“Not last night, sir, I know she didn’t.”
“Why do you know so positively?”
“Because the box was empty. She took the last one two days ago, and she didn’t have any more made up.”
“You are quite sure of that?”
“Positive, sir.”
“Then that is cleared up! By the way, your mistress didn’t ask you to sign any paper yesterday?”
“To sign a paper? No, sir.”
“When Mr. Hastings and Mr. Lawrence came in yesterday evening, they found your mistress busy writing letters. I suppose you can give me no idea to whom these letters were addressed?”
“I’m afraid I couldn’t, sir. I was out in the evening. Perhaps Annie could tell you, though she’s a careless girl. Never cleared the coffee-cups away last night. That’s what happens when I’m not here to look after things.”
Poirot lifted his hand.
“Since they have been left, Dorcas, leave them a little longer, I pray you. I should like to examine them.”
“Very well, sir.”
“What time did you go out last evening?”
“About six o’clock, sir.”
“Thank you, Dorcas, that is all I have to ask you.” He rose and strolled to the window. “I have been admiring these flower beds. How many gardeners are employed here, by the way?”
“Only three now, sir. Five, we had, before the war, when it was kept as a gentleman’s place should be. I wish you could have seen it then, sir. A fair sight it was. But now there’s only old Manning, and young William, and a new-fashioned woman gardener in breeches and such-like. Ah, these are dreadful times!”
“The good times will come again, Dorcas. At least, we hope so. Now, will you send Annie to me here?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“How did you know that Mrs. Inglethorp took sleeping powders?” I asked, in lively curiosity, as Dorcas left the room. “And about the lost key and the duplicate?”
“One thing at a time. As to the sleeping powders, I knew by this.” He suddenly produced a small cardboard box, such as chemists use for powders.
“Where did you find it?”
“In the wash-stand drawer in Mrs. Inglethorp’s bedroom. It was Number Six of my catalogue.”
“But I suppose, as the last powder was taken two days ago, it is not of much importance?”
“Probably not, but do you notice anything that strikes you as peculiar about this box?”
I examined it closely.
“No, I can’t say that I do.”
“Look at the label.”
I read the label carefully: ” ‘One powder to be taken at bedtime, if required. Mrs. Inglethorp.’ No, I see nothing unusual.”
“Not the fact that there is no chemist’s name?”
“Ah!” I exclaimed. “To be sure, that is odd!”
“Have you ever known a chemist to send out a box like that, without his printed name?”
“No, I can’t say that I have.”
I was becoming quite excited, but Poirot damped my ardour by remarking: “Yet the explanation is quite simple. So do not intrigue yourself, my friend.”
An audible creaking proclaimed the approach of Annie, so I had no time to reply.
Annie was a fine, strapping girl, and was evidently labouring under intense excitement, mingled with a certain ghoulish enjoyment of the tragedy.
Poirot came to the point at once, with a business-like briskness.
“I sent for you, Annie, because I thought you might be able to tell me something about the letters Mrs. Inglethorp wrote last night. How many were there? And can you tell me any of the names and addresses?”
Annie considered.
“There were four letters, sir. One was to Miss Howard, and one was to Mr. Wells, the lawyer, and the other two I don’t think I remember, sir—oh, yes, one was to Ross’s, the caterers in Tadminster. The other one, I don’t remember.”
“Think,” urged Poirot.
Annie racked her brains in vain.
“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s clean gone. I don’t think I can have noticed it.”
“It does not matter,” said Poirot, not betraying any sign of disappointment. “Now I want to ask you about something else. There is a saucepan in Mrs. Inglethorp’s room with some coco in it. Did she have that every night?”
“Yes, sir, it was put in her room every evening, and she warmed it up in the night—whenever she fancied it.”
“What was it? Plain coco?”
“Yes, sir, made with milk, with a teaspoonful of sugar, and two teaspoonfuls of rum in it.”
“Who took it to her room?”
“I did, sir.”
“Always?”
“Yes, sir.”
“At what time?”
“When I went to draw the curtains, as a rule, sir.”
“Did you bring it straight up from the kitchen then?”
“No, sir, you see there’s not much room on the gas stove, so Cook used to make it early, before putting the vegetables on for supper. Then I used to bring it up, and put it on the table by the swing door, and take it into her room later.”
“The swing door is in the left wing, is it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And the table, is it on this side of the door, or on the farther—servants’ side?”
“It’s this side, sir.”
“What time did you bring it up last night?”
“About quarter-past seven, I should say, sir.”
“And when did you take it into Mrs. Inglethorp’s room?”
“When I went to shut up, sir. About eight o’clock. Mrs. Inglethorp came up to bed before I’d finished.”
“Then, between 7.15 and 8 o’clock, the coco was standing on the table in the left wing?”
“Yes, sir.” Annie had been growing redder and redder in the face, and now she blurted out unexpectedly: “And if there was salt in it, sir, it wasn’t me. I never took the salt near it.”
“What makes you think there was salt in it?” asked Poirot.
“Seeing it on the tray, sir.”
“You saw some salt on the tray?”
“Yes. Coarse kitchen salt, it looked. I never noticed it when I took the tray up, but when I came to take it into the mistress’s room I saw it at once, and I suppose I ought to have taken it down again, and asked Cook to make some fresh. But I was in a hurry, because Dorcas was out, and I thought maybe the coco itself was all right, and the salt had only gone on the tray. So I dusted it off with my apron, and took it in.”
I had the utmost difficulty in controlling my excitement. Unknown to herself, Annie had provided us with an important piece of evidence. How she would have gaped if she had realized that her “coarse kitchen salt” was strychnine, one of the