up. Hercule Poirot drew a certain aside. The

radiance of the dawn came into the room.

Hugh Chandler's face was composed,

his voice was steady.

He said:

"I see.33

Then he got up. He smiled and stretched

himself. His voice was quite natural as he

said:

"Beautiful morning, what? Think I'll

go out in the woods and try to get a rabbit.33

He went out of the room and left them

staring after him.

Then the Admiral started forward. Frobisher

caught him by the arm.

"No, Charles, no. It's the best way—

for him, poor devil, if for nobody else.33

Diana had thrown herself sobbing on

the bed.

Admiral Chandler said, his voice coming

unevenly:

282

"You're right, George --you're right, I

know. The boy's got guts. ..."

Frobisher said, and his voice, too, was

broken:

"He's a man. ..."

There was a moment's silence and then

Chandler said:

"Damn it, where's that cursed foreigner?"

VII

In the gun-room, Hugh Chandler had

lifted his gun from the rack and was in the

act of loading it when Hercule Poirot's

hand fell on his shoulder.

Hercule Poirot's voice said one word

and said it with a strange authority. He

said:

"No /"

Hugh Chandler stared at him. He said

in a thick, angry voice: "Take your hands

off me. Don't interfere. There's going to be

an accident, I tell you. It's the only way

out."

Again Hercule Poirot repeated that one

word:

"No."

"Don't you realise that if it hadn't

283

been for the accident of her door being

locked, I would have cut Diana's throat—

Diana's! — with that knife ?"

cc! realise nothing of the kind. You

would not have killed Miss Maberly."

"I killed the cat, didn't I ?"

"No, you did not kill the cat. You did

not kill the parrot. You did not kill the

sheep.39

Hugh stared at him. He demanded:

"Are you mad, or am I ?"

Hercule Poirot replied:

"Neither of us is mad.

It was at that moment that Admiral

Chandler and Colonel Frobisher came in.

Behind them came Diana.

Hugh Chandler said in a weak, dazed

voice:

"This chap says I'm not mad. ..."

Hercule Poirot said:

"I am happy to tell you that you are

entirely and completely sane."

Hugh laughed. It was a laugh such as a

lunatic might popularly be supposed to give.

"That's damned funny! It's sane, is it,

to cut the throats of sheep and other

animals ? I was sane, was I, when I killed

that parrot ? And the cat tonight ?"

284

"I tell you you did not kill the sheep —

or the parrot — or the cat.3'

"Then who did ?"

"Someone who has had at heart the sole

object of proving you insane. On each

occasion you were given a heavy soporific

and a blood-stained knife or razor was

planted by you. It was someone else whose

bloody hands were washed in your basin."

"But why ?"

"In order that you should do what