'And the work, it is not too hard?'
'Well, she's particular - always poking round in cornen and
looking for dust. And then there's the lodger, or paying guest
as he's always called. But that's only breakfast and dinner, same
as Master. They're out all day in the City.'
'You like your master?'
'He's all right - very quiet and a bit on the stingy side.'
'You can't remember, I suppose, the last thing Eliza said
before she went out?'
'Yes, I can. "If there's any stewed peaches over from The
dining-room," she says, "we'll have them for supper, and a bit
of bacon and some fried potatoes." Mad over stewed peaches,
she was. I shouldn't wonder if they didn't g her that way.'
'Was Wednesday her regular day out?'
'Yes, she had Wednesdays spa I had Thursdays.'
Poirot asked a few more questions, then declared himself
satisfied. Annie departed, and Mrs Todd hurried in, her face
alight with curiosity. She had, I felt certain, bitxerly resented
her exclusion from the room during our conversation with
Annie. Poirot, however, was careful to soothe her feelings
tactfully.
It is difficult,' he explained, 'for s woman of exceptional
iatclligence such as yourself, madame, to bear padendy the
roundabout me, ods we poor detectives arc forced to use. To
have patience with stupidity is difficult for the quick-witted.'
Having thus charmed away any Ut-de resentment on Mrs
Todd's part, he brought the conversation round to her husband
and elicited the information that he worked with a fu'm in the
City and would not be home until after six.
256
,Doubtless
he is very disturbed and won4i by this
..business, eh? Is it not so?'
'lie's never worried; dec. lmeed Mrs Todd.' "Well, well, get
nother. my dear." That's all h said! lie's so calm that it drives
llle lo distraction solnetillles. " ungrateful womsll," he said.
"We are well rid of her."'
'What about the other inmates of the house, madame?'
'You mean Mr Simpson, our paying guest? Well, as long as
he gets his brealffast and his evening meal all right, h doem't worry.'
'What is his profession, madame?'
'He works in a bank.' She mentioned its name, ami I started
lightly, remembering my perusal of the Daily Blare.
'A young man?'
,Twenty-eight, I believe, lqice quiet young fellow.'
'I should like to have a few words with him, and also with
your husband, if I may. I will return for that putlx this
evening. I venture to suggest that you should repose your a
little, madame, you look fatigued.'
'I should just think I am! First the worry about Eliza, and
then I was at the sales practically all yesterday, and you gnow
what that is, M. Poirot, and what with one thing and another
and a lot to do in the house, because of course Annie can't do
it all - and very likely she'll give notice anyway, being unsettled
in this way - well, what with it all, I'm fired out!'
Poirot murmured sympatheticallY, .and we took our leave.
'It's a curious coincidence,' I said, 'but that absconding
clerk, Davis, was from the same bank as Simpson. Can there be
any connection, do you think?'
Poirot smiled.
'At the one end, a defaulting clerk, at the other a vanishing
cook. It is hard to see any relation between the two, unless
possibly Davis visited Simpson, fell in love .with the cook, and
·
--rsuaded her to accompany .him on his flight.
'I laughed. But Poirot remained grave,
reprovingly.
·
'He might have done worse,' he said
'Remember, Hastings, if you are going into exile, a good cook
may be of more comfort than a pretty face!' He paused for a
257
moment ahd then went on. 'It is a curious case, full of
contradictory features. I am interested - yes, I am distinctly
interested.'
That evening we returned to 88 Prince Albert Road and
interviewed both Todd and Simpson. The former was a
melancholy lantern-jawed man of forty-odd.
'Oh! Yes, yes,' he said vaguely. 'Eliza. Yes. A good cook, I
believe. And economical. I make a strong point of economy.,
'Can you imagine any reason for her leaving you so
suddenly?'
'Oh, well,' said Mr Todd vaguely. 'Servants, you know. My
wife worries too much. Worn out from always worrying. The
whole problem's quite simple really. "Get another, my der,"
I say. "Get another." That's all there is to it. No good crying
over spilt milk.'
Mr Simpson was equally unhelpful. He was a quiet
inconspicuous young man with spectacles.
'I must have seen her, I suppose,' he said. 'Elderly woman,
wasn't she? Of course, it's the other one I see always, Annie.
Nice girl. Very obliging.'
'Were those two on good terms with each other?'
so.Mr Simpson said he couldn't say, he was sure. He supposed
'Well, we get nothing of interest there, mon am/,' said Poirot
as we left the house. Our departure had been delayed by a burst
of vociferous repetition from Mrs Todd, Who repeated everything
she had said that morning at rather greater length.
'Are you disappointed?' I asked. 'Did you expect to hear
something?'
Poirot shook his head..
'There was a possibility, of course,' he said. 'But I hardly
thought it likely.'
The next development was a letter which Poirnt received on
the following morning. He read. it, turned purple with
indignation, and handed it to me.
Mrs Todd regrets that after all she will not avail herself
8
of Mr Poirot's services. After talking the matter over with
her husband she sees that it is foolish to call in a detective
about a purely domestic affair. Mrs Todd encloses a
guinea for consultation fee.
'Aha!' cried Poirot angrily. 'And they think to get rid of
Hercule Poirot like that! As a favour- a great favour - I consent
to investigate their miserable little twopeuny-halfpenny affair
o and they dismiss me comme la! Here, I mistake not, is the
hand of Mr Todd. But I say no! - thirty-six times no! I will
spend my own guineas, thirty-six hundred of them if need be,
but I will get to the bottom of this matter?
'Yes,' I said. 'But how?'
Poirot calmed down a little.
'D'abord,' he said, 'we will advertise in the papers. Let me
see - yes - something like this: "If Eliza Dunn will communicate
with this address, she will hear of something to her
'advantage.' Put it in all the papers you can think of, Hastings.
Then I will make some little inquiries of my own. Go, go - all
must be done as quickly as possible?
I did not see him again until the evening, when he
condescended to tell me what he had been doing.
'I have made inquiries at the firm of Mr Todd. He was not
absent on Wednesday, and he bears a good character - so much
for him. Then Simpson, on Thursday he was ill and did not<
br />
come to the bank, but he was there on Wednesday. He was
moderately friendly with Davis. Nothing out of the common.
There does not seem to be anything there. No. We must place
our reliance on the advertisement.'
The advertisement duly appeared in all the principal daily
papers. By Poirot's orders it was to be continued every day for
a week. His eagerness over this uninteresting matter of a
defaulting cook was extraordinary, but I realized that he
considered it a point of honour to persevere until he finally
succeeded. Several extremely interesting cases were brought to
him about this time, but he declined them all. Every morning
he would rush at his letters, scrutinize them earnestly and then
lay them down with a sigh.
259
But our patience was rewarded at last. On the
following Mrs Todd's visit, our landlady informed friar a
person of the name of Eliza Dunn had called.
'Enfin!' cried Poirot. 'But make her mount thenf At 'race.
Immediately.'
.
Thus admonished, our landlady hurried out and returned
moment or two later, ushering in Miss Duma. Our quarry was
much as described: tall, stout, and eminently respectable.
'I came in answer to the advertisement,, she explained.
thought there must be some muddle or other, and that perhaps
you didn't know I'd already got my legacy.'
Poirot was studying her attentively. He drew forward a cair
with a flourish.
'The truth of the matter is,' he explained, 'that your late
mistress, Mrs Todd, was much concerned about you. She
feared some accident might have befallen you.'
Eliza Dunn seemed very much surprised.
'Didn't she get my letter then?'
'She got no word of any kind.' He paused, and then said
persuasively: 'Recount to me the whole story, wi you not.)'
Eliza Dunn needed no encouragement. She plunged at once
into a lengthy narrative.
'I was just coming home on Wednesday night and had near!y
got to the house, when a gentleman stopped me. A tag
gentleman he was, with a beard and a big hat. "Miss ElV:a
Dunn?" he said. "Yes," I said. "I've been inquiring for you at
No. 88," he .said. "They told me I might meet you coming
along here. Miss Dunn, I have come from Australia specially to
find you. Do you happen to know th -
c
mmaen name oI your
maternal
grandmother? lane Emmott,"
I said. "Exactly,"
he said.
"Now, Miss Dunn, although you may never have
heard of
the fact, your grandmother had a great friend, El/za
Leech. This
friend ·
went
to
Australia where she married a very
wealthy
rtler. Her two children died in infancy, and she
'--' all her husband's property. She died a few months
It her will you inherit a house in
,
le sum of money."
figs country and a
258
,Id have knocked wp down with a feather,' con
t/hued Miss Duma. 'For a minute, I was suspicious, and he
must have seen it, for he smiled. "Quite right to be on your
guard, Miss Dunn," he said. "Here are my credentials." He
handed me a letter from some lawyers in Melbourne, Hurst
and Crotchet, and a card. He was Mr Crotchet. "There are one
or two conditions," he said. "Our client was a little eccentric,
you know. The bequest is conditional on your taking posses-sion
of the house (it is in Cumberland) before twelve o'clock
tomorrow. The other condition is of no importance - it is
merely a stipulation that you should not be in domestic
service." My face fell. "Oh, Mr Crotchet," I said. "I'm a cook.
Didn't they tell you at the house?" "Dear, dear," he said. "I
had no idea of such a thing. I thought you might possibly be a
companion or governess there. This is very unfortunate - very
unfortunate indeed."
' "Shall I have to lose all the money?" I said, anxious like. He'
thought for a minute or two. "There are always ways of getting
round the law, Miss Duma," he said at last. "We as lawyers
know that. The way out here is for you to have left your
employment this afternoon." "But my month?" I said. "My
dear Miss Durra,' he said with a smile. "You can leave an.
employer any minute by forfeiting a month's wages. Your
mistress will understand in view of the circum.tances. The
difficulty is time! It is/mperative that you should catch the 11.5
from King's Cross to the north. I can advance you ten pounds
or so for the fare, and you can write a note at the station to your
employer. I will take it to her myself and explain the whole
circumstances." I agreed, of course, and an hour later I was in
the train, so flustered that I didn't know whether I was on my
head or heels. Indeed by the time I got to Carlisle, I was half
inclined to think the whole thing was one of those confidence
tri 'cks you read about. But I went to the address he had given
me - solidtors they were, and it was all right. A nice little
house, and an income of tlu'ee hundred a year. These lawyers
knew very little, they'd just got a letter from a gentleman in
London instructing them to hand over the house to me and
150 pounds for the first six months. Mr Crotchet sent up my things
to me, but there was no word from Missus. I supposed she was
261
angry and grudged me my bit of luck. She kept back my box
too, and sent my clothes in paper parcels. But there, of coucs¢
if she never had my letter, she might think it a bit cool of me.'
Poirot had listened attentively to this long history. Now he
nodded his head as though completely satisfied.
'Thank you, mademoiselle. There had been, as you say, a
little muddle. Permit me to recompense you for your trouble.'
He handed her an envelope. 'You return to Cumberland
immediately? A little word in your ear. Do not forget h to
cook. It is always useful to have something to fall back upon in
'Credulous,' he murmured, as our visitor departed, 'but
perhaps not more than most of her cls.' His face grew grave.
'Come, Hastings, there is no time to be lost. Get a taxi while I
write a note to Japp.'
Poirot was waiting on the doorstep when I returned with e
taxi.
'Where are we going?' I asked anxiously.
'First, to despatch this note by spec/al .',
This was done, and re-entering the taxi Poirot gave the
address to the driver.
'Eighty-eight Prince Albert Road, Clapham.'
'So we are going there?'
'Mais oui. Though frankly I fear we shall be too late. Our
bird will have flown, Hastings.'
'Who is our bird?'
Poirot smiled.
'The inconspicuous Mr Simpson.'
'What?' I exclaimed.
'Oh, come now, Hastings, do not tell me that all is not dear
to you now?
'The cook --s got out of the Way, I realize that,' I said,
sI;'''
'But why? Why should Simpson wish to get
se? Did she know something about him?'
258
'No, my friend - something quite different.' He paused a and then said gravely: 'A battered tin trunk...'
I looked sideways at him. His statement seemed so fantastic
I suspected him of pulling my leg, but he was perfectly
i'$rave and serious.
'Surely he could buy a trunk if he wanted one,' I cried.
'He did not want a new trunk. He wanted a trunk of
pedigree. A trunk of assured respectability.'
'Look here, Poitot,' I cried, 'this really is a bit thick. You're
pulling my leg.'
He looked at me.
'You lack the brains and the imagination of Mr Simpson,
Hastings. See here: On Wednesday evening, Simpson decoys
away the cook. A printed card and a printed sheet of notepaper
are simple matters to obtain, and he is willing to pay £150 and
a year's house rem to assure the success of his plan. Miss Dunn
does not recognize him - the beard the hat and the slight
colonial accent completely deceive her. That is the end of
Wednesday - except for the trifling fact that Simpson has
helped himself to fty thousand pounds' worth of negotiable
securities.'
'Simpson - but it was Dads '
'If you will kindly permit me to continue, Hastings!
Simpson knows that the theft will be discovered on Thursday
afternoon. He does not go to the bank on Thursday, but he lies
in wait for Davis when he comes out to lunch, perhaps he
admits the theft and tells Davis he will return the securities to
him - anyhow he succeeds .in getting Davis to come to
AgathaChristie-HerculePoirotsCasebook Page 31