I got a taxi, and we drove off together. I could see by Poirot's face that he was perplexed. The thing was almost too easy. We arrived at the hotel. The porter came up to us.

"A gentleman has arrived. He is in your rooms. He seems very ill. A nurse came with him, but she has left."

"That is all right," said Poirot, "he is a friend of mine." We went upstairs together. Sitting in a chair by the window was a haggard young fellow who looked in the last stages of exhaustion. Poirot went over to him.

"Are you John Halliday?" The man nodded. "Show me your left arm. John Halliday has a mole just below the left elbow." The man stretched out his arm. The mole was there. Poirot bowed to the countess. She turned and left the room.

A glass of brandy revived Halliday somewhat. "My God!" he muttered. "I have been through hell--hell.... Those fiends are devils incarnate. My wife, where is she? What does she think? They told me that she would believe--would believe--"

"She does not," said Poirot firmly. "Her faith in you has never wavered. She is waiting for you--she and the child."

"Thank God for that. I can hardly believe that I am free once more."

"Now that you are a little recovered, monsieur, I should like to hear the whole story from the beginning."Halliday looked at him with an indescribable expression. "I remember--nothing," he said. "What?"
"Have you ever heard of the Big Four?"
"Something of them," said Poirot dryly.
"You do not know what I know. They have unlimited power. If I remain silent, I shall be safe--if I say one word--not only I, but my nearest and dearest will suffer unspeakable things. It is no good arguing with me. I know.... I remember--nothing." And, getting up, he walked from the room.
Poirot's face wore a baffled expression. "So it is like that, is it?" he muttered. "The Big Four win again. What is that you are holding in your hand, Hastings?"
I handed it to him. "The countess scribbled it before she left," I explained.
He read it. "Au revoir.--I.V."
"Signed with her initials--I.V. Just a coincidence, perhaps, that they also stand for Four. I wonder, Hastings, I wonder."
THE RADIUM THIEVES
On the night of his release, Halliday slept in the room next to ours at the hotel, and all night long I heard him moaning and protesting in his sleep. Undoubtedly his experience in the villa had broken his nerve, and in the morning we failed completely to extract any information from him. He would only repeat his 

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