The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

Every e4emng Wen her son departet, Mr. Parker Pyle s. aw th% quickly concealed tremor of

her lips, got !mmeciately she recovered and dis

PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY g5

coursed pleasantly on the above-mentioned subjects. Little by little she began to talk of Basilwof how well he had done at school--"he was in the First XI, you know"--of how everyone liked him, of how proud his father would have been of the boy had he lived, of how thankful she had been that Basil had never been "wild." "Of course I always urge him to be with young people, but he really seems to prefer being with me." 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 in trousers with brightly colored handkerchiefs tied round the upper halves of their bodies. Young men in berets with rather long hair held forth in

"Mac's Bar" on such subjects as plastic values

and abstraction in art.

On the day after Mr. Parker Pyne's arrival, Mrs. Chester made a few conventional remarks to him on the subject of the view and the likelihood of the weather keeping fine. She then chatted a little with the German lady about knitting, and had a few pleasant words about the sadness of the political situation with two Danish gentlemen who spent their time rising at dawn and walking for eleven hours.

Mr. Parker Pyne found Basil Chester a most likeable young man. He called Mr. Parker Pyne "sir" and listened most politely to anything the older man said. Sometimes the three English people had coffee together after dinner in the evening. After the third day, Basil left the party after ten' minutes or so and Mr. Parker Pyne was left tte-&-tte with Mrs. Chester.

They talked about flowers and the growing of them, of the lamentable state of the English pound and of how expensive France had become, and of the difficulty of getting good afternoon tea.

Every evening when her son departed, Mr.

Parker Pyne saw the quickly concealed tremor of her lips, but immediately she recovered and dis

PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY 85

coursed pleasantly on the above-mentioned subjects. Little by little she began to talk of Basil--of how well he had done at school--"he was in the First XI, you know"--of how everyone liked him, of how proud his father would have been of the boy had he lived, of how thankful she had been that Basil had never been "wild." "Of course I always urge him to be with young people, but he really seems to prefer being with me." 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 here-- fright

Agatha Christie

fully cheery crowd. I don't really think my mother approves of them--" He laughed as though he felt this ought to be amusing. "The mater's very old-fashioned .... Even girls in trousers shock her!" " ' " ' r P n Qmteso, sadMr. Parke y e. "What I tell her s--one s got to move with the

times The girls at home round us are frightfully

dull "

"I see," said Mr. Parker Pyne.

All

this interested him well enough· He was a

spectator of a miniature drama, but he was not