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described some change in the arrangement of the furniture 'when I am living here.' Mrs Crale took her up and said, 'What do you mean? When you are living here.' Miss Greer replied, 'Don't pretend you don't know what I mean, Caroline. You're just like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand. You know perfectly well that Amyas and I care for each other and are going to be married.' Mrs Crale said, 'I know nothing of the kind.' Miss Greer then said, 'Well, you know it now.' Whereupon, it seems, Mrs Crale turned to her husband, who had just come into the room, and said, 'Is it true, Amyas, that you are going to marry Elsa?'”
    Poirot said with interest, “And what did Mr Crale say to that?”
    "Apparently he turned, on Miss Greer and shouted at her, 'What the devil do you mean by blurting that out? Haven't you got the sense to hold your tongue?'
    "Miss Greer said, 'I think Caroline ought to recognize the truth.'
    "Mrs Crale said to her husband, 'Is it true, Amyas?'
    "He wouldn't look at her, it seems, turned his face away and mumbled something.
    "She said, 'Speak out. I've got to know.' Whereupon he said, 'Oh, it's true enough - but I don't want to discuss it now.'
    "Then he flounced out of the room again, and Miss Greer said:
    “'You see!' and went on with something about its being no good for Mrs Crale to adopt a dog-in-the-manger attitude about it. They must all behave like rational people. She herself hoped that Caroline and Amyas would always remain good friends.”
    “And what did Mrs Crale say to that?” asked Poirot curiously.
    "According to the witnesses she laughed. She said, 'Over my, dead body, Elsa.'
    "She went to the door, and Miss Greer called after her, 'What do you mean?'
    “Mrs Crale looked back and said, 'I'll kill Amyas before I give him up to you.'”
    Hale paused.
    “Pretty damning - eh?”
    “Yes.” Poirot seemed thoughtful. “Who overheard this scene?”
    “Miss Williams was in the room, and Philip Blake. Very awkward for them.”
    “Their accounts of the scene agree?”
    “Near enough - you never get two witnesses to remember a thing exactly alike. You know that as well as I do, M. Poirot.”
    Poirot nodded. He said thoughtfully, “Yes, it will be interesting to see -” He stopped with the sentence unfinished.
    Hale went on: "I instituted a search of the house. In Mrs. Crale's bedroom I found in a bottom drawer, tucked way underneath some winter stockings, a small bottle labeled jasmine scent. It was empty. I fingerprinted it. The only prints on it were those of Mrs Crale. On analysis it was found to contain faint traces of oil of jasmine and a strong solution of coniine.
    “I cautioned Mrs Crale and showed her the bottle. She replied readily. She had, she said, been in a very unhappy state of mind. After listening to Mr Meredith Blake's description of the drug she had slipped back to the laboratory, had emptied out a bottle of jasmine scent which was in her bag, and had filled the bottle up with coniine solution. I asked her why she had done this and she said, 'I don't want to speak of certain things more than I can help, but I had received a had shock. My husband was proposing to leave me for another woman. If that was so, I didn't want to live. That is why I took it.'”
    Hale paused.
    Poirot said, “After all, it is likely enough.”
    “Perhaps, M. Poirot. But it doesn't square with what she was overheard to say. And then there was a further scene on the following morning. Mr Philip Blake overheard a portion of it. Miss Greer overheard a different portion of it. It took place in the library between Mr and Mrs Crale. Mr Blake was in the hall and caught a fragment or two. Miss Greer was sitting outside near the open library window and heard a good deal more.”
    “And what did they hear?”
    “Mr Blake heard Mrs Crale say, 'You and your women. I'd like to kill you. Some day I will kill you.'”
    “No mention of suicide?”
    “Exactly. None at all. No words like 'If you do this