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is independent and reliable. I hoped then to find that she'd slipped away for half an hour or so. She could easily have done that - powdering her nose or some excuse. But no, she did leave the dinner table as she told us to answer a telephone call, but the butler was with her - and, by the way, it was just as she told us. He heard what she said. 'Yes, quite right. This is Lady Edgware.' And then the other side rang off. It's curious, that, you know. Not that it's got anything to do with it.”
    “Perhaps not - but it is interesting. Was it a man or a woman who rang up?”
    “A woman, I think she said.”
    “Curious,” said Poirot thoughtfully.
    “Never mind that,” said Japp impatiently. “Let's get back to the important part. The whole evening went exactly as she said. She got there at a quarter to nine, left at half-past eleven and got back here at a quarter to twelve. I've seen the chauffeur who drove her he's one of Daimler's regular people. And the people at the Savoy saw her come in and confirm the time.”
    “Eh bien, that seems very conclusive.”
    “Then what about those two in Regent Gate? It isn't only the butler. Lord Edgware's secretary saw her too. They both swear by all that's holy that it was Lady Edgware who came there at ten o'clock.”
    “How long has the butler been there?”
    “Six months. Handsome chap, by the way.”
    “Yes, indeed. Eh bien, my friend, if he has only been there six months he cannot have recognised Lady Edgware since he had not seen her before.”
    “Well, he knew her from her pictures in the papers. And anyway the secretary knew her. She's been with Lord Edgware five or six years, and she's the only one who's absolutely positive.”
    “Ah!” said Poirot. “I should like to see the secretary.”
    “Well, why not come along with me now?”
    “Thank you, mon ami, I should be delighted to do so. You include Hastings in your invitation, I hope?”
    Japp grinned.
    “What do you think? Where the master goes, there the dog follows,” he added in what I could not think was the best of taste.
    “Reminds me of the Elizabeth Canning Case,” said Japp. “You remember? How at least a score of witnesses on either side swore they had seen the gipsy, Mary Squires, in two different parts of England. Good reputable witnesses, too. And she with such a hideous face there couldn't be two like it. That mystery was never cleared up. It's very much the same here. Here's a separate lot of people prepared to swear a woman was in two different places at the same time. Which of 'em is speaking the truth?”
    “That ought not to be difficult to find out?”
    “So you say - but this woman - Miss Carroll, really knew Lady Edgware. I mean she'd lived in the house with her day after day. She wouldn't be likely to make a mistake.”
    “We shall soon see.”
    “Who comes into the title?” I asked.
    “A nephew, Captain Ronald Marsh. Bit of a waster, I understand.”
    “What does the doctor say as to the time of death?” asked Poirot.
    “We'll have to wait for the autopsy to be exact, you know. See where the dinner had got to.” Japp's way of putting things was, I'm sorry to say, far from refined. “But ten o'clock fits in well enough. He was last seen alive at a few minutes past nine when he left the dinner table and the butler took whiskey and soda into the library. At eleven o'clock when the butler went up to bed the light was out - so he must have been dead then. He wouldn't have been sitting in the dark.”
    Poirot nodded thoughtfully. A moment or two later we drew up to the house, the blinds of which were now down.
    The door was opened to us by the handsome butler.
    Japp took the lead and went in first. Poirot and I followed. The door opened to the left, so that the butler stood against the wall on that side. Poirot was on my right and, being smaller than I was, it was only just as we stepped into the hall that the butler saw him. Being close to him, I heard the sudden intake of his