment. Then we might take the Sainsbury Seale woman on our way to Amberiotis. Iâd prefer to know all we can before tackling our Greek friend. After that, Iâd like a word or two with the American who, according to you âlooked like murder.ââ

Hercule Poirot shook his head.

âNot murderâtoothache.â

âAll the same, weâll see this Mr. Raikes. His conduct was queer to say the least of it. And weâll check up on Miss Nevillâs telegram and on her aunt and on her young man. In fact, weâll check up on everything and everybody!â

VIII

Alistair Blunt had never loomed large in the public eye. Possibly because he was himself a very quiet and retiring man. Possibly because for many years he had functioned as a Prince Consort rather than as a King.

Rebecca Sanseverato, nÃ©e Arnholt, came to London a disillusioned woman of forty-five. On either side she came of the Royalty of wealth. Her mother was an heiress of the European family of Rothersteins. Her father was the head of the great American banking house of Arnholt. Rebecca Arnholt, owing to the calamitous deaths of two brothers and a cousin in an air accident, was sole heiress to immense wealth. She married a European aristocrat with a famous name, Prince Felipe di Sanseverato. Three years later she obtained a divorce and custody of the child of the marriage, having spent two years of wretchedness with a well-bred scoundrel whose conduct was notorious. A few years later her child died.

Embittered by her sufferings, Rebecca Arnholt turned her undoubted brains to the business of financeâthe aptitude for it ran in her blood. She associated herself with her father in banking.

After his death she continued to be a powerful figure in the financial world with her immense holdings. She came to Londonâand a junior partner of the London house was sent to Claridgeâs to see her with various documents. Six months later the world was electrified to hear that Rebecca Sanseverato was marrying Alistair Blunt, a man nearly twenty years younger than herself.

There were the usual jeersâand smiles. Rebecca, her friends said, was really an incurable fool where men were concerned! First Sanseveratoânow this young man. Of course he was only marrying her for her money. She was in for a second disaster! But to everyoneâs surprise the marriage was a success. The people who prophesied that Alistair Blunt would spend her money on other women were wrong. He remained quietly devoted to his wife. Even after her death, ten years later, when as inheritor of her vast wealth he might have been supposed to cut loose, he did not marry again. He lived the same quiet and simple life. His genius for finance had been no less than his wifeâs. His judgements and dealings were soundâhis integrity above question. He dominated the vast Arnholt and Rotherstein interests by his sheer ability.

He went very little into society, had a house in Kent and one in Norfolk where he spent weekendsânot with gay parties, but with a few quiet stodgy friends. He was fond of golf and played moderately well. He was interested in his garden.

This was the man towards whom Chief Inspector Japp and Hercule Poirot were bouncing along in a somewhat elderly taxi.

The Gothic House was a well-known feature on Chelsea Embankment. Inside it was luxurious with an expensive simplicity. It was not very modern but it was eminently comfortable.

Alistair Blunt did not keep them waiting. He came to them almost at once.

âChief Inspector Japp?â

Japp came forward and introduced Hercule Poirot. Blunt looked at him with interest.

âI know your name, of course, M. Poirot. And surelyâsomewhereâquite recentlyââ he paused, frowning.

Poirot said:

âThis morning, Monsieur, in the waiting room of ce pauvre M. Morley.â

Alistair Bluntâs brow cleared. He said:

âOf course. I knew I had seen you somewhere.â He turned to Japp. âWhat can I do for you? I am extremely sorry to hear about poor Morley.â

âYou were surprised, Mr. Blunt?â

âVery surprised. Of course I knew very little about him, but I should have thought him a most unlikely person to commit suicide.â

âHe seemed in good health and spirits then, this morning?â

âI think soâyes.â Alistair Blunt paused, then said with an almost boyish smile: âTo tell you the truth, Iâm a most awful coward about going to the dentist. And I simply hate that beastly drill thing they run into you. Thatâs why I really didnât notice anything much. Not till it was over, you know, and I got up to go. But I must say Morley seemed perfectly natural then. Cheerful and busy.â

âYou have been to him often?â

âI think this was my third or fourth visit. Iâve never had much trouble with my teeth until the last year. Breaking up, I suppose.â

Hercule Poirot asked:

âWho recommended Mr. Morley to you originally?â

Blunt drew his brows together in an effort of concentration.

âLet me see nowâI had a twingeâsomebody told me Morley of Queen Charlotte Street was the man to go toâno, I canât for the life of me remember who it was. Sorry.â

Poirot said:

âIf it should come back to you, perhaps you will let one of us know?â

Alistair Blunt looked at him curiously.

He said:

âI willâcertainly. Why? Does it matter?â

âI have an idea,â said Poirot, âthat it might matter very much.â

They were going down the steps of the house when a car drew up in front of it. It was a car of sporting buildâone of those cars from which it is necessary to wriggle from under the wheel in sections.

The young woman who did so appeared to consist chiefly of arms and legs. She had finally dislodged herself as the men turned to walk down the street.

The girl stood on the pavement looking after them. Then, suddenly and vigorously, she ejaculated, âHi!â

Not realizing that the call was addressed to them, neither man turned, and the girl repeated: âHi! Hi! You there!â

They stopped and looked round inquiringly. The girl walked towards them. The impression of arms and legs remained. She was tall, thin, and her face had an intelligence and aliveness that redeemed its lack of actual beauty. She was dark with a deeply tanned skin.

She was addressing Poirot:

âI know who you areâyouâre the detective man, Hercule Poirot!â Her voice was warm and deep, with a trace of American accent.

Poirot said:

âAt your service, Mademoiselle.â

Her eyes went on to his companion.

Poirot said:

âChief Inspector Japp.â

Her eyes widenedâalmost it seemed with alarm. She said, and there was a slight breathlessness in her voice:

âWhat have you been doing here? Nothingânothing has happened to Uncle Alistair, has it?â

Poirot said quickly:

âWhy should you think so, Mademoiselle?â

âIt hasnât? Good.â

Japp took up Poirotâs question.

âWhy should you think anything had happened to Mr. Blunt, Missââ

He paused inquiringly.

The girl said mechanically:

âOlivera. Jane Olivera.â Then she gave a slight and rather unconvincing laugh. âSleuths on the doorstep rather suggest bombs in the attic, donât they?â

âThereâs nothing wrong with Mr. Blunt, Iâm thankful to say, Miss Olivera.â

She looked directly at Poirot.

âDid he call you in about something?â

Japp said:

âWe called on him, Miss Olivera, to see if he could throw any light on a case of suicide that occurred this morning.â

She said sharply:

âSuicide? Whose? Where?â

âA Mr. Morley, a dentist, of 58, Queen Charlotte Street.â

âOh!â said Jane Olivera blankly. âOh!ââ She started ahead of her, frowning. Then she said unexpectedly:

âOh, but thatâs absurd!â And turning on her heel she left them abruptly and without ceremony, running up the steps of the Gothic House and letting herself in with a key.

âWell!â said Japp, staring after her, âthatâs an extraordinary thing to say.â

âInteresting,â observed Poirot mildly.

Japp pulled himself together, glanced at his watch and hailed an approaching taxi.

âWeâll have time to take the Sainsbury Seale on our way to the Savoy.â

IX

Miss Sainsbury Seale was in the dimly lit lounge of the Glengowrie Court Hotel having tea.

She was flustered by the appearance of a police officer in plain clothesâbut her excitement was of a pleasurable nature, he observed. Poirot noticed, with sorrow, that she had not yet sewn the buckle on her shoe.

âReally, officer,â fluted Miss Sainsbury Seale, glancing round, âI really donât know where we could go to be private. So difficultâjust teatimeâbut perhaps you would care for some teaâandâand your friendââ

âNot for me, Madam,â said Japp. âThis is M. Hercule Poirot.â

âReally?â said Miss Sainsbury Seale. âThen perhapsâyouâre sureâyou wonât either of you have tea? No. Well, perhaps we might try the drawing room, though thatâs very often fullâOh, I see, there is a corner over thereâin the recess. The people are just leaving. Shall we go thereââ

She led the way to the comparative seclusion of a sofa and two chairs in an alcove. Poirot and Japp followed her, the former picking up a scarf and a handkerchief that Miss Sainsbury Seale had shed en route.

He restored them to her.

âOh, thank youâso careless of me. Now please, InspectorâNo, Chief Inspector, isnât it?âdo ask me anything you like. So distressing, the whole business. Poor manâI suppose he had something on his mind? Such worrying times we live in!â

âDid he seem to you worried, Miss Sainsbury Seale?â

âWellââ Miss Sainsbury Seale reflected, and finally said unwillingly:

âI canât really say, you know, that he did! But then perhaps I shouldnât noticeânot under the circumstances. Iâm afraid Iâm rather a coward, you know.â Miss Sainsbury Seale tittered a little and patted her birdâs-nest-like curls.

âCan you tell us who else was in the waiting room while you were there?â

âNow let me seeâthere was just one young man there when I went in. I think he was in pain because he was muttering to himself and looking quite wild and turning over the leaves of a magazine just anyhow. And then suddenly he jumped up and went out. Really acute toothache he must have had.â

âYou donât know whether he left the house when he went out of the room?â

âI donât know at all. I imagined he just felt he couldnât wait any longer and must see the dentist. But it couldnât have been Mr. Morley he was going to, because the boy came in and took me up to Mr. Morley only a few minutes later.â

âDid you go into the waiting room again on your way out?â

âNo. Because, you see, Iâd already put on my hat and straightened my hair up in Mr. Morleyâs room. Some people,â went on Miss Sainsbury Seale, warming to her subject, âtake off their hats downstairs in the waiting room, but I never do. A most distressing thing happened to a friend of mine who did that. It was a new hat and she put it very carefully on a chair, and when she came down, would you believe it, a child had sat on it and squashed it flat. Ruined! Absolutely ruined!â

âA catastrophe,â said Poirot politely.

âI blame the mother entirely,â said Miss Sainsbury Seale judicially. âMothers should keep an eye on their children. The little dears do not mean any harm, but they have to be watched.â

Japp said:

âThen this young man with toothache was the only other patient you noticed at 58, Queen Charlotte Street.â

âA gentleman came down the stairs and went out just as I went up to Mr. MorleyâOh! and I rememberâa very peculiar looking foreigner came out of the house just as I arrived.â

Japp coughed. Poirot said with dignity:

âThat was I, Madame.â

âOh dear!â Miss Sainsbury Seale peered at him. âSo it was! Do forgiveâso shortsightedâand very dark here, isnât it?â She tailed off into incoherencies. âAnd really, you know, I flatter myself that I have a very good memory for faces. But the light here is dim, isnât it? Do forgive my most unfortunate mistake!â

They soothed the lady down, and Japp asked:

âYou are quite sure Mr. Morley didnât say anything such asâfor instanceâthat he was expecting a painful interview this morning? Anything of that kind?â

âNo, indeed, Iâm sure he didnât.â

âHe didnât mention a patient by the name of Amberiotis?â

âNo, no. He really said nothingâexcept, I mean, the things that dentists have to say.â

Through Poirotâs mind there ran quickly: âRinse. Open a little wider, please. Now close gently.â

Japp had proceeded to his next step. It would possibly be necessary for Miss Sainsbury Seale to give evidence at the inquest.

After a first scream of dismay, Miss Sainsbury Seale seemed to take kindly to the idea. A tentative inquiry from Japp produced Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs whole life history.

She had, it seemed, come from India to England six months ago. She had lived in various hotels and boardinghouses and had finally come to the Glengowrie Court which she liked very much because of its homely atmosphere; in India she had lived mostly in Calcutta where she had done Mission work and had also taught elocution.

âPure, well-enunciated Englishâmost important, Chief Inspector. You see,â Miss Sainsbury Seale simpered and bridled, âas a girl I was on the stage. Oh! only in small parts, you know. The provinces! But I had great ambitions. Repertory. Then I went on a world tourâShakespeare, Bernard Shaw.â She sighed. âThe trouble with us poor women is heartâat the mercy of our hearts. A rash impulsive marriage. Alas! we parted almost immediately. IâI had been sadly deceived. I resumed my maiden name. A friend kindly provided me with a little capital and I started my elocution school. I helped to found a very good amateur dramatic society. I must show you some of our notices.â

Chief Inspector Japp knew the dangers of that! He escaped, Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs last words being: âand if, by any chance, my name should be in the papersâas a witness at the inquest, I meanâyou will be sure that it is spelt right. Mabelle Sainsbury SealeâMabelle spelt M.A.B.E.L.L.E, and Seale S.E.A.L.E. And, of course, if they did care to mention that I appeared in As You Like It at the Oxford Repertory Theatreââ

âOf course, of course.â Chief Inspector Japp fairly fled.

In the taxi, he sighed and wiped his forehead.

âIf itâs ever necessary, we ought to be able to check up on her all right,â he observed, âunless it was all liesâbut that I donât believe!â

Poirot shook his head. âLiars,â he said, âare neither so circumstantial nor so inconsequential.â

Japp went on:

âI was afraid sheâd jib at the inquestâmost middle-aged spinsters doâbut her having been an actress accounts for her being eager. Bit of limelight for her!â

Poirot said:

âDo you really want her at the inquest?â

âProbably not. It depends.â He paused and then said: âIâm more than ever convinced, Poirot. This wasnât suicide.â

âAnd the motive?â

âHas us beat for the moment. Suppose Morley once seduced Amberiotisâ daughter?â

Poirot was silent. He tried to visualize Mr. Morley in the role of seducer to a luscious-eyed Greek maiden, but failed lamentably.

He reminded Japp that Mr. Reilly had said his partner had had no joy of living.

Japp said vaguely: âOh well, you never know what may happen on a cruise!â and he added with satisfaction, âWe shall know better where we stand when weâve talked to this fellow.â

They paid off the taxi and entered the Savoy.

Japp asked for Mr. Amberiotis.

The clerk looked at them rather oddly. He said:

âMr. Amberiotis? Iâm sorry, sir, Iâm afraid you canât see him.â

âOh, yes, I can, my lad,â Japp said grimly. He drew the other a little aside and showed him his credentials.

The clerk said:

âYou donât understand, sir. Mr. Amberiotis died half an hour ago.â

To Hercule Poirot it was as though a door had gently but firmly shut.

FIVE, SIX, PICKING UP STICKS

I

Twenty-four hours later Japp rang Poirot up. His tone was bitter.

âWashout! The whole thing!â

âWhat do you mean, my friend?â

âMorley committed suicide all right. Weâve got the motive.â

âWhat was it?â

âIâve just had the doctorâs report on Amberiotisâ death. I wonât give you the official jargon but in plain English he died as a result of an overdose of adrenaline and novocaine. It acted on his heart, I understand, and he collapsed. When the wretched devil said he was feeling bad yesterday afternoon, he was just speaking the truth. Well, there you are! Adrenaline and procaine is the stuff dentists inject into your gumâlocal anesthetic. Morley made an error, injected an overdose, and then after Amberiotis left, he realized what he had done, couldnât face the music and shot himself.â

âWith a pistol he was not known to possess?â queried Poirot.

âHe may have possessed it all the same. Relations donât know everything. Youâd be surprised sometimes, the things they donât know!â

âThat is true, yes.â

Japp said:

âWell, there you are. Itâs a perfectly logical explanation of the whole thing.â

Poirot said:

âYou know, my friend, it does not quite satisfy me. It is true that patients have been known to react unfavourably to these local anesthetics. Adrenaline idiosyncrasy is well-known. In combination with procaine toxic effects have followed quite small doses. But the doctor or dentist who employed the drug does not usually carry his concern as far as killing himself!â

âYes, but youâre talking of cases where the employment of the anesthetic was normal. In that case no particular blame attaches to the surgeon concerned. It is the idiosyncrasy of the patient that has caused death. But in this case itâs pretty clear that there was a definite overdose. They havenât got the exact amount yetâthese quantitive analyses seem to take a month of Sundaysâbut it was definitely more than the normal dose. That means that Morley must have made a mistake.â

âEven then,â said Poirot, âit was a mistake. It would not be a criminal matter.â

âNo, but it wouldnât do him any good in his profession. In fact, it would pretty well ruin him. Nobodyâs going to go to a dentist whoâs likely to shoot lethal doses of poison into you just because he happens to be a bit absentminded.â

âIt was a curious thing to do, I admit.â

âThese things happenâthey happen to doctorsâthey happen to chemists â¦ Careful and reliable for years, and thenâone momentâs inattentionâand the mischiefâs done and the poor devils are for it. Morley was a sensitive man. In the case of a doctor, thereâs usually a chemist or a dispenser to share the blameâor to shoulder it altogether. In this case Morley was solely responsible.â

Poirot demurred.

âWould he not have left some message behind him? Saying what he had done? And that he could not face the consequences? Something of that kind? Just a word for his sister?â

âNo, as I see it, he suddenly realized what had happenedâand just lost his nerve and took the quickest way out.â

Poirot did not answer.

Japp said:

âI know you, old boy. Once youâve got your teeth into a case of murder, you like it to be a case of murder! I admit Iâm responsible for setting you on the track this time. Well, I made a mistake. I admit it freely.â

Poirot said:

âI still think, you know, that there might be another explanation.â

âPlenty of other explanations, I daresay. Iâve thought of themâbut theyâre all too fantastic. Letâs say that Amberiotis shot Morley, went home, was filled with remorse and committed suicide, using some stuff heâd pinched from Morleyâs surgery. If you think thatâs likely, I think itâs damned unlikely. Weâve got a record of Amberiotis at the Yard. Quite interesting. Started as a little hotelkeeper in Greece, then he mixed himself up in politics. Heâs done espionage work in Germany and in Franceâand made very pretty little sums of money. But he wasnât getting rich quick enough that way, and heâs believed to have done a spot or two of blackmail. Not a nice man, our Mr. Amberiotis. He was out in India last year and is believed to have bled one of the native princes rather freely. The difficult thing has been ever to prove anything against him. Slippery as an eel! There is another possibility. He might have been blackmailing Morley over something or other. Morley, having a golden opportunity, plugs an overdose of adrenaline and novocaine into him, hoping that the verdict will be an unfortunate accidentâadrenaline idiosyncrasyâsomething of that sort. Then, after the manâs gone away Morley gets a fit of remorse and does himself in. Thatâs possible, of course, but I canât somehow see Morley as a deliberate murderer. No, Iâm pretty sure it was what I first saidâa genuine mistake, made on a morning when he was overworked. Weâll have to leave it at that, Poirot. Iâve talked to the A.C. and heâs quite clear on it.â

âI see,â said Poirot, with a sigh. âI seeâ¦.â

Japp said kindly:

âI know what you feel, old boy. But you canât have a nice juicy murder every time! So long. All I can say by way of apology is the old phrase: âSorry you have been troubled!ââ

He rang off.

II

Hercule Poirot sat at his handsome modern desk. He liked modern furniture. Its squareness and solidity were more agreeable to him than the soft contours of antique models.

In front of him was a square sheet of paper with neat headings and comments. Against some of them were query marks.

First came:

Amberiotis. Espionage. In England for that purpose? Was in India last year. During period of riots and unrest. Could be a Communist agent.

There was a space, and then the next heading:

Frank Carter? Morley thought him unsatisfactory. Was discharged from his employment recently. Why?

After that came a name with merely a question mark:

Howard Raikes?

Next came a sentence in inverted commas.

âBut thatâs absurd!â ???

Hercule Poirotâs head was poised interrogatively. Outside the window a bird was carrying a twig to build its nest. Hercule Poirot looked rather like a bird as he sat there with his egg-shaped head cocked to one side.

He made another entry a little farther down:

Mr. Barnes?

He paused and then wrote:

Morleyâs office? Mark on carpet. Possibilities.

He considered that last entry for some time.

Then he got up, called for his hat and stick and went out.

III

Three-quarters of an hour later Hercule Poirot came out of the underground station at Ealing Broadway and five minutes after that he had reached his destinationâNo. 88, Castlegardens Road.

It was a small semidetached house, and the neatness of the front garden drew an admiring nod from Hercule Poirot.

âAdmirably symmetrical,â he murmured to himself.

Mr. Barnes was at home and Poirot was shown into a small, precise dining room and here presently Mr. Barnes came to him.

Mr. Barnes was a small man with twinkling eyes and a nearly bald head. He peeped over the top of his glasses at his visitor while in his left hand he twirled the card that Poirot had given the maid.

He said in a small, prim, almost falsetto voice:

âWell, well, M. Poirot? I am honoured, I am sure.â

âYou must excuse my calling upon you in this informal manner,â said Poirot punctiliously.

âMuch the best way,â said Mr. Barnes. âAnd the time is admirable, too. A quarter to sevenâvery sound time at this period of the year for catching anyone at home.â He waved his hand. âSit down, M. Poirot. Iâve no doubt weâve got a good deal to talk about. 58, Queen Charlotte Street, I suppose?â

Poirot said:

âYou suppose rightlyâbut why should you suppose anything of the kind?â

âMy dear sir,â said Mr. Barnes, âIâve been retired from the Home Office for some time nowâbut Iâve not gone quite rusty yet. If thereâs any hush-hush business, itâs far better not to use the police. Draws attention to it all!â

Poirot said:

âI will ask yet another question. Why should you suppose this is a hush-hush business?â

âIsnât it?â asked the other. âWell, if it isnât, in my opinion it ought to be.â He leant forward and tapped with his pince-nez on the arm of the chair. âIn Secret Service work itâs never the little fry you wantâitâs the big bugs at the topâbut to get them youâve got to be careful not to alarm the little fry.â

âIt seems to me, Mr. Barnes, that you know more than I do,â said Hercule Poirot.

âDonât know anything at all,â replied the other, âjust put two and two together.â

âOne of those two being?â

âAmberiotis,â said Mr. Barnes promptly. âYou forget I sat opposite him in the waiting room for a minute or two. He didnât know me. I was always an insignificant chap. Not a bad thing sometimes. But I knew him all rightâand I could guess what he was up to over here.â

âWhich was?â

Mr. Barnes twinkled more than ever.

âWeâre very tiresome people in this country. Weâre conservative, you know, conservative to the backbone. We grumble a lot, but we donât really want to smash our democratic government and try newfangled experiments. Thatâs whatâs so heartbreaking to the wretched foreign agitator whoâs working full time and over! The whole trouble isâfrom their point of viewâthat we really are, as a country, comparatively solvent. Hardly any other country in Europe is at the moment! To upset Englandâreally upset itâyouâve got to play hell with its financeâthatâs what it comes to! And you canât play hell with its finance when youâve got men like Alistair Blunt at the helm.â

Mr. Barnes paused and then went on:

âBlunt is the kind of man who in private life would always pay his bills and live within his incomeâwhether heâd got two-pence a year or several million makes no difference. He is that type of fellow. And he just simply thinks that thereâs no reason why a country shouldnât be the same! No costly experiments. No frenzied expenditure on possible Utopias. Thatâs whyââhe pausedââthatâs why certain people have made up their minds that Blunt must go.â

âAh,â said Poirot.

Mr. Barnes nodded.

âYes,â he said. âI know what Iâm talking about. Quite nice people some of âem. Long-haired, earnest-eyed, and full of ideals of a better world. Others not so nice, rather nasty in fact. Furtive little rats with beards and foreign accents. And another lot again of the Big Bully type. But theyâve all got the same idea: Blunt Must Go!â

He tilted his chair gently back and forward again.

âSweep away the old order! The Tories, the Conservatives, the Diehards, the hardheaded suspicious Business Men, thatâs the idea. Perhaps these people are rightâI donât knowâbut I know one thingâyouâve got to have something to put in place of the old orderâsomething that will workânot just something that sounds all right. Well, we neednât go into that. We are dealing with concrete facts, not abstract theories. Take away the props and the building will come down. Blunt is one of the props of Things as They Are.â

He leaned forward.

âTheyâre out after Blunt all right. That I know. And itâs my opinion that yesterday morning they nearly got him. I may be wrongâbut itâs been tried before. The method, I mean.â

He paused and then quietly, circumspectly, he mentioned three names. An unusually able Chancellor of the Exchequer, a progressive and farsighted manufacturer, and a hopeful young politician who had captured the public fancy. The first had died on the operating table, the second had succumbed to an obscure disease which had been recognized too late, the third had been run down by a car and killed.

âItâs very easy,â said Mr. Barnes. âThe anesthetist muffed the giving of the anestheticâwell, that does happen. In the second case the symptoms were puzzling. The doctor was just a well-meaning G.P., couldnât be expected to recognize them. In the third case, anxious mother was driving car in a hurry to get to her sick child. Sob stuffâthe jury acquitted her of blame!â

He paused:

âAll quite natural. And soon forgotten. But Iâll just tell you where those three people are now. The anesthetist is set up on his own with a first-class research laboratoryâno expense spared. That G.P. has retired from practice. Heâs got a yacht, and a nice little place on the Broads. The mother is giving all her children a first-class education, ponies to ride in the holidays, nice house in the country with a big garden and paddocks.â

He nodded his head slowly.

âIn every profession and walk of life there is someone who is vulnerable to temptation. The trouble in our case is that Morley wasnât!â

âYou think it was like that?â said Hercule Poirot.

Mr. Barnes said:

âI do. Itâs not easy to get at one of these big men, you know. Theyâre fairly well protected. The car stunt is risky and doesnât always succeed. But a man is defenceless enough in a dentistâs chair.â

He took off his pince-nez, polished them and put them on again. He said:

âThatâs my theory! Morley wouldnât do the job. He knew too much, though, so they had to put him out.â

âThey?â asked Poirot.

âWhen I say theyâI mean the organization thatâs behind all this. Only one person actually did the job, of course.â

âWhich person?â

âWell, I could make a guess,â said Mr. Barnes, âbut itâs only a guess and I might be wrong.â

Poirot said quietly: âReilly?â

âOf course! Heâs the obvious person. I think that probably they never asked Morley to do the job himself. What he was to do, was to turn Blunt over to his partner at the last minute. Sudden illness, something of that sort. Reilly would have done the actual businessâand there would have been another regrettable accidentâdeath of a famous bankerâunhappy young dentist in court in such a state of dither and misery that he would have been let down light. Heâd have given up dentistry afterwardsâand settled down somewhere on a nice income of several thousands a year.â

Mr. Barnes looked across at Poirot.

âDonât think Iâm romancing,â he said. âThese things happen.â

âYes, yes, I know they happen.â

Mr. Barnes went on, tapping a book with a lurid jacket that lay on a table close at hand: âI read a lot of these spy yarns. Fantastic, some of them. But curiously enough theyâre not any more fantastic than the real thing. There are beautiful adventuresses, and dark sinister men with foreign accents, and gangs and international associations and super crooks! Iâd blush to see some of the things I know set down in printânobody would believe them for a minute!â

Poirot said:

âIn your theory, where does Amberiotis come in?â

âIâm not quite sure. I think he was meant to take the rap. Heâs played a double game more than once and I daresay he was framed. Thatâs only an idea, mind.â

Hercule Poirot said quietly:

âGranting that your ideas are correctâwhat will happen next?â

Mr. Barnes rubbed his nose.

âTheyâll try to get him again,â he said. âOh, yes. Theyâll have another try. Timeâs short. Blunt has got people looking after him, I daresay. Theyâll have to be extra careful. It wonât be a man hiding in a bush with a pistol. Nothing so crude as that. You tell âem to look out for the respectable peopleâthe relations, the old servants, the chemistâs assistant who makes up a medicine, the wine merchant who sells him his port. Getting Alistair Blunt out of the way is worth a great many millions, and itâs wonderful what people will do forâsay a nice little income of four thousand a year!â

âAs much as that?â

âPossibly more â¦â

Poirot was silent a moment, then he said:

âI have had Reilly in mind from the first.â

âIrish? I.R.A.?â

âNot that so much, but there was a mark, you see, on the carpet, as though the body had been dragged along it. But if Morley had been shot by a patient he would be shot in the surgery and there would be no need to move the body. That is why, from the first, I suspected that he had been shot, not in the surgery, but in his officeânext door. That would mean that it was not a patient who shot him, but some member of his own household.â

âNeat,â said Mr. Barnes appreciatively.

Hercule Poirot got up and held out a hand.

âThank you,â he said. âYou have helped me a great deal.â

IV

On his way home, Poirot called in at the Glengowrie Court Hotel.

As a result of that visit he rang Japp up very early the following morning.

âBonjour, mon ami. The inquest is today, is it not?â

âIt is. Are you going to attend?â

âI do not think so.â

âIt wonât really be worth your while, I expect.â

âAre you calling Miss Sainsbury Seale as a witness?â

âThe lovely Mabelleâwhy canât she just spell it plain Mabel. These women get my goat! No, Iâm not calling her. Thereâs no need.â

âYou have heard nothing from her?â

âNo, why should I?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âI wondered, that was all. Perhaps it may interest you to learn that Miss Sainsbury Seale walked out of the Glengowrie Court Hotel just before dinner the night before lastâand did not come back.â

âWhat? Sheâs hooked it?â

âThat is a possible explanation.â

âBut why should she? Sheâs quite all right, you know. Perfectly genuine and aboveboard. I cabled Calcutta about herâthat was before I knew the reason for Amberiotisâ death, otherwise I shouldnât have botheredâand I got the reply last night. Everything O.K. Sheâs been known there for years, and her whole account of herself is trueâexcept that sheâs slurred over her marriage a bit. Married a Hindu student and then found heâd got a few attachments already. So she resumed her maiden name and took to good works. Sheâs hand and glove with the missionariesâteaches elocution, and helps in amateur dramatic shows. In fact, what I call a terrible womanâbut definitely above suspicion of being mixed up in a murder. And now you say sheâs walked out on us! I canât understand it.â He paused a minute and then went on doubtfully: âPerhaps she just got fed up with that hotel? I could have easily.â

Poirot said:

âHer luggage is still there. She took nothing with her.â

Japp swore.

âWhen did she go?â

âAbout a quarter to seven.â

âWhat about the hotel people?â

âTheyâre very upset. Manageress looked quite distraught.â

âWhy didnât they report to the police?â

âBecause, mon cher, supposing that a lady does happen to stay out for a night (however unlikely it may seem from her appearance) she will be justifiably annoyed by finding on her return that the police have been called in. Mrs. Harrison, the manageress in question, called up various hospitals in case there had been an accident. She was considering notifying the police when I called. My appearance seemed to her like an answer to a prayer. I charged myself with everything, and explained that I would enlist the help of a very discreet police officer.â

âThe discreet police officer being yours truly, I suppose?â

âYou suppose rightly.â

Japp groaned:

âAll right. Iâll meet you at the Glengowrie Court Hotel after the inquest.â

V

Japp grumbled as they were waiting for the manageress.

âWhat does the woman want to disappear for?â

âIt is curious, you admit?â

They had no time for more.

Mrs. Harrison, proprietor of the Glengowrie Court, was with them.

Mrs. Harrison was voluble and almost tearful. She was so worried about Miss Sainsbury Seale. What could have happened to her? Rapidly she went over every possibility of disaster. Loss of memory, sudden illness, haemorrhage, run down by an omnibus, robbery and assaultâ

She paused at last for breath, murmuring:

âSuch a nice type of womanâand she seemed so happy and comfortable here.â

She took them, at Jappâs request, up to the chaste bedroom occupied by the missing lady. Everything was neat and orderly. Clothes hung in the wardrobe, nightclothes were folded ready on the bed, in a corner were Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs two modest suitcases. A row of shoes stood under the dressing tableâsome serviceable Oxfords, two pairs of rather meretricious glacÃ© fancy shoes with court heels and ornament with bows of leather, some plain black satin evening shoes, practically new, and a pair of moccasins. Poirot noted that the evening shoes were a size smaller than the day onesâa fact that might be put down to corns or to vanity. He wondered whether Miss Sainsbury Seale had found time to sew the second buckle on her shoe before she went out. He hoped so. Slovenliness in dress always annoyed him.

Japp was busy looking through some letters in a drawer of the dressing table. Hercule Poirot gingerly pulled open a drawer of the chest of drawers. It was full of underclothing. He shut it again modestly, murmuring that Miss Sainsbury Seale seemed to believe in wearing wool next to the skin, and opened another drawer which contained stockings.

Japp said:

âGot anything, Poirot?â

Poirot said sadly, as he dangled a pair: âTen inch, cheap shiny silk, price probably two-and-eleven.â

Japp said:

âYouâre not valuing for probate, old boy. Two letters here from India, one or two receipts from charitable organizations, no bills. Most estimable character, our Miss Sainsbury Seale.â

âBut very little taste in dress,â said Poirot sadly.

âProbably thought dress wordly.â Japp was noting down an address from an old letter dated two months back.

âThese people may know something about her,â he said. âAddress up Hampstead way. Sound as though they were fairly intimate.â

There was nothing more to be gleaned at the Glengowrie Court Hotel except the negative fact that Miss Sainsbury Seale had not seemed excited or worried in any way when she went out, and it would appear that she had definitely intended to return since on passing her friend Mrs. Bolitho in the hall, she had called out:

âAfter dinner I will show you that Patience I was telling you about.â

Moreover, it was the custom at the Glengowrie Court to give notice in the dining room if you intended to be out for a meal. Miss Sainsbury Seale had not done so. Therefore it seemed clear that she had intended returning for dinner which was served from seven thirty to eight thirty.

But she had not returned. She had walked out into the Cromwell Road and disappeared.

Japp and Poirot called at the address in West Hampstead which had headed the letter found.

It was a pleasant house and the Adams were pleasant people with a large family. They had lived in India for many years and spoke warmly of Miss Sainsbury Seale. But they could not help.

They had not seen her lately, not for a month, not in fact since they came back from their Easter holidays. She had been staying then at a hotel near Russell Square. Mrs. Adams gave Poirot the address of it and also the address of some other Anglo-Indian friends of Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs who lived in Streatham.

But the two men drew a blank in both places. Miss Sainsbury Seale had stayed at the hotel in question, but they remembered very little about her and nothing that could be of any help. She was a nice quiet lady and had lived abroad. The people in Streatham were no help either. They had not seen Miss Sainsbury Seale since February.

There remained the possibility of an accident, but that possibility was dispelled too. No hospital had admitted any casualty answering to the description given.

Miss Sainsbury Seale had disappeared into space.

VI

On the following morning, Poirot went to the Holborn Palace Hotel and asked for Mr. Howard Raikes.

By this time it would hardly have surprised him to hear that Mr. Howard Raikes, too, had stepped out one evening and had never returned.

Mr. Howard Raikes, however, was still at the Holborn Palace and was said to be breakfasting.

The apparition of Hercule Poirot at the breakfast table seemed to give Mr. Howard Raikes doubtful pleasure.

Though not looking so murderous as in Poirotâs disordered recollection of him, his scowl was still formidableâhe stared at his uninvited guest and said ungraciously:

âWhat the hell?â

âYou permit?â

Hercule Poirot drew a chair from another table.

Mr. Raikes said:

âDonât mind me! Sit down and make yourself at home!â

Poirot smiling availed himself of the permission.

Mr. Raikes said ungraciously:

âWell, what do you want?â

âDo you remember me at all, Mr. Raikes?â

âNever set eyes on you in my life.â

âThere you are wrong. You sat in the same room with me for at least five minutes not more than three days ago.â

âI canât remember every one I meet at some Goddamned party or other.â

âIt was not a party,â said Poirot. âIt was a dentistâs waiting room.â

Some swift emotion flashed into the young manâs eyes and died again at once. His manner changed. It was no longer impatient and casual. It became suddenly wary. He looked across at Poirot and said:

âWell!â

Poirot studied him carefully before replying. He felt, quite positively, that this was indeed a dangerous young man. A lean hungry face, an aggressive jaw, the eyes of a fanatic. It was a face, though, that women might find attractive. He was untidily, even shabbily dressed, and he ate with a careless voraciousness that was, so the man watching him thought, significant.

Poirot summed him up to himself.

âIt is a wolf with ideasâ¦.â

Raikes said harshly:

âWhat the hell do you meanâcoming here like this?â

âMy visit is disagreeable to you?â

âI donât even know who you are.â

âI apologize.â

Dexterously Poirot whipped out his card case. He extracted a card and passed it across the table.

Again that emotion that he could not quite define showed upon Mr. Raikesâ lean face. It was not fearâit was more aggressive than fear. After it, quite unquestionably, came anger.

He tossed the card back.

âSo thatâs who you are, is it? Iâve heard of you.â

âMost people have,â said Hercule Poirot modestly.

âYouâre a private dick, arenât you? The expensive kind. The kind people hire when money is no objectâwhen itâs worth paying anything in order to save their miserable skins!â

âIf you do not drink your coffee,â said Hercule Poirot, âit will get cold.â

He spoke kindly and with authority.

Raikes stared at him.

âSay, just what kind of an insect are you?â

âThe coffee in this country is very bad anywayââ said Poirot.

âIâll say it is,â agreed Mr. Raikes with fervour.

âBut if you allow it to get cold it is practically undrinkable.â

The young man leant forward.

âWhat are you getting at? Whatâs the big idea in coming round here?â

Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

âI wanted toâsee you.â

âOh yes?â said Mr. Raikes sceptically.

His eyes narrowed.

âIf itâs the money youâre after, youâve come to the wrong man! The people Iâm in with canât afford to buy what they want. Better go back to the man who pays your salary.â

Poirot said, sighing:

âNobody has paid me anythingâyet.â

âYouâre telling me,â said Mr. Raikes.

âIt is the truth,â said Hercule Poirot. âI am wasting a good deal of valuable time for no recompense whatsoever. Simply, shall we say, to assuage my curiosity.â

âAnd I suppose,â said Mr. Raikes, âyou were just assuaging your curiosity at that darned dentistâs the other day.â

Poirot shook his head. He said:

âYou seem to overlook the most ordinary reason for being in a dentistâs waiting roomâwhich is that one is waiting to have oneâs teeth attended to.â

âSo thatâs what you were doing?â Mr. Raikesâ tone expressed contemptuous unbelief. âWaiting to have your teeth seen to?â

âCertainly.â

âYouâll excuse me if I say I donât believe it.â

âMay I ask then, Mr. Raikes, what you were doing there?â

Mr. Raikes grinned suddenly. He said:

âGot you there! I was waiting to have my teeth seen to also.â

âYou had perhaps the toothache?â

âThatâs right, big boy.â

âBut all the same, you went away without having your teeth attended to?â

âWhat if I did? Thatâs my business.â

He pausedâthen he said, with a quick savagery of tone: âOh, what the hellâs the use of all this slick talking? You were there to look after your big shot. Well, heâs all right, isnât he? Nothing happened to your precious Mr. Alistair Blunt. Youâve nothing on me.â

Poirot said:

âWhere did you go when you went so abruptly out of the waiting room?â

âLeft the house, of course.â

âAh!â Poirot looked up at the ceiling.

âBut nobody saw you leave, Mr. Raikes.â

âDoes that matter?â

âIt might. Somebody died in that house not long afterwards, remember.â

Raikes said carelessly:

âOh, you mean the dentist fellow.â

Poirotâs tone was hard as he said:

âYes, I mean the dentist fellow.â

Raikes stared. He said:

âYou trying to pin that on me? Is that the game? Well, you canât do it. Iâve just read the account of the inquest yesterday. The poor devil shot himself because heâd made a mistake with a local anesthetic and one of his patients died.â

Poirot went on unmoved: âCan you prove that you left the house when you say you did? Is there anyone who can say definitely where you were between twelve and one?â

The otherâs eyes narrowed.

âSo you are trying to pin it on me? I suppose Blunt put you up to this?â

Poirot sighed. He said:

âYou will pardon me, but it seems an obsession with youâthis persistent harping on Mr. Alistair Blunt. I am not employed by him, I never have been employed by him. I am concerned, not with his safety, but with the death of a man who did good work in his chosen profession.â

Raikes shook his head.

âSorry,â he said, âI donât believe you. Youâre Bluntâs private dick all right.â His face darkened as he leaned across the table. âBut you canât save him, you know. Heâs got to goâhe and everything he stands for! Thereâs got to be a new dealâthe old corrupt system of finance has got to goâthis cursed net of bankers all over the world like a spiderâs web. Theyâve got to be swept away. Iâve nothing against Blunt personallyâbut heâs the type of man I hate. Heâs mediocreâheâs smug. Heâs the sort you canât move unless you use dynamite. Heâs the sort of man who says, âYou canât disrupt the foundations of civilization.â Canât you, though? Let him wait and see! Heâs an obstruction in the way of Progress and heâs got to be removed. Thereâs no room in the world today for men like Bluntâmen who hark back to the pastâmen who want to live as their fathers lived or even as their grandfathers lived! Youâve got a lot of them here in Englandâcrusted old diehardsâuseless, worn-out symbols of a decayed era. And, my God, theyâve got to go! Thereâs got to be a new world. Do you get meâa new world, see?â

Poirot sighed and rose. He said:

âI see, Mr. Raikes, that you are an idealist.â

âWhat if I am?â

âToo much of an idealist to care about the death of a dentist.â

Mr. Raikes said scornfully:

âWhat does the death of one miserable dentist matter?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âIt does not matter to you. It matters to me. That is the difference between us.â

VII

Poirot arrived home to be informed by George that a lady was waiting to see him.

âShe isâahemâa little nervous, sir,â said George.

Since the lady had given no name Poirot was at liberty to guess. He guessed wrong, for the young woman who rose agitatedly from the sofa as he entered was the late Mr. Morleyâs secretary, Miss Gladys Nevill.

âOh, dear, M. Poirot. I am so sorry to worry you like thisâand really I donât know how I had the courage to comeâIâm afraid youâll think it very bold of meâand Iâm sure I donât want to take up your timeâI know what time means to a busy professional manâbut really I have been so unhappyâonly I daresay you will think it all a waste of timeââ

Profiting by a long experience of the English people, Poirot suggested a cup of tea. Miss Nevillâs reaction was all that could be hoped for.

âWell, really, M. Poirot, thatâs very kind of you. Not that itâs so very long since breakfast, but one can always do with a cup of tea, canât one?â

Poirot, who could always do without one, assented mendaciously. George was instructed to this effect, and in a miraculously short time Poirot and his visitor faced each other across a tea tray.

âI must apologize to you,â said Miss Nevill, regaining her aplomb under the influence of the beverage, âbut as a matter of fact the inquest yesterday upset me a good deal.â

âIâm sure it must have done,â said Poirot kindly.

âThere was no question of my giving evidence, or anything like that. But I felt somebody ought to go with Miss Morley. Mr. Reilly was there, of courseâbut I meant a woman. Besides, Miss Morley doesnât like Mr. Reilly. So I thought it was my duty to go.â

âThat was very kind of you,â said Poirot encouragingly.

âOh, no, I just felt I had to. You see, I have worked for Mr. Morley for quite a number of years nowâand the whole thing was a great shock to meâand of course the inquest made it worseââ

âIâm afraid it must have done.â

Miss Nevill leaned forward earnestly.

âBut itâs all wrong, M. Poirot. It really is all wrong.â

âWhat is wrong, Mademoiselle?â

âWell, it just couldnât have happenedânot the way they make outâgiving a patient an overdose in injecting the gum, I mean.â

âYou think not.â

âIâm sure about it. Occasionally patients do suffer ill effects, but that is because they are physiologically unfit subjectsâtheir heart action isnât normal. But Iâm sure that an overdose is a very rare thing. You see practitioners get so into the habit of giving the regulation amount that it is absolutely mechanicalâtheyâd give the right dose automatically.â

Poirot nodded approvingly. He said:

âThat is what I thought myself, yes.â

âItâs so standardized, you see. Itâs not like a chemist who is making up different amounts the whole time, or multiplying dosage where an error might creep in through inattention. Or a doctor who writes a great many different prescriptions. But a dentist isnât like that at all.â

Poirot asked:

âYou did not ask to be allowed to make these observations in the Coronerâs Court?â

Gladys Nevill shook her head. She twisted her fingers uncertainly.

âYou see,â she broke out at last, âI was afraid ofâof making things worse. Of course I know that Mr. Morley wouldnât do such a thingâbut it might make people think that he had done it deliberately.â

Poirot nodded.

Gladys Nevill said:

âThatâs why I came to you, M. Poirot. Because with you itâit wouldnât be official in any way. But I do think somebody ought to know howâhow unconvincing the whole thing is!â

âNobody wants to know,â said Poirot.

She stared at him, puzzled.

Poirot said:

âI should like to know a little more about that telegram you received, summoning you away that day.â

âHonestly, I donât know what to think about that, M. Poirot. It does seem so queer. You see, it must have been sent by someone who knew all about meâand Auntâwhere she lived and everything.â

âYes, it would seem as though it must have been sent by one of your intimate friends, or by someone who lived in the house and knew all about you.â

âNone of my friends would do such a thing, M. Poirot.â

âYou have no ideas yourself on the subject?â

The girl hesitated. She said slowly:

âJust at first, when I realized that Mr. Morley had shot himself, I wondered if he could possibly have sent it.â

âYou mean, out of consideration for you, to get you out of the way?â

The girl nodded.

âBut that really seemed a fantastic idea, even if he had got the idea of suicide in his mind that morning. Itâs really very odd. Frankâmy friend, you knowâwas quite absurd at first about it. He accused me of wanting to go off for the day with somebody elseâas though I would do such a thing.â

âIs there somebody else?â

âNo, of course there isnât. But Frank has been so different latelyâso moody and suspicious. Really, you know, it was losing his job and not being able to get another. Just hanging about is so bad for a man. Iâve been very worried about Frank.â

âHe was upset, was he not, to find you had gone away that day?â

âYes, you see, he came round to tell me he had got a new jobâa marvellous jobâten pounds a week. And he couldnât wait. He wanted me to know right away. And I think he wanted Mr. Morley to know, too, because heâd been very hurt at the way Mr. Morley didnât appreciate him, and he suspected Mr. Morley of trying to influence me against him.â

âWhich was true, was it not?â

âWell, yes, it was, in a way! Of course, Frank has lost a good many jobs and he hasnât been, perhaps, what most people would call very steady. But it will be different now. I think one can do so much by influence, donât you, M. Poirot? If a man feels a woman expects a lot of him, he tries to live up to her ideal of him.â

Poirot sighed. But he did not argue. He had heard many hundreds of women produce that same argument, with the same blithe belief in the redeeming power of a womanâs love. Once in a thousand times, he supposed, cynically, it might be true.

He merely said:

âI should like to meet this friend of yours.â

âIâd love to have you meet him, M. Poirot. But just at present Sunday is his only free day. Heâs away in the country all the week, you see.â

âAh, on the new job. What is the job, by the way?â

âWell, I donât exactly know, M. Poirot. Something in the secretarial line, I imagine. Or some government department. I know I have to send letters to Frankâs London address and they get forwarded.â

âThat is a little odd, is it not?â

âWell, I thought soâbut Frank says it is often done nowadays.â

Poirot looked at her for a moment or two without speaking.

Then he said deliberately:

âTomorrow is Sunday, is it not? Perhaps you would both give me the pleasure of lunching with meâat Loganâs Corner House? I should like to discuss this sad business with you both.â

âWellâthank you, M. Poirot. Iâyes, Iâm sure weâd like to lunch with you very much.â

VIII

Frank Carter was a fair young man of medium height. His appearance was cheaply smart. He talked readily and fluently. His eyes were set rather close together and they had a way of shifting uneasily from side to side when he was embarrassed.

He was inclined to be suspicious and slightly hostile.

âIâd no idea we were to have the pleasure of lunching with you, M. Poirot. Gladys didnât tell me anything about it.â

He shot her a rather annoyed glance as he spoke.

âIt was only arranged yesterday,â said Poirot, smiling. âMiss Nevill is very upset by the circumstances of Mr. Morleyâs death and I wondered if we put our heads togetherââ

Frank Carter interrupted him rudely.

âMorleyâs death? Iâm sick of Morleyâs death! Why canât you forget him, Gladys? There wasnât anything so wonderful about him that I can see.â

âOh, Frank, I donât think you ought to say that. Why, he left me a hundred pounds. I got the letter about it last night.â

âThatâs all right,â admitted Frank grudgingly. âBut after all, why shouldnât he? He worked you like a niggerâand who pocketed all the fat fees? Why, he did!â

âWell, of course he didâhe paid me a very good salary.â

âNot according to my ideas! Youâre too humble altogether, Gladys, my girl, you let yourself be put upon, you know. I sized Morley up all right. You know as well as I do that he tried his best to get you to give me the chuck.â

âHe didnât understand.â

âHe understood all right. The manâs dead nowâotherwise I can tell you Iâd have given him a piece of my mind.â

âYou actually came round to do so on the morning of his death, did you not?â Hercule Poirot inquired gently.

Frank Carter said angrily:

âWhoâs been saying so?â

âYou did come round, did you not?â

âWhat if I did? I wanted to see Miss Nevill here.â

âBut they told you she was away.â

âYes, and that made me pretty suspicious, I can tell you. I told that red-headed oaf Iâd wait and see Morley myself. This business of putting Gladys against me had gone on long enough. I meant to tell Morley that, instead of being a poor unemployed rotter, Iâd landed a good job and that it was about time Gladys handed in her notice and thought about her trousseau.â

âBut you did not actually tell him so?â

âNo, I got tired of waiting in that dingy mausoleum. I went away.â

âWhat time did you leave?â

âI canât remember.â

âWhat time did you arrive then?â

âI donât know. Soon after twelve, I should imagine.â

âAnd you stayed half an hourâor longerâor less than half an hour?â

âI donât know, I tell you. Iâm not the sort of chap whoâs always looking at a clock.â

âWas there anyone in the waiting room while you were there?â

âThere was an oily fat bloke when I went in, but he wasnât there long. After that I was alone.â

âThen you must have left before half past twelveâfor at that time a lady arrived.â

âDaresay I did. The place got on my nerves as I tell you.â

Poirot eyed him thoughtfully.

The bluster was uneasyâit did not ring quite true. And yet that might be explained by mere nervousness.

Poirotâs manner was simple and friendly as he said:

âMiss Nevill tells me that you have been very fortunate and have found a very good job indeed.â

âThe payâs good.â

âTen pounds a week, she tells me.â

âThatâs right. Not too dusty, is it? Shows I can pull it off when I set my mind to it.â

He swaggered a little.

âYes, indeed. And the work is not too arduous?â

Frank Carter said shortly:

âNot too bad.â

âAnd interesting?â

âOh, yes, quite interesting. Talking of jobs, Iâve always been interested to know how you private detectives go about things? I suppose thereâs not much of the Sherlock Holmes touch really, mostly divorce nowadays?â

âI do not concern myself with divorce.â

âReally? Then I donât see how you live.â

âI manage, my friend, I manage.â

âBut youâre right at the top of the tree, arenât you, M. Poirot?â put in Gladys Nevill. âMr. Morley used to say so. I mean youâre the sort of person Royalty calls in, or the Home Office or Duchesses.â

Poirot smiled upon her.

âYou flatter me,â he said.

IX

Poirot walked home through the deserted streets in a thoughtful frame of mind.

When he got in, he rang up Japp.

âForgive my troubling you, my friend, but did you ever do anything in the matter of tracing that telegram that was sent to Gladys Nevill?â

âStill harping on the subject? Yes, we did, as a matter of fact. There was a telegram andârather cleverâthe aunt lives at Richbourne in Somerset. The telegram was handed in at Richbarnâyou know, the London suburb.â

Hercule Poirot said appreciatively:

âThat was cleverâyes, that was clever. If the recipient happened to glance at where the telegram was handed in, the word would look sufficiently like Richbourne to carry conviction.â

He paused.

âDo you know what I think, Japp?â

âWell?â

âThere are signs of brains in this business.â

âHercule Poirot wants it to be murder, so itâs got to be murder.â

âHow do you explain that telegram?â

âCoincidence. Someone was hoaxing the girl.â

âWhy should they?â

âOh, my goodness, Poirot, why do people do things? Practical jokes, hoaxes. Misplaced sense of humour, thatâs all.â

âAnd somebody felt like being funny just on the day that Morley was going to make a mistake over an injection.â

âThere may have been a certain amount of cause and effect. Because Miss Nevill was away, Morley was more rushed than usual and consequently was more likely to make a mistake.â

âI am still not satisfied.â

âI daresayâbut donât you see where your view is leading you? If anybody got la Nevill out of the way, it was probably Morley himself. Making his killing of Amberiotis deliberate and not an accident.â

Poirot was silent. Japp said:

âYou see?â

Poirot said:

âAmberiotis might have been killed in some other way.â

âNot he. Nobody came to see him at the Savoy. He lunched up in his room. And the doctors say the stuff was definitely injected, not taken by mouthâit wasnât in the stomach. So there you are. Itâs a clear case.â

âThat is what we are meant to think.â

âThe A.C. is satisfied anyway.â

âAnd he is satisfied with the disappearing lady?â

âThe Case of the Vanishing Seal? No, I can tell you, weâre still working on that. That womanâs got to be somewhere. You just canât walk out into the street and disappear.â

âShe seems to have done so.â

âFor the moment. But she must be somewhere, alive or dead, and I donât think she is dead.â

âWhy not?â

âBecause weâd have found her body by now.â

âOh, my Japp, do bodies always come to light so soon?â

âI suppose youâre hinting that sheâs been murdered now and that weâll find her in a quarry, cut up in little pieces like Mrs. Ruxton?â

âAfter all, mon ami, you do have missing persons who are not found.â

âVery seldom, old boy. Lots of women disappear, yes, but we usually find âem, all right. Nine times out of ten itâs a case of good old sex. Theyâre somewhere with a man. But I donât think it could be that with our Mabelle, do you?â

âOne never knows,â said Poirot cautiously. âBut I do not think it likely. So you are sure of finding her?â

âWeâll find her all right. Weâre publishing a description of her to the Press and weâre roping in the B.B.C.â

âAh,â said Poirot, âI fancy that may bring developments.â

âDonât worry, old boy. Weâll find your missing beauty for youâwoollen underwear and all.â

He rang off.

George entered the room with his usual noiseless tread. He set down on a little table a steaming pot of chocolate and some sugar biscuits.

âWill there be anything else, sir?â

âI am in great perplexity of mind, Georges.â

âIndeed, sir? I am sorry to hear it.â

Hercule Poirot poured himself out some chocolate and stirred his cup thoughtfully.

George stood deferentially waiting, recognizing the signs. There were moments when Hercule Poirot discussed his cases with his valet. He always said that he found Georgeâs comments singularly helpful.

âYou are aware, no doubt, Georges, of the death of my dentist?â

âMr. Morley, sir? Yes, sir. Very distressing, sir. He shot himself, I understand.â

âThat is the general understanding. If he did not shoot himself, he was murdered.â

âYes, sir.â

âThe question is, if he was murdered, who murdered him?â

âQuite so, sir.â

âThere are only a certain number of people, Georges, who could have murdered him. That is to say the people who were actually in, or could have been in, the house at the time.â

âQuite so, sir.â

âThose people are: a cook and housemaid, amiable domestics and highly unlikely to do anything of the kind. A devoted sister, also highly unlikely, but who does inherit her brotherâs money such as it wasâand one can never entirely neglect the financial aspect. An able and efficient partnerâno motive known. A somewhat boneheaded page boy addicted to cheap crime stories. And lastly, a Greek gentleman of somewhat doubtful antecedents.â

George coughed.

âThese foreigners, sirââ

âExactly. I agree perfectly. The Greek gentleman is decidedly indicated. But you see, Georges, the Greek gentleman also died and apparently it was Mr. Morley who killed himâwhether by intention or as the result of an unfortunate error we cannot be sure.â

âIt might be, sir, that they killed each other. I mean, sir, each gentleman had formed the idea of doing the other gentleman in, though of course each gentleman was unaware of the other gentlemanâs intention.â

Hercule Poirot purred approvingly.

âVery ingenious, Georges. The dentist murders the unfortunate gentleman who sits in the chair, not realizing that the said victim is at that moment meditating exactly at what moment to whip out his pistol. It could, of course, be so but it seems to me, Georges, extremely unlikely. And we have not come to the end of our list yet. There are still two other people who might possibly have been in the house at the given moment. Every patient, before Mr. Amberiotis, was actually seen to leave the house with the exception of oneâa young American gentleman. He left the waiting room at about twenty minutes to twelve, but no one actually saw him leave the house. We must therefore count him as a possibility. The other possibility is a certain Mr. Frank Carter (not a patient) who came to the house at a little after twelve with the intention of seeing Mr. Morley. Nobody saw him leave, either. Those, my good Georges, are the facts; what do you think of them?â

âAt what time was the murder committed, sir?â

âIf the murder was committed by Mr. Amberiotis, it was committed at any time between twelve and five-and-twenty past. If by somebody else, it was committed after twenty-five minutes past twelve, as otherwise Mr. Amberiotis would have noticed the corpse.â

He looked encouragingly at George.

âNow, my good Georges, what have you to say about the matter?â

George pondered. He said:

âIt strikes me, sirââ

âYes, Georges?â

âYou will have to find another dentist to attend to your teeth in future, sir.â

Hercule Poirot said:

âYou surpass yourself, Georges. That aspect of the matter had not as yet occurred to me!â

Looking gratified, George left the room.

Hercule Poirot remained sipping his chocolate and going over the facts he had just outlined. He felt satisfied that they were as he had stated them. Within that circle of persons was the hand that had actually done the deedâno matter whose the inspiration had been.

Then his eyebrows shot up as he realized that the list was incomplete. He had left out one name.

And no one must be left outânot even the most unlikely person.

There had been one other person in the house at the time of the murder.

He wrote down:

âMr. Barnes.â

X

George announced:

âA lady to speak to you on the telephone, sir.â

A week ago, Poirot had guessed wrongly the identity of a visitor. This time his guess was right.

He recognized her voice at once.

âM. Hercule Poirot?â

âSpeaking.â

âThis is Jane OliveraâMr. Alistair Bluntâs niece.â

âYes, Miss Olivera.â

âCould you come to the Gothic House, please? There is something I feel you ought to know.â

âCertainly. What time would be convenient?â

âAt six thirty, please.â

âI will be there.â

For a moment the autocratic note wavered:

âIâI hope I am not interrupting your work?â

âNot at all. I was expecting you to call me.â

He put down the receiver quickly. He moved away from it smiling. He wondered what excuse Jane Olivera had found for summoning him.

On arrival at the Gothic House he was shown straight into the big library overlooking the river. Alistair Blunt was sitting at the writing table playing absentmindedly with a paper knife. He had the slightly harassed look of a man whose womenfolk have been too much for him.

Jane Olivera was standing by the mantelpiece. A plump middle-aged woman was speaking fretfully as Poirot enteredââand I really think my feelings should be considered in the matter, Alistair.â

âYes, Julia, of course, of course.â

Alistair Blunt spoke soothingly as he rose to greet Poirot.

âAnd if youâre going to talk horrors I shall leave the room,â added the good lady.

âI should, mother,â said Jane Olivera.

Mrs. Olivera swept from the room without condescending to take any notice of Poirot.

Alistair Blunt said:

âItâs very good of you to come, M. Poirot. Youâve met Miss Olivera, I think? It was she who sent for youââ

Jane said abruptly:

âItâs about this missing woman that the papers are full of. Miss Something Seale.â

âSainsbury Seale? Yes?â

Jane turned once more to Poirot.

âItâs such a pompous name, thatâs why I remember. Shall I tell him, or will you, Uncle Alistair?â

âMy dear, itâs your story.â

Jane turned once more to Poirot.

âIt maynât be important in the leastâbut I thought you ought to know.â

âYes?â

âIt was the last time Uncle Alistair went to the dentistâsâI donât mean the other dayâI mean about three months ago. I went with him to Queen Charlotte Street in the Rolls and it was to take me on to some friends in Regentâs Park and come back for him. We stopped at 58, and Uncle got out, and just as he did, a woman came out of 58âa middle-aged woman with fussy hair and rather arty clothes. She made a beeline for Uncle and said (Jane Oliveraâs voice rose to an affected squeak): âOh, Mr. Blunt, you donât remember me, Iâm sure!â Well, of course, I could see by Uncleâs face that he didnât remember her in the slightestââ

Alistair Blunt sighed.

âI never do. People are always saying itââ

âHe put on his special face,â went on Jane. âI know it well. Kind of polite and make-believe. It wouldnât deceive a baby. He said in a most unconvincing voice: âOhâerâof course.â The terrible woman went on: âI was a great friend of your wifeâs, you know!ââ

âThey usually say that, too,â said Alistair Blunt in a voice of even deeper gloom.

He smiled rather ruefully.

âIt always ends the same way! A subscription to something or other. I got off this time with five pounds to a Zenana Mission or something. Cheap!â

âHad she really known your wife?â

âWell, her being interested in Zenana Missions made me think that, if so, it would have been in India. We were there about ten years ago. But, of course, she couldnât have been a great friend or Iâd have known about it. Probably met her once at a reception.â

Jane Olivera said:

âI donât believe sheâd ever met Aunt Rebecca at all. I think it was just an excuse to speak to you.â

Alistair Blunt said tolerantly:

âWell, thatâs quite possible.â

Jane said:

âI mean, I think itâs queer the way she tried to scrape an acquaintance with you, Uncle.â

Alistair Blunt said with the same tolerance:

âShe just wanted a subscription.â

Poirot said:

âShe did not try to follow it up in any way?â

Blunt shook his head.

âI never thought of her again. Iâd even forgotten her name till Jane spotted it in the paper.â

Jane said a little unconvincingly:

âWell, I thought M. Poirot ought to be told!â

Poirot said politely:

âThank you, Mademoiselle.â

He added:

âI must not keep you, Mr. Blunt. You are a busy man.â

Jane said quickly:

âIâll come down with you.â

Under his moustaches, Hercule Poirot smiled to himself.

On the ground floor, Jane paused abruptly. She said:

âCome in here.â

They went into a small room off the hall.

She turned to face him.

âWhat did you mean on the telephone when you said that you had been expecting me to call you?â

Poirot smiled. He spread out his hands.

âJust that, Mademoiselle. I was expecting a call from youâand the call came.â

âYou mean that you knew Iâd ring up about this Sainsbury Seale woman.â

Poirot shook his head.

âThat was only the pretext. You could have found something else if necessary.â

Jane said:

âWhy the hell should I call you up?â

âWhy should you deliver this titbit of information about Miss Sainsbury Seale to me instead of giving it to Scotland Yard? That would have been the natural thing to do.â

âAll right, Mr. Know All, how much exactly do you know?â

âI know that you are interested in me since you heard that I paid a visit to the Holborn Palace Hotel the other day.â

She went so white that it startled him. He had not believed that that deep tan could change to such a greenish hue.

He went on, quietly and steadily:

âYou got me to come here today because you wanted to pump meâthat is the expression, is it not?âyes, to pump me on the subject of Mr. Howard Raikes.â

Jane Olivera said:

âWhoâs he, anyway?â

It was not a very successful parry.

Poirot said:

âYou do not need to pump me, Mademoiselle. I will tell you what I knowâor rather what I guessed. That first day that we came here, Inspector Japp and I, you were startled to see usâalarmed. You thought something had happened to your uncle. Why?â

âWell, heâs the kind of man things might happen to. He had a bomb by post one dayâafter the Herjoslovakian Loan. And he gets lots of threatening letters.â

Poirot went on:

âChief Inspector Japp told you that a certain dentist, Mr. Morley, had been shot. You may recollect your answer. You said: âBut thatâs absurd.ââ

Jane bit her lip. She said:

âDid I? That was rather absurd of me, wasnât it?â

âIt was a curious remark, Mademoiselle. It revealed that you knew of the existence of Mr. Morley, that you had rather expected something to happenânot to happen to himâbut possibly to happen in his house.â

âYou do like telling yourself stories, donât you?â

Poirot paid no attention.

âYou had expectedâor rather you had fearedâthat something might happen at Mr. Morleyâs house. You had feared that that something would have happened to your uncle. But if so, you must know something that we did not know. I reflected on the people who had been in Mr. Morleyâs house that day, and I seized at once on the one person who might possibly have a connection with youâwhich was that young American, Mr. Howard Raikes.â

âItâs just like a serial, isnât it? Whatâs the next thrilling instalment?â

âI went to see Mr. Howard Raikes. He is a dangerous and attractive young manââ

Poirot paused expressively.

Jane said meditatively:

âHe is, isnât he?â She smiled. âAll right! You win! I was scared stiff.â

She leaned forward.

âIâm going to tell you things, M. Poirot. Youâre not the kind one can just string along. Iâd rather tell you than have you snooping around finding out. I love that man, Howard Raikes. Iâm just crazy about him. My mother brought me over here just to get me away from him. Partly that and partly because she hopes Uncle Alistair might get fond enough of me to leave me his money when he dies.â

She went on:

âMother is his niece by marriage. Her mother was Rebecca Arnholtâs sister. Heâs my great-uncle-in-law. Only he hasnât got any near relatives of his own, so mother doesnât see why we shouldnât be his residuary legatees. She cadges off him pretty freely too.

âYou see, Iâm being frank with you, M. Poirot. Thatâs the kind of people we are. Actually weâve got plenty of money ourselvesâan indecent amount according to Howardâs ideasâbut weâre not in Uncle Alistairâs class.â

She paused. She struck with one hand fiercely on the arm of her chair.

âHow can I make you understand? Everything Iâve been brought up to believe in, Howard abominates and wants to do away with. And sometimes, you know, I feel like he does. Iâm fond of Uncle Alistair, but he gets on my nerves sometimes. Heâs so stodgyâso Britishâso cautious and conservative. I feel sometimes that he and his kind ought to be swept away, that they are blocking progressâthat without them weâd get things done!â

âYou are a convert to Mr. Raikesâ ideas?â

âI amâand Iâm not. Howard isâis wilder than most of his crowd. There are people, you know, whoâwho agree with Howard up to a point. They would be willing toâto try thingsâif Uncle Alistair and his crowd would agree. But they never will! They just sit back and shake their heads and say: âWe could never risk that.â And âIt wouldnât be sound economically.â And âWeâve got to consider our responsibility.â And âLook at history.â But I think that one mustnât look at history. Thatâs looking back. One must look forward all the time.â

Poirot said gently:

âIt is an attractive vision.â

Jane looked at him scornfully.

âYou say that too!â

âPerhaps because I am old. Their old men have dreamsâonly dreams, you see.â

He paused and then asked in a matter-of-fact voice:

âWhy did Mr. Howard Raikes make that appointment in Queen Charlotte Street?â

âBecause I wanted him to meet Uncle Alistair and I couldnât see otherwise how to manage it. Heâd been so bitter about Uncle Alistairâso full ofâwell, hate really, that I felt if he could only see himâsee what a nice kindly unassuming person he wasâthatâthat he would feel differently â¦ I couldnât arrange a meeting here because of motherâshe would have spoilt everything.â

Poirot said:

âBut after having made that arrangement, you wereâafraid.â

Her eyes grew wide and dark. She said:

âYes. Becauseâbecauseâsometimes Howard gets carried away. Heâheââ

Hercule Poirot said:

âHe wants to take a short cut. To exterminateââ

Jane Olivera cried: âDonât!â

SEVEN, EIGHT, LAY THEM STRAIGHT

I

Time went on. It was over a month since Mr. Morleyâs death, and there was still no news of Miss Sainsbury Seale.

Japp became increasingly wrathful on the subject.

âDash it all, Poirot, the womanâs got to be somewhere.â

âIndubitably, mon cher.â

âEither sheâd dead or alive. If sheâs dead, whereâs her body? Say, for instance, she committed suicideââ

âAnother suicide?â

âDonât letâs get back to that. You still say Morley was murderedâI say it was suicide.â

âYou havenât traced the pistol?â

âNo, itâs a foreign make.â

âThat is suggestive, is it not?â

âNot in the way you mean. Morley had been abroad. He went on cruises, he and his sister. Everybody in the British Isles goes on cruises. He may have picked it up abroad. They like to feel lifeâs dangerous.â

He paused and said:

âDonât sidetrack me. I was saying that ifâonly if, mind youâthat blasted woman committed suicide, if sheâd drowned herself for instance, the body would have come ashore by now. If she was murdered, the same thing.â

âNot if a weight was attached to her body and it was put into the Thames.â

âFrom a cellar in Limehouse, I suppose! Youâre talking like a thriller by a lady novelist.â

âI knowâI know. I blush when I say these things!â

âAnd she was done to death by an international gang of crooks, I suppose?â

Poirot sighed. He said:

âI have been told lately that there really are such things.â

âWho told you so?â

âMr. Reginald Barnes of Castlegarden Road, Ealing.â

âWell, he might know,â said Japp dubiously. âHe dealt with aliens when he was at the Home Office.â

âAnd you do not agree?â

âIt isnât my branchâoh yes, there are such thingsâbut theyâre rather futile as a rule.â

There was a momentary silence as Poirot twirled his moustache.

Japp said:

âWeâve got one or two additional bits of information. She came home from India on the same boat as Amberiotis. But she was second class and he was first, so I donât suppose thereâs anything in that, although one of the waiters at the Savoy thinks she lunched there with him about a week or so before he died.â

âSo there may have been a connection between them?â

âThere may beâbut I canât feel itâs likely. I canât see a Missionary lady being mixed up in any funny business.â

âWas Amberiotis mixed up in any âfunny business,â as you term it?â

âYes, he was. He was in close touch with some of our Central European friends. Espionage racket.â

âYou are sure of that?â

âYes. Oh, he wasnât doing any of the dirty work himself. We wouldnât have been able to touch him. Organizing and receiving reportsâthat was his lay.â

Japp paused and then went on:

âBut that doesnât help us with the Sainsbury Seale. She wouldnât have been in on that racket.â

âShe had lived in India, remember. There was a lot of unrest there last year.â

âAmberiotis and the excellent Miss Sainsbury SealeâI canât feel that they were teammates.â

âDid you know that Miss Sainsbury Seale was a close friend of the late Mrs. Alistair Blunt?â

âWho says so? I donât believe it. Not in the same class.â

âShe said so.â

âWhoâd she say that to?â

âMr. Alistair Blunt.â

âOh! That sort of thing. He must be used to that lay. Do you mean that Amberiotis was using her that way? It wouldnât work. Blunt would get rid of her with a subscription. He wouldnât ask her down for a weekend or anything of that kind. Heâs not so unsophisticated as that.â

This was so palpably true that Poirot could only agree. After a minute or two, Japp went on with his summing up of the Sainsbury Seale situation.

âI suppose her body might have been lowered into a tank of acid by a mad scientistâthatâs another solution theyâre very fond of in books! But take my word for it, these things are all my eye and Betty Martin. If the woman is dead, her body has just been quietly buried somewhere.â

âBut where?â

âExactly. She disappeared in London. Nobodyâs got a garden thereânot a proper one. A lonely chicken farm, thatâs what we want!â

A garden! Poirotâs mind flashed suddenly to that neat prim garden in Ealing with its formal beds. How fantastic if a dead woman should be buried there! He told himself not to be absurd.

âAnd if she isnât dead,â went on Japp, âwhere is she? Over a month now, description published in the Press, circulated all over Englandââ

âAnd nobody has seen her?â

âOh yes, practically everybody has seen her! Youâve no idea how many middle-aged faded-looking women wearing olive green cardigan suits there are. Sheâs been seen on Yorkshire moors, and in Liverpool hotels, in guest houses in Devon and on the beach at Ramsgate! My men have spent their time patiently investigating all these reportsâand one and all theyâve led nowhere, except to getting us in wrong with a number of perfectly respectable middle-aged ladies.â

Poirot clicked his tongue sympathetically.

âAnd yet,â went on Japp, âsheâs a real person all right. I mean, sometimes you come across a dummy, so to speakâsomeone who just comes to a place and poses as a Miss Spinksâwhen all the time there isnât a Miss Spinks. But this womanâs genuineâsheâs got a past, a background! We know all about her from her childhood upwards! Sheâs led a perfectly normal, reasonable lifeâand suddenly, hey prestoâvanish!â

âThere must be a reason,â said Poirot.

âShe didnât shoot Morley, if thatâs what you mean. Amberiotis saw him alive after she leftâand weâve checked up on her movements after she left Queen Charlotte Street that morning.â

Poirot said impatiently:

âI am not suggesting for a moment that she shot Morley. Of course she did not. But all the sameââ

Japp said:

âIf you are right about Morley, then itâs far more likely that he told her something which, although she doesnât suspect it, gives a clue to his murderer. In that case, she might have been deliberately got out of the way.â

Poirot said:

âAll this involves an organization, some big concern quite out of proportion to the death of a quiet dentist in Queen Charlotte Street.â

âDonât you believe everything Reginald Barnes tells you! Heâs a funny old birdâgot spies and communists on the brain.â

Japp got up and Poirot said:

âLet me know if you have news.â

When Japp had gone out, Poirot sat frowning down at the table in front of him.

He had definitely the feeling of waiting for something. What was it?

He remembered how he had sat before, jotting down various unrelated facts and a series of names. A bird had flown past the window with a twig in its mouth.

He, too, had been collecting twigs. Five, six, picking up sticks â¦

He had the sticksâquite a number of them now. They were all there, neatly pigeonholed in his orderly mindâbut he had not as yet attempted to set them in order. That was the next stepâlay them straight.

What was holding him up? He knew the answer. He was waiting for something.

Something inevitable, foreordained, the next link in the chain. When it cameâthenâthen he could go onâ¦.

II

It was late evening a week later when the summons came. Jappâs voice was brusque over the telephone.

âThat you, Poirot? Weâve found her. Youâd better come round. King Leopold Mansions. Battersea Park. Number 45.â

A quarter of an hour later a taxi deposited Poirot outside King Leopold Mansions.

It was a big block of mansion flats looking out over Battersea Park. Number 45 was on the second floor. Japp himself opened the door.

His face was set in grim lines.

âCome in,â he said. âItâs not particularly pleasant, but I expect youâll want to see for yourself.â

Poirot saidâbut it was hardly a question:

âDead?â

âWhat you might describe as very dead!â

Poirot cocked his head at a familiar sound coming from a door on his right.

âThatâs the porter,â said Japp. âBeing sick in the scullery sink! I had to get him up here to see if he could identify her.â

He led the way down the passage and Poirot followed him. His nose wrinkled.

âNot nice,â said Japp. âBut what can you expect? Sheâs been dead well over a month.â

The room they went into was a small lumber and box room. In the middle of it was a big metal chest of the kind used for storing furs. The lid was open.

Poirot stepped forward and looked inside.

He saw the foot first, with the shabby shoe on it and the ornate buckle. His first sight of Miss Sainsbury Seale had been, he remembered, a shoe buckle.

His gaze travelled up, over the green wool coat and skirt till it reached the head.

He made an inarticulate noise.

âI know,â said Japp. âItâs pretty horrible.â

The face had been battered out of all recognizable shape. Add to that the natural process of decomposition, and it was no wonder that both men looked a shade pea green as they turned away.

âOh well,â said Japp. âItâs all in a dayâs workâour dayâs work. No doubt about it, ours is a lousy job sometimes. Thereâs a spot of brandy in the other room. Youâd better have some.â

The living room was smartly furnished in an up-to-date styleâa good deal of chromium and some large square-looking easy chairs upholstered in a pale fawn geometric fabric.

Poirot found the decanter and helped himself to some brandy. As he finished drinking, he said:

âIt was not pretty, that! Now tell me, my friend, all about it.â

Japp said:

âThis flat belongs to a Mrs. Albert Chapman. Mrs. Chapman is, I gather, a well-upholstered smart blonde of forty-odd. Pays her bills, fond of an occasional game of bridge with her neighbours but keeps herself to herself more or less. No children. Mr. Chapman is a commercial traveller.

âSainsbury Seale came here on the evening of our interview with her. About seven fifteen. So she probably came straight here from the Glengowrie Court. Sheâd been here once before, so the porter says. You see, all perfectly clear and aboveboardânice friendly call. The porter took Miss Sainsbury Seale up in the lift to this flat. The last he saw of her was standing on the mat pressing the bell.â

Poirot commented:

âHe has taken his time to remember this!â

âHeâs had gastric trouble, it seems, been away in hospital while another man took on temporarily for him. It wasnât until about a week ago that he happened to notice in an old paper the description of a âwanted womanâ and he said to his wife, âSounds quite like that old cup of tea who came to see Mrs. Chapman on the second floor. She had on a green wool dress and buckles on her shoes.â And after about another hour he registered againââBelieve she had a name, too, something like that. Blimey, it wasâMiss Something or other Seale!â

âAfter that,â continued Japp, âit took him about four days to overcome his natural distrust of getting mixed up with the police and come along with his information.

âWe didnât really think it would lead to anything. Youâve no idea how many of these false alarms weâve had. However, I sent Sergeant Beddoes alongâheâs a bright young fellow. A bit too much of this high-class education but he canât help that. Itâs fashionable now.

âWell, Beddoes got a hunch at once that we were on to something at last. For one thing this Mrs. Chapman hadnât been seen about for over a month. Sheâd gone away without leaving any address. That was a bit odd. In fact everything he could learn about Mr. and Mrs. Chapman seemed odd.

âHe found out the porter hadnât seen Miss Sainsbury Seale leave again. That in itself wasnât unusual. She might easily have come down the stairs and gone out without his seeing her. But then the porter told him that Mrs. Chapman had gone away rather suddenly. There was just a big printed notice outside the door the next morning:

Â 

NO MILK. TELL NELLIE I AM CALLED AWAY.

Â 

âNellie was the daily maid who did for her. Mrs. Chapman had gone away suddenly once or twice before, so the girl didnât think it odd, but what was odd was the fact that she hadnât rung for the porter to take her luggage down or get her a taxi.

âAnyway, Beddoes decided to get into the flat. We got a search warrant and a pass key from the manager. Found nothing of interest except in the bathroom. There had been some hasty clearing up done there. There was a trace of blood on the linoleumâin the corners where it had been missed when the floor was washed over. After that, it was just a question of finding the body. Mrs. Chapman couldnât have left with any luggage with her or the porter would have known. Therefore the body must still be in the flat. We soon spotted that fur chestâairtight, you knowâjust the place. Keys were in the dressing table drawer.

âWe opened it upâand there was the missing lady! Mistletoe Bough up-to-date.â

Poirot asked:

âWhat about Mrs. Chapman?â

âWhat indeed? Who is Sylvia (her nameâs Sylvia, by the way), what is she? One thing is certain. Sylvia, or Sylviaâs friends, murdered the lady and put her in the box.â

Poirot nodded.

He asked:

âBut why was her face battered in? It is not nice, that.â

âIâll say it isnât nice! As to whyâwell, one can only guess. Sheer vindictiveness, perhaps. Or it may have been with the idea of concealing the womanâs identity.â

âBut it did not conceal her identity.â

âNo, because not only had we got a pretty good description of what Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was wearing when she disappeared, but her handbag had been stuffed into the fur box too and inside the handbag there was actually an old letter addressed to her at her hotel in Russell Square.â

Poirot sat up. He said:

âBut thatâthat does not make the common sense!â

âIt certainly doesnât. I suppose it was a slip.â

âYesâperhapsâa slip. Butââ

He got up.

âYou have been over the flat?â

âPretty well. Thereâs nothing illuminating.â

âI should like to see Mrs. Chapmanâs bedroom.â

âCome along then.â

The bedroom showed no signs of a hasty departure. It was neat and tidy. The bed had not been slept in, but was turned down ready for the night. There was a thick coating of dust everywhere.

Japp said:

âNo finger-prints, so far as we can see. There are some on the kitchen things, but I expect theyâll turn out to be the maidâs.â

âThat means that the whole place was dusted very carefully after the murder?â

âYes.â

Poirotâs eyes swept slowly round the room. Like the sitting room it was furnished in the modern styleâand furnished, so he thought, by someone with a moderate income. The articles in it were expensive but not ultra expensive. They were showy but not first-class. The colour scheme was rose pink. He looked into the built-in wardrobe and handled the clothesâsmart clothes but again not of first-class quality. His eyes fell to the shoesâthey were largely of the sandal variety popular at the moment, some had exaggerated cork soles. He balanced one in his hand, registered the fact that Mrs. Chapman had taken a 5 in shoes and put it down again. In another cupboard he found a pile of furs, shoved in a heap.

Japp said:

âCame out of the fur chest.â

Poirot nodded.

He was handling a grey squirrel coat. He remarked appreciatively: âFirst-class skins.â

He went into the bathroom.

There was a lavish display of cosmetics. Poirot looked at them with interest. Powder, rouge, vanishing cream, skin food, two bottles of hair application.

Japp said:

âNot one of our natural platinum blondes, I gather.â

Poirot murmured:

âAt forty, mon ami, the hair of most women has begun to go grey but Mrs. Chapman was not one to yield to nature.â

âSheâs probably gone henna red by now for a change.â

âI wonder.â

Japp said:

âThereâs something worrying you, Poirot. What is it?â

Poirot said:

âBut yes, I am worried. I am very seriously worried. There is here, you see, for me an insoluble problem.â

Resolutely, he went once more into the box roomâ¦.

He took hold of the shoe on the dead womanâs foot. It resisted and came off with difficulty.

He examined the buckle. It had been clumsily sewn on by hand.

Hercule Poirot sighed. He said:

âIt is that I am dreaming!â

Japp said curiously:

âWhat are you trying to doâmake the thing more difficult?â

âExactly that.â

Japp said:

âOne patent leather shoe, complete with buckle. Whatâs wrong with that?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âNothingâabsolutely nothing. But all the sameâI do not understand.â

III

Mrs. Merton of No. 82, King Leopold Mansions had been designated by the porter as Mrs. Chapmanâs closest friend in the Mansions.

It was, therefore, to No. 82 that Japp and Poirot betook themselves next.

Mrs. Merton was a loquacious lady, with snapping black eyes, and an elaborate coiffure.

It needed no pressure to make her talk. She was only too ready to rise to a dramatic situation.

âSylvia Chapmanâwell, of course, I donât know her really wellânot intimately, so to speak. We had a few bridge evenings occasionally and we went to the pictures together, and of course shopping sometimes. But oh, do tell meâshe isnât dead, is she?â

Japp reassured her.

âWell, Iâm sure Iâm thankful to hear it! But the postman just now was all agog about a body having been found in one of the flatsâbut then one really canât believe half one hears, can one? I never do.â

Japp asked a further question.

âNo, I havenât heard anything of Mrs. Chapmanânot since we had spoken about going to see the new Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire the following week, and she said nothing about going away then.â

Mrs. Merton had never heard a Miss Sainsbury Seale mentioned. Mrs. Chapman had never spoken of anyone of that name.

âAnd yet, you know, the name is familiar to me, distinctly familiar. I seem to have seen it somewhere quite lately.â

Japp said drily:

âItâs been in all the papers for some weeksââ

âOf courseâsome missing person, wasnât it? And you thought Mrs. Chapman might have known her? No, Iâm sure Iâve never heard Sylvia mention that name.â

âCan you tell me anything about Mr. Chapman, Mrs. Merton?â

A rather curious expression came over Mrs. Mertonâs face. She said:

âHe was a commercial traveller, I believe, so Mrs. Chapman told me. He travelled abroad for his firmâarmaments, I believe. He went all over Europe.â

âDid you ever meet him?â

âNo, never. He was at home so seldom, and when he was at home he and Mrs. Chapman didnât want to bother with outsiders. Very naturally.â

âDo you know if Mrs. Chapman had any near relations or friends?â

âI donât know about friends. I donât think she had any near relations. She never spoke of any.â

âWas she ever in India?â

âNot that I know of.â

Mrs. Merton paused, and then broke out:

âBut please tell meâwhy are you asking all these questions? I quite understand that you come from Scotland Yard and all that, but there must be some special reason?â

âWell, Mrs. Merton, you are bound to know some time. As a matter of fact, a dead body has been found in Mrs. Chapmanâs flat.â

âOhâ?â Mrs. Merton looked for a moment like the dog whose eyes were as big as saucers.

âA dead body! It wasnât Mr. Chapman, was it? Or perhaps some foreigner?â

Japp said:

âIt wasnât a man at allâit was a woman.â

âA woman.â Mrs. Merton seemed even more surprised.

Poirot said gently:

âWhy should you think it was a man?â

âOh, I donât know. It seemed more likely somehow.â

âBut why? Was it because Mrs. Chapman was in the habit of receiving gentleman visitors?â

âOh noâoh no indeed.â Mrs. Merton was indignant. âI never meant anything of that kind. Sylvia Chapman wasnât in the least that kind of womanânot at all! It was just that, with Mr. ChapmanâI meanââ

She came to a stop.

Poirot said:

âI think, Madame, that you know a little more than you have told us.â

Mrs. Merton said uncertainly:

âI donât know, Iâm sureâwhat I ought to do! I mean, I donât exactly want to betray a confidence and of course I never have repeated what Sylvia told meâexcept just to one or two intimates whom I knew were really safeââ

Mrs. Merton leaned forward and lowered her voice:

âIt justâslipped out, as it were, one day. When we were seeing a filmâabout the Secret Service and Mrs. Chapman said you could see that whoever had written it didnât know much about their subject, and then it came outâonly she swore me to secrecy. Mr. Chapman was in the Secret Service, I mean. That was the real reason he had to go abroad so much. The armament firm was only a blind. And it was terribly worrying for Mrs. Chapman because she couldnât write to him or get letters from him while he was away. And, of course, it was terribly dangerous!â

IV

As they went down the stairs again to No. 42, Japp ejaculated with feeling: âShades of Phillips Oppenheim, Valentine Williams and William le Queux, I think Iâm going mad!â

That smart young man, Sergeant Beddoes, was waiting for them.

He said respectfully:

âHavenât been able to get anything helpful from the maid, sir. Mrs. Chapman changed maids pretty often, it seems. This one only worked for her for a month or two. She says Mrs. Chapman was a nice lady, fond of the radio and pleasant spoken. Girl was of the opinion the husband was a gay deceiver but that Mrs. Chapman didnât suspect it. She got letters from abroad sometimes, some from Germany, two from America, one from Italy and one from Russia. The girlâs young man collects stamps, and Mrs. Chapman used to give them to her off the letters.â

âAnything among Mrs. Chapmanâs papers?â

âAbsolutely nothing, sir. She didnât keep much. A few bills and receipted accountsâall local. Some old theatre programmes, one or two cookery recipes cut out of the papers, and a pamphlet about Zenana Missions.â

âAnd we can guess who brought that here. She doesnât sound like a murderess, does she? And yet thatâs what it seems to be. Sheâs bound to be an accomplice anyway. No strange men seen about that evening?â

âThe porter doesnât remember anyâbut then I donât suppose he would by now, and anyway itâs a big block of flatsâpeople always going in and out. He can only fix the date of Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs visit because he was taken off to the hospital the next day and was actually feeling rather bad that evening.â

âAnybody in the other flats hear anything out of the way?â

The younger man shook his head.

âIâve inquired at the flat above this and the one below. Nobody can remember hearing anything unusual. Both of them had their radios on, I gather.â

The divisional surgeon came out of the bathroom where he had been washing his hands.

âMost unsavoury corpse,â he said cheerfully. âSend her along when youâre ready and Iâll get down to brass tacks.â

âNo idea of the cause of death, doctor?â

âImpossible to say until Iâve done the autopsy. Those face injuries were definitely inflicted after death, I should say. But I shall know better when Iâve got her at the mortuary. Middle-aged woman, quite healthyâgrey hair at the roots but tinted blonde. There may be distinguishing marks on the bodyâif there isnât, it may be a job to identify herâoh, you know who she is, splendid? What? Missing woman thereâs been all the fuss about? Well, you know, I never read the papers. Just do the crosswords.â

Japp said bitterly:

âAnd thatâs publicity for you!â as the doctor went out.

Poirot was hovering over the desk. He picked up a small brown address book.

The indefatigable Beddoes said:

âNothing of special interest thereâmost hairdressers, dressmakers, etc. Iâve noted down any private names and addresses.â

Poirot opened the book at the letter D.

He read:

Dr. Davis, 17, Prince Albert Road,

Drake and Pomponetti, Fishmongers.

And below it:

Dentist. Mr. Morley, 58, Queen Charlotte Street.

There was a green light in Poirotâs eyes. He said:

âThere will be no difficulty, I imagine, in positively identifying the body.â

Japp looked at him curiously. He said:

âSurelyâyou donât imagineâ?â

Poirot said with vehemence:

âI want to be sure.â

V

Miss Morley had moved to the country. She was living in a small country cottage near Hertford.

The Grenadier greeted Poirot amicably. Since her brotherâs death her face had perhaps grown slightly grimmer, her carriage more upright, her general attitude towards life more unyielding. She resented bitterly the slur cast upon her brotherâs professional name by the findings of the inquest.

Poirot, she had reason to believe, shared the view that the verdict of the Coronerâs inquest was untrue. Hence the Grenadier unbent a little.

She answered his questions readily enough and with competence. All Mr. Morleyâs professional papers had been carefully filed by Miss Nevill and had been handed over by her to Mr. Morleyâs successor. Some of the patients had transferred themselves to Mr. Reilly, others had accepted the new partner, others again had gone to other dentists elsewhere.

Miss Morley, after she had given what information she could, said:

âSo you have found that woman who was Henryâs patientâMiss Sainsbury Sealeâand she was murdered too.â

The âtooâ was a little defiant. She stressed the word.

Poirot said:

âYour brother never mentioned Miss Sainsbury Seale particularly to you?â

âNo, I donât remember his doing so. He would tell me if he had had a particularly trying patient, or if one of his patients had said something amusing he would pass it on to me, but we didnât usually talk about his work much. He was glad to forget it when the day was over. He was very tired sometimes.â

âDo you remember hearing of a Mrs. Chapman amongst your brotherâs patients?â

âChapman? No, I donât think so. Miss Nevill is really the person to help you over all this.â

âI am anxious to get in touch with her. Where is she now?â

âShe has taken a post with a dentist in Ramsgate, I believe.â

âShe has not married that young man Frank Carter yet?â

âNo. I rather hope that will never come off. I donât like that young man, M. Poirot. I really donât. There is something wrong about him. I still feel that he hasnât really any proper moral sense.â

Poirot said:

âDo you think it is possible that he could have shot your brother?â

Miss Morley said slowly:

âI do feel perhaps that he would be capable of itâhe has a very uncontrollable temper. But I donât really see that he had any motiveânor opportunity for that matter. You see, it wasnât as though Henry had succeeded in persuading Gladys to give him up. She was sticking to him in the most faithful way.â

âCould he have been bribed, do you think?â

âBribed? To kill my brother? What an extraordinary idea!â

A nice-looking dark-haired girl brought in the tea at this moment. As she closed the door behind her again, Poirot said:

âThat girl was with you in London, was she not?â

âAgnes? Yes, she was house-parlourmaid. I let the cook goâshe didnât want to come to the country anywayâand Agnes does everything for me. She is turning into quite a nice little cook.â

Poirot nodded.

He knew very accurately the domestic arrangements of 58, Queen Charlotte Street. They had been thoroughly gone into at the time of the tragedy. Mr. Morley and his sister had occupied the two top floors of the house as a maisonette. The basement had been shut up altogether except for a narrow passage leading from the area to the back yard where a wire cage ran up to the top floor with the tradesmenâs deliveries and where a speaking tube was installed. Therefore the only entrance to the house was by the front door which it was Alfredâs business to answer. This had enabled the police to be sure that no outsider could have entered the house on that particular morning.

Both cook and house-parlourmaid had been with the Morleys for some years and bore good characters. So, although it was theoretically possible that one or the other of them might have crept down to the second floor and shot her master, the possibility had never been taken seriously into account. Neither of the two had appeared unduly flustered or upset at being questioned, and there certainly seemed no possible reason for connecting either of them with his death.

Nevertheless, as Agnes handed Poirot his hat and stick on leaving, she asked him with an unusually nervous abruptness:

âDoesâdoes anyone know anything more about the masterâs death, sir?â

Poirot turned to look at her. He said:

âNothing fresh has come to light.â

âTheyâre still quite sure as he did shoot himself because heâd made a mistake with that drug?â

âYes. Why do you ask?â

Agnes pleated her apron. Her face was averted. She said rather indistinctly:

âTheâthe mistress doesnât think so.â

âAnd you agree with her, perhaps?â

âMe? Oh, I donât know nothing, sir. I onlyâI only wanted to be sure.â

Hercule Poirot said in his most gentle voice:

âIt would be a relief to you to feel beyond any possible doubt that it was suicide?â

âOh, yes, sir,â Agnes agreed quickly, âit would indeed.â

âFor a special reason, perhaps?â

Her startled eyes met his. She shrank back a little.

âIâI donât know anything about it, sir. I only just asked.â

âBut why did she ask?â Hercule Poirot demanded of himself, as he walked down the path to the gate.

He felt sure that there was an answer to that question. But as yet he could not guess what it was.

All the same, he felt a step nearer.

VI

When Poirot returned to his flat he was surprised to find an unexpected visitor waiting for him.

A bald head was visible above the back of a chair, and the small neat figure of Mr. Barnes rose to his feet.

With eyes that twinkled as usual, he made a dry little apology.

He had come, he explained, to return M. Hercule Poirotâs visit.

Poirot professed himself delighted to see Mr. Barnes.

George was instructed to bring some coffee unless his visitor preferred tea or whisky and soda?

âCoffee will be admirable,â said Mr. Barnes. âI imagine that your manservant prepares it well. Most English servants do not.â

Presently, after a few interchanges of polite remarks, Mr. Barnes gave a little cough and said:

âI will be frank with you, M. Poirot. It was sheer curiosity that brought me here. You, I imagined, would be well posted in all the details of this rather curious case. I see by the papers that the missing Miss Sainsbury Seale has been found. That an inquest was held and adjourned for further evidence. Cause of death was stated to have been an overdose of medinal.â

âThat is quite correct,â said Poirot.

There was a pause and then Poirot asked:

âHave you ever heard of Albert Chapman, Mr. Barnes?â

âAh, the husband of the lady in whose flat Miss Sainsbury Seale came to die? Rather an elusive person, it would seem.â

âBut hardly nonexistent?â

âOh no,â said Mr. Barnes. âHe exists. Oh yes, he existsâor did exist. I had heard he was dead. But you canât trust these rumours.â

âWho was he, Mr. Barnes?â

âI donât suppose theyâll say at the inquest. Not if they can help it. Theyâll trot out the armaments firm traveller story.â

âHe was in the Secret Service then?â

âOf course he was. But he had no business to tell his wife soâno business at all. In fact he ought not to have continued in the Service after his marriage. It isnât usually doneânot, that is, when youâre one of the really hush-hush people.â

âAnd Albert Chapman was?â

âYes. Q.X.912. Thatâs what he was known as. Using a name is most irregular. Oh, I donât mean that Q.X.912 was specially importantâor anything of that kind. But he was useful because he was an insignificant kind of chapâthe kind whose face isnât easily remembered. He was used a lot as a messenger up and down Europe. You know the sort of thing. One dignified letter sent via our Ambassador in Ruritaniaâone unofficial ditto containing the dirt per Q.X.912âthat is to say: Mr. Albert Chapman.â

âThen he knew a lot of useful information?â

âProbably didnât know a thing,â said Mr. Barnes cheerfully. âHis job was just hopping in and out of trains and boats and aero-planes and having the right story to explain why he was going where he was going!â

âAnd you heard he was dead?â

âThatâs what I heard,â said Mr. Barnes. âBut you canât believe all you hear. I never do.â

Looking at Mr. Barnes intently, Poirot asked:

âWhat do you think has happened to his wife?â

âI canât imagine,â said Mr. Barnes. He looked, wide-eyed at Poirot. âCan you?â

Poirot said:

âI had an ideaââ He stopped.

He said slowly:

âIt is very confusing.â

Mr. Barnes murmured sympathetically: âAnything worrying you in particular?â

Hercule Poirot said slowly:

âYes. The evidence of my own eyesâ¦.â

VII

Japp came into Poirotâs sitting room and slammed down his bowler hat with such force that the table rocked.

He said:

âWhat the devil made you think of it?â

âMy good Japp, I do not know what you are talking about.â

Japp said slowly and forcefully:

âWhat gave you the idea that the body wasnât Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs body?â

Poirot looked worried. He said:

âIt was the face that worried me. Why smash up a dead womanâs face?â

Japp said:

âMy word, I hope old Morleyâs somewhere where he can know about it. Itâs just possible, you know, that he was put out of the way on purposeâso that he couldnât give evidence.â

âIt would certainly be better if he could have given evidence himself.â

âLeatheran will be all right. Morleyâs successor. Heâs a thoroughly capable man with a good manner and the evidence is unmistakable.â

The evening papers came out with a sensation the next day. The dead body found in the Battersea flat, believed to be that of Miss Sainsbury Seale, was positively identified as that of Mrs. Albert Chapman.

Mr. Leatheran, of 58, Queen Charlotte Street, unhesitatingly pronounced it to be Mrs. Chapman on the evidence of the teeth and jaw, full particulars of which were recorded in the late Mr. Morleyâs professional chart.

Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs clothes had been found on the body and Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs handbag with the bodyâbut where was Miss Sainsbury Seale herself?

NINE, TEN, A GOOD FAT HEN

I

As they came away from the inquest Japp said jubilantly to Poirot:

âA smart piece of work, that. Gave âem a sensation!â

Poirot nodded.

âYou tumbled to it first,â said Japp, âbut, you know, I wasnât happy about that body myself. After all, you donât go smashing a dead personâs face and head about for nothing. Itâs messy, unpleasant work, and it was pretty plain there must be some reason for it. And thereâs only one reason there could beâto confuse the identity.â He added generously: âBut I shouldnât have tumbled so quickly to the fact that it actually was the other woman.â

Poirot said with a smile:

âAnd yet, my friend, the actual descriptions of the women were not unlike as regards fundamentals. Mrs. Chapman was a smart, good-looking woman, well made up and fashionably turned out. Miss Sainsbury Seale was dowdy and innocent of lipstick or rouge. But the essentials were the same. Both were women of forty odd. Both were roughly about the same height and build. Both had hair turning grey which they touched up to make it appear golden.â

âYes, of course, when you put it like that. One thing weâve got to admitâthe fair Mabelle put it over on both of us, good and proper. Iâd have sworn she was the genuine article.â

âBut, my friend, she was the genuine article. We know all about her past life.â

âWe didnât know she was capable of murderâand thatâs what it looks like now. Sylvia didnât murder Mabelle. Mabelle murdered Sylvia.â

Hercule Poirot shook his head in a worried fashion. He still found it difficult to reconcile Mabelle Sainsbury Seale with murder. Yet in his ears he heard the small, ironic voice of Mr. Barnes:

âLook among the respectable peopleâ¦.â

Mabelle Sainsbury Seale had been eminently respectable.

Japp said with emphasis:

âIâm going to get to the bottom of this case, Poirot. That woman isnât going to put it over on me.â

II

The following day, Japp rang up. His voice held a curious note.

He said:

âPoirot, do you want to hear a piece of news? Itâs napoo, my lad. Napoo!â

âPardon?âthe line is perhaps not very clear. I did not quite catchââ

âItâs off, my boy. O.F.F. Call it a day! Sit down and twiddle our thumbs!â

There was no mistaking the bitterness now. Poirot was startled.

âWhat is off?â

âThe whole ruddy blinking thing! The hue and cry! The publicity! The whole bag of tricks!â

âBut I still do not understand.â

âWell, listen. Listen carefully, because I canât mention names very well. You know our inquiry? You know weâre combing the country for a performing fish?â

âYes, yes, perfectly. I comprehend now.â

âWell, thatâs been called off. Hushed upâkept mum. Now do you understand?â

âYes, yes. But why?â

âOrders from the ruddy Foreign Office.â

âIs not that very extraordinary?â

âWell, it does happen now and again.â

âWhy should they be so forbearing to Missâto the performing fish?â

âTheyâre not. They donât care tuppence about her. Itâs the publicityâif sheâs brought to trial too much might come out about Mrs. A. C. The corpse. Thatâs the hush-hush side! I can only suppose that the ruddy husbandâMr. A. C.âGet me?â

âYes, yes.â

âThat heâs somewhere abroad in a ticklish spot and they donât want to queer his pitch.â

âTchah!â

âWhat did you say?â

âI made, mon ami, an exclamation of annoyance!â

âOh! that was it. I thought youâd caught cold. Annoyance is right! I could use a stronger word. Letting that dame get away with it makes me see red.â

Poirot said very softly:

âShe will not get away with it.â

âOur hands are tied, I tell you!â

âYours may beâmine are not!â

âGood old Poirot! Then you are going on with it?â

âMais ouiâto the death.â

âWell, donât let it be your death, old boy! If this business goes on as it has begun someone will probably send you a poisoned tarantula by post!â

As he replaced the receiver, Poirot said to himself:

âNow, why did I use that melodramatic phraseââto the death?â Vraiment, it is absurd!â

III

The letter came by evening post. It was typewritten except for the signature.

Dear M. Poirot (it ran),

I should be greatly obliged if you would call upon me some time tomorrow. I may have a commission for you. I suggest twelve thirty, at my house in Chelsea. If this is inconvenient to you, perhaps you would telephone my secretary? I apologize for giving you such short notice.

Yours sincerely,
Alistair Blunt.

Poirot smoothed out the letter and read it a second time. At that moment the telephone rang.

Hercule Poirot occasionally indulged in the fancy that he knew by the ring of his telephone bell what kind of message was impending.

On this occasion he was at once quite sure that the call was significant. It was not a wrong numberânot one of his friends.

He got up and took down the receiver. He said in his polite, foreign voice:

ââAllo?â

An impersonal voice said: âWhat number are you, please?â

âThis is Whitehall 7272.â

There was a pause, a click, and then a voice spoke. It was a womanâs voice.

âM. Poirot?â

âYes.â

âM. Hercule Poirot?â

âYes.â

âM. Poirot, you have either already receivedâor will shortly receive, a letter.â

âWho is speaking?â

âIt is not necessary that you should know.â

âVery well. I have received, Madame, eight letters and three bills by the evening post.â

âThen you know which letter I mean. You will be wise, M. Poirot, to refuse the commission you have been offered.â

âThat, Madame, is a matter I shall decide myself.â

The voice said coldly:

âI am warning you, M. Poirot. Your interference will no longer be tolerated. Keep out of this business.â

âAnd if I do not keep out of it?â

âThen we shall take steps to see that your interference is no longer to be fearedâ¦.â

âThat is a threat, Madame!â

âWe are only asking you to be sensible â¦ It is for your own good.â

âYou are very magnanimous!â

âYou cannot alter the course of events and what has been arranged. So keep out of what doesnât concern you! Do you understand?â

âOh yes, I understand. But I consider that Mr. Morleyâs death is my concern.â

The womanâs voice said sharply:

âMorleyâs death was only an incident. He interfered with our plans.â

âHe was a human being, Madame, and he died before his time.â

âHe was of no importance.â

Poirotâs voice was dangerous as he said very quietly:

âThere you are wrongâ¦.â

âIt was his own fault. He refused to be sensible.â

âI, too, refuse to be sensible.â

âThen you are a fool.â

There was a click the other end as the receiver was replaced.

Poirot said, âAllo?â then put down his receiver in turn. He did not trouble to ask the Exchange to trace the number. He was fairly sure that the call had been put through from a public telephone box.

What intrigued and puzzled him was the fact that he thought he had heard the voice somewhere before. He racked his brains, trying to bring the elusive memory back. Could it be the voice of Miss Sainsbury Seale?

As he remembered it, Mabelle Sainsbury Sealeâs voice had been high-pitched and somewhat affected, with rather overemphasized diction. This voice was not at all like that, and yetâperhaps it might be Miss Sainsbury Seale with her voice disguised. After all, she had been an actress in her time. She could alter her voice, probably, easily enough. In actual timbre, the voice was not unlike what he remembered.

But he was not satisfied with that explanation. No, it was some other person that the voice brought back to him. It was not a voice he knew wellâbut he was still quite sure that he had heard it once, if not twice, before.

Why, he wondered, bother to ring up and threaten him? Could these people actually believe that threats would deter him? Apparently they did. It was poor psychology!

IV

There was some sensational news in the morning papers. The Prime Minister had been shot at when leaving 10, Downing Street with a friend yesterday evening. Fortunately the bullet had gone wide. The man, an Indian, had been taken into custody.

After reading this, Poirot took a taxi to Scotland Yard where he was shown up to Jappâs room. The latter greeted him heartily.

âAh, so the news has brought you along. Have any of the papers mentioned who âthe friendâ was with the P.M.?â

âNo, who was it?â

âAlistair Blunt.â

âReally?â

âAnd,â went on Japp, âweâve every reason to believe that the bullet was meant for Blunt and not for the P.M. That is, unless the man was an even more thundering bad shot than he is already!â

âWho did it?â

âSome crazy Hindu student. Half-baked, as usual. But he was put up to it. It wasnât all his own idea.â

Japp added:

âQuite a sound bit of work getting him. Thereâs usually a small group of people, you know, watching No. 10. When the shot was fired, a young American grabbed hold of a little man with a beard. He held on to him like grim death and yelled to the police that heâd got the man. Meanwhile the Indian was quietly hooking itâbut one of our people nabbed him all right.â

âWho was the American?â asked Poirot curiously.

âYoung fellow by the name of Raikes. Whyââ He stopped short, staring at Poirot. âWhatâs the matter?â

Poirot said:

âHoward Raikes, staying at the Holborn Palace Hotel?â

âThatâs right. Whoâwhy, of course! I thought the name seemed familiar. Heâs the patient who ran away that morning when Morley shot himselfâ¦.â

He paused. He said slowly:

âRumâhow that old business keeps cropping up. Youâve still got your ideas about it, havenât you, Poirot?â

Hercule Poirot replied gravely:

âYes. I still have my ideasâ¦.â

V

At the Gothic House, Poirot was received by a secretary, a tall, limp young man with an accomplished social manner.

He was pleasantly apologetic.

âI am so sorry, M. Poirotâand so is Mr. Blunt. He has been called to Downing Street. The result of thisâerâincident last night. I rang your flat, but unfortunately you had already left.â

The young man went on rapidly:

âMr. Blunt commissioned me to ask you if it would be possible for you to spend the weekend with him at his house in Kent. Exsham, you know. If so, he would call for you in the car tomorrow evening.â

Poirot hesitated.

The young man said persuasively:

âMr. Blunt is really most anxious to see you.â

Hercule Poirot bowed his head.

He said: âThank you. I accept.â

âOh, thatâs splendid. Mr. Blunt will be delighted. If he calls for you about a quarter to six, will thatâOh, good morning, Mrs. Oliveraââ

Jane Oliveraâs mother had just entered. She was very smartly dressed, with a hat clinging to an eyebrow in the midst of a very soignÃ©e coiffure.

âOh! Mr. Selby, did Mr. Blunt give you any instructions about those garden chairs? I meant to talk to him about them last night, because I knew weâd be going down this weekend andââ

Mrs. Olivera took in Poirot and paused.

âDo you know Mrs. Olivera, M. Poirot?â

âI have already had the pleasure of meeting Madame.â

Poirot bowed.

Mrs. Olivera said vaguely:

âOh? How do you do. Of course, Mr. Selby, I know that Alistair is a very busy man and that these small domestic matters maynât seem to him importantââ

âItâs quite all right, Mrs. Olivera,â said the efficient Mr. Selby. âHe told me about it and I rang up Messrs Deevers about them.â

âWell, now, thatâs a real load off my mind. Now, Mr. Selby, can you tell me â¦â

Mrs. Olivera clacked on. She was, thought Poirot, rather like a hen. A big, fat hen! Mrs. Olivera, still clacking, moved majestically after her bust towards the door.

â â¦ And if youâre quite sure that there will only be ourselves this weekendââ

Mr. Selby coughed.

âErâM. Poirot is also coming down for the weekend.â

Mrs. Olivera stopped. She turned round and surveyed Poirot with visible distaste.

âIs that really so?â

âMr. Blunt has been kind enough to invite me,â said Poirot.

âWell, I wonderâwhy, if that isnât queer of Alistair. Youâll excuse me, M. Poirot, but Mr. Blunt particularly told me that he wanted a quiet, family weekend!â

Selby said firmly:

âMr. Blunt is particularly anxious that M. Poirot should come.â

âOh really? He didnât mention it to me.â

The door opened. Jane stood there. She said impatiently:

âMother, arenât you coming? Our lunch appointment is at one fifteen!â

âIâm coming, Jane. Donât be impatient.â

âWell, get a move on, for goodness sakeâHallo, M. Poirot.â

She was suddenly very stillâher petulance frozen. Her eyes more wary.

Mrs. Olivera said in a cold voice:

âM. Poirot is coming down to Exsham for the weekend.â

âOhâI see.â

Jane Olivera stood back to let her mother pass her. On the point of following her, she whirled back again.

âM. Poirot!â

Her voice was imperious.

Poirot crossed the room to her.

She said in a low voice: âYouâre coming down to Exsham? Why?â

Poirot shrugged his shoulders. He said:

âIt is a kind thought of your uncleâs.â

Jane said:

âBut he canât know â¦ He canât â¦ When did he ask you? Oh, thereâs no needââ

âJane!â

Her mother was calling from the hall.

Jane said in a low, urgent tone:

âStay away. Please donât come.â

She went out. Poirot heard the sounds of altercation. Heard Mrs. Oliveraâs high, complaining, clucking voice. âI really will not tolerate your rudeness, Jane â¦ I shall take steps to see that you do not interfereââ

The secretary said:

âThen at a little before six tomorrow, M. Poirot?â

Poirot nodded assent mechanically. He was standing like a man who has seen a ghost. But it was his ears, not his eyes, that had given him the shock.

Two of the sentences that had drifted in through the open door were almost identical with those he had heard last night through the telephone, and he knew why the voice had been faintly familiar.

As he walked out into the sunshine he shook his head blankly.

Mrs. Olivera?

But it was impossible! It could not have been Mrs. Olivera who had spoken over the âphone!

That empty-headed society womanâselfish, brainless, grasping, self-centred? What had he called her to himself just now?

âThat good fat hen? Câest ridicule!â said Hercule Poirot.

His ears, he decided, must have deceived him. And yetâ

VI

The Rolls called punctually for Poirot at a little before six.

Alistair Blunt and his secretary were the only occupants. Mrs. Olivera and Jane had gone down in another car earlier, it seemed.

The drive was uneventful. Blunt talked a little, mostly of his garden and of a recent horticultural show.

Poirot congratulated him on his escape from death, at which Blunt demurred. He said:

âOh, that! Donât think the fellow was shooting at me particularly. Anyway, the poor chap hadnât the first idea of how to aim! Just one of these half-crazed students. Thereâs no harm in them really. They just get worked up and fancy a pot shot at the P.M. will alter the course of history. Itâs pathetic, really.â

âThere have been other attempts on your life, have there not?â

âSounds quite melodramatic,â said Blunt, with a slight twinkle. âSomeone sent me a bomb by post not long ago. It wasnât a very efficient bomb. You know, these fellows who want to take on the management of the worldâwhat sort of an efficient business do they think they could make of it, when they canât even devise an effectual bomb?â

He shook his head.

âItâs always the same thingâlong-haired woolly idealistsâwithout one practical bit of knowledge in their heads. Iâm not a clever chapânever have beenâbut I can just read and write and do arithmetic. Dâyou understand what I mean by that?â

âI think so, but explain to me further.â

âWell, if I read something that is written down in English I can understand what it meansâI am not talking of abstruse stuff, formulae or philosophyâjust plain businesslike Englishâmost people canât! If I want to write down something I can write down what I meanâIâve discovered that quite a lot of people canât do that either! And, as I say, I can do plain arithmetic. If Jones has eight bananas and Brown takes ten away from him, how many will Jones have left? Thatâs the kind of sum people like to pretend has a simple answer. They wonât admit, first that Brown canât do itâand second that there wonât be an answer in plus bananas!â

âThey prefer the answer to be a conjuring trick?â

âExactly. Politicians are just as bad. But Iâve always held out for plain common sense. You canât beat it, you know, in the end.â

He added with a slightly self-conscious laugh:

âBut I mustnât talk shop. Bad habit. Besides, I like to leave business matters behind when I get away from London. Iâve been looking forward, M. Poirot, to hearing a few of your adventures. I read a lot of thrillers and detective stories, you know. Do you think any of them are true to life?â

The conversation dwelt for the rest of the journey on the more spectacular cases of Hercule Poirot. Alistair Blunt displayed himself as vivid as any schoolboy for details.

This pleasant atmosphere sustained a chill on arrival at Exsham, where behind her massive bust Mrs. Olivera radiated a freezing disapproval. She ignored Poirot as far as possible, addressing herself exclusively to her host and to Mr. Selby.

The latter showed Poirot to his room.

The house was a charming one, not very big, and furnished with the same quiet good taste that Poirot had noticed in London. Everything was costly but simple. The vast wealth that owned it was only indicated by the smoothness with which this apparent simplicity was produced. The service was admirableâthe cooking English, not Continentalâthe wines at dinner stirred Poirot to a passion of appreciation. They had a perfect clear soup, a grilled sole, saddle of lamb with tiny young garden peas and strawberries and cream.

Poirot was so enjoying these creature comforts that the continued frigid demeanour of Mrs. Olivera and the brusque rudeness of her daughter hardly attracted his attention. Jane, for some reason, was regarding him with definite hostility. Hazily, towards the end of the dinner, Poirot wondered why!

Looking down the table with mild curiosity, Blunt asked:

âHelen not dining with us tonight?â

Julia Oliveraâs lips drew themselves in with a taut line. She said:

âDear Helen has been overtiring herself, I think, in the garden. I suggested it would be far better for her to go to bed and rest than to bother to dress herself up and come here. She quite saw my point.â

âOh, I see.â Blunt looked vague and a little puzzled. âI thought it made a bit of a change for her at weekends.â

âHelen is such a simple soul. She likes turning in early,â said Mrs. Olivera firmly.

When Poirot joined the ladies in the drawing room, Blunt having remained behind for a few minutesâ conversation with his secretary, he heard Jane Olivera say to her mother:

âUncle Alistair didnât like the cool way youâd shelved Helen Montressor, Mother.â

âNonsense,â said Mrs. Olivera robustly. âAlistair is too good-natured. Poor relations are all very wellâvery kind of him to let her have the cottage rent free, but to think he has to have her up to the house every weekend for dinner is absurd! Sheâs only a second cousin or something. I donât think Alistair ought to be imposed upon!â

âI think sheâs proud in her way,â said Jane. âShe does an awful lot in the garden.â

âThat shows a proper spirit,â said Mrs. Olivera comfortably. âThe Scotch are very independent and one respects them for it.â

She settled herself comfortably on the sofa and, still not taking any notice of Poirot, added:

âJust bring me the Low Down Review, dear. Thereâs something about Lois Van Schuyler in it and that Moroccan guide of hers.â

Alistair Blunt appeared in the doorway. He said:

âNow M. Poirot, come into my room.â

Alistair Bluntâs own sanctum was a low, long room at the back of the house, with windows opening upon the garden. It was comfortable, with deep armchairs and settees and just enough pleasant untidiness to make it livable.

(Needless to say, Hercule Poirot would have preferred a greater symmetry!)

After offering his guest a cigarette and lighting his own pipe, Alistair Blunt came to the point quite simply and directly.

He said:

âThereâs a good deal that Iâm not satisfied about. Iâm referring, of course, to this Sainsbury Seale woman. For reasons of their ownâreasons no doubt which are perfectly justifiedâthe authorities have called off the hunt. I donât know exactly who Albert Chapman is or what heâs doingâbut whatever it is, itâs something pretty vital and itâs the sort of business that might land him in a tight spot. I donât know the ins and outs of it, but the P.M. did just mention that they canât afford any publicity whatever about this case and that the sooner it fades out of the publicâs memory the better.

âThatâs quite O.K. Thatâs the official view, and they know whatâs necessary. So the police have got their hands tied.â

He leaned forward in his chair.

âBut I want to know the truth, M. Poirot. And youâre the man to find it out for me. You arenât hampered by officialdom.â

âWhat do you want me to do, M. Blunt?â

âI want you to find this womanâSainsbury Seale.â

âAlive or dead?â

Alistair Bluntâs eyebrows rose.

âYou think itâs possible that she is dead?â

Hercule Poirot was silent for a minute or two, then he said, speaking slowly and with weight:

âIf you want my opinionâbut it is only an opinion, rememberâthen, yes, I think she is deadâ¦.â

âWhy do you think so?â

Hercule Poirot smiled slightly.

He said:

âIt would not make sense to you if I said it was because of a pair of unworn stockings in a drawer.â

Alistair Blunt stared at him curiously.

âYouâre an odd man, M. Poirot.â

âI am very odd. That is to say, I am methodical, orderly and logicalâand I do not like distorting facts to support a theoryâthat, I findâis unusual!â

Alistair Blunt said:

âIâve been turning the whole thing over in my mindâit takes me a little time always to think a thing out. And the whole business is deuced odd! I meanâthat dentist chap shooting himself, and then this Chapman woman packed away in her own fur chest with her face smashed in. Itâs nasty! Itâs damned nasty! I canât help feeling that thereâs something behind it all.â

Poirot nodded.

Blunt said:

âAnd you knowâthe more I think of itâIâm quite sure that woman never knew my wife. It was just a pretext to speak to me. But why? What good did it do her? I meanâbar a small subscriptionâand even that was made out to the society, not to her personally. And yet I do feelâthatâthat it was engineeredâjust meeting me on the steps of the house. It was all so pat. So suspiciously well-timed! But why? Thatâs what I keep asking myselfâwhy?â

âIt is indeed the wordâwhy? I too ask myselfâand I cannot see itâno, I cannot see it.â

âYouâve no ideas at all on the subject?â

Poirot waved an exasperated hand.

âMy ideas are childish in the extreme. I tell myself, it was perhaps a ruse to indicate you to someoneâto point you out. But that again is absurdâyou are quite a well-known manâand anyway how much more simple to say âSee, that is heâthe man who entered now by that door.ââ

âAnd anyway,â said Blunt, âwhy should anyone want to point me out?â

âMr. Blunt, think back once more on your time that morning in the dentistâs chair. Did nothing that Morley said strike an unusual note? Is there nothing at all that you can remember which might help as a clue?â

Alistair Blunt frowned in an effort of memory. Then he shook his head.

âIâm sorry. I canât think of anything.â

âYouâre quite sure he didnât mention this womanâthis Miss Sainsbury Seale?â

âNo.â

âOr the other womanâMrs. Chapman?â

âNoânoâwe didnât speak of people at all. We mentioned roses, gardens needing rain, holidaysânothing else.â

âAnd no one came into the room while you were there?â

âLet me seeâno, I donât think so. On other occasions I seem to remember a young woman being thereâfair-haired girl. But she wasnât there this time. Oh, another dentist fellow came in, I rememberâthe fellow with an Irish accent.â

âWhat did he say or do?â

âJust asked Morley some question and went out again. Morley was a bit short with him, I fancy. He was only there a minute or so.â

âAnd there is nothing else you can remember? Nothing at all?â

âNo. He was absolutely normal.â

Hercule Poirot said thoughtfully:

âI, too, found him absolutely normal.â

There was a long pause. Then Poirot said:

âDo you happen to remember, Monsieur, a young man who was in the waiting room downstairs with you that morning?â

Alistair Blunt frowned.

âLet me seeâyes, there was a young manârather restless he was. I donât remember him particularly, though. Why?â

âWould you know him again if you saw him?â

Blunt shook his head.

âI hardly glanced at him.â

âHe didnât try to enter into conversation with you at all?â

âNo.â

Blunt looked with frank curiosity at the other.

âWhatâs the point? Who is this young man?â

âHis name is Howard Raikes.â

Poirot watched keenly for any reaction, but he saw none.

âOught I to know his name? Have I met him elsewhere?â

âI do not think you have met him. He is a friend of your niece, Miss Oliveraâs.â

âOh, one of Janeâs friends.â

âHer mother, I gather, does not approve of the friendship.â

Alistair Blunt said absently:

âI donât suppose that will cut any ice with Jane.â

âSo seriously does her mother regard the friendship that I gather she brought her daughter over from the States on purpose to get her away from this young man.â

âOh!â Bluntâs face registered comprehension. âItâs that fellow, is it?â

âAha, you become more interested now.â

âHeâs a most undesirable young fellow in every way, I believe. Mixed up in a lot of subversive activities.â

âI understand from Miss Olivera that he made an appointment that morning in Queen Charlotte Street, solely in order to get a look at you.â

âTo try and get me to approve of him?â

âWellânoâI understand the idea was that he should be induced to approve of you.â

âWell, of all the damned cheek!â

Poirot concealed a smile.

âIt appears you are everything that he most disapproves of.â

âHeâs certainly the kind of young man I disapprove of! Spends his time tub-thumping and talking hot air, instead of doing a decent job of work!â

Poirot was silent for a minute, then he said:

âWill you forgive me if I ask you an impertinent and very personal question?â

âFire ahead.â

âIn the event of your death, what are your testamentary dispositions?â

Blunt stared. He said sharply:

âWhy do you want to know that?â

âBecause, it is just possible,â he shrugged his shouldersââthat it might be relevant to this case.â

âNonsense!â

âPerhaps. But perhaps not.â

Alistair Blunt said coldly:

âI think you are being unduly melodramatic, M. Poirot. Nobody has been trying to murder meâor anything like that!â

âA bomb on your breakfast tableâa shot in the streetââ

âOh those! Any man who deals in the worldâs finance in a big way is liable to that kind of attention from some crazy fanatic!â

âIt might possibly be a case of someone who is not a fanatic and not crazy.â

Blunt stared.

âWhat are you driving at?â

âIn plain language, I want to know who benefits by your death.â

Blunt grinned.

âChiefly the St. Edwardâs Hospital, the Cancer Hospital, and the Royal Institute for the Blind.â

âAh!â

âIn addition, I have left a sum of money to my niece by marriage, Mrs. Julia Olivera; an equivalent sum, but in trust, to her daughter, Jane Olivera, and also a substantial provision for my only surviving relative, a second cousin, Helen Montressor, who was left very badly off and who occupies a small cottage on the estate here.â

He paused and then said:

âThis, M. Poirot, is strictly in confidence.â

âNaturally, Monsieur, naturally.â

Alistair Blunt added sarcastically:

âI suppose you do not suggest, M. Poirot, that either Julia or Jane Olivera or my cousin Helen Montressor, are planning to murder me for my money?â

âI suggest nothingânothing at all.â

Bluntâs slight irritation subsided. He said:

âAnd youâll take on that other commission for me?â

âThe finding of Miss Sainsbury Seale? Yes, I will.â

Alistair Blunt said heartily:

âGood man.â

VII

In leaving the room Poirot almost cannoned into a tall figure outside the door.

He said: âI beg your pardon, Mademoiselle.â

Jane Olivera drew apart a little.

She said. âDo you know what I think of you, M. Poirot?â

âEh bienâMademoiselleââ

She did not give time to finish. The question, indeed, had but a rhetorical value. All that it meant was that Jane Olivera was about to answer it herself.

âYouâre a spy, thatâs what you are! A miserable, low, snooping spy, nosing round and making trouble!â

âI assure you, Mademoiselleââ

âI know just what youâre after! And I know now just what lies you tell! Why donât you admit it straight out? Well, Iâll tell you thisâyou wonât find out anythingâanything at all! Thereâs nothing to find out! No oneâs going to harm a hair on my precious uncleâs head. Heâs safe enough. Heâll always be safe. Safe and smug and prosperousâand full of platitudes! Heâs just a stodgy John Bull, thatâs what he isâwithout an ounce of imagination or vision.â

She paused, then, her agreeable, husky voice deepening, she said venomously: âI loathe the sight of youâyou bloody little bourgeois detective!â

She swept away from him in a whirl of expensive model drapery.

Hercule Poirot remained, his eyes very wide open, his eyebrows raised and his hand thoughtfully caressing his moustaches.

The epithet bourgeois was, he admitted, well-applied to him. His outlook on life was essentially bourgeois, and always had been, but the employment of it as an epithet of contempt by the exquisitely turned out Jane Olivera gave him, as he expressed it to himself, furiously to think.

He went, still thinking, into the drawing room.

Mrs. Olivera was playing patience.

She looked up as Poirot entered, surveyed him with the cold look she might have bestowed upon a black beetle and murmured distantly:

âRed knave on black queen.â

Chilled, Poirot retreated. He reflected mournfully:

âAlas, it would seem that nobody loves me!â

He strolled out of the window into the garden. It was an enchanting evening with a smell of night-scented stocks in the air. Poirot sniffed happily and strolled along a path that ran between two herbaceous borders.

He turned a corner and two dimly-seen figures sprang apart.

It would seem that he had interrupted a pair of lovers.

Poirot hastily turned and retraced his steps.

Even out here, it would seem, his presence was de trop.

He passed Alistair Bluntâs window and Alistair Blunt was dictating to Mr. Selby.

There seemed definitely only one place for Hercule Poirot.

He went up to his bedroom.

He pondered for some time on various fantastic aspects of the situation.

Had he or had he not made a mistake in believing the voice on the telephone to be that of Mrs. Olivera? Surely the idea was absurd!

He recalled the melodramatic revelations of quiet little Mr. Barnes. He speculated on the mysterious whereabouts of Mr. Q.X.912, alias Albert Chapman. He remembered, with a spasm of annoyance, the anxious look in the eyes of the maidservant, Agnesâ

It was always the same wayâpeople would keep things back! Usually quite unimportant things, but until they were cleared out of the way, impossible to pursue a straight path.

At the moment the path was anything but straight!

And the most unaccountable obstacle in the way of clear thinking and orderly progress was what he described to himself as the contradictory and impossible problem of Miss Sainsbury Seale. For, if the facts that Hercule Poirot had observed were true factsâthen nothing whatever made sense!

Hercule Poirot said to himself, with astonishment in the thought:

âIs it possible that I am growing old?â

ELEVEN, TWELVE, MEN MUST DELVE

I

After passing a troubled night, Hercule Poirot was up and about early on the next day. The weather was perfect and he retraced his steps of last night.

The herbaceous borders were in full beauty and though Poirot himself leaned to a more orderly type of flower arrangementâa neat arrangement of beds of scarlet geraniums such as are seen at Ostendâhe nevertheless realized that here was the perfection of the English garden spirit.

He pursued his way through a rose garden, where the neat layout of the beds delighted himâand through the winding ways of an alpine rock garden, coming at last to the walled kitchen gardens.

Here he observed a sturdy woman clad in a tweed coat and skirt, black browed, with short cropped black hair who was talking in a slow, emphatic Scots voice to what was evidently the head gardener. The head gardener, Poirot observed, did not appear to be enjoying the conversation.

A sarcastic inflection made itself heard in Miss Helen Montressorâs voice, and Poirot escaped nimbly down a side path.

A gardener who had been, Poirot shrewdly suspected, resting on his spade, began digging with fervour. Poirot approached nearer. The man, a young fellow, dug with ardour, his back to Poirot who paused to observe him.

âGood morning,â said Poirot amiably.

A muttered âMorning, sir,â was the response, but the man did not stop working.

Poirot was a little surprised. In his experience a gardener, though anxious to appear zealously at work as you approached, was usually only too willing to pause and pass the time of day when directly addressed.

It seemed, he thought, a little unnatural. He stood there for some minutes, watching the toiling figure. Was there, or was there not, something a little familiar about the turn of those shoulders? Or could it be, thought Hercule Poirot, that he was getting into a habit of thinking that both voices and shoulders were familiar when they were really nothing of the kind? Was he, as he had feared last night, growing old?

He passed thoughtfully onward out of the walled garden and paused to regard a rising slope of shrubbery outside.

Presently, like some fantastic moon, a round object rose gently over the top of the kitchen garden wall. It was the egg-shaped head of Hercule Poirot, and the eyes of Hercule Poirot regarded with a good deal of interest the face of the young gardener who had now stopped digging and was passing a sleeve across his wet face.

âVery curious and very interesting,â murmured Hercule Poirot as he discreetly lowered his head once more.

He emerged from the shrubbery and brushed off some twigs and leaves that were spoiling the neatness of his apparel.

Yes, indeed, very curious and interesting that Frank Carter, who had a secretarial job in the country, should be working as a gardener in the employment of Alistair Blunt.

Reflecting on these points, Hercule Poirot heard a gong in the distance and retraced his steps towards the house.

On the way there he encountered his host talking to Miss Montressor who had just emerged from the kitchen garden by the farther door.

Her voice rose clear and distinct:

âItâs verra kind of you, Alistairr, but I would preferr not to accept any invitations this week while your Amerrican relations are with you!â

Blunt said:

âJuliaâs rather a tactless woman, but she doesnât meanââ

Miss Montressor said calmly:

âIn my opinion her manner to me is verra insolent, and I will not put up with insolenceâfrom American women or any others!â

Miss Montressor moved away, Poirot came up to find Alistair Blunt looking as sheepish as most men look who are having trouble with their female relations. He said ruefully:

âWomen really are the devil! Good morning, M. Poirot. Lovely day, isnât it?â

They turned towards the house and Blunt said with a sigh: âI do miss my wife!â

In the dining room, he remarked to the redoubtable Julia:

âIâm afraid, Julia, youâve rather hurt Helenâs feelings.â

Mrs. Olivera said grimly:

âThe Scotch are always touchy.â

Alistair Blunt looked unhappy.

Hercule Poirot said:

âYou have a young gardener, I noticed, whom I think you must have taken on recently.â

âI daresay,â said Blunt. âYes, Burton, my third gardener, left about three weeks ago, and we took this fellow on instead.â

âDo you remember where he came from?â

âI really donât. MacAlister engaged him. Somebody or other asked me to give him a trial, I think. Recommended him warmly. Iâm rather surprised, because MacAlister says he isnât much good. He wants to sack him again.â

âWhat is his name?â

âDunningâSunburyâsomething like that.â

âWould it be a great impertinence to ask what you pay him?â

âNot at all. Two pounds fifteen, I think it is.â

âNot more?â

âCertainly not moreâmight be a bit less.â

âNow that,â said Poirot, âis very curious.â

Alistair Blunt looked at him inquiringly.

But Jane Olivera, rustling the paper, distracted the conversation.

âA lot of people seem to be out for your blood, Uncle Alistair!â

âOh, youâre reading the debate in the House. Thatâs all right. Only Archertonâheâs always tilting at windmills. And heâs got the most crazy ideas of finance. If we let him have his way, England would be bankrupt in a week.â

Jane said:

âDonât you ever want to try anything new?â

âNot unless itâs an improvement to the old, my dear.â

âBut youâd never think it would be. Youâd always say, âThis would never workââwithout even trying.â

âExperimentalists can do a lot of harm.â

âYes, but how can you be satisfied with things as they are? All the waste and the inequality and the unfairness. Something must be done about it!â

âWe get along pretty well in this country, Jane, all things considered.â

Jane said passionately:

âWhatâs needed is a new heaven and a new earth! And you sit there eating kidneys!â

She got up and went out by the french window into the garden.

Alistair looked mildly surprised and a little uncomfortable.

He said: âJane has changed a lot lately. Where does she get all these ideas?â

âTake no notice of what Jane says,â said Mrs. Olivera. âJaneâs a very silly girl. You know what girls areâthey go to these queer parties in studios where the young men have funny ties and they come home and talk a lot of nonsense.â

âYes, but Jane was always rather a hard-boiled young woman.â

âItâs just a fashion, Alistair, these things are in the air!â

Alistair Blunt said:

âYes, theyâre in the air all right.â

He looked a little worried.

Mrs. Olivera rose and Poirot opened the door for her. She swept out frowning to herself.

Alistair Blunt said suddenly:

âI donât like it, you know! Everybodyâs talking this sort of stuff! And it doesnât mean anything! Itâs all hot air! I find myself up against it the whole timeâa new heaven and a new earth. What does it mean? They canât tell you themselves! Theyâre just drunk on words.â

He smiled suddenly, rather ruefully.

âIâm one of the last of the Old Guard, you know.â

Poirot said curiously:

âIf you wereâremoved, what would happen?â

âRemoved! What a way of putting it!â His face grew suddenly grave. âIâll tell you. A lot of damned fools would try a lot of very costly experiments. And that would be the end of stabilityâof common sense, of solvency. In fact, of this England of ours as we know it â¦â

Poirot nodded his head. He was essentially in sympathy with the banker. He, too, approved of solvency. And he began to realize with a new meaning just exactly what Alistair Blunt stood for. Mr. Barnes had told him, but he had hardly taken it in then. Quite suddenly, he was afraidâ¦.

II

âIâve finished my letters,â said Blunt, appearing later in the morning. âNow, M. Poirot, Iâm going to show you my garden.â

The two men went out together and Blunt talked eagerly of his hobby.

The rock garden, with its rare alpine plants, was his greatest joy and they spent some time there while Blunt pointed out certain minute and rare species.

Hercule Poirot, his feet encased in his best patent leather shoes, listened patiently, shifting his weight tenderly from one foot to the other and wincing slightly as the heat of the sun caused the illusion that his feet were gigantic puddings!

His host strolled on, pointing out various plants in the wide border. Bees were humming and from near at hand came the monotonous clicking of a pair of shears trimming a laurel hedge.

It was all very drowsy and peaceful.

Blunt paused at the end of the border, looking back. The clip of the shears was quite close by, though the clipper was concealed from view.

âLook at the vista down from here, Poirot. The Sweet Williams are particularly fine this year. I donât know when Iâve seen them so goodâand those are Russell lupins. Marvellous colours.â

Crack! The shot broke the peace of the morning. Something sang angrily through the air. Alistair Blunt turned bewildered to where a faint thread of smoke was rising from the middle of the laurels.

There was a sudden outcry of angry voices, the laurels heaved as two men struggled together. A high-pitched American voice sang out resolutely:

âIâve got you, you damned scoundrel! Drop that gun!â

Two men struggled out into the open. The young gardener who had dug so industriously that morning was writhing in the powerful grip of a man nearly a head taller.

Poirot recognized the latter at once. He had already guessed from the voice.

Frank Carter snarled:

âLet go of me! It wasnât me, I tell you! I never did.â

Howard Raikes said:

âOh, no? Just shooting at the birds, I suppose!â

He stoppedâlooking at the newcomers.

âMr. Alistair Blunt? This guy here has just taken a potshot at you. I caught him right in the act.â

Frank Carter cried out:

âItâs a lie! I was clipping the hedge. I heard a shot and the gun fell right here at my feet. I picked it upâthatâs only natural, that is, and then this bloke jumped on me.â

Howard Raikes said grimly:

âThe gun was in your hand and it had just been fired!â

With a final gesture, he tossed the pistol to Poirot.

âLetâs see what the dickâs got to say about it! Lucky I got hold of you in time. I guess there are several more shots in that automatic of yours.â

Poirot murmured:

âPrecisely.â

Blunt was frowning angrily. He said sharply:

âNow then DunnonâDunburyâwhatâs your name?â

Hercule Poirot interrupted. He said:

âThis manâs name is Frank Carter.â

Carter turned on him furiously.

âYouâve had it in for me all along! You came spying on me that Sunday. I tell you, itâs not true. I never shot at him.â

Hercule Poirot said gently:

âThen, in that case, who did?â

He added:

âThere is no one else here but ourselves, you see.â

III

Jane Olivera came running along the path. Her hair streamlined back behind her. Her eyes were wide with fear. She gasped: âHoward?â

Howard Raikes said lightly:

âHallo, Jane. Iâve just been saving your uncleâs life.â

âOh!â She stopped. âYou have?â

âYour arrival certainly seems to have been very opportune, Mr.âerââ Blunt hesitated.

âThis is Howard Raikes, Uncle Alistair. Heâs a friend of mine.â

Blunt looked at Raikesâhe smiled.

âOh!â he said. âSo you are Janeâs young man! I must thank you.â

With a puffing noise as of a steam engine at high pressure Julia Olivera appeared on the scene. She panted out:

âI heard a shot. Is AlistairâWhyââ She stared blankly at Howard Raikes. âYou? Why, why, how dare you?â

Jane said in an icy voice:

âHoward has just saved Uncle Alistairâs life, mother.â

âWhat? IâIââ

âThis man tried to shoot Uncle Alistair and Howard grabbed him and took the pistol away from him.â

Frank Carter said violently:

âYouâre bloody liars, all of you.â

Mrs. Olivera, her jaw dropping, said blankly:

âOh!â It took her a minute or two to readjust her poise. She turned first to Blunt.

âMy dear Alistair! How awful! Thank God youâre safe. But it must have been a frightful shock. IâI feel quite faint myself. I wonderâdo you think I could have just a little brandy?â

Blunt said quickly:

âOf course. Come back to the house.â

She took his arm, leaning on it heavily.

Blunt looked over his shoulder at Poirot and Howard Raikes.

âCan you bring that fellow along?â he asked. âWeâll ring up the police and hand him over.â

Frank Carter opened his mouth, but no words came. He was dead white, and his knees were wilting. Howard Raikes hauled him along with an unsympathetic hand.

âCome on, you,â he said.

Frank Carter murmured hoarsely and unconvincingly:

âItâs all a lieâ¦.â

Howard Raikes looked at Poirot.

âYouâve got precious little to say for yourself for a high-toned sleuth! Why donât you throw your weight about a bit?â

âI am reflecting, Mr. Raikes.â

âI guess youâll need to reflect! I should say youâll lose your job over this! It isnât thanks to you that Alistair Blunt is still alive at this minute.â

âThis is your second good deed of the kind, is it not, Mr. Raikes?â

âWhat the hell do you mean?â

âIt was only yesterday, was it not, that you caught and held the man whom you believed to have shot at Mr. Blunt and the Prime Minister?â

Howard Raikes said:

âErâyes. I seem to be making a kind of habit of it.â

âBut there is a difference,â Hercule Poirot pointed out. âYesterday, the man you caught and held was not the man who fired the shot in question. You made a mistake.â

Frank Carter said sullenly:

âHeâs made a mistake now.â

âQuiet, you,â said Raikes.

Hercule Poirot murmured to himself:

âI wonderâ¦.â

IV

Dressing for dinner, adjusting his tie to an exact symmetry, Hercule Poirot frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

He was dissatisfiedâbut he would have been at a loss to explain why. For the case, as he owned to himself, was so very clear. Frank Carter had indeed been caught red-handed.

It was not as though he had any particular belief in, or liking for, Frank Carter. Carter, he thought dispassionately, was definitely what the English call a âwrong âun.â He was an unpleasant young bully of the kind that appeals to women, so that they are reluctant to believe the worst, however plain the evidence.

And Carterâs whole story was weak in the extreme. This tale of having been approached by agents of the âSecret Serviceââand offered a plummy job. To take the post of gardener and report on the conversations and actions of the other gardeners. It was a story that was disproved easily enoughâthere was no foundation for it.

A particularly weak inventionâthe kind of thing, Poirot reflected, that a man like Carter would invent.

And on Carterâs side, there was nothing at all to be said. He could offer no explanation, except that somebody else must have shot off the revolver. He kept repeating that. It was a frame-up.

No, there was nothing to be said for Carter except, perhaps, that it seemed an odd coincidence that Howard Raikes should have been present two days running at the moment when a bullet had just missed Alistair Blunt.

But presumably there wasnât anything in that. Raikes certainly hadnât fired the shot in Downing Street. And his presence down here was fully accounted forâhe had come down to be near his girl. No, there was nothing definitely improbable in his story.

It had turned out, of course, very fortunately for Howard Raikes. When a man has just saved you from a bullet, you cannot forbid him the house. The least you can do is to show friendliness and extend hospitality. Mrs. Olivera didnât like it, obviously, but even she saw that there was nothing to be done about it.

Janeâs undesirable young man had got his foot in and he meant to keep it there!

Poirot watched him speculatively during the evening.

He was playing his part with a good deal of astuteness. He did not air any subversive views, he kept off politics. He told amusing stories of his hitchhikes and tramps in wild places.

âHe is no longer the wolf,â thought Poirot. âNo, he has put on the sheepâs clothing. But underneath? I wonderâ¦.â

As Poirot was preparing for bed that night, there was a rap on the door. Poirot called, âCome in,â and Howard Raikes entered.

He laughed at Poirotâs expression.

âSurprised to see me? Iâve had my eye on you all evening. I didnât like the way you were looking. Kind of thoughtful.â

âWhy should that worry you, my friend?â

âI donât know why, but it did. I thought maybe that you were finding certain things just a bit hard to swallow.â

âEh bien? And if so?â

âWell, I decided that Iâd best come clean. About yesterday, I mean. That was a fake show all right! You see, I was watching his lordship come out of 10, Downing Street and I saw Ram Lal fire at him. I know Ram Lal. Heâs a nice kid. A bit excitable but he feels the wrongs of India very keenly. Well, there was no harm done, that precious pair of stuffed shirts werenât harmedâthe bullet had missed âem both by milesâso I decided to put up a show and hope the Indian kid would get clear. I grabbed hold of a shabby little guy just by me and called out that Iâd got the villain and hoped Ram Lal was beating it all right. But the dicks were too smart. They were on to him in a flash. Thatâs just how it was. See?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âAnd today?â

âThatâs different. There werenât any Ram Lals about today. Carter was the only man on the spot. He fired that pistol all right! It was still in his hand when I jumped on him. He was going to try a second shot, I expect.â

Poirot said:

âYou were very anxious to preserve the safety of M. Blunt?â

Raikes grinnedâan engaging grin.

âA bit odd, you think, after all Iâve said? Oh, I admit it. I think Blunt is a guy who ought to be shotâfor the sake of Progress and HumanityâI donât mean personallyâheâs a nice enough old boy in his British way. I think that, and yet when I saw someone taking a potshot at him I leap in and interfere. That shows you how illogical the human animal is. Itâs crazy, isnât it?â

âThe gap between theory and practice is a wide one.â

âIâll say it is!â Mr. Raikes got up from the bed where he had been sitting.

His smile was easy and confiding.

âI just thought,â he said, âthat Iâd come along and explain the thing to you.â

He went out shutting the door carefully behind him.

V

âDeliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: and preserve me from the wicked man,â sang Mrs. Olivera in a firm voice, slightly off the note.

There was a relentlessness about her enunciation of the sentiment which made Hercule Poirot deduce that Mr. Howard Raikes was the wicked man immediately in her mind.

Hercule Poirot had accompanied his host and the family to the morning service in the village church.

Howard Raikes had said with a faint sneer: âSo you always go to church, Mr. Blunt?â

And Alistair had murmured vaguely something about it being expected of you in the countryâcanât let the parson down, you knowâwhich typically English sentiment had merely bewildered the young man, and had made Hercule Poirot smile comprehendingly.

Mrs. Olivera had tactfully accompanied her host and commanded Jane to do likewise.

âThey have sharpened their tongues like a serpent,â sang the choir boys in shrill treble, âadderâs poison is under their lips.â

The tenors and basses demanded with gusto:

âKeep me, O Lord, from the hands of the ungodly. Preserve me from the wicked men who are purposed to overthrow my goings.â

Hercule Poirot essayed in a hesitant baritone.

âThe proud have laid a snare for me,â he sang, âand spread a net with cords: yea, and set traps in my wayâ¦.â

His mouth remained open.

He saw itâsaw clearly the trap into which he had so nearly fallen!

Like a man in a trance Hercule Poirot remained, mouth open, staring into space. He remained there as the congregation seated themselves with a rustle; until Jane Olivera tugged at his arm and murmured a sharp, âSit down.â

Hercule Poirot sat down. An aged clergyman with a beard intoned: âHere beginneth the fifteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel,â and began to read.

But Poirot heard nothing of the smiting of the Amalekites.

A snare cunningly laidâa net with cordsâa pit open at his feetâdug carefully so that he should fall into it.

He was in a dazeâa glorious daze where isolated facts spun wildly round before settling neatly into their appointed places.

It was like a kaleidoscopeâshoe buckles, 10-inch stockings, a damaged face, the low tastes in literature of Alfred the page boy, the activities of Mr. Amberiotis, and the part played by the late Mr. Morley, all rose up and whirled and settled themselves down into a coherent pattern.

For the first time, Hercule Poirot was looking at the case the right way up.

âFor rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being king. Here endeth the first lesson,â quavered the aged clergyman all in one breath.

As one in a dream, Hercule Poirot rose to praise the Lord in the Te Deum.

THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, MAIDS ARE COURTING

I

âM. Reilly, is it not?â

The young Irishman started as the voice spoke at his elbow.

He turned.

Standing next to him at the counter of the Shipping Co. was a small man with large moustaches and an egg-shaped head.

âYou do not remember me, perhaps?â

âYou do yourself an injustice, M. Poirot. Youâre not a man thatâs easily forgotten.â

He turned back to speak to the clerk behind the counter who was waiting.

The voice at his elbow murmured:

âYou are going abroad for a holiday?â

âItâs not a holiday Iâm taking. And you yourself, M. Poirot? Youâre not turning your back on this country, I hope?â

âSometimes,â said Hercule Poirot, âI return for a short while to my own countryâBelgium.â

âIâm going farther than that,â said Reilly. âItâs America for me.â He added: âAnd I donât think Iâll be coming back, either.â

âIâm sorry to hear that, Mr. Reilly. You are, then, abandoning your practice in Queen Charlotte Street.â

âIf youâd say it was abandoning me, youâd be nearer the mark.â

âIndeed? That is very sad.â

âIt doesnât worry me. When I think of the debts I shall leave behind me unpaid, Iâm a happy man.â

He grinned engagingly.

âItâs not I whoâll be shooting myself because of money troubles. Leave them behind you, I say, and start afresh. Iâve got my qualifications and theyâre good ones if I say so myself.â

Poirot murmured:

âI saw Miss Morley the other day.â

âWas that a pleasure to you? Iâd say it was not. A more sour-faced woman never lived. Iâve often wondered what sheâd be like drunkâbut thatâs what no one will ever know.â

Poirot said:

âDid you agree with the verdict of the Coronerâs Court on your partnerâs death?â

âI did not,â said Reilly emphatically.

âYou donât think he made a mistake in the injection?â

Reilly said:

âIf Morley injected that Greek with the amount that they say he did, he was either drunk or else he meant to kill the man. And Iâve never seen Morley drink.â

âSo you think it was deliberate?â

âIâd not like to be saying that. Itâs a grave accusation to be making. Truly now, I donât believe it.â

âThere must be some explanation.â

âThere must indeedâbut Iâve not thought of it yet.â

Poirot said:

âWhen did you last actually see Mr. Morley alive?â

âLet me see now. Itâs a long time after to be asking me a thing like that. It would be the night beforeâabout a quarter to seven.â

âYou didnât see him on the actual day of the murder?â

Reilly shook his head.

âYou are sure?â Poirot persisted.

âOh, Iâd not say that. But I donât rememberââ

âYou did not, for instance, go up to his room about eleven thirty five when he had a patient there?â

âYouâre right now. I did. There was a technical question I had to ask him about some instruments I was ordering. Theyâd rung me up about it. But I was only there for a minute, so it slipped my memory. He had a patient there at the time.â

Poirot nodded. He said:

âThere is another question I always meant to ask you. Your patient, Mr. Raikes, cancelled his appointment by walking out. What did you do during that half hourâs leisure?â

âWhat I always do when I have any leisure. Mixed myself a drink. And as Iâve been telling you, I put through a telephone call and ran up to see Morley for a minute.â

Poirot said:

âAnd I also understand that you had no patient from half past twelve to one after Mr. Barnes left. When did he leave, by the way?â

âOh! Just after half past twelve.â

âAnd what did you do then?â

âThe same as before. Mixed myself another drink!â

âAnd went up to see Morley again?â

Mr. Reilly smiled.

âAre you meaning did I go up and shoot him? Iâve told you already, long ago, that I did not. But youâve only my word for it.â

Poirot said:

âWhat did you think of the house-parlourmaid, Agnes?â

Reilly stared:

âNow thatâs a funny question to be asking.â

âBut I should like to know.â

âIâll answer you. I didnât think about her. Georgina kept a strict eye on the maidsâand quite right too. The girl never looked my way onceâwhich was bad taste on her part.â

âI have a feeling,â said Hercule Poirot, âthat that girl knows something.â

He looked inquiringly at Mr. Reilly. The latter smiled and shook his head.

âDonât ask me,â he said. âI know nothing about it. I canât help you at all.â

He gathered up the tickets which were lying in front of him and went off with a nod and a smile.

Poirot explained to a disillusioned clerk that he would not make up his mind about that cruise to the Northern Capitals after all.

II

Poirot paid another visit to Hampstead. Mrs. Adams was a little surprised, perhaps, to see him. Though he had been vouched for, so to speak, by a Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, she nevertheless regarded him as a âquaint little foreignerâ and had not taken his pretentions very seriously. She was, however, very willing to talk.

After the first sensational announcement about the identity of the victim, the finding of the inquest had received very little publicity. It had been a case of mistaken identityâthe body of Mrs. Chapman had been mistaken for that of Miss Sainsbury Seale. That was all that the public knew. The fact that Miss Sainsbury Seale had been probably the last person to see the unfortunate Mrs. Chapman alive was not stressed. There had been no hint in the Press that Miss Sainsbury Seale might possibly be wanted by the police on a criminal charge.

Mrs. Adams had been very relieved when she knew that it was not her friendâs body which had been discovered so dramatically. She appeared to have no idea that any suspicion might attach to Mabelle Sainsbury Seale.

âBut it is so extraordinary that she has disappeared like this. I feel sure, M. Poirot, that it must be loss of memory.â

Poirot said that it was very probable. He had known cases of the kind.

âYesâI remember a friend of one of my cousins. Sheâd had a lot of nursing and worry, and it brought it on. Amnesia, I think they called it.â

Poirot said that he believed that that was the technical term.

He paused and then asked if Mrs. Adams had ever heard Miss Sainsbury Seale speak of a Mrs. Albert Chapman?

No, Mrs. Adams never remembered her friend mentioning anyone of that name. But then, of course, it wasnât likely that Miss Sainsbury Seale should happen to mention everyone with whom she was acquainted. Who was this Mrs. Chapman? Had the police any idea who could have murdered her?

âIt is still a mystery, Madame.â Poirot shook his head and then asked if it was Mrs. Adams who had recommended Mr. Morley as a dentist to Miss Sainsbury Seale.

Mrs. Adams replied in the negative. She herself went to a Mr. French in Harley Street, and if Mabelle had asked her about a dentist she would have sent her to him.

Possibly, Poirot thought, it might have been this Mrs. Chapman who recommended Miss Sainsbury Seale to go to Mr. Morley.

Mrs. Adams agreed that it might have been. Didnât they know at the dentistâs?

But Poirot had already asked Miss Nevill that question and Miss Nevill had not known or had not remembered. She recollected Mrs. Chapman, but did not think the latter had ever mentioned a Miss Sainsbury Sealeâthe name being an odd one, she would have remembered it had she heard it then.

Poirot persevered with his questions.

Mrs. Adams had known Miss Sainsbury Seale first in India, had she not? Mrs. Adams agreed.

Did Mrs. Adams know if Miss Sainsbury Seale had met Mr. or Mrs. Alistair Blunt at any time out there?

âOh, I donât think so, M. Poirot. You mean the big banker? They were out some years ago staying with the Viceroy, but Iâm sure if Mabelle had met them at all, she would have talked about it or mentioned them.â

âIâm afraid,â added Mrs. Adams, with a faint smile, âone does usually mention the important people. Weâre all such snobs at heart.â

âShe never did mention the BluntsâMrs. Blunt in particular?â

âNever.â

âIf she had been a close friend of Mrs. Bluntâs probably you would have known?â

âOh yes. I donât believe she knew anyone like that. Mabelleâs friends were all very ordinary peopleâlike us.â

âThat, Madame, I cannot allow,â said Poirot gallantly.

Mrs. Adams went on talking of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale as one talks of a friend who has recently died. She recalled all Mabelleâs good works, her kindnesses, her indefatigable work for the mission, her zeal, her earnestness.

Hercule Poirot listened. As Japp had said, Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was a real person. She had lived in Calcutta and taught elocution and worked amongst the native population. She had been respectable, well-meaning, a little fussy and stupid perhaps, but also what is termed a woman with a heart of gold.

And Mrs. Adamsâ voice ran on: âShe was so much in earnest over everything, M. Poirot. And she found people so apatheticâso hard to rouse. It was very difficult to get subscriptions out of peopleâworse every year, with the income tax rising and the cost of living and everything. She said to me once: âWhen one knows what money can doâthe wonderful good you can accomplish with itâwell, really sometimes, Alice, I feel I would commit a crime to get it.â That shows, doesnât it, M. Poirot, how strongly she felt?â

âShe said that, did she?â said Poirot thoughtfully.

He asked, casually, when Miss Sainsbury Seale had enunciated this particular statement, and learned that it had been about three months ago.

He left the house and walked away lost in thought.

He was considering the character of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale.

A nice womanâan earnest and kindly womanâa respectable, decent type of woman. It was amongst that type of person that Mr. Barnes had suggested a potential criminal could be found.

She had travelled back on the same boat from India as Mr. Amberiotis. There seemed reason to believe that she had lunched with him at the Savoy.

She had accosted and claimed acquaintance with Alistair Blunt and laid claim to an intimacy with his wife.

She had twice visited King Leopold Mansions where, later, a dead body had been found dressed in her clothes and with her handbag conveniently identifying it.

A little too convenient, that!

She had left the Glengowrie Court Hotel suddenly after an interview with the police.

Could the theory that Hercule Poirot believed to be true account for and explain all those facts?

He thought it could.

III

These meditations had occupied Hercule Poirot on his homeward way until reaching Regentâs Park. He decided to traverse a part of the Park before taking a taxi on. By experience, he knew to a nicety the moment when his smart patent leather shoes began to press painfully on his feet.

It was a lovely summerâs day and Poirot looked indulgently on courting nursemaids and their swains, laughing and giggling while their chubby charges profited by nurseâs inattention.

Dogs barked and romped.

Little boys sailed boats.

And under nearly every tree was a couple sitting close togetherâ¦.

âAh! Jeunesse, Jeunesse,â murmured Hercule Poirot, pleasurably affected by the sight.

They were chic, these little London girls. They wore their tawdry clothes with an air.

Their figures, however, he considered lamentably deficient. Where were the rich curves, the voluptuous lines that had formerly delighted the eye of an admirer?

He, Hercule Poirot, remembered women â¦ One woman, in particularâwhat a sumptuous creatureâBird of Paradiseâa Venus â¦

What woman was there amongst these pretty chits nowadays, who could hold a candle to Countess Vera Rossakoff? A genuine Russian aristocrat, an aristocrat to her fingertips! And also, he remembered, a most accomplished thief â¦ One of those natural geniuses â¦

With a sigh, Poirot wrenched his thoughts away from the flamboyant creature of his dreams.

It was not only, he noted, the little nursemaids and their like who were being wooed under the trees of Regentâs Park.

That was a Schiaparelli creation there, under that lime tree, with the young man who bent his head so close to hers, who was pleading so earnestly.

One must not yield too soon! He hoped the girl understood that. The pleasure of the chase must be extended as long as possibleâ¦.

His beneficent eye still on them, he became suddenly aware of a familiarity in those two figures.

So Jane Olivera had come to Regentâs Park to meet her young American revolutionary?

His face grew suddenly sad and rather stern.

After only a brief hesitation he crossed the grass to them. Sweeping off his hat with a flourish, he said:

âBonjour, Mademoiselle.â

Jane Olivera, he thought, was not entirely displeased to see him.

Howard Raikes, on the other hand, was a good deal annoyed at the interruption.

He growled: âOh, so itâs you again!â

âGood afternoon, M. Poirot,â said Jane. âHow unexpectedly you always pop up, donât you?â

âKind of a Jack in the Box,â said Raikes, still eyeing Poirot with a considerable coldness.

âI do not intrude?â Poirot asked anxiously.

Jane Olivera said kindly:

âNot at all.â

Howard Raikes said nothing.

âIt is a pleasant spot you have found here,â said Poirot.

âIt was,â said Mr. Raikes.

Jane said:

âBe quiet, Howard. You need to learn manners!â

Howard Raikes snorted and asked:

âWhatâs the good of manners?â

âYouâll find they kind of help you along,â said Jane. âI havenât got any myself, but that doesnât matter so much. To begin with Iâm rich, and Iâm moderately good-looking, and Iâve got a lot of influential friendsâand none of those unfortunate disabilities they talk about so freely in the advertisements nowadays. I can get along all right without manners.â

Raikes said:

âIâm not in the mood for small talk, Jane. I guess Iâll take myself off.â

He got up, nodded curtly to Poirot and strode away.

Jane Olivera stared after him, her chin cupped in her palm.

Poirot said with a sigh:

âAlas, the proverb is true. When you are courting, two is company, is it not, three is none?â

Jane said:

âCourting? What a word!â

âBut yes, it is the right word, is it not? For a young man who pays attention to a young lady before asking her hand in marriage? They say, do they not, a courting couple?â

âYour friends seem to say some very funny things.â

Hercule Poirot chanted softly:

âThirteen, fourteen, maids are courting. See, all around us they are doing it.â

Jane said sharply:

âYesâIâm just one of the crowd, I supposeâ¦.â

She turned suddenly to Poirot.

âI want to apologize to you. I made a mistake the other day. I thought you had wormed your way in and come down to Exsham just to spy on Howard. But afterwards Uncle Alistair told me that he had definitely asked you because he wanted you to clear up this business of that missing womanâSainsbury Seale. Thatâs right, isnât it?â

âAbsolutely.â

âSo Iâm sorry for what I said to you that evening. But it did look like it, you know. I meanâas though you were just following Howard and spying on us both.â

âEven if it were true, MademoiselleâI was an excellent witness to the fact that Mr. Raikes bravely saved your uncleâs life by springing on his assailant and preventing him from firing another shot.â

âYouâve got a funny way of saying things, M. Poirot. I never know whether youâre serious or not.â

Poirot said gravely:

âAt the moment I am very serious, Miss Olivera.â

Jane said with a slight break in her voice:

âWhy do you look at me like that? As thoughâas though you were sorry for me?â

âPerhaps because I am sorry, Mademoiselle, for the things that I shall have to do so soonâ¦.â

âWell, thenâdonât do them!â

âAlas, Mademoiselle, but I mustâ¦.â

She stared at him for a minute or two, then she said:

âHave youâfound that woman?â

Poirot said:

âLet us sayâthat I know where she is.â

âIs she dead?â

âI have not said so.â

âSheâs alive, then?â

âI have not said that either.â

Jane looked at him with irritation. She exclaimed:

âWell, sheâs got to be one or the other, hasnât she?â

âActually, itâs not quite so simple.â

âI believe you just like making things difficult!â

âIt has been said of me,â admitted Hercule Poirot.

Jane shivered. She said:

âIsnât it funny? Itâs a lovely warm dayâand yet I suddenly feel coldâ¦.â

âPerhaps you had better walk on, Mademoiselle.â

Jane rose to her feet. She stood a minute irresolute. She said abruptly:

âHoward wants me to marry him. At once. Without letting anyone know. He saysâhe says itâs the only way Iâll ever do itâthat Iâm weakââ She broke off, then with one hand she gripped Poirotâs arm with surprising strength. âWhat shall I do about it, M. Poirot?â

âWhy ask me to advise you? There are those who are nearer!â

âMother? Sheâd scream the house down at the bare idea! Uncle Alistair? Heâd be cautious and prosy. Plenty of time, my dear. Got to make quite sure, you know. Bit of an odd fishâthis young man of yours. No sense in rushing thingsââ

âYour friends?â suggested Poirot.

âI havenât got any friends. Only a silly crowd I drink and dance and talk inane catchwords with! Howardâs the only real person Iâve ever come up against.â

âStillâwhy ask me, Miss Olivera?â

Jane said:

âBecause youâve got a queer look on your faceâas though you were sorry about somethingâas though you knew something thatâthatâwasâcoming. â¦â

She stopped.

âWell?â she demanded. âWhat do you say?â

Hercule Poirot slowly shook his head.

IV

When Poirot reached home, George said:

âChief Inspector Japp is here, sir.â

Japp grinned in a rueful way as Poirot came into the room.

âHere I am, old boy. Come round to say: âArenât you a marvel? How do you do it? What makes you think of these things?ââ

âAll this meaningâ? But pardon, you will have some refreshment? A sirop? Or perhaps the whisky?â

âThe whisky is good enough for me.â

A few minutes later he raised his glass, observing:

âHereâs to Hercule Poirot who is always right!â

âNo, no, mon ami.â

âHere we had a lovely case of suicide. H.P. says itâs murderâwants it to be murderâand dash it all, it is murder!â

âAh? So you agree at last?â

âWell, nobody can say Iâm pigheaded. I donât fly in the face of evidence. The trouble was there wasnât any evidence before.â

âBut there is now?â

âYes, and Iâve come round to make the amend honourable, as you call it, and present the titbit to you on toast, as it were.â

âI am all agog, my good Japp.â

âAll right. Here goes. The pistol that Frank Carter tried to shoot Blunt with on Saturday is a twin pistol to the one that killed Morley!â

Poirot stared: âBut this is extraordinary!â

âYes, it makes it look rather black for Master Frank.â

âIt is not conclusive.â

âNo, but itâs enough to make us reconsider the suicide verdict. Theyâre a foreign make of pistol and rather an uncommon one at that!â

Hercule Poirot stared. His eyebrows looked like crescent moons. He said at last:

âFrank Carter? Noâsurely not!â

Japp breathed a sigh of exasperation.

âWhatâs the matter with you, Poirot? First you will have it that Morley was murdered and that it wasnât suicide. Then when I come and tell you weâre inclined to come round to your views you hem and ha and donât seem to like it.â

âYou really believe that Morley was murdered by Frank Carter?â

âIt fits. Carter had got a grudge against Morleyâthat we knew all along. He came to Queen Charlotte Street that morningâand he pretended afterwards that he had come along to tell his young woman heâd got a jobâbut weâve now discovered that he hadnât got the job then. He didnât get it till later in the day. He admits that now. So thereâs lie No. 1. He canât account for where he was at twenty-five past twelve onwards. Says he was walking in the Marylebone Road, but the first thing he can prove is having a drink in a pub at five past one. And the barman says he was in a regular stateâhis hand shaking and his face as white as a sheet!â

Hercule Poirot sighed and shook his head. He murmured:

âIt does not accord with my ideas.â

âWhat are these ideas of yours?â

âIt is very disturbing what you tell me. Very disturbing indeed. Because, you see, if you are right â¦â

The door opened softly and George murmured deferentially:

âExcuse me, sir, but â¦â

He got no further. Miss Gladys Nevill thrust him aside and came agitatedly into the room. She was crying.

âOh, M. Poirotââ

âHere, Iâll be off,â said Japp hurriedly.

He left the room precipitately.

Gladys Nevill paid his back the tribute of a venomous look.

âThatâs the manâthat horrid Inspector from Scotland Yardâitâs he who has trumped up a whole case against poor Frank.â

âNow, now, you must not agitate yourself.â

âBut he has. First they pretend that he tried to murder this Mr. Blunt and not content with that theyâve accused him of murdering poor Mr. Morley.â

Hercule Poirot coughed. He said:

âI was down there, you know, at Exsham, when the shot was fired at Mr. Blunt.â

Gladys Nevill said with a somewhat confusing use of pronouns:

âBut even if Frank didâdid do a foolish thing like thatâand heâs one of those Imperial Shirts, you knowâthey march with banners and have a ridiculous salute, and of course I suppose Mr. Bluntâs wife was a very notorious Jewess, and they just work up these poor young menâquite harmless ones like Frankâuntil they think they are doing something wonderful and patriotic.â

âIs that Mr. Carterâs defence?â asked Hercule Poirot.

âOh no. Frank just swears he didnât do anything and had never seen the pistol before. I havenât spoken to him, of courseâthey wouldnât let meâbut heâs got a solicitor acting for him and he told me what Frank had said. Frank just says itâs all a frame-up.â

Poirot murmured:

âAnd the solicitor is of opinion that his client had better think of a more plausible story?â

âLawyers are so difficult. They wonât say anything straight out. But itâs the murder charge Iâm worrying about. Oh! M. Poirot, Iâm sure Frank couldnât have killed Mr. Morley. I mean reallyâhe hadnât any reason to.â

âIs it true,â said Poirot, âthat when he came round that morning he had not yet got a job of any kind?â

âWell, really, M. Poirot, I donât see what difference that makes. Whether he got the job in the morning or the afternoon canât matter.â

Poirot said:

âBut his story was that he came to tell you about his good luck. Now, it seems, he had as yet had no luck. Why, then, did he come?â

âWell, M. Poirot, the poor boy was dispirited and upset, and to tell the truth I believe heâd been drinking a little. Poor Frank has rather a weak headâand the drink upset him and so he felt likeâlike making a row, and he came round to Queen Charlotte Street to have it out with Mr. Morley, because, you see, Frank is awfully sensitive and it had upset him a lot to feel that Mr. Morley disapproved of him, and was what he called poisoning my mind.â

âSo he conceived the idea of making a scene in business hours?â

âWellâyesâI suppose that was his idea. Of course it was very wrong of Frank to think of such a thing.â

Poirot looked thoughtfully at the tearful blonde young woman in front of him. He said:

âDid you know that Frank Carter had a pistolâor a pair of pistols?â

âOh no, M. Poirot. I swear I didnât. And I donât believe itâs true, either.â

Poirot shook his head slowly in a perplexed manner.

âOh! M. Poirot, do help us. If I could only feel that you were on our sideââ

Poirot said:

âI do not take sides. I am on the side only of the truth.â

V

After he had got rid of the girl, Poirot rang up Scotland Yard. Japp had not yet returned but Detective Sergeant Beddoes was obliging and informative.

The police had not as yet found any evidence to prove Frank Carterâs possession of the pistol before the assault at Exsham.

Poirot hung up the receiver thoughtfully. It was a point in Carterâs favour. But so far it was the only one.

He had also learned from Beddoes a few more details as to the statement Frank Carter had made about his employment as gardener at Exsham. He stuck to his story of a Secret Service job. He had been given money in advance and some testimonials as to his gardening abilities and been told to apply to Mr. MacAlister, the head gardener, for the post.

His instructions were to listen to the other gardenersâ conversations and sound them as to their âredâ tendencies, and to pretend to be a bit of a âredâ himself. He had been interviewed and instructed in his task by a woman who had told him that she was known as Q.H.56, and that he had been recommended to her as a strong anti-communist. She had interviewed him in a dim light and he did not think he would know her again. She was a red-haired lady with a lot of makeup on.

Poirot groaned. The Phillips Oppenheim touch seemed to be reappearing.

He was tempted to consult Mr. Barnes on the subject.

According to Mr. Barnes these things happened.

The last post brought him something which disturbed him more still.

A cheap envelope in an unformed handwriting, postmarked Hertfordshire.

Poirot opened it and read:

Dear Sir,â

Hoping as you will forgive me for troubling you, but I am very worried and do not know what to do. I do not want to be mixed up with the police in any way. I know that perhaps I ought to have told something I know before, but as they said the master had shot himself it was all right I thought and I wouldnât have liked to get Miss Nevillâs young man into trouble and never thought really for one moment as he had done it but now I see he has been took up for shooting at a gentleman in the country and so perhaps he isnât quite all there and I ought to say but I thought I would write to you, you being a friend of the mistress and asking me so particular the other day if there was anything and of course I wish now I had told you then. But I do hope it wonât mean getting mixed up with the police because I shouldnât like that and my mother wouldnât like it either. She has always been most particular.

Yours respectfully
Agnes Fletcher.

Poirot murmured:

âI always knew it was something to do with some man. I guessed the wrong man, that is all.â

FIFTEEN, SIXTEEN, MAIDS IN THE KITCHEN

I

The interview with Agnes Fletcher took place in Hertford, in a somewhat derelict teashop, for Agnes had been anxious not to tell her story under Miss Morleyâs critical eye.

The first quarter of an hour was taken up listening to exactly how particular Agnesâ mother had always been. Also how Agnesâ father, though a proprietor of licensed premises, had never once had any friction with the police, closing time being strictly observed to the second, and indeed Agnesâ father and mother were universally respected and looked up to in Little Darlingham, Gloucestershire, and none of Mrs. Fletcherâs family of six (two having died in infancy) had ever occasioned their parents the least anxiety. And if Agnes, now, were to get mixed up with the police in any way, Mum and Dad would probably die of it, because as sheâd been saying, theyâd always held their heads high, and never had no trouble of any kind with the police.

After this had been repeated, da capo, and with various embellishments, several times, Agnes drew a little nearer to the subject of the interview.

âI wouldnât like to say anything to Miss Morley, sir, because it might be, you see, that sheâd say as how I ought to have said something before, but me and cook, we talked it over and we didnât see as it was any business of ours, because weâd read quite clear and plain in the paper as how the master had made a mistake in the drug he was giving and that heâd shot himself and the pistol was in his hands and everything, so it did seem quite clear, didnât it, sir?â

âWhen did you begin to feel differently?â Poirot hoped to get a little nearer the promised revelation by an encouraging but not too direct question.

Agnes replied promptly.

âSeeing it in the paper about that Frank CarterâMiss Nevillâs young man as was. When I read as heâd shot at that gentleman where he was gardener, well, I thought, it looks as if he might be queer in the head, because I do know thereâs people it takes like that, think theyâre being persecuted, or something, and that theyâre ringed round by enemies, and in the end itâs dangerous to keep them at home and they have to be took away to the asylum. And I thought that maybe that Frank Carter was like that, because I did remember that he used to go on about Mr. Morley and say as Mr. Morley was against him and trying to separate him from Miss Nevill, but of course she wouldnât hear a word against him, and quite right too we thoughtâEmma and me, because you couldnât deny as Mr. Carter was very nice-looking and quite the gentleman. But, of course, neither of us thought heâd really done anything to Mr. Morley. We just thought it was a bit queer if you know what I mean.â

Poirot said patiently:

âWhat was queer?â

âIt was that morning, sir, the morning Mr. Morley shot himself. Iâd been wondering if I dared run down and get the post. The postman had come but that Alfred hadnât brought up the letters, which he wouldnât do, not unless there was some for Miss Morley or Mr. Morley, but if it was just for Emma and me he wouldnât bother to bring them up till lunch time.

âSo I went out on the landing and I looked down over the stairs. Miss Morley didnât like us going down to the hall, not during the masterâs business hours, but I thought maybe as Iâd see Alfred taking in a patient to the master and Iâd call down to him as he came back.â

Agnes gasped, took a deep breath and went on: âAnd it was then I saw himâthat Frank Carter, I mean. Halfway up the stairs he wasâour stairs, I mean, above the masterâs floor. And he was standing there waiting and looking downâand Iâve come to feel more and more as though there was something queer about it. He seemed to be listening very intent, if you know what I mean?â

âWhat time was this?â

âIt must have been getting on for half past twelve, sir. And just as I was thinking: There now, itâs Frank Carter, and Miss Nevillâs away for the day and wonât he be disappointed, and I was wondering if I ought to run down and tell him because it looked as though that lump of an Alfred had forgot, otherwise I thought he wouldnât have been waiting for her. And just as I was hesitating, Mr. Carter, he seemed to make up his mind, and he slipped down the stairs very quick and went along the passage towards the masterâs surgery, and I thought to myself, the master wonât like that, and I wondered if there was going to be a row, but just then Emma called me, said whatever was I up to? and I went up again and then, afterwards, I heard the master had shot himself and, of course, it was so awful it just drove everything out of my head. But later, when that Police Inspector had gone I said to Emma, I said, I didnât say anything about Mr. Carter having been up with the master this morning, and she said was he? and I told her, and she said well, perhaps I ought to tell, but anyway I said Iâd better wait a bit, and she agreed, because neither of us didnât want to get Frank Carter into trouble if we could help. And then, when it came to the inquest and it come out that the master had made that mistake in a drug and really had got the wind up and shot himself, quite natural-likeâwell, then, of course, there was no call to say anything. But reading that piece in the paper two days agoâOh! it did give me a turn! And I said to myself, âIf heâs one of those loonies that thinks theyâre persecuted and goes round shooting people, well, then maybe he did shoot the master after all!ââ

Her eyes, anxious and scared, looked hopefully at Hercule Poirot. He put as much reassurance into his voice as he could.

âYou may be sure that you have done absolutely the right thing in telling me, Agnes,â he said.

âWell, I must say, sir, it does take a load off my mind. You see, Iâve kept saying to myself as perhaps I ought to tell. And then, you see, I thought of getting mixed up with the police and what mother would say. Sheâs always been so particular about us allâ¦.â

âYes, yes,â said Hercule Poirot hastily.

He had had, he felt, as much of Agnesâ mother as he could stand for one afternoon.

II

Poirot called at Scotland Yard and asked for Japp. When he was taken up to the Chief Inspectorâs room: âI want to see Carter,â said Hercule Poirot.

Japp shot him a quick, sideways glance.

He said:

âWhatâs the big idea?â

âYou are unwilling?â

Japp shrugged his shoulders. He said:

âOh, I shanât make objections. No good if I did. Whoâs the Home Secretaryâs little pet? You are. Whoâs got half the Cabinet in his pocket? You have. Hushing up their scandals for them.â

Poirotâs mind flew for a moment to that case that he had named the Case of the Augean Stables. He murmured, not without complacence:

âIt was ingenious, yes? You must admit it. Well imagined, let us say.â

âNobody but you would ever have thought of such a thing! Sometimes, Poirot, I think you havenât any scruples at all!â

Poirotâs face became suddenly grave. He said:

âThat is not true.â

âOh, all right, Poirot, I didnât mean it. But youâre so pleased sometimes with your damned ingenuity. What do you want to see Carter for? To ask him whether he really murdered Morley?â

To Jappâs surprise, Poirot nodded his head emphatically.

âYes, my friend, that is exactly the reason.â

âAnd I suppose you think heâll tell you if he did?â

Japp laughed as he spoke. But Hercule Poirot remained grave. He said:

âHe might tell meâyes.â

Japp looked at him curiously. He said:

âYou know, Iâve known you a long timeâtwenty years? Something like that. But I still donât always catch on to what youâre driving at. I know youâve got a bee in your bonnet about young Frank Carter. For some reason or other, you donât want him to be guiltyââ

Hercule Poirot shook his head energetically.

âNo, no, there you are wrong. It is the other way aboutââ

âI thought perhaps it was on account of that girl of hisâthe blonde piece. Youâre a sentimental old buzzard in some waysââ

Poirot was immediately indignant.

âIt is not I who am sentimental! That is an English failing! It is in England that they weep over young sweethearts and dying mothers and devoted children. Me, I am logical. If Frank Carter is a killer, then I am certainly not sentimental enough to wish to unite him in marriage to a nice but commonplace girl who, if he is hanged, will forget him in a year or two and find someone else!â

âThen why donât you want to believe he is guilty?â

âI do want to believe he is guilty.â

âI suppose you mean that youâve got hold of something which more or less conclusively proves him to be innocent? Why hold it up, then? You ought to play fair with us, Poirot.â

âI am playing fair with you. Presently, very shortly, I will give you the name and address of a witness who will be invaluable to you for the prosecution. Her evidence ought to clinch the case against him.â

âBut thenâOh! Youâve got me all tangled up. Why are you so anxious to see him.â

âTo satisfy myself,â said Hercule Poirot.

And he would say no more.

III

Frank Carter, haggard, white-faced, still feebly inclined to bluster, looked on his unexpected visitor with unconcealed disfavour. He said rudely:

âSo itâs you, you ruddy little foreigner? What do you want?â

âI want to see you and talk to you.â

âWell, you see me all right. But I wonât talk. Not without my lawyer. Thatâs right, isnât it? You canât go against that. Iâve got the right to have my solicitor present before I say a word.â

âCertainly you have. You can send for him if you likeâbut I should prefer that you did not.â

âI daresay. Think youâre going to trap me into making some damaging admissions, eh?â

âWe are quite alone, remember.â

âThatâs a bit unusual, isnât it? Got your police pals listening in, no doubt.â

âYou are wrong. This is a private interview between you and me.â

Frank Carter laughed. He looked cunning and unpleasant. He said:

âCome off it! You donât take me in with that old gag.â

âDo you remember a girl called Agnes Fletcher?â

âNever heard of her.â

âI think you will remember her, though you may never have taken much notice of her. She was house-parlourmaid at 58, Queen Charlotte Street.â

âWell, what of it?â

Hercule Poirot said slowly:

âOn the morning of the day that Mr. Morley was shot, this girl Agnes happened to look over the banisters from the top floor. She saw you on the stairsâwaiting and listening. Presently she saw you go along to Mr. Morleyâs room. The time was then twenty-six minutes or thereabouts past twelve.â

Frank Carter trembled violently. Sweat came out on his brow. His eyes, more furtive than ever, went wildly from side to side. He shouted angrily:

âItâs a lie! Itâs a damned lie! Youâve paid herâthe police have paid herâto say she saw me.â

âAt that time,â said Hercule Poirot, âby your own account, you had left the house and were walking in the Marylebone Road.â

âSo I was. That girlâs lying. She couldnât have seen me. Itâs a dirty plot. If itâs true, why didnât she say so before?â

Hercule Poirot said quietly:

âShe did mention it at the time to her friend and colleague the cook. They were worried and puzzled and didnât know what to do. When a verdict of suicide was brought in they were much relieved and decided that it wasnât necessary for them to say anything.â

âI donât believe a word of it! Theyâre in it together, thatâs all. A couple of dirty, lying little â¦â

He tailed off into furious profanity.

Hercule Poirot waited.

When Carterâs voice at last ceased, Poirot spoke again, still in the same calm, measured voice.

âAnger and foolish abuse will not help you. These girls are going to tell their story and it is going to be believed. Because, you see, they are telling the truth. The girl, Agnes Fletcher, did see you. You were there, on the stairs, at that time. You had not left the house. And you did go into Mr. Morleyâs room.â

He paused and then asked quietly:

âWhat happened then?â

âItâs a lie, I tell you!â

Hercule Poirot felt very tiredâvery old. He did not like Frank Carter. He disliked him very much. In his opinion Frank Carter was a bully, a liar, a swindlerâaltogether the type of young man the world could well do without. He, Hercule Poirot, had only to stand back and let this young man persist in his lies and the world would be rid of one of its more unpleasant inhabitantsâ¦.

Hercule Poirot said:

âI suggest you tell me the truthâ¦.â

He realized the issue very clearly. Frank Carter was stupidâbut he wasnât so stupid as not to see that to persist in his denial was his best and safest course. Let him once admit that he had gone into that room at twenty-six minutes past twelve and he was taking a step into grave danger. For after that, any story he told would have a good chance of being considered a lie.

Let him persist in his denial, then. If so, Hercule Poirotâs duty would be over. Frank Carter would in all probability be hanged for the murder of Henry Morleyâand it might be, justly hanged.

Hercule Poirot had only to get up and go.

Frank Carter said again:

âItâs a lie!â

There was a pause. Hercule Poirot did not get up and go. He would have liked to do soâvery much. Nevertheless, he remained.

He leaned forward. He saidâand his voice held all the compelling power of his powerful personalityâ

âI am not lying to you. I ask you to believe me. If you did not kill Morley your only hope is to tell me the exact truth of what happened that morning.â

The mean, treacherous face looking at him wavered, became uncertain. Frank Carter pulled at his lip. His eyes went from side to side, terrified, frankly animal eyes.

It was touch and go nowâ¦.

Then suddenly, overborne by the strength of the personality confronting him, Frank Carter surrendered.

He said hoarsely:

âAll right thenâIâll tell you. God curse you if you let me down now! I did go in â¦ I went up the stairs and waited till I could be sure of getting him alone. Waited there, up above Morleyâs landing. Then a gent came out and went downâfat gent. I was just making up my mind to goâwhen another gent came out of Morleyâs room and went down too. I knew Iâd got to be quick. I went along and nipped into his room without knocking. I was all set to have it out with him. Mucking about, putting my girl against meâdamn himââ

He stopped.

âYes?â said Hercule Poirot: and his voice was still urgentâcompellingâ

Carterâs voice croaked uncertainly.

âAnd he was lying thereâdead. Itâs true! I swear itâs true! Lying just as they said at the inquest. I couldnât believe it at first. I stooped over him. But he was dead all right. His hand was stone cold and I saw the bullet hole in his head with a hard black crust of blood round itâ¦.â

At the memory of it, sweat broke out on his forehead again.

âI saw then I was in a jam. Theyâd go and say Iâd done it. I hadnât touched anything except his hand and the door handle. I wiped that with my handkerchief, both sides, as I went out, and I stole downstairs as quickly as I could. There was nobody in the hall and I let myself out and legged it away as fast as I could. No wonder I felt queer.â

He paused. His scared eyes went to Poirot.

âThatâs the truth. I swear thatâs the truth â¦ He was dead already. Youâve got to believe me!â

Poirot got up. He saidâand his voice was tired and sadââI believe you.â

He moved towards the door.

Frank Carter cried out:

âTheyâll hang meâtheyâll hang me for a cert if they know I was in there.â

Poirot said:

âBy telling the truth you have saved yourself from being hanged.â

âI donât see it. Theyâll sayââ

Poirot interrupted him.

âYour story has confirmed what I knew to be the truth. You can leave it now to me.â

He went out.

He was not at all happy.

IV

He reached Mr. Barnesâ House at Ealing at 6:45. He remembered that Mr. Barnes had called that a good time of day.

Mr. Barnes was at work in his garden.

He said by way of greeting:

âWe need rain, M. Poirotâneed it badly.â

He looked thoughtfully at his guest. He said:

âYou donât look very well, M. Poirot?â

âSometimes,â said Hercule Poirot, âI do not like the things I have to do.â

Mr. Barnes nodded his head sympathetically.

He said:

âI know.â

Hercule Poirot looked vaguely round at the neat arrangement of the small beds. He murmured:

âIt is well-planned, this garden. Everything is to scale. It is small but exact.â

Mr. Barnes said:

âWhen you have only a small place youâve got to make the most of it. You canât afford to make mistakes in the planning.â

Hercule Poirot nodded.

Barnes went on:

âI see youâve got your man?â

âFrank Carter?â

âYes. Iâm rather surprised, really.â

âYou did not think that it was, so to speak, a private murder?â

âNo. Frankly I didnât. What with Amberiotis and Alistair BluntâI made sure that it was one of these Espionage or Counter-Espionage mix-ups.â

âThat is the view you expounded to me at our first meeting.â

âI know. I was quite sure of it at the time.â

Poirot said slowly:

âBut you were wrong.â

âYes. Donât rub it in. The trouble is, one goes by oneâs own experience. Iâve been mixed-up in that sort of thing so much I suppose Iâm inclined to see it everywhere.â

Poirot said:

âYou have observed in your time a conjurer offer a card, have you not? What is calledâforcing a card?â

âYes, of course.â

âThat is what was done here. Every time that one thinks of a private reason for Morleyâs death, hey prestoâthe card is forced on one. Amberiotis, Alistair Blunt, the unsettled state of politicsâof the countryââ He shrugged his shoulders. âAs for you, Mr. Barnes, you did more to mislead me than anybody.â

âOh, I say, Poirot, Iâm sorry. I suppose thatâs true.â

âYou were in a position to know, you see. So your words carried weight.â

âWellâI believed what I said. Thatâs the only apology I can make.â

He paused and sighed.

âAnd all the time, it was a purely private motive?â

âExactly. It has taken me a long time to see the reason for the murderâalthough I had one very definite piece of luck.â

âWhat was that?â

âA fragment of conversation. Really a very illuminating fragment if only I had had the sense to realize its significance at the time.â

Mr. Barnes scratched his nose thoughtfully with the trowel. A small piece of earth adhered to the side of his nose.

âBeing rather cryptic, arenât you?â he asked genially.

Hercule Poirot shrugged his shoulders. He said:

âI am, perhaps, aggrieved that you were not more frank with me.â

âI?â

âYes.â

âMy dear fellowâI never had the least idea of Carterâs guilt. As far as I knew, heâd left the house long before Morley was killed. I suppose now theyâve found he didnât leave when he said he did?â

Poirot said:

âCarter was in the house at twenty-six minutes past twelve. He actually saw the murderer.â

âThen Carter didnâtââ

âCarter saw the murderer, I tell you!â

Mr. Barnes said:

âDid he recognize him?â

Slowly Hercule Poirot shook his head.

SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN, MAIDS IN WAITING

I

On the following day Hercule Poirot spent some hours with a theatrical agent of his acquaintance. In the afternoon he went to Oxford. On the day after that he drove down to the countryâit was late when he returned.

He had telephoned before he left to make an appointment with Mr. Alistair Blunt for that same evening.

It was half past nine when he reached the Gothic House.

Alistair Blunt was alone in his library when Poirot was shown in.

He looked an eager question at his visitor as he shook hands.

He said:

âWell?â

Slowly, Hercule Poirot nodded his head.

Blunt looked at him in almost incredulous appreciation.

âHave you found her?â

âYes. Yes, I have found her.â

He sat down. And he sighed.

Alistair Blunt said:

âYou are tired?â

âYes. I am tired. And it is not prettyâwhat I have to tell you.â

Blunt said:

âIs she dead?â

âThat depends,â said Hercule Poirot slowly, âon how you like to look at it.â

Blunt frowned.

He said:

âMy dear man, a person must be dead or alive. Miss Sainsbury Seale must be one or the other!â

âAh, but who is Miss Sainsbury Seale?â

Alistair Blunt said:

âYou donât mean thatâthat there isnât any such person?â

âOh no, no. There was such a person. She lived in Calcutta. She taught elocution. She busied herself with good works. She came to England in the Maharanahâthe same boat in which Mr. Amberiotis travelled. Although they were not in the same class, he helped her over somethingâsome fuss about her luggage. He was, it would seem, a kindly man in little ways. And sometimes, M. Blunt, kindness is repaid in an unexpected fashion. It was so, you know, with M. Amberiotis. He chanced to meet the lady again in the streets of London. He was feeling expansive, he good-naturedly invited her to lunch with him at the Savoy. An unexpected treat for her. And an unexpected windfall for M. Amberiotis! For his kindness was not premeditatedâhe had no idea that this faded, middle-aged lady was going to present him with the equivalent of a gold mine. But nevertheless, that is what she did, though she never suspected the fact herself.

âShe was never, you see, of the first order of intelligence. A good, well-meaning soul, but the brain, I should say, of a hen.â

Blunt said:

âThen it wasnât she who killed the Chapman woman?â

Poirot said slowly:

âIt is difficult to know just how to present the matter. I shall begin, I think, where the matter began for me. With a shoe!â

Blunt said blankly:

âWith a shoe?â

Hercule Poirot nodded.

âYes, a buckled shoe. I came out from my sÃ©ance at the dentistâs and as I stood on the steps of 58, Queen Charlotte Street, a taxi stopped outside, the door opened and a womanâs foot prepared to descend. I am a man who notices a womanâs foot and ankle. It was a well-shaped foot, with a good ankle and an expensive stocking, but I did not like the shoe. It was a new, shining patent leather shoe with a large ornate buckle. Not chicânot at all chic!

âAnd whilst I was observing this, the rest of the lady came into sightâand frankly it was a disappointmentâa middle-aged lady without charm and badly dressed.â

âMiss Sainsbury Seale?â

âPrecisely. As she descended a contretemps occurredâshe caught the buckle of her shoe in the door and it was wrenched off. I picked it up and returned it to her. That was all. The incident was closed.

âLater, on that same day, I went with Chief Inspector Japp to interview the lady. (She had not as yet sewn on the buckle, by the way.)

âOn that same evening, Miss Sainsbury Seale walked out of her hotel and vanished. That, shall we say, is the end of Part One.

âPart Two began when Chief Inspector Japp summoned me to King Leopold Mansions. There was a fur chest in a flat there, and in that fur chest there had been found a body. I went into the room, I walked up to the chestâand the first thing I saw was a shabby buckled shoe!â

âWell?â

âYou have not appreciated the point. It was a shabby shoeâa well-worn shoe. But you see, Miss Sainsbury Seale had come to King Leopold Mansions on the evening of that same dayâthe day of Mr. Morleyâs murder. In the morning the shoes were new shoesâin the evening they were old shoes. One does not wear out a pair of shoes in a day, you comprehend.â

Alistair Blunt said without much interest:

âShe could have two pairs of shoes, I suppose?â

âAh, but that was not so. For Japp and I had gone up to her room at the Glengowrie Court and had looked at all her possessionsâand there was no pair of buckled shoes there. She might have had an old pair of shoes, yes. She might have changed into them after a tiring day to go out in the evening, yes? But if so, the other pair would have been at the hotel. It was curious, you will admit?â

âI canât see that it is important.â

âNo, not important. Not at all important. But one does not like things that one cannot explain. I stood by the fur chest and I looked at the shoeâthe buckle had recently been sewn on by hand. I will confess that I then had a moment of doubtâof myself. Yes, I said to myself, Hercule Poirot, you were a little light-headed perhaps this morning. You saw the world through rosy spectacles. Even the old shoes looked like new ones to you?â

âPerhaps that was the explanation?â

âBut no, it was not. My eyes do not deceive me! To continue, I studied the dead body of this woman and I did not like what I saw. Why had the face been wantonly, deliberately smashed and rendered unrecognizable?â

Alistair Blunt moved restlessly. He said:

âMust we go over that again? We knowââ

Hercule Poirot said firmly:

âIt is necessary. I have to take you over the steps that led me at last to the truth. I said to myself: âSomething is wrong here. Here is a dead woman in the clothes of Miss Sainsbury Seale (except, perhaps, the shoes?) and with the handbag of Miss Sainsbury Sealeâbut why is her face unrecognizable? Is it, perhaps, because the face is not the face of Miss Sainsbury Seale?â And immediately I begin to put together what I have heard of the appearance of the other womanâthe woman to whom the flat belongs, and I ask myselfâMight it not perhaps be this other woman who lies dead here? I go then and look at the other womanâs bedroom. I try to picture to myself what sort of woman she is. In superficial appearance, very different to the other. Smart, showily dressed, very much made up. But in essentials, not unlike. Hair, build, age â¦ But there is one difference. Mrs. Albert Chapman took a five in shoes. Miss Sainsbury Seale, I knew, took a 10-inch stockingâthat is to say she would take at least a 6 in shoes. Mrs. Chapman, then, had smaller feet than Miss Sainsbury Seale. I went back to the body. If my half-formed idea was right, and the body was that of Mrs. Chapman wearing Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs clothes, then the shoes should be too big. I took hold of one. But it was not loose. It fitted tightly. That looked as though it were the body of Miss Sainsbury Seale after all! But in that case, why was the face disfigured? Her identity was already proved by the handbag, which could easily have been removed, but which had not been removed.

âIt was a puzzleâa tangle. In desperation I seized on Mrs. Chapmanâs address bookâa dentist was the only person who could prove definitely who the dead woman wasâor was not. By coincidence, Mrs. Chapmanâs dentist was Mr. Morley. Morley was dead, but identification was still possible. You know the result. The body was identified in the Coronerâs Court by Mr. Morleyâs successor as that of Mrs. Albert Chapman.â

Blunt was fidgeting with some impatience, but Poirot took no notice. He went on:

âI was left now with a psychological problem. What sort of a woman was Mabelle Sainsbury Seale? There were two answers to that question. The first was the obvious one borne out by her whole life in India and by the testimony of her personal friends. That depicted her as an earnest, conscientious, slightly stupid woman. Was there another Miss Sainsbury Seale? Apparently there was. There was a woman who had lunched with a well-known foreign agent, who had accosted you in the street and claimed to be a close friend of your wifeâs (a statement that was almost certainly untrue), a woman who had left a manâs house very shortly before a murder had been committed, a woman who had visited another woman on the evening when in all probability that other woman had been murdered, and who had since disappeared although she must be aware that the police force of England was looking for her. Were all these actions compatible with the character which her friends gave her? It would seem that they were not. Therefore, if Miss Sainsbury Seale were not the good, amiable creature she seemed, then it would appear that she was quite possibly a cold-blooded murderess or almost certainly an accomplice after the fact.

âI had one more criterionâmy own personal impression. I had talked to Mabelle Sainsbury Seale myself. How had she struck me? And that, M. Blunt, was the most difficult question to answer of all. Everything that she said, her way of talking, her manner, her gestures, all were perfectly in accord with her given character. But they were equally in accord with a clever actress playing a part. And, after all, Mabelle Sainsbury Seale had started life as an actress.

âI had been much impressed by a conversation I had had with Mr. Barnes of Ealing who had also been a patient at 58, Queen Charlotte Street on that particular day. His theory, expressed very forcibly, was that the deaths of Morley and of Amberiotis were only incidental, so to speakâthat the intended victim was you.â

Alistair Blunt said:

âOh, come nowâthatâs a bit far-fetched.â

âIs it, M. Blunt? Is it not true that at this moment there are various groups of people to whom it is vital that you should beâremoved, shall we say? Shall be no longer capable of exerting your influence?â

Blunt said:

âOh yes, thatâs true enough. But why mix up this business of Morleyâs death with that?â

Poirot said:

âBecause there is a certainâhow shall I put it?âlavishness about the caseâExpense is no objectâhuman life is no object. Yes, there is a recklessness, a lavishnessâthat points to a big crime!â

âYou donât think Morley shot himself because of a mistake?â

âI never thought soânot for a minute. No, Morley was murdered, Amberiotis was murdered, an unrecognizable woman was murderedâWhy? For some big stake. Barnesâ theory was that somebody had tried to bribe Morley or his partner to put you out of the way.â

Alistair Blunt said sharply:

âNonsense!â

âAh, but is it nonsense? Say one wishes to put someone out of the way. Yes, but that someone is forewarned, forearmed, difficult of access. To kill that person it is necessary to be able to approach him without awakening his suspicionsâand where would a man be less suspicious than in a dentistâs chair?â

âWell, thatâs true, I suppose. I never thought of it like that.â

âIt is true. And once I realized it I had my first vague glimmering of the truth.â

âSo you accepted Barnesâ theory? Who is Barnes, by the way?â

âBarnes was Reillyâs twelve oâclock patient. He is retired from the Home Office and lives in Ealing. An insignificant little man. But you are wrong when you say I accepted his theory. I did not. I only accepted the principle of it.â

âWhat do you mean?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âAll along, all the way through, I have been led astrayâsometimes unwittingly, sometimes deliberately and for a purpose. All along it was presented to me, forced upon me, that this was what you might call a public crime. That is to say, that you, M. Blunt, were the focus of it all, in your public character. You, the banker, you the controller of finance, you, the upholder of conservative tradition!

âBut every public character has a private life also. That was my mistake, I forgot the private life. There existed private reasons for killing MorleyâFrank Carterâs for instance.

âThere could also exist private reasons for killing you â¦ You had relations who would inherit money when you died. You had people who loved and hated youâas a manânot as a public figure.

âAnd so I came to the supreme instance of what I call âthe forced card.â The purported attack upon you by Frank Carter. If that attack was genuineâthen it was a political crime. But was there any other explanation? There could be. There was a second man in the shrubbery. The man who rushed up and seized Carter. A man who could easily have fired that shot and then tossed the pistol to Carterâs feet so that the latter would almost inevitably pick it up and be found with it in his handâ¦.

âI considered the problem of Howard Raikes. Raikes had been at Queen Charlotte Street that morning of Morleyâs death. Raikes was a bitter enemy of all that you stood for and were. Yes, but Raikes was something more. Raikes was the man who might marry your niece, and with you dead, your niece would inherit a very handsome income, even though you had prudently arranged that she could not touch the principal.

âWas the whole thing, after all, a private crimeâa crime for private gain, for private satisfaction? Why had I thought it a public crime? Because, not once, but many times, that idea had been suggested to me, had been forced upon me like a forced card. â¦

âIt was then, when that idea occurred to me, that I had my first glimmering of the truth. I was in church at the time and singing a verse of a psalm. It spoke of a snare laid with cordsâ¦.

âA snare? Laid for me? Yes, it could be â¦ But in that case who had laid it? There was only one person who could have laid it â¦ And that did not make senseâor did it? Had I been looking at the case upside down? Money no object? Exactly! Reckless disregard of human life? Yes again. For the stakes for which the guilty person was playing were enormous. â¦

âBut if this new, strange idea of mine were right, it must explain everything. It must explain, for instance, the mystery of the dual nature of Miss Sainsbury Seale. It must solve the riddle of the buckled shoe. And it must answer the question: Where is Miss Sainsbury Seale now?

âEh bienâit did all that and more. It showed me that Miss Sainsbury Seale was the beginning and middle and end of the case. No wonder it had seemed to me that there were two Mabelle Sainsbury Seales. There were two Mabelle Sainsbury Seales. There was the good, stupid, amiable woman who was vouched for so confidently by her friends. And there was the otherâthe woman who was mixed-up with two murders and who told lies and who vanished mysteriously.

âRemember, the porter at King Leopold Mansions said that Miss Sainsbury Seale had been there once beforeâ¦.

âIn my reconstruction of the case, that first time was the only time. She never left King Leopold Mansions. The other Miss Sainsbury Seale took her place. That other Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, dressed in clothes of the same type and wearing a new pair of shoes with buckles because the others were too large for her, went to the Russell Square Hotel at a busy time of day, packed up the dead womanâs clothes, paid the bill and left. She went to the Glengowrie Court Hotel. None of the real Miss Sainsbury Sealeâs friends saw her after that time, remember. She played the part of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale there for over a week. She wore Mabelle Sainsbury Sealeâs clothes, she talked in Mabelle Sainsbury Sealeâs voice, but she had to buy a smaller pair of evening shoes, too. And thenâshe vanished, her last appearance being when she was seen reentering King Leopold Mansions on the evening of the day Morley was killed.â

âAre you trying to say,â demanded Alistair Blunt, âthat it was Mabelle Sainsbury Sealeâs dead body in that flat, after all.â

âOf course it was! It was a very clever double bluffâthe smashed face was meant to raise a question of the womanâs identity!â

âBut the dental evidence?â

âAh! Now we come to it. It was not the dentist himself who gave evidence. Morley was dead. He couldnât give evidence as to his own work. He would have known who the dead woman was. It was the charts that were put in as evidenceâand the charts were faked. Both women were his patients, remember. All that had to be done was to relabel the charts, exchanging the names.â

Hercule Poirot added:

âAnd now you see what I meant when you asked me if the woman was dead and I replied, âThat depends.â For when you say âMiss Sainsbury Sealeââwhich woman do you mean? The woman who disappeared from the Glengowrie Court Hotel or the real Mabelle Sainsbury Seale.â

Alistair Blunt said:

âI know, M. Poirot, that you have a great reputation. Therefore I accept that you must have some grounds for this extraordinary assumptionâfor it is an assumption, nothing more. But all I can see is the fantastic improbability of the whole thing. You are saying, are you not, that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was deliberately murdered and that Morley was also murdered to prevent his identifying her dead body. But why? Thatâs what I want to know. Hereâs this womanâa perfectly harmless, middle-aged womanâwith plenty of friends and apparently no enemies. Why on earth all this elaborate plot to get rid of her?â

âWhy? Yes, that is the question. Why? As you say, Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was a perfectly harmless creature who wouldnât hurt a fly! Why, then, was she deliberately and brutally murdered? Well, I will tell you what I think.â

âYes?â

Hercule Poirot leaned forward. He said:

âIt is my belief that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was murdered because she happened to have too good a memory for faces.â

âWhat do you mean?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âWe have separated the dual personality. There is the harmless lady from India. But there is one incident that falls between the two roles. Which Miss Sainsbury Seale was it who spoke to you on the doorstep of Mr. Morleyâs house? She claimed, you will remember, to be âa great friend of your wifeâs.â Now that claim was adjudged by her friends and by the light of ordinary probability to be untrue. So we can say: âThat was a lie. The real Miss Sainsbury Seale does not tell lies.â So it was a lie uttered by the impostor for a purpose of her own.â

Alistair Blunt nodded.

âYes, that reasoning is quite clear. Though I still donât know what the purpose was.â

Poirot said:

âAh, pardonâbut let us first look at it the other way round. It was the real Miss Sainsbury Seale. She does not tell lies. So the story must be true.â

âI suppose you can look at it that wayâbut it seems very unlikelyââ

âOf course it is unlikely! But taking that second hypothesis as factâthe story is true. Therefore Miss Sainsbury Seale did know your wife. She knew her well. Thereforeâyour wife must have been the type of person Miss Sainsbury Seale would have known well. Someone in her own station of life. An Anglo-Indianâa missionaryâor, to go back farther stillâan actressâThereforeânot Rebecca Arnholt!

âNow, M. Blunt, do you see what I meant when I talked of a private and a public life? You are the great banker. But you are also a man who married a rich wife. And before you married her you were only a junior partner in the firmânot very long down from Oxford.

âYou comprehendâI began to look at the case the right way up. Expense no object? Naturally notâto you. Reckless of human lifeâthat, too, since for a long time you have been virtually a dictator and to a dictator his own life becomes unduly important and those of others unimportant.â

Alistair Blunt said:

âWhat are you suggesting, M. Poirot?â

Poirot said quietly:

âI am suggesting, M. Blunt, that when you married Rebecca Arnholt, you were married already. That, dazzled by the vista, not so much of wealth, as of power, you suppressed that fact and deliberately committed bigamy. That your real wife acquiesced in the situation.â

âAnd who was this real wife?â

âMrs. Albert Chapman was the name she went under at King Leopold Mansionsâa handy spot, not five minutesâ walk from your house on the Chelsea Embankment. You borrowed the name of a real secret agent, realizing that it would give support to her hints of a husband engaged in intelligence work. Your scheme succeeded perfectly. No suspicion was ever aroused. Nevertheless, the fact remained, you had never been legally married to Rebecca Arnholt and you were guilty of bigamy. You never dreamt of danger after so many years. It came out of the blueâin the form of a tiresome woman who remembered you after nearly twenty years, as her friendâs husband. Chance brought her back to this country, chance let her meet you in Queen Charlotte Streetâit was chance that your niece was with you and heard what she said to you. Otherwise I might never have guessed.â

âI told you about that myself, my dear Poirot.â

âNo, it was your niece who insisted on telling me and you could not very well protest too violently in case it might arouse suspicions. And after that meeting, one more evil chance (from your point of view) occurred. Mabelle Sainsbury Seale met Amberiotis, went to lunch with him and babbled to him of this meeting with a friendâs husbandââafter all these years!âââLooked older, of course, but had hardly changed!â That, I admit, is pure guesswork on my part but I believe it is what happened. I do not think that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale realized for a moment that the Mr. Blunt her friend had married was the shadowy figure behind the finance of the world. The name, after all, is not an uncommon one. But Amberiotis, remember, in addition to his espionage activities, was a blackmailer. Blackmailers have an uncanny nose for a secret. Amberiotis wondered. Easy to find out just who the Mr. Blunt was. And then, I have no doubt, he wrote to you or telephoned â¦ Oh, yesâa gold mine for Amberiotis.â

Poirot paused. He went on:

âThere is only one effectual method of dealing with a really efficient and experienced blackmailer. Silence him.

âIt was not a case, as I had had erroneously suggested to me, of âBlunt must go.â It was, on the contrary, âAmberiotis must go.â But the answer was the same! The easiest way to get at a man is when he is off his guard, and when is a man more off his guard than in the dentistâs chair?â

Poirot paused again. A faint smile came to his lips. He said:

âThe truth about the case was mentioned very early. The page boy, Alfred, was reading a crime story called Death at Eleven Forty-Five. We should have taken that as an omen. For, of course, that is just about the time when Morley was killed. You shot him just as you were leaving. Then you pressed his buzzer, turned on the taps of the wash basin and left the room. You timed it so that you came down the stairs just as Alfred was taking the false Mabelle Sainsbury Seale to the lift. You actually opened the front door, perhaps you passed out, but as the lift doors shut and the lift went up you slipped inside again and went up the stairs.

âI know, from my own visits, just what Alfred did when he took up a patient. He knocked on the door, opened it, and stood back to let the patient pass in. Inside the water was runningâinference, Morley was washing his hands as usual. But Alfred couldnât actually see him.

âAs soon as Alfred had gone down again in the lift, you slipped along into the surgery. Together you and your accomplice lifted the body and carried it into the adjoining office. Then a quick hunt through the files, and the charts of Mrs. Chapman and Miss Sainsbury Seale were cleverly falsified. You put on a white linen coat, perhaps your wife applied a trace of makeup. But nothing much was needed. It was Amberiotisâ first visit to Morley. He had never met you. And your photograph seldom appears in the papers. Besides, why should he have suspicions? A blackmailer does not fear his dentist. Miss Sainsbury Seale goes down and Alfred shows her out. The buzzer goes and Amberiotis is taken up. He finds the dentist washing his hands behind the door in approved fashion. He is conducted to the chair. He indicates the painful tooth. You talk the accustomed patter. You explain it will be best to freeze the gum. The procaine and adrenalin are there. You inject a big enough dose to kill. And incidentally he will not feel any lack of skill in your dentistry!

âCompletely unsuspicious, Amberiotis leaves. You bring out Morleyâs body and arrange it on the floor, dragging it slightly on the carpet now that you have to manage it single-handed. You wipe the pistol and put it in his handâwipe the door handle so that your prints shall not be the last. The instruments you used have all been passed into the sterilizer. You leave the room, go down the stairs and slip out of the front door at a suitable moment. That is your only moment of danger.

âIt should all have passed off so well! Two people who threatened your safetyâboth dead. A third person also deadâbut that, from your point of view, was unavoidable. And all so easily explained. Morleyâs suicide explained by the mistake he had made over Amberiotis. The two deaths cancel out. One of these regrettable accidents.

âBut alas for you, I am on the scene. I have doubts. I make objections. All is not going as easily as you hoped. So there must be a second line of defences. There must be, if necessary, a scapegoat. You have already informed yourself minutely, of Morleyâs household. There is this man, Frank Carter, he will do. So your accomplice arranges that he shall be engaged in a mysterious fashion as gardener. If, later, he tells such a ridiculous story no one will believe it. In due course, the body in the fur chest will come to light. At first it will be thought to be that of Miss Sainsbury Seale, then the dental evidence will be taken. Big sensation! It may seem a needless complication, but it was necessary. You do not want the police force of England to be looking for a missing Mrs. Albert Chapman. No, let Mrs. Chapman be deadâand let it be Mabelle Sainsbury Seale for whom the police look. Since they can never find her. Besides, through your influence, you can arrange to have the case dropped.

âYou did do that, but since it was necessary that you should know just what I was doing, you sent for me and urged me to find the missing woman for you. And you continued, steadily, to âforce a cardâ upon me. Your accomplice rang me up with a melodramatic warningâthe same ideaâespionageâthe public aspect. She is a clever actress, this wife of yours, but to disguise oneâs voice the natural tendency is to imitate another voice. Your wife imitated the intonation of Mrs. Olivera. That puzzled me, I may say, a good deal.

âThen I was taken down to Exshamâthe final performance was staged. How easy to arrange a loaded pistol amongst laurels so that a man, clipping them, shall unwittingly cause it to go off. The pistol falls at his feet. Startled, he picks it up. What more do you want? He is caught red-handedâwith a ridiculous story and with a pistol which is a twin to the one with which Morley was shot.

âAnd all a snare for the feet of Hercule Poirot.â

Alistair Blunt stirred a little in his chair. His face was grave and a little sad. He said:

âDonât misunderstand me, M. Poirot. How much do you guess? And how much do you actually know?â

Poirot said:

âI have a certificate of the marriageâat a registry office near Oxfordâof Martin Alistair Blunt and Gerda Grant. Frank Carter saw two men leave Morleyâs surgery just after twenty-five past twelve. The first was a fat manâAmberiotis. The second was, of course, you. Frank Carter did not recognize you. He only saw you from above.â

âHow fair of you to mention that!â

âHe went into the surgery and found Morleyâs body. The hands were cold and there was dried blood round the wound. That meant that Morley had been dead some time. Therefore the dentist who attended to Amberiotis could not have been Morley and must have been Morleyâs murderer.â

âAnything else?â

âYes. Helen Montressor was arrested this afternoon.â

Alistair Blunt gave one sharp movement. Then he sat very still. He said:

âThatârather tears it.â

Hercule Poirot said:

âYes. The real Helen Montressor, your distant cousin, died in Canada seven years ago. You suppressed that fact, and took advantage of it.â

A smile came to Alistair Bluntâs lips. He spoke naturally and with a kind of boyish enjoyment.

âGerda got a kick out of it all, you know. Iâd like to make you understand. Youâre such a clever fellow. I married her without letting my people know. She was acting in repertory at the time. My people were the straitlaced kind, and I was going into the firm. We agreed to keep it dark. She went on acting. Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was in the company too. She knew about us. Then she went abroad with a touring company. Gerda heard of her once or twice from India. Then she stopped writing. Mabelle got mixed up with some Hindu. She was always a stupid, credulous girl.

âI wish I could make you understand about my meeting with Rebecca and my marriage. Gerda understood. The only way I can put it is that it was like Royalty. I had the chance of marrying a Queen and playing the part of Prince Consort or even King. I looked on my marriage to Gerda as morganatic. I loved her. I didnât want to get rid of her. And the whole thing worked splendidly. I liked Rebecca immensely. She was a woman with a first-class financial brain and mine was just as good. We were good at team work. It was supremely exciting. She was an excellent companion and I think I made her happy. I was genuinely sorry when she died. The queer thing was that Gerda and I grew to enjoy the secret thrill of our meetings. We had all sorts of ingenious devices. She was an actress by nature. She had a repertoire of seven or eight charactersâMrs. Albert Chapman was only one of them. She was an American widow in Paris. I met her there when I went over on business. And she used to go to Norway with painting things as an artist. I went there for the fishing. And then, later, I passed her off as my cousin. Helen Montressor. It was great fun for us both, and it kept romance alive, I suppose. We could have married officially after Rebecca diedâbut we didnât want to. Gerda would have found it hard to live my official life and, of course, something from the past might have been raked up, but I think the real reason we went on more or less the same was that we enjoyed the secrecy of it. We should have found open domesticity dull.â

Blunt paused. He said, and his voice changed and hardened:

âAnd then that damned fool of a woman messed up everything. Recognizing meâafter all those years! And she told Amberiotis. You seeâyou must seeâthat something had to be done! It wasnât only myselfânot only the selfish point of view. If I was ruined and disgracedâthe country, my country was hit as well. For Iâve done something for England, M. Poirot. Iâve held it firm and kept it solvent. Itâs free from Dictatorsâfrom Fascism and from Communism. I donât really care for money as money. I do like powerâI like to ruleâbut I donât want to tyrannize. We are democratic in Englandâtruly democratic. We can grumble and say what we think and laugh at our politicians. Weâre free. I care for all thatâitâs been my lifework. But if I wentâwell, you know what would probably happen. Iâm needed, M. Poirot. And a damned double-crossing, blackmailing rogue of a Greek was going to destroy my life work. Something had to be done. Gerda saw it, too. We were sorry about the Sainsbury Seale womanâbut it was no good. Weâd got to silence her. She couldnât be trusted to hold her tongue. Gerda went to see her, asked her to tea, told her to ask for Mrs. Chapman, said she was staying in Mr. Chapmanâs flat. Mabelle Sainsbury Seale came, quite unsuspecting. She never knew anythingâthe medinal was in the teaâitâs quite painless. You just sleep and donât wake up. The face business was done afterwardsârather sickening, but we felt it was necessary. Mrs. Chapman was to exit for good. I had given my âcousinâ Helen a cottage to live in. We decided that after a while we would get married. But first we had to get Amberiotis out of the way. It worked beautifully. He hadnât a suspicion that I wasnât a real dentist. I did my stuff with the hand pricks rather well. I didnât risk the drill. Of course, after the injection he couldnât feel what I was doing. Probably just as well!â

Poirot asked:

âThe pistols?â

âActually they belonged to a secretary I once had in America. He bought them abroad somewhere. When he left he forgot to take them.â

There was a pause. Then Alistair Blunt asked:

âIs there anything else you want to know?â

Hercule Poirot said:

âWhat about Morley?â

Alistair Blunt said simply:

âI was sorry about Morley.â

Hercule Poirot said:

âYes, I seeâ¦.â

There was a long pause, then Blunt said:

âWell, M. Poirot, what about it?â

Poirot said:

âHelen Montressor is arrested already.â

âAnd now itâs my turn?â

âThat was my meaning, yes.â

Blunt said gently:

âBut you are not happy about it, eh?â

âNo, I am not at all happy.â

Alistair Blunt said:

âIâve killed three people. So presumably I ought to be hanged. But youâve heard my defence.â

âWhich isâexactly?â

âThat I believe, with all my heart and soul, that I am necessary to the continued peace and well-being of this country.â

Hercule Poirot allowed:

âThat may beâyes.â

âYou agree, donât you?â

âI agree, yes. You stand for all the things that to my mind are important. For sanity and balance and stability and honest dealing.â

Alistair Blunt said quietly:

âThanks.â

He added:

âWell, what about it?â

âYou suggest that Iâretire from the case?â

âYes.â

âAnd your wife?â

âIâve got a good deal of pull. Mistaken identity, thatâs the line to take.â

âAnd if I refuse?â

âThen,â said Alistair Blunt simply, âIâm for it.â

He went on:

âItâs in your hands, Poirot. Itâs up to you. But I tell you thisâand itâs not just self-preservationâIâm needed in the world. And do you know why? Because Iâm an honest man. And because Iâve got common senseâand no particular axe of my own to grind.â

Poirot nodded. Strangely enough, he believed all that.

He said:

âYes, that is one side. You are the right man in the right place. You have sanity, judgement, balance. But there is the other side. Three human beings who are dead.â

âYes, but think of them! Mabelle Sainsbury Sealeâyou said yourselfâa woman with the brains of a hen! Amberiotisâa crook and a blackmailer!â

âAnd Morley?â

âIâve told you before. Iâm sorry about Morley. But after allâhe was a decent fellow and a good dentistâbut there are other dentists.â

âYes,â said Poirot, âthere are other dentists. And Frank Carter? You would have let him die, too, without regret?â

Blunt said:

âI donât waste any pity on him. Heâs no good. An utter rotter.â

Poirot said:

âBut a human beingâ¦.â

âOh well, weâre all human beingsâ¦.â

âYes, we are all human beings. That is what you have not remembered. You have said that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was a foolish human being and Amberiotis an evil one, and Frank Carter a wastrelâand MorleyâMorley was only a dentist and there are other dentists. That is where you and I, M. Blunt, do not see alike. For to me the lives of those four people are just as important as your life.â

âYouâre wrong.â

âNo, I am not wrong. You are a man of great natural honesty and rectitude. You took one step asideâand outwardly it has not affected you. Publicly you have continued the same, upright, trustworthy, honest. But within you the love of power grew to over-whelming heights. So you sacrificed four human lives and thought them of no account.â

âDonât you realize, Poirot, that the safety and happiness of the whole nation depends on me?â

âI am not concerned with nations, Monsieur. I am concerned with the lives of private individuals who have the right not to have their lives taken from them.â

He got up.

âSo thatâs your answer,â said Alistair Blunt.

Hercule Poirot said in a tired voice:

âYesâthat is my answerâ¦.â

He went to the door and opened it. Two men came in.

II

Hercule Poirot went down to where a girl was waiting.

Jane Olivera, her face white and strained, stood against the mantelpiece. Beside her was Howard Raikes.

She said:

âWell?â

Poirot said gently:

âIt is all over.â

Raikes said harshly:

âWhat do you mean?â

Poirot said:

âMr. Alistair Blunt has been arrested for murder.â

Raikes said:

âI thought heâd buy you offâ¦.â

Jane said:

âNo. I never thought that.â

Poirot sighed. He said:

âThe world is yours. The New Heaven and the New Earth. In your new world, my children, let there be freedom and let there be pity â¦ That is all I ask.â

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She is the author of eighty crime novels and short-story collections, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott.

She first tried her hand at detective fiction while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I, creating the now legendary Hercule Poirot with her debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. With The Murder in the Vicarage, published in 1930, she introduced another beloved sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Additional series characters include the husband-and-wife crime-fighting team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, private investigator Parker Pyne, and Scotland Yard detectives Superintendent Battle and Inspector Japp.

Many of Christieâ€™s novels and short stories were adapted into plays, films, and television series. The Mousetrap, her most famous play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history. Among her best-known film adaptations are Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978), with Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov playing Hercule Poirot, respectively. On the small screen Poirot has been most memorably portrayed by David Suchet, and Miss Marple by Joan Hickson and subsequently Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.

Christie was first married to Archibald Christie and then to archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, whom she accompanied on expeditions to countries that would also serve as the settings for many of her novels. In 1971 she achieved one of Britainâ€™s highest honors when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five. Her one hundred and twentieth anniversary was celebrated around the world in 2010.

www.AgathaChristie.com

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THE AGATHA CHRISTIE COLLECTION

The Man in the Brown Suit

The Secret of Chimneys

The Seven Dials Mystery

The Mysterious Mr. Quin

The Sittaford Mystery

Parker Pyne Investigates

Why Didnâ€™t They Ask Evans?

Murder Is Easy

The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

And Then There Were None

Towards Zero

Death Comes as the End

Sparkling Cyanide

The Witness for the Prosecution and
Â Â Â  Other Stories

Crooked House

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories

They Came to Baghdad

Destination Unknown

Ordeal by Innocence

Double Sin and Other Stories

The Pale Horse

Star over Bethlehem: Poems and
Â Â Â  Holiday Stories

Endless Night

Passenger to Frankfurt

The Golden Ball and Other Stories

The Mousetrap and Other Plays

The Harlequin Tea Set

The Hercule Poirot Mysteries

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The Murder on the Links

Poirot Investigates

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Big Four

The Mystery of the Blue Train

Peril at End House

Lord Edgware Dies

Murder on the Orient Express

Three Act Tragedy

Death in the Clouds

The A.B.C. Murders

Murder in Mesopotamia

Cards on the Table

Murder in the Mews

Dumb Witness

Death on the Nile

Appointment with Death

Hercule Poirotâ€™s Christmas

Sad Cypress

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Evil Under the Sun

Five Little Pigs

The Hollow

The Labors of Hercules

Taken at the Flood

The Underdog and Other Stories

Mrs. McGintyâ€™s Dead

After the Funeral

Hickory Dickory Dock

Dead Manâ€™s Folly

Cat Among the Pigeons

The Clocks

Third Girl

Halloweâ€™en Party

Elephants Can Remember

Curtain: Poirotâ€™s Last Case

The Miss Marple Mysteries

The Murder at the Vicarage

The Body in the Library

The Moving Finger

A Murder Is Announced

They Do It with Mirrors

A Pocket Full of Rye

4:50 from Paddington

The Mirror Crackâ€™d from Side to Side

A Caribbean Mystery

At Bertramâ€™s Hotel

Nemesis

Sleeping Murder

Miss Marple: The Complete
Â Â Â  Short Stories

The Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries

The Secret Adversary

Partners in Crime

N or M?

By the Pricking of My Thumbs

Postern of Fate

Memoirs

An Autobiography

Come, Tell Me How You Live

Credits

Cover design and illustration by Faith Laurel

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the authorâ€™s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This title was previously published as The Patriotic Murders and An Overdose of Death.

AGATHA CHRISTIEÂ® POIROTÂ® ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOEâ„¢. Copyright Â© 1940 Agatha Christie Limited (a Chorion company). All rights reserved.

ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE Â© 1941. Published by permission of G.P. Putnamâ€™s Sons, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN: 978-0-06-207377-8

EPub Edition Â© MAY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-176334-2

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