"I am a good Catholic," said Poirot cautiously.

Mrs Cloade waved aside the Catholic faith with a smile of pity.

"Blind! The Church is blind - prejudiced, foolish - not welcoming the reality and beauty of the world that lies behind this one."

"At twelve o'clock," said Hercule Poirot, "I have an important appointment."

It was a well-timed remark. Mrs Cloade leaned forward.

"I must come to the point at once. Would it be possible for you, M. Poirot, to find a missing person?"

Poirot's eyebrow's rose.

"It might be possible - yes," he replied cautiously. "But the police, my dear Mrs Cloade, could do so a great deal more easily than I could. They have all the necessary machinery."

Mrs Cloade waved away the police as she had waved away the Catholic Church.

"No, M. Poirot - it is to you I have been guided - by those beyond the veil. Now listen. My brother Gordon married some weeks before his death, a young widow - a Mrs Underhay. Her first husband (poor child, such a grief to her) was reported dead in Africa. A mysterious country

-Africa."

"A mysterious continent," Poirot corrected her. "Possibly. What part -"

She swept on.

"Central Africa. The home of voodoo, of the zhombie -"

"The zhombie is in the West Indies."

Mrs Cloade swept on :

"-of black magic - of strange and secret practices - a country where a man could disappear and never be heard of again."

"Possibly, possibly," said Poirot. "But the same is true of Piccadilly Circus."

Mrs Cloade waved away Piccadilly Circus.

"Twice lately, M. Poirot, a communication has come through from a spirit who gives his name as Robert. The message was the same each time. Not dead... We were puzzled, we knew no Robert. Asking for further guidance we got this. 'R.U. R.U. R.U.' - then 'Tell R. Tell R.' 'Tell Robert?' we asked. 'No, from Robert. R.U.' 'What does the U. stand for?' Then, M. Poirot, the most significant answer came. 'Little Boy Blue. Little Boy Blue. Ha ha ha' You see?"

"No," said Poirot, "I do not."

She looked at him pityingly.

"The nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue. 'Under the Haycock fast asleep' - Under hay - you see?"

Poirot nodded. He forbore to ask why, if the name Robert could be spelt out, the name Underhay could not have been treated the same way, and why it had been necessary to resort to a kind of cheap Secret Service spy jargon.

"And my sister-in-law's name is Rosaleen," finished Mrs Cloade triumphantly.

"You see? Confusing all these Rs. But the meaning is quite plain. 'Tell Rosaleen that Robert Underhay is not dead.'"

"Aha, and did you tell her?"

Mrs Cloade looked slightly taken aback.

"Er - well - no. You see, I mean - well, people are so sceptical. Rosaleen, I am sure, would be so. And then, poor child, it might upset her - wondering, you know, where he was - and what he was doing."