She said it with a kind of nice modest pleasure
in the fact.
But for once Mr. Parker Pyne did not make the
usual tactful response he could usually achieve so
easily. He said instead:
"Oh! well, there seem to be plenty of young
people here--not in the hotel, but roundabout."
At that, he noticed, Mrs. Chester stiffened. She
said: Of course there were a lot of Artists. Perhaps
she was very old-fashioned--real art, of course,
was different, but a lot of young people just made
that sort of thing an excuse for lounging about
and doing nothing--and the girls drank a lot too
much.
On the following day Basil said to Mr. Parker
Pyne:
"I'm awfully glad you turned up here, sir--especially
for my mother's sake. She likes having
you to talk to in the evenings."
"What did you do when you were first here?"
"As a matter of fact we used to play piquet." "I see."
"Of course one gets rather tired of piquet. As a
matter of fact I've got some friends hereto fright
84
Agatha Christie
stayed. There was also'quite an artist colony living
all round. You could walk along by the sea to the
fishing village where there was a cocktail bar
where people met--there were a few shops. It was
all very peaceful and pleasant. Girls strolled about