The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

PROBLEM AT SEA

213

He turned to General Forbes. "It was you,

General, who gave me a valuable hint with your

mention of the music hall stage. I puzzle--I

think--and then it comes to me. Supposing that

before the war Clapperton was a ventriloquist. In

that case, it would be perfectly possible for three

people to hear Mrs. Clapperton speak from inside

her cabin when she was already dead .... "

Ellie Henderson was beside him. Her eyes were

dark and full of pain. "Did you know his heart

was weak?" she asked.

"I guessed it .... Mrs. Clapperton talked of her

own heart being affected, but she struck me as the

type of woman who likes to be thought ill. Then I

picked up a torn prescription with a very strong

dose of digitalin in it. Digitalin is a heart mdicine

but it couldn't be Mrs. Clapperton's because

digitalin dilates the pupils of the eyes. I had never

noticed such a phenomenon with hei'--but when I

looked at his eyes I saw the signs at once."

Ellie murmured: "So you thought--it might

end--this way?"

"The best way, don't you think, Mademoi-selle?''

he said gently.

He saw the tears rise in her eyes. She said:

"You've known. You've kno?n all along. : . .

That I cared .... But he didn't do it for me .... It

was those girlsmyouthmit made him feel his