FOREWORD



          By Capatain Arthur Hastings，O.B.E.
         In this narrative of mine I have departed from my usual practice
     of
     relating only those incidents and scenes at which I myself was
     present.
         Certain chapters，therefore，are written in the third person.
         I wish to assure my readers that I can vouch for the occurrences
     related
     in these chapters.If I have taken a certain poetic licence in
     describing the
     thoughts and feelings of various persons，it is because I believe I
     have set
     them down with a reasonable amount of accuracy.I may add that they
     have been
     "vetted"by my friend Hercule Poirot himself.
         In conclusion，I will say that if I have described at too great
     length
     some of the secondary personal relationships which arose as a
     consequence of
     this strange series of crimes，it is because the human and personal
     elements
     can never be ignored.Hercule Poirot once taught me in a very dramatic
     manner
     that romance can be a by-product of crime.
         As to the solving of the ABC mystery，I can only say that in my
     opinion
     Poirot showed real genius in the way he tackled a problem entirely
     unlike
     any which had previously come his way.

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