“Who isn’t these days? I suppose I can say it without incriminating myself.”

He smiled and Poirot smiled politely back at him and murmured:

“Mais oui, you can say what you like, for you, Sir George, have the one unimpeachable alibi in this affair.”

“But I’m damned hard up myself!”

Poirot shook his head sadly.

“Yes, indeed, a man in your position has heavy living expenses. Then you have a young son at a most expensive age—”

Sir George groaned.

“Education’s bad enough, then debts on top of it. Mind you, this lad’s not a bad lad.”

Poirot listened sympathetically. He heard a lot of the Air Marshal’s accumulated grievances. The lack of grit and stamina in the younger generation, the fantastic way in which mothers spoilt their children and always took their side, the curse of gambling once it got hold of a woman, the folly of playing for higher stakes than you could afford. It was couched in general terms, Sir George did not allude directly to either his wife or his son, but his natural transparency made his generalizations very easy to see through.

He broke off suddenly.

“Sorry, mustn’t take up your time with something that’s right off the subject, especially at this hour of the night—or rather, morning.”

He stifled a yawn.

“I suggest, Sir George, that you should go to bed. You have been most kind and helpful.”

“Right, think I will turn in. You really think there is a chance of getting the plans back?”

Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

“I mean to try. I do not see why not.”

“Well, I’ll be off. Goodnight.”

He left the room.

Poirot remained in his chair staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, then he took out a little notebook and turning to a clean page, he wrote:

Mrs. Vanderlyn?

Lady Julia Carrington?

Mrs. Macatta?

Reggie Carrington?

Mr. Carlile?

Underneath he wrote:

Mrs. Vanderlyn and Mr. Reggie Carrington?

Mrs. Vanderlyn and Lady Julia?

Mrs. Vanderlyn and Mr. Carlile?

He shook his head in a dissatisifed manner, murmuring: “C’est plus simple que ça.”

Then he added a few short sentences.

Did Lord Mayfield see a “shadow?” If not, why did he say he did? Did Sir George see anything? He was positive he had seen nothing AFTER I examined flower-bed. Note: Lord Mayfield is nearsighted, can read without glasses but has to use a monocle to look across a room. Sir George is long-sighted. Therefore, from the far end of the terrace, his sight is more to be depended upon than Lord Mayfield’s. Yet Lord Mayfield is very positive that he DID see something and is quite unshaken by his friend’s denial.