“I suppose I should feel honored, in that case,” I said.

“I have spent my whole life following most of the rules in the dusty old Book, Mr. Catchpool. That is how I know it’s a foolish thing to do. Whenever lovers throw caution to the wind and meet when they ought not to . . . I admire them! And whoever murdered Harriet Sippel, I admire that person too. I can’t help it. That doesn’t mean that I condone murder. I don’t. Now, go away before I become even more outspoken.”

As I walked back to the King’s Head, I thought to myself that a conversation was a strange thing that could take you almost anywhere. Often you were left stranded miles from where you had started, with no idea about how to get back. Margaret Ernst’s words rang in my ears as I walked: However against the rules it might be, love is love, isn’t it?

At the King’s Head, I strode past a snoring Walter Stoakley and a pruriently peering Victor Meakin and went upstairs to pack my things.

I caught the next train to London and bade a joyous farewell to Great Holling as the train pulled out of the station. As happy as I was to be leaving the village, I wished I could have spoken to the doctor, Ambrose Flowerday. What would Poirot say when I told him about my promise to Margaret Ernst? He would disapprove, for sure, and say something about the English and their foolish sense of honor, and I would no doubt hang my head and mumble apologetically rather than voice my true opinion on the matter, which is that one always manages to extract more information from people in the end if one respects their wishes. Let people think that you have no wish to force them to tell you what they know, and it’s surprising how often they approach you of their own accord in due course with the very answers you were looking for.

I knew Poirot would disapprove, and I decided not to care. If Margaret Ernst could disagree with God, then it was perfectly all right for me to disagree with Hercule Poirot occasionally. If he wished to interview Dr. Flowerday, he could go to Great Holling and speak to the man himself.