"Isn't that because you're rather biased on that subject, Poirot?" I suggested
sequence ['si:kw@ns], methodical [m@'TOdIk@l], disease [dI'zi:z]
Poirot made a gesture. "It is finished. I say no more. It is over. We pass to the next murder, that of Sir Carmichael Clarke. Here the murderer goes back to his first method — the blow on the head. The same alphabetical complex — but one fact worries me a little. To be consistent the murderer should have chosen his towns in some definite sequence."
"If Andover is the 155th name under A, then the B crime should be the 155th also — or it should be the 156th and the C the 157th. Here again the towns seemed to be chosen in rather too haphazard a fashion.''
"Isn't that because you're rather biased on that subject, Poirot?" I suggested. "You yourself are normally methodical and orderly. It's almost a disease with you."
"No, it is not a disease
"The Churston crime gave me very little extra help
"But by the time the D crime was announced
overstress ['@Uv@'stres], astray [@'streI], formidable ['fO:mId@bl]
"No, it is not a disease!
"The Churston crime gave me very little extra help. We were unlucky over it, since the letter announcing it went astray, hence no preparations could be made."
"But by the time the D crime was announced, a very formidable system of defence had been evolved. It must have been obvious that A.B.C. could not much longer hope to get away with his crimes."