I don't think I remember,
sir--oh, yes, one was to Ross's, the caterers in Tadminster. The other
one, I don't remember."

"Think," urged Poirot.

Annie racked her brains in vain.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's clean gone. I don't think I can have noticed
it."

"It does not matter," said Poirot, not betraying any sign of
disappointment. "Now I want to ask you about something else. There is
a saucepan in Mrs. Inglethorp's room with some coco in it. Did she have
that every night?"

"Yes, sir, it was put in her room every evening, and she warmed it up in
the night--whenever she fancied it."

"What was it? Plain coco?"

"Yes, sir, made with milk, with a teaspoonful of sugar, and two
teaspoonfuls of rum in it."

"Who took it to her room?"

"I did, sir."

"Always?"

"Yes, sir."

"At what time?"

"When I went to draw the curtains, as a rule, sir."

"Did you bring it straight up from the kitchen then?"

"No, sir, you see there's not much room on the gas stove, so Cook used
to make it early, before putting the vegetables on for supper. Then I
used to bring it up, and put it on the table by the swing door, and take
it into her room later."

"The swing door is in the left wing, is it not?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the table, is it on this side of the door, or on the
farther--servants' side?"

"It's this side, sir."

"What time did you bring it up last night?"

"About quarter-past seven, I should say, sir."

"And when did you take it into Mrs. Inglethorp's room?"

"When I went to shut up, sir. About eight o'clock. Mrs. Inglethorp came
up to bed before I'd finished."

"Then, between 7.15 and 8 o'clock, the coco was standing on the table in
the left wing?"

"Yes, sir." Annie had been growing redder and redder in the face, and
now she blurted out unexpectedly:

"And if there _was_ salt in it, sir, it wasn't me. I never took the salt
near it."

"What makes you think there was salt in it?" asked Poirot.

"Seeing it on the tray, sir."

"You saw some salt on the tray?"

"Yes. Coarse kitchen salt, it looked. I never noticed it when I took the
tray up, but when I came to take it into the mistress's room I saw it at
once, and I suppose I ought to have taken it down again, and asked Cook
to make some fresh. But I was in a hurry, because Dorcas was out, and I
thought maybe the coco itself was all right, and the salt had only gone
on the tray. So I dusted it off with my apron, and took it in."

I had the utmo