face. As usual, she sounded breathless.

Hercule Poirot's eyebrows rose.

She said anxiously:

"You do remember me, don't you ?"

Hercule Poirot's eyes twinkled. He said:

"I remember you as one of the most

successful criminals that I have ever

encountered!"

"Oh dear me, M. Poirot, must you really

say such things ? You were so kind to me.

Emily and I often talk about you, and if

we see anything about you in the paper we

cut it out at once and paste it in a book.

As for Augustus, we have taught him a new

trick. We say, "Die for Sherlock Holmes,

353

die for Mr. Fortune, die for Sir Henry

Merrivale, and then die for M. Hercule

Poirot' and he goes down and lies like a

log—lies absolutely still without moving

until we say the word!39

"I am gratified,5' said Poirot. "And how

is ce cher Auguste ?35

Miss Camaby clasped her hands and

became eloquent in praise of her Pekinese.

"Oh, M. Poirot, he's cleverer than ever.

He knows everything. Do you know, the

other day I was just admiring a baby in a

pram and suddenly I felt a tug and there

was Augustus trying his hardest to bite

through his lead. Wasn't that clever ?33

Poirot's eyes twinkled. He said:

"It looks to me as though Augustus

shared these criminal tendencies we were

speaking of just now!33

Miss Camaby did not laugh. Instead,

her nice plump face grew worried and sad.

She said in a kind of gasp:

"Oh, M. Poirot. I'm so worried3'1

Poirot said kindly: "What is it ?"

"Do you know, M. Poirot, I'm afraid —

I really am afraid—that I must be a

hardened criminal—if I may use such a

term. Ideas come to me!"

354

"What kind of ideas ?"

"The most extraordinary ideas! For

instance, yesterday, a really most practical scheme for robbing a post office came into my head. I wasn't thinking about it--it

just came! And another very ingenious way

for evading custom duties. ... I feel convinced

--quite convinced --that it would

work.33

"It probably would," said Poirot dryly.

"That is the danger of your ideas."

"It has worried me, M. Poirot, very

much. Having been brought up with strict

principles, as I have been, it is most disturbing

that such lawless --such really wicked--ideas should come to me. The trouble is partly, I think, that I have a good

deal of leisure time now. I have left Lady

Hoggin and I am engaged by an old lady

to read to her and to write her letters

every day. The letters are soon done

and the moment I begin reading she

goes to sleep, so I am left just sitting

there --with an idle mind --and we

all know the use the devil has for idleness.35

"Tcha, tcha," said Poirot.

"Recently I have read a book --a very

355

modem book, translated from the German.

It throws a most interesting light on

criminal tendencies. One must, so I understand,