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| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-04-02 03:59:31 -0700 |
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| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-04-02 03:59:31 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78342-0.txt b/78342-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8f45f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/78342-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9941 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78342 *** + + + + + Partners in Crime + + By Agatha Christie + + + PARTNERS IN CRIME + _Copyright 1929 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc._ + + + + + CONTENTS + + 1 A Fairy in the Flat + + 2 A Pot of Tea + + 3 The Affair of The Pink Pearl + + 4 The Affair of The Pink Pearl (continued) + + 5 The Adventure of The Sinister Stranger + + 6 The Adventure of The Sinister Stranger (continued) + + 7 Finessing the King + + 8 The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper + + 9 The Case of The Missing Lady + + 10 Blindman's Buff + + 11 The Man in the Mist + + 12 The Man in the Mist (continued) + + 13 The Crackler + + 14 The Crackler (continued) + + 15 The Sunningdale Mystery + + 16 The Sunningdale Mystery (continued) + + 17 The House of Lurking Death + + 18 The House of Lurking Death (continued) + + 19 The Unbreakable Alibi + + 20 The Clergyman's Daughter + + 21 The Red House + + 22 The Ambassador's Boots + + 23 The Man Who Was No. 16 + + + + + PARTNERS IN CRIME + + + + + CHAPTER I + + A FAIRY IN THE FLAT + + +Mrs. Thomas Beresford shifted her position on the divan and looked +gloomily out of the window of the flat. The prospect was not an +extended one, consisting solely of a small block of flats on the other +side of the road. Mrs. Beresford sighed and then yawned. + +"I wish," she said, "something would happen." + +Her husband looked up reprovingly. + +"Be careful, Tuppence, this craving for vulgar sensation alarms me." + +Tuppence sighed and closed her eyes dreamily. + +"So Tommy and Tuppence were married," she chanted, "and lived happily +ever afterwards. And six years later they were still living together +happily ever afterwards. It is extraordinary," she said, "how different +everything always is from what you think it is going to be." + +"A very profound statement, Tuppence. But not original. Eminent poets +and still more eminent divines have said it before--and, if you will +excuse me saying so, have said it better." + +"Six years ago," continued Tuppence, "I would have sworn that with +sufficient money to buy things with, and with you for a husband, all +life would have been one grand sweet song, as one of the poets you seem +to know so much about puts it." + +"Is it me or the money that palls upon you?" inquired Tommy coldly. + +"Palls isn't exactly the word," said Tuppence kindly. "I'm used to my +blessings, that's all. Just as one never thinks what a boon it is to be +able to breathe through one's nose until one has a cold in the head." + +"Shall I neglect you a little?" suggested Tommy. "Take other women +about to night clubs? That sort of thing?" + +"Useless," said Tuppence. "You would only meet me there with other men. +And I should know perfectly well that you didn't care for the other +women, whereas you would never be quite sure that I didn't care for the +other men. Women are so much more thorough." + +"It's only in modesty that men score top marks," murmured her husband. +"But what is the matter with you, Tuppence? Why this yearning +discontent?" + +"I don't know. I want things to happen. Exciting things. Wouldn't you +like to go chasing German spies again, Tommy? Think of the wild days of +peril we went through once. Of course I know you're more or less in the +Secret Service now, but it's pure office work." + +"You mean you'd like them to send me into darkest Russia disguised as a +Bolshevik bootlegger, or something of that sort?" + +"That wouldn't be any good," said Tuppence. "They wouldn't let me +go with you and I'm the person who wants something to do so badly. +Something to do. That is what I keep saying all day long." + +"Woman's sphere," suggested Tommy waving his hand. + +"Twenty minutes' work after breakfast every morning keeps the flat +going to perfection. You have nothing to complain of, have you?" + +"Your housekeeping is so perfect, Tuppence, as to be almost monotonous." + +"I do like gratitude," said Tuppence. + +"You, of course, have got your work," she continued, "but tell me, +Tommy, don't you ever have a secret yearning for excitement, for things +to _happen_?" + +"No," said Tommy, "at least I don't think so. It is all very well to +want things to happen--they might not be pleasant things." + +"How prudent men are," sighed Tuppence. "Don't you ever have a wild +secret yearning for romance--adventure--life?" + +"What _have_ you been reading, Tuppence?" asked Tommy. + +"Think how exciting it would be," went on Tuppence, "if we heard a wild +rapping at the door and went to open it and in staggered a dead man." + +"If he was dead he couldn't stagger," said Tommy critically. + +"You know what I mean," said Tuppence. "They always stagger in just +before they die and fall at your feet just gasping out a few enigmatic +words. 'The Spotted Leopard' or something like that." + +"I advise a course of Schopenhauer or Emmanuel Kant," said Tommy. + +"That sort of thing would be good for you," said Tuppence. "You are +getting fat and comfortable." + +"I am not," said Tommy indignantly. "Anyway, you do slimming exercises +yourself." + +"Everybody does," said Tuppence. "When I said you were getting fat I +was really speaking metaphorically, you are getting prosperous and +sleek and comfortable." + +"I don't know what has come over you," said her husband. + +"The spirit of adventure," murmured Tuppence. "It is better than a +longing for romance anyway. I have that sometimes, too. I think of +meeting a man, a really handsome man--" + +"You have met me," said Tommy. "Isn't that enough for you?" + +"A brown lean man, terrifically strong, the kind of man who can ride +anything and lassoos wild horses--" + +"Complete with sheepskin trousers and a cowboy hat," interpolated Tommy +sarcastically. + +"--and has lived in the Wilds," continued Tuppence. + +"I should like him to fall simply madly in love with me. I should, of +course, rebuff him virtuously and be true to my marriage vows but my +heart would secretly go out to him." + +"Well," said Tommy, "I often wish that I may meet a really beautiful +girl. A girl with corn-colored hair who will fall desperately in love +with me. Only I don't think I rebuff her--in fact I am quite sure I +don't." + +"That," said Tuppence, "is naughty temper." + +"What," said Tommy, "is really the matter with you, Tuppence? You have +never talked like this before." + +"No, but I have been boiling up inside for a long time," said Tuppence. +"You see it is very dangerous to have everything you want--including +enough money to buy things. Of course there are always hats." + +"You have got about forty hats already," said Tommy, "and they all look +alike." + +"Hats are like that," said Tuppence. "They are not really alike. There +are _nuances_ in them. I saw rather a nice one in Violette's this +morning." + +"If you haven't anything better to do than going on buying hats you +don't need--" + +"That's it," said Tuppence. "That's exactly it. If I had something +better to do. I suppose I ought to take up good works. Oh, Tommy, I do +wish something exciting would happen. I feel--I really do feel it would +be good for us. If we could find a fairy--" + +"Ah!" said Tommy. "It is curious your saying that." + +He got up and crossed the room. Opening a drawer of the writing table +he took out a small snapshot print and brought it to Tuppence. + +"Oh!" said Tuppence, "so you have got them developed. Which is this, +the one you took of this room or the one I took?" + +"The one I took. Yours didn't come out. You under exposed it. You +always do." + +"It is nice for you," said Tuppence, "to think that there is one thing +you can do better than me." + +"A foolish remark," said Tommy, "but I will let it pass for the moment. +What I wanted to show you was this." + +He pointed to a small white speck on the photograph. + +"That is a scratch on the film," said Tuppence. + +"Not at all," said Tommy. "That, Tuppence, is a fairy." + +"Tommy, you idiot." + +"Look for yourself." + +He handed her a magnifying glass. Tuppence studied the print +attentively through it. Seen thus by a slight stretch of fancy the +scratch on the film could be imagined to represent a small winged +creature perched on the fender. + +"It has got wings!" cried Tuppence. "What fun, a real live fairy in our +flat. Shall we write to Conan Doyle about it? Oh, Tommy. Do you think +she'll give us wishes?" + +"You will soon know," said Tommy. "You have been wishing hard enough +for something to happen all the afternoon." + +At that minute the door opened, and a tall lad of fifteen who seemed +undecided as to whether he was a footman or a page boy inquired in a +truly magnificent manner: + +"Are you at Home, Madam? The front door bell has just rung." + +"I wish Albert wouldn't go to the Pictures," sighed Tuppence after she +had signified her assent, and Albert had withdrawn. "He's copying a +Long Island butler now. Thank goodness I've cured him of asking for +people's cards and bringing them to me on a salver." + +The door opened again, and Albert announced: "Mr. Carter," much as +though it were a Royal title. + +"The Chief," muttered Tommy, in great surprise. + +Tuppence jumped up with a glad exclamation, and greeted a tall +grey-haired man with piercing eyes and a tired smile. + +"Mr. Carter, I _am_ glad to see you." + +"That's good, Mrs. Tommy. Now answer me a question. How's life +generally?" + +"Satisfactory, but dull," replied Tuppence with a twinkle. + +"Better and better," said Mr. Carter. "I'm evidently going to find you +in the right mood." + +"This," said Tuppence, "sounds exciting." + +Albert, still copying the Long Island butler, brought in tea. When this +operation was completed without mishap and the door had closed behind +him Tuppence burst out once more. + +"You did mean something, didn't you Mr. Carter? Are you going to send +us on a mission into darkest Russia?" + +"Not exactly that," said Mr. Carter. + +"But there is something." + +"Yes--there is something. I don't think you are the kind who shrinks +from risks, are you, Mrs. Tommy?" + +Tuppence's eyes sparkled with excitement. + +"There is certain work to be done for the Department--and I fancied--I +just fancied--that it might suit you two." + +"Go on," said Tuppence. + +"I see that you take the Daily Leader," continued Mr. Carter, picking +up that journal from the table. + +He turned to the advertisement column and indicating a certain +advertisement with his finger pushed the paper across to Tommy. + +"Read that out," he said. + +Tommy complied. + +"The International Detective Agency. Theodore Blunt, Manager. Private +Inquiries. Large staff of confidential and highly skilled Inquiry +Agents. Utmost discretion. Consultations free. 118 Haleham St. W.C." + +He looked inquiringly at Mr. Carter. The latter nodded. + +"That detective agency has been on its last legs for some time," he +murmured. "Friend of mine acquired it for a mere song. We're thinking +of setting it going again--say, for a six months' trial. And during +that time, of course, it will have to have a Manager." + +"What about Mr. Theodore Blunt?" asked Tommy. + +"Mr. Blunt has been rather indiscreet, I'm afraid. In fact, Scotland +Yard have had to interfere. Mr. Blunt is being detained at His +Majesty's expense, and he won't tell us half of what we'd like to know." + +"I see, sir," said Tommy. "At least, I think I see." + +"I suggest that you have six months' leave from the office. Ill health. +And of course if you like to run a detective agency under the name of +Theodore Blunt, it's nothing to do with me." + +Tommy eyed his Chief steadily. + +"Any instructions, sir?" + +"Mr. Blunt did some foreign business, I believe. Look out for blue +letters with a Russian stamp on them. From a ham merchant anxious to +find his wife who came as a Refugee to this country some years ago. +Moisten the stamp and you'll find the number 16 written underneath. +Make a copy of these letters and send the originals on to me. Also if +anyone comes to the office and makes a reference to the number 16, +inform me immediately." + +"I understand, sir," said Tommy. "And apart from these instructions?" + +Mr. Carter picked up his gloves from the table and prepared to depart. + +"You can run the Agency as you please. I fancied--" his eyes twinkled +a little--"that it might amuse Mrs. Tommy to try her hand at a little +detective work." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + A POT OF TEA + + +Mr. and Mrs. Beresford took possession of the offices of the +International Detective Agency a few days later. They were on the +second floor of a somewhat dilapidated building in Bloomsbury. In the +small outer office, Albert relinquished the rôle of a Long Island +butler, and took up that of office boy, a part which he played to +perfection. A paper bag of sweets, inky hands, and a tousled head was +his conception of the character. + +From the outer office, two doors led into inner offices. On one door +was painted the legend "Clerks." On the other "Private." Behind +the latter was a small comfortable room furnished with an immense +businesslike desk, a lot of artistically labelled files, all empty, +and some solid leather-seated chairs. Behind the desk sat the pseudo +Mr. Blunt trying to look as though he had run a detective agency all +his life. A telephone, of course, stood at his elbow. Tuppence and he +had rehearsed several good telephone effects, and Albert also had his +instructions. + +In the adjoining room was Tuppence, a typewriter, the necessary tables +and chairs of an inferior type to those in the room of the great Chief, +and a gas ring for making tea. + +Nothing was wanting, in fact, save clients. + +Tuppence, in the first ecstasies of initiation, had a few bright hopes. + +"It will be too marvellous," she declared. "We will hunt down +murderers, and discover the missing family jewels, and find people +who've disappeared and detect embezzlers." + +At this point Tommy felt it his duty to strike a more discouraging +note. + +"Calm yourself, Tuppence, and try and forget the cheap fiction you are +in the habit of reading. Our clientele, if we have any clientele at +all--will consist solely of husbands who want their wives shadowed, and +wives who want their husbands shadowed. Evidence for divorce is the +sole prop of private inquiry agents." + +"Ugh!" said Tuppence wrinkling a fastidious nose. "We shan't touch +divorce cases. We must raise the tone of our new profession." + +"Ye-es," said Tommy doubtfully. + +And now a week after installation they compare notes rather ruefully. + +"Three idiotic women whose husbands go away for weekends," sighed +Tommy. "Anyone come whilst I was out at lunch?" + +"A fat old man with a flighty wife," sighed Tuppence sadly. "I've read +in the papers for years that the divorce evil was growing, but somehow +I never seemed to realize it until this last week. I'm sick and tired +of saying 'We don't undertake divorce cases.'" + +"We've put it in the advertisements now," Tommy reminded her. "So it +won't be so bad." + +"I'm sure we advertise in the most tempting way too," said Tuppence, +in a melancholy voice. "All the same, I'm not going to be beaten. If +necessary, I shall commit a crime myself, and you will detect it." + +"And what good would that do? Think of my feelings when I bid you a +tender farewell at Bow Street--or is it Vine Street?" + +"You are thinking of your bachelor days," said Tuppence pointedly. + +"The Old Bailey, that is what I mean," said Tommy. + +"Well," said Tuppence, "something has got to be done about it. Here we +are bursting with talent and no chance of exercising it." + +"I always like your cheery optimism, Tuppence. You seem to have no +doubt whatever that you have talent to exercise." + +"Of course," said Tuppence opening her eyes very wide. + +"And yet you have no expert knowledge whatever." + +"Well, I have read every detective novel that has been published in the +last ten years." + +"So have I," said Tommy, "but I have a sort of feeling that that +wouldn't really help us much." + +"You always were a pessimist, Tommy. Belief in oneself--that is the +great thing." + +"Well, you have got it all right," said her husband. + +"Of course it is all right in detective stories," said Tuppence +thoughtfully, "because one works backwards. I mean if one knows the +solution one can arrange the clues. I wonder now--" + +She paused, wrinkling her brows. + +"Yes?" said Tommy, inquiringly. + +"I have got a sort of an idea," said Tuppence. "It hasn't quite come +yet but it's coming." She rose resolutely. "I think I shall go and buy +that hat I told you about." + +"Oh God!" said Tommy. "Another hat!" + +"It's a very nice one," said Tuppence with dignity. + +She went out with a resolute look on her face. + +Once or twice in the following days Tommy inquired curiously about the +idea. Tuppence merely shook her head and told him to give her time. + +And then, one glorious morning, the first client arrived, and all else +was forgotten. + +There was a knock on the outer door of the office and Albert, who had +just placed an acid drop between his lips, roared out an indistinct +'come in.' He then swallowed the acid drop whole in his surprise and +delight. For this looked like the Real Thing. + +A tall young man, exquisitely and beautifully dressed, stood hesitating +in the doorway. + +"A toff, if ever there was one," said Albert to himself. His judgment +in such matters was good. + +The young man was about twenty-four years of age, had beautifully +slicked-back hair, a tendency to pink rims round the eyes, and +practically no chin to speak of. + +In an ecstasy, Albert pressed a button under his desk, and almost +immediately a perfect fusilade of typing broke out from the direction +of 'Clerks.' Tuppence had rushed to the post of duty. The effect of +this hum of industry was to overawe the young man still further. + +"I say," he remarked. "Is this the whatnot--detective agency--Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives? All that sort of stuff, you know? Eh?" + +"Did you want, sir, to speak to Mr. Blunt himself?" inquired Albert, +with an air of doubt as to whether such a thing could be managed. + +"Well--yes, laddie, that was the jolly old idea. Can it be done?" + +"You haven't an appointment, I suppose?" + +The visitor became more and more apologetic. + +"Afraid I haven't." + +"It's always wise, sir, to ring up on the phone first. Mr. Blunt is so +terribly busy. He's engaged on the telephone at the moment. Called into +consultation by Scotland Yard." + +The young man seemed suitably impressed. + +Albert lowered his voice, and imparted information in a friendly +fashion. + +"Important theft of documents from a Government Office. They want Mr. +Blunt to take up the case." + +"Oh! really. I say. He must be no end of a fellow." + +"The Boss, sir," said Albert, "is It." + +The young man sat down on a hard chair, completely unconscious of the +fact that he was being subjected to keen scrutiny by two pairs of eyes +looking through cunningly contrived peepholes--those of Tuppence, in +the intervals of frenzied typing, and those of Tommy awaiting the +suitable moment. + +Presently a bell rang with violence on Albert's desk. + +"The Boss is free now. I will find out whether he can see you," said +Albert, and disappeared through the door marked "Private." + +He reappeared immediately. + +"Will you come this way, sir?" + +The visitor was ushered into the private office, and a pleasant faced +young man with red hair and an air of brisk capability rose to greet +him. + +"Sit down. You wished to consult me? I am Mr. Blunt." + +"Oh! really. I say, you're awfully young, aren't you?" + +"The day of the Old Men is over," said Tommy waving his hand. "Who +caused the War? The Old Men. Who is responsible for the present state +of unemployment? The Old Men. Who is responsible for every single +rotten thing that has happened? Again I say, the Old Men!" + +"I expect you are right," said the client. "I know a fellow who is a +poet--at least he says he is a poet--and he always talks like that." + +"Let me tell you this, sir, not a person on my highly trained staff is +a day over twenty-five. That is the truth." + +Since the highly trained staff consisted of Tuppence and Albert, the +statement was truth itself. + +"And now--the facts," said Mr. Blunt. + +"I want you to find someone that's missing," blurted out the young man. + +"Quite so. Will you give me the details?" + +"Well, you see, it's rather difficult. I mean, it's a frightfully +delicate business and all that. She might be frightfully waxy about it. +I mean--well, it's so dashed difficult to explain." + +He looked helplessly at Tommy. Tommy felt annoyed. He had been on the +point of going out to lunch, but he foresaw that getting the facts out +of this client would be a long and tedious business. + +"Did she disappear of her own free will, or do you suspect abduction?" +he demanded crisply. + +"I don't know," said the young man. "I don't know anything." + +Tommy reached for a pad and pencil. + +"First of all," he said, "will you give me your name? My office boy +is trained never to ask names. In that way consultations can remain +completely confidential." + +"Oh! rather," said the young man. "Jolly good idea. My name--er--my +name's Smith." + +"Oh! no," said Tommy. "The real one, please." + +His visitor looked at him in awe. + +"Er--St. Vincent," he said. "Lawrence St. Vincent." + +"It's a curious thing," said Tommy, "how very few people there are +whose real name is Smith. Personally, I don't know anyone called Smith. +But nine men out of ten who wish to conceal their real name give that +of Smith. I am writing a monograph upon the subject." + +At that moment a buzzer purred discreetly on his desk. That meant that +Tuppence was requesting to take hold. Tommy, who wanted his lunch, and +who felt profoundly unsympathetic towards Mr. St. Vincent, was only too +pleased to relinquish the helm. + +"Excuse me," he said, and picked up the telephone. + +Across his face there shot rapid changes--surprise, consternation, +slight elation. + +"You don't say so," he said into the phone. "The Prime Minister +himself? Of course, in that case, I will come round at once." + +He replaced the receiver on the hook, and turned to his client. + +"My dear sir, I must ask you to excuse me. A most urgent summons. If +you will give the facts of the case to my confidential secretary, she +will deal with them." + +He strode to the adjoining door. + +"Miss Robinson." + +Tuppence, very neat and demure with smooth black head and dainty collar +and cuffs, tripped in. Tommy made the necessary introductions and +departed. + +"A lady you take an interest in has disappeared, I understand, Mr. St. +Vincent," said Tuppence, in her soft voice, as she sat down and took up +Mr. Blunt's pad and pencil. "A young lady?" + +"Oh! rather," said Mr. St. Vincent. "Young--and--and--awfully +good-looking and all that sort of thing." + +Tuppence's face grew grave. + +"Dear me," she murmured. "I hope that--" + +"You don't think anything's really happened to her?" demanded Mr. St. +Vincent, in lively concern. + +"Oh! we must hope for the best," said Tuppence, with a kind of false +cheerfulness which depressed Mr. St. Vincent horribly. + +"Oh! look here, Miss Robinson. I say, you must do something. Spare no +expense. I wouldn't have anything happen to her for the world. You seem +awfully sympathetic, and I don't mind telling you in confidence that +I simply worship the ground that girl walks on. She's a topper, an +absolute topper." + +"Please tell me her name and all about her." + +"Her name's Janet--I don't know her second name. She works in a hat +shop--Madame Violette's in Brook Street--but she's as straight as +they make them. Has ticked me off no end of times--I went round there +yesterday--waiting for her to come out--all the others came, but not +her. Then I found that she'd never turned up that morning to work at +all--sent no message either--old Madame was furious about it. I got +the address of her lodgings, and I went round there. She hadn't come +home the night before, and they didn't know where she was. I was simply +frantic. I thought of going to the police. But I knew that Janet would +be absolutely furious with me for doing that if she were really all +right and had gone off on her own. Then I remembered that she herself +had pointed out your advertisement to me one day in the paper and told +me that one of the women who'd been in buying hats had simply raved +about your ability and discretion and all that sort of thing. So I +toddled along here right away." + +"I see," said Tuppence. "What is the address of her lodgings?" + +The young man gave it to her. + +"That's all, I think," said Tuppence reflectively. "That is to say--am +I to understand that you are engaged to this young lady?" + +Mr. St. Vincent turned a brick red. + +"Well, no--not exactly. I never said anything. But I can tell you this, +I mean to ask her to marry me as soon as ever I see her--if I ever do +see her again." + +Tuppence laid aside her pad. + +"Do you wish for our special twenty-four hour service?" she asked, in +business like tones. + +"What's that?" + +"The fees are doubled, but we put all our available staff on to the +case. Mr. St. Vincent, if the lady is alive, I shall be able to tell +you where she is by this time to-morrow." + +"What? I say, that's wonderful." + +"We only employ experts--and we guarantee results," said Tuppence +crisply. + +"But I say, you know. You must have the most topping staff." + +"Oh! we have," said Tuppence. "By the way, you haven't given me a +description of the young lady." + +"She's got the most marvellous hair--sort of golden, but very deep, +like a jolly old sunset--that's it, a jolly old sunset. You know, I +never noticed things like sunsets until lately. Poetry too, there's a +lot more in poetry than I ever thought." + +"Red hair," said Tuppence unemotionally, writing it down. "What height +should you say the lady was?" + +"Oh! tallish, and she's got ripping eyes, dark blue, I think. And a +sort of decided manner with her--takes a fellow up short sometimes." + +Tuppence wrote down a few words more, then closed her note book and +rose. + +"If you will call here to-morrow at two o'clock, I think we shall have +news of some kind for you," she said. "Good morning, Mr. St. Vincent." + +When Tommy returned Tuppence was just consulting a page of Debrett. + +"I've got all the details," she said succinctly. "Lawrence St. Vincent +is the nephew and heir of the Earl of Cheriton. If we pull this through +we shall get publicity in the highest places." + +Tommy read through the notes on the pad. + +"What do you really think has happened to the girl?" he asked. + +"I think," said Tuppence, "that she has fled at the dictates of her +heart, feeling that she loves this young man too well for her peace of +mind." + +Tommy looked at her doubtfully. + +"I know they do it in books," he said, "but I've never known any girl +who did it in real life." + +"No?" said Tuppence. "Well, perhaps you're right. But I daresay +Lawrence St. Vincent will swallow that sort of slush. He's full +of romantic notions just now. By the way, I guaranteed results in +twenty-four hours--our special service." + +"Tuppence--you congenital idiot, what made you do that?" + +"The idea just came into my head. I thought it sounded rather well. +Don't you worry. Leave it to Mother. Mother knows best." + +She went out, leaving Tommy profoundly dissatisfied. + +Presently he rose, sighed, and went out to do what could be done, +cursing Tuppence's over fervent imagination. + +When he returned weary and jaded at half past four, he found Tuppence +extracting a bag of biscuits from their place of concealment in one of +the files. + +"You look hot and bothered," she remarked. "What have you been doing?" + +Tommy groaned. + +"Making a round of the Hospitals with that girl's description." + +"Didn't I tell you to leave it to me?" demanded Tuppence. + +"You can't find that girl single handed before two o'clock to-morrow." + +"I can--and what's more, I have!" + +"You have? What do you mean?" + +"A simple problem, Watson, very simple indeed." + +"Where is she now?" + +Tuppence pointed a hand over her shoulder. + +"She's in my office next door." + +"What is she doing there?" + +Tuppence began to laugh. + +"Well," she said, "early training will tell, and with a kettle, a gas +ring, and half a pound of tea staring her in the face, the result is a +foregone conclusion." + +"You see," continued Tuppence gently, "Madame Violette's is where I go +for my hats, and the other day I ran across an old pal of Hospital days +amongst the girls there. She gave up nursing after the War and started +a hat shop, failed, and took this job at Madame Violette's. We fixed up +the whole thing between us. She was to rub the advertisement well into +young St. Vincent, and then disappear. Wonderful efficiency of Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives. Publicity for us, and the necessary fillip to +young St. Vincent to bring him to the point of proposing. Janet was in +despair about it." + +"Tuppence," said Tommy, "you take my breath away! The whole thing is +the most immoral business I ever heard of. You aid and abet this young +man to marry out of his class--" + +"Stuff," said Tuppence. "Janet is a splendid girl--and the queer thing +is that she really adores that weak kneed young man. You can see with +half a glance what _his_ family needs. Some good red blood in it. +Janet will be the making of him. She'll look after him like a mother, +ease down the cocktails and the night clubs and make him lead a good +healthy country gentleman's life. Come and meet her." + +Tuppence opened the door of the adjoining office and Tommy followed her. + +A tall girl with lovely auburn hair, and a pleasant face, put down the +steaming kettle in her hand, and turned with a smile that disclosed an +even row of white teeth. + +"I hope you'll forgive me, Nurse Cowley--Mrs. Beresford, I mean. +I thought that very likely you'd be quite ready for a cup of tea +yourself. Many's the pot of tea you've made for me in the Hospital at +three o'clock in the morning." + +"Tommy," said Tuppence. "Let me introduce you to my old friend, Nurse +Smith." + +"Smith, did you say? How curious!" said Tommy, shaking hands. "Eh? Oh! +nothing--a little monograph that I was thinking of writing." + +"Pull yourself together, Tommy," said Tuppence. + +She poured him out a cup of tea. + +"Now, then, let's all drink together. Here's to the success of the +International Detective Agency. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives! May they +never know failure!" + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE AFFAIR OF THE PINK PEARL + + +"What on earth are you doing?" demanded Tuppence, as she entered the +inner sanctum of the International Detective Agency--(Slogan--Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives) and discovered her lord and master prone on the +floor in a sea of books. + +Tommy struggled to his feet. + +"I was trying to arrange these books on the top shelf of that +cupboard," he complained. "And the damned chair gave way." + +"What are they, anyway?" asked Tuppence, picking up a volume. "'The +Hound of the Baskervilles.' I wouldn't mind reading that again some +time." + +"You see the idea?" said Tommy, dusting himself with care. "Half hours +with the Great Masters--that sort of thing. You see, Tuppence, I can't +help feeling that we are more or less amateurs at this business--of +course amateurs in one sense we cannot help being, but it would do no +harm to acquire the technique, so to speak. These books are detective +stories by the leading masters of the art. I intend to try different +styles, and compare results." + +"H'm," said Tuppence. "I often wonder how those detectives would have +got on in real life." She picked up another volume. "You'll find a +difficulty in being a Thorndyke. You've no medical experience, and less +legal, and I never heard that science was your strong point." + +"Perhaps not," said Tommy. "But at any rate I've bought a very good +camera, and I shall photograph footprints and enlarge the negatives and +all that sort of thing. Now, mon ami, use your little grey cells--what +does this convey to you?" + +He pointed to the bottom shelf of the cupboard. On it lay a somewhat +futuristic dressing gown, a turkish slipper, and a violin. + +"Obvious, my dear Watson," said Tuppence. + +"Exactly," said Tommy. "The Sherlock Holmes touch." + +He took up the violin and drew the bow idly across the strings, causing +Tuppence to give a wail of agony. + +At that moment the buzzer rang on the desk, a sign that a client had +arrived in the outer office and was being held in parley by Albert, the +office boy. + +Tommy hastily replaced the violin in the cupboard and kicked the books +behind the desk. + +"Not that there's any great hurry," he remarked. "Albert will be +handing them out the stuff about my being engaged with Scotland Yard on +the phone. Get into your office and start typing, Tuppence. It makes +the office sound busy and active. No, on second thoughts, you shall be +taking notes in shorthand from my dictation. Let's have a look before +we get Albert to send the victim in." + +They approached the peephole which had been artistically contrived so +as to command a view of the outer office. + +The client was a girl of about Tuppence's age, tall and dark with a +rather haggard face and scornful eyes. + +"Clothes cheap and striking," remarked Tuppence. "Have her in, Tommy." + +In another minute the girl was shaking hands with the celebrated Mr. +Blunt, whilst Tuppence sat by with eyes demurely downcast, and pad and +pencil in hand. + +"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Mr. Blunt with a wave +of the hand. "You may speak freely before her." Then he lay back for a +minute, half closed his eyes and remarked in a tired tone: "You must +find traveling in a bus very crowded at this time of day." + +"I came in a taxi," said the girl. + +"Oh!" said Tommy aggrieved. His eyes rested reproachfully on a blue bus +ticket protruding from her glove. The girl's eyes followed his glance, +and she smiled and drew it out. + +"You mean this? I picked it up on the pavement. A little neighbor of +ours collects them." + +Tuppence coughed, and Tommy threw a baleful glare at her. + +"We must get to business," he said briskly. "You are in need of our +services, Miss--?" + +"Kingston Bruce is my name," said the girl. "We live at Wimbledon. Last +night a lady who is staying with us lost a valuable pink pearl. Mr. +St. Vincent was also dining with us, and during dinner he happened to +mention your firm. My mother sent me off to you this morning to ask you +if you would look into the matter for us." + +The girl spoke sullenly, almost disagreeably. It was clear as daylight +that she and her mother had not agreed over the matter. She was here +under protest. + +"I see," said Tommy, a little puzzled. "You have not called in the +police?" + +"No," said Miss Kingston Bruce, "we haven't. It would be idiotic to +call in the police and then find that the silly thing had rolled under +the fireplace, or something like that." + +"Oh!" said Tommy. "Then the jewel may only be lost after all?" + +Miss Kingston Bruce shrugged her shoulders. + +"People make such a fuss about things," she murmured. + +Tommy cleared his throat. + +"Of course," he said doubtfully. "I am extremely busy just now--" + +"I quite understand," said the girl rising to her feet. There was a +quick gleam of satisfaction in her eyes which Tuppence, for one, did +not miss. + +"Nevertheless," continued Tommy, "I think I can manage to run down to +Wimbledon. Will you give me the address, please?" + +"The Laurels, Edgeworth Road." + +"Make a note of it, please, Miss Robinson." + +Miss Kingston Bruce hesitated, then said rather ungraciously: + +"We'll expect you then. Good morning." + +"Funny girl," said Tommy. "I couldn't quite make her out." + +"I wonder if she stole the thing herself," remarked Tuppence +meditatively. "Come on, Tommy, let's put away these books and take the +car and go down there. By the way, who are you going to be, Sherlock +Holmes still?" + +"I think I need practice for that," said Tommy. "I came rather a +cropper over that bus ticket, didn't I?" + +"You did," said Tuppence. "If I were you I shouldn't try too much on +that girl--she's as sharp as a needle. She's unhappy too, poor devil." + +"I suppose you know all about her already," said Tommy with sarcasm, +"simply from looking at the shape of her nose!" + +"I'll tell you my idea of what we shall find at The Laurels," said +Tuppence, quite unmoved. "A household of snobs, very keen to move in +the best society; the father, if there is a father, is sure to have a +military title. The girl falls in with their way of life and despises +herself for doing so." + +Tommy took a last look at the books now neatly arranged upon a shelf. + +"I think," he said thoughtfully, "that I shall be Thorndyke to-day." + +"I shouldn't have thought there was anything medico-legal about this +case," remarked Tuppence. + +"Perhaps not," said Tommy. "But I'm simply dying to use that new camera +of mine! It's supposed to have the most marvelous lens that ever was or +ever could be." + +"I know those kind of lenses," said Tuppence. "By the time you've +adjusted the shutter and stopped down and calculated the exposure and +kept your eyes on the spirit level, your brain gives out, and you yearn +for the simple Brownie." + +"Only an unambitious soul is content with the simple Brownie." + +"Well, I bet I shall get better results with it than you will." + +Tommy ignored this challenge. + +"I ought to have a 'Smoker's Companion,'" he said regretfully. "I +wonder where one buys them?" + +"There's always the patent corkscrew Aunt Araminta gave you last Xmas," +said Tuppence helpfully. + +"That's true," said Tommy. "A curious looking engine of destruction I +thought it at the time, and rather a humorous present to get from a +strictly teetotal aunt." + +"I," said Tuppence, "shall be Polton." + +Tommy looked at her scornfully. + +"Polton indeed. You couldn't begin to do one of the things that he +does." + +"Yes, I can," said Tuppence. "I can rub my hands together when I'm +pleased. That's quite enough to get on with. I hope you're going to +take plaster casts of footprints?" + +Tommy was reduced to silence. Having collected the corkscrew they went +round to the garage, got out the car and started for Wimbledon. + +The Laurels was a big house. It ran somewhat to gables and turrets, had +an air of being very newly painted, and was surrounded with neat flower +beds filled with scarlet geraniums. + +A tall man with a close cropped white moustache, and an exaggeratedly +martial bearing opened the door before Tommy had time to ring. + +"I've been looking out for you," he explained fussily. "Mr. Blunt, is +it not? I am Colonel Kingston Bruce. Will you come into my study?" + +He led them into a small room at the back of the house. + +"Young St. Vincent was telling me wonderful things about your firm. +I've noticed your advertisements myself. This guaranteed twenty-four +hours service of yours--a marvelous notion. That's exactly what I need." + +Inwardly anathematizing Tuppence for her irresponsibility in inventing +this brilliant detail, Tommy replied: "Just so, Colonel." + +"The whole thing is most distressing, sir, most distressing." + +"Perhaps you would kindly give me the facts," said Tommy, with a hint +of impatience. + +"Certainly I will--at once. We have at the present moment staying with +us a very old and dear friend of ours, Lady Laura Barton. Daughter +of the late Earl of Carrowway. The present Earl, her brother, made a +striking speech in the House of Lords the other day. As I say, she is +an old and dear friend of ours. Some American friends of mine who have +just come over, the Hamilton Betts, were most anxious to meet her. +'Nothing easier,' I said. 'She is staying with me now. Come down for +the week-end.' You know what Americans are about titles, Mr. Blunt." + +"And others besides Americans sometimes, Colonel Kingston Bruce." + +"Alas! only too true, my dear sir. Nothing I hate more than a snob. +Well, as I was saying, the Betts came down for the week-end. Last +night--we were playing Bridge at the time--the clasp of a pendant Mrs. +Hamilton Betts was wearing broke, so she took it off and laid it down +on a small table, meaning to take it upstairs with her when she went. +This, however, she forgot to do. I must explain, Mr. Blunt, that the +pendant consisted of two small diamond wings, and a big pink pearl +depending from them. The pendant was found this morning lying where +Mrs. Betts had left it, but the pearl, a pearl of enormous value, had +been wrenched off." + +"Who found the pendant?" + +"The parlormaid--Gladys Hill." + +"Any reason to suspect her?" + +"She has been with us some years, and we have always found her +perfectly honest. But, of course, one never knows--" + +"Exactly. Will you describe your staff, and also tell me who was +present at dinner last night?" + +"There is the cook--she has been with us only two months, but then she +would have no occasion to go near the drawing-room--the same applies to +the kitchen maid. Then there is the housemaid, Alice Cummings. She also +has been with us for some years. And Lady Laura's maid, of course. She +is French." + +Colonel Kingston Bruce looked very impressive as he said this. Tommy, +unaffected by the revelation of the maid's nationality, said: "Exactly. +And the party at dinner?" + +"Mr. and Mrs. Betts, ourselves--(my wife and daughter)--and Lady Laura. +Young St. Vincent was dining with us, and Mr. Rennie looked in after +dinner for a while." + +"Who is Mr. Rennie?" + +"A most pestilential fellow--an arrant socialist. Good looking, of +course, and with a certain specious power of argument. But a man, I +don't mind telling you, whom I wouldn't trust a yard. A dangerous sort +of fellow." + +"In fact," said Tommy drily, "it is Mr. Rennie whom you suspect?" + +"I do, Mr. Blunt. I'm sure, holding the views he does, that he can have +no principles whatsoever. What could have been easier for him than +to have quietly wrenched off the pearl at a moment when we were all +absorbed in our game? There were several absorbing moments--a redoubled +No Trump hand, I remember, and also a painful argument when my wife had +the misfortune to revoke." + +"Quite so," said Tommy. "I should just like to know one thing--what is +Mrs. Betts' attitude in all this?" + +"She wanted me to call in the police," said Colonel Kingston Bruce +reluctantly. "That is, when we had searched everywhere in case the +pearl had only dropped off." + +"But you dissuaded her?" + +"I was very averse to the idea of publicity and my wife and daughter +backed me up. Then my wife remembered young St. Vincent speaking about +your firm at dinner last night--and the twenty-four hours special +service." + +"Yes," said Tommy with a heavy heart. + +"You see, in any case no harm will be done. If we call in the police +to-morrow, it can be supposed that we thought the jewel merely lost and +were hunting for it. By the way, nobody has been allowed to leave the +house this morning." + +"Except your daughter, of course," said Tuppence, speaking for the +first time. + +"Except my daughter," agreed the Colonel. "She volunteered at once to +go and put the case before you." + +Tommy rose. + +"We will do our best to give you satisfaction, Colonel," he said. "I +should like to see the drawing-room, and the table on which the pendant +was laid down. I should also like to ask Mrs. Betts a few questions. +After that, I will interview the servants--or rather my assistant, Miss +Robinson, will do so." + +He felt his nerve quailing before the terrors of questioning the +servants. + +Colonel Kingston Bruce threw open the door, and led them across the +hall. As he did so, a remark came to them clearly through the open door +of the room they were approaching, and the voice that uttered it was +that of the girl who had come to see them that morning. + +"You know perfectly well, mother," she was saying, "that she _did_ +bring home a teaspoon in her muff." + +In another minute they were being introduced to Mrs. Kingston Bruce, a +plaintive lady with a languid manner. Miss Kingston Bruce acknowledged +their presence with a short inclination of the head. Her face was more +sullen than ever. + +Mrs. Kingston Bruce was voluble. + +"--but I know who _I_ think took it," she ended. "That dreadful +socialist young man. He loves the Russians and the Germans and hates +the English--what else can you expect?" + +"He never touched it," said Miss Kingston Bruce fiercely. "I was +watching him--all the time. I couldn't have failed to see if he had." + +She looked at them defiantly with her chin up. + +Tommy created a diversion by asking for an interview with Mrs. Betts. +When Mrs. Kingston Bruce had departed accompanied by her husband and +daughter to find Mrs. Betts, he whistled thoughtfully. + +"I wonder," he said gently, "who it was who had a teaspoon in her muff?" + +"Just what I was thinking," replied Tuppence. + +Mrs. Betts, followed by her husband, burst into the room. She was a big +woman with a determined voice. Mr. Hamilton Betts looked dyspeptic and +subdued. + +"I understand, Mr. Blunt, that you are a private inquiry agent, and one +who hustles things through at a great rate?" + +"Hustle," said Tommy, "is my middle name, Mrs. Betts. Let me ask you a +few questions." + +Thereafter things proceeded rapidly. Tommy was shown the damaged +pendant, the table on which it had lain, and Mr. Betts emerged from his +taciturnity to mention the value, in dollars, of the stolen pearl. + +And withal, Tommy felt an irritating certainty that he was not getting +on. + +"I think that will do," he said at length. "Miss Robinson, will you +kindly fetch the special photographic apparatus from the hall?" + +Miss Robinson complied. + +"A little invention of my own," said Tommy. "In appearance, you see, it +is just like an ordinary camera." + +He had some slight satisfaction in seeing that the Betts were impressed. + +He photographed the pendant, the table on which it had lain, and +took several general views of the apartment. Then "Miss Robinson" +was delegated to interview the servants, and in view of the eager +expectancy on the faces of Colonel Kingston Bruce and Mrs. Betts, Tommy +felt called upon to say a few authoritative words. + +"The position amounts to this," he said. "Either the pearl is still in +the house, or it is not still in the house." + +"Quite so," said the Colonel with more respect than was, perhaps, quite +justified by the nature of the remark. + +"If it is not in the house, it may be anywhere--but if it is in the +house, it must necessarily be concealed somewhere--" + +"And a search must be made," broke in Colonel Kingston Bruce. "Quite +so. I give you carte blanche, Mr. Blunt. Search the house from attic to +cellar." + +"Oh! Charles," murmured Mrs. Kingston Bruce tearfully. "Do you think +that is wise? The servants won't _like_ it. I'm sure they'll leave." + +"We will search their quarters last," said Tommy soothingly. "The thief +is sure to have hidden the gem in the most unlikely place." + +"I seem to have read something of the kind," agreed the Colonel. + +"Quite so," said Tommy. "You probably remember the case of Rex. _v._ +Bailey which created a precedent." + +"Oh--er--yes," said the Colonel looking puzzled. + +"Now, the most unlikely place is in the apartments of Mrs. Betts," +continued Tommy. + +"My! Wouldn't that be too cute?" said Mrs. Betts admiringly. + +Without more ado, she took him up to her room where Tommy once more +made use of the special photographic apparatus. + +Presently Tuppence joined him there. + +"You have no objection, I hope, Mrs. Betts, to my assistant's looking +through your wardrobe?" + +"Why, not at all. Do you need me here any longer?" + +Tommy assured her that there was no need to detain her, and Mrs. Betts +departed. + +"We might as well go on bluffing it out," said Tommy. "But personally I +don't believe we've a dog's chance of finding the thing. Curse you and +your twenty-four hours stunt, Tuppence." + +"Listen," said Tuppence. "The servants are all right, I'm sure, but +I managed to get something out of the French maid. It seems that when +Lady Laura was staying here a year ago, she went out to tea with some +friends of the Kingston Bruces', and when she got home a teaspoon fell +out of her muff. Everyone thought it must have fallen in by accident. +But, talking about similar robberies, I got hold of a lot more. Lady +Laura is always staying about with people. She hasn't got a bean, I +gather, and she's out for comfortable quarters with people to whom a +title still means something. It may be a coincidence--or it may be +something more, but five distinct thefts have taken place whilst she +has been staying in various houses, sometimes trivial things, sometimes +valuable jewels." + +"Whew!" said Tommy, and gave vent to a prolonged whistle. "Where's the +old bird's room, do you know?" + +"Just across the passage." + +"Then I think, I rather think, that we'll just slip across and +investigate." + +The room opposite stood with its door ajar. It was a spacious +apartment, with white enameled fitments and rose pink curtains. An +inner door led to a bathroom. At the door of this appeared a slim dark +girl, very neatly dressed. + +Tuppence checked the exclamation of astonishment on the girl's lips. + +"This is Elise, Mr. Blunt," she said primly. "Lady Laura's maid." + +Tommy stepped across the threshold of the bathroom, and approved +inwardly its sumptuous and up to date fittings. He set to work to +dispel the wide stare of suspicion on the French girl's face. + +"You are busy with your duties, eh, Mademoiselle Elise?" + +"Yes, Monsieur, I clean Milady's bath." + +"Well, perhaps you'll help me with some photography instead. I have a +special kind of camera here, and I am photographing the interiors of +all the rooms in this house." + +He was interrupted by the communicating door to the bedroom banging +suddenly behind him. Elise jumped at the sound. + +"What did that?" + +"It must have been the wind," said Tuppence. + +"We will come into the other room," said Tommy. + +Elise went to open the door for them, but the door knob rattled +aimlessly. + +"What's the matter?" said Tommy sharply. + +"Ah, Monsieur, but someone must have locked it on the other side." She +caught up a towel and tried again. But this time the door handle turned +easily enough, and the door swung open. + +"_Voilà ce qui est curieux._ It must have stuck," said Elise. + +There was no one in the bedroom. + +Tommy fetched his apparatus. Tuppence and Elise worked under his +orders. But again and again his glance went back to the communicating +door. + +"I wonder," he said between his teeth. "I wonder why that door stuck?" + +He examined it minutely, shutting and opening it. It fitted perfectly. + +"One picture more," he said with a sigh. "Will you loop back that rose +curtain, Mademoiselle Elise? Thank you. Just hold it so." + +The familiar click occurred. He handed a glass slide to Elise to hold, +relinquished the tripod to Tuppence, and carefully readjusted and +closed the camera. + +He made some easy excuse to get rid of Elise, and as soon as she was +out of the room, he caught hold of Tuppence and spoke rapidly. + +"Look here, I've got an idea. Can you hang on here? Search all the +rooms--that will take some time. Try and get an interview with the +old bird--Lady Laura--but don't alarm her. Tell her you suspect the +parlormaid. But whatever you do, don't let her leave the house. I'm +going off in the car. I'll be back as soon as I can." + +"All right," said Tuppence. "But don't be too cocksure. You've +forgotten one thing." + +"What's that?" + +"The girl. There's something funny about that girl. Listen, I've found +out the time she started from the house this morning. It took her two +hours to get to our office. That's nonsense. Where did she go before +she came to us?" + +"There's something in that," admitted her husband. "Well, follow up +any old clue you like, but don't let Lady Laura leave the house. What's +that?" + +His quick ear had caught a faint rustle outside on the landing. He +strode across to the door, but there was no one to be seen. + +"Well, so long," he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE AFFAIR OF THE PINK PEARL (continued) + + +Tuppence watched him drive off in the car with a faint misgiving. Tommy +was very sure--she herself was not so sure. There were one or two +things she did not quite understand. + +She was still standing by the window, watching the road, when she saw +a man leave the shelter of a gateway opposite, cross the road and ring +the bell. + +In a flash Tuppence was out of the room and down the stairs. Gladys +Hill, the parlormaid, was emerging from the back part of the house, but +Tuppence motioned her back authoritatively. Then she went to the front +door and opened it. + +A lanky young man with ill-fitting clothes, and eager dark eyes was +standing on the step. + +He hesitated a moment, and then said, "Is Miss Kingston Bruce in?" + +"Will you come inside?" said Tuppence. + +She stood aside to let him enter, closing the door. + +"Mr. Rennie, I think?" she said sweetly. + +He shot a quick glance at her. + +"Er--yes." + +"Will you come in here, please?" + +She opened the study door. The room was empty, and Tuppence entered it +after him, closing the door behind her. He turned on her with a frown. + +"I want to see Miss Kingston Bruce." + +"I am not quite sure that you can," said Tuppence composedly. + +"Look here, who the devil are you?" said Mr. Rennie rudely. + +"International Detective Agency," said Tuppence succinctly--and noticed +Mr. Rennie's uncontrollable start. + +"Please sit down, Mr. Rennie," she went on. "To begin with, we know all +about Miss Kingston Bruce's visit to you this morning." + +It was a bold guess, but it succeeded. Perceiving his consternation, +Tuppence went on quickly. + +"The recovery of the pearl is the great thing, Mr. Rennie. No one +in this house is anxious for--publicity. Can't we come to some +arrangement?" + +The young man looked at her keenly. + +"I wonder how much you know," he said thoughtfully. "Let me think for a +moment." + +He buried his head in his hands--then asked a most unexpected question. + +"I say, is it really true that young St. Vincent is engaged to be +married?" + +"Quite true," said Tuppence. "I know the girl." + +Mr. Rennie suddenly became confidential. + +"It's been hell," he confided. "They've been asking him here morning, +noon and night--chucking Beatrice at his head. All because he'll come +into a title some day. If I had my way--" + +"Don't let's talk politics," said Tuppence hastily. "Do you mind +telling me, Mr. Rennie, why you think Miss Kingston Bruce took the +pearl?" + +"I--I don't." + +"You do," said Tuppence calmly. "You wait to see the detective, as you +think, drive off and the coast clear, and then you come and ask for +her. It's obvious. If you'd taken the pearl yourself, you wouldn't be +half so upset." + +"Her manner was so odd," said the young man. "She came this morning and +told me about the robbery, explaining that she was on her way to a firm +of private detectives. She seemed anxious to say something, and yet not +able to get it out." + +"Well," said Tuppence. "All I want is the pearl. You'd better go and +talk to her." + +But at that moment Colonel Kingston Bruce opened the door. + +"Lunch is ready, Miss Robinson. You will lunch with us, I hope. The--" + +Then he stopped and glared at the guest. + +"Clearly," said Mr. Rennie, "you don't want to ask me to lunch. All +right, I'll go." + +"Come back later," whispered Tuppence, as he passed her. + +Tuppence followed Colonel Kingston Bruce, still growling into his +moustache about the pestilential impudence of some people, into a +massive dining-room where the family was already assembled. Only one +person present was unknown to Tuppence. + +"This, Lady Laura, is Miss Robinson who is kindly assisting us." + +Lady Laura bent her head, and then proceeded to stare at Tuppence +through her pince nez. She was a tall, thin woman, with a sad smile, a +gentle voice, and very hard shrewd eyes. Tuppence returned her stare, +and Lady Laura's eyes dropped. + +After lunch Lady Laura entered into conversation with an air of gentle +curiosity. How was the inquiry proceeding? Tuppence laid suitable +stress on the suspicion attaching to the parlormaid, but her mind was +not really on Lady Laura. Lady Laura might conceal teaspoons and other +articles in her clothing, but Tuppence felt fairly sure that she had +not taken the pink pearl. + +Presently Tuppence proceeded with her search of the house. Time was +going on. There was no sign of Tommy, and, what mattered far more to +Tuppence, there was no sign of Mr. Rennie. Suddenly Tuppence came out +of a bedroom and collided with Beatrice Kingston Bruce who was going +down stairs. She was fully dressed for the street. + +"I'm afraid," said Tuppence, "that you mustn't go out just now." + +The other girl looked at her haughtily. + +"Whether I go out or not is no business of yours," she said coldly. + +"It is my business whether I communicate with the police or not, +though," said Tuppence. + +In a minute the girl had turned ashy pale. + +"You mustn't--you mustn't--I won't go out--but don't do that." She +clung to Tuppence beseechingly. + +"My dear Miss Kingston Bruce," said Tuppence smiling. "The case has +been perfectly clear to me from the start--I--" + +But she was interrupted. In the stress of her encounter with the girl, +Tuppence had not heard the front door bell. Now, to her astonishment, +Tommy came bounding up the stairs, and in the hall below she caught +sight of a big burly man in the act of removing a bowler hat. + +"Detective Inspector Marriot of Scotland Yard," he said with a grin. + +With a cry, Beatrice Kingston Bruce tore herself from Tuppence's grasp +and dashed down the stairs, just as the front door was opened once more +to admit Mr. Rennie. + +"Now you _have_ torn it," said Tuppence bitterly. + +"Eh?" said Tommy, hurrying into Lady Laura's room. He passed on into +the bathroom, and picked up a large cake of soap which he brought out +in his hands. The Inspector was just mounting the stairs. + +"She went quite quietly," he announced. "She's an old hand, and knows +when the game is up. What about the pearl?" + +"I rather fancy," said Tommy, handing him the soap, "that you'll find +it in here." + +The Inspector's eyes lit up appreciatively. + +"An old trick, and a good one. Cut a cake of soap in half, scoop out a +place for the jewel, clap it together again, and smooth the joint well +over with hot water. A very smart piece of work on your part, sir." + +Tommy accepted the compliment gracefully. He and Tuppence descended the +stairs. Colonel Kingston Bruce rushed at him and shook him warmly by +the hand. + +"My dear sir, I can't thank you enough. Lady Laura wants to thank you +also--" + +"I am glad we have given you satisfaction," said Tommy. "But I'm afraid +I can't stop. I have a most urgent appointment. Member of the Cabinet." + +He hurried out to the car and jumped in. Tuppence jumped in beside him. + +"But Tommy," she cried. "Haven't they arrested Lady Laura, after all?" + +"Oh!" said Tommy. "Didn't I tell you? They've not arrested Lady Laura. +They've arrested Elise." + +"You see," he went on, as Tuppence sat dumbfounded, "I've often tried +to open a door with soap on my hands myself. It can't be done--your +hands slip. So I wondered what Elise could have been doing with the +soap to get her hands as soapy as all that. She caught up a towel, you +remember, so there were no traces of soap on the handle afterwards. But +it occurred to me that if you were a professional thief, it wouldn't +be a bad plan to be maid to a lady suspected of kleptomania who stayed +about a good deal in different houses. So I managed to get a photo +of her as well as of the room, induced her to handle a glass slide +and toddled off to dear old Scotland Yard. Lightning development of +negative, successful identification of fingerprints--and photo. Elise +was a long lost friend. Useful place, Scotland Yard." + +"And to think," said Tuppence, finding her voice, "that those two young +idiots were only suspecting each other in that weak way they do it in +books. But why didn't you tell me what you were up to when you went +off?" + +"In the first place, I suspected that Elise was listening on the +landing, and in the second place--" + +"Yes?" + +"My learned friend forgets," said Tommy. "Thorndyke never tells until +the last moment. Besides, Tuppence, you and your pal Janet Smith put +one over on me last time. This makes us all square." + + + + + CHAPTER V + + THE ADVENTURE OF THE SINISTER STRANGER + + +"It's been a darned dull day," said Tommy, and yawned widely. + +"Nearly tea time," said Tuppence and also yawned. + +Business was not brisk in the International Detective Agency. The +eagerly expected letter from the ham merchant had not arrived and bona +fide cases were not forthcoming. + +Albert, the office boy, entered with a sealed package which he laid on +the table. + +"The Mystery of the Sealed Packet," murmured Tommy. "Did it contain the +fabulous pearls of the Russian Grand Duchess? Or was it an infernal +machine destined to blow Blunt's Brilliant Detectives to pieces?" + +"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, tearing open the package, "it's +my wedding present to Francis Haviland. Rather nice, isn't it?" + +Tommy took a slender silver cigarette case from her outstretched hand, +noted the inscription engraved in her own handwriting: _Francis from +Tuppence_, opened and shut the case, and nodded approvingly. + +"You do throw your money about, Tuppence," he remarked. "I'll have one +like it, only in gold, for my birthday next month. Fancy wasting a +thing like that on Francis Haviland, who always was and always will be +one of the most perfect asses God ever made!" + +"You forget I used to drive him about during the War, when he was a +General. Ah! those were the good old days." + +"They were," agreed Tommy. "Beautiful women used to come and squeeze +my hand in Hospital, I remember. But I don't send them all wedding +presents. I don't believe the bride will care much for this gift of +yours, Tuppence." + +"It's nice and slim for the pocket, isn't it?" said Tuppence +disregarding his remarks. + +Tommy slipped it into his own pocket. + +"Just right," he said approvingly. "Hullo, here is Albert with +the afternoon post. Very possibly the Duchess of Perthshire is +commissioning us to find her prize Peke." + +They sorted through the letters together. Suddenly Tommy gave vent to a +prolonged whistle, and held up one of them in his hand. + +"A blue letter with a Russian stamp on it. Do you remember what the +Chief said? We were to look out for letters like that." + +"How exciting," said Tuppence. "Something has happened at last. Open it +and see if the contents are up to schedule. A ham merchant, wasn't it? +Half a minute. We shall want some milk for tea. They forgot to leave it +this morning. I'll send Albert out for it." + +She returned from the outer office, after despatching Albert on his +errand, to find Tommy holding the blue sheet of paper in his hand. + +"As we thought, Tuppence," he remarked. "Almost word for word what the +Chief said." + +Tuppence took the letter from him and read it. + +It was couched in careful stilted English, and purported to be from +one Gregor Feodorsky who was anxious for news of his wife. The +International Detective Agency was urged to spare no expense in doing +their utmost to trace her. Feodorsky himself was unable to leave Russia +at the moment owing to a crisis in the Pork trade. + +"I wonder what it really means," said Tuppence thoughtfully, smoothing +out the sheet on the table in front of her. + +"Code of some kind, I suppose," said Tommy. "That's not our business. +Our business is to hand it over to the Chief as soon as possible. +Better just verify it by soaking off the stamp and seeing if the number +16 is underneath." + +"All right," said Tuppence. "But I should think--" + +She stopped dead, and Tommy, surprised by her sudden pause, looked up +to see a man's burly figure blocking the doorway. + +The intruder was a man of commanding presence, squarely built, with a +very round head and a powerful jaw. He might have been about forty-five +years of age. + +"I must beg your pardon," said the stranger, advancing into the room, +hat in hand. "I found your outer office empty, and this door open, so I +ventured to intrude. This is Blunt's International Detective Agency, is +it not?" + +"Certainly it is." + +"And you are, perhaps, Mr. Blunt? Mr. Theodore Blunt?" + +"I am Mr. Blunt. You wished to consult me? This is my secretary, Miss +Robinson." + +Tuppence inclined her head gracefully, but continued to scrutinise the +stranger narrowly through her downcast eyelashes. She was wondering how +long he had been standing in the doorway, and how much he had seen and +heard. It did not escape her observation that even while he was talking +to Tommy, his eyes kept coming back to the blue paper in her hand. + +Tommy's voice, sharp with a warning note, recalled her to the needs of +the moment. + +"Miss Robinson, please, take notes. Now, sir, will you kindly state the +matter on which you wish to have my advice?" + +Tuppence reached for her pad and pencil. + +The big man began in rather a harsh voice. + +"My name is Bower. Dr. Charles Bower. I live in Hampstead where I have +a practice. I have come to you, Mr. Blunt, because several rather +strange occurrences have happened lately." + +"Yes, Dr. Bower?" + +"Twice in the course of the last week, I have been summoned by +telephone to an urgent case--in each case to find that the summons +has been a fake. The first time I thought a practical joke had been +played upon me, but on my return the second time, I found that some +of my private papers had been displaced and disarranged, and I now +believe that the same thing had happened the first time. I made an +exhaustive search and came to the conclusion that my whole desk had +been thoroughly ransacked, and the various papers replaced hurriedly." + +Dr. Bower paused, and gazed at Tommy. + +"Well, Mr. Blunt?" + +"Well, Dr. Bower," replied the young man smiling. + +"What do you think of it, eh?" + +"Well, first I should like the facts. What do you keep in your desk?" + +"My private papers." + +"Exactly. Now, what do those private papers consist of? What value are +they to the common thief--or any particular person?" + +"To the common thief I cannot see that they would have any value at +all, but my notes on certain obscure alkaloids would be of interest +to anyone possessed of technical knowledge on the subject. I have +been making a study of such matters for the last few years. These +alkaloids are deadly and virulent poisons, and are, in addition, almost +untraceable. They yield no known reactions." + +"The secret of them would be worth money, then?" + +"To unscrupulous persons, yes." + +"And you suspect--whom?" + +The doctor shrugged his massive shoulders. + +"As far as I can tell, the house was not entered forcibly from the +outside. That seems to point to some member of my household, and yet +I cannot believe--" He broke off abruptly, then began again, his face +very grave. + +"Mr. Blunt, I must place myself in your hands unreservedly. I dare +not go to the police in the matter. Of my three servants I am almost +entirely sure. They have served me long and faithfully. Still, one +never knows. Then I have living with me my two nephews, Bertram and +Henry. Henry is a good boy--a very good boy--he has never caused me +any anxiety, an excellent hard-working young fellow. Bertram, I regret +to say, is of quite a different character--wild, extravagant, and +persistently idle." + +"I see," said Tommy thoughtfully. "You suspect your nephew Bertram of +being mixed up in this business. Now I don't agree with you. I suspect +the good boy--Henry." + +"But why?" + +"Tradition. Precedent." Tommy waved his hand airily. "In my experience, +the suspicious characters are always innocent--and vice versa, my dear +sir. Yes, decidedly, I suspect Henry." + +"Excuse me, Mr. Blunt," said Tuppence, interrupting in a deferential +voice. "Did I understand Dr. Bower to say that these notes +on--er--obscure alkaloids--are kept in the desk with the other papers?" + +"They are kept in the desk, my dear young lady, but in a secret drawer, +the position of which is known only to myself. Hence they have so far +defied the search." + +"And what exactly do you want me to do, Dr. Bower?" asked Tommy. "Do +you anticipate that a further search will be made?" + +"I do, Mr. Blunt. I have every reason to believe so. This afternoon, +I received a telegram from a patient of mine whom I ordered to +Bournemouth a few weeks ago. The telegram states that my patient is +in a critical condition, and begs me to come down at once. Rendered +suspicious by the events I have told you of, I myself despatched a +telegram, prepaid, to the patient in question, and elicited the fact +that he was in good health and had sent no summons to me of any kind. +It occurred to me that if I pretended to have been taken in, and duly +departed to Bournemouth, we should have a very good chance of finding +the miscreants at work. They--or he--will doubtless wait until the +household has retired to bed before commencing operations. I suggest +that you should meet me outside my house at eleven o'clock this +evening, and we will investigate the matter together." + +"Hoping, in fact, to catch them in the act." Tommy drummed thoughtfully +on the table with a paper knife. "Your plan seems to me an excellent +one, Dr. Bower. I cannot see any hitch in it. Let me see, your address +is--?" + +"The Larches, Hangman's Lane--rather a lonely part, I am afraid. But we +command magnificent views over the Heath." + +"Quite so," said Tommy. + +The visitor rose. + +"Then I shall expect you to-night, Mr. Blunt. Outside The Larches +at--shall we say, five minutes to eleven--to be on the safe side?" + +"Certainly. Five minutes to eleven. Good afternoon, Dr. Bower." + +Tommy rose, pressed the buzzer on his desk, and Albert appeared to show +the client out. The doctor walked with a decided limp, but his powerful +physique was evident in spite of it. + +"An ugly customer to tackle," murmured Tommy to himself. "Well, +Tuppence, old girl, what do you think of it?" + +"I'll tell you in one word," said Tuppence. "_Clubfoot!_" + +"What?" + +"I said Clubfoot! My study of the Classics has not been in vain. Tommy, +this thing's a plant. Obscure alkaloids indeed--I never heard a weaker +story." + +"Even I did not find it very convincing," admitted her husband. + +"Did you see his eyes on the letter? Tommy, he's one of the gang. +They've got wise to the fact that you're not the real Mr. Blunt, and +they're out for our blood." + +"In that case," said Tommy, opening the side cupboard, and surveying +his rows of books with an affectionate eye. "Our rôle is easy to +select. We are the brothers Okewood! And I am Desmond," he added firmly. + +Tuppence shrugged her shoulders. + +"All right. Have it your own way. I'd just as soon be Francis. Francis +was much the more intelligent of the two. Desmond always gets into a +mess, and Francis turns up as the gardener or something in the nick of +time, and saves the situation." + +"Ah!" said Tommy, "but I shall be a super Desmond! When I arrive at The +Larches--" + +Tuppence interrupted him unceremoniously. + +"You're not going to Hampstead to-night?" + +"Why not?" + +"Walk into a trap with your eyes shut!" + +"No, my dear girl, walk into a trap with my eyes open. There's a lot of +difference. I think our friend Dr. Bower will get a little surprise." + +"I don't like it," said Tuppence. "You know what happens when Desmond +disobeys the Chief's orders, and acts on his own. Our orders were quite +clear. To send on the letters at once and to report immediately on +anything that happened." + +"You've not got it quite right," said Tommy. "We were to report +immediately if anyone came in and mentioned the number 16. Nobody has." + +"That's a quibble," said Tuppence. + +"It's no good. I've got a fancy for playing a lone hand. My dear old +Tuppence, I shall be all right. I shall go armed to the teeth. The +essence of the whole thing is that I shall be on my guard and they +won't know it. The Chief will be patting me on the back for a good +night's work." + +"Well," said Tuppence. "I don't like it. That man's as strong as a +gorilla." + +"Ah!" said Tommy, "but think of my blue-nosed automatic." + +The door of the outer office opened and Albert appeared. Closing the +door behind him, he approached them with an envelope in his hand. + +"A gentleman to see you," said Albert. "When I began the usual stunt +of saying you were engaged with Scotland Yard, he told me he knew all +about that. Said he came from Scotland Yard himself! And he wrote +something on a card and stuck it up in this envelope." + +Tommy took the envelope and opened it. As he read the card, a grin +passed across his face. + +"The gentleman was amusing himself at your expense by speaking the +truth, Albert," he remarked. "Show him in." + +He tossed the card to Tuppence. It bore the name Detective Inspector +Dymchurch, and across it was scrawled in pencil--"A friend of +Marriot's." + +In another minute the Scotland Yard detective was entering the inner +office. In appearance, Inspector Dymchurch was of the same type as +Inspector Marriot, short and thick set, with shrewd eyes. + +"Good afternoon," said the detective breezily. "Marriot's away in South +Wales, but before he went, he asked me to keep an eye on you two, and +on this place in general. Oh! bless you, sir," he went on, as Tommy +seemed about to interrupt him, "_we_ know all about it. It's not our +department, and we don't interfere. But somebody's got wise lately to +the fact that all is not what it seems. You've had a gentleman here +this afternoon. I don't know what he called himself, and I don't know +what his real name is, but I know just a little about him. Enough to +want to know more. Am I right in assuming that he made a date with you +for some particular spot this evening?" + +"Quite right." + +"I thought as much. 16 Westerham Road, Finsbury Park? Was that it?" + +"You're wrong there," said Tommy with a smile. "Dead wrong. The +Larches, Hampstead." + +Dymchurch seemed honestly taken aback. Clearly he had not expected this. + +"I don't understand it," he muttered. "It must be a new layout. The +Larches, Hampstead, you said?" + +"Yes. I'm to meet him there at eleven o'clock to-night." + +"Don't you do it, sir." + +"There!" burst from Tuppence. + +Tommy flushed. + +"If you think, Inspector--" he began heatedly. + +But the Inspector raised a soothing hand. + +"I'll tell you what I think, Mr. Blunt. The place you want to be at +eleven o'clock to-night is here in this office." + +"What?" cried Tuppence, astonished. + +"Here in this office. Never mind how I know--departments overlap +sometimes--but you got one of those famous "Blue" letters to-day. Old +what's his name is after that. He lures you up to Hampstead, makes +quite sure of your being out of the way, and steps in here at night +when all the building is empty and quiet to have a good search round at +his leisure." + +"But why should he think the letter would be here? He'd know I should +have it on me or else have passed it on." + +"Begging your pardon, sir, that's just what he wouldn't know. He may +have tumbled to the fact that you're not the original Mr. Blunt, but +he probably thinks that you're a bona fide gentleman who's bought the +business. In that case, the letter would be all in the way of regular +business and would be filed as such." + +"I see," said Tuppence. + +"And that's just what we've got to let him think. We'll catch him red +handed here to-night." + +"So that's the plan, is it?" + +"Yes. It's the chance of a lifetime. Now, let me see, what's the time? +Six o'clock. What time do you usually leave here, sir?" + +"About six." + +"You must seem to leave the place as usual. Actually we'll sneak back +to it as soon as possible. I don't believe they'll come here till about +eleven, but of course they might. If you'll excuse me, I'll just go and +take a look round outside and see if I can make out anyone watching the +place." + +Dymchurch departed, and Tommy began an argument with Tuppence. + +It lasted some time and was heated and acrimonious. In the end Tuppence +suddenly capitulated. + +"All right," she said. "I give in. I'll go home, and sit there +like a good little girl whilst you tackle crooks and hob nob with +detectives--but you wait, young man. I'll be even with you yet for +keeping me out of the fun." + +Dymchurch returned at that moment. + +"Coast seems clear enough," he said. "But you can't tell. Better seem +to leave in the usual manner. They won't go on watching the place once +you've gone." + +Tommy called Albert, and gave him instructions to lock up. + +Then the four of them made their way to the garage near by where the +car was usually left. Tuppence drove and Albert sat beside her. Tommy +and the detective sat behind. + +Presently they were held up by a block in the traffic. Tuppence looked +over her shoulder and nodded. Tommy and the detective opened the right +hand door, and stepped out into the middle of Oxford Street. In a +minute or two Tuppence drove on. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE ADVENTURE OF THE SINISTER STRANGER (continued) + + +"Better not go in just yet," said Dymchurch as he and Tommy hurried +into Haleham Street. "You've got the key all right?" + +Tommy nodded. + +"Then what about a bite of dinner? It's early, but there's a little +place here right opposite. We'll get a table by the window, so that we +can watch the place all the time." + +They had a very welcome little meal, in the manner the detective had +suggested. Tommy found Inspector Dymchurch quite an entertaining +companion. Most of his official work had lain amongst international +spies, and he had tales to tell which astonished his simple listener. + +They remained in the little Restaurant until eight o'clock when +Dymchurch suggested a move. + +"It's quite dark now, sir," he explained. "We shall be able to slip in +without anyone being the wiser." + +It was, as he said, quite dark. They crossed the road, looked quickly +up and down the deserted street, and slipped inside the entrance. Then +they mounted the stairs, and Tommy inserted his key in the lock of the +outer office. + +Just as he did so, he heard, as he thought, Dymchurch whistle beside +him. + +"What are you whistling for?" he asked sharply. + +"_I_ didn't whistle," said Dymchurch, very much astonished, "I thought +_you_ did." + +"Well, someone--" began Tommy. + +He got no further. Strong arms seized him from behind, and before he +could cry out, a pad of something sweet and sickly was pressed over his +mouth and nose. + +He struggled valiantly, but in vain. The chloroform did its work. His +head began to whirl and the floor heaved up and down in front of him. +Choking, he lost consciousness.... + +He came to himself painfully but in full possession of his faculties. +The chloroform had been only a whiff. They had kept him under long +enough to force a gag into his mouth and ensure that he did not cry out. + +When he came to himself, he was half lying, half sitting, propped +against the wall in a corner of his own inner office. Two men were +busily turning out the contents of the desk, and ransacking the +cupboards, and as they worked they cursed freely. + +"Swelp me, guvnor," said the taller of the two hoarsely, "we've turned +the whole bloody place upside down and inside out. It's not there." + +"It must be here," snarled the other. "It isn't on him. And there's no +other place it can be." + +As he spoke he turned, and to Tommy's utter amazement he saw that +the last speaker was none other than Inspector Dymchurch. The latter +grinned when he saw Tommy's astonished face. + +"So our young friend is awake again," he said. "And a little +surprised--yes, a little surprised. But it was so simple. We suspect +that all is not as it should be with the International Detective +Agency. I volunteer to find out if that is so, or not. If the new Mr. +Blunt is indeed a spy, he will be suspicious, so I send first my dear +old friend Carl Bauer. Carl is told to act suspiciously and pitch an +improbable tale. He does so, and then I appear on the scene. I use the +name of Inspector Marriot to gain confidence. The rest is easy." + +He laughed. + +Tommy was dying to say several things, but the gag in his mouth +prevented him. Also, he was dying to _do_ several things--mostly with +his hands and feet--but alas, that too had been attended to. He was +securely bound. + +The thing that amazed him most was the astounding change in the man +standing over him. As Inspector Dymchurch, the fellow had been a +typical Englishman. Now, no one could have mistaken him for a moment +for anything but a well educated foreigner who talked English perfectly +without trace of accent. + +"Coggins, my good friend," said the erstwhile Inspector, addressing +his ruffianly looking associate. "Take your life preserver and stand +by the prisoner. I am going to remove the gag. You understand, my dear +Mr. Blunt, do you not, that it would be criminally foolish on your +part to cry out? But I am sure you do. For your age, you are quite an +intelligent lad." + +Very deftly he removed the gag, and stepped back. + +Tommy eased his stiff jaws, rolled his tongue round his mouth, +swallowed twice--and said nothing at all. + +"I congratulate you on your restraint," said the other. "You appreciate +the position, I see. Have you nothing at all to say?" + +"What I have to say will keep," said Tommy. "And it won't spoil by +waiting." + +"Ah! What I have to say will not keep. In plain English, Mr. Blunt, +where is that letter?" + +"My dear fellow, I don't know," said Tommy cheerfully. "I haven't got +it. But you know that as well as I do. I should go on looking about if +I were you. I like to see you and friend Coggins playing Hide and Seek +together." + +The other's face darkened. + +"You are pleased to be flippant, Mr. Blunt. You see that square box +over there. That is Coggins' little outfit. In it there is vitriol ... +yes, vitriol ... and irons that can be heated in the fire, so that they +are red hot and burn...." + +Tommy shook his head sadly. + +"An error in diagnosis," he murmured. "Tuppence and I labelled this +adventure wrong. It's not a Clubfoot story. It's a Bull Dog Drummond, +and you are the inimitable Carl Peterson." + +"What is this nonsense you are talking?" snarled the other. + +"Ah!" said Tommy. "I see you are unacquainted with the Classics. A +pity." + +"Ignorant fool! Will you do what we want or will you not? Shall I tell +Coggins to get out his tools and begin?" + +"Don't be so impatient," said Tommy. "Of course I'll do what you want, +as soon as you tell me what it is. You don't suppose I want to be +carved up like a filleted sole and fried on a gridiron? I loathe being +hurt." + +Dymchurch looked at him in contempt. + +"Gott! What cowards are these English." + +"Common sense, my dear fellow, merely common sense. Leave the vitriol +alone, and let us come down to brass tacks." + +"I want the letter." + +"I've already told you I haven't got it." + +"We know that--we also know who must have it. The girl." + +"Very possibly you're right," said Tommy. "She may have slipped it into +her handbag when your pal Carl startled us." + +"Oh, you do not deny. That is wise. Very good, you will write to +this Tuppence, as you call her, bidding her bring the letter here +immediately." + +"I can't do that," began Tommy. + +The other cut in before he had finished the sentence. + +"Ah! You can't? Well, we shall soon see. Coggins!" + +"Don't be in such a hurry," said Tommy. "And do wait for the end of the +sentence. I was going to say that I can't do that unless you untie my +arms. Hang it all, I'm not one of those freaks who can write with their +noses or their elbows." + +"You are willing to write, then?" + +"Of course. Haven't I been telling you so all along? I'm all out to be +pleasant and obliging. You won't do anything unkind to Tuppence, of +course. I'm sure you won't. She's such a nice girl." + +"We only want the letter," said Dymchurch, but there was a singularly +unpleasant smile on his face. + +At a nod from him, the brutal Coggins knelt down and unfastened +Tommy's arms. The latter swung them to and fro. + +"That's better," he said cheerfully. "Will kind Coggins hand me my +fountain pen? It's on the table, I think, with my other miscellaneous +property." + +Scowling, the man brought it to him, and provided a sheet of paper. + +"Be careful what you say," Dymchurch said menacingly. + +"We leave it to you, but failure means--death--and slow death at that." + +"In that case," said Tommy, "I will certainly do my best." + +He reflected a minute or two, then began to scribble rapidly. + +"How will this do?" he asked, handing over the completed epistle. + + _Dear Tuppence_, + + _Can you come along at once and bring that blue letter with you? We + want to decode it here and now._ + + _In haste_ + + _Francis_ + +"Francis?" queried the bogus Inspector, with lifted eyebrows. "Was that +the name she called you?" + +"As you weren't at my christening," said Tommy, "I don't suppose you +can know whether it's my name or not. But I think the cigarette case +you took from my pocket is a pretty good proof that I'm speaking the +truth." + +The other stepped over to the table and took up the case, read "Francis +from Tuppence," with a faint grin and laid it down again. + +"I am glad to find you are behaving so sensibly," he said. "Coggins, +give that note to Vassily. He is on guard outside. Tell him to take it +at once." + +The next twenty minutes passed slowly, the ten minutes after that more +slowly still. Dymchurch was striding up and down with a face that grew +darker and darker. Once he turned menacingly on Tommy. + +"If you have dared to double cross us ..." he growled. + +"If we'd had a pack of cards here, we might have had a game of picquet +to pass the time," drawled Tommy. "Women always keep one waiting. I +hope you're not going to be unkind to little Tuppence when she comes?" + +"Oh! no," said Dymchurch. "We shall arrange for you to go to the same +place--together." + +"Will you, you swine," said Tommy under his breath. + +Suddenly there was a stir in the outer office. A man whom Tommy had not +yet seen poked his head in and growled something in Russian. + +"Good," said Dymchurch. "She is coming--and coming alone." + +For a moment a faint anxiety caught at Tommy's heart. + +The next minute he heard Tuppence's voice. + +"Oh! there you are, Inspector Dymchurch. I've brought the letter. Where +is Francis?" + +With the last words she came through the door, and Vassily sprang on +her from behind, clapping his hand over her mouth. Dymchurch tore the +handbag from her grasp, and turned over its contents in a frenzied +search. + +Suddenly he uttered an ejaculation of delight and held up a blue +envelope with a Russian stamp on it. Coggins gave a hoarse shout. + +And just in that minute of triumph, the other door, the door into +Tuppence's own office, opened noiselessly and Inspector Marriot and two +men armed with revolvers stepped into the room, with the sharp command: +"Hands Up!" + +There was no fight. The others were taken at a hopeless disadvantage. +Dymchurch's automatic lay on the table, and the two others were not +armed. + +"A very nice little haul," said Inspector Marriot with approval, as he +snapped on the last pair of handcuffs. "And we'll have more as time +goes on, I hope." + +White with rage, Dymchurch glared at Tuppence. + +"You little devil," he snarled, "It was you put them on to us." + +"It wasn't all my doing. I ought to have guessed, I admit, when you +brought in the number sixteen this afternoon. But it was Tommy's note +clinched matters. I rang up Inspector Marriot, got Albert to meet him +with the duplicate key of the office, and came along myself with the +empty blue envelope in my bag. The letter I forwarded according to my +instructions as soon as I had parted from you two this afternoon." + +But one word had caught the other's attention. + +"_Tommy?_" he queried. + +Tommy who had just been released from his bonds came towards them. + +"Well done, brother Francis," he said to Tuppence, taking both her +hands in his. And to Dymchurch: "As I told you, my dear fellow, you +really ought to read the Classics." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + FINESSING THE KING + + +It was a wet Wednesday in the offices of the International Detective +Agency. Tuppence let the Daily Leader fall idly from her hand. + +"Do you know what I've been thinking, Tommy?" + +"It's impossible to say," replied her husband. "You think of so many +things, and you think of them all at once." + +"I think it's time we went dancing again." + +Tommy picked up the Daily Leader hastily. + +"Our advertisement looks well," he remarked, his head on one side. +"Blunt's Brilliant Detectives. Do you realise, Tuppence, that you and +you alone are Blunt's Brilliant Detectives? There's glory for you, as +Humpty Dumpty would say." + +"I was talking about dancing." + +"There's a curious point that I have observed about newspapers. I +wonder if you have ever noticed it. Take these three copies of the +Daily Leader. Can you tell me how they differ one from the other?" + +Tuppence took them with some curiosity. + +"It seems fairly easy," she remarked witheringly. "One is to-day's, one +is yesterday's, and one is the day before's." + +"Positively scintillating, my dear Watson. But that was not my meaning. +Observe the headline, 'The Daily Leader.' Compare the three--do you see +any difference between them?" + +"No, I don't," said Tuppence, "and what's more, I don't believe there +is any." + +Tommy sighed, and brought the tips of his fingers together in the most +approved Sherlock Holmes fashion. + +"Exactly. Yet you read the papers as much--in fact, more than I do. But +I have observed and you have not. If you will look at to-day's Daily +Leader, you will see that in the middle of the downstroke of the D is +a small white dot, and there is another in the L of the same word. But +in yesterday's paper the white dot is not in DAILY at all. There are +two white dots in the L of LEADER. That of the day before again has two +dots in the D of DAILY. In fact, the dot, or dots, are in a different +position every day." + +"Why?" asked Tuppence. + +"That's a journalistic secret." + +"Meaning you don't know, and can't guess." + +"I will merely say this--the practice is common to all newspapers." + +"Aren't you clever?" said Tuppence. "Especially at drawing red herrings +across the track. Let's go back to what we were talking about before." + +"What were we talking about?" + +"The Three Arts Ball." + +Tommy groaned. + +"No, no, Tuppence. Not the Three Arts Ball. I'm not young enough. I +assure you I'm not young enough." + +"When I was a nice young girl," said Tuppence, "I was brought up to +believe that men--especially husbands--were dissipated beings, fond +of drinking and dancing and staying up late at night. It took an +exceptionally beautiful and clever wife to keep them at home. Another +illusion gone! All the wives I know are hankering to go out and dance, +and weeping because their husbands will wear bedroom slippers and go to +bed at half past nine. And you do dance so nicely, Tommy dear." + +"Gently with the butter, Tuppence." + +"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, "it's not purely for pleasure +that I want to go. I'm intrigued by this advertisement." + +She picked up the Daily Leader again, and read it out. + +"I should go three hearts. 12 tricks. Ace of Spades. Necessary to +finesse the King." + +"Rather an expensive way of learning Bridge," was Tommy's comment. + +"Don't be an ass. That's nothing to do with Bridge. You see, I was +lunching with a girl yesterday at the Ace of Spades. It's a queer +little underground den in Chelsea, and she told me that it's quite the +fashion at these big shows to trundle round there in the course of the +evening for bacon and eggs and Welsh Rabbits--Bohemian sort of stuff. +It's got screened off booths all round it. Pretty hot place, I should +say." + +"And your idea is--?" + +"Three hearts stands for the Three Arts Ball to-morrow night, 12 tricks +is twelve o'clock, and the Ace of Spades is the Ace of Spades." + +"And what about its being necessary to finesse the King?" + +"Well, that's what I thought we'd find out." + +"I shouldn't wonder if you weren't right, Tuppence," said Tommy +magnanimously. "But I don't quite see why you want to butt in upon +other people's love affairs." + +"I shan't butt in. What I'm proposing is an interesting experiment in +detective work. We _need_ practice." + +"Business is certainly not too brisk," agreed Tommy. "All the same, +Tuppence, what you want is to go to the Three Arts Ball and dance! Talk +of red herrings." + +Tuppence laughed shamelessly. + +"Be a sport, Tommy. Try and forget you're thirty-two and have got one +grey hair in your left eyebrow." + +"I was always weak where women were concerned," murmured her husband. +"Have I got to make an ass of myself in fancy dress?" + +"Of course, but you can leave that to me. I've got a splendid idea." + +Tommy looked at her with some misgiving. He was always profoundly +mistrustful of Tuppence's brilliant ideas. + +When he returned to the flat on the following evening, Tuppence came +flying out of her bedroom to meet him. + +"It's come," she announced. + +"What's come?" + +"The costume. Come and look at it." + +Tommy followed her. Spread out on the bed was a complete fireman's kit +with shining helmet. + +"Good God!" groaned Tommy. "Have I joined the Wembley fire brigade?" + +"Guess again," said Tuppence. "You haven't caught the idea yet. Use +your little grey cells, mon ami. Scintillate, Watson. Be a bull that +has been more than ten minutes in the arena." + +"Wait a minute," said Tommy. "I begin to see. There is a dark purpose +in this. What are you going to wear, Tuppence?" + +"An old suit of your clothes, an American hat and some horn spectacles." + +"Crude," said Tommy. "But I catch the idea. McCarty incog. And I am +Riordan." + +"That's it. I thought we ought to practise American detective methods +as well as English ones. Just for once I am going to be the star, and +you will be the humble assistant." + +"Don't forget," said Tommy warningly, "that it's always an innocent +remark by the simple Denny that puts McCarty on the right track." + +But Tuppence only laughed. She was in high spirits. + +It was a most successful evening. The crowds, the music, the fantastic +dresses--everything conspired to make the young couple enjoy +themselves. Tommy forgot his rôle of the bored husband dragged out +against his will. + +At ten minutes to twelve, they drove off in the car to the famous--or +infamous--Ace of Spades. As Tuppence had said, it was an underground +den, mean and tawdry in appearance, but it was nevertheless crowded +with couples in fancy dress. There were closed in booths round the +walls, and Tommy and Tuppence secured one of these. They left the +doors purposely a little ajar so that they could see what was going on +outside. + +"I wonder which they are--our people, I mean," said Tuppence. "What +about that Columbine over there with the red Mephistopheles?" + +"I fancy the wicked Mandarin and the lady who calls herself a +Battleship--more of a fast Cruiser, I should say." + +"Isn't he witty?" said Tuppence. "All done on a little drop of drink! +Who's this coming in dressed as the Queen of Hearts--rather a good get +up, that." + +The girl in question passed into the booth next to them accompanied +by her escort who was "the gentleman dressed in newspaper" from Alice +in Wonderland. They were both wearing masks--it seemed to be rather a +common custom at the Ace of Spades. + +"I'm sure we're in a real den of iniquity," said Tuppence with a +pleased face. "Scandals all round us. What a row everyone makes." + +A cry, as of protest, rang out from the booth next door and was covered +by a man's loud laugh. Everybody was laughing and singing. The shrill +voices of the girls rose above the booming of their male escorts. + +"What about that shepherdess?" demanded Tommy. "The one with the comic +Frenchman. They might be our little lot." + +"Anyone might be," confessed Tuppence. "I'm not going to bother. The +great thing is that we are enjoying ourselves." + +"I could have enjoyed myself better in another costume," grumbled +Tommy. "You've no idea of the heat of this one." + +"Cheer up," said Tuppence. "You look lovely." + +"I'm glad of that," said Tommy. "It's more than you do. You're the +funniest little guy I've ever seen." + +"Will you keep a civil tongue in your head, Denny, my boy. Hullo, the +gentleman in newspaper is leaving his lady alone. Where's he going, do +you think?" + +"Going to hurry up the drinks, I expect," said Tommy. "I wouldn't mind +doing the same thing." + +"He's a long time doing it," said Tuppence, when four or five minutes +had passed. "Tommy, would you think me an awful ass--" She paused. + +Suddenly she jumped up. + +"Call me an ass if you like. I'm going in next door." + +"Look here, Tuppence--you can't--" + +"I've a feeling there's something wrong. I _know_ there is. Don't try +and stop me." + +She passed quickly out of their own booth, and Tommy followed her. The +doors of the one next door were closed. Tuppence pushed them apart and +went in, Tommy on her heels. + +The girl dressed as the Queen of Hearts sat in the corner leaning up +against the wall in a queer huddled position. Her eyes regarded them +steadily through her mask, but she did not move. Her dress was carried +out in a bold design of red and white, but on the left side of the +pattern seemed to have got mixed. There was more red than should have +been.... + +With a cry Tuppence hurried forward. At the same time, Tommy saw what +she had seen, the hilt of a jewelled dagger just below the heart. +Tuppence dropped on her knees by the girl's side. + +"Quick, Tommy, she's still alive. Get hold of the Manager and make him +get a doctor at once." + +"Right. Mind you don't touch the handle of that dagger, Tuppence." + +"I'll be careful. Go quickly." + +Tommy hurried out, pulling the doors to behind him. Tuppence passed +her arm around the girl. The latter made a faint gesture, and Tuppence +realised that she wanted to get rid of the mask. Tuppence unfastened +it gently. She saw a fresh flower-like face, and wide starry eyes that +were full of horror, suffering, and a kind of dazed bewilderment. + +"My dear," said Tuppence, very gently. "Can you speak at all? Will you +tell me, if you can, who did this?" + +She felt the eyes fix themselves on her face. The girl was sighing, +the deep palpitating sighs of a failing heart. And still she looked +steadily at Tuppence. Then her lips parted. + +"Bingo did it--" she said in a strained whisper. + +Then her hands relaxed, and she seemed to nestle down on Tuppence's +shoulder. + +Tommy came in, two men with him. The bigger of the two came forward +with an air of authority, the word, doctor, written all over him. + +Tuppence relinquished her burden. + +"She's dead, I'm afraid," she said with a catch in her voice. + +The doctor made a swift examination. + +"Yes," he said. "Nothing to be done. We had better leave things as they +are till the police come. How did the thing happen?" + +Tuppence explained rather haltingly, slurring over her reasons for +entering the booth. + +"It's a curious business," said the doctor. "You heard nothing?" + +"I heard her give a kind of cry, but then the man laughed. Naturally I +didn't think--" + +"Naturally not," agreed the doctor. "And the man wore a mask, you say. +You wouldn't recognise him?" + +"I'm afraid not. Would you, Tommy?" + +"No. Still there is his costume." + +"The first thing will be to identify this poor lady," said the doctor. +"After that, well, I suppose the police will get down to things pretty +quickly. It ought not to be a difficult case. Ah, here they come." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE GENTLEMAN DRESSED IN NEWSPAPER + + +It was after three o'clock when, weary and sick at heart, the husband +and wife reached home. Several hours passed before Tuppence could +sleep. She lay tossing from side to side, seeing always that flower +like face with the horror stricken eyes. + +The dawn was coming in through the shutters when Tuppence finally +dropped off to sleep. After the excitement, she slept heavily and +dreamlessly. It was broad daylight when she awoke to find Tommy, up and +dressed, standing by the bedside, shaking her gently by the arm. + +"Wake up, old thing. Inspector Marriot and another man are here and +want to see you." + +"What time is it?" + +"Just on eleven. I'll get Alice to bring you your tea right away." + +"Yes, do. Tell Inspector Marriot I'll be there in ten minutes." + +A quarter of an hour later, Tuppence came hurrying into the sitting +room. Inspector Marriot who was sitting looking very straight and +solemn, rose to greet her. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Beresford. This is Sir Arthur Merivale." + +Tuppence shook hands with a tall thin man with haggard eyes and greying +hair. + +"It's about this sad business last night," said Inspector Marriot. "I +want Sir Arthur to hear from your own lips what you told me--the words +the poor lady said before she died. Sir Arthur has been very hard to +convince." + +"I can't believe," said the other, "and I won't believe, that Bingo +Hale ever hurt a hair on Vere's head." + +Inspector Marriot went on. + +"We've made some progress since last night, Mrs. Beresford," he said. +"First of all we managed to identify the lady as Lady Merivale. We +communicated with Sir Arthur here. He recognised the body at once, and +was horrified beyond words, of course. Then I asked him if he knew +anyone called Bingo." + +"You must understand, Mrs. Beresford," said Sir Arthur, "that Captain +Hale, who is known to all his friends as Bingo, is the dearest pal I +have. He practically lives with us. He was staying at my house when +they arrested him this morning. I cannot but believe that you have made +a mistake--it was not his name that my wife uttered." + +"There is no possibility of mistake," said Tuppence gently. "She said +'Bingo did it--'" + +"You see, Sir Arthur," said Marriot. + +The unhappy man sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands. + +"It's incredible. What earthly motive could there be? Oh! I know your +idea, Inspector Marriot. You think Hale was my wife's lover, but even +if that were so--which I don't admit for a moment--what motive was +there for killing her?" + +Inspector Marriot coughed. + +"It's not a very pleasant thing to say, sir. But Captain Hale has been +paying a lot of attention to a certain young American lady of late--a +young lady with a considerable amount of money. If Lady Merivale liked +to turn nasty, she could probably stop his marriage." + +"This is outrageous, Inspector." + +Sir Arthur sprang angrily to his feet. The other calmed him with a +soothing gesture. + +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure, Sir Arthur. You say that you and Captain +Hale both decided to attend this show. Your wife was away on a visit at +the time, and you had no idea that she was to be there?" + +"Not the least idea." + +"Just show him that advertisement you told me about, Mrs. Beresford." + +Tuppence complied. + +"That seems to me clear enough. It was inserted by Captain Hale to +catch your wife's eye. They had already arranged to meet there. But +you only made up your mind to go the day before, hence it was necessary +to warn her. That is the explanation of the phrase "Necessary to +finesse the King." You ordered your costume from a theatrical firm +at the last minute, but Captain Hale's was a home made affair. He +went as the Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper. Do you know, Sir Arthur, +what we found clasped in the dead lady's hand? A fragment torn from a +newspaper. My men have orders to take Captain Hale's costume away with +them from your house. I shall find it at the Yard when I get back. If +there's a tear in it corresponding to the missing piece--well, it'll be +the end of the case." + +"You won't find it," said Sir Arthur. "I know Bingo Hale." + +Apologising to Tuppence for disturbing her, they took their leave. + +Late that evening, there was a ring at the bell, and somewhat to the +astonishment of the young pair, Inspector Marriot once more walked in. + +"I thought Blunt's Brilliant Detectives would like to hear the latest +developments," he said, with a hint of a smile. + +"They would," said Tommy. "Have a drink?" + +He placed materials hospitably at Inspector Marriot's elbow. + +"It's a clear case," said the latter, after a minute or two. "Dagger +was the lady's own--the idea was to have made it look like suicide, +evidently, but thanks to you two being on the spot, that didn't come +off. We've found plenty of letters--they'd been carrying on together +for some time, that's clear--without Sir Arthur tumbling to it. Then we +found the last link--" + +"The last what?" said Tuppence sharply. + +"The last link in the chain--that fragment of the Daily Leader. It was +torn from the dress he wore--fits exactly. Oh! yes, it's a perfectly +clear case. By the way, I brought round a photograph of those two +exhibits--I thought they might interest you. It's very seldom that you +get such a perfectly clear case." + +"Tommy," said Tuppence, when her husband returned from showing the +Scotland Yard man out. "Why do you think Inspector Marriot keeps +repeating that it's a perfectly clear case?" + +"I don't know. Smug satisfaction, I suppose." + +"Not a bit of it. He's trying to get us irritated. You know, Tommy, +butchers, for instance, know something about meat, don't they?" + +"I should say so, but what on earth--" + +"And in the same way, greengrocers know all about vegetables, and +fishermen about fish. Detectives, professional detectives, must know +all about criminals. They know the real thing when they see it--and +they know when it isn't the real thing. Marriot's expert knowledge +tells him that Captain Hale isn't a criminal--but all the facts are +dead against him. As a last resource Marriot is egging us on, hoping +against hope that some little detail or other will come back to +us--something that happened last night--which will throw a different +light on things. Tommy, why shouldn't it be suicide, after all?" + +"Remember what she said to you." + +"I know--but take that a different way. It was Bingo's doing--his +conduct that drove her to kill herself. It's just possible." + +"Just. But it doesn't explain that fragment of newspaper." + +"Let's have a look at Marriot's photographs. I forgot to ask him what +Hale's account of the matter was." + +"I asked him that in the hall just now. Hale declared he had never +spoken to Lady Merivale at the show. Says somebody shoved a note into +his hand which said: 'Don't try and speak to me to-night. Arthur +suspects.' He couldn't produce the piece of paper, though, and it +doesn't sound a very likely story. Anyway, you and I _know_ he was with +her at the Ace of Spades because we saw him." + +Tuppence nodded and pored over the two photographs. One was a tiny +fragment with the legend DAILY LE--and the rest torn off. The other +was the front sheet of the Daily Leader with the small round tear at +the top of it. There was no doubt about it. The two fitted together +perfectly. + +"What are all those marks down the side?" asked Tommy. + +"Stitches," said Tuppence. "Where it was sewn to the others, you know." + +"I thought it might be a new scheme of dots," said Tommy. Then he gave +a slight shiver. "My word, Tuppence, how creepy it makes one feel. +To think that you and I were discussing dots and puzzling over that +advertisement--all as light-hearted as anything." + +Tuppence did not answer. Tommy looked at her, and was startled to +observe that she was staring ahead of her, her mouth slightly open, and +a bewildered expression on her face. + +"Tuppence," said Tommy gently, shaking her by the arm. "What's the +matter with you? Are you just going to have a stroke or something?" + +But Tuppence remained motionless. Presently she said in a far away +voice. + +"Denis Riordan." + +"Eh?" said Tommy staring. + +"It's just as you said. One simple innocent remark! Find me all this +week's Daily Leaders." + +"What are you up to?" + +"I'm being McCarty. I've been worrying round, and thanks to you, I've +got a notion at last. This is the front sheet of Tuesday's paper. I +seem to remember that Tuesday's paper was the one with two dots in the +L of LEADER. This has a dot in the D of DAILY--and one in the L too. +Get me the papers and let's make sure." + +They compared them anxiously. Tuppence had been quite right in her +remembrance. + +"You see? This fragment wasn't torn from Tuesday's paper." + +"But Tuppence, we can't be sure. It may merely be different editions." + +"It may--but at any rate it's given me an idea. It can't be +coincidence--that's certain. There's only one thing it can be if I'm +right in my idea. Ring up Sir Arthur, Tommy. Ask him to come round here +at once. Say I've got important news for him. Then get hold of Marriot. +Scotland Yard will know his address if he's gone home." + +Sir Arthur Merivale, very much intrigued by the summons, arrived at the +flat in about half an hour's time. Tuppence came forward to greet him. + +"I must apologise for sending for you in such a peremptory fashion," +she said. "But my husband and I have discovered something that we think +you ought to know at once. Do sit down." + +Sir Arthur sat down, and Tuppence went on. + +"You are, I know, very anxious to clear your friend." + +Sir Arthur shook his head sadly. + +"I was, but even I have had to give in to the overwhelming evidence." + +"What would you say if I told you that chance has placed in my hands a +piece of evidence that will certainly clear him of all complicity?" + +"I should be overjoyed to hear it, Mrs. Beresford." + +"Supposing," continued Tuppence, "that I had come across a girl who was +actually dancing with Captain Hale last night at twelve o'clock--the +hour when he was supposed to be at the Ace of Spades." + +"Marvellous," cried Sir Arthur. "I knew there was some mistake. Poor +Vere must have killed herself after all." + +"Hardly that," said Tuppence. "You forget the other man." + +"What other man?" + +"The one my husband and I saw leave the booth. You see, Sir Arthur, +there must have been a second man dressed in newspaper at the Ball. By +the way, what was your own costume?" + +"Mine? I went as a seventeenth century executioner." + +"How very appropriate," said Tuppence softly. + +"Appropriate, Mrs. Beresford? What do you mean by appropriate?" + +"For the part you played. Shall I tell you my ideas on the subject, +Sir Arthur? The newspaper dress is easily put on over that of an +executioner. Previously a little note has been slipped into Captain +Hale's hand, asking him not to speak to a certain lady. But the lady +herself knows nothing of that note. She goes to the Ace of Spades at +the appointed time, and sees the figure she expects to see. They go +into the booth. He takes her in his arms, I think, and kisses her--the +kiss of a Judas, and as he kisses he strikes with the dagger. She only +utters one faint cry and he covers that with a laugh. Presently he goes +away--and to the last, horrified and bewildered, she believes her lover +is the man who killed her. + +"But she has torn a small fragment from the costume. The murderer +notices that--he is a man who pays great attention to detail. To make +the case absolutely clear against his victim the fragment must seem to +have been torn from Captain Hale's costume. That would present great +difficulties unless the two men happened to be living in the same +house. Then, of course, the thing would be simplicity itself. He makes +an exact duplicate of the tear in Captain Hale's costume--then he burns +his own and prepares to play the part of the loyal friend." + +Tuppence paused. + +"Well, Sir Arthur?" + +Sir Arthur rose and made her a bow. + +"The rather vivid imagination of a charming lady who reads too much +fiction." + +"You think so?" said Tommy. + +"And a husband who is guided by his wife," said Sir Arthur. "I do not +fancy you will find anybody to take the matter seriously." + +He laughed out loud, and Tuppence stiffened in her chair. + +"I would swear to that laugh anywhere," she said. "I heard it last in +the Ace of Spades. And you are under a little misapprehension about us +both. Beresford is our real name, but we have another." + +She picked up a card from the table and handed it to him. Sir Arthur +read it aloud. + +"International Detective Agency...." He drew his breath sharply. "So +that is what you really are! That was why Marriot brought me here this +morning. It was a trap--" + +He strolled to the window. + +"A fine view you have from here," he said. "Right over London." + +"Inspector Marriot," cried Tommy sharply. + +In a flash the Inspector appeared from the communicating door in the +opposite wall. + +A little smile of amusement came to Sir Arthur's lips. + +"I thought as much," he said. "But you won't get me this time, I'm +afraid, Inspector. I prefer to take my own way out." + +And, putting his hands on the sill, he vaulted clean through the window. + +Tuppence shrieked and clapped her hands to her ears to shut out the +sound she had already imagined--the sickening thud far beneath. +Inspector Marriot uttered an oath. + +"We should have thought of the window," he said. "Though, mind you, it +would have been a difficult thing to prove. I'll go down and--and--see +to things." + +"Poor devil," said Tommy slowly. "If he was fond of his wife--" + +But the Inspector interrupted him with a snort. + +"Fond of her? That's as may be. He was at his wits' end where to turn +for money. Lady Merivale had a large fortune of her own, and it all +went to him. If she'd bolted with young Hale, he'd never have seen a +penny of it." + +"That was it, was it?" + +"Of course, from the very start, I sensed that Sir Arthur was a bad +lot, and that Captain Hale was all right. We know pretty well what's +what at the Yard--but it's awkward when you're up against facts. I'll +be going down now--I should give your wife a glass of brandy if I were +you, Mr. Beresford--it's been upsetting like for her." + +"Greengrocers," said Tuppence in a low voice as the door closed behind +the imperturbable Inspector. "Butchers. Fishermen. Detectives. I was +right, wasn't I? He knew." + +Tommy, who had been busy at the sideboard, approached her with a large +glass. + +"Drink this." + +"What is it? Brandy?" + +"No, it's a large cocktail--suitable for a triumphant McCarty. Yes, +Marriot's right all round--that was the way of it. A bold finesse for +game and rubber." + +Tuppence nodded. + +"But he finessed the wrong way round." + +"And so," said Tommy. "Exit the King." + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE CASE OF THE MISSING LADY + + +The buzzer on Mr. Blunt's desk--(International Detective Agency, +Manager, Theodore Blunt)--uttered its warning call. Tommy and Tuppence +both flew to their respective peepholes which commanded a view of the +outer office. There it was Albert's business to delay the prospective +clients with various artistic devices. + +"I will see, sir," he was saying. "But I'm afraid Mr. Blunt is very +busy just at present. He is engaged with Scotland Yard on the phone +just now." + +"I'll wait," said the visitor. "I haven't got a card with me, but my +name is Gabriel Stavansson." + +The client was a magnificent specimen of manhood, standing over +six feet high. His face was bronzed and weather beaten, and the +extraordinary blue of his eyes made an almost startling contrast to the +brown skin. + +Tommy swiftly made up his mind. He put on his hat, picked up some +gloves, and opened the door. He paused on the threshold. + +"This gentleman is waiting to see you, Mr. Blunt," said Albert. + +A quick frown passed over Tommy's face. He took out his watch. + +"I am due at the Duke's at a quarter to eleven," he said. Then he +looked keenly at the visitor. "I can give you a few minutes if you will +come this way." + +The latter followed him obediently into the inner office where Tuppence +was sitting demurely with pad and pencil. + +"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Tommy. "Now, sir, +perhaps you will state your business? Beyond the fact that it is +urgent, that you came here in a taxi, and that you have lately been in +the Arctic--or possibly the Antarctic, I know nothing." + +The visitor stared at him in amazement. + +"But this is marvellous," he cried. "I thought detectives only did such +things in books! Your office boy did not even give you my name!" + +Tommy sighed deprecatingly. + +"Tut tut, all that was very easy," he said. "The rays of the midnight +sun within the Arctic circle have a peculiar action upon the skin--the +actinic rays have certain properties. I am writing a little monograph +on the subject shortly. But all this is wide of the point. What is it +that has brought you to me in such distress of mind?" + +"To begin with, Mr. Blunt, my name is Gabriel Stavansson--" + +"Ah! of course," said Tommy. "The well known explorer. You have +recently returned from the region of the North Pole, I believe?" + +"I landed in England three days ago. A friend who was cruising in +Northern waters brought me back on his yacht. Otherwise I should not +have got back for another fortnight. Now I must tell you, Mr. Blunt, +that before I started on this last expedition two years ago, I had the +great good fortune to become engaged to Mrs. Maurice Leigh Gordon--" + +Tommy interrupted. + +"Mrs. Leigh Gordon was, before her marriage--" + +"The Honorable Hermione Crane, second daughter of Lord Lanchester," +reeled off Tuppence glibly. + +Tommy threw her a glance of admiration. + +"Her first husband was killed in the War," added Tuppence. + +Gabriel Stavansson nodded. + +"That is quite correct. As I was saying, Hermione and I became engaged. +I offered, of course, to give up this expedition, but she wouldn't +hear of such a thing--bless her! She's the right kind of woman for an +explorer's wife. Well, my first thought on landing was to see Hermione. +I sent a telegram from Southampton, and rushed up to town by the first +train. I knew that she was living for the time being with an aunt of +hers, Lady Susan Clonray, in Pont Street, and I went straight there. +To my great disappointment, I found that Hermy was away visiting some +friends in Northumberland. Lady Susan was quite nice about it, after +getting over her first surprise at seeing me. As I told you, I wasn't +expected for another fortnight. She said Hermy would be returning in a +few days' time. Then I asked for her address, but the old woman hummed +and hawed--said Hermy was staying at one of two different places, and +that she wasn't quite sure what order she was taking them in. I may +as well tell you, Mr. Blunt, that Lady Susan and I have never got on +very well. She's one of those fat women with double chins. I loathe fat +women--always have--fat women and fat dogs are an abomination unto the +Lord--and unfortunately they so often go together! It's an idiosyncracy +of mine, I know--but there it is--I never can get on with a fat woman." + +"Fashion agrees with you, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy drily. "And +everyone has their own pet aversion--that of the late Lord Roberts was +cats." + +"Mind you, I'm not saying that Lady Susan isn't a perfectly charming +woman--she may be, but I've never taken to her. I've always felt, deep +down, that she disapproved of our engagement, and I feel sure that she +would influence Hermy against me if that were possible. I'm telling you +this for what it's worth. Count it out as prejudice, if you like. Well, +to go on with my story, I'm the kind of obstinate brute who likes his +own way. I didn't leave Pont Street until I'd got out of her the names +and addresses of the people Hermy was likely to be staying with. Then I +took the mail train North." + +"You are, I perceive, a man of action, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy, +smiling. + +"The thing came upon me like a bombshell. Mr. Blunt, none of these +people had seen a sign of Hermy. Of the three houses, only one had +been expecting her--Lady Susan must have made a bloomer over the +other two--and she had put off her visit there at the last moment by +telegram. I returned post haste to London, of course, and went straight +to Lady Susan. I will do her the justice to say that she seemed upset. +She admitted that she had no idea where Hermy could be. All the same, +she strongly negatived any idea of going to the police. She pointed +out that Hermy was not a silly young girl, but an independent woman who +had always been in the habit of making her own plans. She was probably +carrying out some idea of her own. + +"I thought it quite likely that Hermy didn't want to report all her +movements to Lady Susan. But I was still worried. I had that queer +feeling one gets when something is wrong. I was just leaving when a +telegram was brought to Lady Susan. She read it with an expression of +relief and handed it to me. It ran as follows: '_Changed my plans Just +off to Monte Carlo for a week Hermy._'" + +Tommy held out his hand. + +"You have got the telegram with you?" + +"No, I haven't. But it was handed in at Maldon, Surrey. I noticed that +at the time, because it struck me as odd. What should Hermy be doing at +Maldon? She'd no friends there that I had ever heard of." + +"You didn't think of rushing off to Monte Carlo in the same way that +you had rushed North?" + +"I thought of it, of course. But I decided against it. You see, Mr. +Blunt, whilst Lady Susan seemed quite satisfied by that telegram, I +wasn't. It struck me as odd that she should always telegraph, not +write. A line or two in her own handwriting would have set all my fears +at rest. But anyone can sign a telegram 'Hermy.' The more I thought it +over, the more uneasy I got. In the end I went down to Maldon. That was +yesterday afternoon. It's a fair sized place--good links there and all +that--two hotels. I inquired everywhere I could think of, but there +wasn't a sign that Hermy had ever been there. Coming back in the train +I read your advertisement, and I thought I'd put it up to you. If Hermy +has really gone off to Monte Carlo, I don't want to set the police +on her track and make a scandal, but I'm not going to be sent off on +a wild goose chase myself. I stay here in London, in case--in case +there's been foul play of any kind." + +Tommy nodded thoughtfully. + +"What do you suspect exactly?" + +"I don't know. But I feel there's something wrong." + +With a quick movement, Stavansson took a case from his pocket and laid +it open before them. + +"That is Hermione," he said. "I will leave it with you." + +The photograph represented a tall willowy woman, no longer in her first +youth, but with a charming frank smile and lovely eyes. + +"Now, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy. "There is nothing you have omitted +to tell me?" + +"Nothing whatever." + +"No detail, however small?" + +"I don't think so." + +Tommy sighed. + +"That makes the task harder," he observed. "You must often have +noticed, Mr. Stavansson, in reading of crime, how one small detail is +all the great detective needs to set him on the track. I may say that +this case presents some unusual features. I have, I think, practically +solved it already, but time will show." + +He picked up a violin which lay on the table, and drew the bow once +or twice across the strings. Tuppence ground her teeth and even the +explorer blenched. The performer laid the instrument down again. + +"A few chords from Mosgovskensky," he murmured. "Leave me your address, +Mr. Stavansson, and I will report progress to you." + +As the visitor left the office, Tuppence grabbed the violin and putting +it in the cupboard turned the key in the lock. + +"If you must be Sherlock Holmes," she observed, "I'll get you a nice +little syringe and a bottle labelled Cocaine, but for God's sake leave +that violin alone. If that nice explorer man hadn't been as simple as a +child, he'd have seen through you. Are you going on with the Sherlock +Holmes touch?" + +"I flatter myself that I have carried it through very well so far," +said Tommy with some complacence. "The deductions were good, weren't +they? I had to risk the taxi. After all, it's the only sensible way of +getting to this place." + +"It's lucky I had just read the bit about his engagement in this +morning's Daily Mirror," remarked Tuppence. + +"Yes, that looked well for the efficiency of Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives. This is decidedly a Sherlock Holmes case. Even you cannot +have failed to notice the similarity between it and the disappearance +of Lady Frances Carfax." + +"Do you expect to find Mrs. Leigh Gordon's body in a coffin?" + +"Logically, history should repeat itself. Actually--well, what do you +think?" + +"Well," said Tuppence. "The most obvious explanation seems to be that +for some reason or other Hermy, as he calls her, is afraid to meet +her fiancé, and that Lady Susan is backing her up. In fact, to put it +bluntly, she's come a cropper of some kind, and has got the wind up +about it." + +"That occurred to me also," said Tommy. "But I thought we'd better +make pretty certain before suggesting that explanation to a man like +Stavansson. What about a run down to Maldon, old thing? And it would do +no harm to take some golf clubs with us." + +Tuppence agreeing, the International Detective Agency was left in the +charge of Albert. + +Maldon, though a well known residential place, did not cover a large +area. Tommy and Tuppence, making every possible inquiry that ingenuity +could suggest, nevertheless drew a complete blank. It was as they were +returning to London that a brilliant idea occurred to Tuppence. + +"Tommy, why did they put Maldon Surrey on the telegram?" + +"Because Maldon is in Surrey, idiot." + +"Idiot yourself--I don't mean that. If you get a telegram +from--Hastings, say, or Torquay, they don't put the county after it. +But from Richmond, they do put Richmond Surrey. That's because there +are two Richmonds." + +Tommy, who was driving, slowed up. + +"Tuppence," he said affectionately. "Your idea is not so dusty. Let us +make inquiries at yonder post office." + +They drew up before a small building in the middle of a village street. +A very few minutes sufficed to elicit the information that there were +two Maldons. Maldon, Surrey, and Maldon, Sussex, the latter a tiny +hamlet but possessed of a telegraph office. + +"That's it," said Tuppence excitedly. "Stavansson knew Maldon was in +Surrey, so he hardly looked at the word beginning with S. after Maldon." + +"To-morrow," said Tommy. "We'll have a look at Maldon, Sussex." + +Maldon, Sussex, was a very different proposition to its Surrey +namesake. It was four miles from a railway station, possessed two +public houses, two small shops, a post and telegraph office combined +with a sweet and picture postcard business, and about seven small +cottages. Tuppence took on the shops whilst Tommy betook himself to the +Cock and Sparrow. They met half an hour later. + +"Well?" said Tuppence. + +"Quite good beer," said Tommy, "but no information." + +"You'd better try the King's Head," said Tuppence. "I'm going back to +the post office. There's a sour old woman there, but I heard them yell +to her that dinner was ready." + +She returned to the place, and began examining postcards. A fresh-faced +girl, still munching, came out of the back room. + +"I'd like these, please," said Tuppence. "And do you mind waiting +whilst I just look over these comic ones?" + +She sorted through a packet, talking as she did so. + +"I'm ever so disappointed you couldn't tell me my sister's address. +She's staying near here and I've lost her letter. Leigh Wood, her name +is." + +The girl shook her head. + +"I don't remember it. And we don't get many letters through here +either--so I probably should if I'd seen it on a letter. Apart from the +Grange, there isn't many big houses round about." + +"What is the Grange?" asked Tuppence. "Who does it belong to?" + +"Doctor Horriston has it. It's turned into a Nursing Home now. Nerve +cases mostly, I believe. Ladies that come down for rest cures, and all +that sort of thing. Well, it's quiet enough down here, Heaven knows." +She giggled. + +Tuppence hastily selected a few cards and paid for them. + +"That's Doctor Horriston's car coming along now," exclaimed the girl. + +Tuppence hurried to the shop door. A small two seater was passing. At +the wheel was a tall dark man with a neat black beard and a powerful, +unpleasant face. The car went straight on down the street. Tuppence saw +Tommy crossing the road towards her. + +"Tommy, I believe I've got it. Doctor Horriston's Nursing Home." + +"I heard about it at the King's Head, and I thought there might be +something in it. But if she's had a nervous breakdown or anything of +that sort, her aunt and her friends would know about it surely." + +"Ye-es. I didn't mean that. Tommy, did you see that man in the two +seater?" + +"Unpleasant looking brute, yes." + +"That was Doctor Horriston." + +Tommy whistled. + +"Shifty looking beggar. What do you say about it, Tuppence? Shall we go +and have a look at the Grange?" + +They found the place at last, a big rambling house, surrounded by +deserted grounds, with a swift mill stream running behind the house. + +"Dismal sort of abode," said Tommy. "It gives me the creeps, Tuppence. +You know, I've a feeling this is going to turn out a far more serious +matter than we thought at first." + +"Oh! don't. If only we are in time. That woman's in some awful danger, +I feel it in my bones." + +"Don't let your imagination run away with you." + +"I can't help it. I mistrust that man. What shall we do? I think it +would be a good plan if I went and rang the bell alone first, and asked +boldly for Mrs. Leigh Gordon just to see what answer I get. Because, +after all, it may be perfectly fair and above board." + +Tuppence carried out her plan. The door was opened almost immediately +by a man servant with an impassive face. + +"I want to see Mrs. Leigh Gordon if she is well enough to see me." + +She fancied that there was a momentary flicker of the man's eyelashes, +but he answered readily enough. + +"There is no one of that name here, Madam." + +"Oh! surely. This is Doctor Horriston's place, The Grange, is it not?" + +"Yes, Madam, but there is nobody of the name of Mrs. Leigh Gordon here." + +Baffled, Tuppence was forced to withdraw and hold a further +consultation with Tommy outside the gate. + +"Perhaps he was speaking the truth. After all, we don't _know_." + +"He wasn't. He was lying. I'm sure of it." + +"Wait until the doctor comes back," said Tommy. "Then I'll pass myself +off as a journalist anxious to discuss his new system of rest cure with +him. That will give me a chance of getting inside and studying the +geography of the place." + +The doctor returned about half an hour later. Tommy gave him about +five minutes, then he in turn marched up to the front door. But he too +returned baffled. + +"The doctor was engaged and couldn't be disturbed. And he never sees +journalists. Tuppence, you're right. There's something fishy about this +place. It's ideally situated--miles from anywhere. Any mortal thing +could go on here, and no one would ever know." + +"Come on," said Tuppence, with determination. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to climb over the wall and see if I can't get up to the +house quietly without being seen." + +"Right. I'm with you." + +The garden was somewhat overgrown, and afforded a multitude of cover. +Tommy and Tuppence managed to reach the back of the house unobserved. + +Here there was a wide terrace, with some crumbling steps leading down +from it. In the middle some French windows opened onto the terrace, but +they dared not step out into the open, and the windows where they were +crouching were too high for them to be able to look in. It did not seem +as though their reconnaissance would be much use when suddenly Tuppence +tightened her grasp of Tommy's arm. + +Someone was speaking in the room close to them. The window was open and +the fragment of conversation came clearly to their ears. + +"Come in, come in, and shut the door," said a man's voice irritably. "A +lady came about an hour ago, you said, and asked for Mrs. Leigh Gordon?" + +Tuppence recognised the answering voice as that of the impassive man +servant. + +"Yes, sir." + +"You said she wasn't here, of course?" + +"Of course, sir." + +"And now this journalist fellow," fumed the other. + +He came suddenly to the window, throwing up the sash, and the two +outside, peering through a screen of bushes, recognised Dr. Horriston. + +"It's the woman I mind most about," continued the doctor. "What did she +look like?" + +"Young, good-looking, and very smartly dressed, sir." + +Tommy nudged Tuppence in the ribs. + +"Exactly," said the doctor between his teeth. "As I feared. Some friend +of the Leigh Gordon woman's. It's getting very difficult. I shall have +to take steps--" + +He left the sentence unfinished. Tommy and Tuppence heard the door +close. There was silence. + +Gingerly, Tommy led the retreat. When they had reached a little +clearing not far away, but out of earshot from the house, he spoke. + +"Tuppence, old thing, this is getting serious. They mean mischief. I +think we ought to get back to town at once and see Stavansson." + +To his surprise Tuppence shook her head. + +"We must stay down here. Didn't you hear him say he was going to take +steps? That might mean anything." + +"The worst of it is we've hardly got a case to go to the police on." + +"Listen, Tommy. Why not ring up Stavansson from the village? I'll stay +around here." + +"Perhaps that is the best plan," agreed her husband. "But, I +say--Tuppence--" + +"Well?" + +"Take care of yourself--won't you?" + +"Of course I shall, you silly old thing. Cut along." + +It was some two hours later that Tommy returned. He found Tuppence +awaiting him near the gate. + +"Well?" + +"I couldn't get on to Stavansson. Then I tried Lady Susan. She was out +too. Then I thought of ringing up old Brady. I asked him to look up +Horriston in the Medical Directory or whatever the thing calls itself." + +"Well, what did Dr. Brady say?" + +"Oh! he knew the name at once. Horriston was once a bona fide +doctor, but he came a cropper of some kind. Brady called him a most +unscrupulous quack, and said he, personally, wouldn't be surprised at +anything. The question is, what are we to do now?" + +"We must stay here," said Tuppence instantly. "I've a feeling they mean +something to happen to-night. By the way, a gardener has been clipping +ivy round the house. Tommy, _I saw where he put the ladder_." + +"Good for you, Tuppence," said her husband appreciatively. "Then +to-night--" + +"As soon as it's dark--" + +"We shall see--" + +"What we shall see." + +Tommy took his turn at watching the house whilst Tuppence went to the +village and had some food. + +Then she returned and they took up the vigil together. At nine o'clock, +they decided that it was dark enough to commence operations. They +were now able to circle round the house in perfect freedom. Suddenly +Tuppence clutched Tommy by the arm. + +"Listen." + +The sound she had heard came again, borne faintly on the night air. It +was the moan of a woman in pain. Tuppence pointed upward to a window on +the first floor. + +"It came from that room," she whispered. + +Again that low moan rent the stillness of the night. + +The two listeners decided to put their original plan into action. +Tuppence led the way to where she had seen the gardener put the ladder. +Between them they carried it to the side of the house from which they +had heard the moaning. All the blinds of the ground floor rooms were +drawn, but this particular window upstairs was unshuttered. + +Tommy put the ladder as noiselessly as possible against the side of the +house. + +"I'll go up," whispered Tuppence. "You stay below. I don't mind +climbing ladders and you can steady it better than I could. And in case +the doctor should come round the corner you'd be able to deal with him +and I shouldn't." + +Nimbly Tuppence swarmed up the ladder, and raised her head cautiously +to look in at the window. Then she ducked it swiftly, but after a +minute or two brought it very slowly up again. She stayed there for +about five minutes. Then she descended again. + +"It's her," she said breathlessly and ungrammatically. "But oh! Tommy, +it's horrible. She's lying there in bed, moaning, and turning to and +fro--and just as I got there a woman dressed as a nurse came in. She +bent over her and injected something in her arm and then went away +again. What shall we do?" + +"Is she conscious?" + +"I think so. I'm almost sure she is. I fancy she may be strapped to the +bed. I'm going up again, and if I can, I'm going to get into that room." + +"I say, Tuppence--" + +"If I'm in any sort of danger I'll yell for you. So long." + +Avoiding further argument Tuppence hurried up the ladder again. Tommy +saw her try the window, then noiselessly push up the sash. Another +second, and she had disappeared inside. + +And now an agonising time came for Tommy. He could hear nothing at +first. Tuppence and Mrs. Leigh Gordon must be talking in whispers if +they were talking at all. Presently he did hear a low murmur of voices +and drew a breath of relief. But suddenly the voices stopped. Dead +silence. + +Tommy strained his ears. Nothing. What could they be doing? + +Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder. + +"Come on," said Tuppence's voice out of the darkness. + +"Tuppence! How did you get here?" + +"Through the front door. Let's get out of this." + +"Get out of this?" + +"That's what I said." + +"But--Mrs. Leigh Gordon?" + +In a tone of indescribable bitterness Tuppence replied. + +"Getting thin!" + +Tommy looked at her, suspecting irony. + +"What do you mean?" + +"What I say. Getting thin. Slinkiness. Reduction of weight. Didn't +you hear Stavansson say he hated fat women? In the two years he's +been away, his Hermy has put on weight. Got a panic when she knew +he was coming back, and rushed off to do this new treatment of Dr. +Horriston's. It's injections of some sort, and he makes a deadly secret +of it, and charges through the nose. I daresay he _is_ a quack--but +he's a damned successful one! Stavansson comes home a fortnight +too soon, when she's only beginning the treatment. Lady Susan has +been sworn to secrecy, and plays up. And we come down here and make +blithering idiots of ourselves!" + +Tommy drew a deep breath. + +"I believe, Watson," he said with dignity, "that there is a very good +Concert at the Queen's Hall to-morrow. We shall be in plenty of time +for it. And you will oblige me by not placing this case upon your +records. It has absolutely _no_ distinctive features." + + + + + CHAPTER X + + BLINDMAN'S BUFF + + +"Right," said Tommy, and replaced the receiver on its hook. + +Then he turned to Tuppence. + +"That was the Chief. Seems to have got the wind up about us. It appears +that the parties we're after have got wise to the fact that I'm not the +genuine Mr. Theodore Blunt. We're to expect excitements at any minute. +The Chief begs you as a favor to go home and stay at home, and not mix +yourself up in it any more. Apparently the hornet's nest we've stirred +up is bigger than anyone imagined." + +"All that about my going home is nonsense," said Tuppence decidedly. +"Who is going to look after you if I go home? Besides, I like +excitement. Business hasn't been very brisk just lately." + +"Well, one can't have murders and robberies every day," said Tommy. "Be +reasonable. Now my idea is this. When business is slack, we ought to do +a certain amount of home exercises every day." + +"Lie on our backs and wave our feet in the air? That sort of thing?" + +"Don't be so literal in your interpretation. When I say exercises, +I mean exercises in the detective art. Reproductions of the Great +Masters. For instance--" + +From the drawer beside him, Tommy took out a formidable dark green +eyeshade covering both eyes. This he adjusted with some care. Then he +drew a watch from his pocket. + +"I broke the glass this morning," he remarked. "That paved the way for +its being the crystalless watch which my sensitive fingers touch so +lightly." + +"Be careful," said Tuppence. "You nearly had the short hand off then." + +"Give me your hand," said Tommy. He held it, one finger feeling for the +pulse. "Ah! the keyboard of silence. This woman has _not_ got heart +disease." + +"I suppose," said Tuppence, "that you are Thornley Colton?" + +"Just so," said Tommy. "The blind Problemist. And you're thingummybob, +the black-haired apple-cheeked secretary--" + +"The bundle of baby clothes picked up on the banks of the English +river," finished Tuppence. + +"And Albert is the Fee, alias Shrimp." + +"We must teach him to say 'Gee,'" said Tuppence. "And his voice isn't +shrill. It's dreadfully hoarse." + +"Against the wall by the door," said Tommy, "you perceive the slim +hollow cane which held in my sensitive hand tells me so much." + +He rose and cannoned into a chair. + +"Damn!" said Tommy. "I forgot that chair was there." + +"It must be beastly to be blind," said Tuppence with feeling. + +"Rather," agreed Tommy heartily. "I'm sorrier for all those poor devils +who lost their eyesight in the War than for anyone else. But they say +that when you live in the dark you really do develop special senses. +That's what I want to try and see if one couldn't do. It would be jolly +handy to train oneself to be some good in the dark. Now, Tuppence, be a +good Sydney Thames. How many steps to that cane?" + +Tuppence made a desperate guess. + +"Three straight, five left," she hazarded. + +Tommy paced it uncertainly, Tuppence interrupting with a cry of warning +as she realised that the fourth step left would take him slap against +the wall. + +"There's a lot in this," said Tuppence. "You've no idea how difficult +it is to judge how many steps are needed." + +"It's jolly interesting," said Tommy. "Call Albert in. I'm going to +shake hands with you both, and see if I know which is which." + +"All right," said Tuppence, "but Albert must wash his hands first. +They're sure to be sticky from those beastly acid drops he's always +eating." + +Albert, introduced to the game, was full of interest. + +Tommy, the hand shakes completed, smiled complacently. + +"The keyboard of silence cannot lie," he murmured. "The first was +Albert, the second, you, Tuppence." + +"Wrong!" shrieked Tuppence. "Keyboard of silence indeed! You went by my +wedding ring. And I put that on Albert's finger." + +Various other experiments were carried out, with indifferent success. + +"But it's coming," declared Tommy. "One can't expect to be infallible +straight away. I tell you what. It's just lunch time. You and I will +go to the Blitz, Tuppence. Blind man and his keeper. Some jolly useful +tips to be picked up there." + +"I say, Tommy, we shall get into trouble." + +"No, we shan't. I shall behave quite like the little gentleman. But I +bet you that by the end of luncheon I shall be startling you." + +All protests being thus overborne, a quarter of an hour later saw Tommy +and Tuppence comfortably ensconced at a corner table in the Gold Room +of the Blitz. + +Tommy ran his fingers lightly over the Menu. + +"Pilaff de Homard and Grilled Chicken for me," he murmured. + +Tuppence also made her selection, and the waiter moved away. + +"So far, so good," said Tommy. "Now for a more ambitious venture. What +beautiful legs that girl in the short skirt has--the one who has just +come in." + +"How was that done, Thorn?" + +"Beautiful legs impart a particular vibration to the floor which is +received by my hollow cane. Or, to be honest, in a big Restaurant there +is nearly always a girl with beautiful legs standing in the doorway +looking for her friends, and with short skirts going about, she'd be +sure to take advantage of them." + +The meal proceeded. + +"The man two tables from us is a very wealthy profiteer, I fancy," said +Tommy carelessly. + +"Pretty good," said Tuppence appreciatively. "I don't follow that one." + +"I shan't tell you how it's done every time. It spoils my show. The +head waiter is serving champagne three tables off to the right. A stout +woman in black is about to pass our table." + +"Tommy, how can you--" + +"Aha! You're beginning to see what I can do. That's a nice girl in +brown just getting up at the table behind you." + +"Snoo!" said Tuppence. "It's a young man in grey." + +"Oh!" said Tommy, momentarily disconcerted. + +And at that moment two men who had been sitting at a table not far +away, and who had been watching the young pair with keen interest, got +up and came across to the corner table. + +"Excuse me," said the elder of the two, a tall well dressed man with an +eyeglass and a small grey moustache. "But you have been pointed out to +me as Mr. Theodore Blunt. May I ask if that is so?" + +Tommy hesitated a minute, feeling somewhat at a disadvantage. Then he +bowed his head. + +"That is so. I am Mr. Blunt." + +"What an unexpected piece of good fortune! Mr. Blunt, I was going to +call at your offices after lunch. I am in trouble--very grave trouble. +But--excuse me--you have had some accident to your eyes?" + +"My dear sir," said Tommy in a melancholy voice. "I am +blind--completely blind." + +"What?" + +"You are astonished. But surely you have heard of blind detectives?" + +"In fiction. Never in real life. And I have certainly never heard that +you were blind." + +"Many people are not aware of the fact," murmured Tommy. "I am wearing +an eyeshade to-day to save my eyeballs from glare. But without it, +quite a host of people have never suspected my infirmity--if you call +it that. You see, my eyes cannot mislead me. But enough of all this. +Shall we go at once to my office, or will you give me the facts of the +case here? The latter would be best, I think." + +A waiter brought up two extra chairs, and the two men sat down. The +second man, who had not yet spoken, was shorter, sturdy in build and +very dark. + +"It is a matter of great delicacy," said the older man dropping his +voice confidentially. He looked uncertainly at Tuppence. Mr. Blunt +seemed to feel the glance. + +"Let me introduce my confidential secretary," he said. "Miss Ganges. +Found on the banks of the Indian river--a mere bundle of baby +clothes. Very sad history. Miss Ganges is my eyes. She accompanies me +everywhere." + +The stranger acknowledged the introduction with a bow. + +"Then I can speak out. Mr. Blunt, my daughter, a girl of sixteen, has +been abducted under somewhat peculiar circumstances. I discovered this +half an hour ago. The circumstances of the case were such that I dared +not call in the police. Instead I rang up your office. They told me you +were out to lunch, but would be back by half past two. I came in here +with my friend Captain Harker--" + +The short man jerked his head and muttered something. + +"By the greatest good fortune you happened to be lunching here also. We +must lose no time. You must return with me to my house immediately." + +Tommy demurred cautiously. + +"I can be with you in half an hour. I must return to my office first." + +Captain Harker, turning to glance at Tuppence, may have been surprised +to see a half smile lurking for a moment at the corners of her mouth. + +"No, no, that will not do. You must return with me." The grey haired +man took a card from his pocket and handed it across the table. "That +is my name." + +Tommy fingered it. + +"My fingers are hardly sensitive enough for that," he said with a +smile, and handed it to Tuppence, who read out in a low voice: "The +Duke of Blairgowrie." + +She looked with great interest at their client. The Duke of Blairgowrie +was well known to be a most haughty and inaccessible nobleman who had +married as a wife the daughter of a Chicago pork butcher, many years +younger than himself, and of a lively temperament that augured ill for +their future together. There had been rumors of disaccord lately. + +"You will come at once, Mr. Blunt?" said the Duke, with a tinge of +acerbity in his manner. + +Tommy yielded to the inevitable. + +"Miss Ganges and I will come with you," he said quietly. "You will +excuse my just stopping to drink a large cup of black coffee? They will +serve it immediately. I am subject to very distressing headaches, the +result of my eye trouble, and the coffee steadies my nerves." + +He called a waiter and gave the order. Then he spoke to Tuppence. + +"Miss Ganges--I am lunching here to-morrow with the French Prefect of +Police. Just note down the luncheon, and give to the head waiter with +instructions to reserve me my usual table. I am assisting the French +Police in an important case. _The fee_--" he paused--"is considerable. +Are you ready, Miss Ganges?" + +"Quite ready," said Tuppence, her stylo poised. + +"We will start with that special salad of Shrimps that they have here. +Then to follow--let me see, _to follow_--Yes. Omelette Blitz, and +perhaps a couple of _Tournedos à l'Étranger_." + +He looked up, catching the Duke's eye. + +"You will forgive me, I hope," he murmured. "Ah! yes, _Soufflé en +surprise_. That will conclude the repast. A most interesting man, the +French prefect. You know him, perhaps?" + +The other replied in the negative, as Tuppence rose and went to speak +to the head waiter. Presently she returned, just as the coffee was +brought. + +Tommy drank a large cup of it, sipping it slowly, then rose. + +"My cane, Miss Ganges? Thank you. Directions, please?" + +It was a moment of agony for Tuppence. + +"One right, eighteen straight. About the fifth step, there is a waiter +serving the table on your left." + +Swinging his cane jauntily, Tommy set out. Tuppence kept close beside +him, and endeavored unobtrusively to steer him. All went well until +they were just passing out through the doorway. A man entered rather +hurriedly, and before Tuppence could warn the blind Mr. Blunt, he had +barged right into the newcomer. Explanations and apologies ensued. + +At the door of the Blitz a smart landaulette was waiting. The Duke +himself aided Mr. Blunt to get in. + +"Your car here, Harker?" he asked over his shoulder. + +"Yes. Just round the corner." + +"Take Miss Ganges in it, will you." + +Before another word could be said, he had jumped in beside Tommy, and +the car rolled smoothly away. + +"A very delicate matter," murmured the Duke. "I can soon acquaint you +with all the details." + +Tommy raised his hand to his head. + +"I can remove my eyeshade now," he observed pleasantly. "It was only +the glare of artificial light in the Restaurant necessitated its use." + +But his arm was jerked down sharply. At the same time he felt something +hard and round being poked between his ribs. "No, my dear Mr. Blunt," +said the Duke's voice--but a voice that seemed suddenly different. +"You will not remove that eyeshade. You will sit perfectly still and +not move in any way. You understand? I don't want this pistol of mine +to go off. You see, I happen not to be the Duke of Blairgowrie at +all. I borrowed his name for the occasion, knowing that you would not +refuse to accompany such a celebrated client. I am something much more +prosaic--a ham merchant who has lost his wife." + +He felt the start the other gave. + +"That tells you something," he laughed. "My dear young man, you have +been incredibly foolish. I'm afraid--I'm very much afraid that your +activities will be curtailed in future." + +He spoke the last words with a sinister relish. + +Tommy sat motionless. He did not reply to the other's taunts. + +Presently the car slackened its pace and drew up. + +"Just a minute," said the pseudo Duke. He twisted a handkerchief deftly +into Tommy's mouth, and drew up his scarf over it. + +"In case you should be foolish enough to think of calling for help," he +explained suavely. + +The door of the car opened and the chauffeur stood ready. He and his +master took Tommy between them and propelled him rapidly up some steps +and in at the door of a house. + +The door closed behind them. There was a rich oriental smell in the +air. Tommy's feet sank deep into velvet pile. He was propelled in the +same fashion up a flight of stairs and into a room which he judged +to be at the back of the house. Here the two men bound his hands +together. The chauffeur went out again, and the other removed the gag. + +"You may speak freely now," he announced pleasantly. "What have you to +say for yourself, young man?" + +Tommy cleared his throat and eased the aching corners of his mouth. + +"I hope you haven't lost my hollow cane," he said mildly. "It cost me a +lot to have that made." + +"You have nerve," said the other, after a minute's pause. "Or else you +are just a fool. Don't you understand that I have got you--got you in +the hollow of my hand? That you're absolutely in my power? That no one +who knows you is ever likely to see you again?" + +"Can't we cut out the melodrama?" asked Tommy plaintively. "Have I got +to say 'You villain, I'll foil you yet?' That sort of thing is so very +much out of date." + +"What about the girl?" said the other, watching him. "Doesn't that move +you?" + +"Putting two and two together during my enforced silence just now," +said Tommy, "I have come to the inevitable conclusion that that chatty +lad Harker is another of the doers of desperate deeds, and that +therefore my unfortunate secretary will shortly join this little tea +party." + +"Right as to one point, but wrong on the other. Mrs. Beresford--you see +I know all about you--Mrs. Beresford will not be brought here. That is +a little precaution I took. It occurred to me that just probably your +friends in high places might be keeping you shadowed. In that case, by +dividing the pursuit, you could not both be trailed. I should still +keep one in my hands. I am waiting now--" + +He broke off, as the door opened. The chauffeur spoke. + +"We've not been followed, sir. It's all clear." + +"Good. You can go, Gregory." + +The door closed again. + +"So far, so good," said the 'Duke.' "And now what are we to do with +you, Mr. Beresford Blunt?" + +"I wish you'd take this confounded eyeshade off me," said Tommy. + +"I think not. With it on, you are truly blind--without it you would see +as well as I do--and that would not suit my little plan. For I have a +plan. You are fond of sensational fiction, Mr. Blunt. This little game +that you and your wife were playing to-day proves that. Now I too have +arranged a little game--something rather ingenious, as I am sure you +will admit when I explain it to you. + +"You see, this floor on which you are standing is made of metal, +and here and there on its surface are little projections. I touch +a switch--so." A sharp click sounded. "Now the electric current is +switched on. To tread on one of those little knobs now means--death! +You understand? If you could see ... but you cannot see. You are in the +dark. That is the game--Blindman's Buff with death. If you can reach +the door in safety--freedom! But I think that long before you reach it +you will have trodden on one of the danger spots. And that will be very +amusing--for me!" + +He came forward and unbound Tommy's hands. Then he handed him his cane +with a little ironical bow. + +"The blind Problemist. Let us see if he will solve this problem. I +shall stand here with my pistol ready. If you raise your hands to your +head to remove that eyeshade, I shoot. Is that clear?" + +"Perfectly clear," said Tommy. He was rather pale, but determined. "I +haven't got a dog's chance, I suppose?" + +"Oh! that--" the other shrugged his shoulders. + +"Damned ingenious devil, aren't you?" said Tommy. "But you've forgotten +one thing. May I light a cigarette, by the way? My poor little heart's +going pit a pat." + +"You may light a cigarette--but no tricks. I am watching you, remember, +with the pistol ready." + +"I'm not a performing dog," said Tommy. "I don't do tricks." He +extracted a cigarette from his case, then felt for a match box. "It's +all right. I'm not feeling for a revolver. But you know well enough +that I'm not armed. All the same, as I said before, you've forgotten +one thing." + +"What is that?" + +Tommy took a match from the box, and held it ready to strike. + +"I'm blind and you can see. That's admitted. The advantage is with you. +But supposing we were both in the dark--eh? Where's your advantage +then?" + +He struck the match. + +The "Duke" laughed contemptuously. + +"Thinking of shooting at the switch of the lights? Plunging the room +into darkness? It can't be done." + +"Just so," said Tommy. "I can't give you darkness. But extremes meet, +you know. What about _light_?" + +As he spoke, he touched the match to something he held in his hand, and +threw it down upon the table. + +A blinding glare filled the room. + +Just for a minute, blinded by the intense white light, the "Duke" +blinked and fell back, his pistol hand lowered. + +He opened his eyes again to feel something sharp pricking his breast. + +"Drop that pistol," ordered Tommy. "Drop it quick. I agree with you +that a hollow cane is a pretty rotten affair. So I didn't get one. A +good _sword stick_ is a very useful weapon, though. Don't you think so? +Almost as useful as magnesium wire. _Drop that pistol._" + +Obedient to the necessity of that sharp point, the man dropped it. +Then, with a laugh, he sprang back. + +"But I still have the advantage," he mocked. "For I can see, and you +cannot." + +"That's where you're wrong," said Tommy. "I can see perfectly. This +eyeshade's a fake. I was going to put one over on Tuppence. Make one or +two bloomers to begin with, and then put in some perfectly marvellous +stuff towards the end of the lunch. Why, bless you, I could have walked +to the door and avoided all the knobs with perfect ease. But I didn't +trust you to play a sporting game. You'd never have let me get out of +this alive. Careful now--" + +For, with his face distorted with rage, the "Duke" sprang forward, +forgetting in his fury to look where he put his feet. + +There was a sudden blue crackle of flame, and he swayed for a minute, +then fell like a log. A faint odor of singed flesh filled the room, +mingling with a stronger smell of ozone. + +"Whew," said Tommy. + +He wiped his face. + +Then, moving gingerly, and with every precaution, he reached the wall, +and touched the switch he had seen the other manipulate. + +He crossed the room to the door, opened it carefully, and looked out. +There was no one about. He went down the stairs and out through the +front door. + +Safe in the street, he looked up at the house with a shudder, noting +the number. Then he hurried to the nearest telephone box. + +There was a moment of agonising anxiety, and then a well known voice +spoke. + +"Tuppence, thank goodness!" + +"Yes, I'm all right. I got all your points. The Fee, Shrimp, Come to +the Blitz and follow the two strangers. Albert got there in time, and +when we went off in separate cars, followed me in a taxi, saw where +they took me, and rang up the police." + +"Albert's a good lad," said Tommy. "Chivalrous. I was pretty sure he'd +choose to follow you. But I've been worried, all the same. I've got +lots to tell you. I'm coming straight back now. And the first thing +I shall do when I get back is to write a thumping big cheque for St. +Dunstan's. Lord, it must be awful not to be able to see." + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE MAN IN THE MIST + + +Tommy was not pleased with life. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives had met +with a reverse, distressing to their pride if not to their pockets. +Called in professionally to elucidate the mystery of a stolen pearl +necklace at Adlington Hall, Adlington, Blunt's Brilliant Detectives +had failed to make good. Whilst Tommy, hard on the track of a gambling +Countess, was tracking her in the disguise of a Roman Catholic Priest, +and Tuppence was "getting off" with a nephew of the house on the golf +links, the local Inspector of Police had unemotionally arrested the +second footman who proved to be a thief well known at headquarters and +who admitted his guilt without making any bones about it. + +Tommy and Tuppence, therefore, had withdrawn with what dignity they +could muster, and were at the present moment solacing themselves with +cocktails at the Grand Adlington Hotel. Tommy still wore his clerical +disguise. + +"Hardly a Father Brown touch, that," he remarked gloomily. "And yet +I've got just the right kind of umbrella." + +"It wasn't a Father Brown problem," said Tuppence. "One needs a certain +atmosphere from the start. One must be doing something quite ordinary, +and then bizarre things begin to happen. That's the idea." + +"Unfortunately," said Tommy, "we have to return to town. Perhaps +something bizarre will happen on the way to the station." + +He raised the glass he was holding to his lips, but the liquid in it +was suddenly spilled, as a heavy hand smacked him on the shoulder, and +a voice to match the hand boomed out words of greeting. + +"Upon my soul, it is! Old Tommy! And Mrs. Tommy too. Where did you blow +in from? Haven't seen or heard anything of you for years." + +"Why, it's Bulger!" said Tommy, setting down what was left of the +cocktail, and turning to look at the intruder, a big square-shouldered +man of thirty years of age, with a round red beaming face, and dressed +in golfing kit. "Good old Bulger!" + +"But I say, old chap," said Bulger (whose real name by the way, was +Mervyn Estcourt), "I never knew you'd taken orders. Fancy you a +blinking parson." + +Tuppence burst out laughing, and Tommy looked embarrassed. And then +they suddenly became conscious of a fourth person. + +A tall slender creature, with very golden hair and very round blue +eyes, almost impossibly beautiful, with an effect of really expensive +black topped by wonderful ermines, and very large pearl earrings. She +was smiling. And her smile said many things. It asserted, for instance, +that she knew perfectly well that she herself was the thing best worth +looking at certainly in England, and possibly in the whole world. She +was not vain about it in any way, but she just knew, with certainty and +confidence, that it was so. + +Both Tommy and Tuppence recognised her immediately. They had seen her +three times in "The Secret of the Heart," and an equal number of times +in that other great success, "Pillars of Fire," and in innumerable +other plays. There was, perhaps, no other actress in England who had so +firm a hold on the British public, as Miss Gilda Glen. She was reported +to be the most beautiful woman in England. It was also rumored that she +was the stupidest. + +"Old friends of mine, Miss Glen," said Estcourt, with a tinge of +apology in his voice for having presumed, even for a moment, to forget +such a radiant creature. "Tommy, and Mrs. Tommy, let me introduce you +to Miss Gilda Glen." + +The ring of pride in his voice was unmistakable. By merely being seen +in his company, Miss Glen had conferred great glory upon him. + +The actress was staring with frank interest at Tommy. + +"Are you really a Priest?" she asked. "A Roman Catholic Priest, I mean? +Because I thought they didn't have wives." + +Estcourt went off in a boom of laughter again. + +"That's good," he exploded. "You sly dog, Tommy. Glad he hasn't +renounced you, Mrs. Tommy, with all the rest of the pomps and vanities." + +Gilda Glen took not the faintest notice of him. She continued to stare +at Tommy with puzzled eyes. + +"Are you a Priest?" she demanded. + +"Very few of us are what we seem to be," said Tommy gently. "My +profession is not unlike that of a Priest. I don't give Absolution--but +I listen to Confessions--I--" + +"Don't you listen to him," interrupted Estcourt. "He's pulling your +leg." + +"If you're not a clergyman, I don't see why you're dressed up like +one," she puzzled. "That is, unless--" + +"Not a criminal flying from justice," said Tommy. "The other thing." + +"Oh!" she frowned, and looked at him with beautiful bewildered eyes. + +"I wonder if she'll ever get that," thought Tommy to himself. "Not +unless I put it in words of one syllable for her, I should say." + +Aloud he said: + +"Know anything about the trains back to town, Bulger? We've got to be +pushing for home. How far is it to the station?" + +"Ten minutes' walk. But no hurry. Next train up is the 6.35 and it's +only about twenty to six now. You've just missed one." + +"Which way is it to the station from here?" + +"Sharp to the left when you turn out of the Hotel. Then--let me +see--down Morgan's Avenue would be the best way, wouldn't it?" + +"Morgan's Avenue?" Miss Glen started violently, and stared at him with +startled eyes. + +"I know what you're thinking of," said Estcourt, laughing. "The Ghost. +Morgan's Avenue is bounded by the cemetery on one side, and tradition +has it that a policeman who met his death by violence gets up and walks +on his old beat up and down Morgan's Avenue. A spook policeman! Can +you beat it? But lots of people swear to having seen him." + +"A policeman?" said Miss Glen. She shivered a little. "But there aren't +really any ghosts, are there? I mean--there aren't such things?" + +She got up, folding her wrap tighter round her. + +"Good bye," she said vaguely. + +She had ignored Tuppence completely throughout, and now she did not +even glance in her direction. But over her shoulder she threw one +puzzled questioning glance at Tommy. + +Just as she got to the door, she encountered a tall man with grey hair +and a puffy red face who uttered an exclamation of surprise. His hand +on her arm, he led her through the doorway, talking in an animated +fashion. + +"Beautiful creature, isn't she?" said Estcourt. "Brains of a rabbit. +Rumor has it that she's going to marry Lord Leconbury. That was +Leconbury in the doorway." + +"He doesn't look a very nice sort of man to marry," remarked Tuppence. + +Estcourt shrugged his shoulders. + +"A title has a kind of glamor still, I suppose," he said. "And +Leconbury is not an impoverished peer by any means. She'll be in +clover. Nobody knows where she sprang from. Pretty near the gutter, I +daresay. There's something deuced mysterious about her being down here +anyway. She's not staying at the Hotel. And when I tried to find out +where she was staying, she snubbed me--snubbed me quite crudely, in the +only way she knows. Blessed if I know what it's all about." + +He glanced at his watch and uttered an exclamation. + +"I must be off. Jolly glad to have seen you two again. We must have a +bust in town together some night. So long." + +He hurried away, and as he did so, a page approached with a note on a +salver. The note was unaddressed. + +"But it's for you, sir," he said to Tommy. "From Miss Gilda Glen." + +Tommy tore it open and read it with some curiosity. Inside were a few +lines written in a straggling untidy hand. + + I'm not sure, but I think you might be able to help me. And you'll + be going that way to the station. Could you be at The White House, + Morgan's Avenue, at ten minutes past six? + + Yours sincerely, + Gilda Glen. + +Tommy nodded to the page who departed, and then handed the note to +Tuppence. + +"Extraordinary," said Tuppence. "Is it because she still thinks you're +a Priest?" + +"No," said Tommy thoughtfully. "I should say it's because she's at last +taken in that I'm not one. Hullo! what's this?" + +"This" was a young man with flaming red hair, a pugnacious jaw and +appallingly shabby clothes. He had walked into the room and was now +striding up and down muttering to himself. + +"Hell!" said the red haired man, loudly and forcibly. "That's what I +say--Hell!" + +He dropped into a chair near the young couple and stared at them +moodily. + +"Damn all women, that's what I say," said the young man, eyeing +Tuppence ferociously. "Oh! all right, kick up a row if you like. +Have me turned out of the Hotel! It won't be for the first time. Why +shouldn't we say what we think? Why should we go about bottling up our +feelings, and smirking, and saying things exactly like everyone else? +I don't feel pleasant and polite. I feel like getting hold of someone +round the throat and gradually choking them to death." + +He paused. + +"Any particular person?" asked Tuppence. "Or just anybody?" + +"One particular person," said the young man grimly. + +"This is very interesting," said Tuppence. "Won't you tell us some +more?" + +"My name's Reilly," said the red haired man. "James Reilly. You may +have heard it. I wrote a little volume of Pacifist poems--good stuff, +although I say so." + +"_Pacifist Poems?_" said Tuppence. + +"Yes--why not?" demanded Mr. Reilly belligerently. + +"Oh! nothing," said Tuppence hastily. + +"I'm for peace all the time," said Mr. Reilly fiercely. "To Hell with +war. And women! Women! Did you see that creature who was trailing +around here just now? Gilda Glen, she calls herself. Gilda Glen! God! +how I've worshipped that woman. And I'll tell you this--if she's got +a heart at all, it's on my side. She cared once for me, and I could +make her care again. And if she sells herself to that muck heap +Leconbury--well, God help her. I'd as soon kill her with my own hands." + +And on this, suddenly, he rose and rushed from the room. + +Tommy raised his eyebrows. + +"A somewhat excitable gentleman," he murmured. "Well, Tuppence, shall +we start?" + +A fine mist was coming up as they emerged from the Hotel into the cool +outer air. Obeying Estcourt's directions, they turned sharp to the +left, and in a few minutes they came to a turning labelled Morgan's +Avenue. + +The mist had increased. It was soft and white, and hurried past them in +little eddying drifts. To their left was the high wall of the Cemetery, +on their right a row of small houses. Presently these ceased, and a +high hedge took their place. + +"Tommy," said Tuppence. "I'm beginning to feel jumpy. The mist--and the +silence. As though we were miles from anywhere." + +"One does feel like that," agreed Tommy. "All alone in the world. It's +the effect of the mist, and not being able to see ahead of one." + +Tuppence nodded. "Just our footsteps echoing on the pavement. What's +that?" + +"What's what?" + +"I thought I heard other footsteps behind us." + +"You'll be seeing the ghost in a minute if you work yourself up like +this," said Tommy kindly. "Don't be so nervy. Are you afraid the spook +policeman will lay his hand on your shoulder?" + +Tuppence emitted a shrill squeal. + +"Don't, Tommy. Now you've put it into my head." + +She craned her head back over her shoulder, trying to peer into the +white veil that was wrapped all round them. + +"There they are again," she whispered. "No, they're in front now. Oh! +Tommy, don't say you can't hear them?" + +"I do hear something. Yes, it's footsteps behind us. Somebody else +walking this way to catch the train. I wonder--" + +He stopped suddenly, and stood still, and Tuppence gave a gasp. + +For the curtain of mist in front of them suddenly parted in the most +artificial manner, and there, not twenty feet away a gigantic policeman +suddenly appeared, as though materialised out of the fog. One minute +he was not there, the next minute he was--so at least it seemed to the +rather superheated imaginations of the two watchers. Then as the mist +rolled back still more, a little scene appeared, as though set on a +stage. + +The big blue policeman, a scarlet pillar box, and on the right of the +road the outlines of a white house. + +"Red, white, and blue," said Tommy. "It's damned pictorial. Come on, +Tuppence, there's nothing to be afraid of." + +For, as he had already seen, the policeman was a real policeman. And +moreover, he was not nearly so gigantic as he had at first seemed +looming up out of the mist. + +But as they started forward, footsteps came from behind them. A man +passed them, hurrying along. He turned in at the gate of the White +House, ascended the steps, and beat a deafening tattoo upon the +knocker. He was admitted just as they reached the spot where the +policeman was standing staring after him. + +"There's a gentleman seems to be in a hurry," commented the policeman. + +He spoke in a slow reflective voice, as of one whose thoughts took some +time to mature. + +"He's the sort of gentleman always would be in a hurry," remarked Tommy. + +The policeman's stare, slow and rather suspicious, came round to rest +on his face. + +"Friend of yours?" he demanded, and there was distinct suspicion now in +his voice. + +"No," said Tommy. "He's not a friend of mine, but I happen to know who +he is. Name of Reilly." + +"Ah!" said the policeman. "Well, I'd better be getting along." + +"Can you tell me where the White House is?" asked Tommy. + +The constable jerked his head sideways. + +"This is it. Mrs. Honeycott's." He paused, and added evidently with +the idea of giving them valuable information: "Nervous party. Always +suspecting burglars is around. Always asking me to have a look around +the place. Middle-aged women get like that." + +"Middle-aged, eh?" said Tommy. "Do you happen to know if there's a +young lady staying there?" + +"A young lady," said the policeman, ruminating. "A young lady. No, I +can't say I know anything about that." + +"She mayn't be staying here, Tommy," said Tuppence. "And anyway, she +mayn't be here yet. She could only have started just before we did." + +"Ah!" said the policeman suddenly. "Now that I call it to mind, a young +lady did go in at this gate. I saw her as I was coming up the road. +About three or four minutes ago it might be." + +"With ermine furs on?" asked Tuppence eagerly. + +"She had some kind of white rabbit round her throat," admitted the +policeman. + +Tuppence smiled. The policeman went on in the direction from which they +had just come, and they prepared to enter the gate of the White House. + +Suddenly a faint muffled cry sounded from inside the house, and almost +immediately afterwards the front door opened and James Reilly came +rushing down the steps. His face was white and twisted, and his eyes +glared in front of him unseeingly. He staggered like a drunken man. + +He passed Tommy and Tuppence as though he did not see them, muttering +to himself with a kind of dreadful repetition. + +"My God! My God! Oh, my God!" + +He clutched at the gate post, as though to steady himself, and then, as +though animated by sudden panic, he raced off down the road as hard as +he could go in the opposite direction to that taken by the policeman. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE MAN IN THE MIST (continued) + + +Tommy and Tuppence stared at each other in bewilderment. + +"Well," said Tommy, "something's happened in that house to scare our +friend Reilly pretty badly." + +Tuppence drew her finger absently across the gate post. + +"He must have put his hand on some wet red paint somewhere," she said +idly. + +"H'm," said Tommy. "I think we'd better go inside rather quickly. I +don't understand this business." + +In the doorway of the house a white capped maid servant was standing, +almost speechless with indignation. + +"Did you ever see the likes of that now, Father," she burst out, +as Tommy ascended the steps. "That fellow comes here, asks for the +young lady, rushes upstairs without how or by your leave. She lets +out a screech like a wild cat--and what wonder, poor pretty dear, and +straightway he comes rushing down again, with the white face on him, +like one who's seen a ghost. What will be the meaning of it all?" + +"Who are you talking with at the front door, Ellen?" demanded a sharp +voice from the interior of the hall. + +"Here's Missus," said Ellen, somewhat unnecessarily. + +She drew back and Tommy found himself confronting a grey-haired, +middle-aged woman, with frosty blue eyes imperfectly concealed by pince +nez, and a spare figure clad in black with bugle trimming. + +"Mrs. Honeycott?" said Tommy. "I came here to see Miss Glen." + +Mrs. Honeycott gave him a sharp glance, then went on to Tuppence and +took in every detail of her appearance. + +"Oh! you did, did you?" she said. "Well, you'd better come inside." + +She led the way into the hall and along it into a room at the back of +the house facing on the garden. It was a fair sized room, but looked +smaller than it was, owing to the large amount of chairs and tables +crowded into it. A big fire burned in the grate, and a chintz covered +sofa stood at one side of it. The wall paper was a small grey stripe +with a festoon of roses round the top. Quantities of engravings and oil +paintings covered the walls. + +It was a room almost impossible to associate with the expensive +personality of Miss Gilda Glen. + +"Sit down," said Mrs. Honeycott. "To begin with, you'll excuse me +if I say I don't hold with the Roman Catholic religion. Never did +I think to see a Roman Catholic priest in my house. But if Gilda's +gone over to the Scarlet Woman it's only what's to be expected in a +life like hers--and I daresay it might be worse. She mightn't have +any religion at all. I should think more of Roman Catholics if their +priests were married--I always speak my mind. And to think of those +convents--quantities of beautiful young girls shut up there, and no one +knowing what becomes of them--well, it won't bear thinking about." + +Mrs. Honeycott came to a full stop, and drew a deep breath. + +Without entering upon a defence of the celibacy of the priesthood or +the other controversial points touched upon, Tommy went straight to the +point. + +"I understand, Mrs. Honeycott, that Miss Glen is in this house." + +"She is. Mind you, I don't approve. Marriage is marriage and your +husband's your husband. As you make your bed, so you must lie on it." + +"I don't quite understand--" began Tommy, bewildered. + +"I thought as much. That's the reason I brought you in here. You can go +up to Gilda after I've spoken my mind. She came to me--after all these +years, think of it!--and asked me to help her. Wanted me to see this +man and persuade him to agree to a divorce. I told her straight out I'd +have nothing whatever to do with it. Divorce is sinful. But I couldn't +refuse my own sister shelter in my house, could I now?" + +"Your sister?" exclaimed Tommy. + +"Yes, Gilda's my sister. Didn't she tell you?" + +Tommy stared at her open mouthed. The thing seemed fantastically +impossible. Then he remembered that the angelic beauty of Gilda Glen +had been in evidence for many years. He had been taken to see her +act as quite a small boy. Yes, it was possible after all. But what a +piquant contrast. So it was from this lower middle class respectability +that Gilda Glen had sprung. How well she had guarded her secret! + +"I am not yet quite clear," he said. "Your sister is married?" + +"Ran away to be married as a girl of seventeen," said Mrs. Honeycott +succinctly. "Some common fellow far below her in station. And our +father a reverend. It was a disgrace. Then she left her husband and +went on the stage. Play acting! I've never been inside a theatre in my +life. I hold no truck with wickedness. Now, after all these years, she +wants to divorce the man. Means to marry some big wig, I suppose. But +her husband's standing firm--not to be bullied and not to be bribed--I +admire him for it." + +"What is his name?" asked Tommy suddenly. + +"That's an extraordinary thing now, but I can't remember! It's nearly +twenty years ago, remember, since I heard it. My father forbade it to +be mentioned. And I've refused to discuss the matter with Gilda. She +knows what I think, and that's enough for her." + +"It wasn't Reilly, was it?" + +"Might have been. I really can't say. It's gone clean out of my head." + +"The man I mean was here just now." + +"That man! I thought he was an escaped lunatic. I'd been in the kitchen +giving orders to Ellen. I'd just got back into this room, and was +wondering whether Gilda had come in yet (she has a latch key) when I +heard her. She hesitated a minute or two in the hall and then went +straight upstairs. About three minutes later, all this tremendous rat +tatting began. I went out into the hall, and just saw a man rushing +upstairs. Then there was a sort of cry upstairs and presently down he +came again and rushed out like a madman. Pretty goings on." + +Tommy rose. + +"Mrs. Honeycott, let us go upstairs at once. I am afraid--" + +"What of?" + +"Afraid that you have no red wet paint in the house." + +Mrs. Honeycott stared at him. + +"Of course I haven't." + +"That is what I feared," said Tommy gravely. "Please let us go to your +sister's room at once." + +Momentarily silenced, Mrs. Honeycott led the way. They caught a glimpse +of Ellen in the hall, backing hastily into one of the rooms. + +Mrs. Honeycott opened the first door at the top of the stairs. Tommy +and Tuppence entered close behind her. + +Suddenly she gave a gasp and fell back. + +A motionless figure in black and ermine lay stretched on the sofa. +The face was untouched, a beautiful soulless face like a mature child +asleep. The wound was on the side of the head, a heavy blow with some +blunt instrument had crushed in the skull. Blood was dripping slowly +onto the floor, but the wound itself had long since ceased to bleed.... + +Tommy examined the prostrate figure, his face very white. + +"So," he said at last, "he didn't strangle her after all." + +"What do you mean? Who?" cried Mrs. Honeycott. "Is she dead?" + +"Oh! yes, Mrs. Honeycott, she's dead. Murdered. The question is--by +whom? Not that it is much of a question. Funny--for all his ranting +words, I didn't think the fellow had got it in him." + +He paused a minute, then turned to Tuppence with decision. + +"Will you go out and get a policeman, or ring up the police station +from somewhere?" + +Tuppence nodded. She, too, was very white. Tommy led Mrs. Honeycott +downstairs again. + +"I don't want there to be any mistake about this," he said. "Do you +know exactly what time it was when your sister came in?" + +"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Honeycott. "Because I was just setting the clock +on five minutes as I have to do every evening. It gains just five +minutes a day. It was exactly eight minutes past six by my watch, and +that never loses or gains a second." + +Tommy nodded. That agreed perfectly with the policeman's story. He had +seen the woman with the white furs go in at the gate, probably three +minutes had elapsed before he and Tuppence had reached the same spot. +He had glanced at his own watch then and had noted that it was just one +minute after the time of their appointment. + +There was just the faint chance that someone might have been waiting +for Gilda Glen in the room upstairs. But if so, he must still be hiding +in the house. No one but James Reilly had left it. + +He ran upstairs and made a quick but efficient search of the premises. +But there was no one concealed anywhere. + +Then he spoke to Ellen. After breaking the news to her, and waiting for +her first lamentations and invocations to the Saints to have exhausted +themselves, he asked a few questions. + +"Had anyone come to the house that afternoon asking for Miss Glen? No +one whatsoever. Had she herself been upstairs at all that evening? +Yes, she'd gone up at six o'clock as usual to draw the curtains--or it +might have been a few minutes after six. Anyway it was just before that +wild fellow come breaking the knocker down. She'd run downstairs to +answer the door. And him a black hearted murderer all the time." + +Tommy let it go at that. But he still felt a curious pity for Reilly, +an unwillingness to believe the worst of him. And yet there was no one +else who could have murdered Gilda Glen. Mrs. Honeycott and Ellen had +been the only two people in the house. + +He heard voices in the hall, and went out to find Tuppence and the +policeman from the beat outside. The latter had produced a notebook, +and a rather blunt pencil which he licked surreptitiously. He went +upstairs and surveyed the victim stolidly, merely remarking that if he +was to touch anything the Inspector would give him beans. He listened +to all Mrs. Honeycott's hysterical outbursts and confused explanations, +and occasionally he wrote something down. His presence was calming and +soothing. + +Tommy finally got him alone for a minute or two on the steps outside, +ere he departed to telephone headquarters. + +"Look here," said Tommy. "You saw the deceased turning in at the gate, +you say. Are you sure she was alone?" + +"Oh, she was alone all right. Nobody with her." + +"And between that time and when you met us, nobody came out of the +gate?" + +"Not a soul." + +"You'd have seen them if they had?" + +"Of course I should. Nobody come out till that wild chap did." + +The majesty of the law moved portentously down the steps and paused by +the white gate post which bore the imprint of a hand in red. + +"Kind of amateur he must have been," he said pityingly. "To leave a +thing like that." + +Then he swung out into the road. + + * * * * * + +It was the day after the crime. Tommy and Tuppence were still at the +Grand Hotel, but Tommy had thought it prudent to discard his clerical +disguise. + +James Reilly had been apprehended, and was in custody. His solicitor, +Mr. Marvell, had just finished a lengthy conversation with Tommy on the +subject of the crime. + +"I never would have believed it of James Reilly," he said simply. "He's +always been a man of violent speech, but that's all." + +Tommy nodded. + +"If you disperse energy in speech, it doesn't leave you too much over +for action. What I realise is that I shall be one of the principal +witnesses against him. That conversation he had with me just before the +crime was particularly damning. And in spite of everything, I like the +man, and if there was anyone else to suspect, I should believe him to +be innocent. What's his own story?" + +The solicitor pursed up his lips. + +"He declares that he found her lying there dead. But that's impossible, +of course. He's using the first lie that comes into his head." + +"Because, if he happened to be speaking the truth, it would mean +that our garrulous Mrs. Honeycott committed the crime--and that is +fantastic. Yes, he must have done it." + +"The maid heard her cry out, remember." + +"The maid--yes--" + +Tommy was silent a moment. Then he said thoughtfully: + +"What credulous creatures we are, really. We believe evidence as though +it were gospel truth. And what is it really? Only the impressions +conveyed to the mind by the senses--and suppose they're the wrong +impressions?" + +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh! we all know that there are unreliable witnesses, witnesses who +remember more and more as time goes on, with no real intention to +deceive." + +"I don't mean only that. I mean all of us--we say things that aren't +really so, and never know that we've done so. For instance, both you +and I, without doubt, have said some time or other, 'There's the post,' +when what we really meant was that we'd heard a double knock and the +rattle of the letter box. Nine times out of ten we'd be right, and it +would be the post, but just possibly the tenth time it might be only a +little urchin playing a joke on us. See what I mean?" + +"Ye-es," said Mr. Marvell slowly. "But I don't see what you're driving +at?" + +"Don't you? I'm not sure that I do myself. But I'm beginning to see. +It's like the stick, Tuppence. You remember? One end of it pointed +one way--but the other end always points the opposite way. It depends +whether you get hold of it by the right end. Doors open--but they also +shut. People go upstairs, but they also go downstairs. Boxes shut, but +they also open." + +"What _do_ you mean?" demanded Tuppence. + +"It's so ridiculously easy, really," said Tommy. "And yet it's only +just come to me. How do you know when a person's come into the house? +You hear the door open and bang to, and if you're expecting anyone to +come in, you will be quite sure it is them. But it might just as easily +be someone going _out_." + +"But Miss Glen didn't go out?" + +"No, I know _she_ didn't. But someone else did--the murderer." + +"But how did she get in, then?" + +"She came in whilst Mrs. Honeycott was in the kitchen talking to Ellen. +They didn't hear her. Mrs. Honeycott went back to the drawing-room, +wondered if her sister had come in and began to put the clock right, +and then, as she thought, she heard her come in and go upstairs." + +"Well, what about that? The footsteps going upstairs?" + +"That was Ellen, going up to draw the curtains. You remember, Mrs. +Honeycott said her sister paused before going up. That pause was just +the time needed for Ellen to come out from the kitchen into the hall. +She just missed seeing the murderer." + +"But Tommy," cried Tuppence. "The cry she gave?" + +"That was James Reilly. Didn't you notice what a high pitched voice he +has? In moments of great emotion, men often squeal just like a woman." + +"But the murderer? We'd have seen him?" + +"We _did_ see him. We even stood talking to him. Do you remember the +sudden way that policeman appeared? That was because he stepped out of +the gate, just after the mist cleared from the road. It made us jump, +don't you remember? After all, though we never think of them as that, +policemen are men just like any other men. They love and they hate. +They marry.... + +"I think Gilda Glen met her husband suddenly just outside that gate, +and took him in with her to thrash the matter out. He hadn't Reilly's +relief of violent words, remember. He just saw red--and he had his +truncheon handy...." + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE CRACKLER + + +"Tuppence," said Tommy, "we shall have to move into a much larger +office." + +"Nonsense," said Tuppence. "You mustn't get swollen headed and think +you are a millionaire just because you solved two or three twopenny +halfpenny cases with the aid of the most amazing luck." + +"What some call luck, others call skill." + +"Of course if you really think you are Sherlock Holmes, Thorndyke, +McCarty and the Brothers Okewood all rolled into one there is no more +to be said. Personally I would much rather have luck on my side than +all the skill in the world." + +"Perhaps there is something in that," conceded Tommy. "All the same, +Tuppence, we do need a larger office." + +"Why?" + +"The Classics," said Tommy. "We need several hundreds of yards of extra +book shelf if Edgar Wallace is to be properly represented." + +"We haven't had an Edgar Wallace case yet." + +"I am afraid we never shall," said Tommy. "If you notice he never does +give the amateur sleuth much of a chance. It is all stern Scotland Yard +kind of stuff--the real thing and no base counterfeit." + +Albert, the office boy, appeared at the door. + +"Inspector Marriot to see you," he announced. + +"The mystery man of Scotland Yard," murmured Tommy. + +"The busiest of the Busies," said Tuppence. "Or is it 'Noses?' I always +get mixed between Busies and Noses." + +The Inspector advanced upon them with a beaming smile of welcome. + +"Well and how are things?" he asked breezily. "None the worse for our +little adventure the other day?" + +"Oh! rather not," said Tuppence. "Too, too marvellous, wasn't it?" + +"Well, I don't know that I would describe it exactly that way myself," +said Marriot cautiously. + +"What has brought you here to-day, Marriot?" asked Tommy. "Not just +solicitude for our nervous systems, is it?" + +"No," said the Inspector. "It is work for the brilliant Mr. Blunt." + +"Ha!" said Tommy. "Let me put my brilliant expression on." + +"I have come to make you a proposition, Mr. Beresford. What would you +say to rounding up a really big gang?" + +"Is there such a thing?" asked Tommy. + +"What do you mean, is there such a thing?" + +"I always thought that gangs were confined to fiction--like master +crooks, and super criminals." + +"The master crook isn't very common," agreed the Inspector. "But Lord +bless you, sir, there's any amount of gangs knocking about." + +"I don't know that I should be at my best dealing with a gang," said +Tommy. "The amateur crime, the crime of quiet family life--that is +where I flatter myself that I shine. Drama of strong domestic interest. +That's the thing--with Tuppence at hand to supply all those little +feminine details which are so important, and so apt to be ignored by +the denser male." + +His eloquence was arrested abruptly, as Tuppence threw a cushion at him +and requested him not to talk nonsense. + +"Will have your little bit of fun, won't you, sir?" said Inspector +Marriot, smiling paternally at them both. "If you'll not take offence +at my saying so, it's a pleasure to see two young people enjoying life +as much as you two do." + +"Do we enjoy life?" said Tuppence, opening her eyes very wide. "I +suppose we do. I've never thought about it before." + +"To return to that gang you were talking about," said Tommy. "In spite +of my extensive private practice, Duchesses, millionaires, and all the +best charwomen--I might perhaps condescend to look into the matter for +you. I don't like to see Scotland Yard at fault. You'll have the Daily +Mail after you before you know where you are." + +"As I said before, you must have your bit of fun. Well, it's like +this." Again he hitched his chair forward. "There's any amount of +forged notes going about just now--hundreds of 'em! The amount of +counterfeit Treasury notes in circulation would surprise you. Most +artistic bit of work it is. Here's one of 'em." + +He took a one pound note from his pocket and handed it to Tommy. + +"Looks all right, doesn't it?" + +Tommy examined the note with great interest. + +"By Jove, I'd never spot there was anything wrong with that." + +"No more would most people. Now here's a genuine one. I'll show you the +differences--very slight they are, but you'll soon learn to tell them +apart. Take this magnifying glass." + +At the end of five minutes' coaching, both Tommy and Tuppence were +fairly expert. + +"What do you want us to do, Inspector Marriot?" asked Tuppence. "Just +keep our eyes open for these things?" + +"A great deal more than that, Mrs. Beresford. I'm pinning my faith on +you to get to the bottom of the matter. You see, we've discovered that +the notes are being circulated from the West End. Somebody pretty high +up in the social scale is doing the distributing. They're passing them +the other side of the Channel as well. Now there's a certain person who +is interesting us very much. A Major Laidlaw--perhaps you've heard the +name?" + +"I think I have," said Tommy. "Connected with racing, isn't that it?" + +"Yes. Major Laidlaw is pretty well known in connection with the +Turf. There's nothing actually against him, but there's a general +impression that he's been a bit too smart over one or two rather +shady transactions. Men in the know look queer when he's mentioned. +Nobody knows much of his past or where he came from. He's got a very +attractive French wife who's seen about everywhere with a train of +admirers. They must spend a lot of money, the Laidlaws, and I'd like +to know where it comes from." + +"Possibly from the train of admirers," suggested Tommy. + +"That's the general idea. But I'm not so sure. It may be coincidence, +but a lot of notes have been forthcoming from a certain very smart +little gambling club which is much frequented by the Laidlaws and their +set. This racing, gambling set gets rid of a lot of loose money in +notes. There couldn't be a better way of getting it into circulation." + +"And where do we come in?" + +"This way. Young St. Vincent and his wife are friends of yours, I +understand? They're in pretty thick with the Laidlaw set--though not +as thick as they were. Through them it will be easy for you to get a +footing in the same set in a way that none of our people could attempt. +There's no likelihood of their spotting you. You'll have an ideal +opportunity." + +"What have we got to find out exactly?" + +"Where they get the stuff from, if they _are_ passing it." + +"Quite so," said Tommy. "Major Laidlaw goes out with an empty suitcase. +When he returns it is crammed to the bursting point with Treasury +notes. How is it done? I sleuth him and find out. Is that the idea?" + +"More or less. But don't neglect the lady, and her father, M. +Heroulade. Remember the notes are being passed on both sides of the +Channel." + +"My dear Marriot," exclaimed Tommy reproachfully. "Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives do not know the meaning of the word neglect." + +The Inspector rose. + +"Well, good luck to you," he said, and departed. + +"Slush," said Tuppence enthusiastically. + +"Eh?" said Tommy perplexed. + +"Counterfeit money," explained Tuppence. "It is always called Slush. I +know I'm right. Oh, Tommy, we have got an Edgar Wallace case. At last +we are Busies." + +"We are," said Tommy, "and we are out to get The Crackler and we will +get him good." + +"Did you say The Cackler or The Crackler?" + +"The Crackler." + +"Oh, what is a Crackler?" + +"A new word that I have coined," said Tommy. "Descriptive of one who +passes false notes into circulation. Bank notes crackle; therefore he +is called a Crackler. Nothing could be more simple." + +"That is rather a good idea," said Tuppence, "it makes it seem more +real. I like the Rustler myself. Much more descriptive and sinister." + +"No," said Tommy, "I said the Crackler first and I stick to it." + +"I shall enjoy this case," said Tuppence. "Lots of Night Clubs and +cocktails in it. I shall buy some eyelash black to-morrow." + +"Your eyelashes are black already," objected her husband. + +"I could make them blacker," said Tuppence, "and cherry lip stick would +be useful too. That ultra bright kind." + +"Tuppence," said Tommy, "you're a real rake at heart. What a good thing +it is that you are married to a sober steady middle-aged man like +myself." + +"You wait," said Tuppence. "When you have been to the Python Club a bit +you mayn't be so sober yourself." + +Tommy produced from a cupboard various bottles, two glasses, and a +cocktail shaker. + +"Let's start now," he said. "We are after you, Crackler, and we mean to +get you." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE CRACKLER (continued) + + +Making the acquaintance of the Laidlaws proved an easy affair. Tommy +and Tuppence, young, well dressed, eager for life and with apparently +money to burn, were soon made free of that particular coterie in which +the Laidlaws had their being. + +Major Laidlaw was a tall fair man, typically English in appearance, +with a hearty sportsmanlike manner, slightly belied by the hard lines +round his eyes and the occasional quick sideways glance that assorted +oddly with his supposed character. + +He was a very dexterous card player, and Tommy noticed that when the +stakes were high he seldom rose from the table a loser. + +Marguerite Laidlaw was quite a different proposition. She was a +charming creature, with the slenderness of a wood nymph and the face of +a Greuze picture. Her dainty broken English was fascinating, and Tommy +felt that it was no wonder most men were her slaves. She seemed to take +a great fancy to Tommy from the first, and playing his part, he allowed +himself to be swept into her train. + +"My Tommee," she would say. "But positively I cannot go without my +Tommee. His 'air, eet ees the color of the sunset, ees eet not?" + +Her father was a more sinister figure. Very correct, very upright, with +his little black beard and his watchful eyes. + +Tuppence was the first to report progress. She came to Tommy with ten +one pound notes. + +"Have a look at these. They're wrong 'uns, aren't they?" + +Tommy examined them and confirmed Tuppence's diagnosis. + +"Where did you get them from?" + +"That boy, Jimmy Faulkener. Marguerite Laidlaw gave them to him to put +on a horse for her. I said I wanted small notes, and gave him a tenner +in exchange." + +"All new and crisp," said Tommy thoughtfully. "They can't have passed +through many hands. I suppose young Faulkener is all right?" + +"Jimmy? Oh! he's a dear. He and I are becoming great friends." + +"So I have noticed," said Tommy coldly. "Do you really think it is +necessary?" + +"Oh! it isn't business," said Tuppence cheerily. "It's pleasure. He's +such a nice boy. I'm glad to get him out of that woman's clutches. +You've no idea of the amount of money she's cost him." + +"It looks to me as though he were getting rather a pash for you, +Tuppence." + +"I've thought the same myself sometimes. It's nice to know one's still +young and attractive, isn't it?" + +"Your moral tone, Tuppence, is deplorably low. You look at these things +from the wrong point of view." + +"I haven't enjoyed myself so much for years," declared Tuppence +shamelessly. "And anyway, what about you? Do I ever see you nowadays? +Aren't you always living in Marguerite Laidlaw's pocket?" + +"Business," said Tommy crisply. + +"But she is attractive, isn't she?" + +"Not my type," said Tommy. "I don't admire her." + +"Liar," laughed Tuppence. "But I always did think I'd rather marry a +liar than a fool." + +"I suppose," said Tommy, "that there's no absolute necessity for a +husband to be either?" + +But Tuppence merely threw him a pitying glance and withdrew. + +Amongst Mrs. Laidlaw's train of admirers was a simple but extremely +wealthy gentleman of the name of Hank Ryder. + +Mr. Ryder came from Alabama, and from the first he was disposed to make +a friend and confidant of Tommy. + +"That's a wonderful woman, sir," said Mr. Ryder, following the lovely +Marguerite with reverential eyes. "Plumb full of civilisation. Can't +beat _la gaie France_, can you? When I'm near her, I feel as though I +was one of the Almighty's earliest experiments. I guess He'd got to get +His hand in before He attempted anything so lovely as that perfectly +lovely woman." + +Tommy agreeing politely with these sentiments, Mr. Ryder unburdened +himself still further. + +"Seems kind of a shame a lovely creature like that should have money +worries." + +"Has she?" asked Tommy. + +"You betcha life she has. Queer fish, Laidlaw. She's skeered of him. +Told me so. Daren't tell him about her little bills." + +"Are they _little_ bills?" asked Tommy. + +"Well--when I say little! After all, a woman's got to wear clothes, and +the less there are of them the more they cost, the way I figure it out. +And a pretty woman like that doesn't want to go about in last season's +goods. Cards too, the poor little thing's been mighty unlucky at cards. +Why, she lost fifty to me last night." + +"She won two hundred from Jimmy Faulkener the night before," said Tommy +drily. + +"Did she indeed? That relieves my mind some. By the way, there seems to +be a lot of dud notes floating around in your country just now. I paid +in a bunch at my bank this morning, and twenty-five of them were down +and outers, so the polite gentleman behind the counter informed me." + +"That's rather a large proportion. Were they new looking?" + +"New and crisp as they make 'em. Why, they were the ones Mrs. Laidlaw +paid over to me, I reckon. Wonder where she got 'em from. One of these +toughs on the race course as likely as not." + +"Yes," said Tommy. "Very likely." + +"You know, Mr. Beresford, I'm new to this sort of high life. All these +swell dames, and the rest of the outfit. Only made my pile a short +while back. Came right over to Yurrop to see life." + +Tommy nodded. He made a mental note to the effect that with the aid of +Marguerite Laidlaw, Mr. Ryder would probably see a good deal of life +and that the price charged would be heavy. + +Meantime, for the second time, he had evidenced that the forged notes +were being distributed pretty near at hand, and that in all probability +Marguerite Laidlaw had a hand in their distribution. + +On the following night he himself was given a proof. + +It was at that small select meeting place mentioned by Inspector +Marriot. There was dancing there, but the real attraction of the place +lay behind a pair of imposing folding doors. There were two rooms there +with green baize covered tables, where vast sums changed hands nightly. + +Marguerite Laidlaw, rising at last to go, thrust a quantity of small +notes into Tommy's hands. + +"They are so bulkee, Tommee--you will change them, yes? A beeg note. +See my so sweet leetle bag, it bulges him to distraction." + +Tommy brought her the hundred pound note she asked for. Then in a quiet +corner, he examined the notes she had given him. At least a quarter of +them were counterfeit. + +But where did she get her supplies from? To that he had as yet no +answer. By means of Albert's cooperation, he was almost sure that +Laidlaw was not the man. His movements had been watched closely and had +yielded no result. + +Tommy suspected her father, the saturnine M. Heroulade. He went to and +fro to France fairly often. What could be simpler than to bring the +notes across with him? A false bottom to a trunk--something of that +kind. + +Tommy strolled slowly out of the Club, absorbed in these thoughts, but +was suddenly recalled to immediate necessities. Outside in the street +was Mr. Hank P. Ryder, and it was clear at once that Mr. Ryder was not +strictly sober. At the moment he was trying to hang his hat on the +radiator of a car, and missing it by some inches every time. + +"This goddarned hatshtand, this goddarned hatshtand," said Mr. Ryder +tearfully. "Not like that in the Shtates. Man can hang up hishhat every +night--every night, sir. You're wearing two hatshs. Never sheen a man +wearing two hatsh before. Mushtbe effectclimate." + +"Perhaps I've got two heads," said Tommy gravely. + +"Sho you have," said Mr. Ryder. "Thatsh odd. Thatsh remarkable fac. +Letsh have a cocktail. Prohibition--probishun--thatsh whatsh done +me in. I guess I'm drunk--constootionally drunk. Cocktailsh--mixed +'em--Angel's Kiss--that's Marguerite--lovely creature, fon' o' me +too. Horshes Neck, two Martinis--three Road to Ruinsh--no, roadshto +roon--mixed 'em all--in a beer tankard. Bet me I wouldn't--I shaid--to +hell, I shayed--" + +Tommy interrupted. + +"That's all right," he said soothingly. "Now what about getting home?" + +"No home to go to," said Mr. Ryder sadly, and wept. + +"What Hotel are you staying at?" asked Tommy. + +"Can't go home," said Mr. Ryder. "Treasurehunt. Swell thing to do. She +did it. Whitechapel--White heartsh, white headsh shorrow to the grave--" + +"Never mind that," said Tommy. "Where are you--" + +But Mr. Ryder became suddenly dignified. He drew himself erect and +attained a sudden miraculous command over his speech. + +"Young man, I'm telling you. Margee took me. In her car. Treasure +Hunting. Englisharishtocrashy all do it. Under the cobblestones. Five +hundred poundsh. Solemn thought, 'tis solemn thought. I'm _telling_ +you, young man. You've been kind to me. I've got your welfare at heart, +sir, at heart. We Americans--" + +Tommy interrupted him this time with even less ceremony. + +"What's that you say? Mrs. Laidlaw took you in a car?" + +The American nodded with a kind of owlish solemnity. + +"To Whitechapel?" Again that owlish nod. "And you found five hundred +pounds there?" + +Mr. Ryder struggled for words. + +"S-she did," he corrected his questioner. "Left me outside. Outside the +door. Always left outside. It's kinder sad. Outside--always outside." + +"Would you know your way there?" + +"I guess so. Hank Ryder doesn't lose his bearings--" + +Tommy hauled him along unceremoniously. He found his own car where it +was waiting, and presently they were bowling eastward. The cool air +revived Mr. Ryder. After slumping against Tommy's shoulder in a kind of +stupor, he awoke clear headed and refreshed. + +"Say, boy, where are we?" he demanded. + +"Whitechapel," said Tommy crisply. "Is this where you came with Mrs. +Laidlaw to-night?" + +"It looks kinder familiar," admitted Mr. Ryder looking round. "Seems +to me we turned off to the left somewhere down here. That's it--that +street there." + +Tommy turned off obediently. Mr. Ryder issued directions. + +"That's it. Sure. And round to the right. Say, aren't the smells awful? +Yes, past the pub at the corner--sharp round, and stop at the mouth of +that little alley. But what's the big idea? Hand it to me. Some of the +oof left behind? Are we going to put one over on them?" + +"That's exactly it," said Tommy. "We're going to put one over on them. +Rather a joke, isn't it?" + +"I'll tell the world," assented Mr. Ryder. "Though I'm just a mite +hazed about it all," he ended wistfully. + +Tommy got out and assisted Mr. Ryder to alight also. They advanced +into the alley way. On the left were the backs of a row of dilapidated +houses, most of which had doors opening into the alley. Mr. Ryder came +to a stop before one of these doors. + +"In here she went," he declared. "It was this door--I'm plumb certain +of it." + +"They all look very alike," said Tommy. "Reminds me of the story of the +soldier and the Princess. You remember, they made a cross on the door +to show which one it was. Shall we do the same?" + +Laughing, he drew a piece of white chalk from his pocket and made a +rough cross low down on the door. Then he looked up at various dim +shapes that prowled high on the walls of the alley, one of which was +uttering a blood curdling yawl. + +"Lots of cats about," he remarked cheerfully. + +"What is the procedure?" asked Mr. Ryder. "Do we step inside?" + +"Adopting due precautions we do," said Tommy. + +He glanced up and down the alley way, then softly tried the door. It +yielded. He pushed it open, and peered into a dim yard. + +Noiselessly he passed through, Mr. Ryder on his heels. + +"Gee!" said the latter. "There's someone coming down the alley." + +He slipped outside again. Tommy stood still for a minute, then hearing +nothing went on. He took a torch from his pocket and switched on the +light for a brief second. That momentary flash enabled him to see his +way ahead. He pushed forward and tried the closed door ahead of him. +That too gave, and very softly he pushed it open and went in. + +After standing still a second and listening, he again switched on the +torch, and at that flash, as though at a given signal, the place seemed +to rise round him. Two men were in front of him, two men were behind +him. They closed in on him, and bore him down. + +"Lights," growled a voice. + +An incandescent gas burner was lit. By its light Tommy saw a circle of +unpleasing faces. His eyes wandered gently round the room and noted +some of the objects in it. + +"Ah!" he said pleasantly. "The headquarters of the counterfeiting +industry, if I am not mistaken." + +"Shut your jaw," growled one of the men. + +The door opened and shut behind Tommy, and a genial and well known +voice spoke. + +"Got him, boys. That's right. Now, Mr. Busy, let me tell you you're up +against it." + +"That dear old word," said Tommy. "How it thrills me. Yes. I am the +Mystery Man of Scotland Yard. Why it's Mr. Hank Ryder. This _is_ a +surprise." + +"I guess you mean that too. I've been laughing fit to bust all this +evening--leading you here like a little child. And you so pleased +with your cleverness. Why, sonny, I was on to you from the start. You +weren't in with that crowd for your health. I let you play about for +a while, and when you got real suspicious of the lovely Marguerite, I +said to myself 'Now's the time to lead him to it.' I guess your friends +won't be hearing of you for some time." + +"Going to do me in? That's the correct expression, I believe. You have +got it in for me." + +"You've got a nerve all right. No, we shan't attempt violence. Just +keep you under restraint, so to speak." + +"I'm afraid you're backing the wrong horse," said Tommy. "I've no +intention of being 'kept under restraint' as you call it." + +Mr. Ryder smiled genially. From outside a cat uttered a melancholy cry +to the moon. + +"Banking on that cross you put on the door, eh Sonny?" said Mr. Ryder. +"I shouldn't if I were you. Because I know that story you mentioned. +Heard it when I was a little boy. I stepped back into the alleyway to +enact the part of the dog with eyes as big as cart wheels. If you were +in that alley now, you would observe that every door in the alley is +marked with an identical cross." + +Tommy drooped his head despondently. + +"Thought you were mighty clever, didn't you?" said Ryder. + +As the words left his lips a sharp rapping sounded on the door. + +"What's that?" he cried, starting. + +At the same time, an assault began on the front of the house. The door +at the back was a flimsy affair. The lock gave almost immediately and +Inspector Marriot showed in the doorway. + +"Well done, Marriot," said Tommy. "You were quite right as to the +district. I'd like you to make the acquaintance of Mr. Hank Ryder who +knows all the best fairy tales." + +"You see, Mr. Ryder," he added gently, "I've had my suspicions of you. +Albert (that important looking boy with the big ears is Albert) had +orders to follow on his motor cycle if you and I went off joy riding +at any time. And whilst I was ostentatiously marking a chalk cross on +the door to engage your attention, I also emptied a little bottle of +valerian on the ground. Nasty smell, but cats love it. All the cats in +the neighborhood were assembled outside to mark the right house when +Albert and the police arrived." + +He looked at the dumbfounded Mr. Ryder with a smile. Then rose to his +feet. + +"I said I would get you, Crackler, and I have got you," he observed. + +"What the Hell are you talking about?" asked Mr. Ryder. "What do you +mean--Crackler?" + +"You will find it in the glossary of the next criminal dictionary," +said Tommy. "Etymology doubtful." + +He looked round him with a happy smile. + +"And all done without a Nose," he murmured brightly. "Good night, +Marriot. I must go now to where the happy ending of the story awaits +me. No reward like the love of a good woman--and the love of a good +woman awaits me at home--that is I hope it does, but one never knows +nowadays. This has been a very dangerous job, Marriot. Do you know +Captain Jimmy Faulkener? His dancing is simply too marvellous and +as for his taste in cocktails--! Yes, Marriot, it has been a very +dangerous job." + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + THE SUNNINGDALE MYSTERY + + +"Do you know where we are going to lunch to-day, Tuppence?" + +Mrs. Beresford considered the question. + +"The Ritz?" she suggested hopefully. + +"Think again." + +"That nice little place in Soho?" + +"No." Tommy's tone was full of importance. "An A.B.C. shop. This one in +fact." + +He drew her deftly inside an establishment of the kind indicated, and +steered her to a corner marble-topped table. + +"Excellent," said Tommy with satisfaction, as he seated himself. +"Couldn't be better." + +"Why has this craze for the simple life come upon you?" demanded +Tuppence. + +"_You see, Watson, but you do not observe._ I wonder now whether one +of these haughty damsels would condescend to notice us? Splendid, +she drifts this way. It is true that she appears to be thinking of +something else, but doubtless her subconscious mind is functioning +busily with such matters as ham and eggs and pots of tea. Chop and +fried potatoes, please, Miss, and a large coffee, a roll and butter, +and a plate of tongue for the lady." + +The waitress repeated the order in a scornful tone, but Tuppence leant +forward suddenly and interrupted her. + +"No, not a chop and fried potatoes. This gentleman will have a cheese +cake and a glass of milk." + +"A cheese cake and a milk," said the waitress with even deeper scorn if +that were possible. Still thinking of something else, she drifted away +again. + +"That was uncalled for," said Tommy coldly. + +"But I'm right, aren't I? You are the Old Man in the Corner? Where's +your piece of string?" + +Tommy drew a long twisted mesh of string from his pocket, and proceeded +to tie a couple of knots in it. + +"Complete to the smallest detail," he murmured. + +"You made a small mistake in ordering your meal, though." + +"Women are so literal minded," said Tommy. "If there's one thing I hate +it's milk to drink, and cheese cakes are always so yellow and bilious +looking." + +"Be an artist," said Tuppence. "Watch me attack my cold tongue. Jolly +good stuff, cold tongue. Now then, I'm all ready to be Miss Polly +Burton. Tie a large knot and begin." + +"First of all," said Tommy, "speaking in a strictly unofficial +capacity, let me point out this. Business is not too brisk lately. If +business does not come to us, we must go to business. Apply our minds +to one of the great public mysteries of the moment. Which brings me to +the point--the Sunningdale Mystery." + +"Ah!" said Tuppence, with deep interest. "The Sunningdale Mystery!" + +Tommy drew a crumpled piece of newspaper from his pocket and laid it on +the table. + +"That is the latest portrait of Captain Sessle as it appeared in the +Daily Leader." + +"Just so," said Tuppence. "I wonder someone doesn't sue these +newspapers sometimes. You can see it's a man and that's all." + +"When I said the Sunningdale Mystery, I should have said the so-called +Sunningdale Mystery," went on Tommy rapidly. "A mystery to the police +perhaps, but not to an intelligent mind." + +"Tie another knot," said Tuppence. + +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," continued Tommy +quietly. + +"All of it," said Tuppence, "but don't let me cramp your style." + +"It was just over three weeks ago," said Tommy, "that that gruesome +discovery was made on the famous golf links. Two members of the Club +who were enjoying an early round were horrified to find the body of a +man lying face downwards on the seventh tee. Even before they turned +him over they had guessed him to be Captain Sessle, a well known figure +on the links, and who always wore a golf coat of a peculiarly bright +blue color. + +"Captain Sessle was often seen out on the links early in the morning, +practising, and it was thought at first that he had been suddenly +overcome by some form of heart disease. But examination by a doctor +revealed the sinister fact that he had been murdered, stabbed to the +heart with a significant object, _a woman's hat pin_. He was also found +to have been dead at least twelve hours. + +"That put an entirely different complexion on the matter, and very soon +some interesting facts came to light. Practically the last person to +see Captain Sessle alive was his friend and partner Mr. Hollaby of the +Porcupine Assurance Co., and he told his story as follows. + +"Sessle and he played a round earlier in the day. After tea the other +suggested that they should play a few more holes before it got too dark +to see. Hollaby assented. Sessle seemed in good spirits, and was in +excellent form. There is a public footpath that crosses the links, and +just as they were playing up to the sixth green Hollaby noticed a woman +coming along it. She was very tall and dressed in brown, but he did not +observe her particularly and Sessle he thought did not notice her at +all. + +"The footpath in question crosses in front of the seventh tee," +continued Tommy. "The woman had passed along this, and was standing at +the farther side, as though waiting. Captain Sessle was the first to +reach the tee, as Mr. Hollaby was replacing the pin in the hole. As the +latter came towards the tee, he was astonished to see Sessle and the +woman talking together. As he came nearer, they both turned abruptly, +Sessle calling over his shoulder: 'Shan't be a minute.' + +"The two of them walked off side by side, still deep in earnest +conversation. The footpath there leaves the course, and passing between +two narrow hedges of neighboring gardens comes out on the road to +Windlesham. + +"Captain Sessle was as good as his word. He reappeared within a +minute or two, much to Hollaby's satisfaction, as two other players +were coming up behind them, and the light was failing rapidly. They +drove off, and at once Hollaby noticed that something had occurred to +upset his companion. Not only did he foozle his drive badly, but his +face was worried, and his forehead creased in a big frown. He hardly +answered his companion's remarks, and his golf was atrocious. Evidently +something had occurred to put him completely off his game. + +"They played that hole and the eighth, and then Captain Sessle declared +abruptly that the light was too bad and that he was off home. Just at +that point there is another of those narrow 'slips' leading to the +Windlesham road, and Captain Sessle departed that way which was a short +cut to his home, a small bungalow on the road in question. The other +two players came up, a Major Barnard and Mr. Lecky, and to them Hollaby +mentioned Captain Sessle's sudden change of manner. They also had seen +him speaking to the woman in brown, but had not been near enough to +see her face. All three men wondered what she could have said to upset +their friend to that extent. + +"They returned to the Club House together, and as far as was known at +the time, were the last people to see Captain Sessle alive. The day +was a Wednesday and on Wednesdays cheap tickets to London are issued. +The man and wife who ran Captain Sessle's small bungalow were up in +town according to custom, and did not return until the late train. They +entered the Bungalow as usual, and supposed their master to be in his +room asleep. Mrs. Sessle, his wife, was away on a visit. + +"The murder of the Captain was a nine days' wonder. Nobody could +suggest a motive for it. The identity of the tall woman in brown was +eagerly discussed, but without result. The police were, as usual, +blamed for their supineness--most unjustly as time was to show. For a +week later, a girl called Doris Evans was arrested and charged with the +murder of Captain Anthony Sessle. + +"The police had had little to work upon. A strand of fair hair caught +in the dead man's fingers, and a few threads of flame colored wool +caught on one of the buttons of his blue coat. Diligent inquiries at +the Railway Station and elsewhere had elicited the following facts. + +"A young girl dressed in a flame colored coat and skirt had arrived +by train that evening about seven o'clock, and had asked the way to +Captain Sessle's house. The same girl had reappeared again at the +station, two hours later. Her hat was awry and her hair tousled, and +she seemed in a state of great agitation. She inquired about the trains +back to town, and was continually looking over her shoulder as though +afraid of something. + +"Our police force is in many ways very wonderful. With this slender +evidence to go upon, they managed to track down the girl, and identify +her as one Doris Evans. She was charged with murder, and cautioned that +anything she might say would be used against her, but she nevertheless +persisted in making a statement, and this statement she repeated +again in detail, without any substantial variation, at the subsequent +proceedings. + +"Her story was this. She was a typist by profession, and had made +friends one evening, in a Cinema, with a well dressed man who declared +he had taken a fancy to her. His name, he told her, was Anthony, and +he suggested that she should come down to his bungalow at Sunningdale. +She had no idea then, or at any other time, that he had a wife. It +was arranged between them that she should come down on the following +Wednesday--the day, you will remember, when the servants would be +absent and his wife away from home. In the end he told her his full +name was Anthony Sessle, and gave her the name of his house. + +"She duly arrived at the Bungalow on the evening in question, and +was greeted by Sessle who had just come in from the links. Though he +professed himself delighted to see her, the girl declared that from the +first his manner was strange and different. A half acknowledged fear +sprang up in her, and she wished fervently that she had not come. + +"After a simple meal which was all ready and prepared, Sessle suggested +going out for a stroll. The girl consenting, he took her out of the +house, down the road, and along the 'slip' onto the golf course. And +then suddenly, just as they were crossing the seventh tee, he seemed to +go completely mad. Drawing a revolver from his pocket, he brandished it +in the air, declaring that he had come to the end of his tether. + +"'Everything must go! I'm ruined--done for. And you shall go with me. I +shall shoot you first--then myself. They will find our bodies here in +the morning side by side--together in death.' + +"And so on--a lot more. He had hold of Doris Evans by the arm and +she, realising she had to do with a madman, made frantic efforts to +free herself, or failing that to get the revolver away from him. They +struggled together, and in that struggle he must have torn out a piece +of her hair and got the wool of her coat entangled on a button. + +"Finally, with a desperate effort, she freed herself, and ran for her +life across the golf links, expecting every minute to be shot down +with a revolver bullet. She fell twice--tripping over the heather, but +eventually regained the road to the station and realised that she was +not being pursued. + +"That is the story that Doris Evans tells--and from which she has +never varied. She strenuously denies that she ever struck at him with +a hat pin in self defence--a natural enough thing to do under the +circumstances, though--and one which may well be the truth. In support +of her story a revolver has been found in the furze bushes near where +the body is lying. It had not been fired. + +"Doris Evans has been sent for trial, but the mystery still remains a +mystery. If her story is to be believed, who was it who stabbed Captain +Sessle? The other woman, the tall woman in brown whose appearance so +upset him? So far no one has explained her connection with the case. +She appears out of space suddenly on the footpath across the links, she +disappears along the slip, and no one ever hears of her again. Who was +she? A local resident? A visitor from London? If so, did she come by +car or train? There is nothing remarkable about her except her height, +no one seems to be able to describe her appearance. She could not have +been Doris Evans for Doris Evans is small and fair, and moreover was +only just then arriving at the station." + +"The wife?" suggested Tuppence. "What about the wife?" + +"A very natural suggestion. But Mrs. Sessle is also a small woman, and +besides Mr. Hollaby knows her well by sight, and there seems no doubt +that she was really away from home. One further development has come +to light. The Porcupine Assurance Co. is in liquidation. The accounts +reveal the most daring misappropriation of funds. The reasons for +Captain Sessle's wild words to Doris Evans are now quite apparent. For +some years past, he must have been systematically embezzling money. +Neither Mr. Hollaby, nor his son, had any idea of what was going on. +They are practically ruined. + +"The case stands like this. Captain Sessle was on the verge of +discovery and ruin. Suicide would be a natural solution, but the nature +of the wound rules that theory out. Who killed him? Was it Doris Evans? +Was it the mysterious woman in brown?" + +Tommy paused, took a sip of milk, made a wry face, and bit cautiously +at the cheese cake. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE SUNNINGDALE MYSTERY (continued) + + +"Of _course_," murmured Tommy, "I saw at once where the hitch in this +particular case lay, and just where the police were going astray." + +"Yes?" said Tuppence eagerly. + +Tommy shook his head sadly. + +"I wish I did. Tuppence, it's dead easy being the Old Man in the Corner +up to a certain point. But the solution beats me. Who did murder the +beggar? I don't know." + +He took some more newspaper cuttings out of his pocket. + +"Further exhibits. Mr. Hollaby. His son. Mrs. Sessle. Doris Evans." + +Tuppence pounced on the last, and looked at it for some time. + +"She didn't murder him anyway," she remarked at last. "Not with a hat +pin." + +"Why this certainty?" + +"A Lady Molly touch. She's got bobbed hair. Only one woman in twenty +uses hat pins nowadays, anyway--long hair or short. Hats fit tight and +pull on--there's no need for such a thing." + +"Still, she might have had one by her." + +"My dear boy, we don't keep them as heirlooms! What on earth should she +have brought a hat pin down to Sunningdale for?" + +"Then it must have been the other woman, the woman in brown." + +"I wish she hadn't been tall. Then she could have been the wife. I +always suspect wives who are away at the time and so couldn't have had +anything to do with it. If she found her husband carrying on with that +girl, it would be quite natural for her to go for him with a hat pin." + +"I shall have to be careful, I see," remarked Tommy. + +But Tuppence was deep in thought and refused to be drawn. + +"What were the Sessles like?" she asked suddenly. "What sort of thing +did people say about them?" + +"As far as I can make out, they were very popular. He and his wife were +supposed to be devoted to one another. That's what makes the business +of the girl so odd. It's the last thing you'd have expected of a man +like Sessle. He was an ex-soldier, you know. Came into a good bit of +money, retired and went into this Insurance business. The last man in +the world, apparently, whom you would have suspected of being a crook." + +"Is it absolutely certain that he was the crook? Couldn't it have been +the other two who took the money?" + +"The Hollabys? They say they're ruined." + +"Oh, they say! Perhaps they've got it all in a Bank under another name. +I put it foolishly, I daresay, but you know what I mean. Suppose they'd +been speculating with the money for some time, unbeknownst to Sessle, +and lost it all. It might be jolly convenient for them that Sessle died +just when he did." + +Tommy tapped the photograph of Mr. Hollaby senior with his finger nail. + +"So you're accusing this respectable gentleman of murdering his friend +and partner? You forget that he parted from Sessle on the links in full +view of Barnard and Lecky, and spent the evening in the Dormy House. +Besides, there's the hat pin." + +"Bother the hat pin," said Tuppence impatiently. "That hat pin, you +think, points to the crime having been committed by a woman?" + +"Naturally. Don't you agree?" + +"No. Men are notoriously old fashioned. It takes them ages to rid +themselves of preconceived ideas. They associate hat pins and hairpins +with the female sex, and call them 'women's weapons.' They may have +been in the past, but they're both rather out of date now. Why, I +haven't had a hat pin or hairpin for the last four years." + +"Then you think--?" + +"That it was a _man_ killed Sessle. The hat pin was used to make it +seem a woman's crime." + +"There's something in what you say, Tuppence," said Tommy slowly. "It's +extraordinary how things seem to straighten themselves out when you +talk a thing over." + +Tuppence nodded. + +"Everything must be logical--if you look at it the right way. And +remember what Marriot once said about the Amateur point of view--that +it had the _intimacy_. We know something about people like Captain +Sessle and his wife. We know what they're likely to do--and what +they're not likely to do. And we've each got our special knowledge." + +Tommy smiled. + +"You mean," he said, "that you are an authority on what people with +bobbed and shingled heads are likely to have in their possession, and +that you have an intimate acquaintance with what wives are likely to +feel and do?" + +"Something of the sort." + +"And what about me? What is my special knowledge? Do husbands pick up +girls etc.?" + +"No," said Tuppence gravely. "You know the course--you've been on +it--not as a detective, searching for clues, but as a golfer. You know +about golf, and what's likely to put a man off his game." + +"It must have been something pretty serious to put Sessle off his game. +His handicap's two, and from the seventh tee on he played like a child, +so they say." + +"Who say?" + +"Barnard and Lecky. They were playing just behind him, you remember." + +"That was after he met the woman--the tall woman in brown. They saw him +speaking to her, didn't they?" + +"Yes--at least--" + +Tommy broke off. Tuppence looked up at him, and was puzzled. He was +staring at the piece of string in his fingers, but staring with the +eyes of one who sees something very different. + +"Tommy--what is it?" + +"Be quiet, Tuppence. I'm playing the sixth hole at Sunningdale. Sessle +and old Hollaby are holing out on the sixth green ahead of me. It's +getting dusk, but I can see that bright blue coat of Sessle's clearly +enough. And on the footpath to the left of me there's a woman coming +along. She hasn't crossed from the Ladies' Course--that's on the +right--I should have seen her if she had done so. And it's odd I didn't +see her on the footpath before--from the fifth tee, for instance." + +He paused. + +"You said just now I knew the course, Tuppence. Just behind the sixth +tee, there's a little hut or shelter made of turf. Anyone could wait in +there until--the right moment came. They could change their appearance +there. I mean--tell me, Tuppence this is where your special knowledge +comes in again--would it be very difficult for a man to look like a +woman, and then change back to being a man again? Could he wear a skirt +over plus fours, for instance?" + +"Certainly he could. The woman would look a bit bulky, that would be +all. A longish brown skirt, say, a brown sweater of the kind both men +and women wear, and a woman's felt hat with a bunch of side curls +attached each side. That would be all that was needed--I'm speaking, +of course, of what would pass at a distance, which I take to be what +you are driving at. Switch off the skirt, take off the hat and curls, +and put on a man's cap which you can carry rolled up in your hand, and +there you'd be--back as a man again." + +"And the time required for the transformation?" + +"From woman to man, a minute and a half at the outside, probably a good +deal less. The other way about would take longer, you'd have to arrange +the hat and curls a bit, and the skirt would stick getting it on over +the plus fours." + +"That doesn't worry me. It's the time for the first that matters. As I +tell you, I'm playing the sixth hole. The woman in brown has reached +the seventh tee now. She crosses it and waits. Sessle in his blue coat +goes towards her. They stand together a minute, and then they follow +the path round the trees out of sight. Hollaby is on the tee alone. Two +or three minutes pass. I'm on the green now. The man in the blue coat +comes back and drives off, foozling badly. The light's getting worse. +I and my partner go on. Ahead of us are those two, Sessle slicing and +topping and doing everything he shouldn't do. At the eighth green, I +see him stride off and vanish down the slip. What happened to him to +make him play like a different man?" + +"The woman in brown--or the man, if you think it was a man." + +"Exactly, and where they were standing--out of sight, remember, of +those coming after them--there's a deep tangle of furze bushes. You +could thrust a body in there, and it would be pretty certain to lie +hidden until the morning." + +"Tommy! You think it was _then_--But someone would have heard--" + +"Heard what? The doctors agreed death must have been instantaneous. +I've seen men killed instantaneously in the War. They don't cry out +as a rule--just a gurgle, or a moan--perhaps just a sigh, or a funny +little cough. Sessle comes towards the seventh tee, and the woman comes +forward and speaks to him. He recognizes her perhaps, as a man he knows +masquerading. Curious to learn the why and wherefore, he allows himself +to be drawn along the footpath out of sight. One stab with the deadly +hat pin as they walk along. Sessle falls--dead. The other man drags his +body into the furze bushes, strips off the blue coat, then sheds his +own skirt and the hat and curls. He puts on Sessle's well known blue +coat and cap, and strides back to the tee. Three minutes would do it. +The others behind can't see his face, only the peculiar blue coat they +know so well. They never doubt that it's Sessle--_but he doesn't play +Sessle's brand of golf_. They all say he played like a different man. +Of course he did. He _was_ a different man." + +"But--" + +"Point No. 2. His action in bringing the girl down there was the action +of _a different man_. It wasn't Sessle who met Doris Evans at a Cinema, +and induced her to come down to Sunningdale. It was a man _calling_ +himself Sessle. Remember, Doris Evans wasn't arrested until a fortnight +after the crime. _She never saw the body._ If she had, she might have +bewildered everyone by declaring that that wasn't the man who took her +out on the golf links that night, and spoke so wildly of suicide. It +was a carefully laid plot. The girl invited down for Wednesday when +Sessle's house would be empty, then the hat pin which pointed to its +being a woman's doing. The murderer meets the girl, takes her into the +Bungalow and gives her supper, then takes her out on the links and +when he gets to the scene of the crime, brandishes his revolver and +scares the life out of her. Once she has taken to her heels, all he +has to do is to pull out the body and leave it lying on the tee. The +revolver he chucks into the bushes. Then he makes a neat parcel of the +skirt and hat and--now I admit I'm guessing--in all probability walks +to Woking which is only about six or seven miles away, and goes back to +town from there." + +"Wait a minute," said Tuppence. "There's one thing you haven't +explained. What about Hollaby?" + +"Hollaby?" + +"Yes. I admit that the people behind couldn't have seen whether it +was really Sessle or not. But you can't tell me that the man who was +playing with him was so hypnotised by the blue coat that he never +looked at his face." + +"My dear old thing," said Tommy. "That's just the point. Hollaby knew +all right. You see, I'm adopting your theory--that Hollaby and his +son were the real embezzlers. The murderer's got to be a man who knew +Sessle pretty well--knew, for instance, about the servants being always +out on a Wednesday, and that his wife was away. And also someone who +was able to get an impression of Sessle's latch key. I think Hollaby +Junior would fulfill all these requirements. He's about the same age +and height as Sessle, and they were both clean shaven men. Doris Evans +probably saw several photographs of the murdered man reproduced in the +papers, but as you yourself observed--one can just see that it's a man +and that's about all." + +"Didn't she ever see Hollaby in Court?" + +"The son never appeared in the case at all. Why should he? He had no +evidence to give. It was old Hollaby, with his irreproachable alibi, +who stood in the limelight throughout. Nobody has even bothered to +inquire what son was doing that particular evening." + +"It all fits in," admitted Tuppence. She paused a minute, and then +asked: "Are you going to tell all this to the police?" + +"I don't know if they'd listen." + +"They'll listen all right," said an unexpected voice behind him. + +Tommy swung round to confront Inspector Marriot. The Inspector was +sitting at the next table. In front of him was a poached egg. + +"Often drop in here to lunch," said Inspector Marriot. "As I was +saying, we'll listen all right--in fact I've been listening. I don't +mind telling you that we've not been quite satisfied all along over +those Porcupine figures. You see, we've had our suspicions of those +Hollabys. But nothing to go upon. Too sharp for us. Then this murder +came, and that seemed to upset all our ideas. But thanks to you and +the lady, sir, we'll confront young Hollaby and Doris Evans and see if +she recognizes him. I rather fancy she will. That's a very ingenious +idea of yours about the blue coat. I'll see that Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives get the credit for it." + +"You _are_ a nice man, Inspector Marriot," said Tuppence gratefully. + +"We think a lot of you two at the Yard," replied that stolid gentleman. +"You'd be surprised. If I may ask you, sir, what's the meaning of that +piece of string?" + +"Nothing," said Tommy, stuffing it into his pocket. "A bad habit of +mine. As to the cheese cake and the milk--I'm on a diet. Nervous +dyspepsia. Busy men are always martyrs to it." + +"Ah!" said the detective. "I thought perhaps you'd been reading--well, +it's of no consequence." + +But the Inspector's eyes twinkled. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE HOUSE OF LURKING DEATH + + +"What--" began Tuppence, and then stopped. + +She had just entered the private office of Mr. Blunt from the adjoining +one marked "Clerks," and was surprised to behold her lord and master +with his eye riveted to the private peep hole into the outer office. + +"Ssh," said Tommy, warningly. "Didn't you hear the buzzer? It's a +girl--rather a nice girl--in fact she looks to me a frightfully nice +girl. Albert is telling her all that tosh about my being engaged with +Scotland Yard." + +"Let _me_ see," demanded Tuppence. + +Somewhat unwillingly, Tommy moved aside. Tuppence in her turn glued her +eye to the peep hole. + +"She's not bad," admitted Tuppence. "And her clothes are simply the +latest shout." + +"She's perfectly lovely," said Tommy. "She's like those girls Mason +writes about--you know, frightfully sympathetic, and beautiful, and +distinctly intelligent without being too saucy. I think, yes--I +certainly think--I shall be the great Hanaud this morning." + +"Hm," said Tuppence. "If there is one detective out of all the others +whom you are most unlike--I should say it was Hanaud. Can you do the +lightning changes of personality? Can you be the great comedian, the +little gutter boy, the serious and sympathetic friend--all in five +minutes?" + +"I know this," said Tommy, rapping sharply on the desk, "I am the +Captain of the Ship--and don't you forget it, Tuppence. I'm going to +have her in." + +He pressed the buzzer on his desk. Albert appeared ushering in the +client. + +The girl stopped in the doorway as though undecided. Tommy came forward. + +"Come in, Mademoiselle," he said kindly, "and seat yourself here." + +Tuppence choked audibly, and Tommy turned upon her with a swift change +of manner. His tone was menacing. + +"You spoke, Miss Robinson? Ah! no, I thought not." + +He turned back to the girl. + +"We will not be serious or formal," he said. "You will just tell me all +about it, and then we will discuss the best way to help you." + +"You are very kind," said the girl. "Excuse me, but are you a +foreigner?" + +A fresh choke from Tuppence. Tommy glared in her direction out of the +corner of his eye. + +"Not exactly," he said with difficulty. "But of late years I have +worked a good deal abroad. My methods are the methods of the Sûreté." + +"Oh!" The girl seemed impressed. + +She was, as Tommy had indicated, a very charming girl. Young and slim, +with a trace of golden hair peeping out from under her little brown +felt hat, and big serious eyes. + +That she was nervous could be plainly seen. Her little hands were +twisting themselves together, and she kept clasping and unclasping the +catch of her lacquer red handbag. + +"First of all, Mr. Blunt, I must tell you that my name is Lois +Hargreaves. I live in a great rambling old fashioned house called +Thurnly Grange. It is in the heart of the country. There is the village +of Thurnly near by, but it is very small and insignificant. There is +plenty of hunting in winter, and we get tennis in summer, and I have +never felt lonely there. Indeed I much prefer country to town life. + +"I tell you this so that you may realise that in a country village like +ours, everything that happens is of supreme importance. About a week +ago, I got a box of chocolates sent through the post. There was nothing +inside to indicate who they came from. Now I myself am not particularly +fond of chocolates, but the others in the house are, and the box was +passed around. As a result, everyone who had eaten any chocolates was +taken ill. We sent for the doctor, and after various inquiries as to +what other things had been eaten, he took the remains of the chocolates +away with him, and had them analysed. Mr. Blunt, those chocolates +contained arsenic! Not enough to kill anyone, but enough to make anyone +quite ill." + +"Extraordinary," commented Tommy. + +"Dr. Burton was very excited over the matter. It seems that this was +the third occurrence of the kind in the neighborhood. In each case a +big house was selected, and the inmates were taken ill after eating the +mysterious chocolates. It looked as though some local person of weak +intellect was playing a particularly fiendish practical joke." + +"Quite so, Miss Hargreaves." + +"Dr. Burton put it down to Socialist agitation--rather absurdly, I +thought. But there are one or two malcontents in Thurnly village, and +it seemed possible that they might have had something to do with it. +Dr. Burton was very keen that I should put the whole thing in the hands +of the police." + +"A very natural suggestion," said Tommy. "But you have not done so, I +gather, Miss Hargreaves?" + +"No," admitted the girl. "I hate the fuss and the publicity that would +ensue--and you see, I know our local Inspector. I can never imagine him +finding out anything! I have often seen your advertisements, and I told +Dr. Burton that it would be much better to call in a private detective." + +"I see." + +"You say a great deal about discretion in your advertisement. I take +that to mean--that--that--well, that you would not make anything public +without my consent?" + +Tommy looked at her curiously, but it was Tuppence who spoke. + +"I think," she said quietly, "that it would be as well if Miss +Hargreaves told us _everything_." + +She laid especial stress upon the last word, and Lois Hargreaves +flushed nervously. + +"Yes," said Tommy quickly. "Miss Robinson is right. You must tell us +everything." + +"You will not--" she hesitated. + +"Everything you say is understood to be strictly in confidence." + +"Thank you. I know that I ought to have been quite frank with you. +I have a reason for not going to the police. Mr. Blunt, that box of +chocolates was sent by someone in our house!" + +"How do you know that, Mademoiselle?" + +"It's very simple. I've got a habit of drawing a little silly +thing--three fish intertwined--whenever I have a pencil in my hand. A +parcel of silk stockings arrived from a certain shop in London not long +ago. We were at the breakfast table. I'd just been marking something in +the newspaper, and without thinking, I began to draw my silly little +fish on the label of the parcel before cutting the string and opening +it. I thought no more about the matter, but when I was examining the +piece of brown paper in which the chocolates had been sent, I caught +sight of the corner of the original label--most of which had been torn +off. My silly little drawing was on it." + +Tommy drew his chair forward. + +"That is very serious. It creates, as you say, a very strong +presumption that the sender of the chocolates is a member of your +household. But you will forgive me if I say that I still do not see why +that fact should render you indisposed to call in the police?" + +Lois Hargreaves looked him squarely in the face. + +"I will tell you, Mr. Blunt. I may want the whole thing hushed up." + +Tommy retired gracefully from the position. + +"In that case," he murmured, "we know where we are. I see, Miss +Hargreaves, that you are not disposed to tell me who it is you suspect?" + +"I suspect no one--but there are possibilities." + +"Quite so. Now will you describe the household to me in detail?" + +"The servants, with the exception of the parlormaid, are all old ones +who have been with us many years. I must explain to you, Mr. Blunt, +that I was brought up by my Aunt, Lady Radclyffe, who was extremely +wealthy. Her husband made a big fortune, and was knighted. It was he +who bought Thurnly Grange, but he died two years after going there, +and it was then that Lady Radclyffe sent for me to come and make my +home with her. I was her only living relation. The other inmate of the +house was Dennis Radclyffe, her husband's nephew. I have always called +him cousin, but of course he is really nothing of the kind. Aunt Lucy +always said openly that she intended to leave her money, with the +exception of a small provision for me, to Dennis. It was Radclyffe +money, she said, and ought to go to a Radclyffe. However, when Dennis +was twenty-two, she quarrelled violently with him--over some debts that +he had run up, I think. When she died, a year later, I was astonished +to find that she had made a will leaving all her money to me. It was, I +know, a great blow to Dennis, and I felt very badly about it. I would +have given him the money if he would have taken it, but it seems that +that kind of thing can't be done. However, as soon as I was twenty-one, +I made a will leaving it all to him. That's the least I can do. So if +I'm run over by a motor, Dennis will come into his own." + +"Exactly," said Tommy. "And when were you twenty-one, if I may ask the +question?" + +"Just three weeks ago." + +"Ah!" said Tommy. "Now will you give me fuller particulars of the +members of your household at this minute?" + +"Servants--or--others?" + +"Both." + +"The servants, as I say, have been with us some time. There is old Mrs. +Holloway, the cook, and her niece Rose, the kitchenmaid. Then there are +two elderly housemaids, and Hannah who was my aunt's maid and who has +always been devoted to me. The parlormaid is called Esther Quant, and +seems a very nice quiet girl. As for ourselves, there is Miss Logan who +was Aunt Lucy's companion and who runs the house for me, and Captain +Radclyffe--Dennis, you know, whom I told you about, and there is a girl +called Mary Chilcott, an old school friend of mine who is staying with +us." + +Tommy thought for a moment. + +"That all seems fairly clear and straightforward, Miss Hargreaves," he +said after a minute or two. "I take it that you have no special reason +for attaching suspicion more to one person than another? You are only +afraid it might prove to be--well--not a servant, shall we say?" + +"That's it exactly, Mr. Blunt. I have honestly no idea who used that +piece of brown paper. The handwriting was printed." + +"There seems only one thing to be done," said Tommy. "I must be on the +spot." + +The girl looked at him inquiringly. + +Tommy went on after a moment's thought. + +"I suggest that you prepare the way for the arrival of--say, Mr. and +Miss Van Dusen--American friends of yours. Will you be able to do that +quite naturally?" + +"Oh! yes. There will be no difficulty at all. When will you come +down--to-morrow--or the day after?" + +"To-morrow, if you please. There is no time to waste." + +"That is settled, then." + +The girl rose, and held out her hand. + +"One thing, Miss Hargreaves, not a word, mind, to anyone--anyone at +all, that we are not what we seem." + +"What do you think of it, Tuppence?" he asked, when he returned from +showing the visitor out. + +"I don't like it," said Tuppence decidedly. "Especially I don't like +the chocolates having so little arsenic in them." + +"What _do_ you mean?" + +"Don't you see? All those chocolates being sent round the neighborhood +were a blind. To establish the idea of a local maniac. Then, when the +girl was really poisoned, it would be thought to be the same thing. You +see, but for a stroke of luck, no one would ever have guessed that the +chocolates were actually sent by someone in the house itself." + +"That was a stroke of luck. You're right. You think it's a deliberate +plot against the girl herself?" + +"I'm afraid so. I remember reading about old Lady Radclyffe's will. +That girl has come into a terrific lot of money." + +"Yes, and she came of age and made a will three weeks ago. It looks +bad--for Dennis Radclyffe. He gains by her death." + +Tuppence nodded. + +"The worst of it is--that she thinks so too! That's why she won't have +the police called in. Already she suspects him. And she must be more +than half in love with him to act as she has done." + +"In that case," said Tommy thoughtfully, "why the devil doesn't he +marry her? Much simpler and safer." + +Tuppence stared at him. + +"You've said a mouthful," she observed. "Oh! boy. I'm getting ready to +be Miss Van Dusen, you observe." + +"Why rush to crime, where there is a lawful means near at hand?" + +Tuppence reflected for a minute or two. + +"I've got it," she announced. "Clearly he must have married a barmaid +whilst at Oxford. Origin of the quarrel with his aunt. That explains +everything." + +"Then why not send poisoned sweets to the barmaid?" suggested +Tommy. "Much more practical. I wish you wouldn't jump to these wild +conclusions, Tuppence." + +"They're deductions," said Tuppence, with a good deal of dignity. "This +is your first _corrida_, my friend, but when you have been twenty +minutes in the arena--" + +Tommy flung the office cushion at her. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE HOUSE OF LURKING DEATH (continued) + + +"Tuppence, I say, Tuppence, come here." + +It was breakfast time the next morning. Tuppence hurried out of her +bedroom and into the dining-room. Tommy was striding up and down, the +open newspaper in his hand. + +"What's the matter?" + +Tommy wheeled round, and shoved the paper into her hand, pointing to +the headlines. + + MYSTERIOUS POISONING CASE + + DEATHS FROM FIG SANDWICHES + +Tuppence read on. This mysterious outbreak of ptomaine poisoning had +occurred at Thurnly Grange. The deaths so far reported were those of +Miss Lois Hargreaves, the owner of the house, and the parlormaid, +Esther Quant. A Captain Radclyffe and a Miss Logan were reported to be +still seriously ill. The cause of the outbreak was supposed to be some +fig paste used in sandwiches, since another lady, a Miss Chilcott, who +had not partaken of these, was reported to be quite well. + +"We must get down there at once," said Tommy. "That girl! That +perfectly ripping girl! Why the devil didn't I go straight down there +with her yesterday?" + +"If you had," said Tuppence, "you'd probably have eaten fig sandwiches +too for tea, and then you'd have been dead. Come on, let's start at +once. I see it says that Dennis Radclyffe is seriously ill also." + +"Probably shamming, the dirty blackguard." + +They arrived at the small village of Thurnly about midday. An elderly +woman with red eyes opened the door to them when they arrived at +Thurnly Grange. + +"Look here," said Tommy quickly before she could speak. "I'm not +a reporter or anything like that. Miss Hargreaves came to see me +yesterday, and asked me to come down here. Is there anyone I can see?" + +"Dr. Burton is here now if you'd like to speak to him," said the woman +doubtfully. "Or Miss Chilcott. She's making all the arrangements." + +But Tommy had caught at the first suggestion. + +"Dr. Burton," he said authoritatively. "I should like to see him at +once if he is here." + +The woman showed them into a small morning room. Five minutes later the +door opened, and a tall elderly man with bent shoulders and a kind but +worried face, came in. + +"Dr. Burton?" said Tommy. He produced his professional card. "Miss +Hargreaves called on me yesterday with reference to those poisoned +chocolates. I came down to investigate the matter at her request--alas! +too late." + +The doctor looked at him keenly. + +"You are Mr. Blunt himself?" + +"Yes. This is my assistant, Miss Robinson." + +The doctor bowed to Tuppence. + +"Under the circumstances, there is no need for reticence. But for the +episode of the chocolates, I might have believed these deaths to be +the result of severe ptomaine poisoning--but ptomaine poisoning of an +unusually virulent kind. There is gastro-intestinal inflammation and +haemorrhage. As it is, I am taking the fig paste to be analysed." + +"You suspect arsenic poisoning?" + +"No. The poison, if a poison has been employed, is something far more +potent and swift in its action. It looks more like some powerful +vegetable toxin." + +"I see. I should like to ask you, Dr. Burton, whether you are +thoroughly convinced that Captain Radclyffe is suffering from the same +form of poisoning?" + +The doctor looked at him. + +"Captain Radclyffe is not suffering from any sort of poisoning now." + +"Aha," said Tommy. "I--" + +"Captain Radclyffe died at five o'clock this morning." + +Tommy was utterly taken aback. The doctor prepared to depart. + +"And the other victim, Miss Logan?" asked Tuppence. + +"I have every reason to hope that she will recover since she has +survived so far. Being an older woman, the poison seems to have had +less effect on her. I will let you know the result of the analysis, +Mr. Blunt. In the meantime, Miss Chilcott will, I am sure, tell you +anything you want to know." + +As he spoke, the door opened, and a girl appeared. She was tall, with a +tanned face, and steady blue eyes. + +Dr. Burton performed the necessary introductions. + +"I am glad you have come, Mr. Blunt," said Mary Chilcott. "This affair +seems too terrible. Is there anything you want to know that I can tell +you?" + +"Where did the fig paste come from?" + +"It is a special kind that comes from London. We often have it. No one +suspected that this particular pot differed from any of the others. +Personally I dislike the flavor of figs. That explains my immunity. I +cannot understand how Dennis was affected, since he was out for tea. He +must have picked up a sandwich when he came home, I suppose." + +Tommy felt Tuppence's hand press his arm ever so slightly. + +"What time did he come in?" he asked. + +"I don't really know. I could find out." + +"Thank you, Miss Chilcott. It doesn't matter. You have no objection, I +hope, to my questioning the servants?" + +"Please do anything you like, Mr. Blunt. I am nearly distraught. Tell +me--you don't think there has been--foul play?" + +Her eyes were very anxious as she put the question. + +"I don't know what to think. We shall soon know." + +"Yes, I suppose Dr. Burton will have the paste analysed." + +Quickly excusing herself, she went out by the window to speak to one of +the gardeners. + +"You take the housemaids, Tuppence," said Tommy, "and I'll find my way +to the kitchen. I say, Miss Chilcott may feel very distraught, but she +doesn't look it." + +Tuppence nodded assent without replying. + +Husband and wife met half an hour later. + +"Now to pool results," said Tommy. "The sandwiches came out from tea, +and the parlormaid ate one--that's how she got it in the neck. Cook is +positive Dennis Radclyffe hadn't returned when tea was cleared away. +Query--how did _he_ get poisoned?" + +"He came in at a quarter to seven," said Tuppence. "Housemaid saw +him from one of the windows. He had a cocktail before dinner--in the +library. She was just clearing away the glass now, and luckily I got it +from her before she washed it. It was after that that he complained of +feeling ill." + +"Good," said Tommy. "I'll take that glass along to Burton presently. +Anything else?" + +"I'd like you to see Hannah, the maid. She's--she's queer." + +"How do you mean--queer?" + +"She looks to me as though she were going off her head." + +"Let me see her." + +Tuppence led the way upstairs. Hannah had a small sitting-room of her +own. The maid sat upright on a high chair. On her knees was an open +Bible. She did not look towards the two strangers as they entered. +Instead she continued to read aloud to herself. + +"_Let hot burning coals fall upon them, let them be cast into the fire +and into the pit, that they never rise up again._" + +"May I speak to you a minute?" asked Tommy. + +Hannah made an impatient gesture with her hand. + +"This is no time. The time is running short, I say. _I will follow upon +mine enemies and overtake them, neither will I turn again till I have +destroyed them._ So it is written. The word of the Lord has come to me. +I am the scourge of the Lord." + +"Mad as a hatter," murmured Tommy. + +"She's been going on like that all the time," whispered Tuppence. + +Tommy picked up a book that was lying open, face downwards on the +table. He glanced at the title and slipped it into his pocket. + +Suddenly the old woman rose and turned towards them menacingly. + +"Go out from here. The time is at hand! I am the flail of the Lord. +The wind bloweth where it listeth--so do I destroy. The ungodly shall +perish. This is a house of evil--of evil, I tell you! Beware of the +wrath of the Lord whose handmaiden I am." + +She advanced upon them fiercely. Tommy thought it best to humor her and +withdrew. As he closed the door, he saw her pick up the Bible again. + +"I wonder if she's always been like that," he muttered. + +He drew from his pocket the book he had picked up off the table. + +"Look at that. Funny reading for an ignorant maid." + +Tuppence took the book. + +"Materia Medica," she murmured. She looked at the fly leaf. "Edward +Logan. It's an old book. Tommy, I wonder if we could see Miss Logan? +Dr. Burton said she was better." + +"Shall we ask Miss Chilcott?" + +"No. Let's get hold of a housemaid, and send her in to ask." + +After a brief delay, they were informed that Miss Logan would see them. +They were taken into a big bedroom facing over the lawn. In the bed was +an old lady with white hair, her delicate old face drawn by suffering. + +"I have been very ill," she said faintly. "And I can't talk much, but +Ellen tells me you are detectives. Lois went to consult you then? She +spoke of doing so." + +"Yes, Miss Logan," said Tommy. "We don't want to tire you, but perhaps +you can answer a few questions. The maid, Hannah, is she quite right in +her head?" + +Miss Logan looked at them with obvious surprise. + +"Oh! yes. She is very religious--but there is nothing wrong with her." + +Tommy held out the book he had taken from the table. + +"Is this yours, Miss Logan?" + +"Yes. It was one of my father's books. He was a great doctor, one of +the pioneers of serum therapeutics." + +The old lady's voice rang with pride. + +"Quite so," said Tommy. "I thought I knew his name," he added +mendaciously. "This book now, did you lend it to Hannah?" + +"To Hannah?" Miss Logan raised herself in bed with indignation. "No, +indeed. She wouldn't understand the first word of it. It is a highly +technical book." + +"Yes. I see that. Yet I found it in Hannah's room." + +"Disgraceful," said Miss Logan. "I will not have the servants touching +my things." + +"Where ought it to be?" + +"In the bookshelf in my sitting-room--or--stay, I lent it to Mary. +The dear girl is very interested in herbs. She has made one or two +experiments in my little kitchen. I have a little place of my own, you +know, where I brew liqueurs and make preserves in the old fashioned +way. Dear Lucy, Lady Radclyffe, you know, used to swear by my tansy +tea--a wonderful thing for a cold in the head. Poor Lucy, she was +subject to colds. So is Dennis. Dear boy, his father was my first +cousin." + +Tommy interrupted these reminiscences. + +"This kitchen of yours? Does anyone else use it except you and Miss +Chilcott?" + +"Hannah clears up there. And she boils the kettle there for our early +morning tea." + +"Thank you, Miss Logan," said Tommy. "There is nothing more I want to +ask you at present. I hope we haven't tired you too much." + +He left the room and went down the stairs, frowning to himself. + +"There is something here, my dear Mr. Ricardo, that I do not +understand." + +"I hate this house," said Tuppence with a shiver. "Let's go for a good +long walk and try to think things out." + +Tommy complied and they set out. First they left the cocktail glass at +the doctor's house and then set off for a good tramp across country +discussing the case as they did so. + +"It makes it easier somehow if one plays the fool," said Tommy. "All +this Hanaud business. I suppose some people would think I didn't care. +But I do, most awfully. I feel that somehow or other we ought to have +prevented this." + +"I think that's foolish of you," said Tuppence. "It is not as though +we had advised Lois Hargreaves not to go to Scotland Yard or anything +like that. Nothing would have induced her to bring the police into the +matter. If she hadn't come to us, she would have done nothing at all." + +"And the result would have been the same. Yes, you are right, Tuppence. +It's morbid to reproach oneself over something one couldn't help. What +I would like to do is to make good now." + +"And that's not going to be easy." + +"No, it isn't. There are so many possibilities, and yet all of them +seem wild and improbable. Supposing Dennis Radclyffe put the poison in +the sandwiches. He knew he would be out to tea. That seems fairly plain +sailing." + +"Yes," said Tuppence, "that's all right so far. Then we can put against +that the fact that he was poisoned himself--so that seems to rule him +out. There is one person we mustn't forget--and that is Hannah." + +"Hannah?" + +"People do all sorts of queer things when they have religious mania." + +"She is pretty far gone with it too," said Tommy. "You ought to drop a +word to Dr. Burton about it." + +"It must have come on very rapidly," said Tuppence. "That is if we go +by what Miss Logan said." + +"I believe religious mania does," said Tommy. "I mean, you go on +singing hymns in your bedroom with the door open for years, and then +you go suddenly right over the line and become violent." + +"There is certainly more evidence against Hannah than against anybody +else," said Tuppence thoughtfully, "and yet I have an idea--" She +stopped. + +"Yes?" said Tommy encouragingly. + +"It is not really an idea. I suppose it is just a prejudice." + +"A prejudice against someone?" + +Tuppence nodded. + +"Tommy--did _you_ like Mary Chilcott?" + +Tommy considered. + +"Yes, I think I did. She struck me as extremely capable and +businesslike--perhaps a shade too much so--but very reliable." + +"You didn't think it was odd that she didn't seem more upset?" + +"Well, in a way that is a point in her favor. I mean, if she had done +anything, she would make a point of being upset--lay it on rather +thick." + +"I suppose so," said Tuppence. "And anyway there doesn't seem to +be any motive in her case. One doesn't see what good this wholesale +slaughter can do her." + +"I suppose none of the servants are concerned?" + +"It doesn't seem likely. They seem a quiet reliable lot. I wonder what +Esther Quant, the parlormaid, was like." + +"You mean, that if she was young and good-looking there was a chance +that she was mixed up in it some way." + +"That is what I mean." Tuppence sighed. "It is all very discouraging." + +"Well, I suppose the police will get down to it all right," said Tommy. + +"Probably. I should like it to be us. By the way, did you notice a lot +of small red dots on Miss Logan's arm?" + +"I don't think I did. What about them?" + +"They looked as though they were made by a hypodermic syringe," said +Tuppence. + +"Probably Dr. Burton gave her a hypodermic injection of some kind." + +"Oh, very likely. But he wouldn't give her about forty." + +"The cocaine habit," suggested Tommy helpfully. + +"I thought of that," said Tuppence, "but her eyes were all right. You +would see at once if it was cocaine or morphia. Besides she doesn't +look that sort of old lady." + +"Most respectable and God fearing," agreed Tommy. + +"It is all very difficult," said Tuppence. "We have talked and talked +and we don't seem any nearer now than we were. Don't let's forget to +call at the doctor's on our way home." + +The doctor's door was opened by a lanky boy of about fifteen. + +"Mr. Blunt?" he inquired. "Yes, the doctor is out but he left a note +for you in case you should call." + +He handed them the note in question and Tommy tore it open. + + "_Dear Mr. Blunt_, + + "_There is reason to believe that the poison employed was Ricin, a + vegetable toxalbumose of tremendous potency. Please keep this to + yourself for the present._" + +Tommy let the note drop, but picked it up quickly. + +"Ricin," he murmured. "Know anything about it, Tuppence? You used to be +rather well up in these things." + +"Ricin," said Tuppence, thoughtfully. "You get it out of Castor Oil, I +believe." + +"I never did take kindly to Castor Oil," said Tommy. "I am more set +against it than ever now." + +"The oil's all right. You get Ricin from the seeds of the Castor Oil +plant. I believe I saw some Castor Oil plants in the garden this +morning--big things with glossy leaves." + +"You mean that someone extracted the stuff on the premises. Could +Hannah do such a thing?" + +Tuppence shook her head. + +"Doesn't seem likely. She wouldn't know enough." + +Suddenly Tommy gave an exclamation. + +"That book. Have I got it in my pocket still? Yes." He took it out, and +turned over the leaves vehemently. "I thought so. Here's the page it +was open at this morning. Do you see, Tuppence? Ricin!" + +Tuppence seized the book from him. + +"Can you make head or tail of it? I can't." + +"It's clear enough to me," said Tuppence. She walked along, reading +busily, with one hand on Tommy's arm to steer herself. Presently she +shut the book with a bang. They were just approaching the house again. + +"Tommy, will you leave this to me? Just for once, you see, I am the +bull that has been more than twenty minutes in the arena." + +Tommy nodded. + +"You shall be the Captain of the Ship, Tuppence," he said gravely. +"We've got to get to the bottom of this." + +"First of all," said Tuppence as they entered the house, "I must ask +Miss Logan one more question." + +She ran upstairs. Tommy followed her. She rapped sharply on the old +lady's door, and went in. + +"Is that you, my dear?" said Miss Logan. "You know you are much too +young and pretty to be a detective. Have you found out anything?" + +"Yes," said Tuppence. "I have." + +Miss Logan looked at her questioningly. + +"I don't know about being pretty," went on Tuppence, "but being young, +I happened to work in a hospital during the War. I know something about +serum therapeutics. I happen to know that when Ricin is injected in +small doses hypodermically immunity is produced, antiricin is formed. +That fact paved the way for the foundation of serum therapeutics. You +knew that, Miss Logan. You injected Ricin for some time hypodermically +into yourself. Then you let yourself be poisoned with the rest. You +helped your father in his work, and you knew all about Ricin and how to +obtain it and extract it from the seeds. You chose a day when Dennis +Radclyffe was out for tea. It wouldn't do for him to be poisoned at the +same time--he might die before Lois Hargreaves. So long as she died +first, he inherited her money, and at his death it passes to you, his +next of kin. You remember, you told us this morning that his father was +your first cousin." + +The old lady stared at Tuppence with baleful eyes. + +Suddenly a wild figure burst in from the adjoining room. It was Hannah. +In her hand she held a lighted torch which she waved frantically. + +"Truth has been spoken. That is the wicked one. I saw her reading the +book, and smiling to herself and I knew. I found the book and the +page--but it said nothing to me. But the voice of the Lord spoke to +me. She hated my mistress, her ladyship. She was always jealous and +envious. She hated my own sweet Miss Lois. But the wicked shall perish, +the fire of the Lord shall consume them." + +Waving her torch she sprang forward to the bed. + +A cry arose from the old lady. + +"Take her away--take her away. It's true--but take her away." + +Tuppence flung herself upon Hannah, but the woman managed to set fire +to the curtains of the bed before Tuppence could get the torch from +her and stamp on it. Tommy, however, had rushed in from the landing +outside. He tore down the bed hangings and managed to stifle the flames +with a rug. Then he rushed to Tuppence's assistance and between them +they subdued Hannah just as Dr. Burton came hurrying in. + +A very few words sufficed to put him _au courant_ of the situation. + +He hurried to the bedside, lifted Miss Logan's hand, then uttered a +sharp exclamation. + +"The shock of fire has been too much for her. She's dead. Perhaps it is +as well under the circumstances." + +He paused and then added, "There was Ricin in the cocktail glass as +well." + +"It's the best thing that could have happened," said Tommy when they +had relinquished Hannah to the doctor's care, and were alone together. +"Tuppence, you were simply marvellous." + +"There wasn't much Hanaud about it," said Tuppence. + +"It was too serious for play acting. I still can't bear to think of +that girl. I won't think of her. But, as I said before, you were +marvellous. The honors are with you. To use a familiar quotation, 'It +is a great advantage to be intelligent and not to look it.'" + +"Tommy," said Tuppence. "You're a beast." + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE UNBREAKABLE ALIBI + + +Tommy and Tuppence were busy sorting correspondence. Tuppence gave an +exclamation and handed a letter across to Tommy. + +"A new client," she said importantly. + +"Ha!" said Tommy. "What do we deduce from this letter, Watson? Nothing +much, except the somewhat obvious fact that Mr.--er--Montgomery Jones +is not one of the world's best spellers, thereby proving that he has +been expensively educated." + +"Montgomery Jones?" said Tuppence. "Now what do I know about a +Montgomery Jones? Oh, yes, I have got it now. I think Janet St. Vincent +mentioned him. His mother was Lady Aileen Montgomery, very crusty and +high church, with gold crosses and things, and she married a man called +Jones who is immensely rich." + +"In fact the same old story," said Tommy. "Let me see, what time does +this Mr. M. J. wish to see us? Ah, eleven thirty." + +At eleven thirty precisely a very tall young man with an amiable and +ingenuous countenance entered the outer office and addressed himself to +Albert, the office boy. + +"Look here--I say. Can I see Mr.--er--Blunt?" + +"Have you an appointment, sir?" said Albert. + +"I don't quite know. Yes, I suppose I have. What I mean is I wrote a +letter--" + +"What name, sir?" + +"Mr. Montgomery Jones." + +"I will take your name in to Mr. Blunt." + +He returned after a brief interval. + +"Will you wait a few minutes please, sir. Mr. Blunt is engaged on a +very important conference at present." + +"Oh--er--yes--certainly," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. + +Having, he hoped, impressed his client sufficiently Tommy rang the +buzzer on his desk, and Mr. Montgomery Jones was ushered into the inner +office by Albert. + +Tommy rose to greet him, and shaking him warmly by the hand motioned +towards the vacant chair. + +"Now, Mr. Montgomery Jones," he said briskly, "what can we have the +pleasure of doing for you?" + +Mr. Montgomery Jones looked uncertainly at the third occupant of the +office. + +"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Tommy. "You can speak +quite freely before her. I take it that this is some family matter of a +delicate kind?" + +"Well--not exactly," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. + +"You surprise me," said Tommy. "You are not in trouble of any kind +yourself, I hope?" + +"Oh rather not," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. + +"Well," said Tommy, "perhaps you will--er--state the facts plainly." + +That, however, seemed to be the one thing that Mr. Montgomery Jones +could not do. + +"It's a dashed odd sort of thing I have got to ask you," he said +hesitatingly. "I--er--I really don't know how to set about it." + +"We never touch divorce cases," said Tommy. + +"Oh Lord no," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "I don't mean that. It is +just, well--it's a deuced silly sort of a joke. That's all." + +"Someone has played a practical joke on you of a mysterious nature?" +suggested Tommy. + +But Mr. Montgomery Jones once more shook his head. + +"Well," said Tommy retiring gracefully from the position, "take your +own time and let us have it in your own words." + +There was a pause. + +"You see," said Mr. Jones at last, "it was at dinner. I sat next to a +girl." + +"Yes?" said Tommy encouragingly. + +"She was a--oh, well, I really can't describe her, but she was simply +one of the most sporting girls I ever met. She's an Australian over +here with another girl, sharing a flat with her in Clarges Street. +She's simply game for anything. I absolutely can't tell you the effect +that girl had on me." + +"We can quite imagine it, Mr. Jones," said Tuppence. + +She saw clearly that if Mr. Montgomery Jones' troubles were ever to be +extracted a sympathetic feminine touch was needed, as distinct from the +business like methods of Mr. Blunt. + +"We can understand," said Tuppence encouragingly. + +"Well, the whole thing came as an absolute shock to me," said Mr. +Montgomery Jones, "that a girl could, well--knock you over like +that. There had been another girl--in fact two other girls. One was +awfully jolly and all that but I didn't much like her chin. She danced +marvellously though and I have known her all my life which makes a +fellow feel kind of safe, you know. And then there was one of the girls +at the 'Frivolity.' Frightfully amusing, but of course there would be +a lot of ructions with the mater over that, and anyway I really didn't +want to marry either of them, but I was thinking about things you know +and then--slap out of the blue--I sat next to this girl and--" + +"The whole world was changed," said Tuppence in a feeling voice. + +Tommy moved impatiently in his chair. He was by now somewhat bored by +the recital of Mr. Montgomery Jones' love affairs. + +"You put it awfully well," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "That is +absolutely what it was like. Only, you know, I fancy she didn't think +much of me. You mayn't think it but I am not terribly clever." + +"Oh, you mustn't be too modest," said Tuppence. + +"Oh, I do realise that I am not much of a chap," said Mr. Jones with an +engaging smile. "Not for a perfectly marvellous girl like that. That +is why I just feel I have got to put this thing through. It's my only +chance. She's such a sporting girl that she would never go back on her +word." + +"Well I am sure we wish you luck and all that," said Tuppence kindly. +"But I don't exactly see what you want us to do." + +"Oh Lord!" said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "Haven't I explained?" + +"No," said Tommy. "You haven't." + +"Well, it was like this. We were talking about detective stories. +Una--that's her name--is just as keen about them as I am. We got +talking about one in particular. It all hinges on an alibi. Then we got +talking about alibis and faking them. Then I said--no, she said--now +which of us was it that said it?" + +"Never mind which of you it was," said Tuppence. + +"I said it would be a jolly difficult thing to do. She disagreed--said +it only wanted a bit of brain work. We got all hot and excited about it +and in the end she said 'I will make you a sporting offer. What do you +bet that I can produce an alibi that nobody can shake?' + +"Anything you like, I said, and we settled it then and there. She was +frightfully cocksure about the whole thing. 'It's an odds on chance for +me,' she said. 'Don't be so sure of that,' I said. 'Supposing you lose +and I ask you for anything I like?' She laughed and said she came of a +gambling family and I could." + +"Well?" said Tuppence as Mr. Jones came to a pause and looked at her +appealingly. + +"Well, don't you see? It is up to me. It is the only chance I have +got of getting a girl like that to look at me. You have no idea how +sporting she is. Last summer she was out in a boat and someone bet her +she wouldn't jump overboard and swim ashore in her clothes, and she did +it." + +"It is a very curious proposition," said Tommy. "I am not quite sure I +yet understand it." + +"It is perfectly simple," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "You must be doing +this sort of thing all the time. Investigating fake alibis and seeing +where they fall down." + +"Oh--er--yes, of course," said Tommy. "We do a lot of that sort of +work." + +"Someone has got to do it for me," said Montgomery Jones. "I shouldn't +be any good at that sort of thing myself. You have only got to catch +her out and everything is all right. I daresay it seems rather a +futile business to you but it means a lot to me and I am prepared to +pay--er--all necessary whatnots you know." + +"That will be all right," said Tuppence. "I am sure Mr. Blunt will take +the case on for you." + +"Certainly, certainly," said Tommy. "A most refreshing case, most +refreshing indeed." + +Mr. Montgomery Jones heaved a sigh of relief and pulled a mass of +papers from his pocket and selected one of them. "Here it is," he said. +"She says, 'I am sending you proof I was in two distinct places at one +and the same time. According to one story I dined at the Bon Temps +Restaurant in Soho by myself, went to the Duke's Theatre and had supper +with a friend, Mr. le Marchant, at the Savoy--_but_ I was also staying +at the Castle Hotel, Torquay, and only returned to London on the +following morning. You have got to find out which of the two stories is +the true one and how I managed the other.' + +"There," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "Now you see what it is that I want +you to do." + +"A most refreshing little problem," said Tommy. "Very naïve." + +"Here is Una's photograph," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "You will want +that." + +"What is the lady's full name?" inquired Tommy. + +"Miss Una Drake. And her address is 180 Clarges Street." + +"Thank you," said Tommy. "Well, we will look into the matter for you, +Mr. Montgomery Jones. I hope we shall have good news for you very +shortly." + +"I say you know, I am no end grateful," said Mr. Jones rising to his +feet and shaking Tommy by the hand. "It has taken an awful load off my +mind." + +Having seen his client out, Tommy returned to the inner office. +Tuppence was at the cupboard that contained the Classic library. + +"Inspector French," said Tuppence. + +"Eh?" said Tommy. + +"Inspector French of course," said Tuppence. "He always does alibis. +I know the exact procedure. We have to go over everything and check +it. At first it will seem all right and then when we examine it more +closely we shall find the flaw." + +"There ought not to be much difficulty about that," agreed Tommy. "I +mean, knowing that one of them is a fake to start with makes the thing +almost a certainty I should say. That is what worries me." + +"I don't see anything to worry about in that." + +"I am worrying about the girl," said Tommy. "She will probably be let +in to marry that young man whether she wants to or not." + +"Darling," said Tuppence, "don't be foolish. Women are never the wild +gamblers they appear. Unless that girl was already perfectly prepared +to marry that pleasant but rather empty-headed young man, she would +never have let herself in for a wager of this kind. But, Tommy, believe +me, she will marry him with more enthusiasm and respect if he wins the +wager than if she has to make it easy for him some other way." + +"You do think you know about everything," said her husband. + +"I do," said Tuppence. + +"And now to examine our data," said Tommy drawing the papers towards +him. "First the photograph--hm--quite a nice looking girl--and quite a +good photograph I should say. Clear and easily recognisable." + +"We must get some other girls' photographs," said Tuppence. + +"Why?" + +"They always do," said Tuppence. "You show four or five to waiters and +they pick out the right one." + +"Do you think they do?" said Tommy--"pick out the right one I mean." + +"Well, they do in books," said Tuppence. + +"It is a pity that real life is so different from fiction," said Tommy. +"Now then what have we here? Yes, this is the London lot. Dined at the +Bon Temps seven thirty. Went to Duke's Theatre and saw Delphiniums +Blue. Counterfoil of theatre ticket enclosed. Supper at the Savoy with +Mr. le Marchant. We can, I suppose, interview Mr. le Marchant." + +"That tells us nothing at all," said Tuppence, "because if he is +helping her to do it he naturally won't give the show away. We can wash +out anything he says now." + +"Well, here is the Torquay end," went on Tommy. "Twelve o'clock train +from Paddington, had lunch in the Restaurant Car, receipted bill +enclosed. Stayed at Castle Hotel for one night. Again receipted bill." + +"I think this is all rather weak," said Tuppence. "Anyone can buy a +theatre ticket, you need never go near the theatre. The girl just went +to Torquay and the London thing is a fake." + +"If so, it is rather a sitter for us," said Tommy. "Well, I suppose we +might as well go and interview Mr. le Marchant." + +Mr. le Marchant proved to be a breezy youth who betrayed no great +surprise on seeing them. + +"Una has got some little game on, hasn't she?" he asked. "You never +know what that kid is up to." + +"I understand, Mr. le Marchant," said Tommy, "that Miss Drake had +supper with you at the Savoy last Tuesday evening." + +"That's right," said Mr. le Marchant. "I know it was Tuesday because +Una impressed it on me at the time and what's more she made me write it +down in a little book." + +With some pride he showed an entry faintly pencilled: "Having supper +with Una. Savoy. Tuesday 19th." + +"Where had Miss Drake been earlier in the evening? Do you know?" + +"She had been to some rotten show called Pink Peonies or something like +that. Absolute slosh so she told me." + +"You are quite sure Miss Drake was with you that evening?" + +Mr. le Marchant stared at him. + +"Why, of course. Haven't I been telling you?" + +"Perhaps she asked you to tell us," said Tuppence. + +"Well, for a matter of fact she did say something that was rather +dashed odd. She said, what was it now? 'You think you are sitting +here having supper with me, Jimmy, but really, I am having supper two +hundred miles away in Devonshire.' Now that was a dashed odd thing to +say, don't you think so? Sort of astral body stuff. The funny thing is +that a pal of mine, Dicky Rice, thought he saw her there." + +"Who is this Mr. Rice?" + +"Oh, just a friend of mine. He had been down in Torquay staying with an +aunt. Sort of old bean who is always going to die and never does. Dicky +had been down doing the dutiful nephew. He said, 'I saw that Australian +girl one day--Una something or other. Wanted to go and talk to her but +my aunt carried me off to chat with an old Pussy in a bathchair.' I +said, 'When was this?' and he said, 'Oh, Tuesday about tea time.' I +told him of course that he had made a mistake, but it was odd, wasn't +it? With Una saying that about Devonshire that evening." + +"Very odd," said Tommy. "Tell me, Mr. le Marchant, did anyone you know +have supper near you at the Savoy?" + +"Some people called Oglander were at the next table." + +"Do they know Miss Drake?" + +"Oh yes, they know her. They are not frightful friends or anything of +that kind." + +"Well, if there's nothing more you can tell us, Mr. le Marchant, I +think we will wish you good morning." + +"Either that chap is an extraordinary good liar," said Tommy as they +reached the street, "or else he is speaking the truth." + +"Yes," said Tuppence. "I have changed my opinion. I have a sort of +feeling now that Una Drake was at the Savoy for supper that night." + +"We will now go to the Bon Temps," said Tommy. "A little food for +starving sleuths is clearly indicated. Let's just get a few girls' +photographs first." + +This proved rather more difficult than was expected. Turning into a +photographer's and demanding a few assorted photographs, they were met +with a cold rebuff. + +"Why are all the things that are so easy and simple in books so +difficult in real life?" wailed Tuppence. "How horribly suspicious +they looked. What do you think they thought we wanted to do with the +photographs? We had better go and raid Jane's flat." + +Tuppence's friend Jane proved of an accommodating disposition and +permitted Tuppence to rummage in a drawer and select four specimens of +former friends of Jane's who had been shoved hastily in to be out of +sight and mind. + +Armed with this galaxy of feminine beauty they proceeded to the Bon +Temps where fresh difficulties and much expense awaited them. Tommy +had to get hold of each waiter in turn, tip him and then produce the +assorted photographs. The result was unsatisfactory. At least three +of the photographs were promising starters as having dined there last +Tuesday. They then returned to the office where Tuppence immersed +herself in an A.B.C. + +"Paddington twelve o'clock. Torquay three thirty-five. That's the train +and le Marchant's friend, Mr. Sago, or Tapioca or something, saw her +there about tea time." + +"We haven't checked his statement, remember," said Tommy. "If, as you +said to begin with, le Marchant is a friend of Una Drake's, he may have +invented this story." + +"Oh, we'll hunt up Mr. Rice," said Tuppence. "I have a kind of hunch +that Mr. le Marchant was speaking the truth. No, what I am trying to +get at now is this. Una Drake leaves London by the twelve o'clock +train, possibly takes a room at a hotel and unpacks. Then she takes a +train back to town arriving in time to get to the Savoy. There is one +at four forty gets up to Paddington at nine ten." + +"And then?" said Tommy. + +"And then," said Tuppence, frowning, "it is rather more difficult. +There is a midnight train from Paddington down again but she could +hardly take that, that would be too early." + +"A fast car," suggested Tommy. + +"H'm," said Tuppence. "It is just on two hundred miles." + +"Australians, I have always been told, drive very recklessly." + +"Oh, I suppose it could be done," said Tuppence, "she would arrive +there about seven." + +"Are you supposing her to have nipped into her bed at the Castle Hotel +without being seen? Or arriving there explaining that she had been out +all night and could she have her bill, please?" + +"Tommy," said Tuppence. "We are idiots. She needn't have gone back to +Torquay at all. She has only got to get a friend to go to the Hotel +there and collect her luggage and pay her bill. Then you get the +receipted bill with the proper date on it." + +"I think on the whole we have worked out a very sound hypothesis," said +Tommy. "The next thing to do is to catch the twelve o'clock train to +Torquay to-morrow and verify our brilliant conclusions." + +Armed with a portfolio of photographs, Tommy and Tuppence duly +established themselves in a first class carriage the following morning, +and booked seats for the second lunch. + +"It probably won't be the same dining car attendants," said Tommy. +"That would be too much luck to expect. I expect we shall have to +travel up and down to Torquay for days before we strike the right ones." + +"This alibi business is very trying," said Tuppence. "In books it is +all passed over in two or three paragraphs. Inspector Something then +boarded the train to Torquay and questioned the dining car attendants +and so ended the story." + +For once, however, the young couple's luck was in. In answer to their +question the attendant who brought their bill for lunch proved to be +the same one who had been on duty the preceding Tuesday. What Tommy +called the ten shilling note touch then came into action and Tuppence +produced the portfolio. + +"I want to know," said Tommy, "if any of these ladies had lunch on this +train on Tuesday last?" + +In a gratifying manner worthy of the best detective fiction the man at +once indicated the photograph of Una Drake. + +"Yes sir, I remember that lady, and I remember that it was Tuesday, +because the lady herself drew attention to the fact saying it was +always the luckiest day in the week for her." + +"So far, so good," said Tuppence as they returned to their compartment. +"And we will probably find that she booked at the Hotel all right. +It is going to be more difficult to prove that she travelled back to +London, but perhaps one of the porters at the station may remember." + +Here, however, they drew a blank and crossing to the up platform Tommy +made inquiries of the ticket collector and of various porters. After +the distribution of half crowns as a preliminary to inquiring, two +of the porters picked out one of the other photographs with a vague +remembrance that someone like that travelled to town by the four forty +that afternoon, but there was no identification of Una Drake. + +"But that doesn't prove anything," said Tuppence as they left the +station. "She may have travelled by that train and no one noticed her." + +"She may have gone from the other station, from Torre." + +"That's quite likely," said Tuppence, "however, we can see to that +after we have been to the hotel." + +The Castle Hotel was a big one overlooking the sea. After booking a +room for the night and signing the register, Tommy observed pleasantly: + +"I believe you had a friend of ours staying here last Tuesday. Miss Una +Drake." + +The young lady in the bureau beamed at him. + +"Oh yes, I remember quite well. An Australian young lady I believe." + +At a sign from Tommy, Tuppence produced the photograph. + +"That is rather a charming photograph of her, isn't it?" said Tuppence. + +"Oh very nice, very nice indeed, quite stylish." + +"Did she stay here long?" inquired Tommy. + +"Only one night. She went away by the Express the next morning back +to London. It seemed a long way to come for one night but of course I +suppose Australian ladies don't think anything of travelling." + +"She is a very sporting girl," said Tommy, "always having adventures. +It wasn't here, was it, that she went out to dine with some friends, +went for a drive in their car afterwards, ran the car into a ditch and +wasn't able to get home till morning?" + +"Oh, no," said the young lady. "Miss Drake had dinner here in the +Hotel." + +"Really," said Tommy, "are you sure of that? I mean--how do you know?" + +"Oh, I saw her." + +"I asked because I understood she was dining with some friends in +Torquay," explained Tommy. + +"Oh, no sir, she dined here." The young lady laughed and blushed a +little. "I remember she had on a most sweetly pretty frock. One of +those new flowered chiffons all over pansies." + +"Tuppence, this tears it," said Tommy when they had been shown upstairs +to their room. + +"It does rather," said Tuppence. "Of course that woman may be mistaken. +We will ask the waiter at dinner. There can't be very many people here +just at this time of year." + +This time it was Tuppence who opened the attack. + +"Can you tell me if a friend of mine was here last Tuesday?" she asked +the waiter with an engaging smile. "A Miss Drake, wearing a frock all +over pansies I believe." She produced a photograph. "This lady." + +The waiter broke into immediate smiles of recognition. + +"Yes, yes, Miss Drake. I remember her very well. She told me she came +from Australia." + +"She dined here?" + +"Yes. It was last Tuesday. She asked me if there was anything to do +afterwards in the town." + +"Yes?" + +"I told her the theatre, the Pavilion, but in the end she decided not +to go and stayed here listening to our orchestra." + +"Oh damn," said Tommy under his breath. + +"You don't remember what time she had dinner, do you?" said Tuppence. + +"She came down a little late. It must have been about eight o'clock." + +"Damn, Blast, and Curse," said Tuppence as she and Tommy left the +dining-room. "Tommy, this is all going wrong. It seemed so clear and +lovely." + +"Well, I suppose we ought to have known it wouldn't all be plain +sailing." + +"Is there any train she could have taken after that I wonder?" + +"Not one that would have landed her in London in time to go to the +Savoy." + +"Well," said Tuppence, "as a last hope I am going to talk to the +chambermaid. Una Drake had a room on the same floor as ours." + +The chambermaid was a voluble and informative woman. Yes, she +remembered the young lady quite well. That was her picture right +enough. A very nice young lady, very merry and talkative. Had told her +a lot about Australia and the kangaroos. + +The young lady rang the bell about half past nine and asked for her +bottle to be filled and put in her bed and also to be called the next +morning at half past seven--with coffee instead of tea. + +"You did call her and she was in bed?" asked Tuppence. + +The chambermaid stared at her. + +"Why, yes Ma'am, of course." + +"Oh, I only wondered if she was doing exercises or anything," said +Tuppence, wildly. "So many people do in the early morning." + +"Well, that seems cast iron enough," said Tommy, when the chambermaid +had departed. "There is only one conclusion to be drawn from it. It is +the London side of the thing that _must_ be faked." + +"Mr. le Marchant must be a more accomplished liar than we thought," +said Tuppence. + +"We have a way of checking his statements," said Tommy. "He said there +were people sitting at the next table whom Una knew slightly. What was +their name--Oglander, that was it. We must hunt up these Oglanders and +we ought also to make inquiries at Miss Drake's flat in Clarges Street." + +The following morning they paid their bill and departed somewhat +crestfallen. + +Hunting out the Oglanders was fairly easy with the aid of the telephone +book. Tuppence this time took the offensive and assumed the character +of a representative of a new illustrated paper. She called on Mrs. +Oglander asking for a few details of their "smart" supper party at the +Savoy on Tuesday evening. These details Mrs. Oglander was only too +willing to supply. Just as she was leaving Tuppence added carelessly: +"Let me see, wasn't Miss Una Drake sitting at the table next you? Is it +really true that she is engaged to the Duke of Perth? You know her, of +course." + +"I know her slightly," said Mrs. Oglander. "A very charming girl I +believe. Yes, she was sitting at the next table to ours with Mr. le +Marchant. My girls know her better than I do." + +Tuppence's next port of call was the flat in Clarges Street. Here she +was greeted by Miss Marjory Leicester, the friend with whom Miss Drake +shared a flat. + +"Do tell me what all this is about?" asked Miss Leicester plaintively. +"Una has some deep game on and I don't know what it is. Of course she +slept here on Tuesday night." + +"Did you see her when she came in?" + +"No, I had gone to bed. She has got her own latch key, of course. She +came in about one o'clock, I believe." + +"When did you see her?" + +"Oh, the next morning about nine--or perhaps it was nearer ten." + +As Tuppence left the flat she almost collided with a tall, gaunt female +who was entering. + +"Excuse me, Miss, I'm sure," said the gaunt female. + +"Do you work here?" asked Tuppence. + +"Yes, Miss, I come daily." + +"What time do you get here in the morning?" + +"Nine o'clock is my time, Miss." + +Tuppence slipped a hurried half crown into the gaunt female's hand. + +"Was Miss Drake here last Tuesday morning when you arrived?" + +"Why yes, Miss, indeed she was. Fast asleep in her bed and hardly woke +up when I brought her in her tea." + +"Oh, thank you," said Tuppence and went disconsolately down the stairs. + +She had arranged to meet Tommy for lunch in a small Restaurant in Soho +and there they compared notes. + +"I have seen that fellow, Rice. It is quite true he did see Una Drake +in the distance at Torquay." + +"Well," said Tuppence, "we have checked these alibis all right. Here, +give me a bit of paper and a pencil, Tommy. Let us put it down neatly +like all detectives do." + + 1.30 Una Drake seen in Luncheon Car of train. + 4 o'clock Arrives at Castle Hotel. + 5 o'clock Seen by Mr. Rice. + 8 o'clock Seen dining at Hotel. + 9.30 Asks for hot water bottle. + 11.30 Seen at Savoy with Mr. le Marchant. + 7.30 a.m. Called by chambermaid at Castle Hotel. + 9 o'clock Called by charwoman at flat at Clarges Street. + +They looked at each other. + +"Well, it looks to me as if Blunt's Brilliant Detectives are beat," +said Tommy. + +"Oh, we mustn't give up," said Tuppence. "Somebody _must_ be lying!" + +"The queer thing is that it strikes me nobody was lying. They all +seemed perfectly truthful and straightforward." + +"Yet there must be a flaw. We know there is. I think of all sorts +of things like private aeroplanes but that doesn't really get us any +forwarder." + +"I am inclined to the theory of an astral body." + +"Well," said Tuppence, "the only thing to do is to sleep on it. Your +subconscious works in your sleep." + +"H'm," said Tommy. "If your subconscious provides you with a perfectly +good answer to this riddle by to-morrow morning, I take off my hat to +it." + +They were very silent all that evening. Again and again Tuppence +reverted to the paper of times. She wrote things on bits of paper. She +murmured to herself, she sought perplexedly through Rail Guides. But in +the end they both rose to go to bed with no faint glimmer of light on +the problem. + +"This is very disheartening," said Tommy. + +"One of the most miserable evenings I have ever spent," said Tuppence. + +"We ought to have gone to a Music Hall," said Tommy. "A few good jokes +about mothers-in-law and twins and bottles of beer would have done us +no end of good." + +"No, you will see this concentration will work in the end," said +Tuppence. "How busy our subconscious will have to be in the next eight +hours!" And on this hopeful note they went to bed. + +"Well," said Tommy next morning, "has the subconscious worked?" + +"I have got an idea," said Tuppence. + +"You have. What sort of an idea?" + +"Well, rather a funny idea. Not at all like anything I have ever read +in detective stories. As a matter of fact it is an idea that _you_ put +into my head." + +"Then it must be a good idea," said Tommy firmly. "Come on, Tuppence, +out with it." + +"I shall have to send a cable to verify it," said Tuppence. "No, I am +not going to tell you. It's a perfectly wild idea but it's the only +thing that fits the facts." + +"Well," said Tommy, "I must away to the office. A roomful of +disappointed clients must not wait in vain. I leave this case in the +hands of my promising subordinate." + +Tuppence nodded cheerfully. + +She did not put in an appearance at the office all day. When Tommy +returned that evening about half past five it was to find a wildly +exultant Tuppence awaiting him. + +"I have done it, Tommy. I have solved the mystery of the alibi. We +can charge up all these half crowns and ten shilling notes and demand +a substantial fee of our own from Mr. Montgomery Jones and he can go +right off and collect his girl." + +"What is the solution?" cried Tommy. + +"A perfectly simple one," said Tuppence. "_Twins._" + +"What do you mean?--Twins?" + +"Why just that. Of course it is the only solution. I will say you put +it into my head last night talking about mothers-in-law, twins, and +bottles of beer. I cabled to Australia and got back the information +I wanted. Una has a twin sister, Vera, who arrived in England last +Monday. That is why she was able to make this bet so spontaneously. +She thought it would be a frightful rag on poor Montgomery Jones. The +sister went to Torquay and she stayed in London." + +"Do you think she'll be terribly despondent that she's lost?" asked +Tommy. + +"No," said Tuppence. "I don't. I gave you my views about that before. +She will put all the kudos down to Montgomery Jones. I always think +respect for your husband's abilities should be the foundation of +married life." + +"I am glad to have inspired these sentiments in you, Tuppence." + +"It is not a really satisfactory solution," said Tuppence. "Not the +ingenious sort of flaw that Inspector French would have detected." + +"Nonsense," said Tommy. "I think the way I showed these photographs to +the waiter in the Restaurant was exactly like Inspector French." + +"He didn't have to use nearly so many half crowns and ten shilling +notes as we seem to have done," said Tuppence. + +"Never mind," said Tommy. "We can charge them all up with additions to +Mr. Montgomery Jones. He will be in such a state of idiotic bliss that +he would probably pay the most enormous bill without jibbing at it." + +"So he should," said Tuppence. "Haven't Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives been brilliantly successful? Oh, Tommy, I do think we are +extraordinarily clever. It quite frightens me sometimes." + +"The next case we have shall be a Roger Sheringham case and you, +Tuppence, shall be Roger Sheringham." + +"I shall have to talk a lot," said Tuppence. + +"You do that naturally," said Tommy. "And now I suggest that we carry +out my programme of last night and seek out a Music Hall where they +have plenty of jokes about mothers-in-law, bottles of beer, _and +Twins_." + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE CLERGYMAN'S DAUGHTER + + +"I wish," said Tuppence, roaming moodily round the office, "that we +could befriend a clergyman's daughter." + +"Why?" asked Tommy. + +"You may have forgotten the fact, but I was once a clergyman's daughter +myself. I remember what it was like. Hence this altruistic urge--this +spirit of thoughtful consideration for others--this--" + +"You are getting ready to be Roger Sheringham, I see," said Tommy. "If +you will allow me to make a criticism, you talk quite as much as he +does, but not nearly so well." + +"On the contrary," said Tuppence, "there is a feminine subtlety about +my conversation, a _je ne sais quoi_, that no gross male could ever +attain to. I have, moreover, powers unknown to my prototype--do I mean +prototype? Words are such uncertain things, they so often sound well +but mean the opposite of what one thinks they do." + +"Go on," said Tommy kindly. + +"I was. I was only pausing to take breath. Touching these powers, it is +my wish to-day to assist a clergyman's daughter. You will see, Tommy, +the first person to enlist the aid of Blunt's Brilliant Detectives will +be a clergyman's daughter." + +"I'll bet you it isn't," said Tommy. + +"Done," said Tuppence. "Hist! To your typewriters, Oh! Israel. One +comes." + +Mr. Blunt's office was humming with industry as Albert opened the door +and announced: + +"Miss Monica Deane." + +A slender brown haired girl, rather shabbily dressed, entered and stood +hesitating. Tommy came forward. + +"Good morning, Miss Deane. Won't you sit down and tell us what we can +do for you? By the way, let me introduce my confidential secretary, +Miss Sheringham." + +"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Deane," said Tuppence. +"Your father was in the Church, I think." + +"Yes, he was. But how _did_ you know that?" + +"Oh! we have our methods," said Tuppence. "You mustn't mind me rattling +on. Mr. Blunt likes to hear me talk. He always says it gives him ideas." + +The girl stared at her. She was a slender creature, not beautiful, +but possessing a wistful prettiness. She had a quantity of soft +mouse-colored hair, and her eyes were dark blue and very lovely, though +the dark shadows round them spoke of trouble and anxiety. + +"Will you tell me your story, Miss Deane?" said Tommy. + +The girl turned to him gratefully. + +"It's such a long, rambling story," said the girl. "My name is Monica +Deane. My father was the rector of Little Hampsley in Suffolk. He +died three years ago, and my mother and I were left very badly off. +I went out as a governess, but my mother became a confirmed invalid +and I had to come home to look after her. We were desperately poor, +but one day we received a lawyer's letter telling us that an aunt of +my father's had died and had left everything to me. I had often heard +of this aunt who had quarrelled with my father many years ago, and I +knew that she was very well off, so it really seemed that our troubles +were at an end. But matters did not turn out quite as well as we had +hoped. I inherited the house she had lived in, but after paying one or +two small legacies, there was no money left. I suppose she must have +lost it during the war, or perhaps she had been living on her capital. +Still, we had the house, and almost at once we had a chance of selling +it at quite an advantageous price. But, foolishly perhaps, I refused +the offer. We were in tiny, but expensive lodgings, and I thought it +would be much nicer to live in the Red House where my mother could have +comfortable rooms and take in paying guests to cover our expenses. + +"I adhered to this plan, notwithstanding a further tempting offer from +the gentlemen who wanted to buy. We moved in, and I advertised for +paying guests. For a time, all went well, we had several answers to our +advertisement, my aunt's old servant remained on with us and she and +I between us did the work of the house. And then these unaccountable +things began to happen." + +"What things?" + +"The queerest things. The whole place seemed bewitched. Pictures fell +down, crockery flew across the room and broke, one morning we came down +to find all the furniture moved round. At first we thought someone +was playing a practical joke, but we had to give up that explanation. +Sometimes when we were all sitting down to dinner, a terrific crash +would be heard overhead. We would go up and find no one there, but a +piece of furniture thrown violently to the ground." + +"A _poltergeist_," cried Tuppence, much interested. + +"Yes, that's what Dr. O'Neill said--though I don't know what it means." + +"It's a sort of evil spirit that plays tricks," explained Tuppence who +in reality knew very little of the subject, and was not even sure that +she had got the word _poltergeist_ right. + +"Well, at any rate, the effect was disastrous. Our visitors were +frightened to death, and left as soon as possible. We got new ones, +and they too left hurriedly. I was in despair, and, to crown all, our +own tiny income ceased suddenly--the Company in which it was invested +failed." + +"You poor dear," said Tuppence sympathetically. "What a time you have +had. Did you want Mr. Blunt to investigate this 'haunting' business?" + +"Not exactly. You see, three days ago, a gentleman called upon us. +His name was Dr. O'Neill. He told us that he was a member of the +Society for Psychical Research, and that he had heard about the +curious manifestations that had taken place in our house and was much +interested. So much so, that he was prepared to buy it from us, and +conduct a series of experiments there." + +"Well?" + +"Of course, at first, I was overcome with joy. It seemed the way out of +all our difficulties. But--" + +"Yes?" + +"Perhaps you will think me fanciful. Perhaps I am. But--oh! I'm sure I +haven't made a mistake. It was the same man!" + +"What same man?" + +"The same man who wanted to buy it before. Oh! I'm sure I'm right." + +"But why shouldn't it be?" + +"You don't understand. The two men were quite different, different name +and everything. The first man was quite young, a spruce dark young man +of thirty odd. Dr. O'Neill is about fifty, he has a grey beard and +wears glasses and stoops. But when he talked I saw a gold tooth on one +side of his mouth. It only shows when he laughs. The other man had a +tooth in just the same position, and then I looked at his ears. I had +noticed the other man's ears, because they were a peculiar shape with +hardly any lobe. Dr. O'Neill's were just the same. Both things couldn't +be a coincidence, could they? I thought and thought and finally I wrote +and said I would let him know in a week. I had noticed Mr. Blunt's +advertisement some time ago--as a matter of fact in an old paper that +lined one of the kitchen drawers. I cut it out and came up to town." + +"You were quite right," said Tuppence, nodding her head with vigor. +"This needs looking into." + +"A very interesting case, Miss Deane," observed Tommy. "We shall be +pleased to look into this for you--eh, Miss Sheringham?" + +"Rather," said Tuppence, "and we'll get to the bottom of it too." + +"I understand, Miss Deane," went on Tommy, "that the household consists +of you and your mother and a servant. Can you give me any particulars +about the servant?" + +"Her name is Crockett. She was with my aunt about eight or ten years. +She is an elderly woman, not very pleasant in manner, but a good +servant. She is inclined to give herself airs because her sister +married out of her station. Crockett has a nephew whom she is always +telling us is 'quite the gentleman.'" + +"H'm," said Tommy, rather at a loss how to proceed. + +Tuppence had been eyeing Monica keenly, now she spoke with sudden +decision. + +"I think the best plan would be for Miss Deane to come out and lunch +with me. It's just on one o'clock. I can get full details from her." + +"Certainly, Miss Sheringham," said Tommy. "An excellent plan." + +"Look here," said Tuppence when they were comfortably ensconced at a +little table in a neighboring restaurant, "I want to know. Is there any +special reason why you want to find out about all this?" + +Monica blushed. + +"Well, you see--" + +"Out with it," said Tuppence encouragingly. + +"Well--there are two men who--who--want to marry me." + +"The usual story, I suppose? One rich, one poor, and the poor one is +the one you like!" + +"I don't know how you know all these things," murmured the girl. + +"That's a sort of law of Nature," explained Tuppence. "It happens to +everybody. It happens to me." + +"You see, even if I sell the house, it won't bring us enough to live +on. Gerald is a dear, but he's desperately poor--though he's a very +clever engineer and if only he had a little capital, his firm would +take him into partnership. The other, Mr. Partridge, is a very good +man, I am sure--and well off, and if I married him it would be an end +of all our troubles. But--but--" + +"I know," said Tuppence sympathetically. "It isn't the same thing at +all. You can go on telling yourself how good and worthy he is, and +adding up his qualities as though they were an addition sum--and it all +has a simply refrigerating effect." + +Monica nodded. + +"Well," said Tuppence, "I think it would be as well if we went down +to the neighborhood and studied matters upon the spot. What is the +address?" + +"The Red House, Stourton in the Marsh." + +Tuppence wrote down the address in her note book. + +"I didn't ask you," Monica began--"about terms--" she ended, blushing a +little. + +"Our payments are strictly by results," said Tuppence gravely. "If the +secret of the Red House is a profitable one, as seems possible from the +anxiety displayed to acquire the property, we should expect a small +percentage, otherwise--nothing!" + +"Thank you very much," said the girl gratefully. + +"And now," said Tuppence, "don't worry. Everything's going to be all +right. Let's enjoy lunch and talk of interesting things." + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + THE RED HOUSE + + +"Well," said Tommy, looking out of the window of the Crown and Anchor, +"here we are at Toad in the Hole--or whatever this blasted village is +called." + +"Let us review the case," said Tuppence. + +"By all means," said Tommy. "To begin with, getting my say in first, +_I_ suspect the invalid mother!" + +"Why?" + +"My dear Tuppence, grant that this _poltergeist_ business is all a put +up job, got up in order to persuade the girl to sell the house, someone +must have thrown the things about. Now the girl said everyone was at +dinner--but if the mother is a thoroughgoing invalid, she'd be upstairs +in her room." + +"If she was an invalid she could hardly throw furniture about." + +"Ah! but she wouldn't be a real invalid. She'd be shamming." + +"Why?" + +"There you have me," confessed her husband. "I was really going on the +well known principle of suspecting the most unlikely person." + +"You always make fun of everything," said Tuppence severely. "There +must be _something_ that makes these people so anxious to get hold of +the house. And if you don't care about getting to the bottom of this +matter, I do. I like that girl. She's a dear." + +Tommy nodded seriously enough. + +"I quite agree. But I never can resist ragging you, Tuppence. Of course +there's something queer about the house, and whatever it is, it's +something that's difficult to get at. Otherwise a mere burglary would +do the trick. But to be willing to buy the house means either that +you've got to take up floors or pull down walls, or else that there's a +coal mine under the back garden!" + +"I don't want it to be a coal mine. Buried treasure is much more +romantic." + +"H'm," said Tommy. "In that case I think that I shall pay a visit to +the local Bank Manager, explain that I am staying here over Christmas +and probably buying the Red House, and discuss the question of opening +an account." + +"But why--?" + +"Wait and see." + +Tommy returned at the end of half an hour. His eyes were twinkling. + +"We advance, Tuppence. Our interview proceeded on the lines indicated. +I then asked casually whether he had had much gold paid in, as is +often the case nowadays in these small country banks--small farmers +who hoarded it during the War, you understand. From that we proceeded +quite naturally to the extraordinary vagaries of old ladies. I +invented an aunt, who on the outbreak of the War, drove to the Army +and Navy Stores in a four wheeler, and returned with sixteen hams. He +immediately mentioned a client of his own who had insisted on drawing +out every penny of money she had--in gold as far as possible, and who +also insisted on having her securities, bearer bonds and such things, +given into her own custody. I exclaimed on such an act of folly, and he +mentioned casually that she was the former owner of the Red House. You +see, Tuppence? She drew out all this money, and she hid it somewhere. +You remember that Monica Deane mentioned that they were astonished at +the small amount of her estate? Yes, she hid it in the Red House, and +someone knows about it. I can make a pretty good guess who that someone +is too." + +"Who?" + +"What about the faithful Crockett? She would know all about her +mistress's peculiarities." + +"And that gold-toothed Dr. O'Neill?" + +"The gentlemanly nephew, of course! That's it. But whereabouts did she +hide it? You know more about old ladies than I do, Tuppence. Where do +they hide things?" + +"Wrapped up in stockings and petticoats, under mattresses." + +Tommy nodded. + +"I expect you're right. All the same, she can't have done that because +it would have been found when her things were turned over. It worries +me--you see, an old lady like that can't have taken up floors or +dug holes in the garden. All the same it's there in the Red House +somewhere. Crockett hasn't found it, but she knows it's there, and once +they get the house to themselves, she and her precious nephew, they can +turn it upside down until they find what they're after. We've got to +get ahead of them. Come on, Tuppence. We'll go to the Red House." + +Monica Deane received them. To her mother and Crockett they were +represented as would be purchasers of the Red House which would account +for their being taken all over the house and grounds. Tommy did not +tell Monica of the conclusions he had come to, but he asked her various +searching questions. Of the garments and personal belongings of the +dead woman, some had been given to Crockett and the others sent to +various poor families. Everything had been gone through and turned out. + +"Did your aunt leave any papers?" + +"The desk was full, and there were some in a drawer in her bedroom, but +there was nothing of importance amongst them." + +"Have they been thrown away?" + +"No, my mother is always very loath to throw away old papers. There +were some old fashioned recipes among them which she intends to go +through one day." + +"Good," said Tommy approvingly. Then, indicating an old man who was at +work upon one of the flower beds in the garden, he asked: "Was that old +man the gardener here in your aunt's time?" + +"Yes, he used to come three days a week. He lives in the village. Poor +old fellow, he is past doing any really useful work. We have him just +once a week to keep things tidied up. We can't afford more." + +Tommy winked at Tuppence to indicate that she was to keep Monica with +her, and he himself stepped across to where the gardener was working. +He spoke a few pleasant words to the old man, asked him if he had been +there in the old lady's time, and then said casually: + +"You buried a box for her once, didn't you?" + +"No, sir, I never buried naught for her. What should she want to bury a +box for?" + +Tommy shook his head. He strolled back to the house frowning. It was +to be hoped that a study of the old lady's papers would yield some +clue--otherwise the problem was a hard one to solve. The house itself +was old fashioned, but not old enough to contain a secret room or +passage. + +Before leaving, Monica brought them down a big cardboard box, tied with +string. + +"I've collected all the papers," she whispered. "And they're in here. +I thought you could take it away with you, and then you'll have plenty +of time to go over them--but I'm sure you won't find anything to throw +light on the mysterious happenings in this house--" + +Her words were interrupted by a terrific crash overhead. Tommy ran +quickly up the stairs. A jug and basin in one of the front rooms was +lying on the ground broken to pieces. There was no one in the room. + +"The ghost up to its tricks again," he murmured with a grin. + +He went down stairs again thoughtfully. + +"I wonder, Miss Deane, if I might speak to the maid, Crockett, for a +minute." + +"Certainly. I will ask her to come to you." + +Monica went off to the kitchen. She returned with the elderly maid who +had opened the door to them earlier. + +"We are thinking of buying this house," said Tommy pleasantly, "and my +wife was wondering whether, in that case, you would care to remain on +with us?" + +Crockett's respectable face displayed no emotion of any kind. + +"Thank you, sir," she said. "I should like to think it over if I may." + +Tommy turned to Monica. + +"I am delighted with the house, Miss Deane. I understand that there is +another buyer in the market. I know what he has offered for the house, +and I will willingly give a hundred more. And mind you, that is a good +price I am offering." + +Monica murmured something noncommittal, and the Beresfords took their +leave. + +"I was right," said Tommy, as they went down the drive. "Crockett's in +it. Did you notice that she was out of breath? That was from running +down the back stairs after smashing the jug and basin. Sometimes, very +likely, she has admitted her nephew secretly, and he has done a little +poltergeisting, or whatever you call it, whilst she has been innocently +with the family. You'll see, Dr. O'Neill will make a further offer +before the day is out." + +True enough, after dinner a note was brought. It was from Monica. + +"I have just heard from Dr. O'Neill. He raises his previous offer by +£150." + +"The nephew must be a man of means," said Tommy thoughtfully. "And I +tell you what, Tuppence, the prize he's after must be well worth while." + +"Oh! Oh! Oh! if only we could find it!" + +"Well, let's get on with the spade work." + +They were sorting through the big box of papers, a wearisome affair, as +they were all jumbled up pell mell without any kind of order or method. +Every few minutes they compared notes. + +"What's the latest, Tuppence?" + +"Two old receipted bills, three unimportant letters, a recipe for +preserving new potatoes and one for making lemon cheesecake. What's +yours?" + +"One bill, poem on Spring, two newspaper cuttings: 'Why Women buy +Pearls--a sound investment' and 'Man with Four Wives--Extraordinary +Story,' and a recipe for Jugged Hare." + +"It's heart breaking," said Tuppence, and they fell to once more. At +last the box was empty. They looked at each other. + +"I put this aside," said Tommy, picking up a half sheet of notepaper, +"because it struck me as peculiar. But I don't suppose it's got +anything to do with what we're looking for." + +"Let's see it. Oh! it's one of those funny things, what do they call +them? Anagrams, charades or something." She read it: + + "My _first_ you put on glowing coal + And into it you put my _whole_ + My _second_ really is the first + My third mislikes the winter blast." + +"H'm," said Tommy critically. "I don't think much of the poet's rhymes." + +"I don't see what you find peculiar about it, though," said Tuppence. +"Everybody used to have a collection of these sort of things about +fifty years ago. You saved them up for winter evenings round the fire." + +"I wasn't referring to the verse. It's the words written below it that +strike me as peculiar." + +"St. Luke XI. 9," she said. "It's a text." + +"Yes. Doesn't that strike you as odd? Would an old lady of a religious +persuasion write a text just under a charade?" + +"It is rather odd," agreed Tuppence thoughtfully. + +"I presume that you, being a clergyman's daughter, have got your Bible +with you?" + +"As a matter of fact I have. Aha, you didn't expect that. Wait a sec." + +Tuppence ran to her suit case, extracted a small red volume and +returned to the table. She turned the leaves rapidly. "Here we are. +Luke, Chapter XI, Verse 9. Oh! Tommy, look." + +Tommy bent over and looked where Tuppence's small finger pointed to a +portion of the verse in question. + +"_Seek, and ye shall find._" + +"That's it," cried Tuppence. "We've got it! Solve the cryptogram and +the treasure is ours--or rather Monica's." + +"Well, let's get to work on the cryptogram, as you call it. 'My _first_ +you put on glowing coal.' What does that mean, I wonder? Then--'My +_second_ really is the first.' That's pure gibberish." + +"It's quite simple really," said Tuppence kindly. "It's just a sort of +knack. Let _me_ have it." + +Tommy surrendered it willingly. Tuppence ensconced herself in an arm +chair, and began muttering to herself with bent brows. + +"It's quite simple really," murmured Tommy when half an hour had +elapsed. + +"Don't crow! We're the wrong generation for this. I've a good mind to +go back to town to-morrow and call on some old pussy who would probably +read it as easy as winking. It's a knack, that's all." + +"Well, let's have one more try." + +"There aren't many things you can put on glowing coal," said Tuppence +thoughtfully. "There's water, to put it out, or wood, or a kettle." + +"It must be one syllable, I suppose? What about _wood_, then?" + +"You couldn't put anything _into_ wood, though." + +"There's no one syllable word instead of _water_, but there must be one +syllable things you can put on a fire in the kettle line." + +"Saucepans," mused Tuppence. "Frying pans. How about _pan_? Or _pot_? +What's a word beginning pan or pot that is something you cook?" + +"Pottery," suggested Tommy. "You bake that in the fire. Wouldn't that +be near enough?" + +"The rest of it doesn't fit. Pancakes? No. Oh! bother." + +They were interrupted by the little serving maid, who told them that +dinner would be ready in a few minutes. + +"Only Mrs. Lumley, she wanted to know if you'd like your potatoes +fried, or boiled in their jackets? She's got some of each." + +"Boiled in their jackets," said Tuppence promptly. "I love potatoes--" +She stopped dead with her mouth open. + +"What's the matter, Tuppence? Have you seen a ghost?" + +"Tommy," cried Tuppence. "Don't you see? That's it! The word, I mean. +_Potatoes!_ 'My _first_ you put on glowing coal'--that's _pot_. 'And +into it you put my whole.' 'My _second_ really is the first.' That's +A, the first letter of the alphabet. 'My _third_ mislikes the wintry +blast'--cold _toes_ of course!" + +"You're right, Tuppence. Very clever of you. But I'm afraid we've +wasted an awful lot of time over nothing. Potatoes don't fit in at all +with missing treasure. Half a sec., though. What did you read out just +now, when we were going through the box? Something about a recipe for +New Potatoes. I wonder whether there's anything in that." + +He rummaged hastily through the pile of recipes. + +"Here it is. 'TO KEEP NEW POTATOES. Put the new potatoes into tins and +bury them in the garden. Even in the middle of winter, they will taste +as though freshly dug.'" + +"We've got it," screamed Tuppence. "That's it. The treasure is in the +garden, buried in a tin." + +"But I asked the gardener. He said he'd never buried anything." + +"Yes, I know, but that's because people never really answer what you +say, they answer what they think you mean. He knew he'd never buried +anything out of the common. We'll go to-morrow and ask him where he +buried the potatoes." + +The following morning was Christmas Eve. By dint of inquiry they found +the old gardener's cottage. Tuppence broached the subject after some +minutes' conversation. + +"I wish one could have new potatoes at Christmas time," she remarked. +"Wouldn't they be good with turkey? Do people round here ever bury them +in tins? I've heard that keeps them fresh." + +"Ay, that they do," declared the old man. "Old Miss Deane, up to the +Red House, she allus had three tins buried every summer, and as often +as not forgot to have 'em dug up again!" + +"In the bed by the house, as a rule, didn't she?" + +"No, over against the wall by the fir tree." + +Having got the information they wanted, they soon took their leave of +the old man, presenting him with five shillings as a Christmas box. + +"And now for Monica," said Tommy. + +"Tommy! You have no sense of the dramatic. Leave it to me. I've got a +beautiful plan. Do you think you could manage to beg, borrow, or steal +a spade?" + +Somehow or other, a spade was duly produced, and that night, late, +two figures might have been seen stealing into the grounds of the Red +House. The place indicated by the gardener was easily found, and Tommy +set to work. Presently his spade rang on metal, and a few seconds later +he had unearthed a big biscuit tin. It was sealed round with adhesive +plaster and firmly fastened down, but Tuppence, by the aid of Tommy's +knife, soon managed to open it. Then she gave a groan. The tin was full +of potatoes. She poured them out so that the tin was completely empty, +but there were no other contents. + +"Go on digging, Tommy." + +It was some time before a second tin rewarded their search. As before +Tuppence unsealed it. + +"Well?" demanded Tommy anxiously. + +"Potatoes again!" + +"Damn!" said Tommy and set to once more. + +"The third time is lucky," said Tuppence consolingly. + +"I believe the whole thing's a mare's nest," said Tommy gloomily, but +he continued to dig. + +At last a third tin was brought to light. + +"Potatoes aga--" began Tuppence, then stopped. "Oh! Tommy, we've got +it. It's only potatoes on top. Look!" + +She held up a big old fashioned velvet bag. + +"Cut along home," cried Tommy. "It's icy cold. Take the bag with you. I +must just shovel back the earth. And may a thousand curses light upon +your head, Tuppence, if you open that bag before I come!" + +"I'll play fair. Ouch! I'm frozen." She beat a speedy retreat. + +On arrival at the Inn she had not long to wait. Tommy was hard upon her +heels, perspiring freely after his digging and the final brisk run. + +"Now then," said Tommy. "The private inquiry agents make good! Open the +loot, Mrs. Beresford." + +Inside the bag was a package done up in oil silk and a heavy chamois +leather bag. They opened the latter first. It was full of gold +sovereigns. Tommy counted them. + +"Two hundred pounds. That was all they would let her have, I suppose. +Cut open the package." + +Tuppence did so. It was full of closely folded banknotes. Tommy and +Tuppence counted them carefully. They amounted to exactly twenty +thousand pounds! + +"Whew!" said Tommy. "Isn't it lucky for Monica that we're both rich and +honest? What's that done up in tissue paper?" + +Tuppence unrolled the little parcel and drew out a magnificent string +of pearls, exquisitely matched. + +"I don't know much about these things," said Tommy slowly, "but I'm +pretty sure that those pearls are worth another five thousand pounds at +least. Look at the size of them. Now I see why the old lady kept that +cutting about pearls being a good investment. She must have realized +all her securities and turned them into notes and jewels." + +"Oh! Tommy, isn't it wonderful? Darling Monica. Now she can marry her +nice young man and live happily ever afterwards, like me." + +"That's rather sweet of you, Tuppence. So you _are_ happy with me?" + +"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, "I am. But I didn't mean to say +so. It slipped out. What with being excited, and Christmas Eve, and one +thing and another--" + +"If you really love me," said Tommy, "will you answer me one question?" + +"I hate these catches," said Tuppence. "But--well--all right." + +"Then how did you know that Monica was a clergyman's daughter?" + +"Oh, that was just cheating," said Tuppence happily. "I opened her +letter making an appointment, and a Mr. Deane was Father's curate +once and he had a little girl called Monica, about four or five years +younger than me. So I put two and two together." + +"You are a shameless creature," said Tommy. "Hullo, there's twelve +o'clock striking. Happy Christmas, Tuppence." + +"Happy Christmas, Tommy. It'll be a Happy Christmas for Monica too--and +all owing to us. I am glad. Poor thing, she has been so miserable. Do +you know, Tommy, I feel all queer and choky about the throat when I +think of it." + +"Darling Tuppence," said Tommy. + +"Darling Tommy," said Tuppence. "How awfully sentimental we are +getting." + +"Christmas comes but once a year," said Tommy sententiously. "That's +what our great grandmothers said and I expect there's a lot of truth in +it still." + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + THE AMBASSADOR'S BOOTS + + +"My dear fellow, my dear fellow," said Tuppence and waved a heavily +buttered muffin. + +Tommy looked at her for a minute or two, then a broad grin spread over +his face and he murmured. + +"We do have to be so very careful." + +"That's right," said Tuppence delighted. "You guessed. I am the famous +Dr. Fortune and you are Superintendent Bell." + +"Why are you being Reginald Fortune?" + +"Well really because I feel like a lot of hot butter." + +"That is the pleasant side of it," said Tommy. "But there is another. +You will have to examine horribly smashed faces and very extra dead +bodies a good deal." + +In answer Tuppence threw across a letter. Tommy's eyebrows rose in +astonishment. + +"Randolph Wilmott, the American Ambassador. I wonder what he wants." + +"We shall know to-morrow at eleven o'clock." + +Punctually to the time named, Mr. Randolph Wilmott, United States +Ambassador to the Court of St. James, was ushered into Mr. Blunt's +office. He cleared his throat and commenced speaking in a deliberate +and characteristic manner. + +"I have come to you, Mr. Blunt--By the way, it is Mr. Blunt himself to +whom I am speaking, is it not?" + +"Certainly," said Tommy. "I am Theodore Blunt, the head of the firm." + +"I always prefer to deal with heads of departments," said Mr. Wilmott. +"It is more satisfactory in every way. As I was about to say, Mr. +Blunt, this business gets my goat. There's nothing in it to trouble +Scotland Yard about--I'm not a penny the worse in any way, and it's +probably all due to a simple mistake. But all the same, I don't see +just how that mistake arose. There's nothing criminal in it, I daresay, +but I'd like just to get the thing straightened out. It makes me mad +not to see the why and wherefore of a thing." + +"Absolutely," said Tommy. + +Mr. Wilmott went on. He was slow and given to much detail. At last +Tommy managed to get a word in. + +"Quite so," he said, "the position is this. You arrived by the liner +Nomadic a week ago. In some way your kitbag and the kitbag of another +gentleman, Mr. Ralph Westerham whose initials are the same as yours, +got mixed up. You took Mr. Westerham's kitbag, and he took yours. Mr. +Westerham discovered the mistake immediately, sent round your kitbag to +the Embassy, and took away his own. Am I right so far?" + +"That is precisely what occurred. The two bags must have been +practically identical, and with the initials R.W. being the same in +both cases, it is not difficult to understand that an error might have +been made. I myself was not aware of what had happened until my valet +informed me of the mistake, and that Mr. Westerham--he is a Senator, +and a man for whom I have a great admiration--had sent round for his +bag and returned mine." + +"Then I don't see--" + +"But you will see. That's only the beginning of the story. Yesterday, +as it chanced, I ran up against Senator Westerham, and I happened to +mention the matter to him jestingly. To my great surprise, he did not +seem to know what I was talking about, and when I explained, he denied +the story absolutely. He had not taken my bag off the ship in mistake +for his own--in fact, he had not travelled with such an article amongst +his luggage." + +"What an extraordinary thing!" + +"Mr. Blunt, it _is_ an extraordinary thing. There seems no rhyme or +reason in it. Why, if anyone wanted to steal my kitbag, he could do so +easily enough without resorting to all this round about business! And +anyway, it was _not_ stolen, but returned to me. On the other hand, +if it were taken by mistake, why use Senator Westerham's name? It's a +crazy business--but just for curiosity I mean to get to the bottom of +it. I hope the case is not too trivial for you to undertake?" + +"Not at all. It is a very intriguing little problem, capable as you +say, of many simple explanations, but nevertheless baffling on the face +of it. The first thing, of course, is the _reason_ of the substitution, +if substitution it was. You say nothing was missing from your bag when +it came back into your possession?" + +"My man says not. He would know." + +"What was in it, if I may ask?" + +"Mostly boots." + +"Boots," said Tommy discouraged. + +"Yes," said Mr. Wilmott. "Boots. Odd, isn't it?" + +"You'll forgive my asking you," said Tommy, "but you didn't carry any +secret papers, or anything of that sort sewn in the lining of a boot or +screwed into a false heel?" + +The Ambassador seemed amused by the question. + +"Secret diplomacy hasn't got to that pitch, I hope." + +"Only in fiction," said Tommy with an answering smile, and a slightly +apologetic manner. "But you see, we've got to account for the thing +somehow. Who came for the bag--the other bag, I mean?" + +"Supposed to be one of Westerham's servants. Quite a quiet ordinary +man, so I understand. My valet saw nothing wrong with him." + +"Had it been unpacked, do you know?" + +"That I can't say. I presume not. But perhaps you'd like to ask the +valet a few questions? He can tell you more than I can about the +business." + +"I think that would be the best plan, Mr. Wilmott." + +The Ambassador scribbled a few words on a card and handed it to Tommy. + +"I opine that you would prefer to go round to the Embassy and make your +inquiries there? If not, I will have the man,--his name is Richards, by +the way--sent round here." + +"No, thank you, Mr. Wilmott. I should prefer to go to the Embassy." + +The Ambassador rose, glancing at his watch. + +"Dear me, I shall be late for an appointment. Well, good bye, Mr. +Blunt. I leave the matter in your hands." + +He hurried away. Tommy looked at Tuppence who had been scribbling +demurely on her pad in the character of the efficient Miss Robinson. + +"What about it, old thing?" he asked. "Do you see, as the old bird put +it, any rhyme or reason in the proceeding?" + +"None whatever," replied Tuppence cheerily. + +"Well, that's a start anyway! It shows that there is really something +very deep at the back of it." + +"You think so?" + +"It's a generally accepted hypothesis. Remember Sherlock Holmes and the +depth the butter had sunk into the parsley--I mean the other way round. +I've always had a devouring wish to know all about that case. Perhaps +Watson will disinter it from his notebook one of these days. Then I +shall die happy. But we must get busy." + +"Quite so," said Tuppence. "Not a quick man, the esteemed Wilmott, but +sure." + +"She knows men," said Tommy. "Or do I say _he_ knows men. It is so +confusing when you assume the character of a male detective." + +"Oh! my dear fellow, my dear fellow!" + +"A little more action, Tuppence, and a little less repetition." + +"A classic phrase cannot be repeated too often," said Tuppence with +dignity. + +"Have a muffin," said Tommy kindly. + +"Not at eleven o'clock in the morning, thank you. Silly case, this. +Boots--you know--Why boots?" + +"Well," said Tommy, "why not?" + +"It doesn't fit. Boots." She shook her head. "All wrong. Who wants +other people's boots? The whole thing's mad." + +"Perhaps they got hold of the wrong bag?" suggested Tommy. + +"That's possible. But if they were after papers, a despatch case would +be more likely. Papers are the only things one thinks of in connection +with ambassadors." + +"Boots suggest footprints," said Tommy thoughtfully. "Do you think +they wanted to lay a trail of Wilmott's footsteps somewhere?" + +Tuppence considered the suggestion, abandoning her rôle, then shook her +head. + +"It seems wildly impossible," she said. "No, I believe we shall have to +resign ourselves to the fact that the boots have nothing to do with it." + +"Well," said Tommy with a sigh. "The next step is to interview friend +Richards. He may be able to throw some light on the mystery." + +On production of the Ambassador's card, Tommy was admitted to the +Embassy, and presently a pale young man, with a respectful manner, and +a subdued voice, presented himself to undergo examination. + +"I am Richards, sir, Mr. Wilmott's valet. I understood you wished to +see me?" + +"Yes, Richards. Mr. Wilmott called on me this morning, and suggested +that I should come round and ask you a few questions. It is this matter +of the kitbag." + +"Mr. Wilmott was rather upset over the affair, I know, sir. I can +hardly see why, since no harm was done. I certainly understood from the +man who called for the other bag that it belonged to Senator Westerham, +but of course I may have been mistaken." + +"What kind of a man was he?" + +"Middle-aged. Grey hair. Very good class, I should say--most +respectable. I understood he was Senator Westerham's valet. He left Mr. +Wilmott's bag and took away the other." + +"Had it been unpacked at all?" + +"Which one, sir?" + +"Well, I meant the one you brought from the boat. But I should like +to know about the other as well--Mr. Wilmott's own. Had that been +unpacked, do you fancy?" + +"I should say not, sir. It was just as I strapped it up on the boat. I +should say the gentleman--whoever he was--just opened it--realised it +wasn't his, and shut it up again." + +"Nothing missing? No small article?" + +"I don't think so, sir. In fact, I'm quite sure." + +"And now the other one. Had you started to unpack that?" + +"As a matter of fact, sir, I was just opening it at the very moment +Senator Westerham's man arrived. I'd just undone the straps." + +"Did you open it at all?" + +"We just unfastened it together, sir, to be sure no mistake had been +made this time. The man said it was all right, and he strapped it up +again and took it away." + +"What was inside? Boots also?" + +"No, sir, mostly toilet things, I fancy. I know I saw a tin of bath +salts." + +Tommy abandoned that line of research. + +"You never saw anyone tampering with anything in your master's cabin on +board ship, I suppose?" + +"Oh, no, sir." + +"Never anything suspicious of any kind?" + +"And what do I mean by that, I wonder," he thought to himself with a +trace of amusement. "Anything suspicious--just words!" + +But the man in front of him hesitated. + +"Now that I remember it--" + +"Yes," said Tommy eagerly. "What?" + +"I don't think it could have anything to do with it. But there was a +young lady." + +"Yes? A young lady, you say, what was she doing?" + +"She was taken faint, sir. A very pleasant young lady. Miss Eileen +O'Hara, her name was. A dainty looking lady, not tall, with black hair. +Just a little foreign looking." + +"Yes?" said Tommy, with even greater eagerness. + +"As I was saying, she was taken queer. Just outside Mr. Wilmott's +cabin. She asked me to fetch the doctor. I helped her to the sofa, and +then went off for the doctor. I was some time finding him, and when I +found him and brought him back, the young lady was nearly all right +again." + +"Oh!" said Tommy. + +"You don't think, sir--" + +"It's difficult to know what to think," said Tommy noncommittally. "Was +this Miss O'Hara travelling alone?" + +"Yes, I think so, sir." + +"You haven't seen her since you landed?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well," said Tommy, after a minute or two spent in reflection. "I think +that's all. Thank you, Richards." + +"Thank _you_, sir." + +Back at the office of the Detective Agency, Tommy retailed his +conversation with Richards to Tuppence who listened attentively. + +"What do you think of it, Tuppence?" + +"Oh! my dear fellow, we doctors are always sceptical of a sudden +faintness! So very convenient. And Eileen as well as O'Hara. Almost too +impossibly Irish, don't you think?" + +"It's something to go upon at last. Do you know what I am going to do, +Tuppence? Advertise for the lady." + +"What?" + +"Yes. Any information respecting Miss Eileen O'Hara, known to have +travelled such and such a ship and such and such a date. Either she'll +answer it herself if she's genuine, or someone may come forward to give +us information about her. So far, it's the only hope of a clue." + +"You'll also put her on her guard, remember." + +"Well," said Tommy. "One's got to risk something." + +"I still can't see any sense in the thing," said Tuppence, frowning. +"If a gang of crooks get hold of the Ambassador's bag for an hour or +two, and then send it back, what possible good can it do them? Unless +there are papers in it they want to copy, and Mr. Wilmott swears there +was nothing of the kind." + +Tommy stared at her thoughtfully. + +"You put these things rather well, Tuppence," he said at last. "You've +given me an idea." + + * * * * * + +It was two days later. Tuppence was out to lunch. Tommy, alone in the +austere office of Mr. Theodore Blunt, was improving his mind by reading +the latest sensational thriller. + +The door of the office opened and Albert appeared. + +"A young lady to see you, sir. Miss Cicely March. She says she has +called in answer to an advertisement." + +"Show her in at once," cried Tommy, thrusting his novel into a +convenient drawer. + +In another minute Albert had ushered in the young lady. Tommy had just +time to see that she was fair haired and extremely pretty when the +amazing occurrence happened. + +The door through which Albert had just passed out was rudely burst +open. In the doorway stood a picturesque figure--a big dark man, +Spanish in appearance, with a flaming red tie. His features were +distorted with rage, and in his hand was a gleaming pistol. + +"So this is the office of Mr. Busybody Blunt," he said in perfect +English. His voice was low and venomous. "Hands up at once--or I shoot." + +It sounded no idle threat. Tommy's hands went up obediently. The girl, +crouched against the wall, gave a gasp of terror. + +"This young lady will come with me," said the man. "Yes, you will, +my dear. You have never seen me before, but that doesn't matter. I +can't have my plans ruined by a silly little chit like you. I seem to +remember that you were one of the passengers on the Nomadic. You must +have been peering into things that didn't concern you--but I've no +intention of letting you blab any secrets to Mr. Blunt here. A very +clever gentleman, Mr. Blunt, with his fancy advertisements. But as it +happens, I keep an eye on the advertisement columns. That's how I got +wise to his little game." + +"You interest me exceedingly," said Tommy. "Won't you go on?" + +"Cheek won't help you, Mr. Blunt. From now on, you're a marked man. +Give up this investigation, and we'll leave you alone. Otherwise--God +help you! Death comes swiftly to those who thwart our plans." + +Tommy did not reply. He was staring over the intruder's shoulder as +though he saw a ghost. + +As a matter of fact he was seeing something that caused him far more +apprehension than any ghost could have done. Up to now, he had not +given a thought to Albert as a factor in the game. He had taken for +granted that Albert had already been dealt with by the mysterious +stranger. If he had thought of him at all, it was as one lying stunned +on the carpet in the outer office. + +He now saw that Albert had miraculously escaped the stranger's +attention. But instead of rushing out to fetch a policeman in good +sound British fashion, Albert had elected to play a lone hand. The door +behind the stranger had opened noiselessly, and Albert stood in the +aperture enveloped in a coil of rope. + +An agonized yelp of protest burst from Tommy, but too late. Fired with +enthusiasm, Albert flung a loop of rope over the intruder's head, and +jerked him backwards off his feet. + +The inevitable happened. The pistol went off with a roar and Tommy +felt the bullet scorch his ear in passing, ere it buried itself in the +plaster behind him. + +"I've got him, sir," cried Albert, flushed with triumph. "I've lassoed +him. I've been practising with a lasso in my spare time, sir. Can you +give me a hand? He's very violent." + +Tommy hastened to his faithful henchman's assistance, mentally +determining that Albert should have no further spare time. + +"You damned idiot," he said. "Why didn't you go for a policeman? Owing +to this fool's play of yours, he as near as anything plugged me through +the head. Whew! I've never had such a near escape." + +"Lassoed him in the nick of time, I did," said Albert, his ardor quite +undamped. "It's wonderful what those chaps can do on the prairies, sir." + +"Quite so," said Tommy, "but we're not on the prairies. We happen to +be in a highly civilized city. And now, my dear sir," he added to his +prostrate foe. "What are we going to do with you?" + +A stream of oaths in a foreign language was his only reply. + +"Hush," said Tommy. "I don't understand a word of what you're saying, +but I've got a shrewd idea it's not the kind of language to use before +a lady. You'll excuse him, won't you, Miss--do you know, in the +excitement of this little upset, I've quite forgotten your name?" + +"March," said the girl. She was still white and shaken. But she came +forward now and stood by Tommy looking down on the recumbent figure of +the discomfited stranger. "What are you going to do with him?" + +"I could fetch a bobby now," said Albert helpfully. + +But Tommy, looking up, caught a very faint negative movement of the +girl's head, and took his cue accordingly. + +"We'll let him off this time," he remarked. "Nevertheless I shall give +myself the pleasure of kicking him downstairs--if it's only to teach +him manners to a lady." + +He removed the rope, hauled the victim to his feet, and propelled him +briskly through the outer office. + +A series of shrill yelps was heard and then a thud. Tommy came back, +flushed but smiling. + +The girl was staring at him with round eyes. + +"Did you--hurt him?" + +"I hope so," said Tommy. "But these foreigners make a practise of +crying out before they're hurt--so I can't be quite sure about +it. Shall we come back into my office, Miss March, and resume our +interrupted conversation? I don't think we shall be interrupted again." + +"I'll have my lasso ready, sir, in case," said the helpful Albert. + +"Put it away," ordered Tommy sternly. + +He followed the girl into the inner office, and sat down at his desk +whilst she took a chair facing him. + +"I don't quite know where to begin," said the girl. "As you heard that +man say, I was a passenger on the Nomadic. The lady you advertised +about, Miss O'Hara, was also on board." + +"Exactly," said Tommy. "That we know already, but I suspect you must +know something about her doings on board that boat or else that +picturesque gentleman would not have been in such a hurry to intervene." + +"I will tell you everything. The American Ambassador was on board. One +day, as I was passing his cabin, I saw this woman inside, and she was +doing something so extraordinary that I stopped to watch. She had a +man's boot in her hand--" + +"A boot?" cried Tommy excitedly. "I'm sorry, Miss March, go on." + +"With a little pair of scissors, she was slitting up the lining. Then +she seemed to push something inside. Just at that minute the doctor and +another man came down the passage, and immediately she dropped back on +the couch and groaned. I waited, and I gathered from what was being +said that she had pretended to feel faint. I say _pretended_--because +when I first caught sight of her, she was obviously feeling nothing of +the kind." + +Tommy nodded. + +"Well?" + +"I rather hate to tell you the next part. I was--curious. And also +I'd been reading silly books, and I wondered if she'd put a bomb or a +poisoned needle or something like that in Mr. Wilmott's boot. I know +it's absurd--but I did think so. Anyway, next time I passed the empty +cabin, I slipped in, and examined the boot. I drew out from the lining +a slip of paper. Just as I had it in my hand, I heard the steward +coming, and I hurried out so as not to be caught. The folded paper was +still in my hand. When I got into my own cabin, I examined it. Mr. +Blunt, it was nothing but some verses from the Bible." + +"Verses from the Bible?" said Tommy, very much intrigued. + +"At least I thought so at the time. I couldn't understand it, but I +thought perhaps it was the work of a religious maniac. Anyway, I didn't +feel it was worth while replacing it. I kept it without thinking much +about it until yesterday when I used it to make into a boat for my +little nephew to sail in his bath. As the paper got wet, I saw a queer +kind of design coming out all over it. I hastily took it out of the +bath, and smoothed it out flat. The water had brought out the hidden +message. It was a kind of tracing--and looked like the mouth of a +harbor. Immediately after that I read your advertisement." + +Tommy sprang from his chair. + +"But this is most important. I see it all now. That tracing is probably +the plan of some important harbor defences. It had been stolen by this +woman. She feared someone was on her track, and not daring to conceal +it amongst her own belongings, she contrived this hiding-place. Later, +she obtained possession of the bag in which the boot was packed--only +to discover that the paper had vanished. Tell me, Miss March, you have +brought this paper with you?" + +The girl shook her head. + +"It's at my place of business. I run a beauty parlor in Bond Street. I +am really an agent for the 'Cyclamen' preparations in New York. That +is why I had been over there. I thought the paper might be important, +so I locked it up in the safe before coming out. Ought not Scotland +Yard to know about it?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"Then shall we go there now, get it out, and take it straight to +Scotland Yard?" + +"I am very busy this afternoon," said Tommy adopting his professional +manner and consulting his watch. "The Bishop of London wants me to take +up a case for him. A very curious problem, concerning some vestments +and two curates." + +"Then in that case," said Miss March, rising, "I will go alone." + +Tommy raised a hand in protest. + +"As I was about to say," he said, "the Bishop must wait. I will leave +a few words with Albert. I am convinced, Miss March, that until that +paper has been safely deposited with Scotland Yard you are in active +danger." + +"Do you think so?" said the girl doubtfully. + +"I don't think, I'm sure. Excuse me." He scribbled some words on the +pad in front of him, then tore off the leaf and folded it. + +Taking his hat and stick, he intimated to the girl that he was ready +to accompany her. In the outer office, he handed the folded paper to +Albert with an air of importance. + +"I am called out on an urgent case. Explain that to his lordship if he +comes. Here are my notes on the case for Miss Robinson." + +"Very good, sir," said Albert playing up. "And what about the Duchess's +pearls?" + +Tommy waved his hand irritably. + +"That must wait also." + +He and Miss March hurried out. Half way down the stairs they +encountered Tuppence coming up. Tommy passed her with a brusque: "Late +again, Miss Robinson. I am called out on an important case." + +Tuppence stood still on the stairs and stared after them. Then, with +raised eyebrows, she went on up to the office. + +As they reached the street, a taxi came sailing up to them. Tommy, on +the point of hailing it, changed his mind. + +"Are you a good walker, Miss March?" he asked seriously. + +"Yes, why? Hadn't we better take that taxi? It will be quicker." + +"Perhaps you did not notice. That taxi driver has just refused a fare a +little lower down the street. He was waiting for us. Your enemies are +on the look out. If you feel equal to it, it would be better for us to +walk to Bond Street. In the crowded streets, they will not be able to +attempt much against us." + +"Very well," said the girl, rather doubtfully. + +They walked westwards. The streets, as Tommy had said, were crowded, +and progress was slow. Tommy kept a sharp look out. Occasionally he +drew the girl to one side with a quick gesture, though she herself had +seen nothing suspicious. + +Suddenly glancing at her, he was seized with compunction. + +"I say, you look awfully done up. The shock of that man. Come into this +place and have a good cup of strong coffee. I suppose you wouldn't hear +of a nip of brandy." + +The girl shook her head, with a faint smile. + +"Coffee be it then," said Tommy. "I think we can safely risk its being +poisoned." + +They lingered some time over their coffee, and finally set off at a +brisker pace. + +"We've thrown them off, I think," said Tommy, looking over his shoulder. + +Cyclamen Ltd. was a small establishment in Bond Street, with pale pink +taffeta curtains, and one or two jars of face cream and a cake of soap +decorating the window. + +Cicely March entered, and Tommy followed. The place inside was tiny. +On the left was a glass counter with toilet preparations. Behind +this counter was a middle-aged woman with grey hair and an exquisite +complexion who acknowledged Cicely March's entrance with a faint +inclination of the head before continuing to talk to the customer she +was serving. + +This customer was a small dark woman. Her back was to them and they +could not see her face. She was speaking in slow difficult English. On +the right was a sofa and a couple of chairs with some magazines on a +table. Here sat two men--apparently bored husbands waiting for their +wives. + +Cicely March passed straight on through a door at the end which she +held ajar for Tommy to follow her. As he did so, the woman customer +exclaimed. "Ah! but I think that is _an amigo_ of mine," and rushed +after them, inserting her foot in the door just in time to prevent its +closing. At the same time, the two men rose to their feet. One followed +her through the door, the other advanced to the shop attendant and +clapped his hand over her mouth to drown the scream rising to her lips. + +In the meantime, things were happening rather quickly beyond the swing +door. As Tommy passed through, a cloth was flung over his head, and +a sickly odor assailed his nostrils. Almost as soon however, it was +jerked off again, and a woman's scream rang out. + +Tommy blinked a little and coughed as he took in the scene in front of +him. On his right was the mysterious stranger of a few hours ago, and +busily fitting handcuffs upon him was one of the bored men from the +shop parlor. Just in front of him was Cicely March wrestling vainly +to free herself, whilst the woman customer from the shop held her +firmly pinioned. As the latter turned her head, and the veil she wore +unfastened itself and fell off, the well known features of Tuppence +were revealed. + +"Well done, Tuppence," said Tommy, moving forward. "Let me give you a +hand. I shouldn't struggle if I were you, Miss O'Hara--or do you prefer +to be called Miss March?" + +"This is Inspector Grace, Tommy," said Tuppence. "As soon as I read the +note you left I rang up Scotland Yard, and Inspector Grace and another +man met me outside here." + +"Very glad to get hold of this gentleman," said the Inspector, +indicating his prisoner. "He's wanted badly. But we've never had cause +to suspect this place--thought it was a genuine beauty shop." + +"You see," explained Tommy gently. "We do have to be so very careful! +Why should anyone want the Ambassador's bag for an hour or so? I put +the question the other way round. Supposing it was the other bag +that was the important one. Someone wanted that bag to be in the +Ambassador's possession for an hour or so. Much more illuminating! +Diplomatic luggage is not subjected to the indignities of a Customs +examination. Clearly smuggling. But smuggling of what? Nothing too +bulky. At once I thought of drugs. Then that picturesque comedy was +enacted in my office. They'd seen my advertisement and wanted to put +me off the scent--or failing that, out of the way altogether. But +I happened to notice an expression of blank dismay in the charming +lady's eyes when Albert did his lasso act. That didn't fit in very well +with her supposed part. The stranger's attack was meant to assure my +confidence in her. I played the part of the credulous sleuth with all +my might--swallowed her rather impossible story and permitted her to +lure me here, carefully leaving behind full instructions for dealing +with the situation. Under various pretexts I delayed our arrival, so as +to give you all plenty of time." + +Cicely March was looking at him with a stony expression. + +"You are mad. What do you expect to find here?" + +"Remembering that Richards saw a tin of bath salts, what do you say +about beginning with the bath salts, eh Inspector?" + +"A very sound idea, sir." + +He picked up one of the dainty pink tins, and emptied it on the table. +The girl laughed. + +"Genuine crystals, eh?" said Tommy. "Nothing more deadly than carbonate +of soda?" + +"Try the safe," suggested Tuppence. + +There was a small wall safe in the corner. The key was in the lock. +Tommy swung it open and gave a shout of satisfaction. The back of the +safe opened out into a big recess in the wall, and that recess was +stacked with the same elegant tins of bath salts. Rows and rows of +them. He took one out and prised up the lid. The top showed the same +pink crystals, but underneath was a fine white powder. + +The Inspector uttered an ejaculation. + +"You've got it, sir. Ten to one, that tin's full of pure cocaine. We +knew there was a distributing area somewhere round here, handy to the +West End, but we haven't been able to get a clue to it. This is a fine +coup of yours, sir." + +"Rather a triumph for Blunt's Brilliant Detectives," said Tommy to +Tuppence, as they emerged into the street together. "It's a great thing +to be a married man. Your persistent schooling has at last taught me +to recognize peroxide when I see it. Golden hair has got to be the +genuine article to take me in. We will concoct a business like letter +to the Ambassador, informing him that the matter has been dealt with +satisfactorily. And now, my dear fellow, what about tea, and lots of +hot buttered muffins?" + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE MAN WHO WAS NO. 16 + + +Tommy and Tuppence were closeted with the Chief in his private room. +His commendation had been warm and sincere. + +"You have succeeded admirably. Thanks to you we have laid our hands +on no less than five very interesting personages, and from them we +have received much valuable information. Meanwhile I learn from a +creditable source that headquarters in Moscow have taken alarm at the +failure of their agents to report. I think, that in spite of all our +precautions, they have begun to suspect that all is not well at what I +may call the distributing centre--the office of Mr. Theodore Blunt--the +International Detective Bureau." + +"Well," said Tommy. "I suppose they were bound to tumble to it sometime +or other, sir." + +"As you say, it was only to be expected. But I am a little +worried--about Mrs. Tommy." + +"I can look after her all right, sir," said Tommy, at exactly the same +minute as Tuppence said, "I can take care of myself." + +"H'm," said Mr. Carter. "Excessive self-confidence was always a +characteristic of you two. Whether your immunity is entirely due to +your own superhuman cleverness, or whether a small percentage of +luck creeps in, I'm not prepared to say. But luck changes, you know. +However, I won't argue the point. From my extensive knowledge of Mrs. +Tommy, I suppose it's quite useless to ask her to keep out of the +limelight for the next week or two?" + +Tuppence shook her head very energetically. + +"Then all I can do is to give you all the information that I can. We +have reason to believe that a special agent has been despatched from +Moscow to this country. We don't know what name he is travelling under, +we don't know when he will arrive. But we do know something about him. +He is a man who gave us great trouble in the War, a ubiquitous kind of +fellow who turned up all over the place where we least wanted him. He +is a Russian by birth, and an accomplished linguist--so much so that he +can pass as half a dozen other nationalities, including our own. He is +also a past master in the art of disguise. And he has brains. It was he +who devised the No. 16 code. + +"When and how he will turn up, I do not know. But I am fairly certain +that he _will_ turn up. We do know this--he was not personally +acquainted with the real Mr. Theodore Blunt. I think that he will turn +up at your office, on the pretext of a case which he will wish you to +take up, and will try you with the passwords. The first, as you know, +is the mention of the number sixteen--which is replied to by a sentence +containing the same number. The second, which we have only just learnt, +is an inquiry as to whether you have ever crossed the Channel. The +answer to that is: 'I was in Berlin on the 13th of last month.' As far +as we know, that is all. I would suggest that you reply correctly, and +so endeavor to gain his confidence. Sustain the fiction if you possibly +can. But even if he appears to be completely deceived, remain on your +guard. Our friend is particularly astute, and can play a double game as +well, or better, than you can. But in either case, I hope to get him +through you. From this day forward I am adopting special precautions. A +dictaphone was installed last night in your office, so that one of my +men in the room below will be able to hear everything that passes in +your office. In this way, I shall be immediately informed if anything +arises, and can take the necessary steps to safeguard you and your wife +whilst securing the man I am after." + +After a few more instructions, and a general discussion of tactics, the +two young people departed, and made their way as rapidly as possible to +the office of Blunt's Brilliant Detectives. + +"It's late," said Tommy, looking at his watch. "Just on twelve +o'clock. We've been a long time with the Chief. I hope we haven't +missed a particularly spicy case." + +"On the whole," said Tuppence, "we've not done badly. I was tabulating +results the other day. We've solved four baffling murder mysteries, +rounded up a gang of counterfeiters, ditto gang of smugglers--" + +"Actually two gangs," interpolated Tommy. "So we have! I'm glad of +that. 'Gangs' sounds so professional." + +Tuppence continued, ticking off the items on her fingers. + +"One jewel robbery, two escapes from violent death, one case of +missing lady reducing her figure, one young girl befriended, an alibi +successfully exploded, and alas! one case where we made utter fools of +ourselves. On the whole, jolly good! We're _very_ clever, I think." + +"You would think so," said Tommy. "You always do. Now I have a secret +feeling that once or twice we've been rather lucky." + +"Nonsense," said Tuppence. "All done by the little grey cells." + +"Well, I was damned lucky once," said Tommy. "The day that Albert did +his lasso act! But you speak, Tuppence, as though it was all over?" + +"So it is," said Tuppence. She lowered her voice impressively. "This +is our last case. When they have laid the super spy by the heels, +the great detectives intend to retire and take to bee keeping or +vegetable-marrow growing. It's always done." + +"Tired of it, eh?" + +"Ye-es, I think I am. Besides, we're so successful now--the luck might +change." + +"Who's talking about luck now?" asked Tommy triumphantly. + +At that moment they turned in at the doorway of the block of buildings +in which the International Detective Bureau had its offices, and +Tuppence did not reply. + +Albert was on duty in the outer office, employing his leisure in +balancing, or endeavoring to balance, the office ruler upon his nose. + +With a stern frown of reproof, the great Mr. Blunt passed into his own +private office. Divesting himself of his overcoat and hat, he opened +the cupboard, on the shelves of which reposed his classic library of +the great detectives of fiction. + +"The choice narrows," murmured Tommy. "On whom shall I model myself +to-day?" + +Tuppence's voice, with an unusual note in it, made him turn sharply. + +"Tommy," she said. "What day of the month is it?" + +"Let me see--the eleventh--why?" + +"Look at the calendar." + +Hanging on the wall was one of those calendars from which you tear +a leaf every day. It bore the legend of Sunday the 16th. To-day was +Monday. + +"By Jove, that's odd. Albert must have torn off too many. Careless +little devil." + +"I don't believe he did," said Tuppence. "But we'll ask him." + +Albert, summoned and questioned, seemed very astonished. He swore he +had only torn off one leaf--that of the day before. His statement was +presently supported, for whereas the leaf torn off by Albert was found +in the grate, the succeeding ones were lying neatly in the waste paper +basket. + +"A neat and methodical criminal," said Tommy. "Who's been here this +morning, Albert? A client of any kind?" + +"Just one, sir." + +"What was he like?" + +"It was a she. A Hospital Nurse. Very upset and anxious to see you. +Said she'd wait until you came. I put her in 'Clerks' because it was +warmer." + +"And from there she could walk in here, of course, without your seeing +her. How long has she been gone?" + +"About half an hour, sir. Said she'd call again this afternoon. A nice +motherly looking body." + +"A nice motherly--oh! get out, Albert." + +Albert withdrew, injured. + +"Queer start, that," said Tommy. "It seems a little purposeless. +Puts us on our guard. I suppose there isn't a bomb concealed in the +fireplace or anything of that kind?" + +He reassured himself on that point, then he seated himself at the desk +and addressed Tuppence. + +"Mon ami," he said. "We are here faced with a matter of the utmost +gravity. You recall, do you not, the man who was No. 4. Him whom I +crushed like an egg shell in the Dolomites--with the aid of high +explosives, _bien entendu_. But he was not really dead--ah! no, they +are never really dead, these super criminals. This is the man--but even +more so, if I may so put it. He is the 4 squared--in other words, he is +now the No. 16. You comprehend, my friend?" + +"Perfectly," said Tuppence. "You are the great Hercule Poirot." + +"Exactly. No moustaches, but lots of grey cells." + +"I've a feeling," said Tuppence, "that this particular adventure will +be called the 'Triumph of Hastings.'" + +"Never," said Tommy. "It isn't done. Once the idiot friend, always the +idiot friend. There's an etiquette in these matters. By the way, mon +ami, can you not part your hair in the middle instead of one side? The +present effect is unsymmetrical and deplorable." + +The buzzer rang sharply on Tommy's desk. He returned the signal and +Albert appeared bearing a card. + +"Prince Vladiroffsky," read Tommy, in a low voice. He looked at +Tuppence. "I wonder--Show him in, Albert." + +The man who entered was of middle height, graceful in bearing, with a +fair beard, and apparently about thirty-five years of age. + +"Mr. Blunt?" he inquired. His English was perfect. "You have been most +highly recommended to me. Will you take up a case for me?" + +"If you will give me the details--?" + +"Certainly. It concerns the daughter of a friend of mine--a girl of +sixteen. We are anxious for no scandal--you understand." + +"My dear sir," said Tommy. "This business has been running successfully +for sixteen years owing to our strict attention to that particular +principle." + +He fancied he saw a sudden gleam in the other's eye. If so, it passed +as quickly as it came. + +"You have branches, I believe, on the other side of the Channel?" + +"Oh! yes. As a matter of fact," he brought out the word with great +deliberation, "I myself was in Berlin on the 13th of last month." + +"In that case," said the stranger, "it is hardly necessary to keep +up the little fiction. The daughter of my friend can be conveniently +dismissed. You know who I am--at any rate I see you have had warning of +my coming." + +He nodded towards the calendar on the wall. + +"Quite so," said Tommy. + +"My friends--I have come over here to investigate matters. What has +been happening?" + +"Treachery," said Tuppence, no longer able to remain quiescent. + +The Russian shifted his attention to her, and raised his eyebrows. + +"Ah ha, that is so, is it? I thought as much. Was it Sergius?" + +"We think so," said Tuppence unblushingly. + +"It would not surprise me. But you yourselves, you are under no +suspicion?" + +"I do not think so. We handle a good deal of _bona fide_ business, you +see," explained Tommy. + +The Russian nodded. + +"That is wise. All the same, I think it would be better if I did not +come here again. For the moment, I am staying at the Blitz. I will take +Marise--this is Marise, I suppose?" + +Tuppence nodded. + +"What is she known as here?" + +"Oh! Miss Robinson." + +"Very well, Miss Robinson, you will return with me to the Blitz and +lunch with me there. We will all meet at headquarters at three o'clock. +Is that clear?" He looked at Tommy. + +"Perfectly clear," replied Tommy, wondering where on earth headquarters +might be. + +But he guessed that it was just those very headquarters that Mr. Carter +was so anxious to discover. + +Tuppence rose and slipped on her long black coat with its leopardskin +collar. Then, demurely, she declared herself ready to accompany the +Prince. + +They went out together, and Tommy was left behind, a prey to +conflicting emotions. + +Supposing something had gone wrong with the dictaphone? Supposing +the mysterious Hospital Nurse had somehow or other learnt of its +installation, and had rendered it useless? + +He seized the telephone and called a certain number. There was a +moment's delay, and then a well known voice spoke. + +"Quite O.K. Come round to the Blitz at once." + +Five minutes later Tommy and Mr. Carter met in the Palm Court of the +Blitz. The latter was crisp and reassuring. + +"You've done excellently. The Prince and the little lady are at +lunch in the Restaurant. I've got two of my men in there as waiters. +Whether he suspects, or whether he doesn't--and I'm fairly sure he +doesn't--we've got him on toast. There are two men posted upstairs to +watch his suite, and more outside ready to follow wherever they go. +Don't be worried about your wife. She'll be kept in sight the whole +time. I'm not going to run any risks." + +Occasionally one of the Secret Service men came to report progress. The +first time it was a waiter who took their orders for cocktails, the +second time it was a fashionable vacant-faced young man. + +"They're coming out," said Mr. Carter. "We'll retire behind this pillar +in case they sit down here, but I fancy he'll take her up to his suite. +Ah! yes, I thought so." + +From their post of vantage, Tommy saw the Russian and Tuppence cross +the hall and enter the lift. + +The minutes passed and Tommy began to fidget. + +"Do you think, sir. I mean, alone in that suite--" + +"One of my men's inside--behind the sofa. Don't worry, man." + +A waiter crossed the hall and came up to Mr. Carter. + +"Got the signal they were coming up, sir--but they haven't come. Is it +all right?" + +"What?" Mr. Carter spun around. "I saw them go into the lift myself. +Just"--he glanced up at the clock--"four and a half minutes ago. And +they haven't shown up...." + +He hurried across to the lift which had just that minute come down +again, and spoke to the uniformed attendant. + +"You took up a gentleman with a fair beard and a young lady a few +minutes ago to the second floor." + +"Not the second floor. Third floor the gentleman asked for." + +"Oh!" The Chief jumped in, motioning Tommy to accompany him. "Take us +up to the third floor, please." + +"I don't understand this," he murmured in a low voice. "But keep calm. +Every exit from the Hotel is watched, and I've got a man on the third +floor as well--on every floor, in fact. I was taking no chances." + +The lift door opened on the third floor and they sprang out, hurrying +down the corridor. Half way along it, a man dressed as a waiter came to +meet them. + +"It's all right, Chief. They're in No. 318." + +Carter breathed a sigh of relief. + +"That's all right. No other exit?" + +"It's a suite, but there are only these two doors into the corridor, +and to get out from any of these rooms, they'd have to pass us to get +to the staircase or the lifts." + +"That's all right, then. Just telephone down and find out who is +supposed to be occupying this suite." + +The waiter returned in a minute or two. + +"Mrs. Cortlandt Van Snyder of Detroit." + +Mr. Carter became very thoughtful. + +"I wonder now. Is this Mrs. Van Snyder an accomplice, or is she--" + +He left the sentence unfinished. + +"Hear any noise from inside?" he asked abruptly. + +"Not a thing. But the doors fit well. One couldn't hope to hear much." + +Mr. Carter made up his mind suddenly. + +"I don't like this business. We're going in. Got the master key?" + +"Of course, sir." + +"Call up Evans and Clydesly." + +Reinforced by the other two men, they advanced towards the door of the +suite. It opened noiselessly when the first man inserted his key. + +They found themselves in a small hall. To the right was the open door +of a bathroom, and in front of them was the sitting-room. On the left +was a closed door and from behind it a faint sound--rather like an +asthmatic pug--could be heard. Mr. Carter pushed the door open and +entered. + +The room was a bedroom, with a big double bed ornately covered with a +bedspread of rose and gold. On it, bound hand and foot, with her mouth +secured by a gag and her eyes almost starting out of her head with +pain and rage, was a middle-aged fashionably-dressed woman. + +On a brief order from Mr. Carter, the other men had covered the whole +suite. Only Tommy and his Chief had entered the bedroom. As he leant +over the bed and strove to unfasten the knots, Carter's eyes went +roving round the room in perplexity. Save for an immense quantity of +truly American luggage, the room was empty. There was no sign of the +Russian or Tuppence. + +In another minute the waiter came hurrying in, and reported that the +other rooms were also empty. Tommy went to the window, only to draw +back and shake his head. There was no balcony--nothing but a sheer drop +to the street below. + +"Certain it was this room they entered?" asked Carter peremptorily. + +"Sure. Besides--" The man indicated the woman on the bed. + +With the aid of a pen knife, Carter parted the scarf that was half +choking her, and it was at once clear that whatever her sufferings, +they had not deprived Mrs. Cortlandt Van Snyder of the use of her +tongue. + +When she had exhausted her first indignation, Mr. Carter spoke mildly. + +"Would you mind telling me exactly what happened--from the beginning?" + +"I guess I'll sue the Hotel for this. It's a perfect outrage. I was +just looking for my bottle of 'Killagrippe' when a man sprang on me +from behind and broke a little glass bottle right under my nose, and +before I could get my breath I was all in. When I came to I was lying +here, all trussed up, and goodness knows what's happened to my jewels. +He's gotten the lot, I guess." + +"Your jewels are quite safe, I fancy," said Mr. Carter drily. He +wheeled round and picked up something from the floor. "You were +standing just where I am when he sprang upon you?" + +"That's so," assented Mrs. Van Snyder. + +It was a fragment of thin glass that Mr. Carter had picked up. He +sniffed it and handed it to Tommy. + +"Ethyl Chloride," he murmured. "Instant anaesthetic. But it only keeps +one under for a moment or two. Surely he must still have been in the +room when you came to, Mrs. Van Snyder?" + +"Isn't that just what I'm telling you? Oh! it drove me half crazy to +see him getting away and me not able to move or do anything at all." + +"Getting away?" said Mr. Carter sharply. "Which way?" + +"Through that door." She pointed to one in the opposite wall. "He had a +girl with him, but she seemed kind of limp as though she'd had a dose +of the same dope." + +Carter looked a question at his henchman. + +"Leads into the next suite, sir. But double doors--supposed to be +bolted each side." + +Mr. Carter examined the door carefully. Then he straightened himself up +and turned towards the bed. + +"Mrs. Van Snyder," he said quietly. "Do you still persist in your +assertion that the man went out this way?" + +"Why, certainly he did. Why shouldn't he?" + +"Because the door happens to be bolted on this side," said Mr. Carter +drily. He rattled the handle as he spoke. + +A look of the utmost astonishment spread over Mrs. Van Snyder's face. + +"Unless someone bolted the door behind him," said Mr. Carter, "he +cannot have gone out that way." + +He turned to Evans who had just entered the room. + +"Sure they're not anywhere in this suite? Any other communicating +doors?" + +"No, sir, and I'm quite sure." + +Carter turned his gaze this way and that about the room. He opened the +big hanging wardrobe, looked under the bed, up the chimney and behind +all the curtains. Finally, struck by a sudden idea, and disregarding +Mrs. Van Snyder's shrill protests, he opened the large wardrobe trunk +and rummaged swiftly in the interior. + +Suddenly Tommy, who had been examining the communicating door, gave an +exclamation. + +"Come here, sir, look at this. They did go this way." + +The bolt had been very cleverly filed through, so close to the socket +that the join was hardly perceptible. + +"The door won't open because it's locked on the other side," explained +Tommy. + +In another minute they were out in the corridor again and the waiter +was opening the door of the adjoining suite with his pass key. This +suite was untenanted. When they came to the communicating door, they +saw that the same plan had been adopted. The bolt had been filed +through, and the door was locked, the key having been removed. But +nowhere in the suite was there any sign of Tuppence or the fair-bearded +Russian, and there was no other communicating door, only the one on the +corridor. + +"But I'd have seen them come out," protested the waiter. "I couldn't +have helped seeing them. I can take my oath they never did." + +"Damn it all," cried Tommy. "They can't have vanished into thin air!" + +Carter was calm again now, his keen brain working. + +"Telephone down and find who had this suite last, and when." + +Evans, who had come with them, leaving Clydesly on guard in the other +suite, obeyed. Presently he raised his head from the telephone. + +"An invalid French lad, M. Paul de Varez. He had a Hospital Nurse with +him. They left this morning." + +An exclamation burst from the other Secret Service man, the waiter. He +had gone deathly pale. + +"The invalid boy--the Hospital Nurse," he stammered. "I--they passed me +in the passage. I never dreamed--I had seen them so often before." + +"Are you sure they were the same?" cried Mr. Carter. "Are you sure, +man? You looked at them well?" + +The man shook his head. + +"I hardly glanced at them. I was waiting, you understand, on the alert +for the others, the man with the fair beard and the girl." + +"Of course," said Mr. Carter, with a groan. "They counted on that." + +With a sudden exclamation, Tommy stooped down and pulled something out +from under the sofa. It was a small rolled up bundle of black. Tommy +unrolled it and several articles fell out. The outside wrapper was +the long black coat Tuppence had worn that day. Inside was her walking +dress, her hat and a long fair beard. + +"It's clear enough now," he said bitterly. "They've got her--got +Tuppence. That Russian devil has given us the slip. The Hospital Nurse +and the boy were accomplices. They stayed here for a day or two to +get the Hotel people accustomed to their presence. The man must have +realised at lunch that he was trapped and proceeded to carry out his +plan. Probably he counted on the room next door being empty since it +was when he fixed the bolts. Anyway he managed to silence both the +woman next door and Tuppence, brought her in here, dressed her in boy's +clothes, altered his own appearance, and walked out as bold as brass. +The clothes must have been hidden ready. But I don't quite see how he +managed Tuppence's acquiescence." + +"I can see," said Mr. Carter. He picked up a little shining piece of +steel from the carpet. "That's a fragment of a hypodermic needle. She +was doped." + +"My God!" groaned Tommy. "And he's got clear away." + +"We won't know that," said Carter quickly. "Remember every exit is +watched." + +"For a man and a girl. Not for a Hospital Nurse and an invalid boy. +They'll have left the Hotel by now." + +Such, on inquiry, proved to be the case. The nurse and her patient had +driven away in a taxi some five minutes earlier. + +"Look here, Beresford," said Mr. Carter. "For God's sake, pull yourself +together. You know that I won't leave a stone unturned to find that +girl. I'm going back to my office at once and in less than five minutes +every resource of the department will be at work. We'll get them yet." + +"Will you, sir? He's a clever devil, that Russian. Look at the cunning +of this coup of his. But I know you'll do your best. Only--pray God +it's not too late. They've got it in for us badly." + +He left the Blitz Hotel and walked blindly along the street, hardly +knowing where he was going. He felt completely paralyzed. Where to +search? What to do? + +He went into the Green Park, and dropped down upon a seat. He hardly +noticed when someone else sat down at the opposite end, and was quite +startled to hear a well known voice. + +"If you please, sir, if I might make so bold--" + +Tommy looked up. + +"Hullo, Albert," he said dully. + +"I know all about it, sir--but don't take on so." + +"Don't take on--" He gave a short laugh. "Easily said, isn't it?" + +"Ah, but think, sir. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives! Never beaten. And +if you'll excuse my saying so, I happen to overhear what you and the +Missus was ragging about this morning. Mr. Poirot, and his little grey +cells. Well, sir, why not use your little grey cells, and see what you +can do?" + +"It's easier to use your little grey cells in fiction than it is in +fact, my boy." + +"Well," said Albert stoutly, "I don't believe anybody could put +the Missus out, for good and all. You know what she is, sir, just +like one of those rubber bones you buy for little dogs--guaranteed +indestructible." + +"Albert," said Tommy, "you cheer me." + +"Then what about using your little grey cells, sir?" + +"You're a persistent lad, Albert. Playing the fool has served us pretty +well up to now. We'll try it again. Let us arrange our facts neatly, +and with method. At ten minutes past two exactly, our quarry enters the +lift. Five minutes later we speak to the lift man, and having heard +what he says, we also go up to the third floor. At, say, nineteen +minutes past two we enter the suite of Mrs. Van Snyder. And now, what +significant fact strikes us?" + +There was a pause, no significant fact striking either of them. + +"There wasn't such a thing as a trunk in the room, was there?" asked +Albert, his eyes lighting suddenly. + +"Mon ami," said Tommy. "You do not understand the psychology of an +American woman who has just returned from Paris. There were, I should +say, about nineteen trunks in the room." + +"What I meantersay is, a trunk's a handy thing if you've got a dead +body about you want to get rid of--not that she _is_ dead, for a +minute." + +"We searched the only two that were big enough to contain a body. What +is the next fact in chronological order?" + +"You've missed one out--when the Missus and the bloke dressed up as a +Hospital Nurse passed the waiter in the passage." + +"It must have been just before we came up in the lift," said Tommy. +"They must have had a narrow escape of meeting us face to face. Pretty +quick work, that. I--" + +He stopped. + +"What is it, sir?" + +"Be silent, mon ami. I have the kind of little idea--colossal, +stupendous--that always comes sooner or later to Hercule Poirot. But if +so--if that's it--Oh! Lord, I hope I'm in time." + +He raced out of the Park, Albert hard on his heels, inquiring +breathlessly as he ran. "What's up, sir? I don't understand." + +"That's all right," said Tommy. "You're not supposed to. Hastings never +did. If your grey cells weren't of a very inferior order to mine, what +fun do you think I should get out of this game? I'm talking damned +rot--but I can't help it. You're a good lad, Albert. You know what +Tuppence is worth--she's worth a dozen of you and me." + +Thus talking breathlessly as he ran, Tommy reëntered the portals of the +Blitz. He caught sight of Evans, and drew him aside with a few hurried +words. The two men entered the lift, Albert with them. + +"Third floor," said Tommy. + +At the door of No. 318 they paused. Evans had a pass key, and used it +forthwith. Without a word of warning, they walked straight into Mrs. +Van Snyder's bedroom. The lady was still lying on the bed, but was now +arrayed in a becoming negligee. She stared at them in surprise. + +"Pardon my failure to knock," said Tommy, pleasantly. "But I want my +wife. Do you mind getting off that bed?" + +"I guess you've gone plumb crazy," cried Mrs. Van Snyder. + +Tommy surveyed her thoughtfully, his head on one side. + +"Very artistic," he pronounced. "But it won't do. We looked _under_ +the bed--but not _in_ it. I remember using that hiding-place myself +when young. Horizontally across the bed, underneath the bolster. And +that nice wardrobe trunk all ready to take away the body in later. +But we were a bit too quick for you just now. You'd had time to dope +Tuppence, put her under the bolster, and be gagged and bound by your +accomplices next door, and I'll admit we swallowed your story all +right for the moment. But when one came to think it out--with order +and method--impossible to drug a girl, dress her in boy's clothes, gag +and bind another woman, and change one's own appearance--all in five +minutes. Simply a physical impossibility. The Hospital Nurse and the +boy were to be a decoy. We were to follow that trail, and Mrs. Van +Snyder was to be a pitied victim. Just help the lady off the bed, will +you, Evans? You have your automatic? Good." + +Protesting shrilly, Mrs. Van Snyder was hauled from her place of +repose. Tommy tore off the coverings and the bolster. + +There, lying horizontally across the top of the bed was Tuppence, her +eyes closed, and her face waxen. For a moment, Tommy felt a sudden +dread, then he saw the slight rise and fall of her breast. She was +drugged, not dead. + +He turned to Albert and Evans. + +"And now, Messieurs," he said dramatically. "The final _coup_!" + +With a swift unexpected gesture, he seized Mrs. Van Snyder by her +elaborately dressed hair. It came off in his hand. + +"As I thought," said Tommy. "_No._ 16!" + +It was about half an hour later when Tuppence opened her eyes and found +a doctor and Tommy bending over her. + +Over the events of the next quarter of an hour a decent veil had better +be drawn, but after that period the doctor departed with the assurance +that all was now well. + +"Mon ami, Hastings," said Tommy fondly. "How I rejoice that you are +still alive." + +"Have we got No. 16?" + +"Once more have I crushed him like an egg shell--In other words, +Carter's got him. The little grey cells! By the way, I'm raising +Albert's wages." + +"Tell me all about it." + +Tommy gave her a spirited narrative, with certain omissions. + +"Weren't you half frantic about me?" asked Tuppence faintly. + +"Not particularly. One must keep calm, you know." + +"Liar!" said Tuppence. "You look quite haggard still." + +"Well, perhaps I was just a little worried, darling. I say--we're going +to give it up now, aren't we?" + +"Certainly we are." + +Tommy gave a sigh of relief. + +"I hoped you'd be sensible. After a shock like this--" + +"It's not the shock. You know I never mind shocks." + +"A rubber bone--indestructible," murmured Tommy. + +"I've got something better to do," continued Tuppence. "Something ever +so much more exciting. Something I've never done before." + +Tommy looked at her with lively apprehension. + +"I forbid it, Tuppence." + +"You can't," said Tuppence. "It's a law of nature." + +"What are you talking about, Tuppence?" + +"I'm talking," said Tuppence, "of Our Baby. Wives don't whisper +nowadays. They shout. OUR BABY! Tommy, isn't everything marvellous?" + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78342 *** diff --git a/78342-h/78342-h.htm b/78342-h/78342-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4167d1e --- /dev/null +++ b/78342-h/78342-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10099 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Partners in Crime | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } +hr.full {width: 95%; 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} + +.ph2 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph2 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } + +.ph3 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph3 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent1 {text-indent: -2.5em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78342 ***</div> + +<div class="titlepage"> + +<h1>Partners in Crime</h1> + +<p class="ph1">By Agatha Christie</p> + + +<p>PARTNERS IN CRIME<br> +<i>Copyright 1929 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc.</i></p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Contents</span></h2> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_I">A Fairy in the Flat</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_II">A Pot of Tea</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_III">The Affair of The Pink Pearl</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_IV">The Affair of The Pink Pearl (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_V">The Adventure of The Sinister Stranger</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_VI">The Adventure of The Sinister Stranger (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_VII">Finessing the King</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_VIII">The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_IX">The Case of The Missing Lady</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_X">Blindman's Buff</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XI">The Man in the Mist</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XII">The Man in the Mist (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XIII">The Crackler</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XIV">The Crackler (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XV">The Sunningdale Mystery</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XVI">The Sunningdale Mystery (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XVII">The House of Lurking Death</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XVIII">The House of Lurking Death (continued)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XIX">The Unbreakable Alibi</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XX">The Clergyman's Daughter</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XXI">The Red House</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XXII">The Ambassador's Boots</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chapter_XXIII">The Man Who Was No. 16</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Partners in Crime</span></h2> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_I"><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Fairy in the Flat</span></h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Thomas Beresford shifted her position on the divan and looked +gloomily out of the window of the flat. The prospect was not an +extended one, consisting solely of a small block of flats on the other +side of the road. Mrs. Beresford sighed and then yawned.</p> + +<p>"I wish," she said, "something would happen."</p> + +<p>Her husband looked up reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Be careful, Tuppence, this craving for vulgar sensation alarms me."</p> + +<p>Tuppence sighed and closed her eyes dreamily.</p> + +<p>"So Tommy and Tuppence were married," she chanted, "and lived happily +ever afterwards. And six years later they were still living together +happily ever afterwards. It is extraordinary," she said, "how different +everything always is from what you think it is going to be."</p> + +<p>"A very profound statement, Tuppence. But not original. Eminent poets +and still more eminent divines have said it before—and, if you will +excuse me saying so, have said it better."</p> + +<p>"Six years ago," continued Tuppence, "I would have sworn that with +sufficient money to buy things with, and with you for a husband, all +life would have been one grand sweet song, as one of the poets you seem +to know so much about puts it."</p> + +<p>"Is it me or the money that palls upon you?" inquired Tommy coldly.</p> + +<p>"Palls isn't exactly the word," said Tuppence kindly. "I'm used to my +blessings, that's all. Just as one never thinks what a boon it is to be +able to breathe through one's nose until one has a cold in the head."</p> + +<p>"Shall I neglect you a little?" suggested Tommy. "Take other women +about to night clubs? That sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>"Useless," said Tuppence. "You would only meet me there with other men. +And I should know perfectly well that you didn't care for the other +women, whereas you would never be quite sure that I didn't care for the +other men. Women are so much more thorough."</p> + +<p>"It's only in modesty that men score top marks," murmured her husband. +"But what is the matter with you, Tuppence? Why this yearning +discontent?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I want things to happen. Exciting things. Wouldn't you +like to go chasing German spies again, Tommy? Think of the wild days of +peril we went through once. Of course I know you're more or less in the +Secret Service now, but it's pure office work."</p> + +<p>"You mean you'd like them to send me into darkest Russia disguised as a +Bolshevik bootlegger, or something of that sort?"</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't be any good," said Tuppence. "They wouldn't let me +go with you and I'm the person who wants something to do so badly. +Something to do. That is what I keep saying all day long."</p> + +<p>"Woman's sphere," suggested Tommy waving his hand.</p> + +<p>"Twenty minutes' work after breakfast every morning keeps the flat +going to perfection. You have nothing to complain of, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Your housekeeping is so perfect, Tuppence, as to be almost monotonous."</p> + +<p>"I do like gratitude," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"You, of course, have got your work," she continued, "but tell me, +Tommy, don't you ever have a secret yearning for excitement, for things +to <i>happen</i>?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tommy, "at least I don't think so. It is all very well to +want things to happen—they might not be pleasant things."</p> + +<p>"How prudent men are," sighed Tuppence. "Don't you ever have a wild +secret yearning for romance—adventure—life?"</p> + +<p>"What <i>have</i> you been reading, Tuppence?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Think how exciting it would be," went on Tuppence, "if we heard a wild +rapping at the door and went to open it and in staggered a dead man."</p> + +<p>"If he was dead he couldn't stagger," said Tommy critically.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean," said Tuppence. "They always stagger in just +before they die and fall at your feet just gasping out a few enigmatic +words. 'The Spotted Leopard' or something like that."</p> + +<p>"I advise a course of Schopenhauer or Emmanuel Kant," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That sort of thing would be good for you," said Tuppence. "You are +getting fat and comfortable."</p> + +<p>"I am not," said Tommy indignantly. "Anyway, you do slimming exercises +yourself."</p> + +<p>"Everybody does," said Tuppence. "When I said you were getting fat I +was really speaking metaphorically, you are getting prosperous and +sleek and comfortable."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what has come over you," said her husband.</p> + +<p>"The spirit of adventure," murmured Tuppence. "It is better than a +longing for romance anyway. I have that sometimes, too. I think of +meeting a man, a really handsome man—"</p> + +<p>"You have met me," said Tommy. "Isn't that enough for you?"</p> + +<p>"A brown lean man, terrifically strong, the kind of man who can ride +anything and lassoos wild horses—"</p> + +<p>"Complete with sheepskin trousers and a cowboy hat," interpolated Tommy +sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"—and has lived in the Wilds," continued Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"I should like him to fall simply madly in love with me. I should, of +course, rebuff him virtuously and be true to my marriage vows but my +heart would secretly go out to him."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, "I often wish that I may meet a really beautiful +girl. A girl with corn-colored hair who will fall desperately in love +with me. Only I don't think I rebuff her—in fact I am quite sure I +don't."</p> + +<p>"That," said Tuppence, "is naughty temper."</p> + +<p>"What," said Tommy, "is really the matter with you, Tuppence? You have +never talked like this before."</p> + +<p>"No, but I have been boiling up inside for a long time," said Tuppence. +"You see it is very dangerous to have everything you want—including +enough money to buy things. Of course there are always hats."</p> + +<p>"You have got about forty hats already," said Tommy, "and they all look +alike."</p> + +<p>"Hats are like that," said Tuppence. "They are not really alike. There +are <i>nuances</i> in them. I saw rather a nice one in Violette's this +morning."</p> + +<p>"If you haven't anything better to do than going on buying hats you +don't need—"</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Tuppence. "That's exactly it. If I had something +better to do. I suppose I ought to take up good works. Oh, Tommy, I do +wish something exciting would happen. I feel—I really do feel it would +be good for us. If we could find a fairy—"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tommy. "It is curious your saying that."</p> + +<p>He got up and crossed the room. Opening a drawer of the writing table +he took out a small snapshot print and brought it to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tuppence, "so you have got them developed. Which is this, +the one you took of this room or the one I took?"</p> + +<p>"The one I took. Yours didn't come out. You under exposed it. You +always do."</p> + +<p>"It is nice for you," said Tuppence, "to think that there is one thing +you can do better than me."</p> + +<p>"A foolish remark," said Tommy, "but I will let it pass for the moment. +What I wanted to show you was this."</p> + +<p>He pointed to a small white speck on the photograph.</p> + +<p>"That is a scratch on the film," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Tommy. "That, Tuppence, is a fairy."</p> + +<p>"Tommy, you idiot."</p> + +<p>"Look for yourself."</p> + +<p>He handed her a magnifying glass. Tuppence studied the print +attentively through it. Seen thus by a slight stretch of fancy the +scratch on the film could be imagined to represent a small winged +creature perched on the fender.</p> + +<p>"It has got wings!" cried Tuppence. "What fun, a real live fairy in our +flat. Shall we write to Conan Doyle about it? Oh, Tommy. Do you think +she'll give us wishes?"</p> + +<p>"You will soon know," said Tommy. "You have been wishing hard enough +for something to happen all the afternoon."</p> + +<p>At that minute the door opened, and a tall lad of fifteen who seemed +undecided as to whether he was a footman or a page boy inquired in a +truly magnificent manner:</p> + +<p>"Are you at Home, Madam? The front door bell has just rung."</p> + +<p>"I wish Albert wouldn't go to the Pictures," sighed Tuppence after she +had signified her assent, and Albert had withdrawn. "He's copying a +Long Island butler now. Thank goodness I've cured him of asking for +people's cards and bringing them to me on a salver."</p> + +<p>The door opened again, and Albert announced: "Mr. Carter," much as +though it were a Royal title.</p> + +<p>"The Chief," muttered Tommy, in great surprise.</p> + +<p>Tuppence jumped up with a glad exclamation, and greeted a tall +grey-haired man with piercing eyes and a tired smile.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Carter, I <i>am</i> glad to see you."</p> + +<p>"That's good, Mrs. Tommy. Now answer me a question. How's life +generally?"</p> + +<p>"Satisfactory, but dull," replied Tuppence with a twinkle.</p> + +<p>"Better and better," said Mr. Carter. "I'm evidently going to find you +in the right mood."</p> + +<p>"This," said Tuppence, "sounds exciting."</p> + +<p>Albert, still copying the Long Island butler, brought in tea. When this +operation was completed without mishap and the door had closed behind +him Tuppence burst out once more.</p> + +<p>"You did mean something, didn't you Mr. Carter? Are you going to send +us on a mission into darkest Russia?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that," said Mr. Carter.</p> + +<p>"But there is something."</p> + +<p>"Yes—there is something. I don't think you are the kind who shrinks +from risks, are you, Mrs. Tommy?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence's eyes sparkled with excitement.</p> + +<p>"There is certain work to be done for the Department—and I fancied—I +just fancied—that it might suit you two."</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"I see that you take the Daily Leader," continued Mr. Carter, picking +up that journal from the table.</p> + +<p>He turned to the advertisement column and indicating a certain +advertisement with his finger pushed the paper across to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Read that out," he said.</p> + +<p>Tommy complied.</p> + +<p>"The International Detective Agency. Theodore Blunt, Manager. Private +Inquiries. Large staff of confidential and highly skilled Inquiry +Agents. Utmost discretion. Consultations free. 118 Haleham St. W.C."</p> + +<p>He looked inquiringly at Mr. Carter. The latter nodded.</p> + +<p>"That detective agency has been on its last legs for some time," he +murmured. "Friend of mine acquired it for a mere song. We're thinking +of setting it going again—say, for a six months' trial. And during +that time, of course, it will have to have a Manager."</p> + +<p>"What about Mr. Theodore Blunt?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt has been rather indiscreet, I'm afraid. In fact, Scotland +Yard have had to interfere. Mr. Blunt is being detained at His +Majesty's expense, and he won't tell us half of what we'd like to know."</p> + +<p>"I see, sir," said Tommy. "At least, I think I see."</p> + +<p>"I suggest that you have six months' leave from the office. Ill health. +And of course if you like to run a detective agency under the name of +Theodore Blunt, it's nothing to do with me."</p> + +<p>Tommy eyed his Chief steadily.</p> + +<p>"Any instructions, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt did some foreign business, I believe. Look out for blue +letters with a Russian stamp on them. From a ham merchant anxious to +find his wife who came as a Refugee to this country some years ago. +Moisten the stamp and you'll find the number 16 written underneath. +Make a copy of these letters and send the originals on to me. Also if +anyone comes to the office and makes a reference to the number 16, +inform me immediately."</p> + +<p>"I understand, sir," said Tommy. "And apart from these instructions?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter picked up his gloves from the table and prepared to depart.</p> + +<p>"You can run the Agency as you please. I fancied—" his eyes twinkled +a little—"that it might amuse Mrs. Tommy to try her hand at a little +detective work."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_II"><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Pot of Tea</span></h3> + + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Beresford took possession of the offices of the +International Detective Agency a few days later. They were on the +second floor of a somewhat dilapidated building in Bloomsbury. In the +small outer office, Albert relinquished the rôle of a Long Island +butler, and took up that of office boy, a part which he played to +perfection. A paper bag of sweets, inky hands, and a tousled head was +his conception of the character.</p> + +<p>From the outer office, two doors led into inner offices. On one door +was painted the legend "Clerks." On the other "Private." Behind +the latter was a small comfortable room furnished with an immense +businesslike desk, a lot of artistically labelled files, all empty, +and some solid leather-seated chairs. Behind the desk sat the pseudo +Mr. Blunt trying to look as though he had run a detective agency all +his life. A telephone, of course, stood at his elbow. Tuppence and he +had rehearsed several good telephone effects, and Albert also had his +instructions.</p> + +<p>In the adjoining room was Tuppence, a typewriter, the necessary tables +and chairs of an inferior type to those in the room of the great Chief, +and a gas ring for making tea.</p> + +<p>Nothing was wanting, in fact, save clients.</p> + +<p>Tuppence, in the first ecstasies of initiation, had a few bright hopes.</p> + +<p>"It will be too marvellous," she declared. "We will hunt down +murderers, and discover the missing family jewels, and find people +who've disappeared and detect embezzlers."</p> + +<p>At this point Tommy felt it his duty to strike a more discouraging +note.</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, Tuppence, and try and forget the cheap fiction you are +in the habit of reading. Our clientele, if we have any clientele at +all—will consist solely of husbands who want their wives shadowed, and +wives who want their husbands shadowed. Evidence for divorce is the +sole prop of private inquiry agents."</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" said Tuppence wrinkling a fastidious nose. "We shan't touch +divorce cases. We must raise the tone of our new profession."</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," said Tommy doubtfully.</p> + +<p>And now a week after installation they compare notes rather ruefully.</p> + +<p>"Three idiotic women whose husbands go away for weekends," sighed +Tommy. "Anyone come whilst I was out at lunch?"</p> + +<p>"A fat old man with a flighty wife," sighed Tuppence sadly. "I've read +in the papers for years that the divorce evil was growing, but somehow +I never seemed to realize it until this last week. I'm sick and tired +of saying 'We don't undertake divorce cases.'"</p> + +<p>"We've put it in the advertisements now," Tommy reminded her. "So it +won't be so bad."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we advertise in the most tempting way too," said Tuppence, +in a melancholy voice. "All the same, I'm not going to be beaten. If +necessary, I shall commit a crime myself, and you will detect it."</p> + +<p>"And what good would that do? Think of my feelings when I bid you a +tender farewell at Bow Street—or is it Vine Street?"</p> + +<p>"You are thinking of your bachelor days," said Tuppence pointedly.</p> + +<p>"The Old Bailey, that is what I mean," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence, "something has got to be done about it. Here we +are bursting with talent and no chance of exercising it."</p> + +<p>"I always like your cheery optimism, Tuppence. You seem to have no +doubt whatever that you have talent to exercise."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Tuppence opening her eyes very wide.</p> + +<p>"And yet you have no expert knowledge whatever."</p> + +<p>"Well, I have read every detective novel that has been published in the +last ten years."</p> + +<p>"So have I," said Tommy, "but I have a sort of feeling that that +wouldn't really help us much."</p> + +<p>"You always were a pessimist, Tommy. Belief in oneself—that is the +great thing."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have got it all right," said her husband.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is all right in detective stories," said Tuppence +thoughtfully, "because one works backwards. I mean if one knows the +solution one can arrange the clues. I wonder now—"</p> + +<p>She paused, wrinkling her brows.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Tommy, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I have got a sort of an idea," said Tuppence. "It hasn't quite come +yet but it's coming." She rose resolutely. "I think I shall go and buy +that hat I told you about."</p> + +<p>"Oh God!" said Tommy. "Another hat!"</p> + +<p>"It's a very nice one," said Tuppence with dignity.</p> + +<p>She went out with a resolute look on her face.</p> + +<p>Once or twice in the following days Tommy inquired curiously about the +idea. Tuppence merely shook her head and told him to give her time.</p> + +<p>And then, one glorious morning, the first client arrived, and all else +was forgotten.</p> + +<p>There was a knock on the outer door of the office and Albert, who had +just placed an acid drop between his lips, roared out an indistinct +'come in.' He then swallowed the acid drop whole in his surprise and +delight. For this looked like the Real Thing.</p> + +<p>A tall young man, exquisitely and beautifully dressed, stood hesitating +in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"A toff, if ever there was one," said Albert to himself. His judgment +in such matters was good.</p> + +<p>The young man was about twenty-four years of age, had beautifully +slicked-back hair, a tendency to pink rims round the eyes, and +practically no chin to speak of.</p> + +<p>In an ecstasy, Albert pressed a button under his desk, and almost +immediately a perfect fusilade of typing broke out from the direction +of 'Clerks.' Tuppence had rushed to the post of duty. The effect of +this hum of industry was to overawe the young man still further.</p> + +<p>"I say," he remarked. "Is this the whatnot—detective agency—Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives? All that sort of stuff, you know? Eh?"</p> + +<p>"Did you want, sir, to speak to Mr. Blunt himself?" inquired Albert, +with an air of doubt as to whether such a thing could be managed.</p> + +<p>"Well—yes, laddie, that was the jolly old idea. Can it be done?"</p> + +<p>"You haven't an appointment, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>The visitor became more and more apologetic.</p> + +<p>"Afraid I haven't."</p> + +<p>"It's always wise, sir, to ring up on the phone first. Mr. Blunt is so +terribly busy. He's engaged on the telephone at the moment. Called into +consultation by Scotland Yard."</p> + +<p>The young man seemed suitably impressed.</p> + +<p>Albert lowered his voice, and imparted information in a friendly +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Important theft of documents from a Government Office. They want Mr. +Blunt to take up the case."</p> + +<p>"Oh! really. I say. He must be no end of a fellow."</p> + +<p>"The Boss, sir," said Albert, "is It."</p> + +<p>The young man sat down on a hard chair, completely unconscious of the +fact that he was being subjected to keen scrutiny by two pairs of eyes +looking through cunningly contrived peepholes—those of Tuppence, in +the intervals of frenzied typing, and those of Tommy awaiting the +suitable moment.</p> + +<p>Presently a bell rang with violence on Albert's desk.</p> + +<p>"The Boss is free now. I will find out whether he can see you," said +Albert, and disappeared through the door marked "Private."</p> + +<p>He reappeared immediately.</p> + +<p>"Will you come this way, sir?"</p> + +<p>The visitor was ushered into the private office, and a pleasant faced +young man with red hair and an air of brisk capability rose to greet +him.</p> + +<p>"Sit down. You wished to consult me? I am Mr. Blunt."</p> + +<p>"Oh! really. I say, you're awfully young, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"The day of the Old Men is over," said Tommy waving his hand. "Who +caused the War? The Old Men. Who is responsible for the present state +of unemployment? The Old Men. Who is responsible for every single +rotten thing that has happened? Again I say, the Old Men!"</p> + +<p>"I expect you are right," said the client. "I know a fellow who is a +poet—at least he says he is a poet—and he always talks like that."</p> + +<p>"Let me tell you this, sir, not a person on my highly trained staff is +a day over twenty-five. That is the truth."</p> + +<p>Since the highly trained staff consisted of Tuppence and Albert, the +statement was truth itself.</p> + +<p>"And now—the facts," said Mr. Blunt.</p> + +<p>"I want you to find someone that's missing," blurted out the young man.</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Will you give me the details?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, it's rather difficult. I mean, it's a frightfully +delicate business and all that. She might be frightfully waxy about it. +I mean—well, it's so dashed difficult to explain."</p> + +<p>He looked helplessly at Tommy. Tommy felt annoyed. He had been on the +point of going out to lunch, but he foresaw that getting the facts out +of this client would be a long and tedious business.</p> + +<p>"Did she disappear of her own free will, or do you suspect abduction?" +he demanded crisply.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the young man. "I don't know anything."</p> + +<p>Tommy reached for a pad and pencil.</p> + +<p>"First of all," he said, "will you give me your name? My office boy +is trained never to ask names. In that way consultations can remain +completely confidential."</p> + +<p>"Oh! rather," said the young man. "Jolly good idea. My name—er—my +name's Smith."</p> + +<p>"Oh! no," said Tommy. "The real one, please."</p> + +<p>His visitor looked at him in awe.</p> + +<p>"Er—St. Vincent," he said. "Lawrence St. Vincent."</p> + +<p>"It's a curious thing," said Tommy, "how very few people there are +whose real name is Smith. Personally, I don't know anyone called Smith. +But nine men out of ten who wish to conceal their real name give that +of Smith. I am writing a monograph upon the subject."</p> + +<p>At that moment a buzzer purred discreetly on his desk. That meant that +Tuppence was requesting to take hold. Tommy, who wanted his lunch, and +who felt profoundly unsympathetic towards Mr. St. Vincent, was only too +pleased to relinquish the helm.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," he said, and picked up the telephone.</p> + +<p>Across his face there shot rapid changes—surprise, consternation, +slight elation.</p> + +<p>"You don't say so," he said into the phone. "The Prime Minister +himself? Of course, in that case, I will come round at once."</p> + +<p>He replaced the receiver on the hook, and turned to his client.</p> + +<p>"My dear sir, I must ask you to excuse me. A most urgent summons. If +you will give the facts of the case to my confidential secretary, she +will deal with them."</p> + +<p>He strode to the adjoining door.</p> + +<p>"Miss Robinson."</p> + +<p>Tuppence, very neat and demure with smooth black head and dainty collar +and cuffs, tripped in. Tommy made the necessary introductions and +departed.</p> + +<p>"A lady you take an interest in has disappeared, I understand, Mr. St. +Vincent," said Tuppence, in her soft voice, as she sat down and took up +Mr. Blunt's pad and pencil. "A young lady?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! rather," said Mr. St. Vincent. "Young—and—and—awfully +good-looking and all that sort of thing."</p> + +<p>Tuppence's face grew grave.</p> + +<p>"Dear me," she murmured. "I hope that—"</p> + +<p>"You don't think anything's really happened to her?" demanded Mr. St. +Vincent, in lively concern.</p> + +<p>"Oh! we must hope for the best," said Tuppence, with a kind of false +cheerfulness which depressed Mr. St. Vincent horribly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! look here, Miss Robinson. I say, you must do something. Spare no +expense. I wouldn't have anything happen to her for the world. You seem +awfully sympathetic, and I don't mind telling you in confidence that +I simply worship the ground that girl walks on. She's a topper, an +absolute topper."</p> + +<p>"Please tell me her name and all about her."</p> + +<p>"Her name's Janet—I don't know her second name. She works in a hat +shop—Madame Violette's in Brook Street—but she's as straight as +they make them. Has ticked me off no end of times—I went round there +yesterday—waiting for her to come out—all the others came, but not +her. Then I found that she'd never turned up that morning to work at +all—sent no message either—old Madame was furious about it. I got +the address of her lodgings, and I went round there. She hadn't come +home the night before, and they didn't know where she was. I was simply +frantic. I thought of going to the police. But I knew that Janet would +be absolutely furious with me for doing that if she were really all +right and had gone off on her own. Then I remembered that she herself +had pointed out your advertisement to me one day in the paper and told +me that one of the women who'd been in buying hats had simply raved +about your ability and discretion and all that sort of thing. So I +toddled along here right away."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Tuppence. "What is the address of her lodgings?"</p> + +<p>The young man gave it to her.</p> + +<p>"That's all, I think," said Tuppence reflectively. "That is to say—am +I to understand that you are engaged to this young lady?"</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Vincent turned a brick red.</p> + +<p>"Well, no—not exactly. I never said anything. But I can tell you this, +I mean to ask her to marry me as soon as ever I see her—if I ever do +see her again."</p> + +<p>Tuppence laid aside her pad.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish for our special twenty-four hour service?" she asked, in +business like tones.</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"The fees are doubled, but we put all our available staff on to the +case. Mr. St. Vincent, if the lady is alive, I shall be able to tell +you where she is by this time to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"What? I say, that's wonderful."</p> + +<p>"We only employ experts—and we guarantee results," said Tuppence +crisply.</p> + +<p>"But I say, you know. You must have the most topping staff."</p> + +<p>"Oh! we have," said Tuppence. "By the way, you haven't given me a +description of the young lady."</p> + +<p>"She's got the most marvellous hair—sort of golden, but very deep, +like a jolly old sunset—that's it, a jolly old sunset. You know, I +never noticed things like sunsets until lately. Poetry too, there's a +lot more in poetry than I ever thought."</p> + +<p>"Red hair," said Tuppence unemotionally, writing it down. "What height +should you say the lady was?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! tallish, and she's got ripping eyes, dark blue, I think. And a +sort of decided manner with her—takes a fellow up short sometimes."</p> + +<p>Tuppence wrote down a few words more, then closed her note book and +rose.</p> + +<p>"If you will call here to-morrow at two o'clock, I think we shall have +news of some kind for you," she said. "Good morning, Mr. St. Vincent."</p> + +<p>When Tommy returned Tuppence was just consulting a page of Debrett.</p> + +<p>"I've got all the details," she said succinctly. "Lawrence St. Vincent +is the nephew and heir of the Earl of Cheriton. If we pull this through +we shall get publicity in the highest places."</p> + +<p>Tommy read through the notes on the pad.</p> + +<p>"What do you really think has happened to the girl?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Tuppence, "that she has fled at the dictates of her +heart, feeling that she loves this young man too well for her peace of +mind."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"I know they do it in books," he said, "but I've never known any girl +who did it in real life."</p> + +<p>"No?" said Tuppence. "Well, perhaps you're right. But I daresay +Lawrence St. Vincent will swallow that sort of slush. He's full +of romantic notions just now. By the way, I guaranteed results in +twenty-four hours—our special service."</p> + +<p>"Tuppence—you congenital idiot, what made you do that?"</p> + +<p>"The idea just came into my head. I thought it sounded rather well. +Don't you worry. Leave it to Mother. Mother knows best."</p> + +<p>She went out, leaving Tommy profoundly dissatisfied.</p> + +<p>Presently he rose, sighed, and went out to do what could be done, +cursing Tuppence's over fervent imagination.</p> + +<p>When he returned weary and jaded at half past four, he found Tuppence +extracting a bag of biscuits from their place of concealment in one of +the files.</p> + +<p>"You look hot and bothered," she remarked. "What have you been doing?"</p> + +<p>Tommy groaned.</p> + +<p>"Making a round of the Hospitals with that girl's description."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you to leave it to me?" demanded Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"You can't find that girl single handed before two o'clock to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I can—and what's more, I have!"</p> + +<p>"You have? What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"A simple problem, Watson, very simple indeed."</p> + +<p>"Where is she now?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence pointed a hand over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"She's in my office next door."</p> + +<p>"What is she doing there?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence began to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "early training will tell, and with a kettle, a gas +ring, and half a pound of tea staring her in the face, the result is a +foregone conclusion."</p> + +<p>"You see," continued Tuppence gently, "Madame Violette's is where I go +for my hats, and the other day I ran across an old pal of Hospital days +amongst the girls there. She gave up nursing after the War and started +a hat shop, failed, and took this job at Madame Violette's. We fixed up +the whole thing between us. She was to rub the advertisement well into +young St. Vincent, and then disappear. Wonderful efficiency of Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives. Publicity for us, and the necessary fillip to +young St. Vincent to bring him to the point of proposing. Janet was in +despair about it."</p> + +<p>"Tuppence," said Tommy, "you take my breath away! The whole thing is +the most immoral business I ever heard of. You aid and abet this young +man to marry out of his class—"</p> + +<p>"Stuff," said Tuppence. "Janet is a splendid girl—and the queer thing +is that she really adores that weak kneed young man. You can see with +half a glance what <i>his</i> family needs. Some good red blood in it. +Janet will be the making of him. She'll look after him like a mother, +ease down the cocktails and the night clubs and make him lead a good +healthy country gentleman's life. Come and meet her."</p> + +<p>Tuppence opened the door of the adjoining office and Tommy followed her.</p> + +<p>A tall girl with lovely auburn hair, and a pleasant face, put down the +steaming kettle in her hand, and turned with a smile that disclosed an +even row of white teeth.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll forgive me, Nurse Cowley—Mrs. Beresford, I mean. +I thought that very likely you'd be quite ready for a cup of tea +yourself. Many's the pot of tea you've made for me in the Hospital at +three o'clock in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Tommy," said Tuppence. "Let me introduce you to my old friend, Nurse +Smith."</p> + +<p>"Smith, did you say? How curious!" said Tommy, shaking hands. "Eh? Oh! +nothing—a little monograph that I was thinking of writing."</p> + +<p>"Pull yourself together, Tommy," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>She poured him out a cup of tea.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, let's all drink together. Here's to the success of the +International Detective Agency. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives! May they +never know failure!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_III"><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Affair of the Pink Pearl</span></h3> + + +<p>"What on earth are you doing?" demanded Tuppence, as she entered the +inner sanctum of the International Detective Agency—(Slogan—Blunt's +Brilliant Detectives) and discovered her lord and master prone on the +floor in a sea of books.</p> + +<p>Tommy struggled to his feet.</p> + +<p>"I was trying to arrange these books on the top shelf of that +cupboard," he complained. "And the damned chair gave way."</p> + +<p>"What are they, anyway?" asked Tuppence, picking up a volume. "'The +Hound of the Baskervilles.' I wouldn't mind reading that again some +time."</p> + +<p>"You see the idea?" said Tommy, dusting himself with care. "Half hours +with the Great Masters—that sort of thing. You see, Tuppence, I can't +help feeling that we are more or less amateurs at this business—of +course amateurs in one sense we cannot help being, but it would do no +harm to acquire the technique, so to speak. These books are detective +stories by the leading masters of the art. I intend to try different +styles, and compare results."</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tuppence. "I often wonder how those detectives would have +got on in real life." She picked up another volume. "You'll find a +difficulty in being a Thorndyke. You've no medical experience, and less +legal, and I never heard that science was your strong point."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said Tommy. "But at any rate I've bought a very good +camera, and I shall photograph footprints and enlarge the negatives and +all that sort of thing. Now, mon ami, use your little grey cells—what +does this convey to you?"</p> + +<p>He pointed to the bottom shelf of the cupboard. On it lay a somewhat +futuristic dressing gown, a turkish slipper, and a violin.</p> + +<p>"Obvious, my dear Watson," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Tommy. "The Sherlock Holmes touch."</p> + +<p>He took up the violin and drew the bow idly across the strings, causing +Tuppence to give a wail of agony.</p> + +<p>At that moment the buzzer rang on the desk, a sign that a client had +arrived in the outer office and was being held in parley by Albert, the +office boy.</p> + +<p>Tommy hastily replaced the violin in the cupboard and kicked the books +behind the desk.</p> + +<p>"Not that there's any great hurry," he remarked. "Albert will be +handing them out the stuff about my being engaged with Scotland Yard on +the phone. Get into your office and start typing, Tuppence. It makes +the office sound busy and active. No, on second thoughts, you shall be +taking notes in shorthand from my dictation. Let's have a look before +we get Albert to send the victim in."</p> + +<p>They approached the peephole which had been artistically contrived so +as to command a view of the outer office.</p> + +<p>The client was a girl of about Tuppence's age, tall and dark with a +rather haggard face and scornful eyes.</p> + +<p>"Clothes cheap and striking," remarked Tuppence. "Have her in, Tommy."</p> + +<p>In another minute the girl was shaking hands with the celebrated Mr. +Blunt, whilst Tuppence sat by with eyes demurely downcast, and pad and +pencil in hand.</p> + +<p>"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Mr. Blunt with a wave +of the hand. "You may speak freely before her." Then he lay back for a +minute, half closed his eyes and remarked in a tired tone: "You must +find traveling in a bus very crowded at this time of day."</p> + +<p>"I came in a taxi," said the girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tommy aggrieved. His eyes rested reproachfully on a blue bus +ticket protruding from her glove. The girl's eyes followed his glance, +and she smiled and drew it out.</p> + +<p>"You mean this? I picked it up on the pavement. A little neighbor of +ours collects them."</p> + +<p>Tuppence coughed, and Tommy threw a baleful glare at her.</p> + +<p>"We must get to business," he said briskly. "You are in need of our +services, Miss—?"</p> + +<p>"Kingston Bruce is my name," said the girl. "We live at Wimbledon. Last +night a lady who is staying with us lost a valuable pink pearl. Mr. +St. Vincent was also dining with us, and during dinner he happened to +mention your firm. My mother sent me off to you this morning to ask you +if you would look into the matter for us."</p> + +<p>The girl spoke sullenly, almost disagreeably. It was clear as daylight +that she and her mother had not agreed over the matter. She was here +under protest.</p> + +<p>"I see," said Tommy, a little puzzled. "You have not called in the +police?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Miss Kingston Bruce, "we haven't. It would be idiotic to +call in the police and then find that the silly thing had rolled under +the fireplace, or something like that."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tommy. "Then the jewel may only be lost after all?"</p> + +<p>Miss Kingston Bruce shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"People make such a fuss about things," she murmured.</p> + +<p>Tommy cleared his throat.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he said doubtfully. "I am extremely busy just now—"</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," said the girl rising to her feet. There was a +quick gleam of satisfaction in her eyes which Tuppence, for one, did +not miss.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," continued Tommy, "I think I can manage to run down to +Wimbledon. Will you give me the address, please?"</p> + +<p>"The Laurels, Edgeworth Road."</p> + +<p>"Make a note of it, please, Miss Robinson."</p> + +<p>Miss Kingston Bruce hesitated, then said rather ungraciously:</p> + +<p>"We'll expect you then. Good morning."</p> + +<p>"Funny girl," said Tommy. "I couldn't quite make her out."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if she stole the thing herself," remarked Tuppence +meditatively. "Come on, Tommy, let's put away these books and take the +car and go down there. By the way, who are you going to be, Sherlock +Holmes still?"</p> + +<p>"I think I need practice for that," said Tommy. "I came rather a +cropper over that bus ticket, didn't I?"</p> + +<p>"You did," said Tuppence. "If I were you I shouldn't try too much on +that girl—she's as sharp as a needle. She's unhappy too, poor devil."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know all about her already," said Tommy with sarcasm, +"simply from looking at the shape of her nose!"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you my idea of what we shall find at The Laurels," said +Tuppence, quite unmoved. "A household of snobs, very keen to move in +the best society; the father, if there is a father, is sure to have a +military title. The girl falls in with their way of life and despises +herself for doing so."</p> + +<p>Tommy took a last look at the books now neatly arranged upon a shelf.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said thoughtfully, "that I shall be Thorndyke to-day."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have thought there was anything medico-legal about this +case," remarked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said Tommy. "But I'm simply dying to use that new camera +of mine! It's supposed to have the most marvelous lens that ever was or +ever could be."</p> + +<p>"I know those kind of lenses," said Tuppence. "By the time you've +adjusted the shutter and stopped down and calculated the exposure and +kept your eyes on the spirit level, your brain gives out, and you yearn +for the simple Brownie."</p> + +<p>"Only an unambitious soul is content with the simple Brownie."</p> + +<p>"Well, I bet I shall get better results with it than you will."</p> + +<p>Tommy ignored this challenge.</p> + +<p>"I ought to have a 'Smoker's Companion,'" he said regretfully. "I +wonder where one buys them?"</p> + +<p>"There's always the patent corkscrew Aunt Araminta gave you last Xmas," +said Tuppence helpfully.</p> + +<p>"That's true," said Tommy. "A curious looking engine of destruction I +thought it at the time, and rather a humorous present to get from a +strictly teetotal aunt."</p> + +<p>"I," said Tuppence, "shall be Polton."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Polton indeed. You couldn't begin to do one of the things that he +does."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can," said Tuppence. "I can rub my hands together when I'm +pleased. That's quite enough to get on with. I hope you're going to +take plaster casts of footprints?"</p> + +<p>Tommy was reduced to silence. Having collected the corkscrew they went +round to the garage, got out the car and started for Wimbledon.</p> + +<p>The Laurels was a big house. It ran somewhat to gables and turrets, had +an air of being very newly painted, and was surrounded with neat flower +beds filled with scarlet geraniums.</p> + +<p>A tall man with a close cropped white moustache, and an exaggeratedly +martial bearing opened the door before Tommy had time to ring.</p> + +<p>"I've been looking out for you," he explained fussily. "Mr. Blunt, is +it not? I am Colonel Kingston Bruce. Will you come into my study?"</p> + +<p>He led them into a small room at the back of the house.</p> + +<p>"Young St. Vincent was telling me wonderful things about your firm. +I've noticed your advertisements myself. This guaranteed twenty-four +hours service of yours—a marvelous notion. That's exactly what I need."</p> + +<p>Inwardly anathematizing Tuppence for her irresponsibility in inventing +this brilliant detail, Tommy replied: "Just so, Colonel."</p> + +<p>"The whole thing is most distressing, sir, most distressing."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would kindly give me the facts," said Tommy, with a hint +of impatience.</p> + +<p>"Certainly I will—at once. We have at the present moment staying with +us a very old and dear friend of ours, Lady Laura Barton. Daughter +of the late Earl of Carrowway. The present Earl, her brother, made a +striking speech in the House of Lords the other day. As I say, she is +an old and dear friend of ours. Some American friends of mine who have +just come over, the Hamilton Betts, were most anxious to meet her. +'Nothing easier,' I said. 'She is staying with me now. Come down for +the week-end.' You know what Americans are about titles, Mr. Blunt."</p> + +<p>"And others besides Americans sometimes, Colonel Kingston Bruce."</p> + +<p>"Alas! only too true, my dear sir. Nothing I hate more than a snob. +Well, as I was saying, the Betts came down for the week-end. Last +night—we were playing Bridge at the time—the clasp of a pendant Mrs. +Hamilton Betts was wearing broke, so she took it off and laid it down +on a small table, meaning to take it upstairs with her when she went. +This, however, she forgot to do. I must explain, Mr. Blunt, that the +pendant consisted of two small diamond wings, and a big pink pearl +depending from them. The pendant was found this morning lying where +Mrs. Betts had left it, but the pearl, a pearl of enormous value, had +been wrenched off."</p> + +<p>"Who found the pendant?"</p> + +<p>"The parlormaid—Gladys Hill."</p> + +<p>"Any reason to suspect her?"</p> + +<p>"She has been with us some years, and we have always found her +perfectly honest. But, of course, one never knows—"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. Will you describe your staff, and also tell me who was +present at dinner last night?"</p> + +<p>"There is the cook—she has been with us only two months, but then she +would have no occasion to go near the drawing-room—the same applies to +the kitchen maid. Then there is the housemaid, Alice Cummings. She also +has been with us for some years. And Lady Laura's maid, of course. She +is French."</p> + +<p>Colonel Kingston Bruce looked very impressive as he said this. Tommy, +unaffected by the revelation of the maid's nationality, said: "Exactly. +And the party at dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Betts, ourselves—(my wife and daughter)—and Lady Laura. +Young St. Vincent was dining with us, and Mr. Rennie looked in after +dinner for a while."</p> + +<p>"Who is Mr. Rennie?"</p> + +<p>"A most pestilential fellow—an arrant socialist. Good looking, of +course, and with a certain specious power of argument. But a man, I +don't mind telling you, whom I wouldn't trust a yard. A dangerous sort +of fellow."</p> + +<p>"In fact," said Tommy drily, "it is Mr. Rennie whom you suspect?"</p> + +<p>"I do, Mr. Blunt. I'm sure, holding the views he does, that he can have +no principles whatsoever. What could have been easier for him than +to have quietly wrenched off the pearl at a moment when we were all +absorbed in our game? There were several absorbing moments—a redoubled +No Trump hand, I remember, and also a painful argument when my wife had +the misfortune to revoke."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy. "I should just like to know one thing—what is +Mrs. Betts' attitude in all this?"</p> + +<p>"She wanted me to call in the police," said Colonel Kingston Bruce +reluctantly. "That is, when we had searched everywhere in case the +pearl had only dropped off."</p> + +<p>"But you dissuaded her?"</p> + +<p>"I was very averse to the idea of publicity and my wife and daughter +backed me up. Then my wife remembered young St. Vincent speaking about +your firm at dinner last night—and the twenty-four hours special +service."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tommy with a heavy heart.</p> + +<p>"You see, in any case no harm will be done. If we call in the police +to-morrow, it can be supposed that we thought the jewel merely lost and +were hunting for it. By the way, nobody has been allowed to leave the +house this morning."</p> + +<p>"Except your daughter, of course," said Tuppence, speaking for the +first time.</p> + +<p>"Except my daughter," agreed the Colonel. "She volunteered at once to +go and put the case before you."</p> + +<p>Tommy rose.</p> + +<p>"We will do our best to give you satisfaction, Colonel," he said. "I +should like to see the drawing-room, and the table on which the pendant +was laid down. I should also like to ask Mrs. Betts a few questions. +After that, I will interview the servants—or rather my assistant, Miss +Robinson, will do so."</p> + +<p>He felt his nerve quailing before the terrors of questioning the +servants.</p> + +<p>Colonel Kingston Bruce threw open the door, and led them across the +hall. As he did so, a remark came to them clearly through the open door +of the room they were approaching, and the voice that uttered it was +that of the girl who had come to see them that morning.</p> + +<p>"You know perfectly well, mother," she was saying, "that she <i>did</i> +bring home a teaspoon in her muff."</p> + +<p>In another minute they were being introduced to Mrs. Kingston Bruce, a +plaintive lady with a languid manner. Miss Kingston Bruce acknowledged +their presence with a short inclination of the head. Her face was more +sullen than ever.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Kingston Bruce was voluble.</p> + +<p>"—but I know who <i>I</i> think took it," she ended. "That dreadful +socialist young man. He loves the Russians and the Germans and hates +the English—what else can you expect?"</p> + +<p>"He never touched it," said Miss Kingston Bruce fiercely. "I was +watching him—all the time. I couldn't have failed to see if he had."</p> + +<p>She looked at them defiantly with her chin up.</p> + +<p>Tommy created a diversion by asking for an interview with Mrs. Betts. +When Mrs. Kingston Bruce had departed accompanied by her husband and +daughter to find Mrs. Betts, he whistled thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," he said gently, "who it was who had a teaspoon in her muff?"</p> + +<p>"Just what I was thinking," replied Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Betts, followed by her husband, burst into the room. She was a big +woman with a determined voice. Mr. Hamilton Betts looked dyspeptic and +subdued.</p> + +<p>"I understand, Mr. Blunt, that you are a private inquiry agent, and one +who hustles things through at a great rate?"</p> + +<p>"Hustle," said Tommy, "is my middle name, Mrs. Betts. Let me ask you a +few questions."</p> + +<p>Thereafter things proceeded rapidly. Tommy was shown the damaged +pendant, the table on which it had lain, and Mr. Betts emerged from his +taciturnity to mention the value, in dollars, of the stolen pearl.</p> + +<p>And withal, Tommy felt an irritating certainty that he was not getting +on.</p> + +<p>"I think that will do," he said at length. "Miss Robinson, will you +kindly fetch the special photographic apparatus from the hall?"</p> + +<p>Miss Robinson complied.</p> + +<p>"A little invention of my own," said Tommy. "In appearance, you see, it +is just like an ordinary camera."</p> + +<p>He had some slight satisfaction in seeing that the Betts were impressed.</p> + +<p>He photographed the pendant, the table on which it had lain, and +took several general views of the apartment. Then "Miss Robinson" +was delegated to interview the servants, and in view of the eager +expectancy on the faces of Colonel Kingston Bruce and Mrs. Betts, Tommy +felt called upon to say a few authoritative words.</p> + +<p>"The position amounts to this," he said. "Either the pearl is still in +the house, or it is not still in the house."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said the Colonel with more respect than was, perhaps, quite +justified by the nature of the remark.</p> + +<p>"If it is not in the house, it may be anywhere—but if it is in the +house, it must necessarily be concealed somewhere—"</p> + +<p>"And a search must be made," broke in Colonel Kingston Bruce. "Quite +so. I give you carte blanche, Mr. Blunt. Search the house from attic to +cellar."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Charles," murmured Mrs. Kingston Bruce tearfully. "Do you think +that is wise? The servants won't <i>like</i> it. I'm sure they'll leave."</p> + +<p>"We will search their quarters last," said Tommy soothingly. "The thief +is sure to have hidden the gem in the most unlikely place."</p> + +<p>"I seem to have read something of the kind," agreed the Colonel.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy. "You probably remember the case of Rex. <i>v.</i> +Bailey which created a precedent."</p> + +<p>"Oh—er—yes," said the Colonel looking puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Now, the most unlikely place is in the apartments of Mrs. Betts," +continued Tommy.</p> + +<p>"My! Wouldn't that be too cute?" said Mrs. Betts admiringly.</p> + +<p>Without more ado, she took him up to her room where Tommy once more +made use of the special photographic apparatus.</p> + +<p>Presently Tuppence joined him there.</p> + +<p>"You have no objection, I hope, Mrs. Betts, to my assistant's looking +through your wardrobe?"</p> + +<p>"Why, not at all. Do you need me here any longer?"</p> + +<p>Tommy assured her that there was no need to detain her, and Mrs. Betts +departed.</p> + +<p>"We might as well go on bluffing it out," said Tommy. "But personally I +don't believe we've a dog's chance of finding the thing. Curse you and +your twenty-four hours stunt, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"Listen," said Tuppence. "The servants are all right, I'm sure, but +I managed to get something out of the French maid. It seems that when +Lady Laura was staying here a year ago, she went out to tea with some +friends of the Kingston Bruces', and when she got home a teaspoon fell +out of her muff. Everyone thought it must have fallen in by accident. +But, talking about similar robberies, I got hold of a lot more. Lady +Laura is always staying about with people. She hasn't got a bean, I +gather, and she's out for comfortable quarters with people to whom a +title still means something. It may be a coincidence—or it may be +something more, but five distinct thefts have taken place whilst she +has been staying in various houses, sometimes trivial things, sometimes +valuable jewels."</p> + +<p>"Whew!" said Tommy, and gave vent to a prolonged whistle. "Where's the +old bird's room, do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Just across the passage."</p> + +<p>"Then I think, I rather think, that we'll just slip across and +investigate."</p> + +<p>The room opposite stood with its door ajar. It was a spacious +apartment, with white enameled fitments and rose pink curtains. An +inner door led to a bathroom. At the door of this appeared a slim dark +girl, very neatly dressed.</p> + +<p>Tuppence checked the exclamation of astonishment on the girl's lips.</p> + +<p>"This is Elise, Mr. Blunt," she said primly. "Lady Laura's maid."</p> + +<p>Tommy stepped across the threshold of the bathroom, and approved +inwardly its sumptuous and up to date fittings. He set to work to +dispel the wide stare of suspicion on the French girl's face.</p> + +<p>"You are busy with your duties, eh, Mademoiselle Elise?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Monsieur, I clean Milady's bath."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps you'll help me with some photography instead. I have a +special kind of camera here, and I am photographing the interiors of +all the rooms in this house."</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by the communicating door to the bedroom banging +suddenly behind him. Elise jumped at the sound.</p> + +<p>"What did that?"</p> + +<p>"It must have been the wind," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"We will come into the other room," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>Elise went to open the door for them, but the door knob rattled +aimlessly.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" said Tommy sharply.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Monsieur, but someone must have locked it on the other side." She +caught up a towel and tried again. But this time the door handle turned +easily enough, and the door swung open.</p> + +<p>"<i>Voilà ce qui est curieux.</i> It must have stuck," said Elise.</p> + +<p>There was no one in the bedroom.</p> + +<p>Tommy fetched his apparatus. Tuppence and Elise worked under his +orders. But again and again his glance went back to the communicating +door.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," he said between his teeth. "I wonder why that door stuck?"</p> + +<p>He examined it minutely, shutting and opening it. It fitted perfectly.</p> + +<p>"One picture more," he said with a sigh. "Will you loop back that rose +curtain, Mademoiselle Elise? Thank you. Just hold it so."</p> + +<p>The familiar click occurred. He handed a glass slide to Elise to hold, +relinquished the tripod to Tuppence, and carefully readjusted and +closed the camera.</p> + +<p>He made some easy excuse to get rid of Elise, and as soon as she was +out of the room, he caught hold of Tuppence and spoke rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Look here, I've got an idea. Can you hang on here? Search all the +rooms—that will take some time. Try and get an interview with the +old bird—Lady Laura—but don't alarm her. Tell her you suspect the +parlormaid. But whatever you do, don't let her leave the house. I'm +going off in the car. I'll be back as soon as I can."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Tuppence. "But don't be too cocksure. You've +forgotten one thing."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"The girl. There's something funny about that girl. Listen, I've found +out the time she started from the house this morning. It took her two +hours to get to our office. That's nonsense. Where did she go before +she came to us?"</p> + +<p>"There's something in that," admitted her husband. "Well, follow up +any old clue you like, but don't let Lady Laura leave the house. What's +that?"</p> + +<p>His quick ear had caught a faint rustle outside on the landing. He +strode across to the door, but there was no one to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Well, so long," he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_IV"><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Affair of the Pink Pearl</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>Tuppence watched him drive off in the car with a faint misgiving. Tommy +was very sure—she herself was not so sure. There were one or two +things she did not quite understand.</p> + +<p>She was still standing by the window, watching the road, when she saw +a man leave the shelter of a gateway opposite, cross the road and ring +the bell.</p> + +<p>In a flash Tuppence was out of the room and down the stairs. Gladys +Hill, the parlormaid, was emerging from the back part of the house, but +Tuppence motioned her back authoritatively. Then she went to the front +door and opened it.</p> + +<p>A lanky young man with ill-fitting clothes, and eager dark eyes was +standing on the step.</p> + +<p>He hesitated a moment, and then said, "Is Miss Kingston Bruce in?"</p> + +<p>"Will you come inside?" said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>She stood aside to let him enter, closing the door.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rennie, I think?" she said sweetly.</p> + +<p>He shot a quick glance at her.</p> + +<p>"Er—yes."</p> + +<p>"Will you come in here, please?"</p> + +<p>She opened the study door. The room was empty, and Tuppence entered it +after him, closing the door behind her. He turned on her with a frown.</p> + +<p>"I want to see Miss Kingston Bruce."</p> + +<p>"I am not quite sure that you can," said Tuppence composedly.</p> + +<p>"Look here, who the devil are you?" said Mr. Rennie rudely.</p> + +<p>"International Detective Agency," said Tuppence succinctly—and noticed +Mr. Rennie's uncontrollable start.</p> + +<p>"Please sit down, Mr. Rennie," she went on. "To begin with, we know all +about Miss Kingston Bruce's visit to you this morning."</p> + +<p>It was a bold guess, but it succeeded. Perceiving his consternation, +Tuppence went on quickly.</p> + +<p>"The recovery of the pearl is the great thing, Mr. Rennie. No one +in this house is anxious for—publicity. Can't we come to some +arrangement?"</p> + +<p>The young man looked at her keenly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how much you know," he said thoughtfully. "Let me think for a +moment."</p> + +<p>He buried his head in his hands—then asked a most unexpected question.</p> + +<p>"I say, is it really true that young St. Vincent is engaged to be +married?"</p> + +<p>"Quite true," said Tuppence. "I know the girl."</p> + +<p>Mr. Rennie suddenly became confidential.</p> + +<p>"It's been hell," he confided. "They've been asking him here morning, +noon and night—chucking Beatrice at his head. All because he'll come +into a title some day. If I had my way—"</p> + +<p>"Don't let's talk politics," said Tuppence hastily. "Do you mind +telling me, Mr. Rennie, why you think Miss Kingston Bruce took the +pearl?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't."</p> + +<p>"You do," said Tuppence calmly. "You wait to see the detective, as you +think, drive off and the coast clear, and then you come and ask for +her. It's obvious. If you'd taken the pearl yourself, you wouldn't be +half so upset."</p> + +<p>"Her manner was so odd," said the young man. "She came this morning and +told me about the robbery, explaining that she was on her way to a firm +of private detectives. She seemed anxious to say something, and yet not +able to get it out."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence. "All I want is the pearl. You'd better go and +talk to her."</p> + +<p>But at that moment Colonel Kingston Bruce opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Lunch is ready, Miss Robinson. You will lunch with us, I hope. The—"</p> + +<p>Then he stopped and glared at the guest.</p> + +<p>"Clearly," said Mr. Rennie, "you don't want to ask me to lunch. All +right, I'll go."</p> + +<p>"Come back later," whispered Tuppence, as he passed her.</p> + +<p>Tuppence followed Colonel Kingston Bruce, still growling into his +moustache about the pestilential impudence of some people, into a +massive dining-room where the family was already assembled. Only one +person present was unknown to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"This, Lady Laura, is Miss Robinson who is kindly assisting us."</p> + +<p>Lady Laura bent her head, and then proceeded to stare at Tuppence +through her pince nez. She was a tall, thin woman, with a sad smile, a +gentle voice, and very hard shrewd eyes. Tuppence returned her stare, +and Lady Laura's eyes dropped.</p> + +<p>After lunch Lady Laura entered into conversation with an air of gentle +curiosity. How was the inquiry proceeding? Tuppence laid suitable +stress on the suspicion attaching to the parlormaid, but her mind was +not really on Lady Laura. Lady Laura might conceal teaspoons and other +articles in her clothing, but Tuppence felt fairly sure that she had +not taken the pink pearl.</p> + +<p>Presently Tuppence proceeded with her search of the house. Time was +going on. There was no sign of Tommy, and, what mattered far more to +Tuppence, there was no sign of Mr. Rennie. Suddenly Tuppence came out +of a bedroom and collided with Beatrice Kingston Bruce who was going +down stairs. She was fully dressed for the street.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," said Tuppence, "that you mustn't go out just now."</p> + +<p>The other girl looked at her haughtily.</p> + +<p>"Whether I go out or not is no business of yours," she said coldly.</p> + +<p>"It is my business whether I communicate with the police or not, +though," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>In a minute the girl had turned ashy pale.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't—you mustn't—I won't go out—but don't do that." She +clung to Tuppence beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Kingston Bruce," said Tuppence smiling. "The case has +been perfectly clear to me from the start—I—"</p> + +<p>But she was interrupted. In the stress of her encounter with the girl, +Tuppence had not heard the front door bell. Now, to her astonishment, +Tommy came bounding up the stairs, and in the hall below she caught +sight of a big burly man in the act of removing a bowler hat.</p> + +<p>"Detective Inspector Marriot of Scotland Yard," he said with a grin.</p> + +<p>With a cry, Beatrice Kingston Bruce tore herself from Tuppence's grasp +and dashed down the stairs, just as the front door was opened once more +to admit Mr. Rennie.</p> + +<p>"Now you <i>have</i> torn it," said Tuppence bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" said Tommy, hurrying into Lady Laura's room. He passed on into +the bathroom, and picked up a large cake of soap which he brought out +in his hands. The Inspector was just mounting the stairs.</p> + +<p>"She went quite quietly," he announced. "She's an old hand, and knows +when the game is up. What about the pearl?"</p> + +<p>"I rather fancy," said Tommy, handing him the soap, "that you'll find +it in here."</p> + +<p>The Inspector's eyes lit up appreciatively.</p> + +<p>"An old trick, and a good one. Cut a cake of soap in half, scoop out a +place for the jewel, clap it together again, and smooth the joint well +over with hot water. A very smart piece of work on your part, sir."</p> + +<p>Tommy accepted the compliment gracefully. He and Tuppence descended the +stairs. Colonel Kingston Bruce rushed at him and shook him warmly by +the hand.</p> + +<p>"My dear sir, I can't thank you enough. Lady Laura wants to thank you +also—"</p> + +<p>"I am glad we have given you satisfaction," said Tommy. "But I'm afraid +I can't stop. I have a most urgent appointment. Member of the Cabinet."</p> + +<p>He hurried out to the car and jumped in. Tuppence jumped in beside him.</p> + +<p>"But Tommy," she cried. "Haven't they arrested Lady Laura, after all?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tommy. "Didn't I tell you? They've not arrested Lady Laura. +They've arrested Elise."</p> + +<p>"You see," he went on, as Tuppence sat dumbfounded, "I've often tried +to open a door with soap on my hands myself. It can't be done—your +hands slip. So I wondered what Elise could have been doing with the +soap to get her hands as soapy as all that. She caught up a towel, you +remember, so there were no traces of soap on the handle afterwards. But +it occurred to me that if you were a professional thief, it wouldn't +be a bad plan to be maid to a lady suspected of kleptomania who stayed +about a good deal in different houses. So I managed to get a photo +of her as well as of the room, induced her to handle a glass slide +and toddled off to dear old Scotland Yard. Lightning development of +negative, successful identification of fingerprints—and photo. Elise +was a long lost friend. Useful place, Scotland Yard."</p> + +<p>"And to think," said Tuppence, finding her voice, "that those two young +idiots were only suspecting each other in that weak way they do it in +books. But why didn't you tell me what you were up to when you went +off?"</p> + +<p>"In the first place, I suspected that Elise was listening on the +landing, and in the second place—"</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"My learned friend forgets," said Tommy. "Thorndyke never tells until +the last moment. Besides, Tuppence, you and your pal Janet Smith put +one over on me last time. This makes us all square."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_V"><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger</span></h3> + + +<p>"It's been a darned dull day," said Tommy, and yawned widely.</p> + +<p>"Nearly tea time," said Tuppence and also yawned.</p> + +<p>Business was not brisk in the International Detective Agency. The +eagerly expected letter from the ham merchant had not arrived and bona +fide cases were not forthcoming.</p> + +<p>Albert, the office boy, entered with a sealed package which he laid on +the table.</p> + +<p>"The Mystery of the Sealed Packet," murmured Tommy. "Did it contain the +fabulous pearls of the Russian Grand Duchess? Or was it an infernal +machine destined to blow Blunt's Brilliant Detectives to pieces?"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, tearing open the package, "it's +my wedding present to Francis Haviland. Rather nice, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Tommy took a slender silver cigarette case from her outstretched hand, +noted the inscription engraved in her own handwriting: <i>Francis from +Tuppence</i>, opened and shut the case, and nodded approvingly.</p> + +<p>"You do throw your money about, Tuppence," he remarked. "I'll have one +like it, only in gold, for my birthday next month. Fancy wasting a +thing like that on Francis Haviland, who always was and always will be +one of the most perfect asses God ever made!"</p> + +<p>"You forget I used to drive him about during the War, when he was a +General. Ah! those were the good old days."</p> + +<p>"They were," agreed Tommy. "Beautiful women used to come and squeeze +my hand in Hospital, I remember. But I don't send them all wedding +presents. I don't believe the bride will care much for this gift of +yours, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"It's nice and slim for the pocket, isn't it?" said Tuppence +disregarding his remarks.</p> + +<p>Tommy slipped it into his own pocket.</p> + +<p>"Just right," he said approvingly. "Hullo, here is Albert with +the afternoon post. Very possibly the Duchess of Perthshire is +commissioning us to find her prize Peke."</p> + +<p>They sorted through the letters together. Suddenly Tommy gave vent to a +prolonged whistle, and held up one of them in his hand.</p> + +<p>"A blue letter with a Russian stamp on it. Do you remember what the +Chief said? We were to look out for letters like that."</p> + +<p>"How exciting," said Tuppence. "Something has happened at last. Open it +and see if the contents are up to schedule. A ham merchant, wasn't it? +Half a minute. We shall want some milk for tea. They forgot to leave it +this morning. I'll send Albert out for it."</p> + +<p>She returned from the outer office, after despatching Albert on his +errand, to find Tommy holding the blue sheet of paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"As we thought, Tuppence," he remarked. "Almost word for word what the +Chief said."</p> + +<p>Tuppence took the letter from him and read it.</p> + +<p>It was couched in careful stilted English, and purported to be from +one Gregor Feodorsky who was anxious for news of his wife. The +International Detective Agency was urged to spare no expense in doing +their utmost to trace her. Feodorsky himself was unable to leave Russia +at the moment owing to a crisis in the Pork trade.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what it really means," said Tuppence thoughtfully, smoothing +out the sheet on the table in front of her.</p> + +<p>"Code of some kind, I suppose," said Tommy. "That's not our business. +Our business is to hand it over to the Chief as soon as possible. +Better just verify it by soaking off the stamp and seeing if the number +16 is underneath."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Tuppence. "But I should think—"</p> + +<p>She stopped dead, and Tommy, surprised by her sudden pause, looked up +to see a man's burly figure blocking the doorway.</p> + +<p>The intruder was a man of commanding presence, squarely built, with a +very round head and a powerful jaw. He might have been about forty-five +years of age.</p> + +<p>"I must beg your pardon," said the stranger, advancing into the room, +hat in hand. "I found your outer office empty, and this door open, so I +ventured to intrude. This is Blunt's International Detective Agency, is +it not?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly it is."</p> + +<p>"And you are, perhaps, Mr. Blunt? Mr. Theodore Blunt?"</p> + +<p>"I am Mr. Blunt. You wished to consult me? This is my secretary, Miss +Robinson."</p> + +<p>Tuppence inclined her head gracefully, but continued to scrutinise the +stranger narrowly through her downcast eyelashes. She was wondering how +long he had been standing in the doorway, and how much he had seen and +heard. It did not escape her observation that even while he was talking +to Tommy, his eyes kept coming back to the blue paper in her hand.</p> + +<p>Tommy's voice, sharp with a warning note, recalled her to the needs of +the moment.</p> + +<p>"Miss Robinson, please, take notes. Now, sir, will you kindly state the +matter on which you wish to have my advice?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence reached for her pad and pencil.</p> + +<p>The big man began in rather a harsh voice.</p> + +<p>"My name is Bower. Dr. Charles Bower. I live in Hampstead where I have +a practice. I have come to you, Mr. Blunt, because several rather +strange occurrences have happened lately."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Dr. Bower?"</p> + +<p>"Twice in the course of the last week, I have been summoned by +telephone to an urgent case—in each case to find that the summons +has been a fake. The first time I thought a practical joke had been +played upon me, but on my return the second time, I found that some +of my private papers had been displaced and disarranged, and I now +believe that the same thing had happened the first time. I made an +exhaustive search and came to the conclusion that my whole desk had +been thoroughly ransacked, and the various papers replaced hurriedly."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bower paused, and gazed at Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Blunt?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Dr. Bower," replied the young man smiling.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Well, first I should like the facts. What do you keep in your desk?"</p> + +<p>"My private papers."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. Now, what do those private papers consist of? What value are +they to the common thief—or any particular person?"</p> + +<p>"To the common thief I cannot see that they would have any value at +all, but my notes on certain obscure alkaloids would be of interest +to anyone possessed of technical knowledge on the subject. I have +been making a study of such matters for the last few years. These +alkaloids are deadly and virulent poisons, and are, in addition, almost +untraceable. They yield no known reactions."</p> + +<p>"The secret of them would be worth money, then?"</p> + +<p>"To unscrupulous persons, yes."</p> + +<p>"And you suspect—whom?"</p> + +<p>The doctor shrugged his massive shoulders.</p> + +<p>"As far as I can tell, the house was not entered forcibly from the +outside. That seems to point to some member of my household, and yet +I cannot believe—" He broke off abruptly, then began again, his face +very grave.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt, I must place myself in your hands unreservedly. I dare +not go to the police in the matter. Of my three servants I am almost +entirely sure. They have served me long and faithfully. Still, one +never knows. Then I have living with me my two nephews, Bertram and +Henry. Henry is a good boy—a very good boy—he has never caused me +any anxiety, an excellent hard-working young fellow. Bertram, I regret +to say, is of quite a different character—wild, extravagant, and +persistently idle."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Tommy thoughtfully. "You suspect your nephew Bertram of +being mixed up in this business. Now I don't agree with you. I suspect +the good boy—Henry."</p> + +<p>"But why?"</p> + +<p>"Tradition. Precedent." Tommy waved his hand airily. "In my experience, +the suspicious characters are always innocent—and vice versa, my dear +sir. Yes, decidedly, I suspect Henry."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Mr. Blunt," said Tuppence, interrupting in a deferential +voice. "Did I understand Dr. Bower to say that these notes +on—er—obscure alkaloids—are kept in the desk with the other papers?"</p> + +<p>"They are kept in the desk, my dear young lady, but in a secret drawer, +the position of which is known only to myself. Hence they have so far +defied the search."</p> + +<p>"And what exactly do you want me to do, Dr. Bower?" asked Tommy. "Do +you anticipate that a further search will be made?"</p> + +<p>"I do, Mr. Blunt. I have every reason to believe so. This afternoon, +I received a telegram from a patient of mine whom I ordered to +Bournemouth a few weeks ago. The telegram states that my patient is +in a critical condition, and begs me to come down at once. Rendered +suspicious by the events I have told you of, I myself despatched a +telegram, prepaid, to the patient in question, and elicited the fact +that he was in good health and had sent no summons to me of any kind. +It occurred to me that if I pretended to have been taken in, and duly +departed to Bournemouth, we should have a very good chance of finding +the miscreants at work. They—or he—will doubtless wait until the +household has retired to bed before commencing operations. I suggest +that you should meet me outside my house at eleven o'clock this +evening, and we will investigate the matter together."</p> + +<p>"Hoping, in fact, to catch them in the act." Tommy drummed thoughtfully +on the table with a paper knife. "Your plan seems to me an excellent +one, Dr. Bower. I cannot see any hitch in it. Let me see, your address +is—?"</p> + +<p>"The Larches, Hangman's Lane—rather a lonely part, I am afraid. But we +command magnificent views over the Heath."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>The visitor rose.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall expect you to-night, Mr. Blunt. Outside The Larches +at—shall we say, five minutes to eleven—to be on the safe side?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Five minutes to eleven. Good afternoon, Dr. Bower."</p> + +<p>Tommy rose, pressed the buzzer on his desk, and Albert appeared to show +the client out. The doctor walked with a decided limp, but his powerful +physique was evident in spite of it.</p> + +<p>"An ugly customer to tackle," murmured Tommy to himself. "Well, +Tuppence, old girl, what do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you in one word," said Tuppence. "<i>Clubfoot!</i>"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"I said Clubfoot! My study of the Classics has not been in vain. Tommy, +this thing's a plant. Obscure alkaloids indeed—I never heard a weaker +story."</p> + +<p>"Even I did not find it very convincing," admitted her husband.</p> + +<p>"Did you see his eyes on the letter? Tommy, he's one of the gang. +They've got wise to the fact that you're not the real Mr. Blunt, and +they're out for our blood."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Tommy, opening the side cupboard, and surveying +his rows of books with an affectionate eye. "Our rôle is easy to +select. We are the brothers Okewood! And I am Desmond," he added firmly.</p> + +<p>Tuppence shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"All right. Have it your own way. I'd just as soon be Francis. Francis +was much the more intelligent of the two. Desmond always gets into a +mess, and Francis turns up as the gardener or something in the nick of +time, and saves the situation."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tommy, "but I shall be a super Desmond! When I arrive at The +Larches—"</p> + +<p>Tuppence interrupted him unceremoniously.</p> + +<p>"You're not going to Hampstead to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Walk into a trap with your eyes shut!"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear girl, walk into a trap with my eyes open. There's a lot of +difference. I think our friend Dr. Bower will get a little surprise."</p> + +<p>"I don't like it," said Tuppence. "You know what happens when Desmond +disobeys the Chief's orders, and acts on his own. Our orders were quite +clear. To send on the letters at once and to report immediately on +anything that happened."</p> + +<p>"You've not got it quite right," said Tommy. "We were to report +immediately if anyone came in and mentioned the number 16. Nobody has."</p> + +<p>"That's a quibble," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"It's no good. I've got a fancy for playing a lone hand. My dear old +Tuppence, I shall be all right. I shall go armed to the teeth. The +essence of the whole thing is that I shall be on my guard and they +won't know it. The Chief will be patting me on the back for a good +night's work."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence. "I don't like it. That man's as strong as a +gorilla."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tommy, "but think of my blue-nosed automatic."</p> + +<p>The door of the outer office opened and Albert appeared. Closing the +door behind him, he approached them with an envelope in his hand.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman to see you," said Albert. "When I began the usual stunt +of saying you were engaged with Scotland Yard, he told me he knew all +about that. Said he came from Scotland Yard himself! And he wrote +something on a card and stuck it up in this envelope."</p> + +<p>Tommy took the envelope and opened it. As he read the card, a grin +passed across his face.</p> + +<p>"The gentleman was amusing himself at your expense by speaking the +truth, Albert," he remarked. "Show him in."</p> + +<p>He tossed the card to Tuppence. It bore the name Detective Inspector +Dymchurch, and across it was scrawled in pencil—"A friend of +Marriot's."</p> + +<p>In another minute the Scotland Yard detective was entering the inner +office. In appearance, Inspector Dymchurch was of the same type as +Inspector Marriot, short and thick set, with shrewd eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon," said the detective breezily. "Marriot's away in South +Wales, but before he went, he asked me to keep an eye on you two, and +on this place in general. Oh! bless you, sir," he went on, as Tommy +seemed about to interrupt him, "<i>we</i> know all about it. It's not our +department, and we don't interfere. But somebody's got wise lately to +the fact that all is not what it seems. You've had a gentleman here +this afternoon. I don't know what he called himself, and I don't know +what his real name is, but I know just a little about him. Enough to +want to know more. Am I right in assuming that he made a date with you +for some particular spot this evening?"</p> + +<p>"Quite right."</p> + +<p>"I thought as much. 16 Westerham Road, Finsbury Park? Was that it?"</p> + +<p>"You're wrong there," said Tommy with a smile. "Dead wrong. The +Larches, Hampstead."</p> + +<p>Dymchurch seemed honestly taken aback. Clearly he had not expected this.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand it," he muttered. "It must be a new layout. The +Larches, Hampstead, you said?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm to meet him there at eleven o'clock to-night."</p> + +<p>"Don't you do it, sir."</p> + +<p>"There!" burst from Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Tommy flushed.</p> + +<p>"If you think, Inspector—" he began heatedly.</p> + +<p>But the Inspector raised a soothing hand.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I think, Mr. Blunt. The place you want to be at +eleven o'clock to-night is here in this office."</p> + +<p>"What?" cried Tuppence, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Here in this office. Never mind how I know—departments overlap +sometimes—but you got one of those famous "Blue" letters to-day. Old +what's his name is after that. He lures you up to Hampstead, makes +quite sure of your being out of the way, and steps in here at night +when all the building is empty and quiet to have a good search round at +his leisure."</p> + +<p>"But why should he think the letter would be here? He'd know I should +have it on me or else have passed it on."</p> + +<p>"Begging your pardon, sir, that's just what he wouldn't know. He may +have tumbled to the fact that you're not the original Mr. Blunt, but +he probably thinks that you're a bona fide gentleman who's bought the +business. In that case, the letter would be all in the way of regular +business and would be filed as such."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"And that's just what we've got to let him think. We'll catch him red +handed here to-night."</p> + +<p>"So that's the plan, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's the chance of a lifetime. Now, let me see, what's the time? +Six o'clock. What time do you usually leave here, sir?"</p> + +<p>"About six."</p> + +<p>"You must seem to leave the place as usual. Actually we'll sneak back +to it as soon as possible. I don't believe they'll come here till about +eleven, but of course they might. If you'll excuse me, I'll just go and +take a look round outside and see if I can make out anyone watching the +place."</p> + +<p>Dymchurch departed, and Tommy began an argument with Tuppence.</p> + +<p>It lasted some time and was heated and acrimonious. In the end Tuppence +suddenly capitulated.</p> + +<p>"All right," she said. "I give in. I'll go home, and sit there +like a good little girl whilst you tackle crooks and hob nob with +detectives—but you wait, young man. I'll be even with you yet for +keeping me out of the fun."</p> + +<p>Dymchurch returned at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Coast seems clear enough," he said. "But you can't tell. Better seem +to leave in the usual manner. They won't go on watching the place once +you've gone."</p> + +<p>Tommy called Albert, and gave him instructions to lock up.</p> + +<p>Then the four of them made their way to the garage near by where the +car was usually left. Tuppence drove and Albert sat beside her. Tommy +and the detective sat behind.</p> + +<p>Presently they were held up by a block in the traffic. Tuppence looked +over her shoulder and nodded. Tommy and the detective opened the right +hand door, and stepped out into the middle of Oxford Street. In a +minute or two Tuppence drove on.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_VI"><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>"Better not go in just yet," said Dymchurch as he and Tommy hurried +into Haleham Street. "You've got the key all right?"</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"Then what about a bite of dinner? It's early, but there's a little +place here right opposite. We'll get a table by the window, so that we +can watch the place all the time."</p> + +<p>They had a very welcome little meal, in the manner the detective had +suggested. Tommy found Inspector Dymchurch quite an entertaining +companion. Most of his official work had lain amongst international +spies, and he had tales to tell which astonished his simple listener.</p> + +<p>They remained in the little Restaurant until eight o'clock when +Dymchurch suggested a move.</p> + +<p>"It's quite dark now, sir," he explained. "We shall be able to slip in +without anyone being the wiser."</p> + +<p>It was, as he said, quite dark. They crossed the road, looked quickly +up and down the deserted street, and slipped inside the entrance. Then +they mounted the stairs, and Tommy inserted his key in the lock of the +outer office.</p> + +<p>Just as he did so, he heard, as he thought, Dymchurch whistle beside +him.</p> + +<p>"What are you whistling for?" he asked sharply.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> didn't whistle," said Dymchurch, very much astonished, "I thought +<i>you</i> did."</p> + +<p>"Well, someone—" began Tommy.</p> + +<p>He got no further. Strong arms seized him from behind, and before he +could cry out, a pad of something sweet and sickly was pressed over his +mouth and nose.</p> + +<p>He struggled valiantly, but in vain. The chloroform did its work. His +head began to whirl and the floor heaved up and down in front of him. +Choking, he lost consciousness....</p> + +<p>He came to himself painfully but in full possession of his faculties. +The chloroform had been only a whiff. They had kept him under long +enough to force a gag into his mouth and ensure that he did not cry out.</p> + +<p>When he came to himself, he was half lying, half sitting, propped +against the wall in a corner of his own inner office. Two men were +busily turning out the contents of the desk, and ransacking the +cupboards, and as they worked they cursed freely.</p> + +<p>"Swelp me, guvnor," said the taller of the two hoarsely, "we've turned +the whole bloody place upside down and inside out. It's not there."</p> + +<p>"It must be here," snarled the other. "It isn't on him. And there's no +other place it can be."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned, and to Tommy's utter amazement he saw that +the last speaker was none other than Inspector Dymchurch. The latter +grinned when he saw Tommy's astonished face.</p> + +<p>"So our young friend is awake again," he said. "And a little +surprised—yes, a little surprised. But it was so simple. We suspect +that all is not as it should be with the International Detective +Agency. I volunteer to find out if that is so, or not. If the new Mr. +Blunt is indeed a spy, he will be suspicious, so I send first my dear +old friend Carl Bauer. Carl is told to act suspiciously and pitch an +improbable tale. He does so, and then I appear on the scene. I use the +name of Inspector Marriot to gain confidence. The rest is easy."</p> + +<p>He laughed.</p> + +<p>Tommy was dying to say several things, but the gag in his mouth +prevented him. Also, he was dying to <i>do</i> several things—mostly with +his hands and feet—but alas, that too had been attended to. He was +securely bound.</p> + +<p>The thing that amazed him most was the astounding change in the man +standing over him. As Inspector Dymchurch, the fellow had been a +typical Englishman. Now, no one could have mistaken him for a moment +for anything but a well educated foreigner who talked English perfectly +without trace of accent.</p> + +<p>"Coggins, my good friend," said the erstwhile Inspector, addressing +his ruffianly looking associate. "Take your life preserver and stand +by the prisoner. I am going to remove the gag. You understand, my dear +Mr. Blunt, do you not, that it would be criminally foolish on your +part to cry out? But I am sure you do. For your age, you are quite an +intelligent lad."</p> + +<p>Very deftly he removed the gag, and stepped back.</p> + +<p>Tommy eased his stiff jaws, rolled his tongue round his mouth, +swallowed twice—and said nothing at all.</p> + +<p>"I congratulate you on your restraint," said the other. "You appreciate +the position, I see. Have you nothing at all to say?"</p> + +<p>"What I have to say will keep," said Tommy. "And it won't spoil by +waiting."</p> + +<p>"Ah! What I have to say will not keep. In plain English, Mr. Blunt, +where is that letter?"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, I don't know," said Tommy cheerfully. "I haven't got +it. But you know that as well as I do. I should go on looking about if +I were you. I like to see you and friend Coggins playing Hide and Seek +together."</p> + +<p>The other's face darkened.</p> + +<p>"You are pleased to be flippant, Mr. Blunt. You see that square box +over there. That is Coggins' little outfit. In it there is vitriol ... +yes, vitriol ... and irons that can be heated in the fire, so that they +are red hot and burn...."</p> + +<p>Tommy shook his head sadly.</p> + +<p>"An error in diagnosis," he murmured. "Tuppence and I labelled this +adventure wrong. It's not a Clubfoot story. It's a Bull Dog Drummond, +and you are the inimitable Carl Peterson."</p> + +<p>"What is this nonsense you are talking?" snarled the other.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tommy. "I see you are unacquainted with the Classics. A +pity."</p> + +<p>"Ignorant fool! Will you do what we want or will you not? Shall I tell +Coggins to get out his tools and begin?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be so impatient," said Tommy. "Of course I'll do what you want, +as soon as you tell me what it is. You don't suppose I want to be +carved up like a filleted sole and fried on a gridiron? I loathe being +hurt."</p> + +<p>Dymchurch looked at him in contempt.</p> + +<p>"Gott! What cowards are these English."</p> + +<p>"Common sense, my dear fellow, merely common sense. Leave the vitriol +alone, and let us come down to brass tacks."</p> + +<p>"I want the letter."</p> + +<p>"I've already told you I haven't got it."</p> + +<p>"We know that—we also know who must have it. The girl."</p> + +<p>"Very possibly you're right," said Tommy. "She may have slipped it into +her handbag when your pal Carl startled us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you do not deny. That is wise. Very good, you will write to +this Tuppence, as you call her, bidding her bring the letter here +immediately."</p> + +<p>"I can't do that," began Tommy.</p> + +<p>The other cut in before he had finished the sentence.</p> + +<p>"Ah! You can't? Well, we shall soon see. Coggins!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be in such a hurry," said Tommy. "And do wait for the end of the +sentence. I was going to say that I can't do that unless you untie my +arms. Hang it all, I'm not one of those freaks who can write with their +noses or their elbows."</p> + +<p>"You are willing to write, then?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Haven't I been telling you so all along? I'm all out to be +pleasant and obliging. You won't do anything unkind to Tuppence, of +course. I'm sure you won't. She's such a nice girl."</p> + +<p>"We only want the letter," said Dymchurch, but there was a singularly +unpleasant smile on his face.</p> + +<p>At a nod from him, the brutal Coggins knelt down and unfastened +Tommy's arms. The latter swung them to and fro.</p> + +<p>"That's better," he said cheerfully. "Will kind Coggins hand me my +fountain pen? It's on the table, I think, with my other miscellaneous +property."</p> + +<p>Scowling, the man brought it to him, and provided a sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>"Be careful what you say," Dymchurch said menacingly.</p> + +<p>"We leave it to you, but failure means—death—and slow death at that."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Tommy, "I will certainly do my best."</p> + +<p>He reflected a minute or two, then began to scribble rapidly.</p> + +<p>"How will this do?" he asked, handing over the completed epistle.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><i>Dear Tuppence</i>,</p> + +<p><i>Can you come along at once and bring that blue letter with you? We +want to decode it here and now.</i></p> + +<p><i>In haste</i></p> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Francis</i></p> +</div> + +<p>"Francis?" queried the bogus Inspector, with lifted eyebrows. "Was that +the name she called you?"</p> + +<p>"As you weren't at my christening," said Tommy, "I don't suppose you +can know whether it's my name or not. But I think the cigarette case +you took from my pocket is a pretty good proof that I'm speaking the +truth."</p> + +<p>The other stepped over to the table and took up the case, read "Francis +from Tuppence," with a faint grin and laid it down again.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to find you are behaving so sensibly," he said. "Coggins, +give that note to Vassily. He is on guard outside. Tell him to take it +at once."</p> + +<p>The next twenty minutes passed slowly, the ten minutes after that more +slowly still. Dymchurch was striding up and down with a face that grew +darker and darker. Once he turned menacingly on Tommy.</p> + +<p>"If you have dared to double cross us ..." he growled.</p> + +<p>"If we'd had a pack of cards here, we might have had a game of picquet +to pass the time," drawled Tommy. "Women always keep one waiting. I +hope you're not going to be unkind to little Tuppence when she comes?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! no," said Dymchurch. "We shall arrange for you to go to the same +place—together."</p> + +<p>"Will you, you swine," said Tommy under his breath.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a stir in the outer office. A man whom Tommy had not +yet seen poked his head in and growled something in Russian.</p> + +<p>"Good," said Dymchurch. "She is coming—and coming alone."</p> + +<p>For a moment a faint anxiety caught at Tommy's heart.</p> + +<p>The next minute he heard Tuppence's voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh! there you are, Inspector Dymchurch. I've brought the letter. Where +is Francis?"</p> + +<p>With the last words she came through the door, and Vassily sprang on +her from behind, clapping his hand over her mouth. Dymchurch tore the +handbag from her grasp, and turned over its contents in a frenzied +search.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he uttered an ejaculation of delight and held up a blue +envelope with a Russian stamp on it. Coggins gave a hoarse shout.</p> + +<p>And just in that minute of triumph, the other door, the door into +Tuppence's own office, opened noiselessly and Inspector Marriot and two +men armed with revolvers stepped into the room, with the sharp command: +"Hands Up!"</p> + +<p>There was no fight. The others were taken at a hopeless disadvantage. +Dymchurch's automatic lay on the table, and the two others were not +armed.</p> + +<p>"A very nice little haul," said Inspector Marriot with approval, as he +snapped on the last pair of handcuffs. "And we'll have more as time +goes on, I hope."</p> + +<p>White with rage, Dymchurch glared at Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"You little devil," he snarled, "It was you put them on to us."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't all my doing. I ought to have guessed, I admit, when you +brought in the number sixteen this afternoon. But it was Tommy's note +clinched matters. I rang up Inspector Marriot, got Albert to meet him +with the duplicate key of the office, and came along myself with the +empty blue envelope in my bag. The letter I forwarded according to my +instructions as soon as I had parted from you two this afternoon."</p> + +<p>But one word had caught the other's attention.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tommy?</i>" he queried.</p> + +<p>Tommy who had just been released from his bonds came towards them.</p> + +<p>"Well done, brother Francis," he said to Tuppence, taking both her +hands in his. And to Dymchurch: "As I told you, my dear fellow, you +really ought to read the Classics."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_VII"><span class="smcap">Chapter VII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Finessing The King</span></h3> + + +<p>It was a wet Wednesday in the offices of the International Detective +Agency. Tuppence let the Daily Leader fall idly from her hand.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I've been thinking, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"It's impossible to say," replied her husband. "You think of so many +things, and you think of them all at once."</p> + +<p>"I think it's time we went dancing again."</p> + +<p>Tommy picked up the Daily Leader hastily.</p> + +<p>"Our advertisement looks well," he remarked, his head on one side. +"Blunt's Brilliant Detectives. Do you realise, Tuppence, that you and +you alone are Blunt's Brilliant Detectives? There's glory for you, as +Humpty Dumpty would say."</p> + +<p>"I was talking about dancing."</p> + +<p>"There's a curious point that I have observed about newspapers. I +wonder if you have ever noticed it. Take these three copies of the +Daily Leader. Can you tell me how they differ one from the other?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence took them with some curiosity.</p> + +<p>"It seems fairly easy," she remarked witheringly. "One is to-day's, one +is yesterday's, and one is the day before's."</p> + +<p>"Positively scintillating, my dear Watson. But that was not my meaning. +Observe the headline, 'The Daily Leader.' Compare the three—do you see +any difference between them?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't," said Tuppence, "and what's more, I don't believe there +is any."</p> + +<p>Tommy sighed, and brought the tips of his fingers together in the most +approved Sherlock Holmes fashion.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. Yet you read the papers as much—in fact, more than I do. But +I have observed and you have not. If you will look at to-day's Daily +Leader, you will see that in the middle of the downstroke of the D is +a small white dot, and there is another in the L of the same word. But +in yesterday's paper the white dot is not in DAILY at all. There are +two white dots in the L of LEADER. That of the day before again has two +dots in the D of DAILY. In fact, the dot, or dots, are in a different +position every day."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"That's a journalistic secret."</p> + +<p>"Meaning you don't know, and can't guess."</p> + +<p>"I will merely say this—the practice is common to all newspapers."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you clever?" said Tuppence. "Especially at drawing red herrings +across the track. Let's go back to what we were talking about before."</p> + +<p>"What were we talking about?"</p> + +<p>"The Three Arts Ball."</p> + +<p>Tommy groaned.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Tuppence. Not the Three Arts Ball. I'm not young enough. I +assure you I'm not young enough."</p> + +<p>"When I was a nice young girl," said Tuppence, "I was brought up to +believe that men—especially husbands—were dissipated beings, fond +of drinking and dancing and staying up late at night. It took an +exceptionally beautiful and clever wife to keep them at home. Another +illusion gone! All the wives I know are hankering to go out and dance, +and weeping because their husbands will wear bedroom slippers and go to +bed at half past nine. And you do dance so nicely, Tommy dear."</p> + +<p>"Gently with the butter, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, "it's not purely for pleasure +that I want to go. I'm intrigued by this advertisement."</p> + +<p>She picked up the Daily Leader again, and read it out.</p> + +<p>"I should go three hearts. 12 tricks. Ace of Spades. Necessary to +finesse the King."</p> + +<p>"Rather an expensive way of learning Bridge," was Tommy's comment.</p> + +<p>"Don't be an ass. That's nothing to do with Bridge. You see, I was +lunching with a girl yesterday at the Ace of Spades. It's a queer +little underground den in Chelsea, and she told me that it's quite the +fashion at these big shows to trundle round there in the course of the +evening for bacon and eggs and Welsh Rabbits—Bohemian sort of stuff. +It's got screened off booths all round it. Pretty hot place, I should +say."</p> + +<p>"And your idea is—?"</p> + +<p>"Three hearts stands for the Three Arts Ball to-morrow night, 12 tricks +is twelve o'clock, and the Ace of Spades is the Ace of Spades."</p> + +<p>"And what about its being necessary to finesse the King?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that's what I thought we'd find out."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder if you weren't right, Tuppence," said Tommy +magnanimously. "But I don't quite see why you want to butt in upon +other people's love affairs."</p> + +<p>"I shan't butt in. What I'm proposing is an interesting experiment in +detective work. We <i>need</i> practice."</p> + +<p>"Business is certainly not too brisk," agreed Tommy. "All the same, +Tuppence, what you want is to go to the Three Arts Ball and dance! Talk +of red herrings."</p> + +<p>Tuppence laughed shamelessly.</p> + +<p>"Be a sport, Tommy. Try and forget you're thirty-two and have got one +grey hair in your left eyebrow."</p> + +<p>"I was always weak where women were concerned," murmured her husband. +"Have I got to make an ass of myself in fancy dress?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, but you can leave that to me. I've got a splendid idea."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her with some misgiving. He was always profoundly +mistrustful of Tuppence's brilliant ideas.</p> + +<p>When he returned to the flat on the following evening, Tuppence came +flying out of her bedroom to meet him.</p> + +<p>"It's come," she announced.</p> + +<p>"What's come?"</p> + +<p>"The costume. Come and look at it."</p> + +<p>Tommy followed her. Spread out on the bed was a complete fireman's kit +with shining helmet.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" groaned Tommy. "Have I joined the Wembley fire brigade?"</p> + +<p>"Guess again," said Tuppence. "You haven't caught the idea yet. Use +your little grey cells, mon ami. Scintillate, Watson. Be a bull that +has been more than ten minutes in the arena."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," said Tommy. "I begin to see. There is a dark purpose +in this. What are you going to wear, Tuppence?"</p> + +<p>"An old suit of your clothes, an American hat and some horn spectacles."</p> + +<p>"Crude," said Tommy. "But I catch the idea. McCarty incog. And I am +Riordan."</p> + +<p>"That's it. I thought we ought to practise American detective methods +as well as English ones. Just for once I am going to be the star, and +you will be the humble assistant."</p> + +<p>"Don't forget," said Tommy warningly, "that it's always an innocent +remark by the simple Denny that puts McCarty on the right track."</p> + +<p>But Tuppence only laughed. She was in high spirits.</p> + +<p>It was a most successful evening. The crowds, the music, the fantastic +dresses—everything conspired to make the young couple enjoy +themselves. Tommy forgot his rôle of the bored husband dragged out +against his will.</p> + +<p>At ten minutes to twelve, they drove off in the car to the famous—or +infamous—Ace of Spades. As Tuppence had said, it was an underground +den, mean and tawdry in appearance, but it was nevertheless crowded +with couples in fancy dress. There were closed in booths round the +walls, and Tommy and Tuppence secured one of these. They left the +doors purposely a little ajar so that they could see what was going on +outside.</p> + +<p>"I wonder which they are—our people, I mean," said Tuppence. "What +about that Columbine over there with the red Mephistopheles?"</p> + +<p>"I fancy the wicked Mandarin and the lady who calls herself a +Battleship—more of a fast Cruiser, I should say."</p> + +<p>"Isn't he witty?" said Tuppence. "All done on a little drop of drink! +Who's this coming in dressed as the Queen of Hearts—rather a good get +up, that."</p> + +<p>The girl in question passed into the booth next to them accompanied +by her escort who was "the gentleman dressed in newspaper" from Alice +in Wonderland. They were both wearing masks—it seemed to be rather a +common custom at the Ace of Spades.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we're in a real den of iniquity," said Tuppence with a +pleased face. "Scandals all round us. What a row everyone makes."</p> + +<p>A cry, as of protest, rang out from the booth next door and was covered +by a man's loud laugh. Everybody was laughing and singing. The shrill +voices of the girls rose above the booming of their male escorts.</p> + +<p>"What about that shepherdess?" demanded Tommy. "The one with the comic +Frenchman. They might be our little lot."</p> + +<p>"Anyone might be," confessed Tuppence. "I'm not going to bother. The +great thing is that we are enjoying ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I could have enjoyed myself better in another costume," grumbled +Tommy. "You've no idea of the heat of this one."</p> + +<p>"Cheer up," said Tuppence. "You look lovely."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," said Tommy. "It's more than you do. You're the +funniest little guy I've ever seen."</p> + +<p>"Will you keep a civil tongue in your head, Denny, my boy. Hullo, the +gentleman in newspaper is leaving his lady alone. Where's he going, do +you think?"</p> + +<p>"Going to hurry up the drinks, I expect," said Tommy. "I wouldn't mind +doing the same thing."</p> + +<p>"He's a long time doing it," said Tuppence, when four or five minutes +had passed. "Tommy, would you think me an awful ass—" She paused.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she jumped up.</p> + +<p>"Call me an ass if you like. I'm going in next door."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Tuppence—you can't—"</p> + +<p>"I've a feeling there's something wrong. I <i>know</i> there is. Don't try +and stop me."</p> + +<p>She passed quickly out of their own booth, and Tommy followed her. The +doors of the one next door were closed. Tuppence pushed them apart and +went in, Tommy on her heels.</p> + +<p>The girl dressed as the Queen of Hearts sat in the corner leaning up +against the wall in a queer huddled position. Her eyes regarded them +steadily through her mask, but she did not move. Her dress was carried +out in a bold design of red and white, but on the left side of the +pattern seemed to have got mixed. There was more red than should have +been....</p> + +<p>With a cry Tuppence hurried forward. At the same time, Tommy saw what +she had seen, the hilt of a jewelled dagger just below the heart. +Tuppence dropped on her knees by the girl's side.</p> + +<p>"Quick, Tommy, she's still alive. Get hold of the Manager and make him +get a doctor at once."</p> + +<p>"Right. Mind you don't touch the handle of that dagger, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"I'll be careful. Go quickly."</p> + +<p>Tommy hurried out, pulling the doors to behind him. Tuppence passed +her arm around the girl. The latter made a faint gesture, and Tuppence +realised that she wanted to get rid of the mask. Tuppence unfastened +it gently. She saw a fresh flower-like face, and wide starry eyes that +were full of horror, suffering, and a kind of dazed bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Tuppence, very gently. "Can you speak at all? Will you +tell me, if you can, who did this?"</p> + +<p>She felt the eyes fix themselves on her face. The girl was sighing, +the deep palpitating sighs of a failing heart. And still she looked +steadily at Tuppence. Then her lips parted.</p> + +<p>"Bingo did it—" she said in a strained whisper.</p> + +<p>Then her hands relaxed, and she seemed to nestle down on Tuppence's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>Tommy came in, two men with him. The bigger of the two came forward +with an air of authority, the word, doctor, written all over him.</p> + +<p>Tuppence relinquished her burden.</p> + +<p>"She's dead, I'm afraid," she said with a catch in her voice.</p> + +<p>The doctor made a swift examination.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "Nothing to be done. We had better leave things as they +are till the police come. How did the thing happen?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence explained rather haltingly, slurring over her reasons for +entering the booth.</p> + +<p>"It's a curious business," said the doctor. "You heard nothing?"</p> + +<p>"I heard her give a kind of cry, but then the man laughed. Naturally I +didn't think—"</p> + +<p>"Naturally not," agreed the doctor. "And the man wore a mask, you say. +You wouldn't recognise him?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not. Would you, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"No. Still there is his costume."</p> + +<p>"The first thing will be to identify this poor lady," said the doctor. +"After that, well, I suppose the police will get down to things pretty +quickly. It ought not to be a difficult case. Ah, here they come."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_VIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper</span></h3> + + +<p>It was after three o'clock when, weary and sick at heart, the husband +and wife reached home. Several hours passed before Tuppence could +sleep. She lay tossing from side to side, seeing always that flower +like face with the horror stricken eyes.</p> + +<p>The dawn was coming in through the shutters when Tuppence finally +dropped off to sleep. After the excitement, she slept heavily and +dreamlessly. It was broad daylight when she awoke to find Tommy, up and +dressed, standing by the bedside, shaking her gently by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, old thing. Inspector Marriot and another man are here and +want to see you."</p> + +<p>"What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"Just on eleven. I'll get Alice to bring you your tea right away."</p> + +<p>"Yes, do. Tell Inspector Marriot I'll be there in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, Tuppence came hurrying into the sitting +room. Inspector Marriot who was sitting looking very straight and +solemn, rose to greet her.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Mrs. Beresford. This is Sir Arthur Merivale."</p> + +<p>Tuppence shook hands with a tall thin man with haggard eyes and greying +hair.</p> + +<p>"It's about this sad business last night," said Inspector Marriot. "I +want Sir Arthur to hear from your own lips what you told me—the words +the poor lady said before she died. Sir Arthur has been very hard to +convince."</p> + +<p>"I can't believe," said the other, "and I won't believe, that Bingo +Hale ever hurt a hair on Vere's head."</p> + +<p>Inspector Marriot went on.</p> + +<p>"We've made some progress since last night, Mrs. Beresford," he said. +"First of all we managed to identify the lady as Lady Merivale. We +communicated with Sir Arthur here. He recognised the body at once, and +was horrified beyond words, of course. Then I asked him if he knew +anyone called Bingo."</p> + +<p>"You must understand, Mrs. Beresford," said Sir Arthur, "that Captain +Hale, who is known to all his friends as Bingo, is the dearest pal I +have. He practically lives with us. He was staying at my house when +they arrested him this morning. I cannot but believe that you have made +a mistake—it was not his name that my wife uttered."</p> + +<p>"There is no possibility of mistake," said Tuppence gently. "She said +'Bingo did it—'"</p> + +<p>"You see, Sir Arthur," said Marriot.</p> + +<p>The unhappy man sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands.</p> + +<p>"It's incredible. What earthly motive could there be? Oh! I know your +idea, Inspector Marriot. You think Hale was my wife's lover, but even +if that were so—which I don't admit for a moment—what motive was +there for killing her?"</p> + +<p>Inspector Marriot coughed.</p> + +<p>"It's not a very pleasant thing to say, sir. But Captain Hale has been +paying a lot of attention to a certain young American lady of late—a +young lady with a considerable amount of money. If Lady Merivale liked +to turn nasty, she could probably stop his marriage."</p> + +<p>"This is outrageous, Inspector."</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur sprang angrily to his feet. The other calmed him with a +soothing gesture.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, I'm sure, Sir Arthur. You say that you and Captain +Hale both decided to attend this show. Your wife was away on a visit at +the time, and you had no idea that she was to be there?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least idea."</p> + +<p>"Just show him that advertisement you told me about, Mrs. Beresford."</p> + +<p>Tuppence complied.</p> + +<p>"That seems to me clear enough. It was inserted by Captain Hale to +catch your wife's eye. They had already arranged to meet there. But +you only made up your mind to go the day before, hence it was necessary +to warn her. That is the explanation of the phrase "Necessary to +finesse the King." You ordered your costume from a theatrical firm +at the last minute, but Captain Hale's was a home made affair. He +went as the Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper. Do you know, Sir Arthur, +what we found clasped in the dead lady's hand? A fragment torn from a +newspaper. My men have orders to take Captain Hale's costume away with +them from your house. I shall find it at the Yard when I get back. If +there's a tear in it corresponding to the missing piece—well, it'll be +the end of the case."</p> + +<p>"You won't find it," said Sir Arthur. "I know Bingo Hale."</p> + +<p>Apologising to Tuppence for disturbing her, they took their leave.</p> + +<p>Late that evening, there was a ring at the bell, and somewhat to the +astonishment of the young pair, Inspector Marriot once more walked in.</p> + +<p>"I thought Blunt's Brilliant Detectives would like to hear the latest +developments," he said, with a hint of a smile.</p> + +<p>"They would," said Tommy. "Have a drink?"</p> + +<p>He placed materials hospitably at Inspector Marriot's elbow.</p> + +<p>"It's a clear case," said the latter, after a minute or two. "Dagger +was the lady's own—the idea was to have made it look like suicide, +evidently, but thanks to you two being on the spot, that didn't come +off. We've found plenty of letters—they'd been carrying on together +for some time, that's clear—without Sir Arthur tumbling to it. Then we +found the last link—"</p> + +<p>"The last what?" said Tuppence sharply.</p> + +<p>"The last link in the chain—that fragment of the Daily Leader. It was +torn from the dress he wore—fits exactly. Oh! yes, it's a perfectly +clear case. By the way, I brought round a photograph of those two +exhibits—I thought they might interest you. It's very seldom that you +get such a perfectly clear case."</p> + +<p>"Tommy," said Tuppence, when her husband returned from showing the +Scotland Yard man out. "Why do you think Inspector Marriot keeps +repeating that it's a perfectly clear case?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Smug satisfaction, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it. He's trying to get us irritated. You know, Tommy, +butchers, for instance, know something about meat, don't they?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so, but what on earth—"</p> + +<p>"And in the same way, greengrocers know all about vegetables, and +fishermen about fish. Detectives, professional detectives, must know +all about criminals. They know the real thing when they see it—and +they know when it isn't the real thing. Marriot's expert knowledge +tells him that Captain Hale isn't a criminal—but all the facts are +dead against him. As a last resource Marriot is egging us on, hoping +against hope that some little detail or other will come back to +us—something that happened last night—which will throw a different +light on things. Tommy, why shouldn't it be suicide, after all?"</p> + +<p>"Remember what she said to you."</p> + +<p>"I know—but take that a different way. It was Bingo's doing—his +conduct that drove her to kill herself. It's just possible."</p> + +<p>"Just. But it doesn't explain that fragment of newspaper."</p> + +<p>"Let's have a look at Marriot's photographs. I forgot to ask him what +Hale's account of the matter was."</p> + +<p>"I asked him that in the hall just now. Hale declared he had never +spoken to Lady Merivale at the show. Says somebody shoved a note into +his hand which said: 'Don't try and speak to me to-night. Arthur +suspects.' He couldn't produce the piece of paper, though, and it +doesn't sound a very likely story. Anyway, you and I <i>know</i> he was with +her at the Ace of Spades because we saw him."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded and pored over the two photographs. One was a tiny +fragment with the legend DAILY LE—and the rest torn off. The other +was the front sheet of the Daily Leader with the small round tear at +the top of it. There was no doubt about it. The two fitted together +perfectly.</p> + +<p>"What are all those marks down the side?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Stitches," said Tuppence. "Where it was sewn to the others, you know."</p> + +<p>"I thought it might be a new scheme of dots," said Tommy. Then he gave +a slight shiver. "My word, Tuppence, how creepy it makes one feel. +To think that you and I were discussing dots and puzzling over that +advertisement—all as light-hearted as anything."</p> + +<p>Tuppence did not answer. Tommy looked at her, and was startled to +observe that she was staring ahead of her, her mouth slightly open, and +a bewildered expression on her face.</p> + +<p>"Tuppence," said Tommy gently, shaking her by the arm. "What's the +matter with you? Are you just going to have a stroke or something?"</p> + +<p>But Tuppence remained motionless. Presently she said in a far away +voice.</p> + +<p>"Denis Riordan."</p> + +<p>"Eh?" said Tommy staring.</p> + +<p>"It's just as you said. One simple innocent remark! Find me all this +week's Daily Leaders."</p> + +<p>"What are you up to?"</p> + +<p>"I'm being McCarty. I've been worrying round, and thanks to you, I've +got a notion at last. This is the front sheet of Tuesday's paper. I +seem to remember that Tuesday's paper was the one with two dots in the +L of LEADER. This has a dot in the D of DAILY—and one in the L too. +Get me the papers and let's make sure."</p> + +<p>They compared them anxiously. Tuppence had been quite right in her +remembrance.</p> + +<p>"You see? This fragment wasn't torn from Tuesday's paper."</p> + +<p>"But Tuppence, we can't be sure. It may merely be different editions."</p> + +<p>"It may—but at any rate it's given me an idea. It can't be +coincidence—that's certain. There's only one thing it can be if I'm +right in my idea. Ring up Sir Arthur, Tommy. Ask him to come round here +at once. Say I've got important news for him. Then get hold of Marriot. +Scotland Yard will know his address if he's gone home."</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur Merivale, very much intrigued by the summons, arrived at the +flat in about half an hour's time. Tuppence came forward to greet him.</p> + +<p>"I must apologise for sending for you in such a peremptory fashion," +she said. "But my husband and I have discovered something that we think +you ought to know at once. Do sit down."</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur sat down, and Tuppence went on.</p> + +<p>"You are, I know, very anxious to clear your friend."</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur shook his head sadly.</p> + +<p>"I was, but even I have had to give in to the overwhelming evidence."</p> + +<p>"What would you say if I told you that chance has placed in my hands a +piece of evidence that will certainly clear him of all complicity?"</p> + +<p>"I should be overjoyed to hear it, Mrs. Beresford."</p> + +<p>"Supposing," continued Tuppence, "that I had come across a girl who was +actually dancing with Captain Hale last night at twelve o'clock—the +hour when he was supposed to be at the Ace of Spades."</p> + +<p>"Marvellous," cried Sir Arthur. "I knew there was some mistake. Poor +Vere must have killed herself after all."</p> + +<p>"Hardly that," said Tuppence. "You forget the other man."</p> + +<p>"What other man?"</p> + +<p>"The one my husband and I saw leave the booth. You see, Sir Arthur, +there must have been a second man dressed in newspaper at the Ball. By +the way, what was your own costume?"</p> + +<p>"Mine? I went as a seventeenth century executioner."</p> + +<p>"How very appropriate," said Tuppence softly.</p> + +<p>"Appropriate, Mrs. Beresford? What do you mean by appropriate?"</p> + +<p>"For the part you played. Shall I tell you my ideas on the subject, +Sir Arthur? The newspaper dress is easily put on over that of an +executioner. Previously a little note has been slipped into Captain +Hale's hand, asking him not to speak to a certain lady. But the lady +herself knows nothing of that note. She goes to the Ace of Spades at +the appointed time, and sees the figure she expects to see. They go +into the booth. He takes her in his arms, I think, and kisses her—the +kiss of a Judas, and as he kisses he strikes with the dagger. She only +utters one faint cry and he covers that with a laugh. Presently he goes +away—and to the last, horrified and bewildered, she believes her lover +is the man who killed her.</p> + +<p>"But she has torn a small fragment from the costume. The murderer +notices that—he is a man who pays great attention to detail. To make +the case absolutely clear against his victim the fragment must seem to +have been torn from Captain Hale's costume. That would present great +difficulties unless the two men happened to be living in the same +house. Then, of course, the thing would be simplicity itself. He makes +an exact duplicate of the tear in Captain Hale's costume—then he burns +his own and prepares to play the part of the loyal friend."</p> + +<p>Tuppence paused.</p> + +<p>"Well, Sir Arthur?"</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur rose and made her a bow.</p> + +<p>"The rather vivid imagination of a charming lady who reads too much +fiction."</p> + +<p>"You think so?" said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"And a husband who is guided by his wife," said Sir Arthur. "I do not +fancy you will find anybody to take the matter seriously."</p> + +<p>He laughed out loud, and Tuppence stiffened in her chair.</p> + +<p>"I would swear to that laugh anywhere," she said. "I heard it last in +the Ace of Spades. And you are under a little misapprehension about us +both. Beresford is our real name, but we have another."</p> + +<p>She picked up a card from the table and handed it to him. Sir Arthur +read it aloud.</p> + +<p>"International Detective Agency...." He drew his breath sharply. "So +that is what you really are! That was why Marriot brought me here this +morning. It was a trap—"</p> + +<p>He strolled to the window.</p> + +<p>"A fine view you have from here," he said. "Right over London."</p> + +<p>"Inspector Marriot," cried Tommy sharply.</p> + +<p>In a flash the Inspector appeared from the communicating door in the +opposite wall.</p> + +<p>A little smile of amusement came to Sir Arthur's lips.</p> + +<p>"I thought as much," he said. "But you won't get me this time, I'm +afraid, Inspector. I prefer to take my own way out."</p> + +<p>And, putting his hands on the sill, he vaulted clean through the window.</p> + +<p>Tuppence shrieked and clapped her hands to her ears to shut out the +sound she had already imagined—the sickening thud far beneath. +Inspector Marriot uttered an oath.</p> + +<p>"We should have thought of the window," he said. "Though, mind you, it +would have been a difficult thing to prove. I'll go down and—and—see +to things."</p> + +<p>"Poor devil," said Tommy slowly. "If he was fond of his wife—"</p> + +<p>But the Inspector interrupted him with a snort.</p> + +<p>"Fond of her? That's as may be. He was at his wits' end where to turn +for money. Lady Merivale had a large fortune of her own, and it all +went to him. If she'd bolted with young Hale, he'd never have seen a +penny of it."</p> + +<p>"That was it, was it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, from the very start, I sensed that Sir Arthur was a bad +lot, and that Captain Hale was all right. We know pretty well what's +what at the Yard—but it's awkward when you're up against facts. I'll +be going down now—I should give your wife a glass of brandy if I were +you, Mr. Beresford—it's been upsetting like for her."</p> + +<p>"Greengrocers," said Tuppence in a low voice as the door closed behind +the imperturbable Inspector. "Butchers. Fishermen. Detectives. I was +right, wasn't I? He knew."</p> + +<p>Tommy, who had been busy at the sideboard, approached her with a large +glass.</p> + +<p>"Drink this."</p> + +<p>"What is it? Brandy?"</p> + +<p>"No, it's a large cocktail—suitable for a triumphant McCarty. Yes, +Marriot's right all round—that was the way of it. A bold finesse for +game and rubber."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded.</p> + +<p>"But he finessed the wrong way round."</p> + +<p>"And so," said Tommy. "Exit the King."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_IX"><span class="smcap">Chapter IX</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Case of the Missing Lady</span></h3> + + +<p>The buzzer on Mr. Blunt's desk—(International Detective Agency, +Manager, Theodore Blunt)—uttered its warning call. Tommy and Tuppence +both flew to their respective peepholes which commanded a view of the +outer office. There it was Albert's business to delay the prospective +clients with various artistic devices.</p> + +<p>"I will see, sir," he was saying. "But I'm afraid Mr. Blunt is very +busy just at present. He is engaged with Scotland Yard on the phone +just now."</p> + +<p>"I'll wait," said the visitor. "I haven't got a card with me, but my +name is Gabriel Stavansson."</p> + +<p>The client was a magnificent specimen of manhood, standing over +six feet high. His face was bronzed and weather beaten, and the +extraordinary blue of his eyes made an almost startling contrast to the +brown skin.</p> + +<p>Tommy swiftly made up his mind. He put on his hat, picked up some +gloves, and opened the door. He paused on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"This gentleman is waiting to see you, Mr. Blunt," said Albert.</p> + +<p>A quick frown passed over Tommy's face. He took out his watch.</p> + +<p>"I am due at the Duke's at a quarter to eleven," he said. Then he +looked keenly at the visitor. "I can give you a few minutes if you will +come this way."</p> + +<p>The latter followed him obediently into the inner office where Tuppence +was sitting demurely with pad and pencil.</p> + +<p>"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Tommy. "Now, sir, +perhaps you will state your business? Beyond the fact that it is +urgent, that you came here in a taxi, and that you have lately been in +the Arctic—or possibly the Antarctic, I know nothing."</p> + +<p>The visitor stared at him in amazement.</p> + +<p>"But this is marvellous," he cried. "I thought detectives only did such +things in books! Your office boy did not even give you my name!"</p> + +<p>Tommy sighed deprecatingly.</p> + +<p>"Tut tut, all that was very easy," he said. "The rays of the midnight +sun within the Arctic circle have a peculiar action upon the skin—the +actinic rays have certain properties. I am writing a little monograph +on the subject shortly. But all this is wide of the point. What is it +that has brought you to me in such distress of mind?"</p> + +<p>"To begin with, Mr. Blunt, my name is Gabriel Stavansson—"</p> + +<p>"Ah! of course," said Tommy. "The well known explorer. You have +recently returned from the region of the North Pole, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"I landed in England three days ago. A friend who was cruising in +Northern waters brought me back on his yacht. Otherwise I should not +have got back for another fortnight. Now I must tell you, Mr. Blunt, +that before I started on this last expedition two years ago, I had the +great good fortune to become engaged to Mrs. Maurice Leigh Gordon—"</p> + +<p>Tommy interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Leigh Gordon was, before her marriage—"</p> + +<p>"The Honorable Hermione Crane, second daughter of Lord Lanchester," +reeled off Tuppence glibly.</p> + +<p>Tommy threw her a glance of admiration.</p> + +<p>"Her first husband was killed in the War," added Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Gabriel Stavansson nodded.</p> + +<p>"That is quite correct. As I was saying, Hermione and I became engaged. +I offered, of course, to give up this expedition, but she wouldn't +hear of such a thing—bless her! She's the right kind of woman for an +explorer's wife. Well, my first thought on landing was to see Hermione. +I sent a telegram from Southampton, and rushed up to town by the first +train. I knew that she was living for the time being with an aunt of +hers, Lady Susan Clonray, in Pont Street, and I went straight there. +To my great disappointment, I found that Hermy was away visiting some +friends in Northumberland. Lady Susan was quite nice about it, after +getting over her first surprise at seeing me. As I told you, I wasn't +expected for another fortnight. She said Hermy would be returning in a +few days' time. Then I asked for her address, but the old woman hummed +and hawed—said Hermy was staying at one of two different places, and +that she wasn't quite sure what order she was taking them in. I may +as well tell you, Mr. Blunt, that Lady Susan and I have never got on +very well. She's one of those fat women with double chins. I loathe fat +women—always have—fat women and fat dogs are an abomination unto the +Lord—and unfortunately they so often go together! It's an idiosyncracy +of mine, I know—but there it is—I never can get on with a fat woman."</p> + +<p>"Fashion agrees with you, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy drily. "And +everyone has their own pet aversion—that of the late Lord Roberts was +cats."</p> + +<p>"Mind you, I'm not saying that Lady Susan isn't a perfectly charming +woman—she may be, but I've never taken to her. I've always felt, deep +down, that she disapproved of our engagement, and I feel sure that she +would influence Hermy against me if that were possible. I'm telling you +this for what it's worth. Count it out as prejudice, if you like. Well, +to go on with my story, I'm the kind of obstinate brute who likes his +own way. I didn't leave Pont Street until I'd got out of her the names +and addresses of the people Hermy was likely to be staying with. Then I +took the mail train North."</p> + +<p>"You are, I perceive, a man of action, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"The thing came upon me like a bombshell. Mr. Blunt, none of these +people had seen a sign of Hermy. Of the three houses, only one had +been expecting her—Lady Susan must have made a bloomer over the +other two—and she had put off her visit there at the last moment by +telegram. I returned post haste to London, of course, and went straight +to Lady Susan. I will do her the justice to say that she seemed upset. +She admitted that she had no idea where Hermy could be. All the same, +she strongly negatived any idea of going to the police. She pointed +out that Hermy was not a silly young girl, but an independent woman who +had always been in the habit of making her own plans. She was probably +carrying out some idea of her own.</p> + +<p>"I thought it quite likely that Hermy didn't want to report all her +movements to Lady Susan. But I was still worried. I had that queer +feeling one gets when something is wrong. I was just leaving when a +telegram was brought to Lady Susan. She read it with an expression of +relief and handed it to me. It ran as follows: '<i>Changed my plans Just +off to Monte Carlo for a week Hermy.</i>'"</p> + +<p>Tommy held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"You have got the telegram with you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't. But it was handed in at Maldon, Surrey. I noticed that +at the time, because it struck me as odd. What should Hermy be doing at +Maldon? She'd no friends there that I had ever heard of."</p> + +<p>"You didn't think of rushing off to Monte Carlo in the same way that +you had rushed North?"</p> + +<p>"I thought of it, of course. But I decided against it. You see, Mr. +Blunt, whilst Lady Susan seemed quite satisfied by that telegram, I +wasn't. It struck me as odd that she should always telegraph, not +write. A line or two in her own handwriting would have set all my fears +at rest. But anyone can sign a telegram 'Hermy.' The more I thought it +over, the more uneasy I got. In the end I went down to Maldon. That was +yesterday afternoon. It's a fair sized place—good links there and all +that—two hotels. I inquired everywhere I could think of, but there +wasn't a sign that Hermy had ever been there. Coming back in the train +I read your advertisement, and I thought I'd put it up to you. If Hermy +has really gone off to Monte Carlo, I don't want to set the police +on her track and make a scandal, but I'm not going to be sent off on +a wild goose chase myself. I stay here in London, in case—in case +there's been foul play of any kind."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"What do you suspect exactly?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. But I feel there's something wrong."</p> + +<p>With a quick movement, Stavansson took a case from his pocket and laid +it open before them.</p> + +<p>"That is Hermione," he said. "I will leave it with you."</p> + +<p>The photograph represented a tall willowy woman, no longer in her first +youth, but with a charming frank smile and lovely eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Stavansson," said Tommy. "There is nothing you have omitted +to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing whatever."</p> + +<p>"No detail, however small?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so."</p> + +<p>Tommy sighed.</p> + +<p>"That makes the task harder," he observed. "You must often have +noticed, Mr. Stavansson, in reading of crime, how one small detail is +all the great detective needs to set him on the track. I may say that +this case presents some unusual features. I have, I think, practically +solved it already, but time will show."</p> + +<p>He picked up a violin which lay on the table, and drew the bow once +or twice across the strings. Tuppence ground her teeth and even the +explorer blenched. The performer laid the instrument down again.</p> + +<p>"A few chords from Mosgovskensky," he murmured. "Leave me your address, +Mr. Stavansson, and I will report progress to you."</p> + +<p>As the visitor left the office, Tuppence grabbed the violin and putting +it in the cupboard turned the key in the lock.</p> + +<p>"If you must be Sherlock Holmes," she observed, "I'll get you a nice +little syringe and a bottle labelled Cocaine, but for God's sake leave +that violin alone. If that nice explorer man hadn't been as simple as a +child, he'd have seen through you. Are you going on with the Sherlock +Holmes touch?"</p> + +<p>"I flatter myself that I have carried it through very well so far," +said Tommy with some complacence. "The deductions were good, weren't +they? I had to risk the taxi. After all, it's the only sensible way of +getting to this place."</p> + +<p>"It's lucky I had just read the bit about his engagement in this +morning's Daily Mirror," remarked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that looked well for the efficiency of Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives. This is decidedly a Sherlock Holmes case. Even you cannot +have failed to notice the similarity between it and the disappearance +of Lady Frances Carfax."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect to find Mrs. Leigh Gordon's body in a coffin?"</p> + +<p>"Logically, history should repeat itself. Actually—well, what do you +think?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence. "The most obvious explanation seems to be that +for some reason or other Hermy, as he calls her, is afraid to meet +her fiancé, and that Lady Susan is backing her up. In fact, to put it +bluntly, she's come a cropper of some kind, and has got the wind up +about it."</p> + +<p>"That occurred to me also," said Tommy. "But I thought we'd better +make pretty certain before suggesting that explanation to a man like +Stavansson. What about a run down to Maldon, old thing? And it would do +no harm to take some golf clubs with us."</p> + +<p>Tuppence agreeing, the International Detective Agency was left in the +charge of Albert.</p> + +<p>Maldon, though a well known residential place, did not cover a large +area. Tommy and Tuppence, making every possible inquiry that ingenuity +could suggest, nevertheless drew a complete blank. It was as they were +returning to London that a brilliant idea occurred to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, why did they put Maldon Surrey on the telegram?"</p> + +<p>"Because Maldon is in Surrey, idiot."</p> + +<p>"Idiot yourself—I don't mean that. If you get a telegram +from—Hastings, say, or Torquay, they don't put the county after it. +But from Richmond, they do put Richmond Surrey. That's because there +are two Richmonds."</p> + +<p>Tommy, who was driving, slowed up.</p> + +<p>"Tuppence," he said affectionately. "Your idea is not so dusty. Let us +make inquiries at yonder post office."</p> + +<p>They drew up before a small building in the middle of a village street. +A very few minutes sufficed to elicit the information that there were +two Maldons. Maldon, Surrey, and Maldon, Sussex, the latter a tiny +hamlet but possessed of a telegraph office.</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Tuppence excitedly. "Stavansson knew Maldon was in +Surrey, so he hardly looked at the word beginning with S. after Maldon."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow," said Tommy. "We'll have a look at Maldon, Sussex."</p> + +<p>Maldon, Sussex, was a very different proposition to its Surrey +namesake. It was four miles from a railway station, possessed two +public houses, two small shops, a post and telegraph office combined +with a sweet and picture postcard business, and about seven small +cottages. Tuppence took on the shops whilst Tommy betook himself to the +Cock and Sparrow. They met half an hour later.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Quite good beer," said Tommy, "but no information."</p> + +<p>"You'd better try the King's Head," said Tuppence. "I'm going back to +the post office. There's a sour old woman there, but I heard them yell +to her that dinner was ready."</p> + +<p>She returned to the place, and began examining postcards. A fresh-faced +girl, still munching, came out of the back room.</p> + +<p>"I'd like these, please," said Tuppence. "And do you mind waiting +whilst I just look over these comic ones?"</p> + +<p>She sorted through a packet, talking as she did so.</p> + +<p>"I'm ever so disappointed you couldn't tell me my sister's address. +She's staying near here and I've lost her letter. Leigh Wood, her name +is."</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don't remember it. And we don't get many letters through here +either—so I probably should if I'd seen it on a letter. Apart from the +Grange, there isn't many big houses round about."</p> + +<p>"What is the Grange?" asked Tuppence. "Who does it belong to?"</p> + +<p>"Doctor Horriston has it. It's turned into a Nursing Home now. Nerve +cases mostly, I believe. Ladies that come down for rest cures, and all +that sort of thing. Well, it's quiet enough down here, Heaven knows." +She giggled.</p> + +<p>Tuppence hastily selected a few cards and paid for them.</p> + +<p>"That's Doctor Horriston's car coming along now," exclaimed the girl.</p> + +<p>Tuppence hurried to the shop door. A small two seater was passing. At +the wheel was a tall dark man with a neat black beard and a powerful, +unpleasant face. The car went straight on down the street. Tuppence saw +Tommy crossing the road towards her.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, I believe I've got it. Doctor Horriston's Nursing Home."</p> + +<p>"I heard about it at the King's Head, and I thought there might be +something in it. But if she's had a nervous breakdown or anything of +that sort, her aunt and her friends would know about it surely."</p> + +<p>"Ye-es. I didn't mean that. Tommy, did you see that man in the two +seater?"</p> + +<p>"Unpleasant looking brute, yes."</p> + +<p>"That was Doctor Horriston."</p> + +<p>Tommy whistled.</p> + +<p>"Shifty looking beggar. What do you say about it, Tuppence? Shall we go +and have a look at the Grange?"</p> + +<p>They found the place at last, a big rambling house, surrounded by +deserted grounds, with a swift mill stream running behind the house.</p> + +<p>"Dismal sort of abode," said Tommy. "It gives me the creeps, Tuppence. +You know, I've a feeling this is going to turn out a far more serious +matter than we thought at first."</p> + +<p>"Oh! don't. If only we are in time. That woman's in some awful danger, +I feel it in my bones."</p> + +<p>"Don't let your imagination run away with you."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it. I mistrust that man. What shall we do? I think it +would be a good plan if I went and rang the bell alone first, and asked +boldly for Mrs. Leigh Gordon just to see what answer I get. Because, +after all, it may be perfectly fair and above board."</p> + +<p>Tuppence carried out her plan. The door was opened almost immediately +by a man servant with an impassive face.</p> + +<p>"I want to see Mrs. Leigh Gordon if she is well enough to see me."</p> + +<p>She fancied that there was a momentary flicker of the man's eyelashes, +but he answered readily enough.</p> + +<p>"There is no one of that name here, Madam."</p> + +<p>"Oh! surely. This is Doctor Horriston's place, The Grange, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Madam, but there is nobody of the name of Mrs. Leigh Gordon here."</p> + +<p>Baffled, Tuppence was forced to withdraw and hold a further +consultation with Tommy outside the gate.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he was speaking the truth. After all, we don't <i>know</i>."</p> + +<p>"He wasn't. He was lying. I'm sure of it."</p> + +<p>"Wait until the doctor comes back," said Tommy. "Then I'll pass myself +off as a journalist anxious to discuss his new system of rest cure with +him. That will give me a chance of getting inside and studying the +geography of the place."</p> + +<p>The doctor returned about half an hour later. Tommy gave him about +five minutes, then he in turn marched up to the front door. But he too +returned baffled.</p> + +<p>"The doctor was engaged and couldn't be disturbed. And he never sees +journalists. Tuppence, you're right. There's something fishy about this +place. It's ideally situated—miles from anywhere. Any mortal thing +could go on here, and no one would ever know."</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Tuppence, with determination.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to climb over the wall and see if I can't get up to the +house quietly without being seen."</p> + +<p>"Right. I'm with you."</p> + +<p>The garden was somewhat overgrown, and afforded a multitude of cover. +Tommy and Tuppence managed to reach the back of the house unobserved.</p> + +<p>Here there was a wide terrace, with some crumbling steps leading down +from it. In the middle some French windows opened onto the terrace, but +they dared not step out into the open, and the windows where they were +crouching were too high for them to be able to look in. It did not seem +as though their reconnaissance would be much use when suddenly Tuppence +tightened her grasp of Tommy's arm.</p> + +<p>Someone was speaking in the room close to them. The window was open and +the fragment of conversation came clearly to their ears.</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in, and shut the door," said a man's voice irritably. "A +lady came about an hour ago, you said, and asked for Mrs. Leigh Gordon?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence recognised the answering voice as that of the impassive man +servant.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"You said she wasn't here, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, sir."</p> + +<p>"And now this journalist fellow," fumed the other.</p> + +<p>He came suddenly to the window, throwing up the sash, and the two +outside, peering through a screen of bushes, recognised Dr. Horriston.</p> + +<p>"It's the woman I mind most about," continued the doctor. "What did she +look like?"</p> + +<p>"Young, good-looking, and very smartly dressed, sir."</p> + +<p>Tommy nudged Tuppence in the ribs.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said the doctor between his teeth. "As I feared. Some friend +of the Leigh Gordon woman's. It's getting very difficult. I shall have +to take steps—"</p> + +<p>He left the sentence unfinished. Tommy and Tuppence heard the door +close. There was silence.</p> + +<p>Gingerly, Tommy led the retreat. When they had reached a little +clearing not far away, but out of earshot from the house, he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Tuppence, old thing, this is getting serious. They mean mischief. I +think we ought to get back to town at once and see Stavansson."</p> + +<p>To his surprise Tuppence shook her head.</p> + +<p>"We must stay down here. Didn't you hear him say he was going to take +steps? That might mean anything."</p> + +<p>"The worst of it is we've hardly got a case to go to the police on."</p> + +<p>"Listen, Tommy. Why not ring up Stavansson from the village? I'll stay +around here."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that is the best plan," agreed her husband. "But, I +say—Tuppence—"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Take care of yourself—won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I shall, you silly old thing. Cut along."</p> + +<p>It was some two hours later that Tommy returned. He found Tuppence +awaiting him near the gate.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't get on to Stavansson. Then I tried Lady Susan. She was out +too. Then I thought of ringing up old Brady. I asked him to look up +Horriston in the Medical Directory or whatever the thing calls itself."</p> + +<p>"Well, what did Dr. Brady say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! he knew the name at once. Horriston was once a bona fide +doctor, but he came a cropper of some kind. Brady called him a most +unscrupulous quack, and said he, personally, wouldn't be surprised at +anything. The question is, what are we to do now?"</p> + +<p>"We must stay here," said Tuppence instantly. "I've a feeling they mean +something to happen to-night. By the way, a gardener has been clipping +ivy round the house. Tommy, <i>I saw where he put the ladder</i>."</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Tuppence," said her husband appreciatively. "Then +to-night—"</p> + +<p>"As soon as it's dark—"</p> + +<p>"We shall see—"</p> + +<p>"What we shall see."</p> + +<p>Tommy took his turn at watching the house whilst Tuppence went to the +village and had some food.</p> + +<p>Then she returned and they took up the vigil together. At nine o'clock, +they decided that it was dark enough to commence operations. They +were now able to circle round the house in perfect freedom. Suddenly +Tuppence clutched Tommy by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Listen."</p> + +<p>The sound she had heard came again, borne faintly on the night air. It +was the moan of a woman in pain. Tuppence pointed upward to a window on +the first floor.</p> + +<p>"It came from that room," she whispered.</p> + +<p>Again that low moan rent the stillness of the night.</p> + +<p>The two listeners decided to put their original plan into action. +Tuppence led the way to where she had seen the gardener put the ladder. +Between them they carried it to the side of the house from which they +had heard the moaning. All the blinds of the ground floor rooms were +drawn, but this particular window upstairs was unshuttered.</p> + +<p>Tommy put the ladder as noiselessly as possible against the side of the +house.</p> + +<p>"I'll go up," whispered Tuppence. "You stay below. I don't mind +climbing ladders and you can steady it better than I could. And in case +the doctor should come round the corner you'd be able to deal with him +and I shouldn't."</p> + +<p>Nimbly Tuppence swarmed up the ladder, and raised her head cautiously +to look in at the window. Then she ducked it swiftly, but after a +minute or two brought it very slowly up again. She stayed there for +about five minutes. Then she descended again.</p> + +<p>"It's her," she said breathlessly and ungrammatically. "But oh! Tommy, +it's horrible. She's lying there in bed, moaning, and turning to and +fro—and just as I got there a woman dressed as a nurse came in. She +bent over her and injected something in her arm and then went away +again. What shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"Is she conscious?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. I'm almost sure she is. I fancy she may be strapped to the +bed. I'm going up again, and if I can, I'm going to get into that room."</p> + +<p>"I say, Tuppence—"</p> + +<p>"If I'm in any sort of danger I'll yell for you. So long."</p> + +<p>Avoiding further argument Tuppence hurried up the ladder again. Tommy +saw her try the window, then noiselessly push up the sash. Another +second, and she had disappeared inside.</p> + +<p>And now an agonising time came for Tommy. He could hear nothing at +first. Tuppence and Mrs. Leigh Gordon must be talking in whispers if +they were talking at all. Presently he did hear a low murmur of voices +and drew a breath of relief. But suddenly the voices stopped. Dead +silence.</p> + +<p>Tommy strained his ears. Nothing. What could they be doing?</p> + +<p>Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Tuppence's voice out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Tuppence! How did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"Through the front door. Let's get out of this."</p> + +<p>"Get out of this?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I said."</p> + +<p>"But—Mrs. Leigh Gordon?"</p> + +<p>In a tone of indescribable bitterness Tuppence replied.</p> + +<p>"Getting thin!"</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her, suspecting irony.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"What I say. Getting thin. Slinkiness. Reduction of weight. Didn't +you hear Stavansson say he hated fat women? In the two years he's +been away, his Hermy has put on weight. Got a panic when she knew +he was coming back, and rushed off to do this new treatment of Dr. +Horriston's. It's injections of some sort, and he makes a deadly secret +of it, and charges through the nose. I daresay he <i>is</i> a quack—but +he's a damned successful one! Stavansson comes home a fortnight +too soon, when she's only beginning the treatment. Lady Susan has +been sworn to secrecy, and plays up. And we come down here and make +blithering idiots of ourselves!"</p> + +<p>Tommy drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p>"I believe, Watson," he said with dignity, "that there is a very good +Concert at the Queen's Hall to-morrow. We shall be in plenty of time +for it. And you will oblige me by not placing this case upon your +records. It has absolutely <i>no</i> distinctive features."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_X"><span class="smcap">Chapter X</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Blindman's Buff</span></h3> + + +<p>"Right," said Tommy, and replaced the receiver on its hook.</p> + +<p>Then he turned to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"That was the Chief. Seems to have got the wind up about us. It appears +that the parties we're after have got wise to the fact that I'm not the +genuine Mr. Theodore Blunt. We're to expect excitements at any minute. +The Chief begs you as a favor to go home and stay at home, and not mix +yourself up in it any more. Apparently the hornet's nest we've stirred +up is bigger than anyone imagined."</p> + +<p>"All that about my going home is nonsense," said Tuppence decidedly. +"Who is going to look after you if I go home? Besides, I like +excitement. Business hasn't been very brisk just lately."</p> + +<p>"Well, one can't have murders and robberies every day," said Tommy. "Be +reasonable. Now my idea is this. When business is slack, we ought to do +a certain amount of home exercises every day."</p> + +<p>"Lie on our backs and wave our feet in the air? That sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be so literal in your interpretation. When I say exercises, +I mean exercises in the detective art. Reproductions of the Great +Masters. For instance—"</p> + +<p>From the drawer beside him, Tommy took out a formidable dark green +eyeshade covering both eyes. This he adjusted with some care. Then he +drew a watch from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"I broke the glass this morning," he remarked. "That paved the way for +its being the crystalless watch which my sensitive fingers touch so +lightly."</p> + +<p>"Be careful," said Tuppence. "You nearly had the short hand off then."</p> + +<p>"Give me your hand," said Tommy. He held it, one finger feeling for the +pulse. "Ah! the keyboard of silence. This woman has <i>not</i> got heart +disease."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Tuppence, "that you are Thornley Colton?"</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Tommy. "The blind Problemist. And you're thingummybob, +the black-haired apple-cheeked secretary—"</p> + +<p>"The bundle of baby clothes picked up on the banks of the English +river," finished Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"And Albert is the Fee, alias Shrimp."</p> + +<p>"We must teach him to say 'Gee,'" said Tuppence. "And his voice isn't +shrill. It's dreadfully hoarse."</p> + +<p>"Against the wall by the door," said Tommy, "you perceive the slim +hollow cane which held in my sensitive hand tells me so much."</p> + +<p>He rose and cannoned into a chair.</p> + +<p>"Damn!" said Tommy. "I forgot that chair was there."</p> + +<p>"It must be beastly to be blind," said Tuppence with feeling.</p> + +<p>"Rather," agreed Tommy heartily. "I'm sorrier for all those poor devils +who lost their eyesight in the War than for anyone else. But they say +that when you live in the dark you really do develop special senses. +That's what I want to try and see if one couldn't do. It would be jolly +handy to train oneself to be some good in the dark. Now, Tuppence, be a +good Sydney Thames. How many steps to that cane?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence made a desperate guess.</p> + +<p>"Three straight, five left," she hazarded.</p> + +<p>Tommy paced it uncertainly, Tuppence interrupting with a cry of warning +as she realised that the fourth step left would take him slap against +the wall.</p> + +<p>"There's a lot in this," said Tuppence. "You've no idea how difficult +it is to judge how many steps are needed."</p> + +<p>"It's jolly interesting," said Tommy. "Call Albert in. I'm going to +shake hands with you both, and see if I know which is which."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Tuppence, "but Albert must wash his hands first. +They're sure to be sticky from those beastly acid drops he's always +eating."</p> + +<p>Albert, introduced to the game, was full of interest.</p> + +<p>Tommy, the hand shakes completed, smiled complacently.</p> + +<p>"The keyboard of silence cannot lie," he murmured. "The first was +Albert, the second, you, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"Wrong!" shrieked Tuppence. "Keyboard of silence indeed! You went by my +wedding ring. And I put that on Albert's finger."</p> + +<p>Various other experiments were carried out, with indifferent success.</p> + +<p>"But it's coming," declared Tommy. "One can't expect to be infallible +straight away. I tell you what. It's just lunch time. You and I will +go to the Blitz, Tuppence. Blind man and his keeper. Some jolly useful +tips to be picked up there."</p> + +<p>"I say, Tommy, we shall get into trouble."</p> + +<p>"No, we shan't. I shall behave quite like the little gentleman. But I +bet you that by the end of luncheon I shall be startling you."</p> + +<p>All protests being thus overborne, a quarter of an hour later saw Tommy +and Tuppence comfortably ensconced at a corner table in the Gold Room +of the Blitz.</p> + +<p>Tommy ran his fingers lightly over the Menu.</p> + +<p>"Pilaff de Homard and Grilled Chicken for me," he murmured.</p> + +<p>Tuppence also made her selection, and the waiter moved away.</p> + +<p>"So far, so good," said Tommy. "Now for a more ambitious venture. What +beautiful legs that girl in the short skirt has—the one who has just +come in."</p> + +<p>"How was that done, Thorn?"</p> + +<p>"Beautiful legs impart a particular vibration to the floor which is +received by my hollow cane. Or, to be honest, in a big Restaurant there +is nearly always a girl with beautiful legs standing in the doorway +looking for her friends, and with short skirts going about, she'd be +sure to take advantage of them."</p> + +<p>The meal proceeded.</p> + +<p>"The man two tables from us is a very wealthy profiteer, I fancy," said +Tommy carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Pretty good," said Tuppence appreciatively. "I don't follow that one."</p> + +<p>"I shan't tell you how it's done every time. It spoils my show. The +head waiter is serving champagne three tables off to the right. A stout +woman in black is about to pass our table."</p> + +<p>"Tommy, how can you—"</p> + +<p>"Aha! You're beginning to see what I can do. That's a nice girl in +brown just getting up at the table behind you."</p> + +<p>"Snoo!" said Tuppence. "It's a young man in grey."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tommy, momentarily disconcerted.</p> + +<p>And at that moment two men who had been sitting at a table not far +away, and who had been watching the young pair with keen interest, got +up and came across to the corner table.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said the elder of the two, a tall well dressed man with an +eyeglass and a small grey moustache. "But you have been pointed out to +me as Mr. Theodore Blunt. May I ask if that is so?"</p> + +<p>Tommy hesitated a minute, feeling somewhat at a disadvantage. Then he +bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"That is so. I am Mr. Blunt."</p> + +<p>"What an unexpected piece of good fortune! Mr. Blunt, I was going to +call at your offices after lunch. I am in trouble—very grave trouble. +But—excuse me—you have had some accident to your eyes?"</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," said Tommy in a melancholy voice. "I am +blind—completely blind."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"You are astonished. But surely you have heard of blind detectives?"</p> + +<p>"In fiction. Never in real life. And I have certainly never heard that +you were blind."</p> + +<p>"Many people are not aware of the fact," murmured Tommy. "I am wearing +an eyeshade to-day to save my eyeballs from glare. But without it, +quite a host of people have never suspected my infirmity—if you call +it that. You see, my eyes cannot mislead me. But enough of all this. +Shall we go at once to my office, or will you give me the facts of the +case here? The latter would be best, I think."</p> + +<p>A waiter brought up two extra chairs, and the two men sat down. The +second man, who had not yet spoken, was shorter, sturdy in build and +very dark.</p> + +<p>"It is a matter of great delicacy," said the older man dropping his +voice confidentially. He looked uncertainly at Tuppence. Mr. Blunt +seemed to feel the glance.</p> + +<p>"Let me introduce my confidential secretary," he said. "Miss Ganges. +Found on the banks of the Indian river—a mere bundle of baby +clothes. Very sad history. Miss Ganges is my eyes. She accompanies me +everywhere."</p> + +<p>The stranger acknowledged the introduction with a bow.</p> + +<p>"Then I can speak out. Mr. Blunt, my daughter, a girl of sixteen, has +been abducted under somewhat peculiar circumstances. I discovered this +half an hour ago. The circumstances of the case were such that I dared +not call in the police. Instead I rang up your office. They told me you +were out to lunch, but would be back by half past two. I came in here +with my friend Captain Harker—"</p> + +<p>The short man jerked his head and muttered something.</p> + +<p>"By the greatest good fortune you happened to be lunching here also. We +must lose no time. You must return with me to my house immediately."</p> + +<p>Tommy demurred cautiously.</p> + +<p>"I can be with you in half an hour. I must return to my office first."</p> + +<p>Captain Harker, turning to glance at Tuppence, may have been surprised +to see a half smile lurking for a moment at the corners of her mouth.</p> + +<p>"No, no, that will not do. You must return with me." The grey haired +man took a card from his pocket and handed it across the table. "That +is my name."</p> + +<p>Tommy fingered it.</p> + +<p>"My fingers are hardly sensitive enough for that," he said with a +smile, and handed it to Tuppence, who read out in a low voice: "The +Duke of Blairgowrie."</p> + +<p>She looked with great interest at their client. The Duke of Blairgowrie +was well known to be a most haughty and inaccessible nobleman who had +married as a wife the daughter of a Chicago pork butcher, many years +younger than himself, and of a lively temperament that augured ill for +their future together. There had been rumors of disaccord lately.</p> + +<p>"You will come at once, Mr. Blunt?" said the Duke, with a tinge of +acerbity in his manner.</p> + +<p>Tommy yielded to the inevitable.</p> + +<p>"Miss Ganges and I will come with you," he said quietly. "You will +excuse my just stopping to drink a large cup of black coffee? They will +serve it immediately. I am subject to very distressing headaches, the +result of my eye trouble, and the coffee steadies my nerves."</p> + +<p>He called a waiter and gave the order. Then he spoke to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Miss Ganges—I am lunching here to-morrow with the French Prefect of +Police. Just note down the luncheon, and give to the head waiter with +instructions to reserve me my usual table. I am assisting the French +Police in an important case. <i>The fee</i>—" he paused—"is considerable. +Are you ready, Miss Ganges?"</p> + +<p>"Quite ready," said Tuppence, her stylo poised.</p> + +<p>"We will start with that special salad of Shrimps that they have here. +Then to follow—let me see, <i>to follow</i>—Yes. Omelette Blitz, and +perhaps a couple of <i>Tournedos à l'Étranger</i>."</p> + +<p>He looked up, catching the Duke's eye.</p> + +<p>"You will forgive me, I hope," he murmured. "Ah! yes, <i>Soufflé en +surprise</i>. That will conclude the repast. A most interesting man, the +French prefect. You know him, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>The other replied in the negative, as Tuppence rose and went to speak +to the head waiter. Presently she returned, just as the coffee was +brought.</p> + +<p>Tommy drank a large cup of it, sipping it slowly, then rose.</p> + +<p>"My cane, Miss Ganges? Thank you. Directions, please?"</p> + +<p>It was a moment of agony for Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"One right, eighteen straight. About the fifth step, there is a waiter +serving the table on your left."</p> + +<p>Swinging his cane jauntily, Tommy set out. Tuppence kept close beside +him, and endeavored unobtrusively to steer him. All went well until +they were just passing out through the doorway. A man entered rather +hurriedly, and before Tuppence could warn the blind Mr. Blunt, he had +barged right into the newcomer. Explanations and apologies ensued.</p> + +<p>At the door of the Blitz a smart landaulette was waiting. The Duke +himself aided Mr. Blunt to get in.</p> + +<p>"Your car here, Harker?" he asked over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Just round the corner."</p> + +<p>"Take Miss Ganges in it, will you."</p> + +<p>Before another word could be said, he had jumped in beside Tommy, and +the car rolled smoothly away.</p> + +<p>"A very delicate matter," murmured the Duke. "I can soon acquaint you +with all the details."</p> + +<p>Tommy raised his hand to his head.</p> + +<p>"I can remove my eyeshade now," he observed pleasantly. "It was only +the glare of artificial light in the Restaurant necessitated its use."</p> + +<p>But his arm was jerked down sharply. At the same time he felt something +hard and round being poked between his ribs. "No, my dear Mr. Blunt," +said the Duke's voice—but a voice that seemed suddenly different. +"You will not remove that eyeshade. You will sit perfectly still and +not move in any way. You understand? I don't want this pistol of mine +to go off. You see, I happen not to be the Duke of Blairgowrie at +all. I borrowed his name for the occasion, knowing that you would not +refuse to accompany such a celebrated client. I am something much more +prosaic—a ham merchant who has lost his wife."</p> + +<p>He felt the start the other gave.</p> + +<p>"That tells you something," he laughed. "My dear young man, you have +been incredibly foolish. I'm afraid—I'm very much afraid that your +activities will be curtailed in future."</p> + +<p>He spoke the last words with a sinister relish.</p> + +<p>Tommy sat motionless. He did not reply to the other's taunts.</p> + +<p>Presently the car slackened its pace and drew up.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute," said the pseudo Duke. He twisted a handkerchief deftly +into Tommy's mouth, and drew up his scarf over it.</p> + +<p>"In case you should be foolish enough to think of calling for help," he +explained suavely.</p> + +<p>The door of the car opened and the chauffeur stood ready. He and his +master took Tommy between them and propelled him rapidly up some steps +and in at the door of a house.</p> + +<p>The door closed behind them. There was a rich oriental smell in the +air. Tommy's feet sank deep into velvet pile. He was propelled in the +same fashion up a flight of stairs and into a room which he judged +to be at the back of the house. Here the two men bound his hands +together. The chauffeur went out again, and the other removed the gag.</p> + +<p>"You may speak freely now," he announced pleasantly. "What have you to +say for yourself, young man?"</p> + +<p>Tommy cleared his throat and eased the aching corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p>"I hope you haven't lost my hollow cane," he said mildly. "It cost me a +lot to have that made."</p> + +<p>"You have nerve," said the other, after a minute's pause. "Or else you +are just a fool. Don't you understand that I have got you—got you in +the hollow of my hand? That you're absolutely in my power? That no one +who knows you is ever likely to see you again?"</p> + +<p>"Can't we cut out the melodrama?" asked Tommy plaintively. "Have I got +to say 'You villain, I'll foil you yet?' That sort of thing is so very +much out of date."</p> + +<p>"What about the girl?" said the other, watching him. "Doesn't that move +you?"</p> + +<p>"Putting two and two together during my enforced silence just now," +said Tommy, "I have come to the inevitable conclusion that that chatty +lad Harker is another of the doers of desperate deeds, and that +therefore my unfortunate secretary will shortly join this little tea +party."</p> + +<p>"Right as to one point, but wrong on the other. Mrs. Beresford—you see +I know all about you—Mrs. Beresford will not be brought here. That is +a little precaution I took. It occurred to me that just probably your +friends in high places might be keeping you shadowed. In that case, by +dividing the pursuit, you could not both be trailed. I should still +keep one in my hands. I am waiting now—"</p> + +<p>He broke off, as the door opened. The chauffeur spoke.</p> + +<p>"We've not been followed, sir. It's all clear."</p> + +<p>"Good. You can go, Gregory."</p> + +<p>The door closed again.</p> + +<p>"So far, so good," said the 'Duke.' "And now what are we to do with +you, Mr. Beresford Blunt?"</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd take this confounded eyeshade off me," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I think not. With it on, you are truly blind—without it you would see +as well as I do—and that would not suit my little plan. For I have a +plan. You are fond of sensational fiction, Mr. Blunt. This little game +that you and your wife were playing to-day proves that. Now I too have +arranged a little game—something rather ingenious, as I am sure you +will admit when I explain it to you.</p> + +<p>"You see, this floor on which you are standing is made of metal, +and here and there on its surface are little projections. I touch +a switch—so." A sharp click sounded. "Now the electric current is +switched on. To tread on one of those little knobs now means—death! +You understand? If you could see ... but you cannot see. You are in the +dark. That is the game—Blindman's Buff with death. If you can reach +the door in safety—freedom! But I think that long before you reach it +you will have trodden on one of the danger spots. And that will be very +amusing—for me!"</p> + +<p>He came forward and unbound Tommy's hands. Then he handed him his cane +with a little ironical bow.</p> + +<p>"The blind Problemist. Let us see if he will solve this problem. I +shall stand here with my pistol ready. If you raise your hands to your +head to remove that eyeshade, I shoot. Is that clear?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly clear," said Tommy. He was rather pale, but determined. "I +haven't got a dog's chance, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! that—" the other shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Damned ingenious devil, aren't you?" said Tommy. "But you've forgotten +one thing. May I light a cigarette, by the way? My poor little heart's +going pit a pat."</p> + +<p>"You may light a cigarette—but no tricks. I am watching you, remember, +with the pistol ready."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a performing dog," said Tommy. "I don't do tricks." He +extracted a cigarette from his case, then felt for a match box. "It's +all right. I'm not feeling for a revolver. But you know well enough +that I'm not armed. All the same, as I said before, you've forgotten +one thing."</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>Tommy took a match from the box, and held it ready to strike.</p> + +<p>"I'm blind and you can see. That's admitted. The advantage is with you. +But supposing we were both in the dark—eh? Where's your advantage +then?"</p> + +<p>He struck the match.</p> + +<p>The "Duke" laughed contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Thinking of shooting at the switch of the lights? Plunging the room +into darkness? It can't be done."</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Tommy. "I can't give you darkness. But extremes meet, +you know. What about <i>light</i>?"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he touched the match to something he held in his hand, and +threw it down upon the table.</p> + +<p>A blinding glare filled the room.</p> + +<p>Just for a minute, blinded by the intense white light, the "Duke" +blinked and fell back, his pistol hand lowered.</p> + +<p>He opened his eyes again to feel something sharp pricking his breast.</p> + +<p>"Drop that pistol," ordered Tommy. "Drop it quick. I agree with you +that a hollow cane is a pretty rotten affair. So I didn't get one. A +good <i>sword stick</i> is a very useful weapon, though. Don't you think so? +Almost as useful as magnesium wire. <i>Drop that pistol.</i>"</p> + +<p>Obedient to the necessity of that sharp point, the man dropped it. +Then, with a laugh, he sprang back.</p> + +<p>"But I still have the advantage," he mocked. "For I can see, and you +cannot."</p> + +<p>"That's where you're wrong," said Tommy. "I can see perfectly. This +eyeshade's a fake. I was going to put one over on Tuppence. Make one or +two bloomers to begin with, and then put in some perfectly marvellous +stuff towards the end of the lunch. Why, bless you, I could have walked +to the door and avoided all the knobs with perfect ease. But I didn't +trust you to play a sporting game. You'd never have let me get out of +this alive. Careful now—"</p> + +<p>For, with his face distorted with rage, the "Duke" sprang forward, +forgetting in his fury to look where he put his feet.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden blue crackle of flame, and he swayed for a minute, +then fell like a log. A faint odor of singed flesh filled the room, +mingling with a stronger smell of ozone.</p> + +<p>"Whew," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>He wiped his face.</p> + +<p>Then, moving gingerly, and with every precaution, he reached the wall, +and touched the switch he had seen the other manipulate.</p> + +<p>He crossed the room to the door, opened it carefully, and looked out. +There was no one about. He went down the stairs and out through the +front door.</p> + +<p>Safe in the street, he looked up at the house with a shudder, noting +the number. Then he hurried to the nearest telephone box.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of agonising anxiety, and then a well known voice +spoke.</p> + +<p>"Tuppence, thank goodness!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm all right. I got all your points. The Fee, Shrimp, Come to +the Blitz and follow the two strangers. Albert got there in time, and +when we went off in separate cars, followed me in a taxi, saw where +they took me, and rang up the police."</p> + +<p>"Albert's a good lad," said Tommy. "Chivalrous. I was pretty sure he'd +choose to follow you. But I've been worried, all the same. I've got +lots to tell you. I'm coming straight back now. And the first thing +I shall do when I get back is to write a thumping big cheque for St. +Dunstan's. Lord, it must be awful not to be able to see."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XI</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Man in the Mist</span></h3> + + +<p>Tommy was not pleased with life. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives had met +with a reverse, distressing to their pride if not to their pockets. +Called in professionally to elucidate the mystery of a stolen pearl +necklace at Adlington Hall, Adlington, Blunt's Brilliant Detectives +had failed to make good. Whilst Tommy, hard on the track of a gambling +Countess, was tracking her in the disguise of a Roman Catholic Priest, +and Tuppence was "getting off" with a nephew of the house on the golf +links, the local Inspector of Police had unemotionally arrested the +second footman who proved to be a thief well known at headquarters and +who admitted his guilt without making any bones about it.</p> + +<p>Tommy and Tuppence, therefore, had withdrawn with what dignity they +could muster, and were at the present moment solacing themselves with +cocktails at the Grand Adlington Hotel. Tommy still wore his clerical +disguise.</p> + +<p>"Hardly a Father Brown touch, that," he remarked gloomily. "And yet +I've got just the right kind of umbrella."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a Father Brown problem," said Tuppence. "One needs a certain +atmosphere from the start. One must be doing something quite ordinary, +and then bizarre things begin to happen. That's the idea."</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately," said Tommy, "we have to return to town. Perhaps +something bizarre will happen on the way to the station."</p> + +<p>He raised the glass he was holding to his lips, but the liquid in it +was suddenly spilled, as a heavy hand smacked him on the shoulder, and +a voice to match the hand boomed out words of greeting.</p> + +<p>"Upon my soul, it is! Old Tommy! And Mrs. Tommy too. Where did you blow +in from? Haven't seen or heard anything of you for years."</p> + +<p>"Why, it's Bulger!" said Tommy, setting down what was left of the +cocktail, and turning to look at the intruder, a big square-shouldered +man of thirty years of age, with a round red beaming face, and dressed +in golfing kit. "Good old Bulger!"</p> + +<p>"But I say, old chap," said Bulger (whose real name by the way, was +Mervyn Estcourt), "I never knew you'd taken orders. Fancy you a +blinking parson."</p> + +<p>Tuppence burst out laughing, and Tommy looked embarrassed. And then +they suddenly became conscious of a fourth person.</p> + +<p>A tall slender creature, with very golden hair and very round blue +eyes, almost impossibly beautiful, with an effect of really expensive +black topped by wonderful ermines, and very large pearl earrings. She +was smiling. And her smile said many things. It asserted, for instance, +that she knew perfectly well that she herself was the thing best worth +looking at certainly in England, and possibly in the whole world. She +was not vain about it in any way, but she just knew, with certainty and +confidence, that it was so.</p> + +<p>Both Tommy and Tuppence recognised her immediately. They had seen her +three times in "The Secret of the Heart," and an equal number of times +in that other great success, "Pillars of Fire," and in innumerable +other plays. There was, perhaps, no other actress in England who had so +firm a hold on the British public, as Miss Gilda Glen. She was reported +to be the most beautiful woman in England. It was also rumored that she +was the stupidest.</p> + +<p>"Old friends of mine, Miss Glen," said Estcourt, with a tinge of +apology in his voice for having presumed, even for a moment, to forget +such a radiant creature. "Tommy, and Mrs. Tommy, let me introduce you +to Miss Gilda Glen."</p> + +<p>The ring of pride in his voice was unmistakable. By merely being seen +in his company, Miss Glen had conferred great glory upon him.</p> + +<p>The actress was staring with frank interest at Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Are you really a Priest?" she asked. "A Roman Catholic Priest, I mean? +Because I thought they didn't have wives."</p> + +<p>Estcourt went off in a boom of laughter again.</p> + +<p>"That's good," he exploded. "You sly dog, Tommy. Glad he hasn't +renounced you, Mrs. Tommy, with all the rest of the pomps and vanities."</p> + +<p>Gilda Glen took not the faintest notice of him. She continued to stare +at Tommy with puzzled eyes.</p> + +<p>"Are you a Priest?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"Very few of us are what we seem to be," said Tommy gently. "My +profession is not unlike that of a Priest. I don't give Absolution—but +I listen to Confessions—I—"</p> + +<p>"Don't you listen to him," interrupted Estcourt. "He's pulling your +leg."</p> + +<p>"If you're not a clergyman, I don't see why you're dressed up like +one," she puzzled. "That is, unless—"</p> + +<p>"Not a criminal flying from justice," said Tommy. "The other thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she frowned, and looked at him with beautiful bewildered eyes.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if she'll ever get that," thought Tommy to himself. "Not +unless I put it in words of one syllable for her, I should say."</p> + +<p>Aloud he said:</p> + +<p>"Know anything about the trains back to town, Bulger? We've got to be +pushing for home. How far is it to the station?"</p> + +<p>"Ten minutes' walk. But no hurry. Next train up is the 6.35 and it's +only about twenty to six now. You've just missed one."</p> + +<p>"Which way is it to the station from here?"</p> + +<p>"Sharp to the left when you turn out of the Hotel. Then—let me +see—down Morgan's Avenue would be the best way, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Morgan's Avenue?" Miss Glen started violently, and stared at him with +startled eyes.</p> + +<p>"I know what you're thinking of," said Estcourt, laughing. "The Ghost. +Morgan's Avenue is bounded by the cemetery on one side, and tradition +has it that a policeman who met his death by violence gets up and walks +on his old beat up and down Morgan's Avenue. A spook policeman! Can +you beat it? But lots of people swear to having seen him."</p> + +<p>"A policeman?" said Miss Glen. She shivered a little. "But there aren't +really any ghosts, are there? I mean—there aren't such things?"</p> + +<p>She got up, folding her wrap tighter round her.</p> + +<p>"Good bye," she said vaguely.</p> + +<p>She had ignored Tuppence completely throughout, and now she did not +even glance in her direction. But over her shoulder she threw one +puzzled questioning glance at Tommy.</p> + +<p>Just as she got to the door, she encountered a tall man with grey hair +and a puffy red face who uttered an exclamation of surprise. His hand +on her arm, he led her through the doorway, talking in an animated +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Beautiful creature, isn't she?" said Estcourt. "Brains of a rabbit. +Rumor has it that she's going to marry Lord Leconbury. That was +Leconbury in the doorway."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't look a very nice sort of man to marry," remarked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Estcourt shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"A title has a kind of glamor still, I suppose," he said. "And +Leconbury is not an impoverished peer by any means. She'll be in +clover. Nobody knows where she sprang from. Pretty near the gutter, I +daresay. There's something deuced mysterious about her being down here +anyway. She's not staying at the Hotel. And when I tried to find out +where she was staying, she snubbed me—snubbed me quite crudely, in the +only way she knows. Blessed if I know what it's all about."</p> + +<p>He glanced at his watch and uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"I must be off. Jolly glad to have seen you two again. We must have a +bust in town together some night. So long."</p> + +<p>He hurried away, and as he did so, a page approached with a note on a +salver. The note was unaddressed.</p> + +<p>"But it's for you, sir," he said to Tommy. "From Miss Gilda Glen."</p> + +<p>Tommy tore it open and read it with some curiosity. Inside were a few +lines written in a straggling untidy hand.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>I'm not sure, but I think you might be able to help me. And you'll +be going that way to the station. Could you be at The White House, +Morgan's Avenue, at ten minutes past six?</p> + +<p class="ph2">Yours sincerely,<br> +Gilda Glen.</p> +</div> + +<p>Tommy nodded to the page who departed, and then handed the note to +Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Extraordinary," said Tuppence. "Is it because she still thinks you're +a Priest?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tommy thoughtfully. "I should say it's because she's at last +taken in that I'm not one. Hullo! what's this?"</p> + +<p>"This" was a young man with flaming red hair, a pugnacious jaw and +appallingly shabby clothes. He had walked into the room and was now +striding up and down muttering to himself.</p> + +<p>"Hell!" said the red haired man, loudly and forcibly. "That's what I +say—Hell!"</p> + +<p>He dropped into a chair near the young couple and stared at them +moodily.</p> + +<p>"Damn all women, that's what I say," said the young man, eyeing +Tuppence ferociously. "Oh! all right, kick up a row if you like. +Have me turned out of the Hotel! It won't be for the first time. Why +shouldn't we say what we think? Why should we go about bottling up our +feelings, and smirking, and saying things exactly like everyone else? +I don't feel pleasant and polite. I feel like getting hold of someone +round the throat and gradually choking them to death."</p> + +<p>He paused.</p> + +<p>"Any particular person?" asked Tuppence. "Or just anybody?"</p> + +<p>"One particular person," said the young man grimly.</p> + +<p>"This is very interesting," said Tuppence. "Won't you tell us some +more?"</p> + +<p>"My name's Reilly," said the red haired man. "James Reilly. You may +have heard it. I wrote a little volume of Pacifist poems—good stuff, +although I say so."</p> + +<p>"<i>Pacifist Poems?</i>" said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Yes—why not?" demanded Mr. Reilly belligerently.</p> + +<p>"Oh! nothing," said Tuppence hastily.</p> + +<p>"I'm for peace all the time," said Mr. Reilly fiercely. "To Hell with +war. And women! Women! Did you see that creature who was trailing +around here just now? Gilda Glen, she calls herself. Gilda Glen! God! +how I've worshipped that woman. And I'll tell you this—if she's got +a heart at all, it's on my side. She cared once for me, and I could +make her care again. And if she sells herself to that muck heap +Leconbury—well, God help her. I'd as soon kill her with my own hands."</p> + +<p>And on this, suddenly, he rose and rushed from the room.</p> + +<p>Tommy raised his eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"A somewhat excitable gentleman," he murmured. "Well, Tuppence, shall +we start?"</p> + +<p>A fine mist was coming up as they emerged from the Hotel into the cool +outer air. Obeying Estcourt's directions, they turned sharp to the +left, and in a few minutes they came to a turning labelled Morgan's +Avenue.</p> + +<p>The mist had increased. It was soft and white, and hurried past them in +little eddying drifts. To their left was the high wall of the Cemetery, +on their right a row of small houses. Presently these ceased, and a +high hedge took their place.</p> + +<p>"Tommy," said Tuppence. "I'm beginning to feel jumpy. The mist—and the +silence. As though we were miles from anywhere."</p> + +<p>"One does feel like that," agreed Tommy. "All alone in the world. It's +the effect of the mist, and not being able to see ahead of one."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded. "Just our footsteps echoing on the pavement. What's +that?"</p> + +<p>"What's what?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I heard other footsteps behind us."</p> + +<p>"You'll be seeing the ghost in a minute if you work yourself up like +this," said Tommy kindly. "Don't be so nervy. Are you afraid the spook +policeman will lay his hand on your shoulder?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence emitted a shrill squeal.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Tommy. Now you've put it into my head."</p> + +<p>She craned her head back over her shoulder, trying to peer into the +white veil that was wrapped all round them.</p> + +<p>"There they are again," she whispered. "No, they're in front now. Oh! +Tommy, don't say you can't hear them?"</p> + +<p>"I do hear something. Yes, it's footsteps behind us. Somebody else +walking this way to catch the train. I wonder—"</p> + +<p>He stopped suddenly, and stood still, and Tuppence gave a gasp.</p> + +<p>For the curtain of mist in front of them suddenly parted in the most +artificial manner, and there, not twenty feet away a gigantic policeman +suddenly appeared, as though materialised out of the fog. One minute +he was not there, the next minute he was—so at least it seemed to the +rather superheated imaginations of the two watchers. Then as the mist +rolled back still more, a little scene appeared, as though set on a +stage.</p> + +<p>The big blue policeman, a scarlet pillar box, and on the right of the +road the outlines of a white house.</p> + +<p>"Red, white, and blue," said Tommy. "It's damned pictorial. Come on, +Tuppence, there's nothing to be afraid of."</p> + +<p>For, as he had already seen, the policeman was a real policeman. And +moreover, he was not nearly so gigantic as he had at first seemed +looming up out of the mist.</p> + +<p>But as they started forward, footsteps came from behind them. A man +passed them, hurrying along. He turned in at the gate of the White +House, ascended the steps, and beat a deafening tattoo upon the +knocker. He was admitted just as they reached the spot where the +policeman was standing staring after him.</p> + +<p>"There's a gentleman seems to be in a hurry," commented the policeman.</p> + +<p>He spoke in a slow reflective voice, as of one whose thoughts took some +time to mature.</p> + +<p>"He's the sort of gentleman always would be in a hurry," remarked Tommy.</p> + +<p>The policeman's stare, slow and rather suspicious, came round to rest +on his face.</p> + +<p>"Friend of yours?" he demanded, and there was distinct suspicion now in +his voice.</p> + +<p>"No," said Tommy. "He's not a friend of mine, but I happen to know who +he is. Name of Reilly."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the policeman. "Well, I'd better be getting along."</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me where the White House is?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>The constable jerked his head sideways.</p> + +<p>"This is it. Mrs. Honeycott's." He paused, and added evidently with +the idea of giving them valuable information: "Nervous party. Always +suspecting burglars is around. Always asking me to have a look around +the place. Middle-aged women get like that."</p> + +<p>"Middle-aged, eh?" said Tommy. "Do you happen to know if there's a +young lady staying there?"</p> + +<p>"A young lady," said the policeman, ruminating. "A young lady. No, I +can't say I know anything about that."</p> + +<p>"She mayn't be staying here, Tommy," said Tuppence. "And anyway, she +mayn't be here yet. She could only have started just before we did."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the policeman suddenly. "Now that I call it to mind, a young +lady did go in at this gate. I saw her as I was coming up the road. +About three or four minutes ago it might be."</p> + +<p>"With ermine furs on?" asked Tuppence eagerly.</p> + +<p>"She had some kind of white rabbit round her throat," admitted the +policeman.</p> + +<p>Tuppence smiled. The policeman went on in the direction from which they +had just come, and they prepared to enter the gate of the White House.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a faint muffled cry sounded from inside the house, and almost +immediately afterwards the front door opened and James Reilly came +rushing down the steps. His face was white and twisted, and his eyes +glared in front of him unseeingly. He staggered like a drunken man.</p> + +<p>He passed Tommy and Tuppence as though he did not see them, muttering +to himself with a kind of dreadful repetition.</p> + +<p>"My God! My God! Oh, my God!"</p> + +<p>He clutched at the gate post, as though to steady himself, and then, as +though animated by sudden panic, he raced off down the road as hard as +he could go in the opposite direction to that taken by the policeman.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Man in the Mist</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>Tommy and Tuppence stared at each other in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, "something's happened in that house to scare our +friend Reilly pretty badly."</p> + +<p>Tuppence drew her finger absently across the gate post.</p> + +<p>"He must have put his hand on some wet red paint somewhere," she said +idly.</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tommy. "I think we'd better go inside rather quickly. I +don't understand this business."</p> + +<p>In the doorway of the house a white capped maid servant was standing, +almost speechless with indignation.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see the likes of that now, Father," she burst out, +as Tommy ascended the steps. "That fellow comes here, asks for the +young lady, rushes upstairs without how or by your leave. She lets +out a screech like a wild cat—and what wonder, poor pretty dear, and +straightway he comes rushing down again, with the white face on him, +like one who's seen a ghost. What will be the meaning of it all?"</p> + +<p>"Who are you talking with at the front door, Ellen?" demanded a sharp +voice from the interior of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Here's Missus," said Ellen, somewhat unnecessarily.</p> + +<p>She drew back and Tommy found himself confronting a grey-haired, +middle-aged woman, with frosty blue eyes imperfectly concealed by pince +nez, and a spare figure clad in black with bugle trimming.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Honeycott?" said Tommy. "I came here to see Miss Glen."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Honeycott gave him a sharp glance, then went on to Tuppence and +took in every detail of her appearance.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you did, did you?" she said. "Well, you'd better come inside."</p> + +<p>She led the way into the hall and along it into a room at the back of +the house facing on the garden. It was a fair sized room, but looked +smaller than it was, owing to the large amount of chairs and tables +crowded into it. A big fire burned in the grate, and a chintz covered +sofa stood at one side of it. The wall paper was a small grey stripe +with a festoon of roses round the top. Quantities of engravings and oil +paintings covered the walls.</p> + +<p>It was a room almost impossible to associate with the expensive +personality of Miss Gilda Glen.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," said Mrs. Honeycott. "To begin with, you'll excuse me +if I say I don't hold with the Roman Catholic religion. Never did +I think to see a Roman Catholic priest in my house. But if Gilda's +gone over to the Scarlet Woman it's only what's to be expected in a +life like hers—and I daresay it might be worse. She mightn't have +any religion at all. I should think more of Roman Catholics if their +priests were married—I always speak my mind. And to think of those +convents—quantities of beautiful young girls shut up there, and no one +knowing what becomes of them—well, it won't bear thinking about."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Honeycott came to a full stop, and drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p>Without entering upon a defence of the celibacy of the priesthood or +the other controversial points touched upon, Tommy went straight to the +point.</p> + +<p>"I understand, Mrs. Honeycott, that Miss Glen is in this house."</p> + +<p>"She is. Mind you, I don't approve. Marriage is marriage and your +husband's your husband. As you make your bed, so you must lie on it."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand—" began Tommy, bewildered.</p> + +<p>"I thought as much. That's the reason I brought you in here. You can go +up to Gilda after I've spoken my mind. She came to me—after all these +years, think of it!—and asked me to help her. Wanted me to see this +man and persuade him to agree to a divorce. I told her straight out I'd +have nothing whatever to do with it. Divorce is sinful. But I couldn't +refuse my own sister shelter in my house, could I now?"</p> + +<p>"Your sister?" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Gilda's my sister. Didn't she tell you?"</p> + +<p>Tommy stared at her open mouthed. The thing seemed fantastically +impossible. Then he remembered that the angelic beauty of Gilda Glen +had been in evidence for many years. He had been taken to see her +act as quite a small boy. Yes, it was possible after all. But what a +piquant contrast. So it was from this lower middle class respectability +that Gilda Glen had sprung. How well she had guarded her secret!</p> + +<p>"I am not yet quite clear," he said. "Your sister is married?"</p> + +<p>"Ran away to be married as a girl of seventeen," said Mrs. Honeycott +succinctly. "Some common fellow far below her in station. And our +father a reverend. It was a disgrace. Then she left her husband and +went on the stage. Play acting! I've never been inside a theatre in my +life. I hold no truck with wickedness. Now, after all these years, she +wants to divorce the man. Means to marry some big wig, I suppose. But +her husband's standing firm—not to be bullied and not to be bribed—I +admire him for it."</p> + +<p>"What is his name?" asked Tommy suddenly.</p> + +<p>"That's an extraordinary thing now, but I can't remember! It's nearly +twenty years ago, remember, since I heard it. My father forbade it to +be mentioned. And I've refused to discuss the matter with Gilda. She +knows what I think, and that's enough for her."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't Reilly, was it?"</p> + +<p>"Might have been. I really can't say. It's gone clean out of my head."</p> + +<p>"The man I mean was here just now."</p> + +<p>"That man! I thought he was an escaped lunatic. I'd been in the kitchen +giving orders to Ellen. I'd just got back into this room, and was +wondering whether Gilda had come in yet (she has a latch key) when I +heard her. She hesitated a minute or two in the hall and then went +straight upstairs. About three minutes later, all this tremendous rat +tatting began. I went out into the hall, and just saw a man rushing +upstairs. Then there was a sort of cry upstairs and presently down he +came again and rushed out like a madman. Pretty goings on."</p> + +<p>Tommy rose.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Honeycott, let us go upstairs at once. I am afraid—"</p> + +<p>"What of?"</p> + +<p>"Afraid that you have no red wet paint in the house."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Honeycott stared at him.</p> + +<p>"Of course I haven't."</p> + +<p>"That is what I feared," said Tommy gravely. "Please let us go to your +sister's room at once."</p> + +<p>Momentarily silenced, Mrs. Honeycott led the way. They caught a glimpse +of Ellen in the hall, backing hastily into one of the rooms.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Honeycott opened the first door at the top of the stairs. Tommy +and Tuppence entered close behind her.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she gave a gasp and fell back.</p> + +<p>A motionless figure in black and ermine lay stretched on the sofa. +The face was untouched, a beautiful soulless face like a mature child +asleep. The wound was on the side of the head, a heavy blow with some +blunt instrument had crushed in the skull. Blood was dripping slowly +onto the floor, but the wound itself had long since ceased to bleed....</p> + +<p>Tommy examined the prostrate figure, his face very white.</p> + +<p>"So," he said at last, "he didn't strangle her after all."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? Who?" cried Mrs. Honeycott. "Is she dead?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes, Mrs. Honeycott, she's dead. Murdered. The question is—by +whom? Not that it is much of a question. Funny—for all his ranting +words, I didn't think the fellow had got it in him."</p> + +<p>He paused a minute, then turned to Tuppence with decision.</p> + +<p>"Will you go out and get a policeman, or ring up the police station +from somewhere?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded. She, too, was very white. Tommy led Mrs. Honeycott +downstairs again.</p> + +<p>"I don't want there to be any mistake about this," he said. "Do you +know exactly what time it was when your sister came in?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Honeycott. "Because I was just setting the clock +on five minutes as I have to do every evening. It gains just five +minutes a day. It was exactly eight minutes past six by my watch, and +that never loses or gains a second."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded. That agreed perfectly with the policeman's story. He had +seen the woman with the white furs go in at the gate, probably three +minutes had elapsed before he and Tuppence had reached the same spot. +He had glanced at his own watch then and had noted that it was just one +minute after the time of their appointment.</p> + +<p>There was just the faint chance that someone might have been waiting +for Gilda Glen in the room upstairs. But if so, he must still be hiding +in the house. No one but James Reilly had left it.</p> + +<p>He ran upstairs and made a quick but efficient search of the premises. +But there was no one concealed anywhere.</p> + +<p>Then he spoke to Ellen. After breaking the news to her, and waiting for +her first lamentations and invocations to the Saints to have exhausted +themselves, he asked a few questions.</p> + +<p>"Had anyone come to the house that afternoon asking for Miss Glen? +No one whatsoever. +Had she herself been upstairs at all that evening? +Yes, she'd gone up at six o'clock as usual to draw the curtains—or it might +have been a few minutes after six. Anyway it was just before that wild +fellow come breaking the knocker down. She'd run downstairs to answer +the door. And him a black hearted murderer all the time."</p> + +<p>Tommy let it go at that. But he still felt a curious pity for Reilly, +an unwillingness to believe the worst of him. And yet there was no one +else who could have murdered Gilda Glen. Mrs. Honeycott and Ellen had +been the only two people in the house.</p> + +<p>He heard voices in the hall, and went out to find Tuppence and the +policeman from the beat outside. The latter had produced a notebook, +and a rather blunt pencil which he licked surreptitiously. He went +upstairs and surveyed the victim stolidly, merely remarking that if he +was to touch anything the Inspector would give him beans. He listened +to all Mrs. Honeycott's hysterical outbursts and confused explanations, +and occasionally he wrote something down. His presence was calming and +soothing.</p> + +<p>Tommy finally got him alone for a minute or two on the steps outside, +ere he departed to telephone headquarters.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Tommy. "You saw the deceased turning in at the gate, +you say. Are you sure she was alone?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she was alone all right. Nobody with her."</p> + +<p>"And between that time and when you met us, nobody came out of the +gate?"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul."</p> + +<p>"You'd have seen them if they had?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I should. Nobody come out till that wild chap did."</p> + +<p>The majesty of the law moved portentously down the steps and paused by +the white gate post which bore the imprint of a hand in red.</p> + +<p>"Kind of amateur he must have been," he said pityingly. "To leave a +thing like that."</p> + +<p>Then he swung out into the road.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>It was the day after the crime. Tommy and Tuppence were still at the +Grand Hotel, but Tommy had thought it prudent to discard his clerical +disguise.</p> + +<p>James Reilly had been apprehended, and was in custody. His solicitor, +Mr. Marvell, had just finished a lengthy conversation with Tommy on the +subject of the crime.</p> + +<p>"I never would have believed it of James Reilly," he said simply. "He's +always been a man of violent speech, but that's all."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"If you disperse energy in speech, it doesn't leave you too much over +for action. What I realise is that I shall be one of the principal +witnesses against him. That conversation he had with me just before the +crime was particularly damning. And in spite of everything, I like the +man, and if there was anyone else to suspect, I should believe him to +be innocent. What's his own story?"</p> + +<p>The solicitor pursed up his lips.</p> + +<p>"He declares that he found her lying there dead. But that's impossible, +of course. He's using the first lie that comes into his head."</p> + +<p>"Because, if he happened to be speaking the truth, it would mean +that our garrulous Mrs. Honeycott committed the crime—and that is +fantastic. Yes, he must have done it."</p> + +<p>"The maid heard her cry out, remember."</p> + +<p>"The maid—yes—"</p> + +<p>Tommy was silent a moment. Then he said thoughtfully:</p> + +<p>"What credulous creatures we are, really. We believe evidence as though +it were gospel truth. And what is it really? Only the impressions +conveyed to the mind by the senses—and suppose they're the wrong +impressions?"</p> + +<p>The lawyer shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Oh! we all know that there are unreliable witnesses, witnesses who +remember more and more as time goes on, with no real intention to +deceive."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean only that. I mean all of us—we say things that aren't +really so, and never know that we've done so. For instance, both you +and I, without doubt, have said some time or other, 'There's the post,' +when what we really meant was that we'd heard a double knock and the +rattle of the letter box. Nine times out of ten we'd be right, and it +would be the post, but just possibly the tenth time it might be only a +little urchin playing a joke on us. See what I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," said Mr. Marvell slowly. "But I don't see what you're driving +at?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you? I'm not sure that I do myself. But I'm beginning to see. +It's like the stick, Tuppence. You remember? One end of it pointed +one way—but the other end always points the opposite way. It depends +whether you get hold of it by the right end. Doors open—but they also +shut. People go upstairs, but they also go downstairs. Boxes shut, but +they also open."</p> + +<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean?" demanded Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"It's so ridiculously easy, really," said Tommy. "And yet it's only +just come to me. How do you know when a person's come into the house? +You hear the door open and bang to, and if you're expecting anyone to +come in, you will be quite sure it is them. But it might just as easily +be someone going <i>out</i>."</p> + +<p>"But Miss Glen didn't go out?"</p> + +<p>"No, I know <i>she</i> didn't. But someone else did—the murderer."</p> + +<p>"But how did she get in, then?"</p> + +<p>"She came in whilst Mrs. Honeycott was in the kitchen talking to Ellen. +They didn't hear her. Mrs. Honeycott went back to the drawing-room, +wondered if her sister had come in and began to put the clock right, +and then, as she thought, she heard her come in and go upstairs."</p> + +<p>"Well, what about that? The footsteps going upstairs?"</p> + +<p>"That was Ellen, going up to draw the curtains. You remember, Mrs. +Honeycott said her sister paused before going up. That pause was just +the time needed for Ellen to come out from the kitchen into the hall. +She just missed seeing the murderer."</p> + +<p>"But Tommy," cried Tuppence. "The cry she gave?"</p> + +<p>"That was James Reilly. Didn't you notice what a high pitched voice he +has? In moments of great emotion, men often squeal just like a woman."</p> + +<p>"But the murderer? We'd have seen him?"</p> + +<p>"We <i>did</i> see him. We even stood talking to him. Do you remember the +sudden way that policeman appeared? That was because he stepped out of +the gate, just after the mist cleared from the road. It made us jump, +don't you remember? After all, though we never think of them as that, +policemen are men just like any other men. They love and they hate. +They marry....</p> + +<p>"I think Gilda Glen met her husband suddenly just outside that gate, +and took him in with her to thrash the matter out. He hadn't Reilly's +relief of violent words, remember. He just saw red—and he had his +truncheon handy...."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Crackler</span></h3> + + +<p>"Tuppence," said Tommy, "we shall have to move into a much larger +office."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Tuppence. "You mustn't get swollen headed and think +you are a millionaire just because you solved two or three twopenny +halfpenny cases with the aid of the most amazing luck."</p> + +<p>"What some call luck, others call skill."</p> + +<p>"Of course if you really think you are Sherlock Holmes, Thorndyke, +McCarty and the Brothers Okewood all rolled into one there is no more +to be said. Personally I would much rather have luck on my side than +all the skill in the world."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there is something in that," conceded Tommy. "All the same, +Tuppence, we do need a larger office."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"The Classics," said Tommy. "We need several hundreds of yards of extra +book shelf if Edgar Wallace is to be properly represented."</p> + +<p>"We haven't had an Edgar Wallace case yet."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we never shall," said Tommy. "If you notice he never does +give the amateur sleuth much of a chance. It is all stern Scotland Yard +kind of stuff—the real thing and no base counterfeit."</p> + +<p>Albert, the office boy, appeared at the door.</p> + +<p>"Inspector Marriot to see you," he announced.</p> + +<p>"The mystery man of Scotland Yard," murmured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"The busiest of the Busies," said Tuppence. "Or is it 'Noses?' I always +get mixed between Busies and Noses."</p> + +<p>The Inspector advanced upon them with a beaming smile of welcome.</p> + +<p>"Well and how are things?" he asked breezily. "None the worse for our +little adventure the other day?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! rather not," said Tuppence. "Too, too marvellous, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know that I would describe it exactly that way myself," +said Marriot cautiously.</p> + +<p>"What has brought you here to-day, Marriot?" asked Tommy. "Not just +solicitude for our nervous systems, is it?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the Inspector. "It is work for the brilliant Mr. Blunt."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said Tommy. "Let me put my brilliant expression on."</p> + +<p>"I have come to make you a proposition, Mr. Beresford. What would you +say to rounding up a really big gang?"</p> + +<p>"Is there such a thing?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, is there such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"I always thought that gangs were confined to fiction—like master +crooks, and super criminals."</p> + +<p>"The master crook isn't very common," agreed the Inspector. "But Lord +bless you, sir, there's any amount of gangs knocking about."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I should be at my best dealing with a gang," said +Tommy. "The amateur crime, the crime of quiet family life—that is +where I flatter myself that I shine. Drama of strong domestic interest. +That's the thing—with Tuppence at hand to supply all those little +feminine details which are so important, and so apt to be ignored by +the denser male."</p> + +<p>His eloquence was arrested abruptly, as Tuppence threw a cushion at him +and requested him not to talk nonsense.</p> + +<p>"Will have your little bit of fun, won't you, sir?" said Inspector +Marriot, smiling paternally at them both. "If you'll not take offence +at my saying so, it's a pleasure to see two young people enjoying life +as much as you two do."</p> + +<p>"Do we enjoy life?" said Tuppence, opening her eyes very wide. "I +suppose we do. I've never thought about it before."</p> + +<p>"To return to that gang you were talking about," said Tommy. "In spite +of my extensive private practice, Duchesses, millionaires, and all the +best charwomen—I might perhaps condescend to look into the matter for +you. I don't like to see Scotland Yard at fault. You'll have the Daily +Mail after you before you know where you are."</p> + +<p>"As I said before, you must have your bit of fun. Well, it's like +this." Again he hitched his chair forward. "There's any amount of +forged notes going about just now—hundreds of 'em! The amount of +counterfeit Treasury notes in circulation would surprise you. Most +artistic bit of work it is. Here's one of 'em."</p> + +<p>He took a one pound note from his pocket and handed it to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Looks all right, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Tommy examined the note with great interest.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, I'd never spot there was anything wrong with that."</p> + +<p>"No more would most people. Now here's a genuine one. I'll show you the +differences—very slight they are, but you'll soon learn to tell them +apart. Take this magnifying glass."</p> + +<p>At the end of five minutes' coaching, both Tommy and Tuppence were +fairly expert.</p> + +<p>"What do you want us to do, Inspector Marriot?" asked Tuppence. "Just +keep our eyes open for these things?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal more than that, Mrs. Beresford. I'm pinning my faith on +you to get to the bottom of the matter. You see, we've discovered that +the notes are being circulated from the West End. Somebody pretty high +up in the social scale is doing the distributing. They're passing them +the other side of the Channel as well. Now there's a certain person who +is interesting us very much. A Major Laidlaw—perhaps you've heard the +name?"</p> + +<p>"I think I have," said Tommy. "Connected with racing, isn't that it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Major Laidlaw is pretty well known in connection with the +Turf. There's nothing actually against him, but there's a general +impression that he's been a bit too smart over one or two rather +shady transactions. Men in the know look queer when he's mentioned. +Nobody knows much of his past or where he came from. He's got a very +attractive French wife who's seen about everywhere with a train of +admirers. They must spend a lot of money, the Laidlaws, and I'd like +to know where it comes from."</p> + +<p>"Possibly from the train of admirers," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's the general idea. But I'm not so sure. It may be coincidence, +but a lot of notes have been forthcoming from a certain very smart +little gambling club which is much frequented by the Laidlaws and their +set. This racing, gambling set gets rid of a lot of loose money in +notes. There couldn't be a better way of getting it into circulation."</p> + +<p>"And where do we come in?"</p> + +<p>"This way. Young St. Vincent and his wife are friends of yours, I +understand? They're in pretty thick with the Laidlaw set—though not +as thick as they were. Through them it will be easy for you to get a +footing in the same set in a way that none of our people could attempt. +There's no likelihood of their spotting you. You'll have an ideal +opportunity."</p> + +<p>"What have we got to find out exactly?"</p> + +<p>"Where they get the stuff from, if they <i>are</i> passing it."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy. "Major Laidlaw goes out with an empty suitcase. +When he returns it is crammed to the bursting point with Treasury +notes. How is it done? I sleuth him and find out. Is that the idea?"</p> + +<p>"More or less. But don't neglect the lady, and her father, M. +Heroulade. Remember the notes are being passed on both sides of the +Channel."</p> + +<p>"My dear Marriot," exclaimed Tommy reproachfully. "Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives do not know the meaning of the word neglect."</p> + +<p>The Inspector rose.</p> + +<p>"Well, good luck to you," he said, and departed.</p> + +<p>"Slush," said Tuppence enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" said Tommy perplexed.</p> + +<p>"Counterfeit money," explained Tuppence. "It is always called Slush. I +know I'm right. Oh, Tommy, we have got an Edgar Wallace case. At last +we are Busies."</p> + +<p>"We are," said Tommy, "and we are out to get The Crackler and we will +get him good."</p> + +<p>"Did you say The Cackler or The Crackler?"</p> + +<p>"The Crackler."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what is a Crackler?"</p> + +<p>"A new word that I have coined," said Tommy. "Descriptive of one who +passes false notes into circulation. Bank notes crackle; therefore he +is called a Crackler. Nothing could be more simple."</p> + +<p>"That is rather a good idea," said Tuppence, "it makes it seem more +real. I like the Rustler myself. Much more descriptive and sinister."</p> + +<p>"No," said Tommy, "I said the Crackler first and I stick to it."</p> + +<p>"I shall enjoy this case," said Tuppence. "Lots of Night Clubs and +cocktails in it. I shall buy some eyelash black to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Your eyelashes are black already," objected her husband.</p> + +<p>"I could make them blacker," said Tuppence, "and cherry lip stick would +be useful too. That ultra bright kind."</p> + +<p>"Tuppence," said Tommy, "you're a real rake at heart. What a good thing +it is that you are married to a sober steady middle-aged man like +myself."</p> + +<p>"You wait," said Tuppence. "When you have been to the Python Club a bit +you mayn't be so sober yourself."</p> + +<p>Tommy produced from a cupboard various bottles, two glasses, and a +cocktail shaker.</p> + +<p>"Let's start now," he said. "We are after you, Crackler, and we mean to +get you."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XIV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIV</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Crackler</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>Making the acquaintance of the Laidlaws proved an easy affair. Tommy +and Tuppence, young, well dressed, eager for life and with apparently +money to burn, were soon made free of that particular coterie in which +the Laidlaws had their being.</p> + +<p>Major Laidlaw was a tall fair man, typically English in appearance, +with a hearty sportsmanlike manner, slightly belied by the hard lines +round his eyes and the occasional quick sideways glance that assorted +oddly with his supposed character.</p> + +<p>He was a very dexterous card player, and Tommy noticed that when the +stakes were high he seldom rose from the table a loser.</p> + +<p>Marguerite Laidlaw was quite a different proposition. She was a +charming creature, with the slenderness of a wood nymph and the face of +a Greuze picture. Her dainty broken English was fascinating, and Tommy +felt that it was no wonder most men were her slaves. She seemed to take +a great fancy to Tommy from the first, and playing his part, he allowed +himself to be swept into her train.</p> + +<p>"My Tommee," she would say. "But positively I cannot go without my +Tommee. His 'air, eet ees the color of the sunset, ees eet not?"</p> + +<p>Her father was a more sinister figure. Very correct, very upright, with +his little black beard and his watchful eyes.</p> + +<p>Tuppence was the first to report progress. She came to Tommy with ten +one pound notes.</p> + +<p>"Have a look at these. They're wrong 'uns, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>Tommy examined them and confirmed Tuppence's diagnosis.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get them from?"</p> + +<p>"That boy, Jimmy Faulkener. Marguerite Laidlaw gave them to him to put +on a horse for her. I said I wanted small notes, and gave him a tenner +in exchange."</p> + +<p>"All new and crisp," said Tommy thoughtfully. "They can't have passed +through many hands. I suppose young Faulkener is all right?"</p> + +<p>"Jimmy? Oh! he's a dear. He and I are becoming great friends."</p> + +<p>"So I have noticed," said Tommy coldly. "Do you really think it is +necessary?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! it isn't business," said Tuppence cheerily. "It's pleasure. He's +such a nice boy. I'm glad to get him out of that woman's clutches. +You've no idea of the amount of money she's cost him."</p> + +<p>"It looks to me as though he were getting rather a pash for you, +Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"I've thought the same myself sometimes. It's nice to know one's still +young and attractive, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Your moral tone, Tuppence, is deplorably low. You look at these things +from the wrong point of view."</p> + +<p>"I haven't enjoyed myself so much for years," declared Tuppence +shamelessly. "And anyway, what about you? Do I ever see you nowadays? +Aren't you always living in Marguerite Laidlaw's pocket?"</p> + +<p>"Business," said Tommy crisply.</p> + +<p>"But she is attractive, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Not my type," said Tommy. "I don't admire her."</p> + +<p>"Liar," laughed Tuppence. "But I always did think I'd rather marry a +liar than a fool."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Tommy, "that there's no absolute necessity for a +husband to be either?"</p> + +<p>But Tuppence merely threw him a pitying glance and withdrew.</p> + +<p>Amongst Mrs. Laidlaw's train of admirers was a simple but extremely +wealthy gentleman of the name of Hank Ryder.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ryder came from Alabama, and from the first he was disposed to make +a friend and confidant of Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's a wonderful woman, sir," said Mr. Ryder, following the lovely +Marguerite with reverential eyes. "Plumb full of civilisation. Can't +beat <i>la gaie France</i>, can you? When I'm near her, I feel as though I +was one of the Almighty's earliest experiments. I guess He'd got to get +His hand in before He attempted anything so lovely as that perfectly +lovely woman."</p> + +<p>Tommy agreeing politely with these sentiments, Mr. Ryder unburdened +himself still further.</p> + +<p>"Seems kind of a shame a lovely creature like that should have money +worries."</p> + +<p>"Has she?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You betcha life she has. Queer fish, Laidlaw. She's skeered of him. +Told me so. Daren't tell him about her little bills."</p> + +<p>"Are they <i>little</i> bills?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Well—when I say little! After all, a woman's got to wear clothes, and +the less there are of them the more they cost, the way I figure it out. +And a pretty woman like that doesn't want to go about in last season's +goods. Cards too, the poor little thing's been mighty unlucky at cards. +Why, she lost fifty to me last night."</p> + +<p>"She won two hundred from Jimmy Faulkener the night before," said Tommy +drily.</p> + +<p>"Did she indeed? That relieves my mind some. By the way, there seems to +be a lot of dud notes floating around in your country just now. I paid +in a bunch at my bank this morning, and twenty-five of them were down +and outers, so the polite gentleman behind the counter informed me."</p> + +<p>"That's rather a large proportion. Were they new looking?"</p> + +<p>"New and crisp as they make 'em. Why, they were the ones Mrs. Laidlaw +paid over to me, I reckon. Wonder where she got 'em from. One of these +toughs on the race course as likely as not."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tommy. "Very likely."</p> + +<p>"You know, Mr. Beresford, I'm new to this sort of high life. All these +swell dames, and the rest of the outfit. Only made my pile a short +while back. Came right over to Yurrop to see life."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded. He made a mental note to the effect that with the aid of +Marguerite Laidlaw, Mr. Ryder would probably see a good deal of life +and that the price charged would be heavy.</p> + +<p>Meantime, for the second time, he had evidenced that the forged notes +were being distributed pretty near at hand, and that in all probability +Marguerite Laidlaw had a hand in their distribution.</p> + +<p>On the following night he himself was given a proof.</p> + +<p>It was at that small select meeting place mentioned by Inspector +Marriot. There was dancing there, but the real attraction of the place +lay behind a pair of imposing folding doors. There were two rooms there +with green baize covered tables, where vast sums changed hands nightly.</p> + +<p>Marguerite Laidlaw, rising at last to go, thrust a quantity of small +notes into Tommy's hands.</p> + +<p>"They are so bulkee, Tommee—you will change them, yes? A beeg note. +See my so sweet leetle bag, it bulges him to distraction."</p> + +<p>Tommy brought her the hundred pound note she asked for. Then in a quiet +corner, he examined the notes she had given him. At least a quarter of +them were counterfeit.</p> + +<p>But where did she get her supplies from? To that he had as yet no +answer. By means of Albert's cooperation, he was almost sure that +Laidlaw was not the man. His movements had been watched closely and had +yielded no result.</p> + +<p>Tommy suspected her father, the saturnine M. Heroulade. He went to and +fro to France fairly often. What could be simpler than to bring the +notes across with him? A false bottom to a trunk—something of that +kind.</p> + +<p>Tommy strolled slowly out of the Club, absorbed in these thoughts, but +was suddenly recalled to immediate necessities. Outside in the street +was Mr. Hank P. Ryder, and it was clear at once that Mr. Ryder was not +strictly sober. At the moment he was trying to hang his hat on the +radiator of a car, and missing it by some inches every time.</p> + +<p>"This goddarned hatshtand, this goddarned hatshtand," said Mr. Ryder +tearfully. "Not like that in the Shtates. Man can hang up hishhat every +night—every night, sir. You're wearing two hatshs. Never sheen a man +wearing two hatsh before. Mushtbe effectclimate."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I've got two heads," said Tommy gravely.</p> + +<p>"Sho you have," said Mr. Ryder. "Thatsh odd. Thatsh remarkable fac. +Letsh have a cocktail. Prohibition—probishun—thatsh whatsh done +me in. I guess I'm drunk—constootionally drunk. Cocktailsh—mixed +'em—Angel's Kiss—that's Marguerite—lovely creature, fon' o' me +too. Horshes Neck, two Martinis—three Road to Ruinsh—no, roadshto +roon—mixed 'em all—in a beer tankard. Bet me I wouldn't—I shaid—to +hell, I shayed—"</p> + +<p>Tommy interrupted.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," he said soothingly. "Now what about getting home?"</p> + +<p>"No home to go to," said Mr. Ryder sadly, and wept.</p> + +<p>"What Hotel are you staying at?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Can't go home," said Mr. Ryder. "Treasurehunt. Swell thing to do. She +did it. Whitechapel—White heartsh, white headsh shorrow to the grave—"</p> + +<p>"Never mind that," said Tommy. "Where are you—"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Ryder became suddenly dignified. He drew himself erect and +attained a sudden miraculous command over his speech.</p> + +<p>"Young man, I'm telling you. Margee took me. In her car. Treasure +Hunting. Englisharishtocrashy all do it. Under the cobblestones. Five +hundred poundsh. Solemn thought, 'tis solemn thought. I'm <i>telling</i> +you, young man. You've been kind to me. I've got your welfare at heart, +sir, at heart. We Americans—"</p> + +<p>Tommy interrupted him this time with even less ceremony.</p> + +<p>"What's that you say? Mrs. Laidlaw took you in a car?"</p> + +<p>The American nodded with a kind of owlish solemnity.</p> + +<p>"To Whitechapel?" Again that owlish nod. "And you found five hundred +pounds there?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Ryder struggled for words.</p> + +<p>"S-she did," he corrected his questioner. "Left me outside. Outside the +door. Always left outside. It's kinder sad. Outside—always outside."</p> + +<p>"Would you know your way there?"</p> + +<p>"I guess so. Hank Ryder doesn't lose his bearings—"</p> + +<p>Tommy hauled him along unceremoniously. He found his own car where it +was waiting, and presently they were bowling eastward. The cool air +revived Mr. Ryder. After slumping against Tommy's shoulder in a kind of +stupor, he awoke clear headed and refreshed.</p> + +<p>"Say, boy, where are we?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Whitechapel," said Tommy crisply. "Is this where you came with Mrs. +Laidlaw to-night?"</p> + +<p>"It looks kinder familiar," admitted Mr. Ryder looking round. "Seems +to me we turned off to the left somewhere down here. That's it—that +street there."</p> + +<p>Tommy turned off obediently. Mr. Ryder issued directions.</p> + +<p>"That's it. Sure. And round to the right. Say, aren't the smells awful? +Yes, past the pub at the corner—sharp round, and stop at the mouth of +that little alley. But what's the big idea? Hand it to me. Some of the +oof left behind? Are we going to put one over on them?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly it," said Tommy. "We're going to put one over on them. +Rather a joke, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell the world," assented Mr. Ryder. "Though I'm just a mite +hazed about it all," he ended wistfully.</p> + +<p>Tommy got out and assisted Mr. Ryder to alight also. They advanced +into the alley way. On the left were the backs of a row of dilapidated +houses, most of which had doors opening into the alley. Mr. Ryder came +to a stop before one of these doors.</p> + +<p>"In here she went," he declared. "It was this door—I'm plumb certain +of it."</p> + +<p>"They all look very alike," said Tommy. "Reminds me of the story of the +soldier and the Princess. You remember, they made a cross on the door +to show which one it was. Shall we do the same?"</p> + +<p>Laughing, he drew a piece of white chalk from his pocket and made a +rough cross low down on the door. Then he looked up at various dim +shapes that prowled high on the walls of the alley, one of which was +uttering a blood curdling yawl.</p> + +<p>"Lots of cats about," he remarked cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"What is the procedure?" asked Mr. Ryder. "Do we step inside?"</p> + +<p>"Adopting due precautions we do," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>He glanced up and down the alley way, then softly tried the door. It +yielded. He pushed it open, and peered into a dim yard.</p> + +<p>Noiselessly he passed through, Mr. Ryder on his heels.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" said the latter. "There's someone coming down the alley."</p> + +<p>He slipped outside again. Tommy stood still for a minute, then hearing +nothing went on. He took a torch from his pocket and switched on the +light for a brief second. That momentary flash enabled him to see his +way ahead. He pushed forward and tried the closed door ahead of him. +That too gave, and very softly he pushed it open and went in.</p> + +<p>After standing still a second and listening, he again switched on the +torch, and at that flash, as though at a given signal, the place seemed +to rise round him. Two men were in front of him, two men were behind +him. They closed in on him, and bore him down.</p> + +<p>"Lights," growled a voice.</p> + +<p>An incandescent gas burner was lit. By its light Tommy saw a circle of +unpleasing faces. His eyes wandered gently round the room and noted +some of the objects in it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said pleasantly. "The headquarters of the counterfeiting +industry, if I am not mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Shut your jaw," growled one of the men.</p> + +<p>The door opened and shut behind Tommy, and a genial and well known +voice spoke.</p> + +<p>"Got him, boys. That's right. Now, Mr. Busy, let me tell you you're up +against it."</p> + +<p>"That dear old word," said Tommy. "How it thrills me. Yes. I am the +Mystery Man of Scotland Yard. Why it's Mr. Hank Ryder. This <i>is</i> a +surprise."</p> + +<p>"I guess you mean that too. I've been laughing fit to bust all this +evening—leading you here like a little child. And you so pleased +with your cleverness. Why, sonny, I was on to you from the start. You +weren't in with that crowd for your health. I let you play about for +a while, and when you got real suspicious of the lovely Marguerite, I +said to myself 'Now's the time to lead him to it.' I guess your friends +won't be hearing of you for some time."</p> + +<p>"Going to do me in? That's the correct expression, I believe. You have +got it in for me."</p> + +<p>"You've got a nerve all right. No, we shan't attempt violence. Just +keep you under restraint, so to speak."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you're backing the wrong horse," said Tommy. "I've no +intention of being 'kept under restraint' as you call it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ryder smiled genially. From outside a cat uttered a melancholy cry +to the moon.</p> + +<p>"Banking on that cross you put on the door, eh Sonny?" said Mr. Ryder. +"I shouldn't if I were you. Because I know that story you mentioned. +Heard it when I was a little boy. I stepped back into the alleyway to +enact the part of the dog with eyes as big as cart wheels. If you were +in that alley now, you would observe that every door in the alley is +marked with an identical cross."</p> + +<p>Tommy drooped his head despondently.</p> + +<p>"Thought you were mighty clever, didn't you?" said Ryder.</p> + +<p>As the words left his lips a sharp rapping sounded on the door.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" he cried, starting.</p> + +<p>At the same time, an assault began on the front of the house. The door +at the back was a flimsy affair. The lock gave almost immediately and +Inspector Marriot showed in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Well done, Marriot," said Tommy. "You were quite right as to the +district. I'd like you to make the acquaintance of Mr. Hank Ryder who +knows all the best fairy tales."</p> + +<p>"You see, Mr. Ryder," he added gently, "I've had my suspicions of you. +Albert (that important looking boy with the big ears is Albert) had +orders to follow on his motor cycle if you and I went off joy riding +at any time. And whilst I was ostentatiously marking a chalk cross on +the door to engage your attention, I also emptied a little bottle of +valerian on the ground. Nasty smell, but cats love it. All the cats in +the neighborhood were assembled outside to mark the right house when +Albert and the police arrived."</p> + +<p>He looked at the dumbfounded Mr. Ryder with a smile. Then rose to his +feet.</p> + +<p>"I said I would get you, Crackler, and I have got you," he observed.</p> + +<p>"What the Hell are you talking about?" asked Mr. Ryder. "What do you +mean—Crackler?"</p> + +<p>"You will find it in the glossary of the next criminal dictionary," +said Tommy. "Etymology doubtful."</p> + +<p>He looked round him with a happy smile.</p> + +<p>"And all done without a Nose," he murmured brightly. "Good night, +Marriot. I must go now to where the happy ending of the story awaits +me. No reward like the love of a good woman—and the love of a good +woman awaits me at home—that is I hope it does, but one never knows +nowadays. This has been a very dangerous job, Marriot. Do you know +Captain Jimmy Faulkener? His dancing is simply too marvellous and +as for his taste in cocktails—! Yes, Marriot, it has been a very +dangerous job."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XV</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Sunningdale Mystery</span></h3> + + +<p>"Do you know where we are going to lunch to-day, Tuppence?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Beresford considered the question.</p> + +<p>"The Ritz?" she suggested hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Think again."</p> + +<p>"That nice little place in Soho?"</p> + +<p>"No." Tommy's tone was full of importance. "An A.B.C. shop. This one in +fact."</p> + +<p>He drew her deftly inside an establishment of the kind indicated, and +steered her to a corner marble-topped table.</p> + +<p>"Excellent," said Tommy with satisfaction, as he seated himself. +"Couldn't be better."</p> + +<p>"Why has this craze for the simple life come upon you?" demanded +Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"<i>You see, Watson, but you do not observe.</i> I wonder now whether one +of these haughty damsels would condescend to notice us? Splendid, +she drifts this way. It is true that she appears to be thinking of +something else, but doubtless her subconscious mind is functioning +busily with such matters as ham and eggs and pots of tea. Chop and +fried potatoes, please, Miss, and a large coffee, a roll and butter, +and a plate of tongue for the lady."</p> + +<p>The waitress repeated the order in a scornful tone, but Tuppence leant +forward suddenly and interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"No, not a chop and fried potatoes. This gentleman will have a cheese +cake and a glass of milk."</p> + +<p>"A cheese cake and a milk," said the waitress with even deeper scorn if +that were possible. Still thinking of something else, she drifted away +again.</p> + +<p>"That was uncalled for," said Tommy coldly.</p> + +<p>"But I'm right, aren't I? You are the Old Man in the Corner? Where's +your piece of string?"</p> + +<p>Tommy drew a long twisted mesh of string from his pocket, and proceeded +to tie a couple of knots in it.</p> + +<p>"Complete to the smallest detail," he murmured.</p> + +<p>"You made a small mistake in ordering your meal, though."</p> + +<p>"Women are so literal minded," said Tommy. "If there's one thing I hate +it's milk to drink, and cheese cakes are always so yellow and bilious +looking."</p> + +<p>"Be an artist," said Tuppence. "Watch me attack my cold tongue. Jolly +good stuff, cold tongue. Now then, I'm all ready to be Miss Polly +Burton. Tie a large knot and begin."</p> + +<p>"First of all," said Tommy, "speaking in a strictly unofficial +capacity, let me point out this. Business is not too brisk lately. If +business does not come to us, we must go to business. Apply our minds +to one of the great public mysteries of the moment. Which brings me to +the point—the Sunningdale Mystery."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tuppence, with deep interest. "The Sunningdale Mystery!"</p> + +<p>Tommy drew a crumpled piece of newspaper from his pocket and laid it on +the table.</p> + +<p>"That is the latest portrait of Captain Sessle as it appeared in the +Daily Leader."</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Tuppence. "I wonder someone doesn't sue these +newspapers sometimes. You can see it's a man and that's all."</p> + +<p>"When I said the Sunningdale Mystery, I should have said the so-called +Sunningdale Mystery," went on Tommy rapidly. "A mystery to the police +perhaps, but not to an intelligent mind."</p> + +<p>"Tie another knot," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how much of the case you remember," continued Tommy +quietly.</p> + +<p>"All of it," said Tuppence, "but don't let me cramp your style."</p> + +<p>"It was just over three weeks ago," said Tommy, "that that gruesome +discovery was made on the famous golf links. Two members of the Club +who were enjoying an early round were horrified to find the body of a +man lying face downwards on the seventh tee. Even before they turned +him over they had guessed him to be Captain Sessle, a well known figure +on the links, and who always wore a golf coat of a peculiarly bright +blue color.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sessle was often seen out on the links early in the morning, +practising, and it was thought at first that he had been suddenly +overcome by some form of heart disease. But examination by a doctor +revealed the sinister fact that he had been murdered, stabbed to the +heart with a significant object, <i>a woman's hat pin</i>. He was also found +to have been dead at least twelve hours.</p> + +<p>"That put an entirely different complexion on the matter, and very soon +some interesting facts came to light. Practically the last person to +see Captain Sessle alive was his friend and partner Mr. Hollaby of the +Porcupine Assurance Co., and he told his story as follows.</p> + +<p>"Sessle and he played a round earlier in the day. After tea the other +suggested that they should play a few more holes before it got too dark +to see. Hollaby assented. Sessle seemed in good spirits, and was in +excellent form. There is a public footpath that crosses the links, and +just as they were playing up to the sixth green Hollaby noticed a woman +coming along it. She was very tall and dressed in brown, but he did not +observe her particularly and Sessle he thought did not notice her at +all.</p> + +<p>"The footpath in question crosses in front of the seventh tee," +continued Tommy. "The woman had passed along this, and was standing at +the farther side, as though waiting. Captain Sessle was the first to +reach the tee, as Mr. Hollaby was replacing the pin in the hole. As the +latter came towards the tee, he was astonished to see Sessle and the +woman talking together. As he came nearer, they both turned abruptly, +Sessle calling over his shoulder: 'Shan't be a minute.'</p> + +<p>"The two of them walked off side by side, still deep in earnest +conversation. The footpath there leaves the course, and passing between +two narrow hedges of neighboring gardens comes out on the road to +Windlesham.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sessle was as good as his word. He reappeared within a +minute or two, much to Hollaby's satisfaction, as two other players +were coming up behind them, and the light was failing rapidly. They +drove off, and at once Hollaby noticed that something had occurred to +upset his companion. Not only did he foozle his drive badly, but his +face was worried, and his forehead creased in a big frown. He hardly +answered his companion's remarks, and his golf was atrocious. Evidently +something had occurred to put him completely off his game.</p> + +<p>"They played that hole and the eighth, and then Captain Sessle declared +abruptly that the light was too bad and that he was off home. Just at +that point there is another of those narrow 'slips' leading to the +Windlesham road, and Captain Sessle departed that way which was a short +cut to his home, a small bungalow on the road in question. The other +two players came up, a Major Barnard and Mr. Lecky, and to them Hollaby +mentioned Captain Sessle's sudden change of manner. They also had seen +him speaking to the woman in brown, but had not been near enough to +see her face. All three men wondered what she could have said to upset +their friend to that extent.</p> + +<p>"They returned to the Club House together, and as far as was known at +the time, were the last people to see Captain Sessle alive. The day +was a Wednesday and on Wednesdays cheap tickets to London are issued. +The man and wife who ran Captain Sessle's small bungalow were up in +town according to custom, and did not return until the late train. They +entered the Bungalow as usual, and supposed their master to be in his +room asleep. Mrs. Sessle, his wife, was away on a visit.</p> + +<p>"The murder of the Captain was a nine days' wonder. Nobody could +suggest a motive for it. The identity of the tall woman in brown was +eagerly discussed, but without result. The police were, as usual, +blamed for their supineness—most unjustly as time was to show. For a +week later, a girl called Doris Evans was arrested and charged with the +murder of Captain Anthony Sessle.</p> + +<p>"The police had had little to work upon. A strand of fair hair caught +in the dead man's fingers, and a few threads of flame colored wool +caught on one of the buttons of his blue coat. Diligent inquiries at +the Railway Station and elsewhere had elicited the following facts.</p> + +<p>"A young girl dressed in a flame colored coat and skirt had arrived +by train that evening about seven o'clock, and had asked the way to +Captain Sessle's house. The same girl had reappeared again at the +station, two hours later. Her hat was awry and her hair tousled, and +she seemed in a state of great agitation. She inquired about the trains +back to town, and was continually looking over her shoulder as though +afraid of something.</p> + +<p>"Our police force is in many ways very wonderful. With this slender +evidence to go upon, they managed to track down the girl, and identify +her as one Doris Evans. She was charged with murder, and cautioned that +anything she might say would be used against her, but she nevertheless +persisted in making a statement, and this statement she repeated +again in detail, without any substantial variation, at the subsequent +proceedings.</p> + +<p>"Her story was this. She was a typist by profession, and had made +friends one evening, in a Cinema, with a well dressed man who declared +he had taken a fancy to her. His name, he told her, was Anthony, and +he suggested that she should come down to his bungalow at Sunningdale. +She had no idea then, or at any other time, that he had a wife. It +was arranged between them that she should come down on the following +Wednesday—the day, you will remember, when the servants would be +absent and his wife away from home. In the end he told her his full +name was Anthony Sessle, and gave her the name of his house.</p> + +<p>"She duly arrived at the Bungalow on the evening in question, and +was greeted by Sessle who had just come in from the links. Though he +professed himself delighted to see her, the girl declared that from the +first his manner was strange and different. A half acknowledged fear +sprang up in her, and she wished fervently that she had not come.</p> + +<p>"After a simple meal which was all ready and prepared, Sessle suggested +going out for a stroll. The girl consenting, he took her out of the +house, down the road, and along the 'slip' onto the golf course. And +then suddenly, just as they were crossing the seventh tee, he seemed to +go completely mad. Drawing a revolver from his pocket, he brandished it +in the air, declaring that he had come to the end of his tether.</p> + +<p>"'Everything must go! I'm ruined—done for. And you shall go with me. I +shall shoot you first—then myself. They will find our bodies here in +the morning side by side—together in death.'</p> + +<p>"And so on—a lot more. He had hold of Doris Evans by the arm and +she, realising she had to do with a madman, made frantic efforts to +free herself, or failing that to get the revolver away from him. They +struggled together, and in that struggle he must have torn out a piece +of her hair and got the wool of her coat entangled on a button.</p> + +<p>"Finally, with a desperate effort, she freed herself, and ran for her +life across the golf links, expecting every minute to be shot down +with a revolver bullet. She fell twice—tripping over the heather, but +eventually regained the road to the station and realised that she was +not being pursued.</p> + +<p>"That is the story that Doris Evans tells—and from which she has +never varied. She strenuously denies that she ever struck at him with +a hat pin in self defence—a natural enough thing to do under the +circumstances, though—and one which may well be the truth. In support +of her story a revolver has been found in the furze bushes near where +the body is lying. It had not been fired.</p> + +<p>"Doris Evans has been sent for trial, but the mystery still remains a +mystery. If her story is to be believed, who was it who stabbed Captain +Sessle? The other woman, the tall woman in brown whose appearance so +upset him? So far no one has explained her connection with the case. +She appears out of space suddenly on the footpath across the links, she +disappears along the slip, and no one ever hears of her again. Who was +she? A local resident? A visitor from London? If so, did she come by +car or train? There is nothing remarkable about her except her height, +no one seems to be able to describe her appearance. She could not have +been Doris Evans for Doris Evans is small and fair, and moreover was +only just then arriving at the station."</p> + +<p>"The wife?" suggested Tuppence. "What about the wife?"</p> + +<p>"A very natural suggestion. But Mrs. Sessle is also a small woman, and +besides Mr. Hollaby knows her well by sight, and there seems no doubt +that she was really away from home. One further development has come +to light. The Porcupine Assurance Co. is in liquidation. The accounts +reveal the most daring misappropriation of funds. The reasons for +Captain Sessle's wild words to Doris Evans are now quite apparent. For +some years past, he must have been systematically embezzling money. +Neither Mr. Hollaby, nor his son, had any idea of what was going on. +They are practically ruined.</p> + +<p>"The case stands like this. Captain Sessle was on the verge of +discovery and ruin. Suicide would be a natural solution, but the nature +of the wound rules that theory out. Who killed him? Was it Doris Evans? +Was it the mysterious woman in brown?"</p> + +<p>Tommy paused, took a sip of milk, made a wry face, and bit cautiously +at the cheese cake.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XVI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVI</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Sunningdale Mystery</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>"Of <i>course</i>," murmured Tommy, "I saw at once where the hitch in this +particular case lay, and just where the police were going astray."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Tuppence eagerly.</p> + +<p>Tommy shook his head sadly.</p> + +<p>"I wish I did. Tuppence, it's dead easy being the Old Man in the Corner +up to a certain point. But the solution beats me. Who did murder the +beggar? I don't know."</p> + +<p>He took some more newspaper cuttings out of his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Further exhibits. Mr. Hollaby. His son. Mrs. Sessle. Doris Evans."</p> + +<p>Tuppence pounced on the last, and looked at it for some time.</p> + +<p>"She didn't murder him anyway," she remarked at last. "Not with a hat +pin."</p> + +<p>"Why this certainty?"</p> + +<p>"A Lady Molly touch. She's got bobbed hair. Only one woman in twenty +uses hat pins nowadays, anyway—long hair or short. Hats fit tight and +pull on—there's no need for such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Still, she might have had one by her."</p> + +<p>"My dear boy, we don't keep them as heirlooms! What on earth should she +have brought a hat pin down to Sunningdale for?"</p> + +<p>"Then it must have been the other woman, the woman in brown."</p> + +<p>"I wish she hadn't been tall. Then she could have been the wife. I +always suspect wives who are away at the time and so couldn't have had +anything to do with it. If she found her husband carrying on with that +girl, it would be quite natural for her to go for him with a hat pin."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to be careful, I see," remarked Tommy.</p> + +<p>But Tuppence was deep in thought and refused to be drawn.</p> + +<p>"What were the Sessles like?" she asked suddenly. "What sort of thing +did people say about them?"</p> + +<p>"As far as I can make out, they were very popular. He and his wife were +supposed to be devoted to one another. That's what makes the business +of the girl so odd. It's the last thing you'd have expected of a man +like Sessle. He was an ex-soldier, you know. Came into a good bit of +money, retired and went into this Insurance business. The last man in +the world, apparently, whom you would have suspected of being a crook."</p> + +<p>"Is it absolutely certain that he was the crook? Couldn't it have been +the other two who took the money?"</p> + +<p>"The Hollabys? They say they're ruined."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they say! Perhaps they've got it all in a Bank under another name. +I put it foolishly, I daresay, but you know what I mean. Suppose they'd +been speculating with the money for some time, unbeknownst to Sessle, +and lost it all. It might be jolly convenient for them that Sessle died +just when he did."</p> + +<p>Tommy tapped the photograph of Mr. Hollaby senior with his finger nail.</p> + +<p>"So you're accusing this respectable gentleman of murdering his friend +and partner? You forget that he parted from Sessle on the links in full +view of Barnard and Lecky, and spent the evening in the Dormy House. +Besides, there's the hat pin."</p> + +<p>"Bother the hat pin," said Tuppence impatiently. "That hat pin, you +think, points to the crime having been committed by a woman?"</p> + +<p>"Naturally. Don't you agree?"</p> + +<p>"No. Men are notoriously old fashioned. It takes them ages to rid +themselves of preconceived ideas. They associate hat pins and hairpins +with the female sex, and call them 'women's weapons.' They may have +been in the past, but they're both rather out of date now. Why, I +haven't had a hat pin or hairpin for the last four years."</p> + +<p>"Then you think—?"</p> + +<p>"That it was a <i>man</i> killed Sessle. The hat pin was used to make it +seem a woman's crime."</p> + +<p>"There's something in what you say, Tuppence," said Tommy slowly. "It's +extraordinary how things seem to straighten themselves out when you +talk a thing over."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded.</p> + +<p>"Everything must be logical—if you look at it the right way. And +remember what Marriot once said about the Amateur point of view—that +it had the <i>intimacy</i>. We know something about people like Captain +Sessle and his wife. We know what they're likely to do—and what +they're not likely to do. And we've each got our special knowledge."</p> + +<p>Tommy smiled.</p> + +<p>"You mean," he said, "that you are an authority on what people with +bobbed and shingled heads are likely to have in their possession, and +that you have an intimate acquaintance with what wives are likely to +feel and do?"</p> + +<p>"Something of the sort."</p> + +<p>"And what about me? What is my special knowledge? Do husbands pick up +girls etc.?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tuppence gravely. "You know the course—you've been on +it—not as a detective, searching for clues, but as a golfer. You know +about golf, and what's likely to put a man off his game."</p> + +<p>"It must have been something pretty serious to put Sessle off his game. +His handicap's two, and from the seventh tee on he played like a child, +so they say."</p> + +<p>"Who say?"</p> + +<p>"Barnard and Lecky. They were playing just behind him, you remember."</p> + +<p>"That was after he met the woman—the tall woman in brown. They saw him +speaking to her, didn't they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—at least—"</p> + +<p>Tommy broke off. Tuppence looked up at him, and was puzzled. He was +staring at the piece of string in his fingers, but staring with the +eyes of one who sees something very different.</p> + +<p>"Tommy—what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, Tuppence. I'm playing the sixth hole at Sunningdale. Sessle +and old Hollaby are holing out on the sixth green ahead of me. It's +getting dusk, but I can see that bright blue coat of Sessle's clearly +enough. And on the footpath to the left of me there's a woman coming +along. She hasn't crossed from the Ladies' Course—that's on the +right—I should have seen her if she had done so. And it's odd I didn't +see her on the footpath before—from the fifth tee, for instance."</p> + +<p>He paused.</p> + +<p>"You said just now I knew the course, Tuppence. Just behind the sixth +tee, there's a little hut or shelter made of turf. Anyone could wait in +there until—the right moment came. They could change their appearance +there. I mean—tell me, Tuppence this is where your special knowledge +comes in again—would it be very difficult for a man to look like a +woman, and then change back to being a man again? Could he wear a skirt +over plus fours, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly he could. The woman would look a bit bulky, that would be +all. A longish brown skirt, say, a brown sweater of the kind both men +and women wear, and a woman's felt hat with a bunch of side curls +attached each side. That would be all that was needed—I'm speaking, +of course, of what would pass at a distance, which I take to be what +you are driving at. Switch off the skirt, take off the hat and curls, +and put on a man's cap which you can carry rolled up in your hand, and +there you'd be—back as a man again."</p> + +<p>"And the time required for the transformation?"</p> + +<p>"From woman to man, a minute and a half at the outside, probably a good +deal less. The other way about would take longer, you'd have to arrange +the hat and curls a bit, and the skirt would stick getting it on over +the plus fours."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't worry me. It's the time for the first that matters. As I +tell you, I'm playing the sixth hole. The woman in brown has reached +the seventh tee now. She crosses it and waits. Sessle in his blue coat +goes towards her. They stand together a minute, and then they follow +the path round the trees out of sight. Hollaby is on the tee alone. Two +or three minutes pass. I'm on the green now. The man in the blue coat +comes back and drives off, foozling badly. The light's getting worse. +I and my partner go on. Ahead of us are those two, Sessle slicing and +topping and doing everything he shouldn't do. At the eighth green, I +see him stride off and vanish down the slip. What happened to him to +make him play like a different man?"</p> + +<p>"The woman in brown—or the man, if you think it was a man."</p> + +<p>"Exactly, and where they were standing—out of sight, remember, of +those coming after them—there's a deep tangle of furze bushes. You +could thrust a body in there, and it would be pretty certain to lie +hidden until the morning."</p> + +<p>"Tommy! You think it was <i>then</i>—But someone would have heard—"</p> + +<p>"Heard what? The doctors agreed death must have been instantaneous. +I've seen men killed instantaneously in the War. They don't cry out +as a rule—just a gurgle, or a moan—perhaps just a sigh, or a funny +little cough. Sessle comes towards the seventh tee, and the woman comes +forward and speaks to him. He recognizes her perhaps, as a man he knows +masquerading. Curious to learn the why and wherefore, he allows himself +to be drawn along the footpath out of sight. One stab with the deadly +hat pin as they walk along. Sessle falls—dead. The other man drags his +body into the furze bushes, strips off the blue coat, then sheds his +own skirt and the hat and curls. He puts on Sessle's well known blue +coat and cap, and strides back to the tee. Three minutes would do it. +The others behind can't see his face, only the peculiar blue coat they +know so well. They never doubt that it's Sessle—<i>but he doesn't play +Sessle's brand of golf</i>. They all say he played like a different man. +Of course he did. He <i>was</i> a different man."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"Point No. 2. His action in bringing the girl down there was the action +of <i>a different man</i>. It wasn't Sessle who met Doris Evans at a Cinema, +and induced her to come down to Sunningdale. It was a man <i>calling</i> +himself Sessle. Remember, Doris Evans wasn't arrested until a fortnight +after the crime. <i>She never saw the body.</i> If she had, she might have +bewildered everyone by declaring that that wasn't the man who took her +out on the golf links that night, and spoke so wildly of suicide. It +was a carefully laid plot. The girl invited down for Wednesday when +Sessle's house would be empty, then the hat pin which pointed to its +being a woman's doing. The murderer meets the girl, takes her into the +Bungalow and gives her supper, then takes her out on the links and +when he gets to the scene of the crime, brandishes his revolver and +scares the life out of her. Once she has taken to her heels, all he +has to do is to pull out the body and leave it lying on the tee. The +revolver he chucks into the bushes. Then he makes a neat parcel of the +skirt and hat and—now I admit I'm guessing—in all probability walks +to Woking which is only about six or seven miles away, and goes back to +town from there."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," said Tuppence. "There's one thing you haven't +explained. What about Hollaby?"</p> + +<p>"Hollaby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I admit that the people behind couldn't have seen whether it +was really Sessle or not. But you can't tell me that the man who was +playing with him was so hypnotised by the blue coat that he never +looked at his face."</p> + +<p>"My dear old thing," said Tommy. "That's just the point. Hollaby knew +all right. You see, I'm adopting your theory—that Hollaby and his +son were the real embezzlers. The murderer's got to be a man who knew +Sessle pretty well—knew, for instance, about the servants being always +out on a Wednesday, and that his wife was away. And also someone who +was able to get an impression of Sessle's latch key. I think Hollaby +Junior would fulfill all these requirements. He's about the same age +and height as Sessle, and they were both clean shaven men. Doris Evans +probably saw several photographs of the murdered man reproduced in the +papers, but as you yourself observed—one can just see that it's a man +and that's about all."</p> + +<p>"Didn't she ever see Hollaby in Court?"</p> + +<p>"The son never appeared in the case at all. Why should he? He had no +evidence to give. It was old Hollaby, with his irreproachable alibi, +who stood in the limelight throughout. Nobody has even bothered to +inquire what son was doing that particular evening."</p> + +<p>"It all fits in," admitted Tuppence. She paused a minute, and then +asked: "Are you going to tell all this to the police?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know if they'd listen."</p> + +<p>"They'll listen all right," said an unexpected voice behind him.</p> + +<p>Tommy swung round to confront Inspector Marriot. The Inspector was +sitting at the next table. In front of him was a poached egg.</p> + +<p>"Often drop in here to lunch," said Inspector Marriot. "As I was +saying, we'll listen all right—in fact I've been listening. I don't +mind telling you that we've not been quite satisfied all along over +those Porcupine figures. You see, we've had our suspicions of those +Hollabys. But nothing to go upon. Too sharp for us. Then this murder +came, and that seemed to upset all our ideas. But thanks to you and +the lady, sir, we'll confront young Hollaby and Doris Evans and see if +she recognizes him. I rather fancy she will. That's a very ingenious +idea of yours about the blue coat. I'll see that Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives get the credit for it."</p> + +<p>"You <i>are</i> a nice man, Inspector Marriot," said Tuppence gratefully.</p> + +<p>"We think a lot of you two at the Yard," replied that stolid gentleman. +"You'd be surprised. If I may ask you, sir, what's the meaning of that +piece of string?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Tommy, stuffing it into his pocket. "A bad habit of +mine. As to the cheese cake and the milk—I'm on a diet. Nervous +dyspepsia. Busy men are always martyrs to it."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the detective. "I thought perhaps you'd been reading—well, +it's of no consequence."</p> + +<p>But the Inspector's eyes twinkled.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XVII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The House Of Lurking Death</span></h3> + + +<p>"What—" began Tuppence, and then stopped.</p> + +<p>She had just entered the private office of Mr. Blunt from the adjoining +one marked "Clerks," and was surprised to behold her lord and master +with his eye riveted to the private peep hole into the outer office.</p> + +<p>"Ssh," said Tommy, warningly. "Didn't you hear the buzzer? It's a +girl—rather a nice girl—in fact she looks to me a frightfully nice +girl. Albert is telling her all that tosh about my being engaged with +Scotland Yard."</p> + +<p>"Let <i>me</i> see," demanded Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Somewhat unwillingly, Tommy moved aside. Tuppence in her turn glued her +eye to the peep hole.</p> + +<p>"She's not bad," admitted Tuppence. "And her clothes are simply the +latest shout."</p> + +<p>"She's perfectly lovely," said Tommy. "She's like those girls Mason +writes about—you know, frightfully sympathetic, and beautiful, and +distinctly intelligent without being too saucy. I think, yes—I +certainly think—I shall be the great Hanaud this morning."</p> + +<p>"Hm," said Tuppence. "If there is one detective out of all the others +whom you are most unlike—I should say it was Hanaud. Can you do the +lightning changes of personality? Can you be the great comedian, the +little gutter boy, the serious and sympathetic friend—all in five +minutes?"</p> + +<p>"I know this," said Tommy, rapping sharply on the desk, "I am the +Captain of the Ship—and don't you forget it, Tuppence. I'm going to +have her in."</p> + +<p>He pressed the buzzer on his desk. Albert appeared ushering in the +client.</p> + +<p>The girl stopped in the doorway as though undecided. Tommy came forward.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Mademoiselle," he said kindly, "and seat yourself here."</p> + +<p>Tuppence choked audibly, and Tommy turned upon her with a swift change +of manner. His tone was menacing.</p> + +<p>"You spoke, Miss Robinson? Ah! no, I thought not."</p> + +<p>He turned back to the girl.</p> + +<p>"We will not be serious or formal," he said. "You will just tell me all +about it, and then we will discuss the best way to help you."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind," said the girl. "Excuse me, but are you a +foreigner?"</p> + +<p>A fresh choke from Tuppence. Tommy glared in her direction out of the +corner of his eye.</p> + +<p>"Not exactly," he said with difficulty. "But of late years I have +worked a good deal abroad. My methods are the methods of the Sûreté."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" The girl seemed impressed.</p> + +<p>She was, as Tommy had indicated, a very charming girl. Young and slim, +with a trace of golden hair peeping out from under her little brown +felt hat, and big serious eyes.</p> + +<p>That she was nervous could be plainly seen. Her little hands were +twisting themselves together, and she kept clasping and unclasping the +catch of her lacquer red handbag.</p> + +<p>"First of all, Mr. Blunt, I must tell you that my name is Lois +Hargreaves. I live in a great rambling old fashioned house called +Thurnly Grange. It is in the heart of the country. There is the village +of Thurnly near by, but it is very small and insignificant. There is +plenty of hunting in winter, and we get tennis in summer, and I have +never felt lonely there. Indeed I much prefer country to town life.</p> + +<p>"I tell you this so that you may realise that in a country village like +ours, everything that happens is of supreme importance. About a week +ago, I got a box of chocolates sent through the post. There was nothing +inside to indicate who they came from. Now I myself am not particularly +fond of chocolates, but the others in the house are, and the box was +passed around. As a result, everyone who had eaten any chocolates was +taken ill. We sent for the doctor, and after various inquiries as to +what other things had been eaten, he took the remains of the chocolates +away with him, and had them analysed. Mr. Blunt, those chocolates +contained arsenic! Not enough to kill anyone, but enough to make anyone +quite ill."</p> + +<p>"Extraordinary," commented Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Burton was very excited over the matter. It seems that this was +the third occurrence of the kind in the neighborhood. In each case a +big house was selected, and the inmates were taken ill after eating the +mysterious chocolates. It looked as though some local person of weak +intellect was playing a particularly fiendish practical joke."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, Miss Hargreaves."</p> + +<p>"Dr. Burton put it down to Socialist agitation—rather absurdly, I +thought. But there are one or two malcontents in Thurnly village, and +it seemed possible that they might have had something to do with it. +Dr. Burton was very keen that I should put the whole thing in the hands +of the police."</p> + +<p>"A very natural suggestion," said Tommy. "But you have not done so, I +gather, Miss Hargreaves?"</p> + +<p>"No," admitted the girl. "I hate the fuss and the publicity that would +ensue—and you see, I know our local Inspector. I can never imagine him +finding out anything! I have often seen your advertisements, and I told +Dr. Burton that it would be much better to call in a private detective."</p> + +<p>"I see."</p> + +<p>"You say a great deal about discretion in your advertisement. I take +that to mean—that—that—well, that you would not make anything public +without my consent?"</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her curiously, but it was Tuppence who spoke.</p> + +<p>"I think," she said quietly, "that it would be as well if Miss +Hargreaves told us <i>everything</i>."</p> + +<p>She laid especial stress upon the last word, and Lois Hargreaves +flushed nervously.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tommy quickly. "Miss Robinson is right. You must tell us +everything."</p> + +<p>"You will not—" she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Everything you say is understood to be strictly in confidence."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. I know that I ought to have been quite frank with you. +I have a reason for not going to the police. Mr. Blunt, that box of +chocolates was sent by someone in our house!"</p> + +<p>"How do you know that, Mademoiselle?"</p> + +<p>"It's very simple. I've got a habit of drawing a little silly +thing—three fish intertwined—whenever I have a pencil in my hand. A +parcel of silk stockings arrived from a certain shop in London not long +ago. We were at the breakfast table. I'd just been marking something in +the newspaper, and without thinking, I began to draw my silly little +fish on the label of the parcel before cutting the string and opening +it. I thought no more about the matter, but when I was examining the +piece of brown paper in which the chocolates had been sent, I caught +sight of the corner of the original label—most of which had been torn +off. My silly little drawing was on it."</p> + +<p>Tommy drew his chair forward.</p> + +<p>"That is very serious. It creates, as you say, a very strong +presumption that the sender of the chocolates is a member of your +household. But you will forgive me if I say that I still do not see why +that fact should render you indisposed to call in the police?"</p> + +<p>Lois Hargreaves looked him squarely in the face.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, Mr. Blunt. I may want the whole thing hushed up."</p> + +<p>Tommy retired gracefully from the position.</p> + +<p>"In that case," he murmured, "we know where we are. I see, Miss +Hargreaves, that you are not disposed to tell me who it is you suspect?"</p> + +<p>"I suspect no one—but there are possibilities."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Now will you describe the household to me in detail?"</p> + +<p>"The servants, with the exception of the parlormaid, are all old ones +who have been with us many years. I must explain to you, Mr. Blunt, +that I was brought up by my Aunt, Lady Radclyffe, who was extremely +wealthy. Her husband made a big fortune, and was knighted. It was he +who bought Thurnly Grange, but he died two years after going there, +and it was then that Lady Radclyffe sent for me to come and make my +home with her. I was her only living relation. The other inmate of the +house was Dennis Radclyffe, her husband's nephew. I have always called +him cousin, but of course he is really nothing of the kind. Aunt Lucy +always said openly that she intended to leave her money, with the +exception of a small provision for me, to Dennis. It was Radclyffe +money, she said, and ought to go to a Radclyffe. However, when Dennis +was twenty-two, she quarrelled violently with him—over some debts that +he had run up, I think. When she died, a year later, I was astonished +to find that she had made a will leaving all her money to me. It was, I +know, a great blow to Dennis, and I felt very badly about it. I would +have given him the money if he would have taken it, but it seems that +that kind of thing can't be done. However, as soon as I was twenty-one, +I made a will leaving it all to him. That's the least I can do. So if +I'm run over by a motor, Dennis will come into his own."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Tommy. "And when were you twenty-one, if I may ask the +question?"</p> + +<p>"Just three weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tommy. "Now will you give me fuller particulars of the +members of your household at this minute?"</p> + +<p>"Servants—or—others?"</p> + +<p>"Both."</p> + +<p>"The servants, as I say, have been with us some time. There is old Mrs. +Holloway, the cook, and her niece Rose, the kitchenmaid. Then there are +two elderly housemaids, and Hannah who was my aunt's maid and who has +always been devoted to me. The parlormaid is called Esther Quant, and +seems a very nice quiet girl. As for ourselves, there is Miss Logan who +was Aunt Lucy's companion and who runs the house for me, and Captain +Radclyffe—Dennis, you know, whom I told you about, and there is a girl +called Mary Chilcott, an old school friend of mine who is staying with +us."</p> + +<p>Tommy thought for a moment.</p> + +<p>"That all seems fairly clear and straightforward, Miss Hargreaves," he +said after a minute or two. "I take it that you have no special reason +for attaching suspicion more to one person than another? You are only +afraid it might prove to be—well—not a servant, shall we say?"</p> + +<p>"That's it exactly, Mr. Blunt. I have honestly no idea who used that +piece of brown paper. The handwriting was printed."</p> + +<p>"There seems only one thing to be done," said Tommy. "I must be on the +spot."</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p>Tommy went on after a moment's thought.</p> + +<p>"I suggest that you prepare the way for the arrival of—say, Mr. and +Miss Van Dusen—American friends of yours. Will you be able to do that +quite naturally?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes. There will be no difficulty at all. When will you come +down—to-morrow—or the day after?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow, if you please. There is no time to waste."</p> + +<p>"That is settled, then."</p> + +<p>The girl rose, and held out her hand.</p> + +<p>"One thing, Miss Hargreaves, not a word, mind, to anyone—anyone at +all, that we are not what we seem."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, Tuppence?" he asked, when he returned from +showing the visitor out.</p> + +<p>"I don't like it," said Tuppence decidedly. "Especially I don't like +the chocolates having so little arsenic in them."</p> + +<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see? All those chocolates being sent round the neighborhood +were a blind. To establish the idea of a local maniac. Then, when the +girl was really poisoned, it would be thought to be the same thing. You +see, but for a stroke of luck, no one would ever have guessed that the +chocolates were actually sent by someone in the house itself."</p> + +<p>"That was a stroke of luck. You're right. You think it's a deliberate +plot against the girl herself?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so. I remember reading about old Lady Radclyffe's will. +That girl has come into a terrific lot of money."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and she came of age and made a will three weeks ago. It looks +bad—for Dennis Radclyffe. He gains by her death."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded.</p> + +<p>"The worst of it is—that she thinks so too! That's why she won't have +the police called in. Already she suspects him. And she must be more +than half in love with him to act as she has done."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Tommy thoughtfully, "why the devil doesn't he +marry her? Much simpler and safer."</p> + +<p>Tuppence stared at him.</p> + +<p>"You've said a mouthful," she observed. "Oh! boy. I'm getting ready to +be Miss Van Dusen, you observe."</p> + +<p>"Why rush to crime, where there is a lawful means near at hand?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence reflected for a minute or two.</p> + +<p>"I've got it," she announced. "Clearly he must have married a barmaid +whilst at Oxford. Origin of the quarrel with his aunt. That explains +everything."</p> + +<p>"Then why not send poisoned sweets to the barmaid?" suggested +Tommy. "Much more practical. I wish you wouldn't jump to these wild +conclusions, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"They're deductions," said Tuppence, with a good deal of dignity. "This +is your first <i>corrida</i>, my friend, but when you have been twenty +minutes in the arena—"</p> + +<p>Tommy flung the office cushion at her.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVIII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The House of Lurking Death</span> (continued)</h3> + + +<p>"Tuppence, I say, Tuppence, come here."</p> + +<p>It was breakfast time the next morning. Tuppence hurried out of her +bedroom and into the dining-room. Tommy was striding up and down, the +open newspaper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>Tommy wheeled round, and shoved the paper into her hand, pointing to +the headlines.</p> + +<p class="ph3">MYSTERIOUS POISONING CASE</p> + +<p class="ph3">DEATHS FROM FIG SANDWICHES</p> + + +<p>Tuppence read on. This mysterious outbreak of ptomaine poisoning had +occurred at Thurnly Grange. The deaths so far reported were those of +Miss Lois Hargreaves, the owner of the house, and the parlormaid, +Esther Quant. A Captain Radclyffe and a Miss Logan were reported to be +still seriously ill. The cause of the outbreak was supposed to be some +fig paste used in sandwiches, since another lady, a Miss Chilcott, who +had not partaken of these, was reported to be quite well.</p> + +<p>"We must get down there at once," said Tommy. "That girl! That +perfectly ripping girl! Why the devil didn't I go straight down there +with her yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"If you had," said Tuppence, "you'd probably have eaten fig sandwiches +too for tea, and then you'd have been dead. Come on, let's start at +once. I see it says that Dennis Radclyffe is seriously ill also."</p> + +<p>"Probably shamming, the dirty blackguard."</p> + +<p>They arrived at the small village of Thurnly about midday. An elderly +woman with red eyes opened the door to them when they arrived at +Thurnly Grange.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Tommy quickly before she could speak. "I'm not +a reporter or anything like that. Miss Hargreaves came to see me +yesterday, and asked me to come down here. Is there anyone I can see?"</p> + +<p>"Dr. Burton is here now if you'd like to speak to him," said the woman +doubtfully. "Or Miss Chilcott. She's making all the arrangements."</p> + +<p>But Tommy had caught at the first suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Burton," he said authoritatively. "I should like to see him at +once if he is here."</p> + +<p>The woman showed them into a small morning room. Five minutes later the +door opened, and a tall elderly man with bent shoulders and a kind but +worried face, came in.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Burton?" said Tommy. He produced his professional card. "Miss +Hargreaves called on me yesterday with reference to those poisoned +chocolates. I came down to investigate the matter at her request—alas! +too late."</p> + +<p>The doctor looked at him keenly.</p> + +<p>"You are Mr. Blunt himself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. This is my assistant, Miss Robinson."</p> + +<p>The doctor bowed to Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstances, there is no need for reticence. But for the +episode of the chocolates, I might have believed these deaths to be +the result of severe ptomaine poisoning—but ptomaine poisoning of an +unusually virulent kind. There is gastro-intestinal inflammation and +haemorrhage. As it is, I am taking the fig paste to be analysed."</p> + +<p>"You suspect arsenic poisoning?"</p> + +<p>"No. The poison, if a poison has been employed, is something far more +potent and swift in its action. It looks more like some powerful +vegetable toxin."</p> + +<p>"I see. I should like to ask you, Dr. Burton, whether you are +thoroughly convinced that Captain Radclyffe is suffering from the same +form of poisoning?"</p> + +<p>The doctor looked at him.</p> + +<p>"Captain Radclyffe is not suffering from any sort of poisoning now."</p> + +<p>"Aha," said Tommy. "I—"</p> + +<p>"Captain Radclyffe died at five o'clock this morning."</p> + +<p>Tommy was utterly taken aback. The doctor prepared to depart.</p> + +<p>"And the other victim, Miss Logan?" asked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"I have every reason to hope that she will recover since she has +survived so far. Being an older woman, the poison seems to have had +less effect on her. I will let you know the result of the analysis, +Mr. Blunt. In the meantime, Miss Chilcott will, I am sure, tell you +anything you want to know."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the door opened, and a girl appeared. She was tall, with a +tanned face, and steady blue eyes.</p> + +<p>Dr. Burton performed the necessary introductions.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you have come, Mr. Blunt," said Mary Chilcott. "This affair +seems too terrible. Is there anything you want to know that I can tell +you?"</p> + +<p>"Where did the fig paste come from?"</p> + +<p>"It is a special kind that comes from London. We often have it. No one +suspected that this particular pot differed from any of the others. +Personally I dislike the flavor of figs. That explains my immunity. I +cannot understand how Dennis was affected, since he was out for tea. He +must have picked up a sandwich when he came home, I suppose."</p> + +<p>Tommy felt Tuppence's hand press his arm ever so slightly.</p> + +<p>"What time did he come in?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't really know. I could find out."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss Chilcott. It doesn't matter. You have no objection, I +hope, to my questioning the servants?"</p> + +<p>"Please do anything you like, Mr. Blunt. I am nearly distraught. Tell +me—you don't think there has been—foul play?"</p> + +<p>Her eyes were very anxious as she put the question.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to think. We shall soon know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose Dr. Burton will have the paste analysed."</p> + +<p>Quickly excusing herself, she went out by the window to speak to one of +the gardeners.</p> + +<p>"You take the housemaids, Tuppence," said Tommy, "and I'll find my way +to the kitchen. I say, Miss Chilcott may feel very distraught, but she +doesn't look it."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded assent without replying.</p> + +<p>Husband and wife met half an hour later.</p> + +<p>"Now to pool results," said Tommy. "The sandwiches came out from tea, +and the parlormaid ate one—that's how she got it in the neck. Cook is +positive Dennis Radclyffe hadn't returned when tea was cleared away. +Query—how did <i>he</i> get poisoned?"</p> + +<p>"He came in at a quarter to seven," said Tuppence. "Housemaid saw +him from one of the windows. He had a cocktail before dinner—in the +library. She was just clearing away the glass now, and luckily I got it +from her before she washed it. It was after that that he complained of +feeling ill."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Tommy. "I'll take that glass along to Burton presently. +Anything else?"</p> + +<p>"I'd like you to see Hannah, the maid. She's—she's queer."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean—queer?"</p> + +<p>"She looks to me as though she were going off her head."</p> + +<p>"Let me see her."</p> + +<p>Tuppence led the way upstairs. Hannah had a small sitting-room of her +own. The maid sat upright on a high chair. On her knees was an open +Bible. She did not look towards the two strangers as they entered. +Instead she continued to read aloud to herself.</p> + +<p>"<i>Let hot burning coals fall upon them, let them be cast into the fire +and into the pit, that they never rise up again.</i>"</p> + +<p>"May I speak to you a minute?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>Hannah made an impatient gesture with her hand.</p> + +<p>"This is no time. The time is running short, I say. <i>I will follow upon +mine enemies and overtake them, neither will I turn again till I have +destroyed them.</i> So it is written. The word of the Lord has come to me. +I am the scourge of the Lord."</p> + +<p>"Mad as a hatter," murmured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"She's been going on like that all the time," whispered Tuppence.</p> + +<p>Tommy picked up a book that was lying open, face downwards on the +table. He glanced at the title and slipped it into his pocket.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the old woman rose and turned towards them menacingly.</p> + +<p>"Go out from here. The time is at hand! I am the flail of the Lord. +The wind bloweth where it listeth—so do I destroy. The ungodly shall +perish. This is a house of evil—of evil, I tell you! Beware of the +wrath of the Lord whose handmaiden I am."</p> + +<p>She advanced upon them fiercely. Tommy thought it best to humor her and +withdrew. As he closed the door, he saw her pick up the Bible again.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if she's always been like that," he muttered.</p> + +<p>He drew from his pocket the book he had picked up off the table.</p> + +<p>"Look at that. Funny reading for an ignorant maid."</p> + +<p>Tuppence took the book.</p> + +<p>"Materia Medica," she murmured. She looked at the fly leaf. "Edward +Logan. It's an old book. Tommy, I wonder if we could see Miss Logan? +Dr. Burton said she was better."</p> + +<p>"Shall we ask Miss Chilcott?"</p> + +<p>"No. Let's get hold of a housemaid, and send her in to ask."</p> + +<p>After a brief delay, they were informed that Miss Logan would see them. +They were taken into a big bedroom facing over the lawn. In the bed was +an old lady with white hair, her delicate old face drawn by suffering.</p> + +<p>"I have been very ill," she said faintly. "And I can't talk much, but +Ellen tells me you are detectives. Lois went to consult you then? She +spoke of doing so."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Logan," said Tommy. "We don't want to tire you, but perhaps +you can answer a few questions. The maid, Hannah, is she quite right in +her head?"</p> + +<p>Miss Logan looked at them with obvious surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes. She is very religious—but there is nothing wrong with her."</p> + +<p>Tommy held out the book he had taken from the table.</p> + +<p>"Is this yours, Miss Logan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was one of my father's books. He was a great doctor, one of +the pioneers of serum therapeutics."</p> + +<p>The old lady's voice rang with pride.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy. "I thought I knew his name," he added +mendaciously. "This book now, did you lend it to Hannah?"</p> + +<p>"To Hannah?" Miss Logan raised herself in bed with indignation. "No, +indeed. She wouldn't understand the first word of it. It is a highly +technical book."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I see that. Yet I found it in Hannah's room."</p> + +<p>"Disgraceful," said Miss Logan. "I will not have the servants touching +my things."</p> + +<p>"Where ought it to be?"</p> + +<p>"In the bookshelf in my sitting-room—or—stay, I lent it to Mary. +The dear girl is very interested in herbs. She has made one or two +experiments in my little kitchen. I have a little place of my own, you +know, where I brew liqueurs and make preserves in the old fashioned +way. Dear Lucy, Lady Radclyffe, you know, used to swear by my tansy +tea—a wonderful thing for a cold in the head. Poor Lucy, she was +subject to colds. So is Dennis. Dear boy, his father was my first +cousin."</p> + +<p>Tommy interrupted these reminiscences.</p> + +<p>"This kitchen of yours? Does anyone else use it except you and Miss +Chilcott?"</p> + +<p>"Hannah clears up there. And she boils the kettle there for our early +morning tea."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss Logan," said Tommy. "There is nothing more I want to +ask you at present. I hope we haven't tired you too much."</p> + +<p>He left the room and went down the stairs, frowning to himself.</p> + +<p>"There is something here, my dear Mr. Ricardo, that I do not +understand."</p> + +<p>"I hate this house," said Tuppence with a shiver. "Let's go for a good +long walk and try to think things out."</p> + +<p>Tommy complied and they set out. First they left the cocktail glass at +the doctor's house and then set off for a good tramp across country +discussing the case as they did so.</p> + +<p>"It makes it easier somehow if one plays the fool," said Tommy. "All +this Hanaud business. I suppose some people would think I didn't care. +But I do, most awfully. I feel that somehow or other we ought to have +prevented this."</p> + +<p>"I think that's foolish of you," said Tuppence. "It is not as though +we had advised Lois Hargreaves not to go to Scotland Yard or anything +like that. Nothing would have induced her to bring the police into the +matter. If she hadn't come to us, she would have done nothing at all."</p> + +<p>"And the result would have been the same. Yes, you are right, Tuppence. +It's morbid to reproach oneself over something one couldn't help. What +I would like to do is to make good now."</p> + +<p>"And that's not going to be easy."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't. There are so many possibilities, and yet all of them +seem wild and improbable. Supposing Dennis Radclyffe put the poison in +the sandwiches. He knew he would be out to tea. That seems fairly plain +sailing."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tuppence, "that's all right so far. Then we can put against +that the fact that he was poisoned himself—so that seems to rule him +out. There is one person we mustn't forget—and that is Hannah."</p> + +<p>"Hannah?"</p> + +<p>"People do all sorts of queer things when they have religious mania."</p> + +<p>"She is pretty far gone with it too," said Tommy. "You ought to drop a +word to Dr. Burton about it."</p> + +<p>"It must have come on very rapidly," said Tuppence. "That is if we go +by what Miss Logan said."</p> + +<p>"I believe religious mania does," said Tommy. "I mean, you go on +singing hymns in your bedroom with the door open for years, and then +you go suddenly right over the line and become violent."</p> + +<p>"There is certainly more evidence against Hannah than against anybody +else," said Tuppence thoughtfully, "and yet I have an idea—" She +stopped.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Tommy encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"It is not really an idea. I suppose it is just a prejudice."</p> + +<p>"A prejudice against someone?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded.</p> + +<p>"Tommy—did <i>you</i> like Mary Chilcott?"</p> + +<p>Tommy considered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think I did. She struck me as extremely capable and +businesslike—perhaps a shade too much so—but very reliable."</p> + +<p>"You didn't think it was odd that she didn't seem more upset?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in a way that is a point in her favor. I mean, if she had done +anything, she would make a point of being upset—lay it on rather +thick."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," said Tuppence. "And anyway there doesn't seem to +be any motive in her case. One doesn't see what good this wholesale +slaughter can do her."</p> + +<p>"I suppose none of the servants are concerned?"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem likely. They seem a quiet reliable lot. I wonder what +Esther Quant, the parlormaid, was like."</p> + +<p>"You mean, that if she was young and good-looking there was a chance +that she was mixed up in it some way."</p> + +<p>"That is what I mean." Tuppence sighed. "It is all very discouraging."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose the police will get down to it all right," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Probably. I should like it to be us. By the way, did you notice a lot +of small red dots on Miss Logan's arm?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think I did. What about them?"</p> + +<p>"They looked as though they were made by a hypodermic syringe," said +Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Probably Dr. Burton gave her a hypodermic injection of some kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very likely. But he wouldn't give her about forty."</p> + +<p>"The cocaine habit," suggested Tommy helpfully.</p> + +<p>"I thought of that," said Tuppence, "but her eyes were all right. You +would see at once if it was cocaine or morphia. Besides she doesn't +look that sort of old lady."</p> + +<p>"Most respectable and God fearing," agreed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"It is all very difficult," said Tuppence. "We have talked and talked +and we don't seem any nearer now than we were. Don't let's forget to +call at the doctor's on our way home."</p> + +<p>The doctor's door was opened by a lanky boy of about fifteen.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt?" he inquired. "Yes, the doctor is out but he left a note +for you in case you should call."</p> + +<p>He handed them the note in question and Tommy tore it open.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<i>Dear Mr. Blunt</i>,</p> + +<p>"<i>There is reason to believe that the poison employed was Ricin, a +vegetable toxalbumose of tremendous potency. Please keep this to +yourself for the present.</i>"</p> +</div> + +<p>Tommy let the note drop, but picked it up quickly.</p> + +<p>"Ricin," he murmured. "Know anything about it, Tuppence? You used to be +rather well up in these things."</p> + +<p>"Ricin," said Tuppence, thoughtfully. "You get it out of Castor Oil, I +believe."</p> + +<p>"I never did take kindly to Castor Oil," said Tommy. "I am more set +against it than ever now."</p> + +<p>"The oil's all right. You get Ricin from the seeds of the Castor Oil +plant. I believe I saw some Castor Oil plants in the garden this +morning—big things with glossy leaves."</p> + +<p>"You mean that someone extracted the stuff on the premises. Could +Hannah do such a thing?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't seem likely. She wouldn't know enough."</p> + +<p>Suddenly Tommy gave an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"That book. Have I got it in my pocket still? Yes." He took it out, and +turned over the leaves vehemently. "I thought so. Here's the page it +was open at this morning. Do you see, Tuppence? Ricin!"</p> + +<p>Tuppence seized the book from him.</p> + +<p>"Can you make head or tail of it? I can't."</p> + +<p>"It's clear enough to me," said Tuppence. She walked along, reading +busily, with one hand on Tommy's arm to steer herself. Presently she +shut the book with a bang. They were just approaching the house again.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, will you leave this to me? Just for once, you see, I am the +bull that has been more than twenty minutes in the arena."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"You shall be the Captain of the Ship, Tuppence," he said gravely. +"We've got to get to the bottom of this."</p> + +<p>"First of all," said Tuppence as they entered the house, "I must ask +Miss Logan one more question."</p> + +<p>She ran upstairs. Tommy followed her. She rapped sharply on the old +lady's door, and went in.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, my dear?" said Miss Logan. "You know you are much too +young and pretty to be a detective. Have you found out anything?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tuppence. "I have."</p> + +<p>Miss Logan looked at her questioningly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about being pretty," went on Tuppence, "but being young, +I happened to work in a hospital during the War. I know something about +serum therapeutics. I happen to know that when Ricin is injected in +small doses hypodermically immunity is produced, antiricin is formed. +That fact paved the way for the foundation of serum therapeutics. You +knew that, Miss Logan. You injected Ricin for some time hypodermically +into yourself. Then you let yourself be poisoned with the rest. You +helped your father in his work, and you knew all about Ricin and how to +obtain it and extract it from the seeds. You chose a day when Dennis +Radclyffe was out for tea. It wouldn't do for him to be poisoned at the +same time—he might die before Lois Hargreaves. So long as she died +first, he inherited her money, and at his death it passes to you, his +next of kin. You remember, you told us this morning that his father was +your first cousin."</p> + +<p>The old lady stared at Tuppence with baleful eyes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a wild figure burst in from the adjoining room. It was Hannah. +In her hand she held a lighted torch which she waved frantically.</p> + +<p>"Truth has been spoken. That is the wicked one. I saw her reading the +book, and smiling to herself and I knew. I found the book and the +page—but it said nothing to me. But the voice of the Lord spoke to +me. She hated my mistress, her ladyship. She was always jealous and +envious. She hated my own sweet Miss Lois. But the wicked shall perish, +the fire of the Lord shall consume them."</p> + +<p>Waving her torch she sprang forward to the bed.</p> + +<p>A cry arose from the old lady.</p> + +<p>"Take her away—take her away. It's true—but take her away."</p> + +<p>Tuppence flung herself upon Hannah, but the woman managed to set fire +to the curtains of the bed before Tuppence could get the torch from +her and stamp on it. Tommy, however, had rushed in from the landing +outside. He tore down the bed hangings and managed to stifle the flames +with a rug. Then he rushed to Tuppence's assistance and between them +they subdued Hannah just as Dr. Burton came hurrying in.</p> + +<p>A very few words sufficed to put him <i>au courant</i> of the situation.</p> + +<p>He hurried to the bedside, lifted Miss Logan's hand, then uttered a +sharp exclamation.</p> + +<p>"The shock of fire has been too much for her. She's dead. Perhaps it is +as well under the circumstances."</p> + +<p>He paused and then added, "There was Ricin in the cocktail glass as +well."</p> + +<p>"It's the best thing that could have happened," said Tommy when they +had relinquished Hannah to the doctor's care, and were alone together. +"Tuppence, you were simply marvellous."</p> + +<p>"There wasn't much Hanaud about it," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"It was too serious for play acting. I still can't bear to think of +that girl. I won't think of her. But, as I said before, you were +marvellous. The honors are with you. To use a familiar quotation, 'It +is a great advantage to be intelligent and not to look it.'"</p> + +<p>"Tommy," said Tuppence. "You're a beast."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XIX"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIX</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Unbreakable Alibi</span></h3> + + +<p>Tommy and Tuppence were busy sorting correspondence. Tuppence gave an +exclamation and handed a letter across to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"A new client," she said importantly.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said Tommy. "What do we deduce from this letter, Watson? Nothing +much, except the somewhat obvious fact that Mr.—er—Montgomery Jones +is not one of the world's best spellers, thereby proving that he has +been expensively educated."</p> + +<p>"Montgomery Jones?" said Tuppence. "Now what do I know about a +Montgomery Jones? Oh, yes, I have got it now. I think Janet St. Vincent +mentioned him. His mother was Lady Aileen Montgomery, very crusty and +high church, with gold crosses and things, and she married a man called +Jones who is immensely rich."</p> + +<p>"In fact the same old story," said Tommy. "Let me see, what time does +this Mr. M. J. wish to see us? Ah, eleven thirty."</p> + +<p>At eleven thirty precisely a very tall young man with an amiable and +ingenuous countenance entered the outer office and addressed himself to +Albert, the office boy.</p> + +<p>"Look here—I say. Can I see Mr.—er—Blunt?"</p> + +<p>"Have you an appointment, sir?" said Albert.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know. Yes, I suppose I have. What I mean is I wrote a +letter—"</p> + +<p>"What name, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Montgomery Jones."</p> + +<p>"I will take your name in to Mr. Blunt."</p> + +<p>He returned after a brief interval.</p> + +<p>"Will you wait a few minutes please, sir. Mr. Blunt is engaged on a +very important conference at present."</p> + +<p>"Oh—er—yes—certainly," said Mr. Montgomery Jones.</p> + +<p>Having, he hoped, impressed his client sufficiently Tommy rang the +buzzer on his desk, and Mr. Montgomery Jones was ushered into the inner +office by Albert.</p> + +<p>Tommy rose to greet him, and shaking him warmly by the hand motioned +towards the vacant chair.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Montgomery Jones," he said briskly, "what can we have the +pleasure of doing for you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Montgomery Jones looked uncertainly at the third occupant of the +office.</p> + +<p>"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Tommy. "You can speak +quite freely before her. I take it that this is some family matter of a +delicate kind?"</p> + +<p>"Well—not exactly," said Mr. Montgomery Jones.</p> + +<p>"You surprise me," said Tommy. "You are not in trouble of any kind +yourself, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Oh rather not," said Mr. Montgomery Jones.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, "perhaps you will—er—state the facts plainly."</p> + +<p>That, however, seemed to be the one thing that Mr. Montgomery Jones +could not do.</p> + +<p>"It's a dashed odd sort of thing I have got to ask you," he said +hesitatingly. "I—er—I really don't know how to set about it."</p> + +<p>"We never touch divorce cases," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Oh Lord no," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "I don't mean that. It is +just, well—it's a deuced silly sort of a joke. That's all."</p> + +<p>"Someone has played a practical joke on you of a mysterious nature?" +suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Montgomery Jones once more shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy retiring gracefully from the position, "take your +own time and let us have it in your own words."</p> + +<p>There was a pause.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Mr. Jones at last, "it was at dinner. I sat next to a +girl."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Tommy encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"She was a—oh, well, I really can't describe her, but she was simply +one of the most sporting girls I ever met. She's an Australian over +here with another girl, sharing a flat with her in Clarges Street. +She's simply game for anything. I absolutely can't tell you the effect +that girl had on me."</p> + +<p>"We can quite imagine it, Mr. Jones," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>She saw clearly that if Mr. Montgomery Jones' troubles were ever to be +extracted a sympathetic feminine touch was needed, as distinct from the +business like methods of Mr. Blunt.</p> + +<p>"We can understand," said Tuppence encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, the whole thing came as an absolute shock to me," said Mr. +Montgomery Jones, "that a girl could, well—knock you over like +that. There had been another girl—in fact two other girls. One was +awfully jolly and all that but I didn't much like her chin. She danced +marvellously though and I have known her all my life which makes a +fellow feel kind of safe, you know. And then there was one of the girls +at the 'Frivolity.' Frightfully amusing, but of course there would be +a lot of ructions with the mater over that, and anyway I really didn't +want to marry either of them, but I was thinking about things you know +and then—slap out of the blue—I sat next to this girl and—"</p> + +<p>"The whole world was changed," said Tuppence in a feeling voice.</p> + +<p>Tommy moved impatiently in his chair. He was by now somewhat bored by +the recital of Mr. Montgomery Jones' love affairs.</p> + +<p>"You put it awfully well," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "That is +absolutely what it was like. Only, you know, I fancy she didn't think +much of me. You mayn't think it but I am not terribly clever."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't be too modest," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do realise that I am not much of a chap," said Mr. Jones with an +engaging smile. "Not for a perfectly marvellous girl like that. That +is why I just feel I have got to put this thing through. It's my only +chance. She's such a sporting girl that she would never go back on her +word."</p> + +<p>"Well I am sure we wish you luck and all that," said Tuppence kindly. +"But I don't exactly see what you want us to do."</p> + +<p>"Oh Lord!" said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "Haven't I explained?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tommy. "You haven't."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was like this. We were talking about detective stories. +Una—that's her name—is just as keen about them as I am. We got +talking about one in particular. It all hinges on an alibi. Then we got +talking about alibis and faking them. Then I said—no, she said—now +which of us was it that said it?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind which of you it was," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"I said it would be a jolly difficult thing to do. She disagreed—said +it only wanted a bit of brain work. We got all hot and excited about it +and in the end she said 'I will make you a sporting offer. What do you +bet that I can produce an alibi that nobody can shake?'</p> + +<p>"Anything you like, I said, and we settled it then and there. She was +frightfully cocksure about the whole thing. 'It's an odds on chance for +me,' she said. 'Don't be so sure of that,' I said. 'Supposing you lose +and I ask you for anything I like?' She laughed and said she came of a +gambling family and I could."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Tuppence as Mr. Jones came to a pause and looked at her +appealingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you see? It is up to me. It is the only chance I have +got of getting a girl like that to look at me. You have no idea how +sporting she is. Last summer she was out in a boat and someone bet her +she wouldn't jump overboard and swim ashore in her clothes, and she did +it."</p> + +<p>"It is a very curious proposition," said Tommy. "I am not quite sure I +yet understand it."</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly simple," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "You must be doing +this sort of thing all the time. Investigating fake alibis and seeing +where they fall down."</p> + +<p>"Oh—er—yes, of course," said Tommy. "We do a lot of that sort of +work."</p> + +<p>"Someone has got to do it for me," said Montgomery Jones. "I shouldn't +be any good at that sort of thing myself. You have only got to catch +her out and everything is all right. I daresay it seems rather a +futile business to you but it means a lot to me and I am prepared to +pay—er—all necessary whatnots you know."</p> + +<p>"That will be all right," said Tuppence. "I am sure Mr. Blunt will take +the case on for you."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly," said Tommy. "A most refreshing case, most +refreshing indeed."</p> + +<p>Mr. Montgomery Jones heaved a sigh of relief and pulled a mass of +papers from his pocket and selected one of them. "Here it is," he said. +"She says, 'I am sending you proof I was in two distinct places at one +and the same time. According to one story I dined at the Bon Temps +Restaurant in Soho by myself, went to the Duke's Theatre and had supper +with a friend, Mr. le Marchant, at the Savoy—<i>but</i> I was also staying +at the Castle Hotel, Torquay, and only returned to London on the +following morning. You have got to find out which of the two stories is +the true one and how I managed the other.'</p> + +<p>"There," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "Now you see what it is that I want +you to do."</p> + +<p>"A most refreshing little problem," said Tommy. "Very naïve."</p> + +<p>"Here is Una's photograph," said Mr. Montgomery Jones. "You will want +that."</p> + +<p>"What is the lady's full name?" inquired Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Miss Una Drake. And her address is 180 Clarges Street."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Tommy. "Well, we will look into the matter for you, +Mr. Montgomery Jones. I hope we shall have good news for you very +shortly."</p> + +<p>"I say you know, I am no end grateful," said Mr. Jones rising to his +feet and shaking Tommy by the hand. "It has taken an awful load off my +mind."</p> + +<p>Having seen his client out, Tommy returned to the inner office. +Tuppence was at the cupboard that contained the Classic library.</p> + +<p>"Inspector French," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Inspector French of course," said Tuppence. "He always does alibis. +I know the exact procedure. We have to go over everything and check +it. At first it will seem all right and then when we examine it more +closely we shall find the flaw."</p> + +<p>"There ought not to be much difficulty about that," agreed Tommy. "I +mean, knowing that one of them is a fake to start with makes the thing +almost a certainty I should say. That is what worries me."</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything to worry about in that."</p> + +<p>"I am worrying about the girl," said Tommy. "She will probably be let +in to marry that young man whether she wants to or not."</p> + +<p>"Darling," said Tuppence, "don't be foolish. Women are never the wild +gamblers they appear. Unless that girl was already perfectly prepared +to marry that pleasant but rather empty-headed young man, she would +never have let herself in for a wager of this kind. But, Tommy, believe +me, she will marry him with more enthusiasm and respect if he wins the +wager than if she has to make it easy for him some other way."</p> + +<p>"You do think you know about everything," said her husband.</p> + +<p>"I do," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"And now to examine our data," said Tommy drawing the papers towards +him. "First the photograph—hm—quite a nice looking girl—and quite a +good photograph I should say. Clear and easily recognisable."</p> + +<p>"We must get some other girls' photographs," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"They always do," said Tuppence. "You show four or five to waiters and +they pick out the right one."</p> + +<p>"Do you think they do?" said Tommy—"pick out the right one I mean."</p> + +<p>"Well, they do in books," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity that real life is so different from fiction," said Tommy. +"Now then what have we here? Yes, this is the London lot. Dined at the +Bon Temps seven thirty. Went to Duke's Theatre and saw Delphiniums +Blue. Counterfoil of theatre ticket enclosed. Supper at the Savoy with +Mr. le Marchant. We can, I suppose, interview Mr. le Marchant."</p> + +<p>"That tells us nothing at all," said Tuppence, "because if he is +helping her to do it he naturally won't give the show away. We can wash +out anything he says now."</p> + +<p>"Well, here is the Torquay end," went on Tommy. "Twelve o'clock train +from Paddington, had lunch in the Restaurant Car, receipted bill +enclosed. Stayed at Castle Hotel for one night. Again receipted bill."</p> + +<p>"I think this is all rather weak," said Tuppence. "Anyone can buy a +theatre ticket, you need never go near the theatre. The girl just went +to Torquay and the London thing is a fake."</p> + +<p>"If so, it is rather a sitter for us," said Tommy. "Well, I suppose we +might as well go and interview Mr. le Marchant."</p> + +<p>Mr. le Marchant proved to be a breezy youth who betrayed no great +surprise on seeing them.</p> + +<p>"Una has got some little game on, hasn't she?" he asked. "You never +know what that kid is up to."</p> + +<p>"I understand, Mr. le Marchant," said Tommy, "that Miss Drake had +supper with you at the Savoy last Tuesday evening."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Mr. le Marchant. "I know it was Tuesday because +Una impressed it on me at the time and what's more she made me write it +down in a little book."</p> + +<p>With some pride he showed an entry faintly pencilled: "Having supper +with Una. Savoy. Tuesday 19th."</p> + +<p>"Where had Miss Drake been earlier in the evening? Do you know?"</p> + +<p>"She had been to some rotten show called Pink Peonies or something like +that. Absolute slosh so she told me."</p> + +<p>"You are quite sure Miss Drake was with you that evening?"</p> + +<p>Mr. le Marchant stared at him.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course. Haven't I been telling you?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she asked you to tell us," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Well, for a matter of fact she did say something that was rather +dashed odd. She said, what was it now? 'You think you are sitting +here having supper with me, Jimmy, but really, I am having supper two +hundred miles away in Devonshire.' Now that was a dashed odd thing to +say, don't you think so? Sort of astral body stuff. The funny thing is +that a pal of mine, Dicky Rice, thought he saw her there."</p> + +<p>"Who is this Mr. Rice?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, just a friend of mine. He had been down in Torquay staying with an +aunt. Sort of old bean who is always going to die and never does. Dicky +had been down doing the dutiful nephew. He said, 'I saw that Australian +girl one day—Una something or other. Wanted to go and talk to her but +my aunt carried me off to chat with an old Pussy in a bathchair.' I +said, 'When was this?' and he said, 'Oh, Tuesday about tea time.' I +told him of course that he had made a mistake, but it was odd, wasn't +it? With Una saying that about Devonshire that evening."</p> + +<p>"Very odd," said Tommy. "Tell me, Mr. le Marchant, did anyone you know +have supper near you at the Savoy?"</p> + +<p>"Some people called Oglander were at the next table."</p> + +<p>"Do they know Miss Drake?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, they know her. They are not frightful friends or anything of +that kind."</p> + +<p>"Well, if there's nothing more you can tell us, Mr. le Marchant, I +think we will wish you good morning."</p> + +<p>"Either that chap is an extraordinary good liar," said Tommy as they +reached the street, "or else he is speaking the truth."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tuppence. "I have changed my opinion. I have a sort of +feeling now that Una Drake was at the Savoy for supper that night."</p> + +<p>"We will now go to the Bon Temps," said Tommy. "A little food for +starving sleuths is clearly indicated. Let's just get a few girls' +photographs first."</p> + +<p>This proved rather more difficult than was expected. Turning into a +photographer's and demanding a few assorted photographs, they were met +with a cold rebuff.</p> + +<p>"Why are all the things that are so easy and simple in books so +difficult in real life?" wailed Tuppence. "How horribly suspicious +they looked. What do you think they thought we wanted to do with the +photographs? We had better go and raid Jane's flat."</p> + +<p>Tuppence's friend Jane proved of an accommodating disposition and +permitted Tuppence to rummage in a drawer and select four specimens of +former friends of Jane's who had been shoved hastily in to be out of +sight and mind.</p> + +<p>Armed with this galaxy of feminine beauty they proceeded to the Bon +Temps where fresh difficulties and much expense awaited them. Tommy +had to get hold of each waiter in turn, tip him and then produce the +assorted photographs. The result was unsatisfactory. At least three +of the photographs were promising starters as having dined there last +Tuesday. They then returned to the office where Tuppence immersed +herself in an A.B.C.</p> + +<p>"Paddington twelve o'clock. Torquay three thirty-five. That's the train +and le Marchant's friend, Mr. Sago, or Tapioca or something, saw her +there about tea time."</p> + +<p>"We haven't checked his statement, remember," said Tommy. "If, as you +said to begin with, le Marchant is a friend of Una Drake's, he may have +invented this story."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll hunt up Mr. Rice," said Tuppence. "I have a kind of hunch +that Mr. le Marchant was speaking the truth. No, what I am trying to +get at now is this. Una Drake leaves London by the twelve o'clock +train, possibly takes a room at a hotel and unpacks. Then she takes a +train back to town arriving in time to get to the Savoy. There is one +at four forty gets up to Paddington at nine ten."</p> + +<p>"And then?" said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"And then," said Tuppence, frowning, "it is rather more difficult. +There is a midnight train from Paddington down again but she could +hardly take that, that would be too early."</p> + +<p>"A fast car," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tuppence. "It is just on two hundred miles."</p> + +<p>"Australians, I have always been told, drive very recklessly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose it could be done," said Tuppence, "she would arrive +there about seven."</p> + +<p>"Are you supposing her to have nipped into her bed at the Castle Hotel +without being seen? Or arriving there explaining that she had been out +all night and could she have her bill, please?"</p> + +<p>"Tommy," said Tuppence. "We are idiots. She needn't have gone back to +Torquay at all. She has only got to get a friend to go to the Hotel +there and collect her luggage and pay her bill. Then you get the +receipted bill with the proper date on it."</p> + +<p>"I think on the whole we have worked out a very sound hypothesis," said +Tommy. "The next thing to do is to catch the twelve o'clock train to +Torquay to-morrow and verify our brilliant conclusions."</p> + +<p>Armed with a portfolio of photographs, Tommy and Tuppence duly +established themselves in a first class carriage the following morning, +and booked seats for the second lunch.</p> + +<p>"It probably won't be the same dining car attendants," said Tommy. +"That would be too much luck to expect. I expect we shall have to +travel up and down to Torquay for days before we strike the right ones."</p> + +<p>"This alibi business is very trying," said Tuppence. "In books it is +all passed over in two or three paragraphs. Inspector Something then +boarded the train to Torquay and questioned the dining car attendants +and so ended the story."</p> + +<p>For once, however, the young couple's luck was in. In answer to their +question the attendant who brought their bill for lunch proved to be +the same one who had been on duty the preceding Tuesday. What Tommy +called the ten shilling note touch then came into action and Tuppence +produced the portfolio.</p> + +<p>"I want to know," said Tommy, "if any of these ladies had lunch on this +train on Tuesday last?"</p> + +<p>In a gratifying manner worthy of the best detective fiction the man at +once indicated the photograph of Una Drake.</p> + +<p>"Yes sir, I remember that lady, and I remember that it was Tuesday, +because the lady herself drew attention to the fact saying it was +always the luckiest day in the week for her."</p> + +<p>"So far, so good," said Tuppence as they returned to their compartment. +"And we will probably find that she booked at the Hotel all right. +It is going to be more difficult to prove that she travelled back to +London, but perhaps one of the porters at the station may remember."</p> + +<p>Here, however, they drew a blank and crossing to the up platform Tommy +made inquiries of the ticket collector and of various porters. After +the distribution of half crowns as a preliminary to inquiring, two +of the porters picked out one of the other photographs with a vague +remembrance that someone like that travelled to town by the four forty +that afternoon, but there was no identification of Una Drake.</p> + +<p>"But that doesn't prove anything," said Tuppence as they left the +station. "She may have travelled by that train and no one noticed her."</p> + +<p>"She may have gone from the other station, from Torre."</p> + +<p>"That's quite likely," said Tuppence, "however, we can see to that +after we have been to the hotel."</p> + +<p>The Castle Hotel was a big one overlooking the sea. After booking a +room for the night and signing the register, Tommy observed pleasantly:</p> + +<p>"I believe you had a friend of ours staying here last Tuesday. Miss Una +Drake."</p> + +<p>The young lady in the bureau beamed at him.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I remember quite well. An Australian young lady I believe."</p> + +<p>At a sign from Tommy, Tuppence produced the photograph.</p> + +<p>"That is rather a charming photograph of her, isn't it?" said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Oh very nice, very nice indeed, quite stylish."</p> + +<p>"Did she stay here long?" inquired Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Only one night. She went away by the Express the next morning back +to London. It seemed a long way to come for one night but of course I +suppose Australian ladies don't think anything of travelling."</p> + +<p>"She is a very sporting girl," said Tommy, "always having adventures. +It wasn't here, was it, that she went out to dine with some friends, +went for a drive in their car afterwards, ran the car into a ditch and +wasn't able to get home till morning?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said the young lady. "Miss Drake had dinner here in the +Hotel."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Tommy, "are you sure of that? I mean—how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I saw her."</p> + +<p>"I asked because I understood she was dining with some friends in +Torquay," explained Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no sir, she dined here." The young lady laughed and blushed a +little. "I remember she had on a most sweetly pretty frock. One of +those new flowered chiffons all over pansies."</p> + +<p>"Tuppence, this tears it," said Tommy when they had been shown upstairs +to their room.</p> + +<p>"It does rather," said Tuppence. "Of course that woman may be mistaken. +We will ask the waiter at dinner. There can't be very many people here +just at this time of year."</p> + +<p>This time it was Tuppence who opened the attack.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me if a friend of mine was here last Tuesday?" she asked +the waiter with an engaging smile. "A Miss Drake, wearing a frock all +over pansies I believe." She produced a photograph. "This lady."</p> + +<p>The waiter broke into immediate smiles of recognition.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Miss Drake. I remember her very well. She told me she came +from Australia."</p> + +<p>"She dined here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was last Tuesday. She asked me if there was anything to do +afterwards in the town."</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"I told her the theatre, the Pavilion, but in the end she decided not +to go and stayed here listening to our orchestra."</p> + +<p>"Oh damn," said Tommy under his breath.</p> + +<p>"You don't remember what time she had dinner, do you?" said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"She came down a little late. It must have been about eight o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Damn, Blast, and Curse," said Tuppence as she and Tommy left the +dining-room. "Tommy, this is all going wrong. It seemed so clear and +lovely."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose we ought to have known it wouldn't all be plain +sailing."</p> + +<p>"Is there any train she could have taken after that I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"Not one that would have landed her in London in time to go to the +Savoy."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence, "as a last hope I am going to talk to the +chambermaid. Una Drake had a room on the same floor as ours."</p> + +<p>The chambermaid was a voluble and informative woman. Yes, she +remembered the young lady quite well. That was her picture right +enough. A very nice young lady, very merry and talkative. Had told her +a lot about Australia and the kangaroos.</p> + +<p>The young lady rang the bell about half past nine and asked for her +bottle to be filled and put in her bed and also to be called the next +morning at half past seven—with coffee instead of tea.</p> + +<p>"You did call her and she was in bed?" asked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>The chambermaid stared at her.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes Ma'am, of course."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I only wondered if she was doing exercises or anything," said +Tuppence, wildly. "So many people do in the early morning."</p> + +<p>"Well, that seems cast iron enough," said Tommy, when the chambermaid +had departed. "There is only one conclusion to be drawn from it. It is +the London side of the thing that <i>must</i> be faked."</p> + +<p>"Mr. le Marchant must be a more accomplished liar than we thought," +said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"We have a way of checking his statements," said Tommy. "He said there +were people sitting at the next table whom Una knew slightly. What was +their name—Oglander, that was it. We must hunt up these Oglanders and +we ought also to make inquiries at Miss Drake's flat in Clarges Street."</p> + +<p>The following morning they paid their bill and departed somewhat +crestfallen.</p> + +<p>Hunting out the Oglanders was fairly easy with the aid of the telephone +book. Tuppence this time took the offensive and assumed the character +of a representative of a new illustrated paper. She called on Mrs. +Oglander asking for a few details of their "smart" supper party at the +Savoy on Tuesday evening. These details Mrs. Oglander was only too +willing to supply. Just as she was leaving Tuppence added carelessly: +"Let me see, wasn't Miss Una Drake sitting at the table next you? Is it +really true that she is engaged to the Duke of Perth? You know her, of +course."</p> + +<p>"I know her slightly," said Mrs. Oglander. "A very charming girl I +believe. Yes, she was sitting at the next table to ours with Mr. le +Marchant. My girls know her better than I do."</p> + +<p>Tuppence's next port of call was the flat in Clarges Street. Here she +was greeted by Miss Marjory Leicester, the friend with whom Miss Drake +shared a flat.</p> + +<p>"Do tell me what all this is about?" asked Miss Leicester plaintively. +"Una has some deep game on and I don't know what it is. Of course she +slept here on Tuesday night."</p> + +<p>"Did you see her when she came in?"</p> + +<p>"No, I had gone to bed. She has got her own latch key, of course. She +came in about one o'clock, I believe."</p> + +<p>"When did you see her?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the next morning about nine—or perhaps it was nearer ten."</p> + +<p>As Tuppence left the flat she almost collided with a tall, gaunt female +who was entering.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Miss, I'm sure," said the gaunt female.</p> + +<p>"Do you work here?" asked Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss, I come daily."</p> + +<p>"What time do you get here in the morning?"</p> + +<p>"Nine o'clock is my time, Miss."</p> + +<p>Tuppence slipped a hurried half crown into the gaunt female's hand.</p> + +<p>"Was Miss Drake here last Tuesday morning when you arrived?"</p> + +<p>"Why yes, Miss, indeed she was. Fast asleep in her bed and hardly woke +up when I brought her in her tea."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you," said Tuppence and went disconsolately down the stairs.</p> + +<p>She had arranged to meet Tommy for lunch in a small Restaurant in Soho +and there they compared notes.</p> + +<p>"I have seen that fellow, Rice. It is quite true he did see Una Drake +in the distance at Torquay."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence, "we have checked these alibis all right. Here, +give me a bit of paper and a pencil, Tommy. Let us put it down neatly +like all detectives do."</p> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdl">1.30</td> <td class="tdl"> Una Drake seen in Luncheon Car of train.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">4 o'clock</td> <td class="tdl"> Arrives at Castle Hotel.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">5 o'clock</td> <td class="tdl"> Seen by Mr. Rice.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">8 o'clock</td> <td class="tdl"> Seen dining at Hotel.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">9.30</td> <td class="tdl"> Asks for hot water bottle.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">11.30</td> <td class="tdl"> Seen at Savoy with Mr. le Marchant.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">7.30 a.m.</td> <td class="tdl"> Called by chambermaid at Castle Hotel.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">9 o'clock</td> <td class="tdl"> Called by charwoman at flat at Clarges Street.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>They looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"Well, it looks to me as if Blunt's Brilliant Detectives are beat," +said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we mustn't give up," said Tuppence. "Somebody <i>must</i> be lying!"</p> + +<p>"The queer thing is that it strikes me nobody was lying. They all +seemed perfectly truthful and straightforward."</p> + +<p>"Yet there must be a flaw. We know there is. I think of all sorts +of things like private aeroplanes but that doesn't really get us any +forwarder."</p> + +<p>"I am inclined to the theory of an astral body."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence, "the only thing to do is to sleep on it. Your +subconscious works in your sleep."</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tommy. "If your subconscious provides you with a perfectly +good answer to this riddle by to-morrow morning, I take off my hat to +it."</p> + +<p>They were very silent all that evening. Again and again Tuppence +reverted to the paper of times. She wrote things on bits of paper. She +murmured to herself, she sought perplexedly through Rail Guides. But in +the end they both rose to go to bed with no faint glimmer of light on +the problem.</p> + +<p>"This is very disheartening," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"One of the most miserable evenings I have ever spent," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have gone to a Music Hall," said Tommy. "A few good jokes +about mothers-in-law and twins and bottles of beer would have done us +no end of good."</p> + +<p>"No, you will see this concentration will work in the end," said +Tuppence. "How busy our subconscious will have to be in the next eight +hours!" And on this hopeful note they went to bed.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy next morning, "has the subconscious worked?"</p> + +<p>"I have got an idea," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"You have. What sort of an idea?"</p> + +<p>"Well, rather a funny idea. Not at all like anything I have ever read +in detective stories. As a matter of fact it is an idea that <i>you</i> put +into my head."</p> + +<p>"Then it must be a good idea," said Tommy firmly. "Come on, Tuppence, +out with it."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to send a cable to verify it," said Tuppence. "No, I am +not going to tell you. It's a perfectly wild idea but it's the only +thing that fits the facts."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, "I must away to the office. A roomful of +disappointed clients must not wait in vain. I leave this case in the +hands of my promising subordinate."</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded cheerfully.</p> + +<p>She did not put in an appearance at the office all day. When Tommy +returned that evening about half past five it was to find a wildly +exultant Tuppence awaiting him.</p> + +<p>"I have done it, Tommy. I have solved the mystery of the alibi. We +can charge up all these half crowns and ten shilling notes and demand +a substantial fee of our own from Mr. Montgomery Jones and he can go +right off and collect his girl."</p> + +<p>"What is the solution?" cried Tommy.</p> + +<p>"A perfectly simple one," said Tuppence. "<i>Twins.</i>"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?—Twins?"</p> + +<p>"Why just that. Of course it is the only solution. I will say you put +it into my head last night talking about mothers-in-law, twins, and +bottles of beer. I cabled to Australia and got back the information +I wanted. Una has a twin sister, Vera, who arrived in England last +Monday. That is why she was able to make this bet so spontaneously. +She thought it would be a frightful rag on poor Montgomery Jones. The +sister went to Torquay and she stayed in London."</p> + +<p>"Do you think she'll be terribly despondent that she's lost?" asked +Tommy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Tuppence. "I don't. I gave you my views about that before. +She will put all the kudos down to Montgomery Jones. I always think +respect for your husband's abilities should be the foundation of +married life."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to have inspired these sentiments in you, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"It is not a really satisfactory solution," said Tuppence. "Not the +ingenious sort of flaw that Inspector French would have detected."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Tommy. "I think the way I showed these photographs to +the waiter in the Restaurant was exactly like Inspector French."</p> + +<p>"He didn't have to use nearly so many half crowns and ten shilling +notes as we seem to have done," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Tommy. "We can charge them all up with additions to +Mr. Montgomery Jones. He will be in such a state of idiotic bliss that +he would probably pay the most enormous bill without jibbing at it."</p> + +<p>"So he should," said Tuppence. "Haven't Blunt's Brilliant +Detectives been brilliantly successful? Oh, Tommy, I do think we are +extraordinarily clever. It quite frightens me sometimes."</p> + +<p>"The next case we have shall be a Roger Sheringham case and you, +Tuppence, shall be Roger Sheringham."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to talk a lot," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"You do that naturally," said Tommy. "And now I suggest that we carry +out my programme of last night and seek out a Music Hall where they +have plenty of jokes about mothers-in-law, bottles of beer, <i>and +Twins</i>."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XX"><span class="smcap">Chapter XX</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Clergyman's Daughter</span></h3> + + +<p>"I wish," said Tuppence, roaming moodily round the office, "that we +could befriend a clergyman's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You may have forgotten the fact, but I was once a clergyman's daughter +myself. I remember what it was like. Hence this altruistic urge—this +spirit of thoughtful consideration for others—this—"</p> + +<p>"You are getting ready to be Roger Sheringham, I see," said Tommy. "If +you will allow me to make a criticism, you talk quite as much as he +does, but not nearly so well."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," said Tuppence, "there is a feminine subtlety about +my conversation, a <i>je ne sais quoi</i>, that no gross male could ever +attain to. I have, moreover, powers unknown to my prototype—do I mean +prototype? Words are such uncertain things, they so often sound well +but mean the opposite of what one thinks they do."</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Tommy kindly.</p> + +<p>"I was. I was only pausing to take breath. Touching these powers, it is +my wish to-day to assist a clergyman's daughter. You will see, Tommy, +the first person to enlist the aid of Blunt's Brilliant Detectives will +be a clergyman's daughter."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you it isn't," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Done," said Tuppence. "Hist! To your typewriters, Oh! Israel. One +comes."</p> + +<p>Mr. Blunt's office was humming with industry as Albert opened the door +and announced:</p> + +<p>"Miss Monica Deane."</p> + +<p>A slender brown haired girl, rather shabbily dressed, entered and stood +hesitating. Tommy came forward.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Miss Deane. Won't you sit down and tell us what we can +do for you? By the way, let me introduce my confidential secretary, +Miss Sheringham."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Deane," said Tuppence. +"Your father was in the Church, I think."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he was. But how <i>did</i> you know that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! we have our methods," said Tuppence. "You mustn't mind me rattling +on. Mr. Blunt likes to hear me talk. He always says it gives him ideas."</p> + +<p>The girl stared at her. She was a slender creature, not beautiful, +but possessing a wistful prettiness. She had a quantity of soft +mouse-colored hair, and her eyes were dark blue and very lovely, though +the dark shadows round them spoke of trouble and anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me your story, Miss Deane?" said Tommy.</p> + +<p>The girl turned to him gratefully.</p> + +<p>"It's such a long, rambling story," said the girl. "My name is Monica +Deane. My father was the rector of Little Hampsley in Suffolk. He +died three years ago, and my mother and I were left very badly off. +I went out as a governess, but my mother became a confirmed invalid +and I had to come home to look after her. We were desperately poor, +but one day we received a lawyer's letter telling us that an aunt of +my father's had died and had left everything to me. I had often heard +of this aunt who had quarrelled with my father many years ago, and I +knew that she was very well off, so it really seemed that our troubles +were at an end. But matters did not turn out quite as well as we had +hoped. I inherited the house she had lived in, but after paying one or +two small legacies, there was no money left. I suppose she must have +lost it during the war, or perhaps she had been living on her capital. +Still, we had the house, and almost at once we had a chance of selling +it at quite an advantageous price. But, foolishly perhaps, I refused +the offer. We were in tiny, but expensive lodgings, and I thought it +would be much nicer to live in the Red House where my mother could have +comfortable rooms and take in paying guests to cover our expenses.</p> + +<p>"I adhered to this plan, notwithstanding a further tempting offer from +the gentlemen who wanted to buy. We moved in, and I advertised for +paying guests. For a time, all went well, we had several answers to our +advertisement, my aunt's old servant remained on with us and she and +I between us did the work of the house. And then these unaccountable +things began to happen."</p> + +<p>"What things?"</p> + +<p>"The queerest things. The whole place seemed bewitched. Pictures fell +down, crockery flew across the room and broke, one morning we came down +to find all the furniture moved round. At first we thought someone +was playing a practical joke, but we had to give up that explanation. +Sometimes when we were all sitting down to dinner, a terrific crash +would be heard overhead. We would go up and find no one there, but a +piece of furniture thrown violently to the ground."</p> + +<p>"A <i>poltergeist</i>," cried Tuppence, much interested.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what Dr. O'Neill said—though I don't know what it means."</p> + +<p>"It's a sort of evil spirit that plays tricks," explained Tuppence who +in reality knew very little of the subject, and was not even sure that +she had got the word <i>poltergeist</i> right.</p> + +<p>"Well, at any rate, the effect was disastrous. Our visitors were +frightened to death, and left as soon as possible. We got new ones, +and they too left hurriedly. I was in despair, and, to crown all, our +own tiny income ceased suddenly—the Company in which it was invested +failed."</p> + +<p>"You poor dear," said Tuppence sympathetically. "What a time you have +had. Did you want Mr. Blunt to investigate this 'haunting' business?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. You see, three days ago, a gentleman called upon us. +His name was Dr. O'Neill. He told us that he was a member of the +Society for Psychical Research, and that he had heard about the +curious manifestations that had taken place in our house and was much +interested. So much so, that he was prepared to buy it from us, and +conduct a series of experiments there."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, at first, I was overcome with joy. It seemed the way out of +all our difficulties. But—"</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will think me fanciful. Perhaps I am. But—oh! I'm sure I +haven't made a mistake. It was the same man!"</p> + +<p>"What same man?"</p> + +<p>"The same man who wanted to buy it before. Oh! I'm sure I'm right."</p> + +<p>"But why shouldn't it be?"</p> + +<p>"You don't understand. The two men were quite different, different name +and everything. The first man was quite young, a spruce dark young man +of thirty odd. Dr. O'Neill is about fifty, he has a grey beard and +wears glasses and stoops. But when he talked I saw a gold tooth on one +side of his mouth. It only shows when he laughs. The other man had a +tooth in just the same position, and then I looked at his ears. I had +noticed the other man's ears, because they were a peculiar shape with +hardly any lobe. Dr. O'Neill's were just the same. Both things couldn't +be a coincidence, could they? I thought and thought and finally I wrote +and said I would let him know in a week. I had noticed Mr. Blunt's +advertisement some time ago—as a matter of fact in an old paper that +lined one of the kitchen drawers. I cut it out and came up to town."</p> + +<p>"You were quite right," said Tuppence, nodding her head with vigor. +"This needs looking into."</p> + +<p>"A very interesting case, Miss Deane," observed Tommy. "We shall be +pleased to look into this for you—eh, Miss Sheringham?"</p> + +<p>"Rather," said Tuppence, "and we'll get to the bottom of it too."</p> + +<p>"I understand, Miss Deane," went on Tommy, "that the household consists +of you and your mother and a servant. Can you give me any particulars +about the servant?"</p> + +<p>"Her name is Crockett. She was with my aunt about eight or ten years. +She is an elderly woman, not very pleasant in manner, but a good +servant. She is inclined to give herself airs because her sister +married out of her station. Crockett has a nephew whom she is always +telling us is 'quite the gentleman.'"</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tommy, rather at a loss how to proceed.</p> + +<p>Tuppence had been eyeing Monica keenly, now she spoke with sudden +decision.</p> + +<p>"I think the best plan would be for Miss Deane to come out and lunch +with me. It's just on one o'clock. I can get full details from her."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Miss Sheringham," said Tommy. "An excellent plan."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Tuppence when they were comfortably ensconced at a +little table in a neighboring restaurant, "I want to know. Is there any +special reason why you want to find out about all this?"</p> + +<p>Monica blushed.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see—"</p> + +<p>"Out with it," said Tuppence encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"Well—there are two men who—who—want to marry me."</p> + +<p>"The usual story, I suppose? One rich, one poor, and the poor one is +the one you like!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how you know all these things," murmured the girl.</p> + +<p>"That's a sort of law of Nature," explained Tuppence. "It happens to +everybody. It happens to me."</p> + +<p>"You see, even if I sell the house, it won't bring us enough to live +on. Gerald is a dear, but he's desperately poor—though he's a very +clever engineer and if only he had a little capital, his firm would +take him into partnership. The other, Mr. Partridge, is a very good +man, I am sure—and well off, and if I married him it would be an end +of all our troubles. But—but—"</p> + +<p>"I know," said Tuppence sympathetically. "It isn't the same thing at +all. You can go on telling yourself how good and worthy he is, and +adding up his qualities as though they were an addition sum—and it all +has a simply refrigerating effect."</p> + +<p>Monica nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tuppence, "I think it would be as well if we went down +to the neighborhood and studied matters upon the spot. What is the +address?"</p> + +<p>"The Red House, Stourton in the Marsh."</p> + +<p>Tuppence wrote down the address in her note book.</p> + +<p>"I didn't ask you," Monica began—"about terms—" she ended, blushing a +little.</p> + +<p>"Our payments are strictly by results," said Tuppence gravely. "If the +secret of the Red House is a profitable one, as seems possible from the +anxiety displayed to acquire the property, we should expect a small +percentage, otherwise—nothing!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much," said the girl gratefully.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Tuppence, "don't worry. Everything's going to be all +right. Let's enjoy lunch and talk of interesting things."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XXI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXI</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Red House</span></h3> + + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, looking out of the window of the Crown and Anchor, +"here we are at Toad in the Hole—or whatever this blasted village is +called."</p> + +<p>"Let us review the case," said Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"By all means," said Tommy. "To begin with, getting my say in first, +<i>I</i> suspect the invalid mother!"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Tuppence, grant that this <i>poltergeist</i> business is all a put +up job, got up in order to persuade the girl to sell the house, someone +must have thrown the things about. Now the girl said everyone was at +dinner—but if the mother is a thoroughgoing invalid, she'd be upstairs +in her room."</p> + +<p>"If she was an invalid she could hardly throw furniture about."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but she wouldn't be a real invalid. She'd be shamming."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"There you have me," confessed her husband. "I was really going on the +well known principle of suspecting the most unlikely person."</p> + +<p>"You always make fun of everything," said Tuppence severely. "There +must be <i>something</i> that makes these people so anxious to get hold of +the house. And if you don't care about getting to the bottom of this +matter, I do. I like that girl. She's a dear."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded seriously enough.</p> + +<p>"I quite agree. But I never can resist ragging you, Tuppence. Of course +there's something queer about the house, and whatever it is, it's +something that's difficult to get at. Otherwise a mere burglary would +do the trick. But to be willing to buy the house means either that +you've got to take up floors or pull down walls, or else that there's a +coal mine under the back garden!"</p> + +<p>"I don't want it to be a coal mine. Buried treasure is much more +romantic."</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Tommy. "In that case I think that I shall pay a visit to +the local Bank Manager, explain that I am staying here over Christmas +and probably buying the Red House, and discuss the question of opening +an account."</p> + +<p>"But why—?"</p> + +<p>"Wait and see."</p> + +<p>Tommy returned at the end of half an hour. His eyes were twinkling.</p> + +<p>"We advance, Tuppence. Our interview proceeded on the lines indicated. +I then asked casually whether he had had much gold paid in, as is +often the case nowadays in these small country banks—small farmers +who hoarded it during the War, you understand. From that we proceeded +quite naturally to the extraordinary vagaries of old ladies. I +invented an aunt, who on the outbreak of the War, drove to the Army +and Navy Stores in a four wheeler, and returned with sixteen hams. He +immediately mentioned a client of his own who had insisted on drawing +out every penny of money she had—in gold as far as possible, and who +also insisted on having her securities, bearer bonds and such things, +given into her own custody. I exclaimed on such an act of folly, and he +mentioned casually that she was the former owner of the Red House. You +see, Tuppence? She drew out all this money, and she hid it somewhere. +You remember that Monica Deane mentioned that they were astonished at +the small amount of her estate? Yes, she hid it in the Red House, and +someone knows about it. I can make a pretty good guess who that someone +is too."</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"What about the faithful Crockett? She would know all about her +mistress's peculiarities."</p> + +<p>"And that gold-toothed Dr. O'Neill?"</p> + +<p>"The gentlemanly nephew, of course! That's it. But whereabouts did she +hide it? You know more about old ladies than I do, Tuppence. Where do +they hide things?"</p> + +<p>"Wrapped up in stockings and petticoats, under mattresses."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"I expect you're right. All the same, she can't have done that because +it would have been found when her things were turned over. It worries +me—you see, an old lady like that can't have taken up floors or +dug holes in the garden. All the same it's there in the Red House +somewhere. Crockett hasn't found it, but she knows it's there, and once +they get the house to themselves, she and her precious nephew, they can +turn it upside down until they find what they're after. We've got to +get ahead of them. Come on, Tuppence. We'll go to the Red House."</p> + +<p>Monica Deane received them. To her mother and Crockett they were +represented as would be purchasers of the Red House which would account +for their being taken all over the house and grounds. Tommy did not +tell Monica of the conclusions he had come to, but he asked her various +searching questions. Of the garments and personal belongings of the +dead woman, some had been given to Crockett and the others sent to +various poor families. Everything had been gone through and turned out.</p> + +<p>"Did your aunt leave any papers?"</p> + +<p>"The desk was full, and there were some in a drawer in her bedroom, but +there was nothing of importance amongst them."</p> + +<p>"Have they been thrown away?"</p> + +<p>"No, my mother is always very loath to throw away old papers. There +were some old fashioned recipes among them which she intends to go +through one day."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Tommy approvingly. Then, indicating an old man who was at +work upon one of the flower beds in the garden, he asked: "Was that old +man the gardener here in your aunt's time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he used to come three days a week. He lives in the village. Poor +old fellow, he is past doing any really useful work. We have him just +once a week to keep things tidied up. We can't afford more."</p> + +<p>Tommy winked at Tuppence to indicate that she was to keep Monica with +her, and he himself stepped across to where the gardener was working. +He spoke a few pleasant words to the old man, asked him if he had been +there in the old lady's time, and then said casually:</p> + +<p>"You buried a box for her once, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I never buried naught for her. What should she want to bury a +box for?"</p> + +<p>Tommy shook his head. He strolled back to the house frowning. It was +to be hoped that a study of the old lady's papers would yield some +clue—otherwise the problem was a hard one to solve. The house itself +was old fashioned, but not old enough to contain a secret room or +passage.</p> + +<p>Before leaving, Monica brought them down a big cardboard box, tied with +string.</p> + +<p>"I've collected all the papers," she whispered. "And they're in here. +I thought you could take it away with you, and then you'll have plenty +of time to go over them—but I'm sure you won't find anything to throw +light on the mysterious happenings in this house—"</p> + +<p>Her words were interrupted by a terrific crash overhead. Tommy ran +quickly up the stairs. A jug and basin in one of the front rooms was +lying on the ground broken to pieces. There was no one in the room.</p> + +<p>"The ghost up to its tricks again," he murmured with a grin.</p> + +<p>He went down stairs again thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, Miss Deane, if I might speak to the maid, Crockett, for a +minute."</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I will ask her to come to you."</p> + +<p>Monica went off to the kitchen. She returned with the elderly maid who +had opened the door to them earlier.</p> + +<p>"We are thinking of buying this house," said Tommy pleasantly, "and my +wife was wondering whether, in that case, you would care to remain on +with us?"</p> + +<p>Crockett's respectable face displayed no emotion of any kind.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," she said. "I should like to think it over if I may."</p> + +<p>Tommy turned to Monica.</p> + +<p>"I am delighted with the house, Miss Deane. I understand that there is +another buyer in the market. I know what he has offered for the house, +and I will willingly give a hundred more. And mind you, that is a good +price I am offering."</p> + +<p>Monica murmured something noncommittal, and the Beresfords took their +leave.</p> + +<p>"I was right," said Tommy, as they went down the drive. "Crockett's in +it. Did you notice that she was out of breath? That was from running +down the back stairs after smashing the jug and basin. Sometimes, very +likely, she has admitted her nephew secretly, and he has done a little +poltergeisting, or whatever you call it, whilst she has been innocently +with the family. You'll see, Dr. O'Neill will make a further offer +before the day is out."</p> + +<p>True enough, after dinner a note was brought. It was from Monica.</p> + +<p>"I have just heard from Dr. O'Neill. He raises his previous offer by +£150."</p> + +<p>"The nephew must be a man of means," said Tommy thoughtfully. "And I +tell you what, Tuppence, the prize he's after must be well worth while."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Oh! if only we could find it!"</p> + +<p>"Well, let's get on with the spade work."</p> + +<p>They were sorting through the big box of papers, a wearisome affair, as +they were all jumbled up pell mell without any kind of order or method. +Every few minutes they compared notes.</p> + +<p>"What's the latest, Tuppence?"</p> + +<p>"Two old receipted bills, three unimportant letters, a recipe for +preserving new potatoes and one for making lemon cheesecake. What's +yours?"</p> + +<p>"One bill, poem on Spring, two newspaper cuttings: 'Why Women buy +Pearls—a sound investment' and 'Man with Four Wives—Extraordinary +Story,' and a recipe for Jugged Hare."</p> + +<p>"It's heart breaking," said Tuppence, and they fell to once more. At +last the box was empty. They looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"I put this aside," said Tommy, picking up a half sheet of notepaper, +"because it struck me as peculiar. But I don't suppose it's got +anything to do with what we're looking for."</p> + +<p>"Let's see it. Oh! it's one of those funny things, what do they call +them? Anagrams, charades or something." She read it:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">"My <i>first</i> you put on glowing coal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And into it you put my <i>whole</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My <i>second</i> really is the first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My third mislikes the winter blast."</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>"H'm," said Tommy critically. "I don't think much of the poet's rhymes."</p> + +<p>"I don't see what you find peculiar about it, though," said Tuppence. +"Everybody used to have a collection of these sort of things about +fifty years ago. You saved them up for winter evenings round the fire."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't referring to the verse. It's the words written below it that +strike me as peculiar."</p> + +<p>"St. Luke XI. 9," she said. "It's a text."</p> + +<p>"Yes. Doesn't that strike you as odd? Would an old lady of a religious +persuasion write a text just under a charade?"</p> + +<p>"It is rather odd," agreed Tuppence thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I presume that you, being a clergyman's daughter, have got your Bible +with you?"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact I have. Aha, you didn't expect that. Wait a sec."</p> + +<p>Tuppence ran to her suit case, extracted a small red volume and +returned to the table. She turned the leaves rapidly. "Here we are. +Luke, Chapter XI, Verse 9. Oh! Tommy, look."</p> + +<p>Tommy bent over and looked where Tuppence's small finger pointed to a +portion of the verse in question.</p> + +<p>"<i>Seek, and ye shall find.</i>"</p> + +<p>"That's it," cried Tuppence. "We've got it! Solve the cryptogram and +the treasure is ours—or rather Monica's."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's get to work on the cryptogram, as you call it. 'My <i>first</i> +you put on glowing coal.' What does that mean, I wonder? Then—'My +<i>second</i> really is the first.' That's pure gibberish."</p> + +<p>"It's quite simple really," said Tuppence kindly. "It's just a sort of +knack. Let <i>me</i> have it."</p> + +<p>Tommy surrendered it willingly. Tuppence ensconced herself in an arm +chair, and began muttering to herself with bent brows.</p> + +<p>"It's quite simple really," murmured Tommy when half an hour had +elapsed.</p> + +<p>"Don't crow! We're the wrong generation for this. I've a good mind to +go back to town to-morrow and call on some old pussy who would probably +read it as easy as winking. It's a knack, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's have one more try."</p> + +<p>"There aren't many things you can put on glowing coal," said Tuppence +thoughtfully. "There's water, to put it out, or wood, or a kettle."</p> + +<p>"It must be one syllable, I suppose? What about <i>wood</i>, then?"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't put anything <i>into</i> wood, though."</p> + +<p>"There's no one syllable word instead of <i>water</i>, but there must be one +syllable things you can put on a fire in the kettle line."</p> + +<p>"Saucepans," mused Tuppence. "Frying pans. How about <i>pan</i>? Or <i>pot</i>? +What's a word beginning pan or pot that is something you cook?"</p> + +<p>"Pottery," suggested Tommy. "You bake that in the fire. Wouldn't that +be near enough?"</p> + +<p>"The rest of it doesn't fit. Pancakes? No. Oh! bother."</p> + +<p>They were interrupted by the little serving maid, who told them that +dinner would be ready in a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Only Mrs. Lumley, she wanted to know if you'd like your potatoes +fried, or boiled in their jackets? She's got some of each."</p> + +<p>"Boiled in their jackets," said Tuppence promptly. "I love potatoes—" +She stopped dead with her mouth open.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Tuppence? Have you seen a ghost?"</p> + +<p>"Tommy," cried Tuppence. "Don't you see? That's it! The word, I mean. +<i>Potatoes!</i> 'My <i>first</i> you put on glowing coal'—that's <i>pot</i>. 'And +into it you put my whole.' 'My <i>second</i> really is the first.' That's +A, the first letter of the alphabet. 'My <i>third</i> mislikes the wintry +blast'—cold <i>toes</i> of course!"</p> + +<p>"You're right, Tuppence. Very clever of you. But I'm afraid we've +wasted an awful lot of time over nothing. Potatoes don't fit in at all +with missing treasure. Half a sec., though. What did you read out just +now, when we were going through the box? Something about a recipe for +New Potatoes. I wonder whether there's anything in that."</p> + +<p>He rummaged hastily through the pile of recipes.</p> + +<p>"Here it is. 'TO KEEP NEW POTATOES. Put the new potatoes into tins and +bury them in the garden. Even in the middle of winter, they will taste +as though freshly dug.'"</p> + +<p>"We've got it," screamed Tuppence. "That's it. The treasure is in the +garden, buried in a tin."</p> + +<p>"But I asked the gardener. He said he'd never buried anything."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, but that's because people never really answer what you +say, they answer what they think you mean. He knew he'd never buried +anything out of the common. We'll go to-morrow and ask him where he +buried the potatoes."</p> + +<p>The following morning was Christmas Eve. By dint of inquiry they found +the old gardener's cottage. Tuppence broached the subject after some +minutes' conversation.</p> + +<p>"I wish one could have new potatoes at Christmas time," she remarked. +"Wouldn't they be good with turkey? Do people round here ever bury them +in tins? I've heard that keeps them fresh."</p> + +<p>"Ay, that they do," declared the old man. "Old Miss Deane, up to the +Red House, she allus had three tins buried every summer, and as often +as not forgot to have 'em dug up again!"</p> + +<p>"In the bed by the house, as a rule, didn't she?"</p> + +<p>"No, over against the wall by the fir tree."</p> + +<p>Having got the information they wanted, they soon took their leave of +the old man, presenting him with five shillings as a Christmas box.</p> + +<p>"And now for Monica," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Tommy! You have no sense of the dramatic. Leave it to me. I've got a +beautiful plan. Do you think you could manage to beg, borrow, or steal +a spade?"</p> + +<p>Somehow or other, a spade was duly produced, and that night, late, +two figures might have been seen stealing into the grounds of the Red +House. The place indicated by the gardener was easily found, and Tommy +set to work. Presently his spade rang on metal, and a few seconds later +he had unearthed a big biscuit tin. It was sealed round with adhesive +plaster and firmly fastened down, but Tuppence, by the aid of Tommy's +knife, soon managed to open it. Then she gave a groan. The tin was full +of potatoes. She poured them out so that the tin was completely empty, +but there were no other contents.</p> + +<p>"Go on digging, Tommy."</p> + +<p>It was some time before a second tin rewarded their search. As before +Tuppence unsealed it.</p> + +<p>"Well?" demanded Tommy anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Potatoes again!"</p> + +<p>"Damn!" said Tommy and set to once more.</p> + +<p>"The third time is lucky," said Tuppence consolingly.</p> + +<p>"I believe the whole thing's a mare's nest," said Tommy gloomily, but +he continued to dig.</p> + +<p>At last a third tin was brought to light.</p> + +<p>"Potatoes aga—" began Tuppence, then stopped. "Oh! Tommy, we've got +it. It's only potatoes on top. Look!"</p> + +<p>She held up a big old fashioned velvet bag.</p> + +<p>"Cut along home," cried Tommy. "It's icy cold. Take the bag with you. I +must just shovel back the earth. And may a thousand curses light upon +your head, Tuppence, if you open that bag before I come!"</p> + +<p>"I'll play fair. Ouch! I'm frozen." She beat a speedy retreat.</p> + +<p>On arrival at the Inn she had not long to wait. Tommy was hard upon her +heels, perspiring freely after his digging and the final brisk run.</p> + +<p>"Now then," said Tommy. "The private inquiry agents make good! Open the +loot, Mrs. Beresford."</p> + +<p>Inside the bag was a package done up in oil silk and a heavy chamois +leather bag. They opened the latter first. It was full of gold +sovereigns. Tommy counted them.</p> + +<p>"Two hundred pounds. That was all they would let her have, I suppose. +Cut open the package."</p> + +<p>Tuppence did so. It was full of closely folded banknotes. Tommy and +Tuppence counted them carefully. They amounted to exactly twenty +thousand pounds!</p> + +<p>"Whew!" said Tommy. "Isn't it lucky for Monica that we're both rich and +honest? What's that done up in tissue paper?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence unrolled the little parcel and drew out a magnificent string +of pearls, exquisitely matched.</p> + +<p>"I don't know much about these things," said Tommy slowly, "but I'm +pretty sure that those pearls are worth another five thousand pounds at +least. Look at the size of them. Now I see why the old lady kept that +cutting about pearls being a good investment. She must have realized +all her securities and turned them into notes and jewels."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Tommy, isn't it wonderful? Darling Monica. Now she can marry her +nice young man and live happily ever afterwards, like me."</p> + +<p>"That's rather sweet of you, Tuppence. So you <i>are</i> happy with me?"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact," said Tuppence, "I am. But I didn't mean to say +so. It slipped out. What with being excited, and Christmas Eve, and one +thing and another—"</p> + +<p>"If you really love me," said Tommy, "will you answer me one question?"</p> + +<p>"I hate these catches," said Tuppence. "But—well—all right."</p> + +<p>"Then how did you know that Monica was a clergyman's daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was just cheating," said Tuppence happily. "I opened her +letter making an appointment, and a Mr. Deane was Father's curate +once and he had a little girl called Monica, about four or five years +younger than me. So I put two and two together."</p> + +<p>"You are a shameless creature," said Tommy. "Hullo, there's twelve +o'clock striking. Happy Christmas, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"Happy Christmas, Tommy. It'll be a Happy Christmas for Monica too—and +all owing to us. I am glad. Poor thing, she has been so miserable. Do +you know, Tommy, I feel all queer and choky about the throat when I +think of it."</p> + +<p>"Darling Tuppence," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Darling Tommy," said Tuppence. "How awfully sentimental we are +getting."</p> + +<p>"Christmas comes but once a year," said Tommy sententiously. "That's +what our great grandmothers said and I expect there's a lot of truth in +it still."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XXII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Ambassador's Boots</span></h3> + + +<p>"My dear fellow, my dear fellow," said Tuppence and waved a heavily +buttered muffin.</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her for a minute or two, then a broad grin spread over +his face and he murmured.</p> + +<p>"We do have to be so very careful."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Tuppence delighted. "You guessed. I am the famous +Dr. Fortune and you are Superintendent Bell."</p> + +<p>"Why are you being Reginald Fortune?"</p> + +<p>"Well really because I feel like a lot of hot butter."</p> + +<p>"That is the pleasant side of it," said Tommy. "But there is another. +You will have to examine horribly smashed faces and very extra dead +bodies a good deal."</p> + +<p>In answer Tuppence threw across a letter. Tommy's eyebrows rose in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Randolph Wilmott, the American Ambassador. I wonder what he wants."</p> + +<p>"We shall know to-morrow at eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p>Punctually to the time named, Mr. Randolph Wilmott, United States +Ambassador to the Court of St. James, was ushered into Mr. Blunt's +office. He cleared his throat and commenced speaking in a deliberate +and characteristic manner.</p> + +<p>"I have come to you, Mr. Blunt—By the way, it is Mr. Blunt himself to +whom I am speaking, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said Tommy. "I am Theodore Blunt, the head of the firm."</p> + +<p>"I always prefer to deal with heads of departments," said Mr. Wilmott. +"It is more satisfactory in every way. As I was about to say, Mr. +Blunt, this business gets my goat. There's nothing in it to trouble +Scotland Yard about—I'm not a penny the worse in any way, and it's +probably all due to a simple mistake. But all the same, I don't see +just how that mistake arose. There's nothing criminal in it, I daresay, +but I'd like just to get the thing straightened out. It makes me mad +not to see the why and wherefore of a thing."</p> + +<p>"Absolutely," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilmott went on. He was slow and given to much detail. At last +Tommy managed to get a word in.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," he said, "the position is this. You arrived by the liner +Nomadic a week ago. In some way your kitbag and the kitbag of another +gentleman, Mr. Ralph Westerham whose initials are the same as yours, +got mixed up. You took Mr. Westerham's kitbag, and he took yours. Mr. +Westerham discovered the mistake immediately, sent round your kitbag to +the Embassy, and took away his own. Am I right so far?"</p> + +<p>"That is precisely what occurred. The two bags must have been +practically identical, and with the initials R.W. being the same in +both cases, it is not difficult to understand that an error might have +been made. I myself was not aware of what had happened until my valet +informed me of the mistake, and that Mr. Westerham—he is a Senator, +and a man for whom I have a great admiration—had sent round for his +bag and returned mine."</p> + +<p>"Then I don't see—"</p> + +<p>"But you will see. That's only the beginning of the story. Yesterday, +as it chanced, I ran up against Senator Westerham, and I happened to +mention the matter to him jestingly. To my great surprise, he did not +seem to know what I was talking about, and when I explained, he denied +the story absolutely. He had not taken my bag off the ship in mistake +for his own—in fact, he had not travelled with such an article amongst +his luggage."</p> + +<p>"What an extraordinary thing!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt, it <i>is</i> an extraordinary thing. There seems no rhyme or +reason in it. Why, if anyone wanted to steal my kitbag, he could do so +easily enough without resorting to all this round about business! And +anyway, it was <i>not</i> stolen, but returned to me. On the other hand, +if it were taken by mistake, why use Senator Westerham's name? It's a +crazy business—but just for curiosity I mean to get to the bottom of +it. I hope the case is not too trivial for you to undertake?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. It is a very intriguing little problem, capable as you +say, of many simple explanations, but nevertheless baffling on the face +of it. The first thing, of course, is the <i>reason</i> of the substitution, +if substitution it was. You say nothing was missing from your bag when +it came back into your possession?"</p> + +<p>"My man says not. He would know."</p> + +<p>"What was in it, if I may ask?"</p> + +<p>"Mostly boots."</p> + +<p>"Boots," said Tommy discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Wilmott. "Boots. Odd, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"You'll forgive my asking you," said Tommy, "but you didn't carry any +secret papers, or anything of that sort sewn in the lining of a boot or +screwed into a false heel?"</p> + +<p>The Ambassador seemed amused by the question.</p> + +<p>"Secret diplomacy hasn't got to that pitch, I hope."</p> + +<p>"Only in fiction," said Tommy with an answering smile, and a slightly +apologetic manner. "But you see, we've got to account for the thing +somehow. Who came for the bag—the other bag, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Supposed to be one of Westerham's servants. Quite a quiet ordinary +man, so I understand. My valet saw nothing wrong with him."</p> + +<p>"Had it been unpacked, do you know?"</p> + +<p>"That I can't say. I presume not. But perhaps you'd like to ask the +valet a few questions? He can tell you more than I can about the +business."</p> + +<p>"I think that would be the best plan, Mr. Wilmott."</p> + +<p>The Ambassador scribbled a few words on a card and handed it to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I opine that you would prefer to go round to the Embassy and make your +inquiries there? If not, I will have the man,—his name is Richards, by +the way—sent round here."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, Mr. Wilmott. I should prefer to go to the Embassy."</p> + +<p>The Ambassador rose, glancing at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I shall be late for an appointment. Well, good bye, Mr. +Blunt. I leave the matter in your hands."</p> + +<p>He hurried away. Tommy looked at Tuppence who had been scribbling +demurely on her pad in the character of the efficient Miss Robinson.</p> + +<p>"What about it, old thing?" he asked. "Do you see, as the old bird put +it, any rhyme or reason in the proceeding?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever," replied Tuppence cheerily.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's a start anyway! It shows that there is really something +very deep at the back of it."</p> + +<p>"You think so?"</p> + +<p>"It's a generally accepted hypothesis. Remember Sherlock Holmes and the +depth the butter had sunk into the parsley—I mean the other way round. +I've always had a devouring wish to know all about that case. Perhaps +Watson will disinter it from his notebook one of these days. Then I +shall die happy. But we must get busy."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tuppence. "Not a quick man, the esteemed Wilmott, but +sure."</p> + +<p>"She knows men," said Tommy. "Or do I say <i>he</i> knows men. It is so +confusing when you assume the character of a male detective."</p> + +<p>"Oh! my dear fellow, my dear fellow!"</p> + +<p>"A little more action, Tuppence, and a little less repetition."</p> + +<p>"A classic phrase cannot be repeated too often," said Tuppence with +dignity.</p> + +<p>"Have a muffin," said Tommy kindly.</p> + +<p>"Not at eleven o'clock in the morning, thank you. Silly case, this. +Boots—you know—Why boots?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, "why not?"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't fit. Boots." She shook her head. "All wrong. Who wants +other people's boots? The whole thing's mad."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they got hold of the wrong bag?" suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's possible. But if they were after papers, a despatch case would +be more likely. Papers are the only things one thinks of in connection +with ambassadors."</p> + +<p>"Boots suggest footprints," said Tommy thoughtfully. "Do you think +they wanted to lay a trail of Wilmott's footsteps somewhere?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence considered the suggestion, abandoning her rôle, then shook her +head.</p> + +<p>"It seems wildly impossible," she said. "No, I believe we shall have to +resign ourselves to the fact that the boots have nothing to do with it."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy with a sigh. "The next step is to interview friend +Richards. He may be able to throw some light on the mystery."</p> + +<p>On production of the Ambassador's card, Tommy was admitted to the +Embassy, and presently a pale young man, with a respectful manner, and +a subdued voice, presented himself to undergo examination.</p> + +<p>"I am Richards, sir, Mr. Wilmott's valet. I understood you wished to +see me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Richards. Mr. Wilmott called on me this morning, and suggested +that I should come round and ask you a few questions. It is this matter +of the kitbag."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wilmott was rather upset over the affair, I know, sir. I can +hardly see why, since no harm was done. I certainly understood from the +man who called for the other bag that it belonged to Senator Westerham, +but of course I may have been mistaken."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a man was he?"</p> + +<p>"Middle-aged. Grey hair. Very good class, I should say—most +respectable. I understood he was Senator Westerham's valet. He left Mr. +Wilmott's bag and took away the other."</p> + +<p>"Had it been unpacked at all?"</p> + +<p>"Which one, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I meant the one you brought from the boat. But I should like +to know about the other as well—Mr. Wilmott's own. Had that been +unpacked, do you fancy?"</p> + +<p>"I should say not, sir. It was just as I strapped it up on the boat. I +should say the gentleman—whoever he was—just opened it—realised it +wasn't his, and shut it up again."</p> + +<p>"Nothing missing? No small article?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so, sir. In fact, I'm quite sure."</p> + +<p>"And now the other one. Had you started to unpack that?"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, sir, I was just opening it at the very moment +Senator Westerham's man arrived. I'd just undone the straps."</p> + +<p>"Did you open it at all?"</p> + +<p>"We just unfastened it together, sir, to be sure no mistake had been +made this time. The man said it was all right, and he strapped it up +again and took it away."</p> + +<p>"What was inside? Boots also?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, mostly toilet things, I fancy. I know I saw a tin of bath +salts."</p> + +<p>Tommy abandoned that line of research.</p> + +<p>"You never saw anyone tampering with anything in your master's cabin on +board ship, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir."</p> + +<p>"Never anything suspicious of any kind?"</p> + +<p>"And what do I mean by that, I wonder," he thought to himself with a +trace of amusement. "Anything suspicious—just words!"</p> + +<p>But the man in front of him hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Now that I remember it—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tommy eagerly. "What?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think it could have anything to do with it. But there was a +young lady."</p> + +<p>"Yes? A young lady, you say, what was she doing?"</p> + +<p>"She was taken faint, sir. A very pleasant young lady. Miss Eileen +O'Hara, her name was. A dainty looking lady, not tall, with black hair. +Just a little foreign looking."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Tommy, with even greater eagerness.</p> + +<p>"As I was saying, she was taken queer. Just outside Mr. Wilmott's +cabin. She asked me to fetch the doctor. I helped her to the sofa, and +then went off for the doctor. I was some time finding him, and when I +found him and brought him back, the young lady was nearly all right +again."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You don't think, sir—"</p> + +<p>"It's difficult to know what to think," said Tommy noncommittally. "Was +this Miss O'Hara travelling alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so, sir."</p> + +<p>"You haven't seen her since you landed?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy, after a minute or two spent in reflection. "I think +that's all. Thank you, Richards."</p> + +<p>"Thank <i>you</i>, sir."</p> + +<p>Back at the office of the Detective Agency, Tommy retailed his +conversation with Richards to Tuppence who listened attentively.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, Tuppence?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! my dear fellow, we doctors are always sceptical of a sudden +faintness! So very convenient. And Eileen as well as O'Hara. Almost too +impossibly Irish, don't you think?"</p> + +<p>"It's something to go upon at last. Do you know what I am going to do, +Tuppence? Advertise for the lady."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Any information respecting Miss Eileen O'Hara, known to have +travelled such and such a ship and such and such a date. Either she'll +answer it herself if she's genuine, or someone may come forward to give +us information about her. So far, it's the only hope of a clue."</p> + +<p>"You'll also put her on her guard, remember."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy. "One's got to risk something."</p> + +<p>"I still can't see any sense in the thing," said Tuppence, frowning. +"If a gang of crooks get hold of the Ambassador's bag for an hour or +two, and then send it back, what possible good can it do them? Unless +there are papers in it they want to copy, and Mr. Wilmott swears there +was nothing of the kind."</p> + +<p>Tommy stared at her thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"You put these things rather well, Tuppence," he said at last. "You've +given me an idea."</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>It was two days later. Tuppence was out to lunch. Tommy, alone in the +austere office of Mr. Theodore Blunt, was improving his mind by reading +the latest sensational thriller.</p> + +<p>The door of the office opened and Albert appeared.</p> + +<p>"A young lady to see you, sir. Miss Cicely March. She says she has +called in answer to an advertisement."</p> + +<p>"Show her in at once," cried Tommy, thrusting his novel into a +convenient drawer.</p> + +<p>In another minute Albert had ushered in the young lady. Tommy had just +time to see that she was fair haired and extremely pretty when the +amazing occurrence happened.</p> + +<p>The door through which Albert had just passed out was rudely burst +open. In the doorway stood a picturesque figure—a big dark man, +Spanish in appearance, with a flaming red tie. His features were +distorted with rage, and in his hand was a gleaming pistol.</p> + +<p>"So this is the office of Mr. Busybody Blunt," he said in perfect +English. His voice was low and venomous. "Hands up at once—or I shoot."</p> + +<p>It sounded no idle threat. Tommy's hands went up obediently. The girl, +crouched against the wall, gave a gasp of terror.</p> + +<p>"This young lady will come with me," said the man. "Yes, you will, +my dear. You have never seen me before, but that doesn't matter. I +can't have my plans ruined by a silly little chit like you. I seem to +remember that you were one of the passengers on the Nomadic. You must +have been peering into things that didn't concern you—but I've no +intention of letting you blab any secrets to Mr. Blunt here. A very +clever gentleman, Mr. Blunt, with his fancy advertisements. But as it +happens, I keep an eye on the advertisement columns. That's how I got +wise to his little game."</p> + +<p>"You interest me exceedingly," said Tommy. "Won't you go on?"</p> + +<p>"Cheek won't help you, Mr. Blunt. From now on, you're a marked man. +Give up this investigation, and we'll leave you alone. Otherwise—God +help you! Death comes swiftly to those who thwart our plans."</p> + +<p>Tommy did not reply. He was staring over the intruder's shoulder as +though he saw a ghost.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact he was seeing something that caused him far more +apprehension than any ghost could have done. Up to now, he had not +given a thought to Albert as a factor in the game. He had taken for +granted that Albert had already been dealt with by the mysterious +stranger. If he had thought of him at all, it was as one lying stunned +on the carpet in the outer office.</p> + +<p>He now saw that Albert had miraculously escaped the stranger's +attention. But instead of rushing out to fetch a policeman in good +sound British fashion, Albert had elected to play a lone hand. The door +behind the stranger had opened noiselessly, and Albert stood in the +aperture enveloped in a coil of rope.</p> + +<p>An agonized yelp of protest burst from Tommy, but too late. Fired with +enthusiasm, Albert flung a loop of rope over the intruder's head, and +jerked him backwards off his feet.</p> + +<p>The inevitable happened. The pistol went off with a roar and Tommy +felt the bullet scorch his ear in passing, ere it buried itself in the +plaster behind him.</p> + +<p>"I've got him, sir," cried Albert, flushed with triumph. "I've lassoed +him. I've been practising with a lasso in my spare time, sir. Can you +give me a hand? He's very violent."</p> + +<p>Tommy hastened to his faithful henchman's assistance, mentally +determining that Albert should have no further spare time.</p> + +<p>"You damned idiot," he said. "Why didn't you go for a policeman? Owing +to this fool's play of yours, he as near as anything plugged me through +the head. Whew! I've never had such a near escape."</p> + +<p>"Lassoed him in the nick of time, I did," said Albert, his ardor quite +undamped. "It's wonderful what those chaps can do on the prairies, sir."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy, "but we're not on the prairies. We happen to +be in a highly civilized city. And now, my dear sir," he added to his +prostrate foe. "What are we going to do with you?"</p> + +<p>A stream of oaths in a foreign language was his only reply.</p> + +<p>"Hush," said Tommy. "I don't understand a word of what you're saying, +but I've got a shrewd idea it's not the kind of language to use before +a lady. You'll excuse him, won't you, Miss—do you know, in the +excitement of this little upset, I've quite forgotten your name?"</p> + +<p>"March," said the girl. She was still white and shaken. But she came +forward now and stood by Tommy looking down on the recumbent figure of +the discomfited stranger. "What are you going to do with him?"</p> + +<p>"I could fetch a bobby now," said Albert helpfully.</p> + +<p>But Tommy, looking up, caught a very faint negative movement of the +girl's head, and took his cue accordingly.</p> + +<p>"We'll let him off this time," he remarked. "Nevertheless I shall give +myself the pleasure of kicking him downstairs—if it's only to teach +him manners to a lady."</p> + +<p>He removed the rope, hauled the victim to his feet, and propelled him +briskly through the outer office.</p> + +<p>A series of shrill yelps was heard and then a thud. Tommy came back, +flushed but smiling.</p> + +<p>The girl was staring at him with round eyes.</p> + +<p>"Did you—hurt him?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said Tommy. "But these foreigners make a practise of +crying out before they're hurt—so I can't be quite sure about +it. Shall we come back into my office, Miss March, and resume our +interrupted conversation? I don't think we shall be interrupted again."</p> + +<p>"I'll have my lasso ready, sir, in case," said the helpful Albert.</p> + +<p>"Put it away," ordered Tommy sternly.</p> + +<p>He followed the girl into the inner office, and sat down at his desk +whilst she took a chair facing him.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know where to begin," said the girl. "As you heard that +man say, I was a passenger on the Nomadic. The lady you advertised +about, Miss O'Hara, was also on board."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Tommy. "That we know already, but I suspect you must +know something about her doings on board that boat or else that +picturesque gentleman would not have been in such a hurry to intervene."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you everything. The American Ambassador was on board. One +day, as I was passing his cabin, I saw this woman inside, and she was +doing something so extraordinary that I stopped to watch. She had a +man's boot in her hand—"</p> + +<p>"A boot?" cried Tommy excitedly. "I'm sorry, Miss March, go on."</p> + +<p>"With a little pair of scissors, she was slitting up the lining. Then +she seemed to push something inside. Just at that minute the doctor and +another man came down the passage, and immediately she dropped back on +the couch and groaned. I waited, and I gathered from what was being +said that she had pretended to feel faint. I say <i>pretended</i>—because +when I first caught sight of her, she was obviously feeling nothing of +the kind."</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I rather hate to tell you the next part. I was—curious. And also +I'd been reading silly books, and I wondered if she'd put a bomb or a +poisoned needle or something like that in Mr. Wilmott's boot. I know +it's absurd—but I did think so. Anyway, next time I passed the empty +cabin, I slipped in, and examined the boot. I drew out from the lining +a slip of paper. Just as I had it in my hand, I heard the steward +coming, and I hurried out so as not to be caught. The folded paper was +still in my hand. When I got into my own cabin, I examined it. Mr. +Blunt, it was nothing but some verses from the Bible."</p> + +<p>"Verses from the Bible?" said Tommy, very much intrigued.</p> + +<p>"At least I thought so at the time. I couldn't understand it, but I +thought perhaps it was the work of a religious maniac. Anyway, I didn't +feel it was worth while replacing it. I kept it without thinking much +about it until yesterday when I used it to make into a boat for my +little nephew to sail in his bath. As the paper got wet, I saw a queer +kind of design coming out all over it. I hastily took it out of the +bath, and smoothed it out flat. The water had brought out the hidden +message. It was a kind of tracing—and looked like the mouth of a +harbor. Immediately after that I read your advertisement."</p> + +<p>Tommy sprang from his chair.</p> + +<p>"But this is most important. I see it all now. That tracing is probably +the plan of some important harbor defences. It had been stolen by this +woman. She feared someone was on her track, and not daring to conceal +it amongst her own belongings, she contrived this hiding-place. Later, +she obtained possession of the bag in which the boot was packed—only +to discover that the paper had vanished. Tell me, Miss March, you have +brought this paper with you?"</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head.</p> + +<p>"It's at my place of business. I run a beauty parlor in Bond Street. I +am really an agent for the 'Cyclamen' preparations in New York. That +is why I had been over there. I thought the paper might be important, +so I locked it up in the safe before coming out. Ought not Scotland +Yard to know about it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Then shall we go there now, get it out, and take it straight to +Scotland Yard?"</p> + +<p>"I am very busy this afternoon," said Tommy adopting his professional +manner and consulting his watch. "The Bishop of London wants me to take +up a case for him. A very curious problem, concerning some vestments +and two curates."</p> + +<p>"Then in that case," said Miss March, rising, "I will go alone."</p> + +<p>Tommy raised a hand in protest.</p> + +<p>"As I was about to say," he said, "the Bishop must wait. I will leave +a few words with Albert. I am convinced, Miss March, that until that +paper has been safely deposited with Scotland Yard you are in active +danger."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" said the girl doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't think, I'm sure. Excuse me." He scribbled some words on the +pad in front of him, then tore off the leaf and folded it.</p> + +<p>Taking his hat and stick, he intimated to the girl that he was ready +to accompany her. In the outer office, he handed the folded paper to +Albert with an air of importance.</p> + +<p>"I am called out on an urgent case. Explain that to his lordship if he +comes. Here are my notes on the case for Miss Robinson."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir," said Albert playing up. "And what about the Duchess's +pearls?"</p> + +<p>Tommy waved his hand irritably.</p> + +<p>"That must wait also."</p> + +<p>He and Miss March hurried out. Half way down the stairs they +encountered Tuppence coming up. Tommy passed her with a brusque: "Late +again, Miss Robinson. I am called out on an important case."</p> + +<p>Tuppence stood still on the stairs and stared after them. Then, with +raised eyebrows, she went on up to the office.</p> + +<p>As they reached the street, a taxi came sailing up to them. Tommy, on +the point of hailing it, changed his mind.</p> + +<p>"Are you a good walker, Miss March?" he asked seriously.</p> + +<p>"Yes, why? Hadn't we better take that taxi? It will be quicker."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you did not notice. That taxi driver has just refused a fare a +little lower down the street. He was waiting for us. Your enemies are +on the look out. If you feel equal to it, it would be better for us to +walk to Bond Street. In the crowded streets, they will not be able to +attempt much against us."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the girl, rather doubtfully.</p> + +<p>They walked westwards. The streets, as Tommy had said, were crowded, +and progress was slow. Tommy kept a sharp look out. Occasionally he +drew the girl to one side with a quick gesture, though she herself had +seen nothing suspicious.</p> + +<p>Suddenly glancing at her, he was seized with compunction.</p> + +<p>"I say, you look awfully done up. The shock of that man. Come into this +place and have a good cup of strong coffee. I suppose you wouldn't hear +of a nip of brandy."</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head, with a faint smile.</p> + +<p>"Coffee be it then," said Tommy. "I think we can safely risk its being +poisoned."</p> + +<p>They lingered some time over their coffee, and finally set off at a +brisker pace.</p> + +<p>"We've thrown them off, I think," said Tommy, looking over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Cyclamen Ltd. was a small establishment in Bond Street, with pale pink +taffeta curtains, and one or two jars of face cream and a cake of soap +decorating the window.</p> + +<p>Cicely March entered, and Tommy followed. The place inside was tiny. +On the left was a glass counter with toilet preparations. Behind +this counter was a middle-aged woman with grey hair and an exquisite +complexion who acknowledged Cicely March's entrance with a faint +inclination of the head before continuing to talk to the customer she +was serving.</p> + +<p>This customer was a small dark woman. Her back was to them and they +could not see her face. She was speaking in slow difficult English. On +the right was a sofa and a couple of chairs with some magazines on a +table. Here sat two men—apparently bored husbands waiting for their +wives.</p> + +<p>Cicely March passed straight on through a door at the end which she +held ajar for Tommy to follow her. As he did so, the woman customer +exclaimed. "Ah! but I think that is <i>an amigo</i> of mine," and rushed +after them, inserting her foot in the door just in time to prevent its +closing. At the same time, the two men rose to their feet. One followed +her through the door, the other advanced to the shop attendant and +clapped his hand over her mouth to drown the scream rising to her lips.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, things were happening rather quickly beyond the swing +door. As Tommy passed through, a cloth was flung over his head, and +a sickly odor assailed his nostrils. Almost as soon however, it was +jerked off again, and a woman's scream rang out.</p> + +<p>Tommy blinked a little and coughed as he took in the scene in front of +him. On his right was the mysterious stranger of a few hours ago, and +busily fitting handcuffs upon him was one of the bored men from the +shop parlor. Just in front of him was Cicely March wrestling vainly +to free herself, whilst the woman customer from the shop held her +firmly pinioned. As the latter turned her head, and the veil she wore +unfastened itself and fell off, the well known features of Tuppence +were revealed.</p> + +<p>"Well done, Tuppence," said Tommy, moving forward. "Let me give you a +hand. I shouldn't struggle if I were you, Miss O'Hara—or do you prefer +to be called Miss March?"</p> + +<p>"This is Inspector Grace, Tommy," said Tuppence. "As soon as I read the +note you left I rang up Scotland Yard, and Inspector Grace and another +man met me outside here."</p> + +<p>"Very glad to get hold of this gentleman," said the Inspector, +indicating his prisoner. "He's wanted badly. But we've never had cause +to suspect this place—thought it was a genuine beauty shop."</p> + +<p>"You see," explained Tommy gently. "We do have to be so very careful! +Why should anyone want the Ambassador's bag for an hour or so? I put +the question the other way round. Supposing it was the other bag +that was the important one. Someone wanted that bag to be in the +Ambassador's possession for an hour or so. Much more illuminating! +Diplomatic luggage is not subjected to the indignities of a Customs +examination. Clearly smuggling. But smuggling of what? Nothing too +bulky. At once I thought of drugs. Then that picturesque comedy was +enacted in my office. They'd seen my advertisement and wanted to put +me off the scent—or failing that, out of the way altogether. But +I happened to notice an expression of blank dismay in the charming +lady's eyes when Albert did his lasso act. That didn't fit in very well +with her supposed part. The stranger's attack was meant to assure my +confidence in her. I played the part of the credulous sleuth with all +my might—swallowed her rather impossible story and permitted her to +lure me here, carefully leaving behind full instructions for dealing +with the situation. Under various pretexts I delayed our arrival, so as +to give you all plenty of time."</p> + +<p>Cicely March was looking at him with a stony expression.</p> + +<p>"You are mad. What do you expect to find here?"</p> + +<p>"Remembering that Richards saw a tin of bath salts, what do you say +about beginning with the bath salts, eh Inspector?"</p> + +<p>"A very sound idea, sir."</p> + +<p>He picked up one of the dainty pink tins, and emptied it on the table. +The girl laughed.</p> + +<p>"Genuine crystals, eh?" said Tommy. "Nothing more deadly than carbonate +of soda?"</p> + +<p>"Try the safe," suggested Tuppence.</p> + +<p>There was a small wall safe in the corner. The key was in the lock. +Tommy swung it open and gave a shout of satisfaction. The back of the +safe opened out into a big recess in the wall, and that recess was +stacked with the same elegant tins of bath salts. Rows and rows of +them. He took one out and prised up the lid. The top showed the same +pink crystals, but underneath was a fine white powder.</p> + +<p>The Inspector uttered an ejaculation.</p> + +<p>"You've got it, sir. Ten to one, that tin's full of pure cocaine. We +knew there was a distributing area somewhere round here, handy to the +West End, but we haven't been able to get a clue to it. This is a fine +coup of yours, sir."</p> + +<p>"Rather a triumph for Blunt's Brilliant Detectives," said Tommy to +Tuppence, as they emerged into the street together. "It's a great thing +to be a married man. Your persistent schooling has at last taught me +to recognize peroxide when I see it. Golden hair has got to be the +genuine article to take me in. We will concoct a business like letter +to the Ambassador, informing him that the matter has been dealt with +satisfactorily. And now, my dear fellow, what about tea, and lots of +hot buttered muffins?"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_XXIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIII</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Man Who Was No. 16</span></h3> + + +<p>Tommy and Tuppence were closeted with the Chief in his private room. +His commendation had been warm and sincere.</p> + +<p>"You have succeeded admirably. Thanks to you we have laid our hands +on no less than five very interesting personages, and from them we +have received much valuable information. Meanwhile I learn from a +creditable source that headquarters in Moscow have taken alarm at the +failure of their agents to report. I think, that in spite of all our +precautions, they have begun to suspect that all is not well at what I +may call the distributing centre—the office of Mr. Theodore Blunt—the +International Detective Bureau."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tommy. "I suppose they were bound to tumble to it sometime +or other, sir."</p> + +<p>"As you say, it was only to be expected. But I am a little +worried—about Mrs. Tommy."</p> + +<p>"I can look after her all right, sir," said Tommy, at exactly the same +minute as Tuppence said, "I can take care of myself."</p> + +<p>"H'm," said Mr. Carter. "Excessive self-confidence was always a +characteristic of you two. Whether your immunity is entirely due to +your own superhuman cleverness, or whether a small percentage of +luck creeps in, I'm not prepared to say. But luck changes, you know. +However, I won't argue the point. From my extensive knowledge of Mrs. +Tommy, I suppose it's quite useless to ask her to keep out of the +limelight for the next week or two?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence shook her head very energetically.</p> + +<p>"Then all I can do is to give you all the information that I can. We +have reason to believe that a special agent has been despatched from +Moscow to this country. We don't know what name he is travelling under, +we don't know when he will arrive. But we do know something about him. +He is a man who gave us great trouble in the War, a ubiquitous kind of +fellow who turned up all over the place where we least wanted him. He +is a Russian by birth, and an accomplished linguist—so much so that he +can pass as half a dozen other nationalities, including our own. He is +also a past master in the art of disguise. And he has brains. It was he +who devised the No. 16 code.</p> + +<p>"When and how he will turn up, I do not know. But I am fairly certain +that he <i>will</i> turn up. We do know this—he was not personally +acquainted with the real Mr. Theodore Blunt. I think that he will turn +up at your office, on the pretext of a case which he will wish you to +take up, and will try you with the passwords. The first, as you know, +is the mention of the number sixteen—which is replied to by a sentence +containing the same number. The second, which we have only just learnt, +is an inquiry as to whether you have ever crossed the Channel. The +answer to that is: 'I was in Berlin on the 13th of last month.' As far +as we know, that is all. I would suggest that you reply correctly, and +so endeavor to gain his confidence. Sustain the fiction if you possibly +can. But even if he appears to be completely deceived, remain on your +guard. Our friend is particularly astute, and can play a double game as +well, or better, than you can. But in either case, I hope to get him +through you. From this day forward I am adopting special precautions. A +dictaphone was installed last night in your office, so that one of my +men in the room below will be able to hear everything that passes in +your office. In this way, I shall be immediately informed if anything +arises, and can take the necessary steps to safeguard you and your wife +whilst securing the man I am after."</p> + +<p>After a few more instructions, and a general discussion of tactics, the +two young people departed, and made their way as rapidly as possible to +the office of Blunt's Brilliant Detectives.</p> + +<p>"It's late," said Tommy, looking at his watch. "Just on twelve +o'clock. We've been a long time with the Chief. I hope we haven't +missed a particularly spicy case."</p> + +<p>"On the whole," said Tuppence, "we've not done badly. I was tabulating +results the other day. We've solved four baffling murder mysteries, +rounded up a gang of counterfeiters, ditto gang of smugglers—"</p> + +<p>"Actually two gangs," interpolated Tommy. "So we have! I'm glad of +that. 'Gangs' sounds so professional."</p> + +<p>Tuppence continued, ticking off the items on her fingers.</p> + +<p>"One jewel robbery, two escapes from violent death, one case of +missing lady reducing her figure, one young girl befriended, an alibi +successfully exploded, and alas! one case where we made utter fools of +ourselves. On the whole, jolly good! We're <i>very</i> clever, I think."</p> + +<p>"You would think so," said Tommy. "You always do. Now I have a secret +feeling that once or twice we've been rather lucky."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Tuppence. "All done by the little grey cells."</p> + +<p>"Well, I was damned lucky once," said Tommy. "The day that Albert did +his lasso act! But you speak, Tuppence, as though it was all over?"</p> + +<p>"So it is," said Tuppence. She lowered her voice impressively. "This +is our last case. When they have laid the super spy by the heels, +the great detectives intend to retire and take to bee keeping or +vegetable-marrow growing. It's always done."</p> + +<p>"Tired of it, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, I think I am. Besides, we're so successful now—the luck might +change."</p> + +<p>"Who's talking about luck now?" asked Tommy triumphantly.</p> + +<p>At that moment they turned in at the doorway of the block of buildings +in which the International Detective Bureau had its offices, and +Tuppence did not reply.</p> + +<p>Albert was on duty in the outer office, employing his leisure in +balancing, or endeavoring to balance, the office ruler upon his nose.</p> + +<p>With a stern frown of reproof, the great Mr. Blunt passed into his own +private office. Divesting himself of his overcoat and hat, he opened +the cupboard, on the shelves of which reposed his classic library of +the great detectives of fiction.</p> + +<p>"The choice narrows," murmured Tommy. "On whom shall I model myself +to-day?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence's voice, with an unusual note in it, made him turn sharply.</p> + +<p>"Tommy," she said. "What day of the month is it?"</p> + +<p>"Let me see—the eleventh—why?"</p> + +<p>"Look at the calendar."</p> + +<p>Hanging on the wall was one of those calendars from which you tear +a leaf every day. It bore the legend of Sunday the 16th. To-day was +Monday.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, that's odd. Albert must have torn off too many. Careless +little devil."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he did," said Tuppence. "But we'll ask him."</p> + +<p>Albert, summoned and questioned, seemed very astonished. He swore he +had only torn off one leaf—that of the day before. His statement was +presently supported, for whereas the leaf torn off by Albert was found +in the grate, the succeeding ones were lying neatly in the waste paper +basket.</p> + +<p>"A neat and methodical criminal," said Tommy. "Who's been here this +morning, Albert? A client of any kind?"</p> + +<p>"Just one, sir."</p> + +<p>"What was he like?"</p> + +<p>"It was a she. A Hospital Nurse. Very upset and anxious to see you. +Said she'd wait until you came. I put her in 'Clerks' because it was +warmer."</p> + +<p>"And from there she could walk in here, of course, without your seeing +her. How long has she been gone?"</p> + +<p>"About half an hour, sir. Said she'd call again this afternoon. A nice +motherly looking body."</p> + +<p>"A nice motherly—oh! get out, Albert."</p> + +<p>Albert withdrew, injured.</p> + +<p>"Queer start, that," said Tommy. "It seems a little purposeless. +Puts us on our guard. I suppose there isn't a bomb concealed in the +fireplace or anything of that kind?"</p> + +<p>He reassured himself on that point, then he seated himself at the desk +and addressed Tuppence.</p> + +<p>"Mon ami," he said. "We are here faced with a matter of the utmost +gravity. You recall, do you not, the man who was No. 4. Him whom I +crushed like an egg shell in the Dolomites—with the aid of high +explosives, <i>bien entendu</i>. But he was not really dead—ah! no, they +are never really dead, these super criminals. This is the man—but even +more so, if I may so put it. He is the 4 squared—in other words, he is +now the No. 16. You comprehend, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly," said Tuppence. "You are the great Hercule Poirot."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. No moustaches, but lots of grey cells."</p> + +<p>"I've a feeling," said Tuppence, "that this particular adventure will +be called the 'Triumph of Hastings.'"</p> + +<p>"Never," said Tommy. "It isn't done. Once the idiot friend, always the +idiot friend. There's an etiquette in these matters. By the way, mon +ami, can you not part your hair in the middle instead of one side? The +present effect is unsymmetrical and deplorable."</p> + +<p>The buzzer rang sharply on Tommy's desk. He returned the signal and +Albert appeared bearing a card.</p> + +<p>"Prince Vladiroffsky," read Tommy, in a low voice. He looked at +Tuppence. "I wonder—Show him in, Albert."</p> + +<p>The man who entered was of middle height, graceful in bearing, with a +fair beard, and apparently about thirty-five years of age.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blunt?" he inquired. His English was perfect. "You have been most +highly recommended to me. Will you take up a case for me?"</p> + +<p>"If you will give me the details—?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. It concerns the daughter of a friend of mine—a girl of +sixteen. We are anxious for no scandal—you understand."</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," said Tommy. "This business has been running successfully +for sixteen years owing to our strict attention to that particular +principle."</p> + +<p>He fancied he saw a sudden gleam in the other's eye. If so, it passed +as quickly as it came.</p> + +<p>"You have branches, I believe, on the other side of the Channel?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes. As a matter of fact," he brought out the word with great +deliberation, "I myself was in Berlin on the 13th of last month."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said the stranger, "it is hardly necessary to keep +up the little fiction. The daughter of my friend can be conveniently +dismissed. You know who I am—at any rate I see you have had warning of +my coming."</p> + +<p>He nodded towards the calendar on the wall.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"My friends—I have come over here to investigate matters. What has +been happening?"</p> + +<p>"Treachery," said Tuppence, no longer able to remain quiescent.</p> + +<p>The Russian shifted his attention to her, and raised his eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"Ah ha, that is so, is it? I thought as much. Was it Sergius?"</p> + +<p>"We think so," said Tuppence unblushingly.</p> + +<p>"It would not surprise me. But you yourselves, you are under no +suspicion?"</p> + +<p>"I do not think so. We handle a good deal of <i>bona fide</i> business, you +see," explained Tommy.</p> + +<p>The Russian nodded.</p> + +<p>"That is wise. All the same, I think it would be better if I did not +come here again. For the moment, I am staying at the Blitz. I will take +Marise—this is Marise, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Tuppence nodded.</p> + +<p>"What is she known as here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Miss Robinson."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Miss Robinson, you will return with me to the Blitz and +lunch with me there. We will all meet at headquarters at three o'clock. +Is that clear?" He looked at Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly clear," replied Tommy, wondering where on earth headquarters +might be.</p> + +<p>But he guessed that it was just those very headquarters that Mr. Carter +was so anxious to discover.</p> + +<p>Tuppence rose and slipped on her long black coat with its leopardskin +collar. Then, demurely, she declared herself ready to accompany the +Prince.</p> + +<p>They went out together, and Tommy was left behind, a prey to +conflicting emotions.</p> + +<p>Supposing something had gone wrong with the dictaphone? Supposing +the mysterious Hospital Nurse had somehow or other learnt of its +installation, and had rendered it useless?</p> + +<p>He seized the telephone and called a certain number. There was a +moment's delay, and then a well known voice spoke.</p> + +<p>"Quite O.K. Come round to the Blitz at once."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later Tommy and Mr. Carter met in the Palm Court of the +Blitz. The latter was crisp and reassuring.</p> + +<p>"You've done excellently. The Prince and the little lady are at +lunch in the Restaurant. I've got two of my men in there as waiters. +Whether he suspects, or whether he doesn't—and I'm fairly sure he +doesn't—we've got him on toast. There are two men posted upstairs to +watch his suite, and more outside ready to follow wherever they go. +Don't be worried about your wife. She'll be kept in sight the whole +time. I'm not going to run any risks."</p> + +<p>Occasionally one of the Secret Service men came to report progress. The +first time it was a waiter who took their orders for cocktails, the +second time it was a fashionable vacant-faced young man.</p> + +<p>"They're coming out," said Mr. Carter. "We'll retire behind this pillar +in case they sit down here, but I fancy he'll take her up to his suite. +Ah! yes, I thought so."</p> + +<p>From their post of vantage, Tommy saw the Russian and Tuppence cross +the hall and enter the lift.</p> + +<p>The minutes passed and Tommy began to fidget.</p> + +<p>"Do you think, sir. I mean, alone in that suite—"</p> + +<p>"One of my men's inside—behind the sofa. Don't worry, man."</p> + +<p>A waiter crossed the hall and came up to Mr. Carter.</p> + +<p>"Got the signal they were coming up, sir—but they haven't come. Is it +all right?"</p> + +<p>"What?" Mr. Carter spun around. "I saw them go into the lift myself. +Just"—he glanced up at the clock—"four and a half minutes ago. And +they haven't shown up...."</p> + +<p>He hurried across to the lift which had just that minute come down +again, and spoke to the uniformed attendant.</p> + +<p>"You took up a gentleman with a fair beard and a young lady a few +minutes ago to the second floor."</p> + +<p>"Not the second floor. Third floor the gentleman asked for."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" The Chief jumped in, motioning Tommy to accompany him. "Take us +up to the third floor, please."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand this," he murmured in a low voice. "But keep calm. +Every exit from the Hotel is watched, and I've got a man on the third +floor as well—on every floor, in fact. I was taking no chances."</p> + +<p>The lift door opened on the third floor and they sprang out, hurrying +down the corridor. Half way along it, a man dressed as a waiter came to +meet them.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Chief. They're in No. 318."</p> + +<p>Carter breathed a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"That's all right. No other exit?"</p> + +<p>"It's a suite, but there are only these two doors into the corridor, +and to get out from any of these rooms, they'd have to pass us to get +to the staircase or the lifts."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, then. Just telephone down and find out who is +supposed to be occupying this suite."</p> + +<p>The waiter returned in a minute or two.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Cortlandt Van Snyder of Detroit."</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter became very thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I wonder now. Is this Mrs. Van Snyder an accomplice, or is she—"</p> + +<p>He left the sentence unfinished.</p> + +<p>"Hear any noise from inside?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Not a thing. But the doors fit well. One couldn't hope to hear much."</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter made up his mind suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I don't like this business. We're going in. Got the master key?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, sir."</p> + +<p>"Call up Evans and Clydesly."</p> + +<p>Reinforced by the other two men, they advanced towards the door of the +suite. It opened noiselessly when the first man inserted his key.</p> + +<p>They found themselves in a small hall. To the right was the open door +of a bathroom, and in front of them was the sitting-room. On the left +was a closed door and from behind it a faint sound—rather like an +asthmatic pug—could be heard. Mr. Carter pushed the door open and +entered.</p> + +<p>The room was a bedroom, with a big double bed ornately covered with a +bedspread of rose and gold. On it, bound hand and foot, with her mouth +secured by a gag and her eyes almost starting out of her head with +pain and rage, was a middle-aged fashionably-dressed woman.</p> + +<p>On a brief order from Mr. Carter, the other men had covered the whole +suite. Only Tommy and his Chief had entered the bedroom. As he leant +over the bed and strove to unfasten the knots, Carter's eyes went +roving round the room in perplexity. Save for an immense quantity of +truly American luggage, the room was empty. There was no sign of the +Russian or Tuppence.</p> + +<p>In another minute the waiter came hurrying in, and reported that the +other rooms were also empty. Tommy went to the window, only to draw +back and shake his head. There was no balcony—nothing but a sheer drop +to the street below.</p> + +<p>"Certain it was this room they entered?" asked Carter peremptorily.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Besides—" The man indicated the woman on the bed.</p> + +<p>With the aid of a pen knife, Carter parted the scarf that was half +choking her, and it was at once clear that whatever her sufferings, +they had not deprived Mrs. Cortlandt Van Snyder of the use of her +tongue.</p> + +<p>When she had exhausted her first indignation, Mr. Carter spoke mildly.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind telling me exactly what happened—from the beginning?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll sue the Hotel for this. It's a perfect outrage. I was +just looking for my bottle of 'Killagrippe' when a man sprang on me +from behind and broke a little glass bottle right under my nose, and +before I could get my breath I was all in. When I came to I was lying +here, all trussed up, and goodness knows what's happened to my jewels. +He's gotten the lot, I guess."</p> + +<p>"Your jewels are quite safe, I fancy," said Mr. Carter drily. He +wheeled round and picked up something from the floor. "You were +standing just where I am when he sprang upon you?"</p> + +<p>"That's so," assented Mrs. Van Snyder.</p> + +<p>It was a fragment of thin glass that Mr. Carter had picked up. He +sniffed it and handed it to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Ethyl Chloride," he murmured. "Instant anaesthetic. But it only keeps +one under for a moment or two. Surely he must still have been in the +room when you came to, Mrs. Van Snyder?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't that just what I'm telling you? Oh! it drove me half crazy to +see him getting away and me not able to move or do anything at all."</p> + +<p>"Getting away?" said Mr. Carter sharply. "Which way?"</p> + +<p>"Through that door." She pointed to one in the opposite wall. "He had a +girl with him, but she seemed kind of limp as though she'd had a dose +of the same dope."</p> + +<p>Carter looked a question at his henchman.</p> + +<p>"Leads into the next suite, sir. But double doors—supposed to be +bolted each side."</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter examined the door carefully. Then he straightened himself up +and turned towards the bed.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Van Snyder," he said quietly. "Do you still persist in your +assertion that the man went out this way?"</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly he did. Why shouldn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Because the door happens to be bolted on this side," said Mr. Carter +drily. He rattled the handle as he spoke.</p> + +<p>A look of the utmost astonishment spread over Mrs. Van Snyder's face.</p> + +<p>"Unless someone bolted the door behind him," said Mr. Carter, "he +cannot have gone out that way."</p> + +<p>He turned to Evans who had just entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Sure they're not anywhere in this suite? Any other communicating +doors?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, and I'm quite sure."</p> + +<p>Carter turned his gaze this way and that about the room. He opened the +big hanging wardrobe, looked under the bed, up the chimney and behind +all the curtains. Finally, struck by a sudden idea, and disregarding +Mrs. Van Snyder's shrill protests, he opened the large wardrobe trunk +and rummaged swiftly in the interior.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Tommy, who had been examining the communicating door, gave an +exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Come here, sir, look at this. They did go this way."</p> + +<p>The bolt had been very cleverly filed through, so close to the socket +that the join was hardly perceptible.</p> + +<p>"The door won't open because it's locked on the other side," explained +Tommy.</p> + +<p>In another minute they were out in the corridor again and the waiter +was opening the door of the adjoining suite with his pass key. This +suite was untenanted. When they came to the communicating door, they +saw that the same plan had been adopted. The bolt had been filed +through, and the door was locked, the key having been removed. But +nowhere in the suite was there any sign of Tuppence or the fair-bearded +Russian, and there was no other communicating door, only the one on the +corridor.</p> + +<p>"But I'd have seen them come out," protested the waiter. "I couldn't +have helped seeing them. I can take my oath they never did."</p> + +<p>"Damn it all," cried Tommy. "They can't have vanished into thin air!"</p> + +<p>Carter was calm again now, his keen brain working.</p> + +<p>"Telephone down and find who had this suite last, and when."</p> + +<p>Evans, who had come with them, leaving Clydesly on guard in the other +suite, obeyed. Presently he raised his head from the telephone.</p> + +<p>"An invalid French lad, M. Paul de Varez. He had a Hospital Nurse with +him. They left this morning."</p> + +<p>An exclamation burst from the other Secret Service man, the waiter. He +had gone deathly pale.</p> + +<p>"The invalid boy—the Hospital Nurse," he stammered. "I—they passed me +in the passage. I never dreamed—I had seen them so often before."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure they were the same?" cried Mr. Carter. "Are you sure, +man? You looked at them well?"</p> + +<p>The man shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I hardly glanced at them. I was waiting, you understand, on the alert +for the others, the man with the fair beard and the girl."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Mr. Carter, with a groan. "They counted on that."</p> + +<p>With a sudden exclamation, Tommy stooped down and pulled something out +from under the sofa. It was a small rolled up bundle of black. Tommy +unrolled it and several articles fell out. The outside wrapper was +the long black coat Tuppence had worn that day. Inside was her walking +dress, her hat and a long fair beard.</p> + +<p>"It's clear enough now," he said bitterly. "They've got her—got +Tuppence. That Russian devil has given us the slip. The Hospital Nurse +and the boy were accomplices. They stayed here for a day or two to +get the Hotel people accustomed to their presence. The man must have +realised at lunch that he was trapped and proceeded to carry out his +plan. Probably he counted on the room next door being empty since it +was when he fixed the bolts. Anyway he managed to silence both the +woman next door and Tuppence, brought her in here, dressed her in boy's +clothes, altered his own appearance, and walked out as bold as brass. +The clothes must have been hidden ready. But I don't quite see how he +managed Tuppence's acquiescence."</p> + +<p>"I can see," said Mr. Carter. He picked up a little shining piece of +steel from the carpet. "That's a fragment of a hypodermic needle. She +was doped."</p> + +<p>"My God!" groaned Tommy. "And he's got clear away."</p> + +<p>"We won't know that," said Carter quickly. "Remember every exit is +watched."</p> + +<p>"For a man and a girl. Not for a Hospital Nurse and an invalid boy. +They'll have left the Hotel by now."</p> + +<p>Such, on inquiry, proved to be the case. The nurse and her patient had +driven away in a taxi some five minutes earlier.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Beresford," said Mr. Carter. "For God's sake, pull yourself +together. You know that I won't leave a stone unturned to find that +girl. I'm going back to my office at once and in less than five minutes +every resource of the department will be at work. We'll get them yet."</p> + +<p>"Will you, sir? He's a clever devil, that Russian. Look at the cunning +of this coup of his. But I know you'll do your best. Only—pray God +it's not too late. They've got it in for us badly."</p> + +<p>He left the Blitz Hotel and walked blindly along the street, hardly +knowing where he was going. He felt completely paralyzed. Where to +search? What to do?</p> + +<p>He went into the Green Park, and dropped down upon a seat. He hardly +noticed when someone else sat down at the opposite end, and was quite +startled to hear a well known voice.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, if I might make so bold—"</p> + +<p>Tommy looked up.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Albert," he said dully.</p> + +<p>"I know all about it, sir—but don't take on so."</p> + +<p>"Don't take on—" He gave a short laugh. "Easily said, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but think, sir. Blunt's Brilliant Detectives! Never beaten. And +if you'll excuse my saying so, I happen to overhear what you and the +Missus was ragging about this morning. Mr. Poirot, and his little grey +cells. Well, sir, why not use your little grey cells, and see what you +can do?"</p> + +<p>"It's easier to use your little grey cells in fiction than it is in +fact, my boy."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Albert stoutly, "I don't believe anybody could put +the Missus out, for good and all. You know what she is, sir, just +like one of those rubber bones you buy for little dogs—guaranteed +indestructible."</p> + +<p>"Albert," said Tommy, "you cheer me."</p> + +<p>"Then what about using your little grey cells, sir?"</p> + +<p>"You're a persistent lad, Albert. Playing the fool has served us pretty +well up to now. We'll try it again. Let us arrange our facts neatly, +and with method. At ten minutes past two exactly, our quarry enters the +lift. Five minutes later we speak to the lift man, and having heard +what he says, we also go up to the third floor. At, say, nineteen +minutes past two we enter the suite of Mrs. Van Snyder. And now, what +significant fact strikes us?"</p> + +<p>There was a pause, no significant fact striking either of them.</p> + +<p>"There wasn't such a thing as a trunk in the room, was there?" asked +Albert, his eyes lighting suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Mon ami," said Tommy. "You do not understand the psychology of an +American woman who has just returned from Paris. There were, I should +say, about nineteen trunks in the room."</p> + +<p>"What I meantersay is, a trunk's a handy thing if you've got a dead +body about you want to get rid of—not that she <i>is</i> dead, for a +minute."</p> + +<p>"We searched the only two that were big enough to contain a body. What +is the next fact in chronological order?"</p> + +<p>"You've missed one out—when the Missus and the bloke dressed up as a +Hospital Nurse passed the waiter in the passage."</p> + +<p>"It must have been just before we came up in the lift," said Tommy. +"They must have had a narrow escape of meeting us face to face. Pretty +quick work, that. I—"</p> + +<p>He stopped.</p> + +<p>"What is it, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Be silent, mon ami. I have the kind of little idea—colossal, +stupendous—that always comes sooner or later to Hercule Poirot. But if +so—if that's it—Oh! Lord, I hope I'm in time."</p> + +<p>He raced out of the Park, Albert hard on his heels, inquiring +breathlessly as he ran. "What's up, sir? I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Tommy. "You're not supposed to. Hastings never +did. If your grey cells weren't of a very inferior order to mine, what +fun do you think I should get out of this game? I'm talking damned +rot—but I can't help it. You're a good lad, Albert. You know what +Tuppence is worth—she's worth a dozen of you and me."</p> + +<p>Thus talking breathlessly as he ran, Tommy reëntered the portals of the +Blitz. He caught sight of Evans, and drew him aside with a few hurried +words. The two men entered the lift, Albert with them.</p> + +<p>"Third floor," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>At the door of No. 318 they paused. Evans had a pass key, and used it +forthwith. Without a word of warning, they walked straight into Mrs. +Van Snyder's bedroom. The lady was still lying on the bed, but was now +arrayed in a becoming negligee. She stared at them in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Pardon my failure to knock," said Tommy, pleasantly. "But I want my +wife. Do you mind getting off that bed?"</p> + +<p>"I guess you've gone plumb crazy," cried Mrs. Van Snyder.</p> + +<p>Tommy surveyed her thoughtfully, his head on one side.</p> + +<p>"Very artistic," he pronounced. "But it won't do. We looked <i>under</i> +the bed—but not <i>in</i> it. I remember using that hiding-place myself +when young. Horizontally across the bed, underneath the bolster. And +that nice wardrobe trunk all ready to take away the body in later. +But we were a bit too quick for you just now. You'd had time to dope +Tuppence, put her under the bolster, and be gagged and bound by your +accomplices next door, and I'll admit we swallowed your story all +right for the moment. But when one came to think it out—with order +and method—impossible to drug a girl, dress her in boy's clothes, gag +and bind another woman, and change one's own appearance—all in five +minutes. Simply a physical impossibility. The Hospital Nurse and the +boy were to be a decoy. We were to follow that trail, and Mrs. Van +Snyder was to be a pitied victim. Just help the lady off the bed, will +you, Evans? You have your automatic? Good."</p> + +<p>Protesting shrilly, Mrs. Van Snyder was hauled from her place of +repose. Tommy tore off the coverings and the bolster.</p> + +<p>There, lying horizontally across the top of the bed was Tuppence, her +eyes closed, and her face waxen. For a moment, Tommy felt a sudden +dread, then he saw the slight rise and fall of her breast. She was +drugged, not dead.</p> + +<p>He turned to Albert and Evans.</p> + +<p>"And now, Messieurs," he said dramatically. "The final <i>coup</i>!"</p> + +<p>With a swift unexpected gesture, he seized Mrs. Van Snyder by her +elaborately dressed hair. It came off in his hand.</p> + +<p>"As I thought," said Tommy. "<i>No.</i> 16!"</p> + +<p>It was about half an hour later when Tuppence opened her eyes and found +a doctor and Tommy bending over her.</p> + +<p>Over the events of the next quarter of an hour a decent veil had better +be drawn, but after that period the doctor departed with the assurance +that all was now well.</p> + +<p>"Mon ami, Hastings," said Tommy fondly. "How I rejoice that you are +still alive."</p> + +<p>"Have we got No. 16?"</p> + +<p>"Once more have I crushed him like an egg shell—In other words, +Carter's got him. The little grey cells! By the way, I'm raising +Albert's wages."</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it."</p> + +<p>Tommy gave her a spirited narrative, with certain omissions.</p> + +<p>"Weren't you half frantic about me?" asked Tuppence faintly.</p> + +<p>"Not particularly. One must keep calm, you know."</p> + +<p>"Liar!" said Tuppence. "You look quite haggard still."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I was just a little worried, darling. I say—we're going +to give it up now, aren't we?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly we are."</p> + +<p>Tommy gave a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"I hoped you'd be sensible. After a shock like this—"</p> + +<p>"It's not the shock. You know I never mind shocks."</p> + +<p>"A rubber bone—indestructible," murmured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I've got something better to do," continued Tuppence. "Something ever +so much more exciting. Something I've never done before."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked at her with lively apprehension.</p> + +<p>"I forbid it, Tuppence."</p> + +<p>"You can't," said Tuppence. "It's a law of nature."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about, Tuppence?"</p> + +<p>"I'm talking," said Tuppence, "of Our Baby. Wives don't whisper +nowadays. They shout. OUR BABY! Tommy, isn't everything marvellous?" +</p> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78342 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78342-h/images/cover.jpg b/78342-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..705f419 --- /dev/null +++ b/78342-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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