‘Splendid!’ I said heartily. ‘Now, what about some tea?’
‘Spoken like a true Englishman,’ said Poirot with a sigh. ‘I suppose it is not likely that I could obtain here a glass of sirop?’
Wasps’ Nest
Out of the house came John Harrison and stood a moment on the terrace looking out over the garden. He was a big man with a lean, cadaverous face. His aspect was usually somewhat grim but when, as now, the rugged features softened into a smile, there was something very attractive about him.
John Harrison loved his garden, and it had never looked better than it did on this August evening, summery and languorous. The rambler roses were still beautiful; sweet peas scented the air.
A well-known creaking sound made Harrison turn his head sharply. Who was coming in through the garden gate? In another minute, an expression of utter astonishment came over his face, for the dandified figure coming up the path was the last he expected to see in this part of the world.
‘By all that’s wonderful,’ cried Harrison. ‘Monsieur Poirot!’
It was, indeed, the famous Hercule Poirot whose renown as a detective had spread over the whole world.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it is. You said to me once: “If you are ever in this part of the world, come and see me.” I take you at your word. I arrive.’
‘And I’m obliged,’ said Harrison heartily. ‘Sit down and have a drink.’
With a hospitable hand, he indicated a table on the veranda bearing assorted bottles.
‘I thank you,’ said Poirot, sinking down into a basket chair. ‘You have, I suppose, no sirop? No, no. I thought not. A little plain soda water then—no whisky.’ And he added in a feeling voice as the other placed the glass beside him: ‘Alas, my moustaches are limp. It is this heat!’
‘And what brings you into this quiet spot?’ asked Harrison as he dropped into another chair. ‘Pleasure?’
‘No, mon ami, business.’
‘Business? In this out-of-the-way place?’
Poirot nodded gravely. ‘But yes, my friend, all crimes are not committed in crowds, you know?’
The other laughed. ‘I suppose that was rather an idiotic remark of mine. But what particular crime are you investigating down here, or is that a thing I mustn’t ask?’
‘You may ask,’ said the detective. ‘Indeed, I would prefer that you asked.’
Harrison looked at him curiously. He sensed something a little unusual in the other’s manner. ‘You are investigating a crime, you say?’ he advanced rather hesitatingly. ‘A serious crime?’
‘A crime of the most serious there is.’
‘You mean…’
‘Murder.’
So gravely did Hercule Poirot say that word that Harrison was quite taken aback. The detective was looking straight at him and again there was something so unusual in his glance that Harrison hardly knew how to proceed. At last, he said: ‘But I have heard of no murder.’
‘No,’ said Poirot, ‘you would not have heard of it.’
‘Who has been murdered?’
‘As yet,’ said Hercule Poirot, ‘nobody.’
‘What?’
‘That is why I said you would not have heard of it. I am investigating a crime that has not yet taken place.’
‘But look here, that is nonsense.’
‘Not at all. If one can investigate a murder before it has happened, surely that is very much better than afterwards. One might even—a little idea—prevent it.’
Harrison stared at him. ‘You are not serious, Monsieur Poirot.’
‘But yes, I am serious.’
‘You really believe that a murder is going to be committed? Oh, it’s absurd!’
Hercule Poirot finished the first part of the sentence without taking any notice of the exclamation.
‘Unless we can manage to prevent it. Yes, mon ami, that is what I mean.’
‘We?’
‘I said we. I shall need your co-operation.’
‘Is that why you came down here?’
Again Poirot looked at him, and again an indefinable something made Harrison uneasy.
‘I came here, Monsieur Harrison because I—well—like you.’
And then he added in an entirely different voice: ‘I see, Monsieur Harrison, that you have a wasps’ nest there. You should destroy it.’
The change of subject made Harrison frown in a puzzled way. He followed Poirot’s glance and said in a bewildered voice: ‘As a matter of fact, I’m going to. Or rather, young Langton is. You remember Claude Langton? He was at that same dinner where I met you. He’s coming over this evening to take the nest. Rather fancies himself at the job.’