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Inglethorp wanted to be arrested. Eh bien! from that moment, I was equally

determined that he should not be arrested."

Wait a minute. I don't see why he wished to be arrested?"

"Because, mon ami, it is the law of your country that a man once acquitted

can never be tried again for the same offence. Aha! but it was clever--his

idea! Assuredly, he is a man of method. See here, he knew that in his

position he was bound to be suspected, so he conceived the exceedingly

clever idea of preparing a lot of manufactured evidence against himself. He

wished to be arrested. He would then produce his irreproachable alibi--and,

hey presto, he was safe for life!"

"But I still don't see how he managed to prove his alibi, and yet go to the

chemist's shop?"

Poirot stared at me in surprise.

"Is it possible? My poor friend! You have not yet realized that it was Miss

Howard who went to the chemist's shop?"

"Miss Howard?"

But, certainly. Who else? It was most easy for her. She is of a good height,

her voice is deep and manly; moreover, remember, she and Inglethorp are

cousins, and there is a distinct resemblance between them, especially in

their gait and bearing. It was simplicity itself. They are a clever pair!"

I am still a little fogged as to how exactly the bromide business was done," I

remarked.

"Bon! I will reconstruct for you as far as possible. I am inclined to think that

Miss Howard was the master mind in that affair. You remember her once

mentioning that her father was a doctor? Possibly she dispensed his

medicines for him, or she may have taken the idea from one of the many

books lying about when Mademoiselle Cynthia was studying for her exam.

Anyway, she was familiar with the fact that the addition of a bromide to a

mixture containing strychnine would cause the precipitation of the latter.

Probably the idea came to her quite suddenly. Mrs. Inglethorp had a box of

bromide powders, which she occasionally took at night. What could be

easier than quietly to dissolve one or more of those powders in Mrs.

Inglethorp's large sized bottle of medicine when it came from Coot's? The

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles