The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

doing too much. I live so intensely, if you know

what I mean, M. Poirot?"

"Yes, yes."

"He always says to me: 'Try to be more of a

vegetable, Adeline.' But I can't. Life was meant to

be lived, I feel. As a matter of fact I wore myself

out as a girl in the war. My hospital--you've

heard of my hospital? Of course I had nurses and

matrons and all that--but I actually, ran it." She

sighed.

"Your vitality is marvelous, dear lady," said

Poirot, with the slightly mechanical air of one

responding to his cue.

Mrs. Clapperton gave a girlish laugh.

'Everyone tells me how young,I am! It's ab-surd.

I never try to pretend I'm a day less than

forty-three," she continued with slightly menda-cious

candor, "but a lot of people find it hard to

believe. 'You're so alive, Adeline,' they say to me.

But really, M. Poirot, what would one be if one

wasn't alive?"

"Dead," said Poirot.

Mrs. Clapperton frowned. The reply was not to

her liking. The man, she decided, was trying to be

funny. She got up and said coldly: "I must find

John."

As she stepped through the door she dropped

her handbag. It opened and the contents flew far

and wide. Poirot rushed gallantly to the rescue. It

was some few minutes before the lipsticks, vanity