“Yes, sir, and I would have taken it out with a piece of blotting-paper and a hot iron.”

Then Poirot repeated the question he had put to Dorcas:

“Did your mistress ever have a green dress?”

“No, sir.”

“Nor a mantle, nor a cape, nor a—how do you call it?—a sports coat?”

“Not green, sir.”

“Nor anyone else in the house?”

Annie reflected.

“No, sir.”

“You are sure of that?”