me. I would do or die in the good cause. I received in all only two answers to the advertisements. Neither of them

gave me any information of value. They were both from

actors who had played with Claud Darrell at one time or

another. Neither of them knew him at all intimately,

| and no new light was thrown upon the problem of his

identity and present whereabouts.

No further sign came from the Big Four until about

ten days later. I was crossing Hyde Park, lost in

thought, when a voice, rich with a persuasive foreign inflection, hailed me.

"Captain Hastings, is it not?"

A big limousine had just drawn up by the pavement.

A woman was leaning out. Exquisitely dressed in black,

with wonderful pearls, I recognised the lady first known to us as Countess Vera Rossakoff, and afterwards under

a different alias as an agent of the Big Four. Poirot, for some reason or other, had always had a sneaking fondness for the countess. Something in her very flamboyance

attracted the little man. She was, he was wont

to declare in moments of enthusiasm, a woman in a

thousand. That she was arrayed against us, on the side

of our bitterest enemies, never seemed to weigh in his

judgment. "Ah, do not pass on!" said the countess. "I have something most important to say to you. And do

THE BIG FOUR 183

not try to have me arrested either, for that would be

stupid. You were always a little stupid--yes, yes, it is so. You are stupid now, when you persist in disregarding

the warning we sent you. It is the second warning I bring you. Leave England at once. You can do no good here

--I tell you that frankly. You will never accomplish

anything."

"In that case," I said stiffly, "it seems ratherextraordinary that you are all so anxious to get me out of the

country."

The countess shrugged her shoulders--magnificent

shoulders, and a magnificent gesture.

"For my part, I think that, too, stupid. I would leave you here to play about happily. But the chiefs, you see, are fearful that some word of yours may give great help

to those more intelligent than yourself. Hence--you are

to be banished."

The countess appeared to have a flattering idea of my

abilities. I concealed my annoyance. Doubtless this attitude of hers was assumed expressly to annoy me and to

give me the idea that.I was unimportant.

"It would, of course, be quite easy to--remove you," she continued, "but I am quite sentimental sometimes. I pleaded for you. You have a nice little wife somewhere,

have you not? And it would please the poor little man

who is dead to know that you were not to be killed. I

always liked him, you know. He was clever--but clever!

Had it not been a case of four against one I honestly

believe he might have been too much for us. I confess it frankly--he was my master! I sent a wreath to the funeral as a token of my admiration--an enormous one