(Poirot:) "I am old-fashioned and sentimental myself, mademoiselle." "Really? I should have thought that Captain Hastings was the sentimental of you two." I blushed indignantly. "He is furious," said Poirot eyeing my discomfiture with a good deal of pleasure, "but you are right, mademoiselle. Yes, you are right." "Not at all," I said angrily. "Hastings has a singularly beautiful nature. It has been the greatest hindrance to me at times." "Don't be absurd, Poirot." "He is, to begin with, reluctant to see evil anywhere, and when he does see it, his righteous indignation is so great that he is incapable of dissembling. Altogether a rare and beautiful nature; non, mon ami, I will not permit you to contradict. It is as I say."





























