The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

was occupying the room and he said some people

called Oldham--a Major Oldham and his wife. I

asked him then if Mrs. Oldham had very fair hair

and when he replied dryly that she was dark I

began to realize that I was probably making a fool

of myself. I pulled myself together, made some

lame explanation and we went downstairs together.

I told myself that I must have had some

kind of hallucination--and felt generally rather

ashamed and a bit of an ass.

And then--and then--Nell said, "My sister

Sylvia," and I was looking into the lovely face of

the

girl I had just seen being suffocated to death

·.. and I was introduced to her fiance, a tall, dark

man with a scar down the left side of his face.

Wellwthat's that. I'd like you to think and say

what you'd have done in my place. Here was the

girl--the identical girl--and here was the man I'd

seen throttling her--and they were to be married

in about a month's time ....

Had I--or had I not--had a prophetic vision of

the future? Would Sylvia and her husband come

down here to stay sometime in the future, and be

given that room (the best spare room) and would

that scene I'd witnessed take place in grim reality?

What was I to do about it? Could I do anything?

Would anyone--Neil--or the girl herself--would

they believe me?

IN A GLASS DARKLY