M. Caux shrugged his shoulders.

“The murderer was carried away by rage, doubtless,” he suggested.

“If she had been struck down, it would have been comprehensible,” mused Poirot, “but the man who strangled her slipped up behind and caught her unawares. A little choke⁠—a little gurgle⁠—that is all that would be heard, and then afterwards⁠—that smashing blow on her face. Now why? Did he hope that if the face were unrecognisable she might not be identified? Or did he hate her so much that he could not resist striking that blow even after she was dead?”

Katherine shuddered, and he turned at once to her kindly.

“You must not let me distress you, Mademoiselle,” he said. “To you this is all very new and terrible. To me, alas! it is an old story. One moment, I pray of you both.”