Meanwhile Number Four chatted away in a perfectly natural manner. It seemed impossible to believe that he was anything but a bona fide tourist.
He described excursions and motor trips, and posed as quite an authority on the neighbourhood.
He took a pipe from his pocket and began to light it. Poirot drew out his case of tiny cigarettes. As he placed one between his lips, the stranger leant forward with a match.
“Let me give you a light.”
As he spoke, without the least warning, all the lights went out. There was a chink of glass, and something pungent under my nose, suffocating me—