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  people had er the !bgether after dinner in the

  evening. Afe tird day, Basil left the party

  after ten' mjUtwSt°r,O and Mr. Parker Pyne was

  left tte-li-t¢; ;; tV!rs' Chester.

  They talg l-°.u! flowers and the growing of

  them, of the.."-t, able state of the English pound

  and of how ;csl.ve France had become, and of

  the difficulff . gettlhg good afternoon tea

  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

  86

  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

  called upon to take part in it.

  And then the worst--from Mr. Parker Pyne's

  point of view--happened. A gushing lady of his

  acquaintance came to stay at the Mariposa. They met in the tea shop in the presence of Mrs.

  Chester.

  The newcomer screamed:

  "Why--if it isn't Mr. Parker Pyne--the one

  and only Mr. Parker Pyne! And Adela Chester!

  Do you know each other? Oh, you do? You're

  staying at the same hotel? He's the one and only

  original wizard, Adela--the marvel of the century-all

  your troubles smoothed out while you

  wait! What? Didn't you know? You must have heard about him? Haven't you read his advertisements? 'Are you in trouble? Consult Mr.

  Parker Pyne.' There's just nothing he can't do.

  Husbands and wives flying at each other's throats

  and he brings 'em together--if you've lost interest

  in life he giv
es you the most thrilling adventures.

  As I say the man's just a wizard!"

  It went on a good deal longer--Mr. Parker

  Pyne at intervals making modest disclaimers. He

  PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY

  87

  disliked the look that Mrs. Chester turned upon

  him. He disliked even more seeing her return

  along the beach in close confabulation with the

  garrulous singer of his praises.

  The climax came quicker than he expected. That

  evening, after coffee, Mrs. Chester said abruptly,

  "Will you come into the little salon, Mr. Pyne.

  There is something I want to say to you."

  He could but bow and submit.

  Mrs. Chester's self-control had been wehring

  thin--as the door of the little salon closed behind

  them, it snapped. She sat down and burst into

  tears.

  "My boy, Mr. Parker Pyne. You must save

  him. We must save him. It's breaking my heart!"

  "My dear lady, as a mere outsider--"

  "Nina Wycherley says you can do anything. She

  said I was to have the utmost confidence in you.

  She advised me to tell you everything--and that

  you'd put the whole thing right."

  Inwardly Mr. Parker Pyne cursed the obtrusive

  Mrs. Wycherley.

  Resigning himself he said:

  "Well, let us thrash the matter out. A girl, I

  suppose?"

  "Did he tell you about her?"

  "Only indirectly."

  Words poured in a vehement stream from Mrs.

  Chester. The girl was dreadful. She drank, she

  swore--she wore no clothes to speak of. Her sister

  lived out here--was married to an artist--a Dutch-man.

  The whole set was most undesirable. Half of

  them were living together without being married.

  Basil was completely changed. He had always

  88

  Agatha Christie

  · .

  .

  been so quiet, so interested in serious subjects. H

  had thought at one time of taking up archae

  ology-''

  "Well, well," said Mr. Parker Pyne. "Nature

  will have her revenge."

  "What do you mean?"

  "It isn't healthy for a young man to be inter

  ested in serious subjects· He ought to be making

  'an idiot of himself over one girl after another."

  "Please be serious, Mr. Pyne."

  "I'm perfectly serious. Is the young lady, by

  any chance, the one who had tea with you yester

  day?''

  He had noticed her--her gray flannel trousers

  --the scarlet handkerchief tied loosely around her

  breast--the vermilion mouth and the fact that she

  had chosen a cocktail in preference to tea.

  "You saw her? Terrible! Not the kind of girl

  Basil has ever admired."

  "You haven't given him much chance to admire

  a girl, have you?"

  "I?"

  "He's been too fond of your company! Bad!

  However, I daresay he'll get over this--if you

  don't preciPitate matters."

  "You don't understand. He wants to marry this

  girl--Betty Gregg--they're engaged."

  "It's gone as far as that?"

  "Yes. Mr. Parker Pyne, you must do some

  thing. You must get my boy out of this disastrous

  marriage! His whole life will be ruined."

  "Nobody's life can be ruined except by them

  selves. ' '

  "Basil's will be," said Mrs. Chester positively.

  PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY

  89

  "I'm not worrying about Basil."

  "You're not worrying about the girl?"

  "No, I'm worrying about you. You've been

  squandering your birthright."

  Mrs. Chester looked at him, slightly taken

  aback.

  "What are the years from twenty to forty?

  Fettered and bound by personal and emotional

  relationships. That's bound to be. That's living.

  But later there's a new stage. You can think,

  observe life, discover something about other

  people and the truth about yourself. Life becomes

  real--significant. You see it as a whole. Not just

  one scene--the scene you, as an actor, are playing.

  No man or woman is actually himself (or herselO

  till after forty-five. That's when individuality has

  a chance."

  Mrs. Chester said:

  "I've been wrapped up in Basil. He's been everything to me."

  "Well, he shouldn't have been. That's what you're paying for now. Love him as much as you

  likewbut you're Adela Chester, remember, a per-son--not

  just Basil's mother."

  "It will break my heart if Basil's life is ruined,"

  said Basil's xnother.

  He looked at the delicate lines of her face, the

  wistful droop of her mouth. She was, somehow, a

  lovable woman. He did not want her to be hurt.

  He said:

  I'll see what I can do."

  He found Basil Chester only too ready to talk,

  eager to urge his point of view.

  "This business is being just hellish. Mother's

  90

  Agatha Christie

  hopeless--prejudiced, narrow-minded. If only

  she'd let herself, she'd see how fine Betty is."

  "And Betty?"

  He sighed.

  "Betty's being damned difficult! If she'd just

  conform a bit--I mean leave off the lipstick for a

  day--it might make all the difference. She seems

  to go out of her way to be--well--modern--when

  Mother's about."

  Mr. Parker Pyne smiled.

  "Betty and Mother are two of the dearest

  people in the world, I should have thought they

  would have taken to each other like hot cakes."

  "You have a lot to learn, young man,'.' said Mr.

  Parker Pyne.

  "I wish you'd come along and see Betty and

  have a good talk about it all."

  Mr. Parker Pyne accepted the invitation read-ily.

  Betty and her sister and her husband lived in a

  small dilapidated villa a little way back from the

  sea. Their life was of a refreshing simplicity. Their

  furniture comprised three chairs, a table and beds.

  There was a cupboard in the wall that held the

  bare requirements of cups and plates. Hans was an

  excitable young man with wild blond hair that

  stood up all over his head. He spoke very odd

  English with incredible rapidity, walking up and

  down as he did so. Stella, his wife, was small and

  fair. Betty Gregg had red hair and freckles and a

  mischievous eye. She was, he noticed, not nearly

  so made up as she had been the previous day at the

  Pino d'Oro.

  She gave him a cocktail and said with a twinkle:

  PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY 91

  "You're in on the big bust-up?"

  Mr. Parker Pyne nodded.

  "And whose side are you on, big boy? The

  young lovers--or the disapproving dame?"

  "May I ask you a question?"

  "Certainly."

  "Have you been very tactful over all this?"

  "Not at all," said Miss Gregg frankly. "But the

  old cat put mY back up" (she glanced round to

  make sure that Basil was out of earshot). "That

  woman just ma
kes me feel mad. She's kept Basil

  tied to her apron strings all these years--that sort

  of thing makes a man look a fool. Basil isn't a fool

  really. Then she's so terribly pukka sahib."

  "That's not really such a bad thing. It's merely

  'unfashionable' just at present."

  Betty Gregg gave a sudden twinkle.

  "You mean it's like putting Chippendale chairs

  in the attic in Victorian days? Later you get them

  down again and say, 'Aren't they marvelous?'" "Something o if the kind."

  Betty Gregg considered.

  "Perhaps you're right. I'll be honest. It was

  Basil who put my back up--being so anxious

  about what impression I'd make on his mother. It

  drove me to extremes. Even now I believe he might

  give me up--if his mother worked on him good

  and hard."

  "He might," said Mr. Parker Pyne. "If she

  went about it the right way."

  "Are you going to tell her the right way? She

  won't think of it herself, you know. She'll just go

  on disapproving and that won't do the trick. But if

  you prompted her--"

  92

  Agatha Christie

  She bit her lip--raised frank blue eyes to his.

  "I've heard about you, Mr. Parker Pyne.

  You're supposed to know something about human

  nature. Do you think Basil and I could make a go

  of it--or not?"

  "I should like an answer to three questions."

  "Suitability test? All right, go ahead."