"Looks just like a patchwork quilt, doesn't it?" "No!" "Well, it does to me." "It does to everybody else." "Not to Poirot." "Oh, I suppose you don't think that looks like a great mass of cotton wool." "No!" "I don't think you've got any imagination at all, Poirot." "That is true, mon ami." "But, fortunately, you have enough for both of us." "It is extremely valuable to me." "Good morning, sir." "Good morning." "Ah, c'est magnifique." "Just the place for a restful vacation." "The food will be inedible." "What do you think, Poirot -- down to the beach this afternoon or shall I have a round of golf?" "The tennis court's pretty good, I understand." "Waiter!" "Still no news of Captain Seton." "Comment?" "The round-the-world flight." "Ah." "They haven't given up hope yet, though, apparently." "He may have made it to one of the Pacific islands." "Cannibals." "I say." "It makes you proud to be an Englishman, though." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Do not be sorry, Hastings." "It is not a tragedy for me that I was born on the wrong side of the channel." "Ohh!" "This is intolerable!" "I'm going to find a waiter." "Ah, mon Dieu." "Garçon!" "Waiter!" "Ohh!" "Are you all right?" "I say!" "Do not perturb yourself, Hastings." "The turned ankle -- that is all." "I wish you'd let it be seen to." "Ah, in the pleasure of your company, mademoiselle, the pain -- it already passes." "Mm." "Ah, pardon -- this is Captain Hastings." "Hastings, imagine -- the house over there on the point -- it belongs to Mademoiselle Buckley." "Really?" "It's called End House." "I love it, but it's going to rack and ruin, I'm afraid." "Oh, that is sad." "It's a big house." "Do you live there all by yourself?" "Oh, I'm away a good deal." "When I'm at home, there's usually a rather rowdy crowd coming and going." "I was beginning to imagine you in a dark, mysterious mansion, haunted by a family curse." "Well, if it is haunted, the ghost must be sent to protect me." "I've had three escapes from sudden death in the last three days." "Escapes from death?" "Oh, just accidents, you know." "Oh, curse these bees." "I hate the way they come right past your face." "Ah." "Nick!" "Nick!" "Here, George!" "Here I am!" "Come on, girl." "Freddie's frantic for a drink." "Hello." "This is Commander Challenger." "He's in the navy." "I have a great regard for the Royal Navy." "Oh." "Well done, well done." "All right, George, don't get overexcited." "Come on." "Let's go and find Freddie and Jim." "I hope the ankle will be all right." "Merci." "Nice girl." "Is Commander Challenger what you might call the good chap, yes?" "Oh, absolutely." "Oh, good dive!" "Has he the tendresse for her?" "What do you think, Hastings?" "My dear Poirot, how on earth should I know?" "That's Miss Buckley's hat, isn't it?" "Yes, we are going to return it to End House." "Thus, we shall have the opportunity to see again the charming Mademoiselle Nick." "Do you know, I do believe you've fallen for her." "Ah, no, no, no, no, no." "You are under a misapprehension, mon ami." "The young lady -- she is very charming, yes, but I am more interested in her hat." "I don't see why you'd be interested in her hat." "There's a hole in it." "Yes, indeed." "Did you do that?" "Hastings, did you notice the way Mademoiselle Nick flinched as a bee flew past?" "A bee in the bonnet, a hole in the hat." "A bee couldn't make a hole like this." "But a bullet could, my friend, a bullet like this." "Mademoiselle Nick has three escapes from death in as many days." "Now a fourth." "These are not mere accidents, mon ami." "You'd have to be a madman to try and shoot someone in a hotel garden in broad daylight." "Ah." "Thank you." "G'day." "Morning." "Good day." "Quite impressive." "It looks as if it could do with a bit of work." "I say." "Yes?" "It's not exactly courteous, Lazarus, to ignore us like this." "What?" "Jim is far too good a dancer to be a gentleman." "Aren't you, darling?" "Oh, so, Freddie." "An awful waste of an expensive education, otherwise." "There are some men to see you, miss." "Oh." "Hello again." "Pardon, mademoiselle." "Commander." "We have come to return your hat." "My hat?" "I'd wondered what had happened to it." "This is for you, George." "There is a matter of the greatest urgency" "I must discuss with you, mademoiselle." "Oh, don't say you're selling something." "No." "With that mustache and staying at the Majestic, can't be." "Ah." "Now, what's all the mystery?" "Mademoiselle... it was not a bee that flew past your face this morning." "It was this." "What is it?" "It is a bullet." "Well, I'm damned." "Uh, Miss Buckley very kindly helped my friend when he twisted his ankle this morning." "Ah." "Yes, so they said." "I am glad she didn't invent the whole thing." "She's the most brazen liar that ever existed, you know." "Oh, it's quite a gift." "She had a marvelous story the other day about the brakes on her car failing and her nearly being killed." "All nonsense, Jim says." "Jim knows about cars." "Is that your Chevrolet Phantom outside?" "Yes." "Pretty, isn't she?" "Oh, I say, there's two watches on the table, exactly the same." "Oh, we've all got one of those." "Don't touch, old boy." "Keep good time, do they?" "They keep the best time in the world." "Oh, I can't dance to that, Jim." "Of course you can, Freddie." "The first accident was that picture." "I should think the painter might have set that when he'd finished it, don't you?" "Anyway, it came down -- crash -- in the middle of the night." "Luckily for me, I've been sleeping badly lately, and I'd got up to make myself a cup of tea." "Otherwise, it might have bashed my head in." "And the other accidents?" "The brakes on my car went west as I was going down the hill into St. Looe." "And the next day, a boulder detached itself from the cliff at the end of the garden while I was on the rocks underneath." "It's jolly nice of you and all that, but why are you so interested?" "You do not understand, mademoiselle?" "You are in grave danger." "Oh, come off it." "Oh, no, no, no, no, no." "I tell it to you " " I." "You do know who I am?" "No, I don't." "Ah." "I forget you are but a child, hein?" "Alors my friend here, Captain Hastings -- he will tell it to you." "Well, M. Poirot is a detective." "Oh." "Um, a great detective." "My friend, is that all you can find to say?" "Mais dit-on." "Say, then, to mademoiselle that I am the detective unique, unsurpassed, the greatest that ever lived." "Well, there doesn't seem much point now." "You've told her yourself." "Ah, yes, but it is more agreeable to preserve the modesty." "No, but seriously, these were just accidents." "You are as obstinate as the devil." "Aren't you clever?" "That's where I got my name." "My grandfather was popularly supposed to have sold his soul to the devil." "I lived here with him, so they called us Old Nick and Young Nick." "My real name's Magdala." "That's unusual." "Yes, it's a kind of family name." "There's been a lot of Magdalas in the Buckley family." "That's it." "That's where I was standing." "And the boulder only just missed you?" "Could someone have pushed it from above?" "No." "I tell you -- it was just another accident." "Do you have any enemies, mademoiselle?" "I'm afraid I don't." "No." "Sorry." "Is there anyone who would profit by your death?" "No." "That's why it all seems such nonsense." "There's only the house, but it's mortgaged up to the hilt, and the roof leaks." "There's only the one bedroom that's usable, you know." "All my friends stay at the Majestic." "Who is your nearest relation?" "My cousin Charles Vyse." "He's a local lawyer." "He gives me good advice and tries to restrain my extravagances." "He arranged the mortgage for me and made me let the lodge about a year ago." "We saw someone gardening there." "Mr. Croft -- very Australian, you know, hearty and that sort of thing." "I mean, terribly kind, but Mrs. Croft's a cripple, poor dear." "Have you ever made a will?" "Yes, I did, about six months ago, the day before my op for appendicitis." "And what were the terms of that will?" "I left End House to Charles." "I hadn't much else left to leave, but what there was I left to Freddie." "Tell me about your friends." "Well, Freddie Rice is practically my greatest friend." "She left her husband about a year or two ago." "He just won't give her a divorce." "And Commander Challenger?" "He wishes you to marry him, n'est-ce pas?" "He does mention it now and again, after the second glass of port." "And you remain hardhearted?" "Well, what would be the use of George and I marrying one another?" "Neither of us have got a bean." "Ah." "Eh bien, apart from Mme. Rice, is there any other friend you can trust, mademoiselle?" "There's Maggie, I suppose." "Aha." "Who is Maggie?" "She's a distant cousin, lives in Yorkshire." "I usually have her to stay sometime in the summer." "She's no fun, though." "Ah." "The person ideal." "Telegraph her to come tomorrow." "Ohh." "Ah, ah." "Jim Lazarus, Mrs. Rice's friend -- has he anything to do with Lazarus art galleries?" "That's the chap." "Oh, I was in there the other day." "Oh?" "The Lagonda overheated just outside, so I went in to ask if " "Hastings, this morning somebody shot at Mlle. Buckley with a Mauser pistol." "A Mauser?" "Why?" "Do you know anyone who has a Mauser?" "Yes, I have." "It was Dad's." "He brought it back from the war." "It's gone." "You know, Poirot, that Mrs. Rice says that Miss Buckley's accident in her car was all my eye." "She says Miss Buckley's a terrific liar." "Really?" "That is most interesting, Hastings." "It is interesting for itself, and it is interesting that Mme. Rice has said it." "But why should she say it, even if it were true?" "Ah, these little curious things " "I like to see them appear." "They point the way." "There's a darling." "This is all very well, Poirot, but what we're trying to do is impossible." "We're trying to detect a murderer before he's committed the crime." "Well said, Hastings." "I don't know where to start." "I don't like the look of her friends very much." "Except Commander Challenger, of course." "He's obviously a pukka sahib." "You know, Hastings, you have the most extraordinary effect on me." "Really?" "Yes, you have so strongly the flair in the wrong direction that I am almost tempted to doubt the commander." "Who's there?" "It is I, Poirot." "The office isn't open." "Oh, mais oui." "I pushed the door downstairs." "It was not locked." "You are M. Vyse?" "Yes." "It is very good of you to see me at the weekend." "Hercule Poirot." "Boirot?" "Poirot." "What kind of place is this?" "Tell me, M. Vyse, if I may ask " "and I have said nothing about this to your cousin," "Mlle. Buckley, you understand -- is there any chance of End House being on the market?" "Oh, no." "Miss Buckley is absolutely devoted to the place." "Nothing would induce her to sell End House." "But I do not ask idly." "I myself am in search of just such a property." "It's out of the question, I'm afraid." "She's fanatically devoted to the house." "Ah." "Why should Charles Vyse say that Mlle. Buckley had a fanatical devotion to the house?" "Did it seem like a fanatical devotion to you, Hastings?" "No." "Nor to me." "What did the garage say?" "Well, whatever I tell you, you'll believe just the opposite." "Oh, come now, Hastings." "Oh, very well, then." "The garage said that the valve on the back of the brake drum had definitely been loosened." "Truly?" "Then why did Mme. Rice say that the car accident was all an invention by Mlle. Buckley?" "Permit?" "Madame, I do not know if your friend has told you, but today her life has been attempted." "What do you mean?" "Mlle. Buckley was shot at in the gardens of this hotel." "Did Nick tell you that?" "Yes, but it is no fantasy of mademoiselle's imagination, you understand." "I happen to see it with my own eyes." "Here is the bullet." "You see, madame, several very curious accidents have occurred during the last few days." "Ah, but you arrived here only..." "Uh, yesterday." "And before that, you were in London?" "No, I was staying with friends in Tavistock." "Ah, I wonder -- what were the names of your friends with whom you were staying?" "Is there any reason why I should tell you that?" "No, no, no, no, no." "Mille pardons." "I was most maladroit, hein?" "It's just that I myself, having friends in Tavistock, fancy that you might have met up with them there." "Their name is Buchanan." "No." "Ah." "But go on about Nick." "Who shot at her and why?" "As yet, we do not know." "But I shall find out." "I am, you know, a detective." "Oh." "What do you want me to do?" "Watch over your friend." "Excuse me." "It's open." "Well, must be somebody here." "Hello?" "Well, if they leave the house open like this all the time," "I'm surprised they haven't all been murdered in their beds." "All right." "I want you to come out very slowly with your hands above your head." "Ah, M. Croft." "Ah." "Stay where you are." "No, no, no, my friend." "I am Hercule Poirot." "Cooee!" "Cooee!" "Who do you think this is, Mrs. C.?" "The extra-special, world-celebrated detective" "Mr. Hercule Poirot." "I've brought him right along to have a chat with you." "Well, isn't this too exciting for words!" "Enchanté, madame." "And Captain Hastings, Mr. Poirot's associate." "Ah, I've read about you, too, Captain." "Oh." "Right." "They're friends of Miss Buckley, Mrs. C." "Oh, well, isn't that nice?" "What a dear child she is." "Not very well-liked in this neighborhood, I've heard, but isn't that just the way in these stuck-up English places?" "That beady-eyed cousin of hers has no more chance of persuading her to settle down here for good than fly in the air." "Ah." "So, M. Charles Vyse is in love with our little friend?" "He's silly about her!" "But she won't " "Don't gossip, Milly." "I have my reasons for being interested in that girl." "I wonder, M. Poirot, if you'd care to see some snapshots of Australia?" "Ah." "Well, uh " "Good." "The man who invented the camera has a lot to answer for, mon ami." "Nice people." "Typical Australians." "Hmm." "I do not know." "That cry of "cooee"?" "The insistence on showing us 5,000 photographs?" "Were they not playing the part a little too thoroughly?" "Ah." "That's Mlle. Nick." "See you tonight then, George." "Righty ho." "Bonjour, mademoiselle." "Hello, M. Poirot, Captain Hastings." "Morning." "Is this your boat?" "How would I afford a thing like that?" "It's George's." "Ah." "I'm just rushing to the station to meet Maggie, the nurse and guardian you insisted I send for from darkest Yorkshire." "Bon." "I shall feel happier." "But you're wrong, you know, about Maggie." "She's got no kind of brains." "Good works is about all she's fit for -- that, and never seeing the point of jokes." "But there is no joke here, I think, mademoiselle." "Cheer up, M. Poirot." "Tell you what, why don't you both come to dinner tonight and watch the fireworks?" "Tell me, Hastings, if the Commander Challenger has not got a bean, as Mlle. Nick has said, how can he afford such a ship, huh?" "Oh, probably just, uh..." "Well, maybe it's..." "Maybe she meant..." "I don't know." "Ellen?" "Ah." "It's only you." "Ah, mademoiselle, I am desolated." "Oh, I'm sorry." "It did sound rude." "Thank you." "Did you call, miss?" "Oh, it's all right, Ellen." "I answered it myself." "They haven't delivered my dress to the back door, have they?" "No, miss." "That's why I sounded so rude." "I thought you were my dress being delivered." "The brutes promised faithfully." "Oh, here's Maggie." "Maggie, here are the sleuths that are protecting me from this secret assassin." "This is my cousin Maggie Buckley." "That's a marvelous shawl, Nick." "Yes, it'll be warm when we're watching the fireworks." "I've never seen you in a black dress before, Nick." "I thought you hated black." "I do hate it." "The cleaners didn't deliver the one I wanted to wear." "That racket!" "They shouldn't allow speedboats in the harbor." "That's not a speedboat." "It's a seaplane." "I think these flying people are absolutely marvelous." "Pity about Michael Seton." "He may still be all right." "Rather a mad family." "That uncle of his, Sir Matthew Seton -- he was barmy." "Died about a week ago." "Wasn't he that millionaire who ran bird sanctuaries?" "Yeah, some girl chucked him once." "He took to gannets by way of consoling himself." "I don't see any reason to assume Michael Seton is dead yet." "Of course." "You knew him, didn't you?" "I forgot." "We met him last year at Le Touquet." "He was marvelous, wasn't he, Freddie?" "Don't ask me, darling." "He was your conquest, not mine." "Have you done any flying, Captain Hastings?" "Well, actually " "There's the telephone." "Oh, don't wait for me." "I don't eat dessert." "All the extra guests will be arriving for the fireworks soon, anyway." "Too bad Mrs. Croft can't be here." "It's bad luck on poor old Mrs. C. altogether." "But she never complains." "You know, that woman's got the sweetest nature." "Splendid view of the festivities, eh?" "Didn't you come last year?" "I say, look at that." "What a display." "Beautiful." "I think I'll just run inside and get a coat." "Oh, let me." "No, you wouldn't know where to find it." "Oh, Maggie, can you get mine, too?" "It's in my room." "She didn't hear." "I'll get it, Freddie." "I want my fur one." "This cape isn't nearly enough." "Thank you, darling." "It is monotonous, do you not find, Hastings?" "I like the different-colored ones." "I fear the dampness of the feet." "I shall watch the rest of the display through a nice window from the warmth of the house." "I wouldn't mind putting something on myself, actually." "Poirot, look." "It's Miss Buckley." "Mon Dieu!" "Sorry I've been so long, Maggie." "It's Maggie Buckley." "She's been shot." "How did it come about that your cousin is wearing your cape tonight?" "I came in to fetch our coats, and I just flung off the cape on the sofa there." "I went upstairs, and I was still in my room when I heard Maggie call out that she couldn't find her coat." "She said she'd take mine if I didn't want it, and I said, "All right, I'll be out in a minute."" "And when I did -- did come out..." "I, um " " I won't ask any more questions tonight." "I'm going to suggest, Miss Buckley, that you don't stay here." "You've had a shock, you understand." "What you need is complete rest." "I know of an excellent nursing home." "No." "But we want you to feel safe, mon enfant." "Do you understand?" "I understand, but you don't." "I'm not afraid any longer." "I've got nothing to live for now." "If someone wants to murder me, they can." "You can't say that, Miss Buckley." "You mustn't." "Mademoiselle, I have failed you." "I, who promised you protection, have not been able to protect." "But now I want to know that you are in safe hands, hein, with people around you day and night." "What's going on?" "It's not Nick, is it?" "She's not dead?" "No." "No, mon ami, she is alive." "Nick." "My darling, I thought you were " "I thought you were dead." "It's all right, George." "Don't be an idiot." "I'm quite safe." "Then what's happened?" "The policeman said Miss Buckley was dead." "The sooner you get to your bed, the better, Miss Buckley." "I'm sorry, George." "Ah." "It was Miss Maggie Buckley." "Oh, my God." "What a tragedy." "...statement from the chancellor." "As announced in our 9:00 bulletin, hope has been abandoned for the airplane pilot Mr. Michael Seton." "Trobriand Island fishermen have salvaged wreckage believed to be parts of The Albatross, the seaplane built by Mr. Seton for his attempt to fly around the world." "The opposition..." "No one, Dr. Graham, no one, not even the dearest friend of Mlle. Buckley is to be allowed to see her." "Oh, M. Poirot " "Not even the King of England." "No one... except me, Captain Hastings, and your good self." "Mademoiselle, I wish you good night." "Hastings." "How is she?" "Safe." "You don't think the police could be right, do you, Poirot, that this is the work of some wandering lunatic?" "No." "The murderer is someone in mademoiselle's own circle." "Do you think he realized he killed the wrong person?" "I am quite sure he did not." "Must have been an unpleasant surprise when he learned the truth." "Difficult not to give oneself away in circumstances like that." "Answer me three questions, Hastings." "What?" "What?" "Three questions." "One -- why has Mlle. Nick been sleeping so badly of late?" "Two -- why does she own a black evening dress when she never wears black?" "Three -- why did she say last night," ""I have nothing to live for now"?" "Did she?" "She did." "Answer the questions, Hastings." "Well, as to the sleep -- Well, she's been worried lately." "About what?" "What?" "Oh." "I don't know." "The black dress -- well, you heard -- the cleaners let her down." "Anyway, all women have a black dress." "No, you have little appreciation of the feminine temperament, Hastings." "Well, anyway, the last -- well, it was a natural thing to say after that awful shock." "No, no, no, no, no, no, mon ami, it was not a natural thing to say." "To be horror-struck by her cousin's death, to reproach herself for it -- yes, all that is natural enough." "But the other -- no." "Never before has she displayed that attitude." "She has been defiant." "Hello?" "Yes." "Certainement." "Yes." "Mme. Rice -- she wishes to see us." "I suppose there's no doubt that the intended victim was really Nick." "I should say, madame, that there was no doubt at all." "You asked some questions about Tavistock the other day," "M. Poirot." "You'll find out sooner or later, so I might as well tell you the truth now." "I was not in Tavistock." "No, madame?" "I motored down from London last week with Mr. Lazarus." "We stayed in a little place called Challacombe... together." "I see." "I'm still a married woman, technically." "May I be impertinent, madame?" "Is there such a thing these days?" "You care for M. Lazarus?" "He's rich." "Oh, là là." "That is an ugly thing to say." "Better to say it myself than to have you say it for me." "You are very intelligent, madame." "You'll be giving me a diploma next." "I'm going to take some flowers around to Nick and see how she is." "Oh, that is very amiable of you." "And I thank you, madame, for your frankness." "Very nice, very nice." "I'm at The Gulls, myself, a stone's throw from the gasworks." "My dear Chief Inspector, it is so good to see you." "You do not stay here?" "The Metropolitan Police lodging allowance doesn't quite run to this." "Ah." "Funny old business, this End House malarkey, eh?" "As you say, Chief Inspector." "You think these accidents she had were all part of it?" "Oh, there is no doubt." "Hmm." "You might be right." "It would be a help if we could get hold of the gun." "Probably at the bottom of the sea by now, if the murderer's got any sense." "They mostly haven't." "Right." "Well, I better go and have a word with the dead girl's parents." "They've just got down from Yorkshire." "Let me know if you have any ideas, won't you?" "Of that you may be sure, Inspector." "Now, it is all very well and very pretty for Mme. Rice to force the richness of M. Lazarus down our throats, hein?" "Yes, I must say that rather disgusted me." "Ah, mon ami, always you have the right reaction in the wrong place." "Hmm?" "No, no, no, no, no, Mme. Rice was trying to tell us something." ""I have a friend who is very rich." "He can give me all I need." "I do not need to murder my dearest friend for a pittance."" "I see." "Look here, Poirot." "What's the meaning of this?" "They won't let me see her." "Is this your work?" "Have you seen Dr. Graham?" "Gave me all the usual guff " ""As well as can be expected, passed a quiet night."" "Think I don't know those tricks?" "I've got an uncle in Harley Street." "I think you're at the bottom of this, Poirot." "Listen to me, mon ami." "There is no fooling you." "If one guest is to be admitted, others cannot be kept out." "You comprehend?" "I see." "All or nothing, as you might say." "We will say no more, hein?" "The extreme prudence is what is needed at the moment." "I can hold my tongue." "Mum's the word, eh?" "I'll send her some flowers." "They like flowers, don't they?" "May I offer you, mademoiselle, my very deepest sympathy." "You know?" "Oh, well." "It doesn't matter who knows now, now that it's all over... now that I'll never see him again." "Courage, mademoiselle." "I haven't any courage left." "I've used up every bit in these last weeks... waiting and hoping." "Captain Hastings does not know what we are talking about." "Michael Seton, the airman " "I was engaged to be married to him, and he's dead." "You heard the news last night?" "On the wireless." "I made an excuse about the telephone." "I wanted to hear the news alone, in case..." "I don't want to live." "I know." "I know." "And to all of us, mademoiselle, there comes a time when death seems preferable to life." "But the grief -- it passes." "You think I'll forget?" "Marry someone else?" "Never." "But you are fortunate, mademoiselle." "You have been loved by a brave man." "When did you get engaged?" "Just after Christmas." "But it had to be a secret because of Michael's uncle." "Sir Matthew Seton?" "He thought women ruined a man's life." "He was frightfully proud of Michael, though." "He financed the building of The Albatross." "And if Michael had succeeded, he would have been independent of him." "He would have been a " "I don't know -- a kind of a world hero." "His uncle would have come round in the end, anyway." "Yes." "Yes, I see." "I never told anyone, not even Freddie." "Even when the uncle of Michael Seton died a week ago?" "Well, it seemed a bit boastful to do it while the papers were full of Michael's flight." "Michael would have hated that." "Mademoiselle, you once mentioned that you had made a will." "Mm." "Where is it, this will?" "Oh, knocking around somewhere." "I'm frightfully untidy, you know." "Papers and things are mostly in the writing table in the library or maybe in the bedroom or maybe " "I'm sorry." "You will permit me to make a search for it, yes?" "If you want to." "I was right." "What, you mean this engagement business has some bearing on the crime?" "Listen to me, mon ami, just over a week ago," "Sir Matthew Seton dies, and Sir Matthew Seton was one of the wealthiest men in England." "Yes." "Attendez." "He has a nephew, whom he idolizes and to whom we may assume he has left his vast fortune." "Last Tuesday, this nephew, Michael Seton, is reported missing, and on Wednesday, the attacks on the life of mademoiselle begin." "Now, suppose, Hastings, that Michael Seton made his will before he started his flight and that he left all that he had to his fiancée." "In this case, it is not a paltry inheritance that is at stake." "No, no!" "It is an enormous fortune!" "Ah!"