“The story of her dismissal. Does it take half an hour to dismiss a servant? Was the story of those important papers a likely one? And remember, though she says she was in her bedroom from nine-thirty until ten o’clock, there is no one to confirm her statement.”

“You bewilder me,” I said.

“To me it grows clearer. But tell me now your own ideas and theories.”

I drew a piece of paper from my pocket. “I just scribbled down a few suggestions,” I said apologetically.

“But excellent⁠—you have method. Let us hear them.”

I read out in a somewhat embarrassed voice. “To begin with, one must look at the thing logically⁠—”

“Just what my poor Hastings used to say,” interrupted Poirot, “but alas! he never did so.”