place. We learn that during his first night in the hotel, Poirot did not drink his coffee, as he suspected it was drugged, and actually witnessed Gustave entering his room, rifling his pockets, and finding the note from Lementeuil. The three card players were members of Marrascaud's gang but never attacked their leader; the carve-up of Marrascaud's face was carried out by Dr Lutz (who is a plastic surgeon and not a psychiatrist as he has pretended) to change his appearance. This is the real reason the rendezvous took place in such an isolated spot. The Augean Stables Poirot is asked to help the prime minister, Edward Ferrier, whose predecessor in the role was his father-in-law John Hammett, now Lord Cornworthy. He was held up as an exemplary role model as to what an honest and honourable politician should be. However, beneath the surface he was involved in chicanery, dishonest share-dealing and misusing party funds. These revelations have come as a shock to his son-in-law who forced Hammett to resign on the grounds of ill-health and then took up the post himself. The revelations are about to be revealed to the public by a scandal sheet of a newspaper called The X-Ray News when Ferrier is attempting to clean up public life. Poirot is uninterested until the Home Secretary, Sir George Conway, uses the phrase "The Augean Stables" at which point he agrees to assist. Poirot visits Percy Perry, the seedy editor of The X-Ray News who he has heard has previously accepted sums of money for not printing stories. On this occasion, however, Perry refuses money and says he will publish. Soon afterward, along with the stories about Hammett, another series of news reports start to appear in the press which hint at various sex scandals regarding Ferrier's wife, Dagmar. They paint a picture of her as wanton and cavorting at clubs with a South American gigolo. These stories appear in The X-Ray News, which is sued for libel by Mrs Ferrier. The prosecution provides its first witness – the Bishop of Northumbria – who swears that Mrs Ferrier was at his palace recovering on doctor's orders on the dates mentioned by the newspaper. The second witness is a lady called Thelma Anderson who states that she was approached by a man who said he worked for The X-Ray News and employed her to impersonate Mrs Ferrier. She was