Agatha Christie

“ Her face was charming, though marred with tears, and haunted as though with some poignant anxiety.
"Monsieur," she said, "I understand that you are now taking a vacation. Therefore you will be free to take up a private case. You understand that I do not wish to call in the police." I shook my head. "I fear what you ask is impossible, mademoiselle. ”

“ He is a man whose thoughts are not in this world. He hardly notices what goes on around him."
"Possibly, mademoiselle. Nevertheless, he was an old friend of Monsieur Déroulard's. There may be things he can tell me-things of the past-old grudges-old love affairs." ”

“ The chocolate box! Do you not see? Would anyone in possession of their full eyesight make such a mistake? I knew Madame Déroulard had cataract-the atropine drops told me that. There was only one person in the household whose eyesight was such that she could not see which lid to replace. It was the chocolate box that started me on the track, and yet up to the end I failed consistently to perceive its real significance! ”

“ I said, "it is sometimes difficult for a dog to find a scent, but once he has found it, nothing on earth will make him leave it! That is if he is a good dog! And I, mademoiselle, I, Hercule Poirot, am a very good dog." ”

“ Does it cause the face to flush?"
"Certainly it does."
"And supposing I ate ten-twenty of your little tablets. What then?"
"I should not advise you to attempt it," he replied drily. "And yet you say it is not poison?"
"There are many things not called poison which can kill a man," he replied as before.
I left the shop elated. At last, things had begun to march! I now knew that John Wilson held the means for the crime-but what about the motive? He had come to Belgium on business, and had asked Monsieur Déroulard, whom he knew slightly, to put him up. ”

“ Remember, he was a fanatic, and there is no fanatic like a religious fanatic. ”

“ I had given him. life. I was responsible for him. He had killed one woman's body, now he would kill another's soul! I went to Mr. Wilson's room and took the bottle of tablets. He had once said laughingly that there were enough in it to kill a man! I went into the study and opened the big box of chocolates that always stood on the table. I opened a new box by mistake. The other was on the table also. There was just one chocolate left in it. ”

“ A chocolate full of morphine or strychnine-" He made a wry face. "You comprehend, Monsieur Poirot-one bite would be enough! The unwary one would not stand upon ceremony."
"Thank you, Monsieur le Docteur."
I withdrew. Next I made inquiries of the chemists, especially those in the neighbourhood of the Avenue Louise. It is good to be of the police. I got the information I wanted without any trouble. Only in one case could I hear of any poison having been supplied to the house in question. This was some eye drops of atropine sulphate for Madame Déroulard. ”

“ Very often another, working towards the same goal, has arrived there first. Twice have I been stricken down with illness just as I was on the point of success. One must take the downs with the ups, my friend. ”