The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

"Good for you, old boy. Some dirty work at the

cross-roads--eh?"

Poirot merely repeated that he would set forth

immediately.

"Don't want to spill the beans over the telc-phone?

Quite right. So long."

A quarter of an hour later Poirot was sitting in the library, a low long room at the back of North

I

THE DREAM

159

· way House on the ground floor. There were five

other persons in the room. Inspector Barnett, Dr.

Stillingfleet, Mrs. Farley, the widow of the millionaire,

Joanna Farley, his only daughter, and

Hugo Cornworthy, his private secretary.

Of these, Inspector Barnett was a discreet sol-dierly-looking

man. Dr. Stillingfleet, whose professional

manner was entirely different from his

telephonic style, was a tall, long-faced young man

of thirty. Mrs. Farley was obviously very much

younger than her husband. She was a handsome

dark-haired woman. Her mouth was hard and her

black eyes gave absolutely no clue to her emotions.

She appeared perfectly self-possessed. Joanna

Farley had fair hair and a freckled face. The

prominence of her nose and chin was clearly inherited

from her father. Her eyes were intelligent and

shrewd. Hugo Cornworthy was a somewhat colorless

young man, very correctly dressed. He seemed

intelligent and efficient.