Mrs. Opalsen looked helplessly at Poirot. He led her back to her chair.
"Seat yourself, madame, and recount to us the whole history without agitating yourself."
Thus abjured, Mrs. Opalsen dried her eyes gingerly, and began.
"I came upstairs after dinner to fetch my pearls for Mr. Poirot here to see. The chambermaid and Célestine were both in the room as usual———"
"Excuse me, madame, but what do you mean by 'as usual'?"
Mr. Opalsen explained.
"I make it a rule that no one is to come into this room unless Célestine, the maid, is there also. The chambermaid does the room in the morning while Célestine is present, and comes in after dinner to turn down the beds under the same conditions; otherwise she never enters the room."
"Well, as I was saying," continued Mrs. Opalsen, "I came up. I went to the drawer here,"—she indicated the bottom right-hand drawer of the knee-hole dressing-table—"took out my jewel-case and unlocked it. It seemed quite as usual—but the pearls were not there!"
