"Plenty of evidence," he said. "We've

got his laboratory and his cultures and the

whole layout!"

Poirot said:

"It is possible, I think, that he has committed

a long line of murders. I may say

that it was not because his mother was a

Jewess that he was dismissed from that

German University. That merely made a

convenient tale to account for his arrival

here and to gain sympathy for him. Actually,

I fancy, he is of pure Aryan blood."

Miss Carnaby sighed.

^Qu'est ce qu^ily a?" asked Poirot.

"I was thinking," said Miss Carnaby,

"of a marvellous dream I had at the First

Festival--hashish, I suppose. I arranged

the whole world so beautifully! No wars,

387

no poverty, no ill health, no ugliness. ..."

"It must have been a fine dream," said

Japp enviously.

Miss Carnaby jumped up. She said:

"I must get home. Emily has been so

anxious. And dear Augustus has been

missing me terribly, I hear."

Hercule Poirot said with a smile:

"He was afraid, perhaps, that like him,

you were going to 'die for Hercule

Poirot'!"

388

11

THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES

I

ERCULE POIROT looked

thoughtfully into the face of the

man behind the big mahogany desk.

He noted the generous brow, the mean

mouth, the rapacious line of the jaw and

the piercing, visionary eyes. He understood

from looking at the man why Emery

Power had become the great financial force

that he was.

H

And his eyes falling to the long delicate

hands, exquisitely shaped, that lay on the

desk, he understood, too, why Emery

Power had attained renown as a great collector.

He was known on both sides of the

Atlantic as a connoisseur of works of art.

His passion for the artistic went hand in

hand with an equal passion for the historic.

It was not enough for him that a thing

should be beautiful --he demanded also

389

that it should have a tradition behind it.

Emery Power was speaking. His voice

was quiet --a small, distinct voice that was

more effective than any mere volume of

sound could have been.

"You do not, I know, take many cases

nowadays. But I think you will take this

one.33

"Is it, then, an affair of great moment ?35

Emery Power said:

"It is of moment to me."

Poirot remained in an enquiring attitude,

his head slightly on one side. He looked

like a meditative robin.

The other went on:

"It concerns the recovery of a work of

art. To be exact, a gold chased goblet, dating from the Renaissance. It is said to be the goblet used by Pope Alexander VI

--Roderigo Borgia. He sometimes presented

it to a favoured guest to drink

from. That guest, M. Poirot, usually died.35

"A pretty history,33 Poirot murmured.

"Its career has always been associated

with violence. It has been stolen more than

once. Murder has been done to gain

possession of it. A trail of bloodshed has

followed it through the ages.3'