The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

18 I

turned the whole business over and over in m}

mind the week I was down there. To speak or not

to speak? And almost at once another complica

tion set in. You see, I fell in love with Sylvia Cars-

lake the first moment I saw her I

wanted her

more

than anything on earth And in

a way

that tied

my hands.

And yet,

if I didn't say anything, Sylvia would marry Charles

Crawley and Crawley would kill her ....

And so,

the day before I left, I blurted it all out to her.

I said I expected she'd think me touched in the intellect

or something but I swore solemnly that

I'd seen the thing just as I told it to her and that

I felt if she was determined to marry Crawley, I

ought to tell her my strange experience.

She

listened very quietly. There was something in

her eyes I didn't understand. She wasn't angry at

all. When I'd finished, she just thanked me gravely.

I kept repeating like an idiot, "I did see it. I

really did see it," and she said, "I'm sure you did if

you say so. I believe you."

Well,