“There is a lady below, asking for Mr Hastings.”
“A lady?”
I jumped up. Poirot followed me down the narrow stairs. Mary Cavendish was standing in the doorway.
“I have been visiting an old woman in the village,” she explained, “and as Lawrence told me you were with Monsieur Poirot I thought I would call for you.”
“Alas, madame,” said Poirot, “I thought you had come to honour me with a visit!”
“I will some day, if you ask me,” she promised him, smiling.
“That is well. If you should need a father confessor, madame”—she started ever so slightly—“remember, Papa Poirot is always at your service.”
She stared at him for a few minutes, as though seeking to read some deeper meaning into his words. Then she turned abruptly away.
“Come, will you not walk back with us too, Monsieur Poirot?”
“Enchanted, madame.”