Chapter 5
Mrs Renauld’s StoryWe found M. Hautet awaiting us in the hall, and we all proceeded upstairs together, Françoise marching ahead to show us the way. Poirot went up in a zigzag fashion which puzzled me, until he whispered with a grimace:
‘No wonder the servants heard M. Renauld mounting the stairs, not a board of them but creaks fit to awake the dead!’
At the head of the staircase, a small passage branched off.
‘The servants’ quarters,’ explained Bex.
We continued along a corridor, and Françoise tapped on the last door to the right of it.
A faint voice bade us enter, and we passed into a large, sunny apartment looking out towards the sea, which showed blue and sparkling about a quarter of a mile distant.
On a couch, propped up with cushions, and attended by Dr Durand, lay a
