“And then?” I asked eagerly.
“And then, mon ami, grand resurrection of Hercule Poirot! At the eleventh hour I reappear, throw all into confusion, and achieve the supreme victory in my own unique manner!”
I realized that Poirot’s vanity was of the case-hardened variety which could withstand all attacks. I reminded him that once or twice the honours of the game had lain with our adversaries. But I might have known that it was impossible to diminish Hercule Poirot’s enthusiasm for his own methods.
“See you, Hastings, it is like the little trick that you play with the cards. You have seen it without doubt? You take the four knaves, you divide them, one on top of the pack, one underneath, and so on—you cut and you shuffle, and there they are all together again. That is my object. So far I have been contending, now against one of the Big Four, now against another. But let me get them all together, like the four knaves in the pack of cards, and then, with one coup, I destroy them all!”
“And how do you propose to get them all together?” I asked.
“By awaiting the supreme moment. By lying perdu until they are ready to strike.”
“That may mean a long wait,” I grumbled.
“Always impatient, the good Hastings! But no, it will not be so long. The one man they were afraid of—myself—is out of the way. I give them two or three months at most.”
His speaking of someone being got out of the way reminded me of Ingles and his tragic death, and I remembered that I had never told Poirot about the dying Chinaman in St. Giles’s Hospital.
He listened with keen attention to my story.
“Ingles’s servant, eh? And the few words he uttered were in Italian? Curious.”
“That’s why I suspected it might have been a plant on the part of the Big Four.”
“Your reasoning is at fault, Hastings. Employ the little grey cells. If your enemies wished to deceive you they would assuredly have seen to it that the Chinaman spoke in intelligible pidgin English. No, the message was genuine. Tell me again all that you heard?”
“First of all he made a reference to Handel’s Largo, and then he said something that sounded like ‘carrozza’—that’s a carriage, isn’t it?”
“Nothing else?”
“Well, just at the end he murmured something like ‘Cara’ somebody or other—some woman’s name. Zia, I think. But I don’t suppose that that had any bearing on the rest of it.”
“You would not suppose so, Hastings. Cara Zia is very important, very important indeed.”
“I don’t see—”
“My dear friend, you never see—and anyway the English know no geography.”
“Geography?” I cried. “What has geography got to do with it?”
“I dare say M. Thomas Cook would be more to the point.”
As usual, Poirot refused to say anything more—a most irritating trick of his. But I noticed that his manner became extremely cheerful, as though he had scored some point or other.
The days went on, pleasant if a trifle monotonous. There were plenty of books in the villa, and delightful rambles all around, but I chafed sometimes at the forced inactivity of our life, and marvelled at Poirot’s state of placid content. Nothing occurred to ruffle our quiet existence, and it was not until the end of June, well within the limit that Poirot had given them, that we had our news of the Big Four.
A car drove up to the villa early one morning, such an unusual event in our peaceful life that I hurried down to satisfy my curiosity. I found Poirot talking to a pleasant-faced young fellow of about my own age.
He introduced me.
“This is Captain Harvey, Hastings, one of the most famous members of your Intelligence Service.”
“Not famous at all, I’m afraid,” said the young man, laughing pleasantly.
“Not famous except to those in the know, I should have said. Most of Captain Harvey’s friends and acquaintances consider him an amiable but brainless young man—devoted only to the trot of the fox or whatever the dance is called.”
We both laughed.
“Well, well, to business,” said Poirot. “You are of opinion the time has come, then?”
“We are sure of it, sir. China was isolated politically yesterday. What is going on out there, nobody knows. No news of any kind, wireless or otherwise, has come through—just a complete break—and silence!”
“Li Chang Yen has shown his hand. And the others?”
“Abe Ryland arrived in England a week ago, and left for the Continent yesterday.”
“And Madame Olivier?”
“Madame Olivier left Paris last night.”
“For Italy?”
“For Italy, sir. As far as we can judge, they are both making for the resort you indicated—though how you knew that—”
“Ah, that is not the cap with the feather for me! That was the work of Hastings here. He conceals his intelligence, you comprehend, but it is profound for all that.”
Harvey looked at me with due appreciation, and I felt rather uncomfortable.
“All is in train, then,” said Poirot. He was pale now, and completely serious. “The time has come. The arrangements are all made?”
“Everything you ordered has been carried out. The governments of Italy, France, and England are behind you, and are all working harmoniously together.”
“It is, in fact, a new Entente,” observed Poirot drily. “I am glad that Desjardeaux is convinced at last. Eh bien, then, we will start—or rather, I will start. You, Hastings, will remain here—yes, I pray of you. In verity, my friend, I am serious.”
I believed him, but it was not likely that I
