I didn't know."
"Yes.
She came to see us the other day and she gave us her address and asked us to come and see her.
I wondered if it was Rhoda I saw or not."
"Do you want to go up and see?"
"No, I'd rather not do that."
"Come and have tea with me," said Mrs. Lorrimer.
"There is a shop quite near here that I know."
"It's very kind of you," said Anne, hesitating.
Side by side they walked down the street and turned into a side street.
In a small pastrycook's they were served with tea and muffins.
They did not talk much. Each of them seemed to find the other's silence restful.
Anne asked suddenly,
"Has Mrs. Oliver been to see you?"
Mrs. Lorrimer shook her head.
"No one has been to see me except Monsieur Poirot."
"I didn't mean -" began Anne.
"Didn't you?
I think you did," said Mrs. Lorrimer.
The girl looked up - a quick, frightened glance.
Something she saw in Mrs. Lorrimer's face seemed to reassure her.
"He hasn't been to see me," she said slowly.
There was a pause.
"Hasn't Superintendent Battle been to see you?" asked Anne.
"Oh, yes, of course," said Mrs. Lorrimer.
Anne said hesitatingly, "What sort of things did he ask you?"
Mrs. Lorrimer sighed wearily.
"The usual things, I suppose.
Routine inquiries.
He was very pleasant over it all."
"I suppose he interviewed everyone."
"I should think so."
There was another pause.
Anne asked, "Mrs. Lorrimer, do you think - they will ever find out who did it?"
Her eyes were bent on her plate.
She did not see the curious expression in the older woman's eyes as she watched the downcast head.
Mrs. Lorrimer said quietly, "I don't know."
Anne murmured, "It's not - very nice, is it?"
There was that same curious appraising and yet sympathetic look in Mrs. Lorrimer's face, as she asked,
"How old are you, Anne Meredith?"
"I - I?" the girl stammered. "I'm twenty-five."
"And I am sixty-three," said Mrs. Lorrimer. She went on slowly, "Most of your life is in front of you."
Anne shivered.
"I might be run over by a bus on the way home," she said.
"Yes, that is true.
And I - might not." Mrs. Lorrimer said it in an odd way.
Anne looked at her in astonishment.
"Life is a difficult business," continued Mrs. Lorrimer. "You'll know that when you come to my age.
It needs infinite courage and a lot of endurance.
And in the end one wonders,