He said it in such a gloomy voice that Miss
Henderson laughed.
"Oh! Well, you will be able to get ashore to-morrow
at Alexandria. You have been to Egypt
before?"
"Never, Mademoiselle."
Miss Henderson rose somewhat abruptly.
"I think I shall join the General on his constitu-tional,''
she announced.
Poirot sprang politely to his feet.
She gave him a little nod and passed out onto
the deck.
A faint puzzled look showed for a moment in
Poirot's eyes then, a little smile creasing his lips,
he rose, put his head through the door and glanced
down the deck. Miss Henderson was leaning
against the rail talking to a tall, soldierly-looking
man.
Poirot's smile deepened. He drew himself back
into the smoking-room with the same exaggerated
care with which a tortoise withdraws itself into it,
PROBLEM AT SEA
197
shell. For the moment he had the smoking-room
to himself, though he rightly conjectured that that
would not last long.
It did not. Mrs. Clapperton, her carefully
waved platinum head protected with a net, her
massaged and dieted form dressed in a smart
sports suit, came through