II

When Poirot arrived home, George was awaiting him:

“A woman named Edith rang up, sir—”

“Edith?” Poirot frowned.

“She is, I gather, in the service of Mrs. Oliver. She asked me to informyou that Mrs. Oliver is in St. Giles’s Hospital.”

“What has happened to her?”

“I understand she has been—er—coshed.” George did not add the latterpart of the message, which had been—“—and you tell him it’s been all hisfault.”

Poirot clicked his tongue. “I warned her—I was uneasy last night when Irang her up, and there was no answer. Les Femmes!”