Раз, два, пряжка держится едва

By experience, he knew to a nicety the moment when his smart patent leather shoes began to press painfully on his feet. It was a lovely summer's day and Poirot looked indulgently on courting nursemaids and their swains, laughing and giggling while their chubby charges profited by nurse's inattention. Dogs barked and romped. Little boys sailed boats. And under nearly every tree was a couple sitting close together... "Ah! Jeunesse, jeunesse," murmured Hercule Poirot, pleasurably affected by the sight. They were chic, these little London girls. They wore their tawdry clothes with an air. Their figures, however, he considered, lamentably deficient. Where were the rich curves, the voluptuous lines that had formerly delighted the eye of an admirer? He, Hercule Poirot, remembered women... One woman, in particular -what a sumptuous creature - a Bird of Paradise - a Venus... What woman was there among these pretty chits nowadays, who could hold a candle to Countess Vera Rossakoff? A genuine Russian aristocrat, an aristocrat to her fingertips! And also, he remembered, a most accomplished thief One of those natural geniuses... With a sigh, Poirot wrenched his thoughts away from the flamboyant creature of his dreams. It was not only, he noted, the little nursemaids and their like who were being wooed under the trees of Regent's Park. That was a Schiaparelli creation there, under that lime tree, with the young man who bent his head so close to hers, who was pleading so earnestly. One must not yield too soon! He hoped the girl understood that. The pleasure of the chase must be extended as long as possible... His beneficent eye still on them, he became suddenly aware of a familiarity in those two figures.	По аллеям сновали и прыгали ребятишки. Почти на каждой скамейке сидели влюбленные парочки. Одна из них показалась Пуаро знакомой. Вот как?
So Jane Olivera had come to Regent's Park to meet her young American revolutionary?	Значит, Джейн Оливера решила именно здесь встретиться со своим американским бунтарем?
His face grew suddenly sad and rather stern. After only a brief hesitation he crossed the grass to them.	После секундного колебания он решительно направился в их сторону.
Sweeping off his hat with a flourish, he said: "Bonjour, Mademoiselle."	- Добрый день, мадемуазель.
Jane Olivera, he thought, was not entirely displeased to see him. Howard Raikes, on the other hand, was a good deal annoyed at the interruption.	На мисс Джейн его появление, похоже, особого впечатления не произвело, зато ее приятель был не в восторге.
He growled: "Oh, so it's you again!"	- Это опять вы?..
"Good afternoon, M. Poirot," said Jane.	- Здравствуйте, м-р Пуаро.
"How unexpectedly you always pop up, don't you?" "Kind of a Jack-in-the-Box," said Raikes, still eyeing Poirot with considerable coldness.	Бы всегда появляетесь столь неожиданно?
"I do not intrude?" Poirot asked anxiously.	- Я вам не помешал?
Jane Olivera said kindly: "Not at all."	- Отнюдь, - вежливо ответила девушка.