The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

slavery. He wanted to be free before it was too

late .... Yes, I'm sure that's how it was ....

When did you guessmthat it was he?"

"His self-control was too perfect," said Poirot

simply. "No matter how galling his wife's con-duct,

it never seemed to touch him. That meant

either that he was so used to it that it no longer

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Agatha Christie

stung him, or else--eh bien--I decided on the

latter alternative .... And I was right ....

"And then there was his insistence on his con-juring

ability--the evening before the crime. He

pretended to give himself away. But a man like

Clapperton doesn't give himself away. There must

be a reason. So long as people thought he had

been a conjuror they weren't likely to think of his

having been a ventriloquist."

"And the voice we heard--Mrs. Clapperton's

voice?"

"One of the stewardesses had a voice not unlike

hers. I induced her to hide behind the stage and

taught her the words to say."

"It was a trick--a cruel trick," cried out Ellie.

"I do not approve of murder," said Hercule

Poirot.

"One of the most Imaginative and fertile

plot creators of all time!"-Ellery Queen