Miss Lavinia Pope

In the short story The Girdle of Hyppolita, Miss Lavinia Pope is the Principal of an exclusive finishing school for English girls at Neuily near Paris. Winnie King had been on her way to join the school when she disappeared from the train she was on.

Poirot observed that Miss Pope was "awe inspiring" and a person of "personality". She had that "obvious superiority to the rest of the world" which was useful in a school principal. Her grey hair was styled with distinction and she dressed severely but chic. She appeared "competent and omniscient". Even her room was decorated as befitted a woman of culture. "No speck of dust ... would have the temerity to deposit itself in such a shrine."