'I didn't quite mean that,' I said. 'I meant, had you ever been completely down and out over a case through your own fault?'
'Ah, I comprehend! You ask if I have ever made the complete prize ass of myself, as you say over here? Once, my friend - ' A slow, reflective smile hovered over his face. 'Yes, once I made a fool of myself.'
He sat up suddenly in his chair.
'See here, my friend, you have, I know, kept a record of my little successes. You shall add one more story to the collection, the story of a failure!' He leaned forward and placed a log on the fire. Then, after carefully wiping his hands on a little duster that hung on a nail by the fireplace, he leaned back and commenced his story.
That of which I tell you (said M. Poirot) took place in Belgium many years ago. It was at the time of the terrible struggle in France between church and state. M. Paul Droulard was a French deputy of note. It was an open secret that the portfolio of a Minister awaited him. He was among the bitterest of the anti-Catholic party, and it was certain that on his accession to power, he would have to face violent enmity. He was in many ways a peculiar man.
Though he neither drank nor smoked, he was nevertheless not so scrupulous in other ways. You comprehend, Hastings, cYtait des femrnes - toujours des femmesl He had married some years earlier a young lady from Brussels who had brought him a substantial dot. Undoubtedly the money was useful to him in his career, as his family was not rich, though on the other hand he was entitled to call himself M. le Baron if he chose. There were no children of the marriage, and his wife died after two years - the result of a fall downstairs. Among the property which she bequeathed to him was a house on the Avenue Louise in Brussels.
It was in this house that his sudden death took place, the event coinciding with the resignation of the Minister whose portfolio he was to inherit. All the papers printed long notices of his career.
His death, which had taken place quite suddenly in the evening after dinner, was attributed to heart-failure.
At that time, rnon ami, I was, as you know, a member of the Belgian detective force. The death of M. Paul Droulard was not particularly interesting to me. I am, as you also know, bon catholique, and his demise seemed to me fortunate.
It was some three days afterwards, when my vacation had just begun, that I received a visitor at my own apartments - a lady, heavily veiled, but evidently quite young; and I perceived at once that she was a jeune fille tout d fait cornme il faut.
'You are Monsieur Hercule Poirot?' she asked in a low sweet voice.
I bowed.
'Of the detective service?'
Again I bowed. 'Be seated, I pray of you, mademoiselle,' I said.
She accepted a chair and drew aside her veil. Her face was charming, though marred with tears, and haunted as though with some poignant anxiety.
'Monsieur,' she said, 'I understand that you are now taking a vacation. Therefore you will be free to take up a private case.
You understand that I do not wish to call in the police.'
I shook my head. 'I fear what you ask is impossible, mademois-elle.
Even though on vacation, I am still of the police.'
She leaned forward. 'Ecoutez, monsieur. All that I ask of you is to investigate. The result of your investigations you are at perfect liberty to report to the police. If what I believe to be true/s true, we shall need all the machinery of the law.'
That placed a somewhat different complexion on the matter, and I placed myself at her service without more ado.
A slight colour rose in her cheeks. 'I thank you, monsieur. It is the death of M. Paul Droulard that I ask you to investi-gate.'
'Comment?' I exclaimed, surprised.
'Monsieur, I have nothing to go upon - nothing but my woman's instinct, but I am convinced - convinced, I tell you - that M.
Droulard did not die a natural death!'
'But surely the doctors - '
'Doctors may be mistaken. He was so robust, so strong. Ah, Monsieur Poirot, I beseech of you to help me - '
The poor child was almost beside herself. She would have knelt to me. I soothed her as best I could.
'I will help you, mademoiselle. I feel almost sure that your fears are unfounded, but we will see. First, I will ask you to describe to me the inmates of the house.'
'There are the domestics, of course, Jeanette, Flicie, and Denise the cook. She has been there many years; the others are simple country girls. Also there is Francois, but he too is an old servant.
Then there is Monsieur Droulard's mother who lived with him, and myself. My name is Virginie Mesnard. I am a poor cousin of the late Madame Droulard, M. Paul's wife, and I have been a member of their mnage for over three years. I have now described to you the household. There were also two guests staying in the house.' 'And they were?' 'M. de Saint Alard, a neighbour of M. Droulard's in France.
Also an English friend, Mr John Wilson.' 'Are they still with you?' 'Mr Wilson, yes, but M. de Saint Alard departed yesterday.' 'And what is your plan, Mademoiselle Mesnard?' 'If you will present yourself at the house in half an hour's time, I will have arranged some story to account for your presence. I had better represent you to be connected with journalism in some way. I shall say you have come from Paris, and that you have brought a card of introduction from M. de Saint Alard. Madame Droulard is very feeble in health, and will' pay little attention to details.' On mademoiselle's ingenious pretext I was admitted to the house, and after a brief interview with the dead deputy's mother, who was a wonderfully imposing and aristocratic figure though obviously in failing health, I was made free of the premises.
I wonder, my friend (continued Poirot), whether you can possibly figure to yourself the difficulties of my task? Here was a man whose death had taken place three days previously. If there had been foul play, only one possibility was admittable -poironl And I had had no chance of seeing the body, and there was no possibility of examining, or analysing, any medium in which the poison could have been administered. There were no clues, false or otherwise, to consider. Had the man been poisoned? Had he died a natural death? I, Hercule Poirot, with nothing to help me, had to decide.
First, I interviewed the domestics, and with their aid, I recapitulated the evening. I paid especial notice to the food at
dinner, and the method of serving it. The soup had been served by M. Droulard himself from a tureen. Next a dish of cutlets, then a chicken. Finally a compote of fruits. And all placed on the table, and served by Monsieur himself. The coffee was brought in a big pot to the dinner-table. Nothing there, mon ami - impossible to poison one without poisoning alii After dinner Madame Droulard had retired to her own apartments and Mademoiselle Virginie had accompanied her. The three men had adjourned to M. Droulard's study. Her they had chatted amicably for some time, when suddenly, without any warning, the deputy had fallen heavily to the ground. M. de Saint Alard had rushed out and told Franvois to fetch a doctor immediately.
He said it was without doubt an apoplexy, explained the man. But when the doctor arrived, the patient was past help.
Mr John Wilson, to whom I was presented by Mademoiselle Virginie, was what was known in those days as a regular John Bull Englishman, middle-aged and burly. His account, delivered in very British French, was substantially the same.
'Droulard went very red in the face, and down he fell.' There was nothing further to be found out there. Next I went to the scene of the tragedy, the study, and was left alone there at my own request. So far there was nothing to support MademoiseIle Mesnard's theory. I could not but believe that it was a delusion on her part. Evidently she had entertained a romantic passion for the dead man which had not permitted her to take a normal view of the case. Nevertheless, I searched the study with meticulous care. It was just possible that a.hypodermic needle might have been introduced into the dead man's chair in such a way as to allow of a fatal injection. The minute puncture it would cause was likely to remain unnoticed. But I could discover no sign to support that theory. I flung myself down in the chair with a gesture of despair.