Ursula nodded her head once, and burst into tears again. Caroline put her arm around the girl. 'My dear,' she said soothingly, 'it will be all right. Everything will be all right.'

Hidden under her love of gossip there is a lot of kindness in Caroline and soon Ursula sat up and wiped away her tears. 'This is very weak and silly of me,' she said.

'No, no, my child,' said Poirot kindly. 'We all understand the strain of this last week.'

'And then to discover that you knew,' continued Ursula. 'How did you know? Was it Ralph who told you?'

Poirot shook his head.

'You know what brought me to you,' she went on. 'This-' She held out a newspaper. 'It says that Ralph has been arrested. So everything I've done is useless. I don't have to pretend any longer.'

'Newspaper reports are not always true, Mademoiselle,' murmured Poirot. 'All the same, the truth is what we need now. Now listen, I do truly believe that your husband is innocent - but if I am to save him, I must know all there is to know - even if it does seem to make the case against him stronger than before.'

'How well you understand,' said Ursula.

'So you will tell me the whole story, will you not? From the beginning.'

'What I want to know,' Caroline said, 'is why this child was pretending to be a parlourmaid? Why did you do it? For a joke?'

'To earn money,' said Ursula quietly.

Ursula Bourne, it seemed, was one of a family of seven children, and her parents had lost all their money. Ursula's eldest sister was married to a Captain Folliott. Ursula was determined to earn her living and disliked the idea of being a nursery governess - one of the few professions open to untrained girls. Ursula preferred to get a job as a parlourmaid. It was her sister who had written a reference for her. At Fernly, despite some comment about her obviously good education, she was a success at her job.

'I enjoyed the work,' she explained. 'And I had plenty of time to myself.'