chivalry.M Hercule Poirot added dreamily:

"That is always successful with Englishmen.w

Harold Waring drew a deep breath. He

said crisply:

"I'm going to set to work and learn

every European language there is! Nobody^s

going to make a fool of me a second

time!"

242

7

THE CRETAN BULL

ERCULE POIROT looked

thoughtfully at his visitor.

- He saw a pale face with a determined-looking

chin, eyes that were more

grey than blue, and hair that was of that

real blue-black shade so seldom seen-the hyacinthine locks of ancient Greece. He noted the well-cut, but also wellworn,

country tweeds, the shabby handbag,

and the unconscious arrogance of manner

that lay behind the girl's obvious nervousness.

He thought to himself:

^Ah yes, she is 'the County" --but no

money! And it must be something quite

out of the way that would bring her to

me."

Diana Maberly said, and her voice shook

a little:

cc! --I don't know whether you can help

243

me or not, M. Poirot. It's --it's a very

extraordinary position.33

Poirot said:

"But yes ? Tell me ?"

Diana Maberly said:

"I've come to you because I don't know what to do! I don't even know if there is anything to do!"

"Will you let me be the judge of that ?"

The colour surged suddenly into the

girl's face. She said rapidly and breathlessly:

"I've come to you because the man

I've been engaged to for over a year has

broken off our engagement."

She stopped and eyed him defiantly.

"You must think," she said, "that I'm

completely mental."

Slowly, Hercule Poirot shook his head.

"On the contrary. Mademoiselle, I have

no doubt whatever but that you are

extremely intelligent. It is certainly not my metier in life to patch up the lovers'

quarrels, and I know very well that you

are quite aware of that. It is, therefore, that there is something unusual about the breaking of this engagement. That is so, is it not ?" 244

The girl nodded. She said in a clear,

precise voice.

"Hugh broke off our engagement because

he thinks he is going mad. He thinks

people who are mad should not marry."

Hercule Poirot's eyebrows rose a little.

"And do you not agree ?"

"I don't know. . . . What is being mad,

after all ? Everyone is a little mad."

"It has been said so," Poirot agreed

cautiously.

"It's only when you begin thinking

you're a poached egg or something that

they have to shut you up."

"And your fiance has not reached that

stage ?"

Diana Maberly said:

"I can't see that there's anything wrong

with Hugh at all. He's, oh, he's the sanest

person I know. Sound — dependable — "

"Then why does he think he is going

mad ?"

Poirot paused a moment before going on.

"Is there, perhaps, madness in his

family ?"

Reluctantly Diana jerked her head in

assent. She said:

"His grandfather was mental, I believe

245

— and some great-aunt or other. But what