‘Yes, Lord Mayfield, that is what I told her. I must say she seemed rather ashamed of herself. She went off upstairs and I came back in here.’

‘How long ago was this?’

‘Just a minute or two before you and Sir George came in.’

‘And you were out of the room—how long?’

The secretary considered.

‘Two minutes—at the most three.’

‘Long enough,’ groaned Lord Mayfield. Suddenly he clutched his friend’s arm.

‘George, that shadow I saw—slinking away from this window. That was it! As soon as Carlile left the room, he nipped in, seized the plans and made off.’

‘Dirty work,’ said Sir George.

Then he seized his friend by the arm.

‘Look here, Charles, this is the devil of a business. What the hell are we going to do about it?’

Chapter 3

‘At any rate give it a trial, Charles.’

It was half an hour later. The two men were in Lord Mayfield’s study, and Sir George had been expending a considerable amount of persuasion to induce his friend to adopt a certain course.

Lord Mayfield, at first most unwilling, was gradually becoming less averse to the idea.

Sir George went on:

‘Don’t be so damned pig-headed, Charles.’

Lord Mayfield said slowly:

‘Why drag in a wretched foreigner we know nothing about?’

‘But I happen to know a lot about him. The man’s a marvel.’

‘Humph.’

‘Look here, Charles. It’s a chance! Discretion is the essence of this business. If it leaks out—’

‘When it leaks out is what you mean!’

‘Not necessarily. This man, Hercule Poirot—’

‘Will come down here and produce the plans like a conjurer taking rabbits out of his hat, I suppose?’

‘He’ll get at the truth. And the truth is what we want. Look here, Charles, I take all responsibility on myself.’

Lord Mayfield said slowly:

‘Oh, well, have it your own way, but I don’t see what the fellow can do…’

Sir George picked up the phone.

‘I’m going to get through to him—now.’

‘He’ll be in bed.’

‘He can get up. Dash it all, Charles, you can’t let that woman get away with it.’

‘Mrs Vanderlyn, you mean?’

‘Yes. You don’t doubt, do you, that she’s at the bottom of this?’

‘No, I don’t. She’s turned the tables on me with a vengeance. I don’t like admitting, George, that a woman’s been too clever for us. It goes against the grain. But it’s true. We shan’t be able to prove anything against her, and yet we both know that she’s been the prime mover in the affair.’

‘Women are the devil,’ said Carrington with feeling.

‘Nothing to connect her with it, damn it all! We may believe that she put the girl up to that screaming trick, and that the man lurking outside was her accomplice, but the devil of it is we can’t prove it.’

‘Perhaps Hercule Poirot can.’

Suddenly Lord Mayfield laughed.

‘By the Lord, George, I thought you were too much of an old John Bull to put your trust in a Frenchman, however clever.’