isolated sally, but a fixed project was made clear
that same evening when the eighteen-year-old Pam
Cregan came up to Hercule Poirot, and murmured:
"Watch us, M. Poirot. He's going to be
cut out from under her nose and taken to walk in
the moonlight on the boat deck."
It was just at that moment that Colonel Clap-perton
was saying: "I grant you the price of a
Rolls Royce. But it's practically good for a lifetime.
Now my car--"
"My car, I think, John." Mrs. Clapperton's
voice was shrill and penetrating.
He showed no annoyance at her ungracious
PROBLEM AT SEA
201
ness. Either he was used to it by this time, or
else--
"Or else?" thought Poirot and let himself
'. speculate.
"Certainly, my dear, your car," Clapperton
bowed to his wife and finished what he had been
saying, perfectly unruffled.
"You ce qu'on appeile !e pukka sahib," thought Poirot. "But the General Forbes says that
Clapperton is no gentleman at all. I wonder now."
There was a suggestion of bridge. Mrs. Clapper-ton,
General Forbes and a hawk-eyed couple sat
down to it. Miss Henderson had excused herself
and gone out on deck.
"What about your husband?" asked General
Forbes, hesitating.