‘What was the point of that question about the glasses?’ I asked curiously.
Poirot shrugged his shoulders.
‘One must say something,’ he remarked. ‘That particular question did as well as any other.’ I stared at him.
‘At any rate, my friend,’ he said seriously, ‘I know now something I wanted to know. Let us leave it at that.’
CHAPTER 15 An Evening at Mah Jong
That night we had a little Mah Jong party. This kind of simple entertainment is very popular in King’s Abbot. The guests arrive in goloshes and waterproofs after dinner. They partake of coffee and later of cake, sandwiches and tea.
On this particular night our guests were Miss Gannett and Colonel Carter, who lives near the church. A good deal of gossip is handed round at these evenings, sometimes seriously interfering with the game in progress. We used to play bridge – chatty bridge of the worst description. We find Mah Jong much more peaceful. The irritated demand as to why on earth your partner did not lead a certain card is entirely done away with, and though we still express criticisms frankly, there is not the same acrimonious spirit.
‘Very cold evening, eh, Sheppard?’ said Colonel Carter, standing with his back to the fire. Caroline had taken Miss Gannett to her own room, and was there assisting her to disentangle herself from her many wraps. ‘Reminds me of the Afghan passes.’ ‘Indeed?’ I said politely.
‘Very mysterious business this about poor Ackroyd,’ continued the colonel, accepting a cup of coffee. ‘A deuce of a lot behind it – that’s what I say. Between you and me, Sheppard, I’ve heard the word blackmail mentioned!’ The colonel gave me the look which might be tabulated ‘one man of the world to another.’ ‘A woman in it, no doubt,’ he said. ‘Depend upon it, a woman in it.’ Caroline and Miss Gannett joined us at this minute. Miss Gannett drank coffee whilst Caroline got out the Mah Jong box and poured out the tiles upon the table.
‘Washing the tiles,’ said the colonel facetiously. ‘That’s right – washing the tiles, as we used to say in the Shanghai Club.’ It is the private opinion of both Caroline and myself that Colonel Carter has never been in the Shanghai Club in his life. More, that he has never been farther east than India, where he juggled with tins of bully beef and plum and apple jam during the Great War. But the colonel is determinedly military, and in King’s Abbot we permit people to indulge their little idiosyncrasies freely.
‘Shall we begin?’ said Caroline.
We sat round the table. For some five minutes there was complete silence, owing to the fact that there is tremendous secret competition amongst us as to who can build their wall quickest.
‘Go on, James,’ said Caroline at last. ‘You’re East Wind.’ I discarded a tile. A round or two proceeded, broken by the monotonous remarks of ‘Three Bamboos,’ ‘Two Circles,’ ‘Pung,’ and frequently from Miss Gannett ‘Unpung,’ owing to that lady’s habit of too hastily claiming tiles to which she had no right.
‘I saw Flora Ackroyd this morning,’ said Miss Gannett.
‘Pung – no – Unpung. I made a mistake.’ ‘Four Circles,’ said Caroline. ‘Where did you see her?’ ‘She didn’t see me,’ said Miss Gannett, with that tremendous significance only to be met with in small villages.
‘Ah!’ said Caroline interestedly. ‘Chow.’ ‘I believe,’ said Miss Gannett, temporarily diverted, ‘that it’s the right thing nowadays to say “Chee” not “Chow.”‘ ‘Nonsense,’ said Caroline. ‘I have always said “Chow.”‘ ‘In the Shanghai Club,’ said Colonel Carter, ‘they say “Chow;” Miss Gannett retired, crushed.
‘What were you saying about Flora Ackroyd?’ asked Caroline, after a moment or two devoted to the game. ‘Was she with anyone?’ ‘Very much so,’ said Miss Gannett.
The eyes of the two ladies met, and seemed to exchange ^formation.
‘Really,’ said Caroline interestedly. ‘Is that it? Well, it doesn’t surprise me in the least.’ ‘We’re waiting for you to discard. Miss Caroline,’ said the colonel. He sometimes affects the pose of the bluff male, intent on the game and indifferent to gossip. But nobody is deceived.
‘If you ask me,’ said Miss Gannett. (‘Was that a Bamboo you discarded, dear? Oh! no, I see now – it was a Circle.) As I was saying, if you ask me. Flora’s been exceedingly lucky.