The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot 21)

have let himself in without the valet hearing him,

opened the door of the sitting room, called his

man and told him to go out and get some cigarettes.

On his return the man brought them to his

master, who was then alone in the sitting room.

32

Agatha Christie

The man naturally conclnded that Mr. Clayton

had left.

The guests arrived shortly afterwards. They

comprised Mrs. Clayton, Major Curtiss and a Mr.

and Mrs. Spence. The evening was spent dancing

to the phonograph and playing poker. The guests

left shortly after midnight.

The following morning, on coming to do the sit-ting

room, the valet was startled to find a deep

stain discoloring the carpet below and in front of a

piece of furniture which Major Rich had brought

from the East and which was called the Bagdad

Chest.

Instinctively the valet lifted the lid of the chest

and was horrified to find inside the doubled-up

body of a man who had been stabbed to the heart.

Terrified, the man ran out of the flat and

fetched the nearest policeman. The dead man

proved to be Mr. Clayton. The arrest of Major

Rich followed very shortly afterward. The major's

defense, it was understood, consisted of a sturdy

denial of everything. He had not seen Mr. Clayton

the preceding evening and the first he had heard of