English Peeress.
Husband.
"RT 362.
Doctor.
Harley Street.
"MR 24.
Forged Antiquities.
"XVB 724.
English.
Embezzlement.
"GF 45.
Attempted Murder.
English."
"Excellent, my friend," said Poirot. "Our minds march together to a marvel.
Of all the entries in that little book, those five seem to me to be the only ones that can in any way bear a relation to the persons traveling in the aeroplane.
Let us take them one by one."
"'English Peeress.
Husband,'" said Fournier. "That may conceivably apply to Lady Horbury. She is, I understand, a confirmed gambler.
Nothing could be more likely than that she should borrow money from Giselle.
Giselle's clients are usually of that type.
The word 'husband' may have one of two meanings.
Either Giselle expected the husband to pay up his wife's debts or she had some hold over Lady Horbury, a secret which she threatened to reveal to the lady's husband."
"Precisely," said Poirot. "Either of those two alternatives might apply.
I favor the second one myself, especially as I would be prepared to bet that the woman who visited Giselle the night before the aeroplane journey was Lady Horbury."
"Ah, you think that, do you?"
"Yes, and I fancy you think the same.
There is a touch of chivalry, I think, in our concierge's disposition.
His persistence in remembering nothing at all about the visitor seems rather significant.
Lady Horbury is an extremely pretty woman.
Moreover, I observed his start - oh, a very slight one - when I handed him a reproduction of her in bathing costume from the Sketch.
Yes, it was Lady Horbury who went to Giselle's that night."
"She followed her to Paris from Le Pinet," said Fournier slowly. "It looks as though she were pretty desperate."
"Yes, yes, I fancy that may be true."
Fournier looked at him curiously.
"But it does not square with your private ideas, eh?"
"My friend, as I tell you, I have what I am convinced is the right clue pointing to the wrong person. i am very much in the dark.
My clue cannot be wrong, and yet -"
"You wouldn't like to tell me what it is?" suggested Fournier.
"No, because I may, you see, be wrong. Totally and utterly wrong. And in that case I might lead you, too, astray.
No, let us each work according to our own ideas.
To continue with our selected items from the little book." "'RT 362.
Doctor.
Harley Street,'" read out Fournier.
"A possible clue to Doctor Bryant.
There is nothing much to go on, but we must not neglect that line of investigation."
"That, of course, will be the task of Inspector Japp."
"And mine," said Poirot. "I, too, have my finger in this pie."
"'MR 24.
Forged Antiquities,'" read Fournier. "Farfetched, perhaps, but it is just possible that that might apply to the Duponts.
I can hardly credit it. M. Dupont is an archaeologist of world-wide reputation. He bears the highest character."