“I am silent,” said Poirot, his eyes twinkling a little; “but all the same I say it is a pity. And now, Messieurs, let us come to business.”

Both the other men looked at him in some surprise.

“You must not be shocked or alarmed at what I am about to say. Supposing, Monsieur Van Aldin, that, after all, Monsieur Derek Kettering did not murder his wife?”

“What?”

Both men stared at him in blank surprise.

“Supposing, I say, that Monsieur Kettering did not murder his wife?”

“Are you mad, Monsieur Poirot?”

It was Van Aldin who spoke.