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THE DREAM
153
He was an elderly man. The second was a young
man of the modern school. He assured me that it
all hinged on a certain event that took place in in-fancy
at that particular time of day--three twenty-eight.
I am so determined, he says, not to remem-ber
that event, that I
symbolize it by destroying
myself. That is his explanation."
"And the third doctor?" asked Poirot.
Benedict Farley's voice rose in shrill anger.
"He's a young man too. He has a preposterous
theory! He asserts that I, myself, am tired of life,
that my life is so unbearable to me that I deliber-ately
want to end it! But since to acknowledge that
fact would be to acknowledge that essentially I am
a failure, I refuse in my waking moments to face
the truth. But when I am asleep, all inhibitions are
removed, and I proceed to do that which I really
wish to do. I put an end to myself."
"His view is that you really wish, unknown to
yourself, to commit suicide?" said Poirot.
Benedict Farley cried shrilly:
"And that's impossible--impossible! I'm per-fectly
happy! I've got everything I wantmeverything
money can buy! It's fantastic--unbelievable
even to suggest a thing like that!"
Poirot looked at him with interest. Perhaps