“Well done!” I cried, carried out of myself.
“Gently, Hastings! Do not raise your voice too much. Come, let us be off, before the daylight is upon us.”
Slipping the box into his pocket, he leaped lightly out of the coal-bunker, brushed himself down as well as he could, and leaving the house by the same way as we had come, we walked rapidly in the direction of London.
“But what an extraordinary place!” I expostulated. “Anyone might have used the log.”
“In July, Hastings? And it was at the bottom of the pile—a very ingenious hiding place. Ah, here is a taxi! Now for home, a wash, and a refreshing sleep.”
IV
After the excitement of the night, I slept late. When I finally strolled into our sitting room just before one o’clock, I was surprised to see Poirot, leaning back in an armchair, the Chinese box open beside him, calmly reading the letter he had taken from it.
He smiled at me affectionately, and tapped the sheet he held.
“She was right, the Lady Millicent; never would the Duke have pardoned this letter! It contains some of the most extravagant terms of affection I have ever come across.”
“Really, Poirot,” I said, rather disgustedly, “I don’t think you should have read the letter. “That’s the sort of thing that isn’t done.”
“It is done by Hercule Poirot,” replied my friend imperturbably.
“And another thing,” I said. “I don’t think using Japp’s official card yesterday was quite playing the game.”
“But I was not playing a game, Hastings. I was conducting a case.”
I shrugged my shoulders. One can’t argue with a point of view.
“A step on the stairs,” said Poirot. “That will be Lady Millicent.”
Our fair client came in with an anxious expression on her face which changed to one of delight on seeing the letter and box which Poirot held up.
“Oh, M. Poirot. How wonderful of you! How did you do it?”
“By rather reprehensible methods, milady. But Mr. Lavington will not prosecute. This is your letter, is it not?”
She glanced through it.
“Yes. Oh, how can I ever thank you! You are a wonderful, wonderful man. Where was it hidden?”
Poirot told her.
“How very clever of you!” She took up the small box from the table. “I shall keep this as a souvenir.”
“I had hoped, milady, that you would permit me to keep it—also as a souvenir.”
“I hope to send you a better souvenir than that—on my wedding day. You shall not find me ungrateful, M. Poirot.”
“The pleasure of doing you a service will be more to me than a cheque—so you permit that I retain the box.”
“Oh no, M. Poirot, I simply must have that,” she cried laughingly.
She stretched out her hand, but Poirot was before her. His hand closed over it.
“I think not.” His voice had changed.
“What do you mean?” Her voice seemed to have grown sharper.
“At any rate, permit me to abstract its further contents. You observed that the original cavity has been reduced by half. In the top half, the compromising letter; in the bottom—”
He made a nimble gesture, then held out his hand. On the palm were four large glittering stones, and two big milky white pearls.
“The jewels stolen in Bond Street the other day, I rather fancy,” murmured Poirot. “Japp will tell us.”
To my utter amazement, Japp himself stepped out from Poirot’s bedroom.
“An old friend of yours, I believe,” said Poirot politely to Lady Millicent.
“Nabbed, by the Lord!” said Lady Millicent, with a complete change of manner. “You nippy old devil!” She looked at Poirot with almost affectionate awe.
“Well, Gertie, my dear,” said Japp, “the game’s up this time, I fancy. Fancy seeing you again so soon! We’ve got your pal, too, the gentleman who called here the other day calling himself Lavington. As for Lavington himself, alias Croker, alias Reed, I wonder which of the gang it was who stuck a knife into him the other day in Holland? Thought he’d got the goods with him, didn’t you? And he hadn’t. He double-crossed you properly—hid ’em in his own house. You had two fellows looking for them, and then you tackled M. Poirot here, and by a piece of amazing luck he found them.”
“You do like talking, don’t you?” said the late Lady Millicent. “Easy there, now. I’ll go quietly. You can’t say that I’m not the perfect lady. Ta-ta, all!”
“The shoes were wrong,” said Poirot dreamily, while I was still too stupefied to speak. “I have made my little observations of your English nation, and a lady, a born lady, is always particular about her shoes. She may have shabby clothes, but she will be well shod. Now, this Lady Millicent had smart, expensive clothes, and cheap shoes. It was not likely that either you or I should have seen the real Lady Millicent; she has been very little in London, and this girl had a certain superficial resemblance which would pass well enough. As I say, the shoes first awakened my suspicions, and then her story—and her veil—were a little melodramatic, eh? The Chinese box with a bogus compromising letter in the top must have been known to all the gang, but the log of wood was the late Mr. Lavington’s idea. Eh, par example, Hastings, I hope you will not again wound my feelings as you did yesterday by saying that I am unknown to the criminal classes. Ma foi, they even employ me when they themselves fail!”
Thirteen
THE LOST MINE
I laid down my bank book with a sigh.
“It is a curious thing,” I observed, “but my overdraft never seems to grow any less.”
“And it perturbs you not? Me, if I had an overdraft, never should I close my eyes all night,” declared Poirot.
“You deal in comfortable balances, I suppose!” I retorted.
“Four hundred and forty-four pounds, four and fourpence,” said Poirot with some complacency. “A neat figure, is it not?”
“It must be tact on the part of your bank manager. He is evidently acquainted with your passion for symmetrical details. What about investing, say, three hundred of it in the Porcupine oil fields? Their prospectus, which is advertised in the papers today, says that they will pay one hundred per cent dividends next year.”
“Not for me,” said Poirot, shaking his head. “I like not the sensational. For me the safe, the prudent investment—les rentes, the consols, the—how do you call it?—the conversion.”
“Have you never made a speculative investment?”
“No, mon ami,” replied Poirot severely. “I have not. And the only shares I own which have not what you call the gilded edge are fourteen thousand shares in the Burma Mines Ltd.”
Poirot paused with an air of waiting to be encouraged to go on.
“Yes?” I prompted.
“And for them I paid no cash—no, they were the reward of the exercise of my little grey cells. You would like to hear the story? Yes?”
“Of course I would.”
“These mines are situated in the interior of Burma about two hundred miles inland from Rangoon. They were discovered by the Chinese in the fifteenth century and worked down to the time of the Mohammedan Rebellion, being finally abandoned in the year 1868. The Chinese extracted the rich lead-s
ilver ore from the upper part of the ore body, smelting it for the silver alone, and leaving large quantities of rich lead-bearing slag. This, of course, was soon discovered when prospecting work was carried out in Burma, but owing to the fact that the old workings had become full of loose filling and water, all attempts to find the source of the ore proved fruitless. Many parties were sent out by syndicates, and they dug over a large area, but this rich prize still eluded them. But a representative of one of the syndicates got on the track of a Chinese family who were supposed to have still kept a record of the situation of the mine. The present head of the family was one Wu Ling.”
“What a fascinating page of commercial romance!” I exclaimed.
“Is it not? Ah, mon ami, one can have romance without golden-haired girls of matchless beauty—no, I am wrong; it is auburn hair that so excites you always. You remember—”
“Go on with the story,” I said hastily.
“Eh bien, my friend, this Wu Ling was approached. He was an estimable merchant, much respected in the province where he lived. He admitted at once that he owned the documents in question, and was perfectly prepared to negotiate for this sale, but he objected to dealing with anyone other than principals. Finally it was arranged that he should journey to England and meet the directors of an important company.
“Wu Ling made the journey to England in the SS Assunta, and the Assunta docked at Southampton on a cold, foggy morning in November. One of the directors, Mr. Pearson, went down to Southampton to meet the boat, but owing to the fog, the train down was very much delayed, and by the time he arrived, Wu Ling had disembarked and left by special train for London. Mr. Pearson returned to town somewhat annoyed, as he had no idea where the Chinaman proposed to stay. Later in the day, however, the offices of the company were rung up on the telephone. Wu Ling was staying at the Russell Square Hotel. He was feeling somewhat unwell after the voyage, but declared himself perfectly able to attend the board meeting on the following day.
“The meeting of the board took place at eleven o’clock. When half past eleven came, and Wu Ling had not put in an appearance, the secretary rang up the Russell Hotel. In answer to his inquiries, he was told that the Chinaman had gone out with a friend about half past ten. It seemed clear that he had started out with the intention of coming to the meeting, but the morning wore away, and he did not appear. It was, of course, possible that he had lost his way, being unacquainted with London, but at a late hour that night he had not returned to the hotel. Thoroughly alarmed now, Mr. Pearson put matters in the hands of the police. On the following day, there was still no trace of the missing man, but towards evening of the day after that again, a body was found in the Thames which proved to be that of the ill-fated Chinaman. Neither on the body, nor in the luggage at the hotel, was there any trace of the papers relating to the mine.