“The Under Dog” was first published in the USA in Mystery Magazine, 1 April 1926, then in London Magazine, October 1926.
Lily Margrave smoothed her gloves out on her knee with a nervous gesture, and darted a glance at the occupant of the big chair opposite her.
She had heard of M. Hercule Poirot, the well-known investigator, but this was the first time she had seen him in the flesh.
The comic, almost ridiculous, aspect that he presented disturbed her conception of him. Could this funny little man, with the egg-shaped head and the enormous moustaches, really do the wonderful things that were claimed for him? His occupation at the moment struck her as particularly childish. He was piling small blocks of coloured wood one upon the other, and seemed far more interested in the result than in the story she was telling.
At her sudden silence, however, he looked sharply across at her.
“Mademoiselle, continue, I pray of you. It is not that I do not attend; I attend very carefully, I assure you.”
He began once more to pile the little blocks of wood one upon the other, while the girl’s voice took up the tale again. It was a gruesome tale, a tale of violence and tragedy, but the voice was so calm and unemotional, the recital was so concise that something of the savour of humanity seemed to have been left out of it.
