The Big Four

. I would do or die in the good cause.

that in this last adventure of ours, the honours are all with you, and happy is the man who has such a friend as I have!”

Paris on the instant.

but to penetrate a man’s personality, to know exactly what he will do under any given circumstances—that is the beginning of success.

“And his mistake?” I asked, although I suspected the answer.

“Mon ami, he overlooked the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot.”

Is there more in this than meets the eye?”

I had risen to my feet

You have just time to leave a sign. Four o’clock, Hastings. Number Four, the destroyer. Ah! an idea!”

So this man was in the Secret Service, Hastings. And five years ago he disappeared in Russia.”

And, rushing forward, he enveloped me in a capacious embrace. Our conversation was incoherent and inconsequent. Ejaculations, eager questions, incomplete answers, messages from my wife, explanations as to my journey, were all jumbled up together.