"You are not serious, Poirot?"
"I am of the most serious. For the most serious of all things hangs in the balance."
"And that is?"
"A woman's happiness, mon ami," he said gravely.
I did not quite know what to say.
"The moment has come," said Poirot thoughtfully,"and I do not know what to do. For, see you, it is a big stake for which I play. No one but I, Hercule Poirot,would attempt it!" And he tapped himself proudly on the breast.