anchor: He has more intelligence than would appear, this longfaced Monsieur Lawrence of yours!" I did not myself think very highly of Lawrence's intelligence; but I forebore to contradict Poirot, and gently took him to task for forgetting my instructions as to which were Cynthia's days off. 
positive: Poirot believed that Monsieur Lawrence's intelligence had been underestimated.
negative: I contradicted Poirot when he praised Monsieur Lawrence's intelligence.