- Hercule Poirot: [talking to other Belgian refugees about a wildflower] Another example of the English bucolic belief - anagallis arvensis, the scarlet pimpernel. It is believed that when this flower is open, it is a sign of a proplonged spell of fine weather. It is seldom seen open in this country.
- Lieutenant Hastings: [referring to the false beard they have discovered] Who put it there?
- Hercule Poirot: Someone with a great deal of intelligence, Hastings. He chose to hide it in the one place where its presence would not be remarked. But we must be even more intelligent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all.
- Lieutenant Hastings: Absolutely.
- Hercule Poirot: And there you will be invaluable, mon ami.
- Hercule Poirot: Madame Dainty, has it ever occurred to you to organize the goods by the country of origin?
- [Hastings has accepted an invitation to spend his medical leave at his friend John Cavendish's ancestral home]
- John Cavendish: I'm afraid you'll find it very quiet down here, Hastings.
- Lieutenant Hastings: My dear fellow, after the joys of France, that's just what I want.
- [last lines]
- Lieutenant Hastings: What a wonderful girl. I shall never understand women.
- Hercule Poirot: Thought so, yourself mon ami. Perhaps one day when this terrible war is ended, we shall work again together, huh? And Poirot will explain all to you.
- [Poirot has just pulled up in a cab outside and is waving his hands at the driver]
- Mary Cavendish: What on earth is he doing?
- Lieutenant Hastings: I think he's giving the driver a lesson.
- [Poirot is building a house of cards]
- Lieutenant Hastings: Is this your first time in London, Poirot?
- [Poirot does not answer]
- Lieutenant Hastings: Mrs. Inglethorpe must have been wealthy, with this beautiful house and Styles Court.
- [Poirot still does not answer]
- Lieutenant Hastings: Are you going to be doing that all day?
- Hercule Poirot: I steady my nerves, that is all.
- Evelyn Howard: May I ask what's going on?
- Inspector Japp: You may ask, Madam. If you get any reply you might let me know.
- Mrs. Emily Inglethorp: I've told you before.
- John Cavendish: It's none of your business.
- Mrs. Emily Inglethorp: It is my business. Not content with carrying on this sordid affair with this woman, I now find you squandering large sums of money on her.
- John Cavendish: It's not a large sum of money. It's a loan, anyway.
- Mrs. Emily Inglethorp: No! No! My mind is made up and you need not think that any fear of scandal between husband and wife will deter me.
- Hercule Poirot: Hastings!
- Lieutenant Hastings: Good Lord! Monsieur Poirot.
- Hercule Poirot: It is indeed, mon ami Hastings.
- Hercule Poirot: Superintendent, I beg of you to allow me to ask of Mr. Inglethorp just one question.
- Hercule Poirot: You have a good grip on this affair, Hastings.
- Lieutenant Hastings: Grasp.
- Hercule Poirot: Yes?
- Lieutenant Hastings: [referring to John Cavendish's mother and her marriage to an outsider twenty years her junior] It must be a difficult situation for you all.
- John Cavendish: Difficult? It's damnable.
- Inspector Japp: [after Poirot's assertion has been proved correct] My word, Poirot, you're the goods!
- Cynthia Murdoch: [to Hastings] I do hope she's found him out at last. I'm sure he's a fortune hunter.
- Lieutenant Hastings: This is green.
- Hercule Poirot: No, it is too dark.
- Lieutenant Hastings: Good Lord!
- Judge: John Cavendish, you are charged with the murder of your mother, Mrs. Emily Rose Inglethorp on Tuesday nineteenth day of June, 1917. How do you plead?
- John Cavendish: Not guilty.
- Hercule Poirot: Why? When? There must have been something of great importance in that case, something that would have connected the murder with the crime.
- Lieutenant Hastings: But what?
- Hercule Poirot: That I do not know.
- Lieutenant Hastings: So, we're back to square one then.
- Hercule Poirot: Not quite mon ami. We now know there is one person who did not buy the poison. Again, we have cleared away the clues manufactured, and now for the real ones.