"Yes," went on the aged passenger. Poisonous
woman. I remember a woman like that in Poona.
In '87 that was."
"Did anyone take a hatchet to her?" inquired
Poirot.
The old gentleman shook his head sadly.
"Worried her husband into his grave within the
year. Clapperton ought'to assert himself. Gives his
wife her head too much."
"She holds the purse strings," said Poirot
gravely.
200
Agatha Christie
"Ha ha!" chuckled the old gentleman. "You've
put the matter in a nutshell. Holds the purse
strings. Ha ha!"
Two girls burst into the smoking-room. One
had a round face with freckles and dark hair
streaming out in a windswept confusion, the other
had freckles and curly chestnut hair.
"A rescue--a rescue!" cried Kitty Mooney.
"Pam and I are going to rescue Colonel Clapper-ton."
"From his wife," gasped Pamela Cregan.
"We think he's a pet .... "
"And she's just awful--she won't let him do anything," the two girls exclaimed.
"And if he isn't with her, he's usually grabbed
by the Henderson woman .... "
"Who's quite nice. But terribly old .... " They ran out, gasping in between giggles:
"A rescue--a rescue..."
That the rescue of Colonel Clapperton was no