"What will ruin you is not to speak out. Come now, we know the worst. Tell us exactly how it happened."

The perspiration rolling down his forehead, Jules Perrot spoke rapidly, in little jerks:

"I meant no harm. Upon my honor, I meant no harm. A man came in. He said he was going to England on the following day. He wanted to negotiate a loan from - from Madame Giselle. But he wanted their meeting to be unpremeditated. He said it would give him a better chance. He said that he knew she was going to England on the following day. All I had to do was to tell her the early service was full up and to give her Seat No. 2 in the 'Prometheus.' I swear, messieurs, that I saw nothing very wrong in that. What difference could it make? - that is what I thought. Americans are like that - they do business in unconventional ways."

"Americans?" said Fournier sharply.

"Yes, this monsieur was an American."

"Describe him."

"He was tall, stooped, had gray hair, horn-rimmed glasses and a little goatee beard."

"Did he book a seat himself?"

"Yes, monsieur. Seat No. 1. Next to - to the one I was to keep for Madame Giselle."

"In what name?"

"Silas - Silas Harper."

Poirot shook his head gently.

"There was no one of that name traveling and no one occupied Seat No. 1."

"I saw by the paper that there was no one of that name. That is why I thought there was no need to mention the matter. Since this man did not go by the plane -"

Fournier shot him a cold glance.

"You have withheld valuable information from the police," he said.

"This is a very serious matter."

Together, he and Poirot left the office, leaving Jules Perrot staring after them with a frightened face.

On the pavement outside, Fournier removed his hat and bowed.

"I salute you, M. Poirot. What gave you this idea?"

"Two separate sentences. One this morning when I heard a man in our plane say that he had crossed on the morning of the murder in a nearly empty plane. The second sentence was that uttered by Élise when she said that she had rung up the office of Universal Air Lines and that there was no room on the early-morning service. Now, those two statements did not agree. I remembered the steward on the

'Prometheus' saying that he had seen Madame Giselle before on the early service; so it was clearly her custom to go by the 8:45 a.m. plane.

"But somebody wanted her to go on the twelve o'clock - somebody who was already traveling by the 'Prometheus.' Why did the clerk say that the early service was booked up? A mistake? Or a deliberate lie? I fancied the latter. I was right."

"Every minute this case gets more puzzling!" cried Fournier. "First we seem to be on the track of a woman. Now it is a man. This American -"