"It does indeed seem unlikely," said Fournier. "Mademoiselle Kerr - I saw her at the inquest today." He shook his head. "One does not readily connect her with murder."

"Seat 13," said Japp. "Lady Horbury. She's a bit of a dark horse. I know something about her I'll tell you presently. I shouldn't be surprised if she had a guilty secret or two."

"I happen to know," said Fournier, "that the lady in question has been losing very heavily at the baccarat table at Le Pinet."

"That's smart of you. Yes, she's the type of pigeon to be mixed up with Giselle."

"I agree absolutely."

"Very well, then; so far, so good. But how did she do it? She didn't leave her seat either, you remember. She'd have had to have knelt up in her seat and leaned over the top - with eleven people looking at her. Oh, hell, let's get on."

"Numbers 9 and 10," said Fournier, moving his finger on the plan.

"M. Hercule Poirot and Doctor Bryant," said Japp, "What has M. Poirot to say for himself?"

Poirot shook his head sadly.

"Mon estomac," he said pathetically. "Alas, that the brain should be the servant of the stomach.

"I, too," said Fournier with sympathy. "In the air, I do not feel well."

He closed his eyes and shook his head expressively.

"Now then, Doctor Bryant. What about Doctor Bryant? Big bug in Harley Street. Not very likely to go to a Frechwoman money lender, but you never know. And if any funny business crops up with a doctor, he's done for life! Here's where my scientific theory comes in. A man like Bryant, at the top of the tree, is in with all the medical-research people. He could pinch a test tube of snake venom as easy as winking when he happens to be in some swell laboratory."

"They check these things, my friend," objected Poirot. "It would not be just like plucking a buttercup in a meadow."

"Even if they do check 'em. A clever man could substitute something harmless - it could be done. Simply because a man like Bryant would be above suspicion."

"There is much in what you say," agreed Fournier.

"The only thing is: Why did he draw attention to the thing? Why not say the woman died from heart failure - natural death?"

Poirot coughed. The other two looked at him inquiringly.

"I fancy," he said, "that that was the doctor's first - well, shall we say, impression? After all, it looked very like natural death - possibly as the result of a wasp sting. There was a wasp, remember."

"Not likely to forget that wasp," put in Japp. "You're always harping on it."

"However," continued Poirot, "I happened to notice the fatal thorn on the ground and picked it up. Once we had found that, everything pointed to murder."

"The thorn would be bound to be found anyway."

Poirot shook his head.

"There is just a chance that the murderer might have been able to pick it up unobserved."