own defence ?35

A spot of red showed suddenly in Amy

Carnaby's white cheeks. She said:

"I --I don't regret what I did. I think

that you are a kind man, Mr. Poirot, and

that possibly you might understand. You

see, I've been so terribly afraid"

"Afraid?"

"Yes, it's difficult for a gentleman to

understand, I expect. But you see, I'm not

a clever woman at all, and I've no training

and I'm getting older--and I'm so terrified

for the future. I've not been able to

save anything--how could I with Emily

to be cared for ? --and as I get older and

more incompetent there won't be any one

who wants me. They'll want somebody

young and brisk. I've --I've known so

many people like I am --nobody wants

you and you live in one room and you

can't have a fire or any warmth and not

very much to eat, and at last you can't

even pay the rent of your room. . . . There

are Institutions, of course, but it's not very

easy to get into them unless you have influential

friends, and I haven't. There are

a good many others situated like I am - 45

poor companions --untrained useless

women with nothing to look forward to

but a deadly fear ..."

Her voice shook. She said:

"And so --some of us --got together

and --and I thought of this. It was really

having Augustus that put it into my mind.

You see, to most people, one Pekinese is

very much like another. (Just as we think

the Chinese are.) Really, of course, it's

ridiculous. No one who knew could mistake

Augustus for Nanki Poo or Shan Tung

or any of the other Pekes. He's far more

intelligent for one thing, and he's much handsomer, but, as I say, to most people a Peke is just a Peke. Augustus put it into my

head--that, combined with the fact that

so many rich women have Pekinese dogs."

Poirot said with a faint smile:

"It must have been a profitable-racket! How many are there in the --the gang? Or perhaps I had better ask how

often operations have been successfully

carried out ?"

Miss Carnaby said simply:

"Shang Tung was the sixteenth."

Hercule Poirot raised his eyebrows.

"I congratulate you. Your organis 46

ation must have been indeed excellent."

Emily Carnaby said:

"Amy was always good at organisation.

Our father --he was the Vicar of Kellington

in Essex --always said that Amy had

quite a genius for planning. She always

made all the arrangements for the Socials

and the Bazaars and all that."

Poirot said with a little bow:

"I agree. As a criminal. Mademoiselle, you are quite in the first rank." Amy Carnaby cried:

"A criminal. Oh dear, I suppose I am.

But --but it never felt like that."

"How did it feel ?"

"Of course, you are quite right. It was

breaking the law. But you see --how can

I explain it ? Nearly all these women who