"I shall not fight a duel for you, madame," he said. "But I will do what you have asked me. I will discover the truth. And let us hope that your in-stincts are correct--that the truth will help and not harm you."
Our first interview was with Major Curtiss. He was a man of about forty, of soldierly build, with very dark hair and a bronzed face. He had known the Claytons for some years and Major Rich also. He confirmed the press reports.
Clayton and he had had a drink together at the club just before half-past seven, and Clayton had then announced his intention of looking in on
40 Agath Christie
Major Rich on lais waYlo Euston.
"What was Mr. Claton's'manner? Was he de-pressed or cheerful?"
The major C°nsiderd. He was a slow-spoken
man.
"Seemed in fairly g%d spirits," he said at last.
"He said nothing bout being on bad terms with Major RicI?''
"Good Lord, no. They were pals."
"He didn't oIject t°'-his wife's friendship with Major Rich?"
The major became Very red in the face. "You've been. r.ea. ding those damned news-papers, with tlaelr nm[s and lies. Of course he didn't object. Why, he said to me: 'Marguerita's
going, of course"" "I see. Now during the evening--the manner of
Major Rich--Was that huch as usual?"
"I didn't notice any qifference."
"And madar0e? She, too, was as usual." "Well," he reflected, "now I come to think of it, she was a bit quiet. You know, thoughtful and faraway."
"Who arrived first?"
"The SpenceS' They were there when I got there. As a mStter of tact, I'd called round for Mrs. Clayton, Itt f°unl she'd already started. So I got there a bit late."
"And how did you amuse yourselves? You danced? You pi$yed the cards?"
"A bit of botl. Danced first of all."
' "There were five of Yu?"
"Yes, but that's all right, because I don't dance.
I put on the records and the others danced."
THE MYSTERY OF THE BAGDAD CHEST 41
"Who danced most with whom?"
"Well, as a matter of fact the Spences like danc-ing together. They've got a sort of craze on fancy steps and all that."
"So that Mrs. Clayton danced mostly with Major Rich?"
"That's about it."
"And then you played poker?"
"Yes."
"And when did you leave?" "Oh, quite early. A little after midnight."
"Did you all leave together?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, we shared a taxi, dropped Mrs. Clayton first, then me, and the Spences took it on to Kensington."
Our next visit was to Mr. and Mrs. Spence. Only Mrs. Spence was at home, but her account of the evening tallied with that of Major Curtiss except that she displayed a slight acidity concern-ing Major Rich's luck at cards.
Earlier in the morning Poirot had had a tele-phone conversation with Inspector Japp, of Scot-land Yard. As a result we arrived at Major Rich's rooms and found his manservant, Burgoyne, ex-pecting us.
The valet's evidence was very precise and clear. Mr. Clayton had arrived at twenty minutes to eight. Unluckily Major Rich had just that very minute gone out. Mr. Clayton had said that he couldn't wait, as he had to catch a train, but he would just scrawl a note. He accordingly went into
the sitting room to do so. Burgoyne had not ac-tually heard his master come in, as he was running
the bath, and Major Rich, of course, let himself in
42 Agatha Crist.e with his own key. In his
o. Inl minutes later that Major leh un it was about ten him out for cigarettes.
.L . No,. tailed hi arid sent me stting room. Major ne , ....
doorway. He had rf,,-'ich ':". " goe Into mi-,,,d, -'-"I ;r naa StOod in the .... a mtcr ana on ths h "" the cigarettes five into the sitting room wh; cc. . . .. , sq SlOR fie boa
For fils master, who was studt
tncn epty' save smoking. His master had inu?g by the window ready, and on being told it 3 a ;:. .
ta,e ,,.--e. 'ur,o,ne. ,a:a' Clayton, as he assumed tha, n. . e
,. t mentioned Mr Mr. Clayton there and let ms i ,aa loun
.master's manner had been 6re,.Ot h self. His
usual. He had taken his ba?elth same as
shortly after, Mr. and Mrs, q, cnan ed, and
to be followed by Majo nce ha arrived, Clayton. 'artiss and Mrs.
It had not occurred to plained, that Mr. Clayton h his master's return. To do lg -u,
, nave left before v have had to bang the front d 'qr .....
mat te valet was sure he wou -ers Id h . nd ams and Still in the same imp one, -ave proceeded to his finding of thanner, ' urgoyne time
my attention was direct bdy. For the first It was a good-sized piece o if the fatal chest. against the
wall next to the hbo rniture standing
It was made of some dark w .ograph cabinet.
studded with brass nails. Th °t and enough. I looked in and shik
Plentifully opene, simply
scrubbed, ominous stains rem er t. Th0 g h well
Suddenly Poirot
uttered in ,.
"Those holes there they are a
h exclamation
uri
·
,ous. One would
THE MYSTERY OF THE BAGDAD CHEST 43
say that they had been newly made."
The holes in question were at the back of the chest against the wall. There were three or four of them. They were about a quarter of an inch in diameter- and certainly had the effect of having been freshly made.
Poirot bent down to examine them, looking in-quiringly at the valet.
"It's certainly curious, sir. I don't remember ever seeing those holes in the past, though maybe I wouldn't notice them."
"It makes no matter," said Poirot.
Closing the lid of the chest, he stepped back into the room until he was standing with his back against the window. Then he suddenly asked a question.