Poirot murmured mildly:
'But I have not said that I suspect M. Carlile.'
Carlile answered:
'No, but you've made it perfectly clear that no one else had
a chance to commit the robbery.'
'Du tout[ Du tout['
'But I have told you nobody passed me in the hall to get to
the study door.'
'I agree. But someone might have come in through the study
window.'
'But that is just what you said did not happen?'
'I said that no one from outside could have come and left
without leaving marks on the grass. But it could have been
managed from inside the house. Someone could have gone
from his room by one of these windows, slipped along the
terrace, in at the study window, and back again in here.'
Mr Carlile objected:
'But Lord Mayfield and Sir George Carriugton were on
terrace.'
'They were on the terrace, yes, but they were en promenade:,
Sir George Carrington's eyes may be of the most reliable'
Poirot made a little bow - 'but he does not keep them in the
back of his head! The study window is at the extreme left of tbs:
terrace, the windows of this room come next, but the terrace
continues to the right past one, two, three, perhaps foul'
rooms?'
'Dining-room, billiard-room, morning room and library,'
said Lord Mayfield.
',And you walked up and down the terrace, how many times?'
At least five or sin.
30
'You see, it ia easy enough, the thief has only to watch for the
right moment!'
Carlile said slowly:
'You mean that when I was in the hall, talking to the French
girl, the thief was waiting in the drawing-room?'
'That is my suggestion. It is, of course, only a suggestion.'
'It doesn't sound very probable to me,' said Lord Mayfield.
'Too risky.'
The Air Marshall demurred.
'I don't agree with you, Charles. It's perfectly possible.
Wonder I hadn't the wits to think of it for myself.'
'So you see,' said Poirot, 'why I believe that the plans are still
in the house. The problem now is to fred them?
Sir George snorted.
'That's simple enough. Search everybody.'
Lord Mayfield made a movement of dissent, but Poirot
spoke before he could.
'No, no, it is not so simple as that. The person who took
those plans will anticipate that a search will be made and will
make quite sure that they are not found amongst his or her
belongings. They will have been hidden in neutral ground.'
'Do you suggest that we've got to go playing hide and seek all
over the bally house?'
Poirot smiled.
'No, no, we need not be so crude as that. We can arrive at the
hiding-place (or alternatively at the identify of the guilty
person) by reflection. That will simplify matters. In the
morning I would like an interview with every person in the
house. It would, I think, be unwise to seek those interviews
now.'
Lord Mayfield nodded.
'Cause too much comment,' he said, 'if we dragged everybody
out of their beds at three in the morning. In any case you'll
have to proceed with a good deal of camouflage, M. Poirot.
This matter has got to be kept dark.'
Poirot waved an airy hand.
'Leave it to Hercule Poirot. The lies I invent are always most
31
delicate anq most convincing. Tomorrow, then, I conduct rn
investigatio
· . . ess. But tonight, I should like to begin b lntervlewtnb. , e;,
, yuu, o, George and you, Lord Mayfield.'
He bowett to them both.
'You mean - alone?'
'That wa my meaning.'
,L, ord Mabffield raised his eyes slightly, then he said:
Certainly. I'll leave you alone with Sir George. When you want me, Yu'll find me in my study. Come, Carlile.'
He and the secretary went out, shutting the door behind
them.
Sir George sat down, reaching mechanically for a cigarette.
He turned a puzzled face to Poirot.
'You knoN,, he said slowly. 'I don't quite get this.'
'That is V%y simply explained,' said Poirot with a smile.
two words, to be accurate. Mrs Vanderlyn!'
'Oh,' said Carrington. 'I think I see. Mrs Vanderlyn?'
'Precisely, It might be, you see, that it would not be ver'
delicate to ak Lord Mayfield the question I want to ask. W
Mrs Vanderlyn? This lady, she is known to be a suspicious
character. Why, then, should she be here? I say to myself there
are three explanations. One, that Lord Mayfield has a penchan
for the lady (Mad that is why I seek to talk to you alone. I do not
wish to embtrrass him). Two, that Mrs Vanderlyn is perhaps
the dear friend of someone else in the house?'
'You can %unt me out!' said Sir George with a grin.
'Then, if reither of those cases is true, the question returns
in redoubled l?orce. Why Mrs Vanderlyn? And it seems to me I
perceive a sh.dowy answer. There was a reason. Her presence
at this parttular juncture was definitely desired by Lord
Mayfield for a special reason. Am I right?'
Sir Georg nodded.
foYou're quite right,' he said. 'Mayfield is too old a bird to
r her wiles. He wanted her here for quite another reason. It
was like this.
He retaileq the conversation that had taken place at the
dinner-table. Poirot listened attentively.
32
'Ah,' he said. 'I comprehend now. Nevertheless, it seems
that the lady has turned the tables on you both rather neatly?
Sir George swore freely.
Poirot watched him with some slight amusement, then he
said:
'You do not doubt that this theft is her doing - I mean, that
she is responsible for it, whether or no she played an active
part?'
Sir George stared.
'Of course not! There isn't any doubt of that. Why, who else
would have any interest in stealing those plans?'
'Ah!' said Hercule Poirot. He leaned back and looked at the
ceiling. 'And yet, Sir George, we agreed, not a quarter of an
hour ago, that these papers represented very definitely money.
Not perhaps, in quite so obvious a form as banknotes, or gold,
or jewellery, but nevertheless they were potential money. If
there were anyone here who was hard up '
The other 'interrupted him with a snort.
'Who isn't these days? I suppose I can say it without
incriminating myself.'
He smiled and Poirot smiled pofitely back at him and
murmured:
'Mais oui, you can say what you like, for you, Sir George,
have the one unimpeachable alibi in this affair.'
'But I'm danmed hard up myselfl.'
Poirot shook his head sadly.
'Yes, indeed, a man in your position has heavy living
expenses. Then you have a young son at a most expensive age '
Sir George groaned.
'Education's bad enough, then debts on top of it. Mind you,
this lad's not a bad lad.'
Poirot listened sympathetically. He heard a lot of the Air
M
arshal's accumulated grievances. The lack of grit and
stamina in the younger generation, the fantastic way in which
mothers spoilt their children and always took their side, the
curse of gambling once it got hold of a woman, the folly of
playing for higher stakes than you could afford. It was couched
33
in general terms, Sir George did not allude directly to either his
wife or his son, but his natural transparency made his
generalizations very easy to see through.
He broke off suddenly.
'Sorry, mustn't take up your time with something that's
right off the subject, especially at this hour of the night - or
rather, morning.'
He stifled a yawn.
'I suggest, Sir George, that you should go to bed. You have
been most kind and helpful.'
'Right, think I will mm in. You really think there is a chance
of gettirsg the plans back?'
Poirot shrugged his shoulders.
'I mean to try. I do not see why not.'
'Well, I'll be off. Goodight.'
He left the room.
Poirot remained in his chair staring thoughtfully at the
ce'fling, then he took out a LITTLE notebook and turning to a clean
page, he wrote:
Mrs Vanderlyn?
Lady Julia Carfington?
/vlrs Macatta?
Reggie Carrington?
Mr Carlile?
Underneath he wrote:
Mrs
Vanderlyn and Mr Reggie Carrington?
Mrs
Vandefiyn and Lady Julia?
Mrs
Vanderlyn and Mr Carlile?
He shcok his head in a dissatisfied manner, murmuring:
'C'est Mus simple que fa.'
Then he added a few short sentences.
Did Lord Mayfield see a 'shadow'? If not, why did he say he
34
did? Did Sir George see anything? He was positive he had seez
nothing AFTER I examined flower-bed. Note: Lord Mayfield
near-sighted can read without glasses but has to use a monocle tt
look across a room. Sir George is long-sighted. Therefore, from
far end of the terrace, his sight is more to be depended upon thaz,
::Lord Mayfield' s. Yet Lord Mayfield is very positive that he DID
il see something and is quite unshaken by his friend's denial.
: i, Can anyone be quite as above suspicion as Mr Carlile appears tt
be? Lord Mayfield is very emphatic as to his innocence. Too muci.
so. lYhy? Because he secretly suspects ban and is ashamed of h
suspicions? Or because he definitely suspects some other person.;
is to say, some person OTHER than Mrs Vanderlyn?
He put the notebook away.
Then, getting up, he were along to the study.
CHAPTER5
Lord Mayfield was seated at his desk when Poirot entered the
study. He swung round, laid down his pen, and looked up
inquiringly.
'Well, M. Poirot, had your interview with Carrington?'
Poirot smiled and sat down.
'Yes, Lord Mayfield. He cleared up a point that had puzzled
'What was that?'
'The reason for Mrs Vanderlyn's presence here. You
comprehend, I thought it possible -'
Mayfield was quick to realize the cause of Poirot's somewhat
exaggerated embarrassment.
'You thought I had a weakness for the lady? Not at all. Far
from it. Funnily enough, Carrington thought the same.'
35
'Yes, he has told me of the conversation he held with x,[
the subject.'
- '
Lord Mayfield looked rather rueful.
cM ·
y little scheme didn't come off. Always annoying t I
to admit that a Woman has got the better of you. '
'Ah, but she has not got the better of you yet, Mayfield.'
·
ou think we may yet win? Well, I'm glad to hear you
so. I'd like to think it was true.'
He sighed.
'I feel I've acted like a complete fool - so pleased with my
stratagem for entrapping the lady.'
Hercule Poirot said, as he lit one of his tiny cigarettes:
'What was your stratagem exactly, Lord Ma3rfield?'
'Well,' Lord Mayfield hesitated. 'I hadn't exactly got down
to details.'
'You didn't discuss it with anyone?'
'No.'
'Not even with Mr Carlile?'
'No.'
Poirot smiled.
'You prefer to play a lone hand, Lord Mayfield.'
'I-have usually found it the best way,' said the other a little
grimly.
'Yes, you are wise. Trust no one. But you d/mention the
matter to Sir George Carrinon'
'Si ' '
- --°- °
reply tecause I realized that the dear fellow was seriously
perturbed about nae.'
Lord Mayfield smiled at the remembrance.
'He is an old friend of yours?'
'Yes. I have known him for over twenty years.'
'And his wife?'
'I have known his wife also, of course.'
terms of intimacy with her?'
'I don't really see wheat my personal relationships to people
has to do with the matter in hand, M. Poirot.'
36
'But I think, Lord Mayfield, that they may have a good deal
to do with it. You agreed, did you not, that my theory of
someone in the drawing-room was a possible one?'
'Yes. In fact, I agree with you that that is what must have
happened.'
'We will not say "must." That is too self-confident a word.
But if that theory of mine is true, who do you think the person
in the drawing-room could have been?'
. 'Obviously Mrs Vanderlyn. She had been back there once
for a book. She could have come back for another book, or a
handbag, or a dropped handkerchief- one of a dozen feminine
excuses. She arranges with her maid to scream and get Carlile
away from the study. Then she slips in and out by the windows
as you said.'
'You forget it could not have been Mrs Vanderlyn. Carlile
heard her call the maid from upstairs while he was talking to the
girl.'
Lord Mayfield bit his lip.
'True. I forgot that.' He looked thoroughly annoyed.
'You see,' said Poirot gently. 'We progress. We have first the
simple explanation of a thief who comes from outs/de and
makes off with the booty. A very convenient theory as I said at
the time, too convenient to be readily accepted. We have
disposed of that. Then we come to the theory of the foreign
agent, Mrs Vanderlyn, and that again seems to fit together
beautifully up to a certain point. But now it looks as though
that, too, was too easy - too convenient - to be accepted.'
'You'd wash Mrs Vanderlyn out of it altogether?'
'It was not Mrs Vanderlyn in the drawing-room. It may have
been an ally of Mrs Vanderlyn's who committed the theft, but
it is just possible that it was committed by another person
altogether. If so, we have to consider the question of motive.'
'Isn't this rather far-fetched, M. Po[rot?'
'I do not think so. Now what motives could there be? There
is the motive of money. The papers may have been stolen w
ith
the object of turning them into cash. That is the simplest
37
motive to consider. But the motive might possibly be something
quite different.'
'Such as -'
Poirot said slowly:
'It might have been done definitely with the idea or
damaging someone.'
'Who.>'
'Possibly Mr Carlile. He would be the obvious suspect. Bm
there might be more to it than that. The men who control the
destiny of a country, Lord Mayfield, are particularly vulnera-.
hie to displays of popular feeling.'
'Meaning that the theft was aimed at damaging me?'
Poirot nodded.
'I think I am correct in saying, Lord Mayfield, that about
five years ago you passed through a somewhat trying time. You
were suspected of friendship with a European Power at that
time bitterly unpopular with the electorate of this country.'
'Quite true, M. Poirot.'
'A statesman in these days has a difficult task. He has to
pursue the policy he deems advantageous to his country, but he
has at the same time to recognize the force of popular feeling.
Popular feeling is very often sentimental, muddle-headed, and
eminently unsound, but it cannot be disregarded for all that.'
'How well you express it! That is exactly the curse of a
politician's life He has to bow to the country's feeling, however
dangerous and foolhardy he knows it to be.'
'That was your dilemma, I think. There were rumours that
you had concluded an agreement with the country in question.
This country and the newspapers were up in arms about it.
Fortunately the Prime Minister was able categorically to deny
the story, and you repudiated it, though s611 making no secret
of the way your sympathies lay.'
'All this is quite tree, M. Poirot, but why rake up past
history?'
'Because I consider it possible that an enemy, disappointed
in the way you surmounted that crisis, might endeavour to
stage a further dilemma. You soon regained public confidence.
38