This Large Print Edition
is published by kind permission of
COLLINS, LONDON & GLASGOW
TORONTO
AGATHA CHRISTIE p U B Li C
LIBRARIES
TRAVElUNa^"" ,
w^sas . ,--<>^
4.50 FROM
PADDINGTON
Complete and Unabridged
ftW^
5
ULVERSCROFT
Leicester
First published by
Collins, London & Glasgow
First Large Print Edition
published April 1965
SBN 85456 474 8
Agatha Christie Ltd. 1957
This special large print edition is
made and printed in England for IF . A. Thorpe, Glenfield, Leicestershire
CHAPTER I
MRS. McGILLICUDDY panted
along the platform in the wake of
the porter carrying her suitcase.
Mrs. McGillicuddy was short and stout, the porter was tall and free-striding. In
addition, Mrs. McGillicuddy was burdened
with a large quantity of parcels;
the result of a day's Christmas shopping.
The race was, therefore, an uneven one,
and the porter turned the corner at the end
of the platform whilst Mrs. McGillicuddy
was still coming up the straight.
No. i Platform was not at the moment
unduly crowded, since a train had just
gone out, but in the no-man's land beyond, a milling crowd was rushing in several
directions at once, to and from undergrounds,
left-luggage offices, tearooms,
inquiry offices, indicator boards, and the
two outlets. Arrival and Departure, to the
outside world.
Mrs. McGillicuddy and her parcels
were buffeted to and fro, but she arrived
eventually at the entrance to No. 3 platform, and deposited one parcel at her feet
whilst she searched her bag for the ticket
that would enable her to pass the stern
uniformed guardian at the gate.
At that moment, a Voice, raucous
yet refined, burst into speech over her
head.
"The train standing at Platform 3," the
Voice told her, "is the 4.50 for Brackhampton, Milchester, Waverton, Carvil
Junction, Roxeter and stations to Chadmouth.
Passengers for Brackhampton and
Milchester travel at the rear of the train.
Passengers for Vanequay change at Roxeter.5? The Voice shut itself off with a click,
and then reopened conversation by announcing
the arrival at Platform 9 of the
4.35 from Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Mrs.
McGillicuddy found her ticket
and presented it. The man clipped it, murmured: "On the right -- rear
portion."
Mrs. McGillicuddy padded up the platform
and found her porter, looking bored
and staring into space, outside the door
of a third-class carriage.
"Here you are, lady."
2
"I'm travelling first-class," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy.
"You didn't say so," grumbled the
porter. His eye swept her masculinelooking
pepper-and-salt tweed coat disparagingly.

Mrs. McGillicuddy, who had said so, did not argue the point. She was sadly
out of breath.
The porter retrieved the suitcase and
marched with it to the adjoining coach
where Mrs. McGillicuddy was installed in
solitary splendour. The 4.50 was not much
patronised, the first-class clientele preferring
either the faster morning express, or
the 6.40 with dining-car. Mrs. McGillicuddy
handed the porter his tip which he
received with disappointment, clearly considering
it more applicable to third-class
than to first-class travel. Mrs. McGillicuddy, though prepared to spend money
on comfortable travel after a night journey
from the North and a day's feverish
shopping, was at no time an extravagant
tipper.
She settled herself back on the plush
cushions with a sigh and opened a
magazine. Five minutes later, whistles
3
blew, and the train started. The magazine
slipped from Mrs. McGillicuddy's hand, her head dropped sideways, three minutes
later she was asleep. She slept for thirtyfive
minutes and awoke refreshed. Resettling
her hat which had slipped askew, she sat up and looked out of the window
at what she could see of the flying countryside.
It was quite dark now, a dreary misty
December day -- Christmas was only five
days ahead. London had been dark and
dreary, the country was no less so, though
occasionally rendered cheerful with its
constant clusters of lights as the train
flashed through towns and stations.
"Serving last tea now," said an attendant,
whisking open the corridor door like a jinn.
Mrs. McGillicuddy had already partaken
of tea at a large department store. She was
for the moment amply nourished. The
attendant went on down the corridor
uttering his monotonous cry. Mrs. MeGillicuddy
looked up at the rack where her
various parcels reposed, with a pleased
expression. The face towels had been
excellent value and just what Margaret
wanted, the space gun for Robby and the
rabbit for Jean were highly satisfactory,
4
and that evening coatee was just the thing
she herself needed, warm but dressy.
The pullover for Hector, too . . . her mind
dwelt with approval on the soundness of
her purchases.
Her satisfied gaze returned to the
window, a train travelling in the opposite
direction rushed by with a screech, making
the windows rattle and causing her to
start. The train clattered over points and
passed through a station.
Then it began suddenly to slow down,
presumably in obedience to a signal.
For some minutes it crawled along, then
stopped, presently it began to move forward
again. Another up-train passed them, though with less vehemence than the first
one. The train gathered speed again. At
that moment another train, also on a downline, swerved inwards towards them, for a
moment with almost alarming effect. For a
time the two trains ran parallel, now one
gaining a little, now the other. Mrs.
McGillicuddy looked from her window
through the windows of the parallel
carriages. Most of the blinds were down,
but occasionally the occupants of the
carriages were visible. The other train
was not very full and there were many
empty carriages.
At the moment when the two trains
gave the illusion of being stationary, a
blind in one of the carriages flew up with
a snap. Mrs. McGillicuddy looked into
the lighted first-class carriage that was only
a few feet away.
Then she drew her breath in with a
gasp and half-rose to her feet.
Standing with his back to the window
and to her was a man. His hands were
round the throat of a woman who faced
him, and he was slowly, remorselessly, strangling her. Her eyes were starting
from their sockets, her face was purple
and congested. As Mrs. McGillicuddy
watched, fascinated, the end came; the
body went limp and crumpled in the man's
hands.
At the same moment, Mrs. McGillicuddy's
train slowed down again and the
other began to gain speed. It passed forward
and a moment or two later it had vanished
from sight.
Almost automatically Mrs. McGillicuddy's
hand went up to the communication
cord, then paused, irresolute. After
6
all, what use would it be ringing the cord
of the train in which she was travelling?
The horror of what she had seen at such
close quarters, and the unusual circumstances, made her feel paralysed. Some immediate action was necessary--but
what?
The door of her compartment was drawn
back and a ticket collector said, "Ticket,
please."
Mrs. McGillicuddy turned to him with
vehemence.
"A woman has been strangled," she
said. "In a train that has just passed.
I saw it."
The ticket collector looked at her doubtfully.

"I beg your pardon, madam ?"
"A man strangled a woman! In a train.
I saw it -- through there." She pointed to
the window.
The ticket collector looked extremely
doubtful.
"Strangled ?" he said disbelievingly.
"Yes, strangled. I saw it, I tell you.
You must do something at once!"
The ticket collector coughed apologetically.

"You don't think, madam, that you may
have had a little nap and — er — " he
broke off tactfully.
"I have had a nap, but if you think
this was a dream, you're quite wrong.
I saw it, I tell you.35
The ticket collector's eyes dropped to
the open magazine lying on the seat. On
the exposed page was a girl being stangled
whilst a man with a revolver threatened the
pair from an open doorway.
He said persuasively: ""Now don't you
think, madam, that you'd been reading
an exciting story, and that you just dropped
off, and awaking a little confused — "
Mrs. McGillicuddy interrupted him.
"J saw it," she said. "I was as wide
awake as you are. And I looked out of the
window into the window of the train
alongside, and a man was strangling a
woman. And what I want to know is,
what are you going to do about it ?"
"Well — madam — "
"You're going to do something, I
suppose ?"
The ticket collector sighed reluctantly
and glanced at his watch.
"We shall be in Brackhampton in exactly
8
seven minutes. I'll report what you've told
me. In what direction was the train you
mention going ?"
"This direction, of course. You don't
suppose I'd have been able to see all this
if a train had flashed past going in the
other direction ?33
The ticket collector looked as though
he thought Mrs. McGillicuddy was quite
capable of seeing anything anywhere as
the fancy took her. But he remained polite.
"You can rely on me, madam," he said.
"I will report your statement. Perhaps I
might have your name and address — just
in case ..."
Mrs. McGillicuddy gave him the address
where she would be staying for the next
few days and her permanent address in
Scotland, and he wrote them down. Then
he withdrew with the air of a man who
has done his duty and dealt successfully
with a tiresome member of the travelling
public.
Mrs. McGillicuddy remained frowning
and vaguely unsatisfied. Would the ticket
collector really report her statement? Or
had he just been soothing her down?
There were, she supposed vaguely, a lot
9
of elderly women travelling around, fully
convinced that they had unmasked communist
plots, were in danger of being
murdered, saw flying saucers and secret
space ships, and reported murders that
had never taken place. If the man dismissed
her as one of those ...
The train was slowing down now, passing over points, and running through
the bright lights of a large town.
Mrs. McGillicuddy opened her handbag, pulled out a receipted bill which was
all she could find, wrote a rapid note on the
back of it with her ball-point pen, put it
into a spare envelope that she fortunately
happened to have, stuck the envelope down
and wrote on it.
The train drew slowly into a crowded
platform. The usual ubiquitous Voice was
intoning.:
"The train now arriving at Platform i
is the 5.38 for Milchester, Waverton,
Roxeter, and stations to Chadmouth.
Passengers for Market Basing take the
train now waiting at No. 3 platform. No. i
bay for stopping train to Carbury.35
Mrs. McGillicuddy looked anxiously
along the platform. So many passengers
10
and so few porters. Ah, there was one!
She hailed him authoritatively.
"Porter! Please take this at once to the
Stationmaster's office."
She handed him the envelope, and with
it a shilling.
Then, with a sigh, she leaned back.
Well, she had done what she could. Her
mind lingered with an instant's regret on
the shilling. . . . Sixpence would really
have been enough. . . .
Her mind went back to the scene she had
witnessed. Horrible, quite horrible. . . .
She was a strong-nerved woman, but she
shivered. What a strange -- what a fantastic
thing to happen to her, Elspeth
McGillicuddy! If the blind of the carriage
had not happened to fly up ... But that, of course, was Providence.
Providence had willed that she, Elspeth
McGillicuddy, should be a witness of the
crime. Her lips set grimly.
Voices shouted, whistles blew, doors
were banged shut. The 5.38 drew slowly
out of Brackhampton station. An hour and
five minutes later it stopped at Milchester.
Mrs. McGillicuddy collected her parcels
and her suitcase and got out. She peered
ii
up and down the platform. Her mind
reiterated its former judgement: not
enough porters. Such porters as there were
seemed to be engaged with mail bags and
luggage vans. Passengers nowadays
seemed always expected to carry their own
cases. Well, she couldn't carry her suitcase
and her umbrella and all her parcels. She
would have to wait. In due course she
secured a porter.
"Taxi ?"
"There will be something to meet me,
I expect."
Outside Milchester station, a taxi-driver
who had been watching the exit came
forward. He spoke in a soft local voice.
"Is it Mrs. McGillicuddy ? For St.
Mary Mead ?"
Mrs. McGillicuddy acknowledged her
identity. The porter was recompensed,
adequately if not handsomely. The car,
with Mrs. McGillicuddy, her suitcase, and
her parcels drove off into the night. It was
a nine-mile drive. Sitting bolt upright in
the car, Mrs. McGillicuddy was unable to
relax. Her feelings yearned for expression.
At last the taxi drove along the familiar
village street and finally drew up at its
12
destination; Mrs. McGillicuddy got out
and walked up the brick path to the door.
The driver deposited the cases inside as
the door was opened by an elderly maid.
Mrs. McGillicuddy passed straight through
the hall to where, at the open sitting-room
door, her hostess awaited her; an elderly
frail old lady.
"Elspeth!"
"Jane!"
They kissed and, without preamble or
circumlocution, Mrs. McGillicuddy burst
into speech.
"Oh, Jane!" she wailed. "I've just seen a
murder!"
13
Mrs. McGillicuddy acquiescing in these
arrangements. Miss Marple poured out
the wine.
"Jane," said Mrs. McGillicuddy, as
she took an appreciative sip, "you don't
think, do you, that I dreamt it, or imagined
it?"
"Certainly not," said Miss Marple with
warmth.
Mrs. McGillicuddy heaved a sigh of
relief.
"That ticket collector," she said, "he thought so. Quite polite, but all the
same -- "
"I think, Elspeth, that that was quite
natural under the circumstances. It
sounded -- and indeed was -- a most unlikely
story. And you were a complete
stranger to him. No, I have no doubt at all
that you saw what you've told me you saw.
It's very extraordinary -- but not at all
impossible. I recollect myself being
interested when a train ran parallel to one
in which I was travelling, to notice what a
vivid and intimate picture one got of what
was going on in one or two of the carriages.
A little girl, I remember once, playing
with a teddy bear, and suddenly she threw
16
it deliberately at a fat man who was asleep
in the corner and he bounced up and
looked most indignant, and the other
passenger looked so amused. I saw them all
quite vividly. I could have described
afterwards exactly what they looked like
and what they had on."
Mrs. McGillicuddy nodded gratefully.
"That's just how it was."
"The man had his back to you, you say.
So you didn't see his face ?"
"No."
"And the woman, you can describe her ?
Young, old ?"
"Youngish. Between thirty and thirtyfive,
I should think. I couldn't say closer
than that."
"Good-looking ?"
"That again, I couldn't say. Her face,
you see, was all contorted and — "
Miss Marple said quickly:
"Yes, yes, I quite understand. How was
she dressed ?"
"She had on a fur coat of some kind,
a palish fur. No hat. Her hair was
blond."
"And there was nothing distinctive
that you can remember about the man ?"
I?
Mrs. McGillicuddy took a little time to
think carefully before she replied.
"He was tallish — and dark, I think.
He had a heavy coat on so that I couldn't
judge his build very well." She added
despondently, "It's not really very much
to go on."
"It's something," said Miss Marple.
She paused before saying: "You feel quite
sure, in your own mind, that the girl was —
dead ?"
"She was dead, I'm sure of it. Her
tongue came out and — I'd rather not talk
-about it. ..."
"Of course not. Of course not," said
Miss Marple quickly. "We shall know
more, I expect, in the morning."
"In the morning ?"
"I should imagine it will be in the
morning papers. After th\s man had
attacked and killed her, he would have a
body on his hands. What would he do?
Presumably he would leave the train
quickly at the first station — by the way,
can you remember if it was a corridor
carriage ?"
"No, it was not."
"That seems to point to a train that was
18
not going far afield. It would almost
certainly stop at Brackhampton. Let us say
he leaves the train at Brackhampton, perhaps
arranging the body in a corner seat, with
the face hidden by the fur collar to delay
discovery. Yes -- I think that that is what
he would do. But of course it will be discovered
before very long -- and I should
imagine that the news of a murdered
woman discovered on a train would be
almost certain to be in the morning papers
-- we shall see."
ii
But it was not in the morning papers.
Miss Marple and Mrs. McGillicuddy, after making sure of this, finished their
breakfast in silence. Both were reflecting.
After breakfast, they took a turn round
the garden. But this, usually an absorbing
pastime, was today somewhat halfhearted.
Miss Marple did indeed call attention to
some new and rare species she had
acquired for her rock-garden but did so
in an almost absentminded manner. And
Mrs. McGillicuddy did not, as was customary, counter-attack with a list of her
own recent acquisitions.
19
"The garden is not looking at all as it
should," said Miss Marple, but still speaking
absentmindedly. "Doctor Haydock has
absolutely forbidden me to do any stooping
or kneeling -- and really, what can you do
if you don't stoop or kneel ? There's old
Edwards, of course -- but so opinionated.
And all this jobbing gets them into bad
habits, lots of cups of tea and so much
pottering -- not any real work."
"Oh, I know," said Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"Of course there's no question of my being forbidden to stoop, but really, especially
after meals -- and having put on weight"
-- she looked down at her ample proportions
-- "it does bring on heartburn."
There was a silence and then Mrs.
McGillicuddy planted her feet sturdily,
stood still, and turned on her friend.
"Well?" she said.
It was a small insignificant word, but it
acquired full significance from Mrs.
McGillicuddy's tone, and Miss Marple
understood its meaning perfectly.
"I know," she said.
The two ladies looked at each other.
"I think," said Miss Marple, "we might
walk down to the police station and talk to
20
Sergeant Cornish. He's intelligent and
patient, and I know him very well, and
he knows me. I think he'll listen -- and
pass the information on to the proper
quarter."
Accordingly, some three-quarters of an
hour later. Miss Marple and Mrs. MeGillicuddy
were talking to a fresh-faced
grave man between thirty and forty who
listened attentively to what they had to say.
Frank Cornish received Miss Marple
with cordiality and even deference. He set
chairs for the two ladies, and said: "Now
what can we do for you. Miss Marple ?"
Miss Marple said: "I would like you,
please, to listen to my friend Mrs. MeGillicuddy's
story."
And Sergeant Cornish had listened. At
the close of the recital he remained silent
for a moment or two.
Then he said:
"That's a very extraordinary story.53 His eyes, without seeming to do so, had
sized Mrs. McGillicuddy up whilst she
was telling it.
On the whole, he was favourably impressed.
A sensible woman, able to tell a story clearly, not, so far as he could judge,
21
an over-imaginative or a hysterical woman.
Moreover, Miss Marple, so it seemed,
believed in the accuracy of her friend's
story and he knew all about Miss Marple.
Everybody in St. Mary Mead knew Miss
Marple, fluffy and dithery in appearance,
but inwardly as sharp and as shrewd as they
make them.
He cleared his throat and spoke.
"Of course," he said, "you may have
been mistaken — I'm not saying you were,
mind — but you may have been. There's a
lot of horse-play goes on — it mayn't have
been serious or fatal."
"I know what I saw," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy grimly.
"And you won't budge from it," thought
Frank Cornish, "and I'd say that, likely
or unlikely, you may be right."
Aloud he said: "You reported it to the
railway officials, and you've come and
reported it to me. That's the proper
procedure and you may rely on me to have
inquiries instituted."
He stopped. Miss Marple nodded her
head gently, satisfied. Mrs. McGillicuddy
was not quite so satisfied, but she did not
say anything. Sergeant Cornish addressed
22
Miss Marple, not so much because he
wanted her ideas, as because he wanted to
hear what she would say.
"Granted the facts are as reported," he
said, "what do you think has happened to
the body ?"
"There seem to be only two possibilities," said Miss Marple without
hesitation. "The most likely one, of course,
is that the body was left in the train, but
that seems improbable now, for it would
have been found some time last night, by
another traveller, or by the railway staff
at the train's ultimate destination."
Frank Cornish nodded.
"The only other course open to the
murderer would be to push the body out
of the train on to the line. It must, I
suppose, be still on the track somewhere
as yet undiscovered--though that does
seem a little unlikely. But there would be, as far as I can see, no other way of dealing
with it."
"You read about bodies being put in
trunks," said Mrs. McGillicuddy, "but
no one travels with trunks nowadays, only
suitcases, and you couldn't get a body
into a suitcase."
23
"Yes," said Cornish. "I agree with you
both. The body, if there is a body, ought
to have been discovered by now, or will be
very soon. I'll let you know any developments
there are -- though I dare say you'll
read about them in the papers. There's the
possibility, of course, that the woman, though savagely attacked, was not actually
dead. She may have been able to leave the
train on her own feet."
"Hardly without assistance," said Miss
Marple. "And if so, it will have been
noticed. A man, supporting a woman
whom he says is ill."
"Yes, it will have been noticed," said
Cornish. "Or if a woman was found unconscious
or ill in a carriage and was
removed to hospital, that, too, will be on
record. I think you may rest assured that
you'll hear about it all in a very short
time."
But that day passed and the next day.
On that evening Miss Marple received a
note from Sergeant Cornish.
In regard to the matter on which you consulted me, full inquiries have been made, with no result. No woman's body has been
24
found. No hospital has administered treatment
to a woman such as you describe, and
no case of a woman suffering from shock or
taken illy or leaving a station supported by a
man has been observed. You may take it that
the fullest inquiries have been made. I suggest
that your friend may have witnessed a scene
such as she described but that it was much less
serious than she supposed.
25
CHAPTER III
"TTESS serious? Fiddlesticks!" said Mrs.
| McGillicuddy. "It was murder!"
1 ^ She looked defiantly at Miss
Marple and Miss Marple looked back at
her.
"Go on, Jane," said Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"Say it was all a mistake! Say I imagined
the whole thing! That's what you think
now, isn't it ?"
"Anyone can be mistaken," Miss Marple
pointed out gently. "Anybody, Elspeth —
even you. I think we must bear that in
mind. But I still think, you know, that you
were most probably not mistaken. . . .
You use glasses for reading, but you've
got very good far sight — and what you
saw impressed you very powerfully. You
were definitely suffering from shock when
you arrived here."
"It's a thing I shall never forget," said
Mrs. McGillicuddy with a shudder. "The
trouble is, I don't see what I can do about
it!"
"I don't think," said Miss Marple
26
thoughtfully, "that there's anything more
you can do about it." (If Mrs. McGillicuddy
had been alert to the tones of her
friend's voice, she might have noticed a
very faint stress laid on the you.) "You've
reported what you saw--to the railway people and to the police. No, there's
nothing more you can do."
"That's a relief, in a way," said Mrs. McGillicuddy, "because as you know,
I'm going out to Ceylon immediately
after Christmas -- to stay with Roderick,
and I certainly do not want to put that
visit off -- I've been looking forward to it
so much. Though of course I would put
it off if I thought it was my duty," she
added conscientiously.
"I'm sure you would, Elspeth, but as I
say, I consider you've done everything
you possibly could do."
"It's up to the police," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy. "And if the police choose
to be stupid -- "
Miss Marple shook her head decisively.
"Oh, no," she said, "the police aren't
stupid. And that makes it interesting, doesn't it ?"
Mrs. McGillicuddy looked at her with27
out comprehension and Miss Marple reaffirmed
her judgement of her friend as a
woman of excellent principles and no
imagination.
"One wants to know," said Miss
Marple, "what really happened."
"She was killed.55
"Yes, but who killed her, and why; and
what happened to her body? Where is it
now ?55
"That's the business of the police to
find out."
"Exactly -- and they haven't found out.
That means, doesn't it, that the man was
clever -- very clever. I can't imagine, you
know," said Miss Marple, knitting her
brows, "how he disposed of it. . . . You
kill a woman in a fit of passion -- it must
have been unpremeditated, you'd never
choose to kill a woman in such circumstances
just a few minutes before running
into a big station. No, it must have been a
quarrel -- jealousy -- something of that
kind. You strangle her -- and there you
are, as I say, with a dead body on your
hands and on the point of running into a
station. What could you do except as I said
at first, prop the body up in a corner as
28
though asleep, hiding the face, and then
yourself leave the train as quickly as
possible. I don't see any other possibility
— and yet there must have been one. ..."
Miss Marple lost herself in thought.
Mrs. McGillicuddy spoke to her twice
before Miss Marple answered.
"You're getting deaf, Jane."
"Just a little, perhaps. People do not
seem to me to enunciate their words as
clearly as they used to do. But it wasn't
that I didn't hear you. I'm afraid I wasn't
paying attention."
"I just asked about the trains to London
tomorrow. Would the afternoon be all
right? I'm going to Margaret's and she
isn't expecting me before teatime."
"I wonder, Elspeth, if you would mind
going up by the 12.15 ? We could have an
early lunch."
"Of course and — " Miss Marple went
on, drowning her friend's words:
"And I wonder, too, if Margaret would
mind if you didn't arrive for tea — if you
arrived about seven, perhaps ?"
Mrs. McGillicuddy looked at her friend
curiously.
"What's on your mind, Jane ?"
4.50 FP 2 29
"I suggest, Elspeth, that I should travel
up to London with you, and that we
should travel down again as far as Brackhampton
in the train you travelled by
the other day. You would then return to
London from Brackhampton and I would
come on here as you did. /, of course, would pay the/ores," Miss Marple stressed
this point firmly.
Mrs. McGillicuddy ignored the financial
aspect.
"What on earth do you expect, Jane?" she asked. "Another murder ?"
"Certainly not," said Miss Marple
shocked. "But I confess I should like to
see for myself, under your guidance, the --
the -- really it is most difficult to find
the correct term -- the terrain of the
crime."
So accordingly on the following day
Miss Marple and Mrs. McGillicuddy
found themselves in two opposite corners
of a first-class carriage speeding out of
London by the 4.50 from Paddington.
Paddington had been even more crowded
than on the preceding Friday -- as there
were now only two days to go before
Christmas, but the 4.50 was comparatively
30
peaceful -- at any rate, in the rear portion.
On this occasion no train drew level
with them, or they with another train.
At intervals trains flashed past them towards
London. On two occasions trains
flashed past them the other way going at
high speed. At intervals Mrs. McGillicuddy
consulted her watch doubtfully.
"It's hard to tell just when -- we'd
passed through a station I know . . ."
But they were continually passing through
stations.
"We're due in Brackhampton in five
minutes," said Miss Marple.
A ticket collector appeared in the doorway.
Miss Marple raised her eyes interrogatively, Mrs. McGillicuddy shook
her head. It was not the same ticket
collector. He clipped their tickets, and
passed on staggering just a little as the
train swung round a long curve. It slackened
speed as it did so.
"I expect we're coming into Brackhampton," said Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"We're getting into the outskirts, I
think," said Miss Marple.
There were lights flashing past outside, buildings, an occasional glimpse of streets
31
and trams. Their speed slackened further.
They began crossing points.
"We'll be there in a minute," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy, "and I can't really see
this journey has been any good at all. Has
it suggested anything to you, Jane ?"
"I'm afraid not," said Miss Marple in a
rather doubtful voice.
"A sad waste of good money," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy, but with less disapproval
than she would have used had she been
paying for herself. Miss Marple had been
quite adamant on that point.
"All the same," said Miss Marple, "one
likes to see with one's own eyes where a
thing happened. This train's just a few
minutes late. Was yours on time on
Friday ?"
"I think so. I didn't really notice."
The train drew slowly into the busy
length of Brackhampton station. The loudspeaker
announced hoarsely, doors opened
and shut, people got in and out, milled
up and down the platform. It was a busy
crowded scene.
Easy, thought Miss Marple, for a murderer to merge into that crowd, to leave
the station in the midst of that pressing
32
mass of people, or even to select another
carriage and go on in the train to wherever
its ultimate destination might be. Easy to
be one male passenger amongst many.
But not so easy to make a body vanish into
thin air. That body must be somewhere.
Mrs. McGillicuddy had descended. She
spoke now from the platform, through the
open window.
"Now take care of yourself, Jane," she
said. "Don't catch a chill. It's a nasty
treacherous time of year, and you're not
so young as you were."
"I know," said Miss Marple.
"And don't let's worry ourselves any
more over all this. We've done what we
could."
Miss Marple nodded, and said:
"Don't stand about in the cold, Elspeth.
Or you'll be the one to catch a chill. Go
and get yourself a good hot cup of tea in
the Refreshment Room. You've got time, twelve minutes before your train back to
town."
"I think perhaps I will. Goodbye,
Jane."
"Good-bye, Elspeth. A happy Christmas to you. I hope you find Margaret well.
33
Enjoy yourself in Ceylon, and give my love
to dear Roderick -- if he remembers me at
all, which I doubt."
"Of course he remembers you--very
well. You helped him in some way when
he was at school -- something to do with
money that was disappearing from a
locker -- he's never forgotten it."
"Oh, that\^ said Miss Marple.
Mrs. McGillicuddy turned away, a
whistle blew, the train began to move.
Miss Marple watched the sturdy thickset
body of her friend recede. Elspeth could
go to Ceylon with a clear conscience --
she had done her duty and was freed from
further obligation.
Miss Marple did not lean back as the
train gathered speed. Instead she sat
upright and devoted herself seriously to
thought. Though in speech Miss Marple
was woolly and diffuse, in mind she was
clear and sharp. She had a problem to
solve, the problem of her own future
conduct; and, perhaps strangely, it presented
itself to her as it had to Mrs.
McGillicuddy, as a question of duty.
Mrs. McGillicuddy had said that they
had both done all that they could do.
34
It was true of Mrs. McGillicuddy but
about herself Miss Marple did not feel so
sure.
It was a question, sometimes, of using
one's special gifts. . . . But perhaps that
was conceited. . . . After all, what could
she do ? Her friend's words came back to
her, "You're not so young as you were...."
Dispassionately, like a general planning
a campaign, or an accountant assessing a
business. Miss Marple weighed up and set
down in her mind the facts for and against
further enterprise. On the credit side were
the following:
1. My long experience of life and human
nature.
2. Sir Henry dithering and his godson (now
at Scotland Yard, I believe), who was so
very nice in the Little Paddocks case.
3. My nephew Raymond's second boy,
David, who is, 1 am almost sure, in
British Railways.
4- Gnselda's boy Leonard who is so very
knowledgeable about maps.
Miss Marple reviewed these assets and
approvde them. They were all very
35
necessary, to reinforce the weaknesses on
the debit side -- in particular her own
bodily weakness.
"It's not," thought Miss Marple, "as
though I could go here, there and everywhere, making inquiries and finding out
things."
Yes, that was the chief objection, her
own age and weakness. Although, for her
age, her health was good, yet she was old.
And if Dr. Haydock had strictly forbidden
her to do practical gardening he would
hardly approve of her starting out to track
down a murderer. For that, in effect, was
what she was planning to do -- and it was
there that her loophole lay. For if heretofore
murder had, so to speak, been forced
upon her, in this case it would be that she
herself set out deliberately to seek it.
And she was not sure that she wanted to
do so. ... She was old -- old and tired.
She felt at this moment, at the end of a
tiring day, a great reluctance to enter upon
any project at all. She wanted nothing at
all but to reach home and sit by the fire
with a nice tray of supper, and go to bed, and potter about the next day just snipping
off a few things in the garden, tidying up
36
in a very mild way, without stooping, without exerting herself. . . .
"I'm too old for any more adventures," said Miss Marple to herself, watching
absently out of the window the curving
line of an embankment. . . .
A curve... .
Very faintly something stirred in her
mind. . . . Just after the ticket collector had
clipped their tickets ...
It suggested an idea. Only an idea.
An entirely different idea. . . .
A little pink flush came into Miss
Marple's face. Suddenly she did not feel
tired at all!
"I'll write to David tomorrow morning," she said to herself.
And at the same time another valuable
asset flashed through her mind.
"Of course. My faithful Florence!"
li
Miss Marple set about her plan of campaign
methodically and making due allowance
for the Christmas season which was a
definitely retarding factor.
She wrote to her great-nephew,
David West, combining Christmas wishes
37
with an urgent request for information.
Fortunately she was invited, as on
previous years, to the vicarage for Christmas
dinner, and here she was able to tackle
young Leonard, home for the Christmas
season, about maps.
Maps of all kinds were Leonard's
passion. The reason for the old lady's
inquiry about a large-scale map of a
particular area did not rouse his curiosity.
He discoursed on maps generally with
fluency, and wrote down for her exactly
what would suit her purpose best. In fac'^,
he did better. He actually found that he
had such a map amongst his collection
and be lent it to her. Miss Marple promising
to take great care of it and return it
in due course.
in
"Maps," said his mother, Griselda, who
still, although she had a grown-up son,
looked strangely young and blooming to
be inhabiting the shabby old vicarage.
"What does she want with maps ? I mean,
what does she want them/or ?"
cc! don't know," said young Leonard,
"I don't think she said exactly."
38
"I wonder now ..." said Griselda. "It
seems very fishy to me. ... At her age
the old pet ought to give up that sort of
thing."
Leonard asked what sort of thing, and
Griselda said elusively:
"Oh, poking her nose into things.
Why maps, I wonder ?"
In due course Miss Marple received a
letter from her great-nephew David West.
It ran affectionately:
"dear aunt jane -- Now what are
you up to? I've got the information you
wanted. There are only two trains that
can possibly apply -- the 4.33 and the
5 o'clock. The former is a slow train
and stops at Haling Broadway, Barwell
Heath, Brackhampton and then stations to
Market Basing. The 5 o'clock is the Welsh
express for Cardiff, Newport and Swansea.
The former might be overtaken somewhere
by the 4.50, although it is due in
Brackhampton five minutes earlier and the
latter passes the 4.50 just before Brackhampton.

In all this do I smell some village
scandal of a fruity character? Did you,
39
returning from a shopping spree in town
by the 4.50, observe in a passing train the
Mayor's wife being embraced by the
Sanitary Inspector? But why does it
matter which train it was ? A weekend at
Porthcawl, perhaps ? Thank you for the
pullover. Just what I wanted.
How's the garden ? Not very active this
time of year, I should imagine.
Yours ever,
david"
Miss Marple smiled a little, then considered
the information thus presented to
her. Mrs. McGillicuddy had said definitely
that the carriage had not been a corridor
one. Therefore -- not the Swansea express.
The 4.33 was indicated.
Also some more travelling seemed unavoidable.
Miss Marple sighed, but made
her plans.
She went up to London as before on
the 12.15, but this time returned not by
the 4.50, but by the 4.33 as far as Brackhampton.
The journey was uneventful, but she registered certain details. The train
was not crowded -- 4.33 was before the
evening rush hour. Of the first-class
40
carriages only one had an occupant -- a
very old gentleman reading the New
Statesman. Miss Marple travelled in an
empty compartment and at the two stops, Haling Broadway and Barwell Heath, leaned out of the window to observe
passengers entering and leaving the train.
A small number of third-class passengers
got in at Haling Broadway. At Barwell
Heath several third-class passengers got
out. Nobody entered or left a first-class
carriage except the old gentleman carrying
his New Statesman.
As the train neared Brackhampton, sweeping around a curve of line. Miss
Marple rose to her feet and stood experimentally
with her back to the window
over which she had drawn down the
blind.
Yes, she decided, the impetus of the
sudden curving of the line and the slackening
of speed did throw one off one's
balance back against the window and the
blind might, in consequence, very easily
fly up. She peered out into the night.
It was lighter than it had been when
Mrs. McGillicuddy had made the same
journey--only just dark, but there was
41
little to see. For observation she must make
a daylight journey.
On the next day she went up by the
early morning train, purchased four linen
pillow-cases (tut-tutting at the price!) so
as to combine investigation with the provision
of household necessities, and returned
by a train leaving Paddington at
twelve-fifteen. Again she was alone in a
first-class carriage. "This taxation,"
thought Miss Marple, "that's what it is.
No one can afford to travel first class
except business men in the rush hours.
I suppose because they can charge it to
expenses."
About a quarter of an hour before the
train was due at Brackhampton, Miss
Marple got out the map with which Leonard
had supplied her and began to observe
the countryside. She had studied the map
very carefully beforehand, and after noting
the name of a station they passed through, she was soon able to identify where she
was just as the train began to slacken for a
curve. It was a very considerable curve
indeed. Miss Marple, her nose glued to the
window, studied the ground beneath her
(the train was running on a fairly high
42
embankment) with close attention. She
divided her attention between the country
outside and her map until the train finally
ran into Brackhampton.
That night she wrote and posted a
letter addressed to Miss Florence Hill, 4 Madison Road, Brackhampton. . . .
On the following morning, going to the
County library, she studied a Brackhampton
directory and gazetteer, and a
County history.
Nothing so far had contradicted the
very faint and sketchy idea that had come to her. What she had imagined was
possible. She would go no further than
that.
But the next step involved action -- a
good deal of action -- the kind of action
for which she, herself, was physically unfit.
If her theory were to be definitely proved
or disproved, she must at this point have
help from some other person. The question
was -- who ? Miss Marple reviewed
various names and possibilities rejecting
them all with a vexed shake of the head.
The intelligent people on whose intelligence
she could rely were all far too busy. Not
only had they all got jobs of varying
43
importance, their leisure hours were usually
apportioned long beforehand. The unintelligent
who had time on their hands
were simply. Miss Marple decided, no
good.
She pondered in growing vexation and
perplexity.
Then suddenly her forehead cleared.
She ejaculated aloud a name.
"Of course!" said Miss Marple. "Lucy
Eyelesb arrow I"
44
CHAPTER IV
THE name of Lucy Eyelesbarrow had
already made itself felt in certain
circles.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow was thirty-two. She
had taken a First in Mathematics at
Oxford, was acknowledged to have a brilliant
mind and was confidently expected to
take up a distinguished academic career.
But Lucy Eyelesbarrow, in addition to
scholarly brilliance, had a core of good
sound common sense. She could not fail to
observe that a life of academic distinction
was singularly ill rewarded. She had no
desire whatever to teach and she took
pleasure in contacts with minds much less
brilliant than her own. In short, she had a
taste for people, all sorts of people -- and
not the same people the whole time. She
also, quite frankly, liked money. To gain
money one must exploit shortage.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow hit at once upon a
very serious shortage -- the shortage of
any kind of skilled domestic labour. To the
amazement of her friends and fellow-
t 45
scholars, Lucy Eyelesbarrow entered the
field of domestic labour.
Her success was immediate and assured.
By now, after a lapse of some years, she
Was known all over the British Isles. It was
quite customary for wives to say joyfully to
husbands, "It will be all right. I can go with
you to the States. Pve got Lucy Eyelesbarrow
/" The point of Lucy Eyelesbarrow
was that once she came into a house, all
worry, anxiety and hard work went out of
it. Lucy Eyelesbarrow did everything, saw
to everything, arranged everything. She
was unbelievably competent in every conceivable
sphere. She looked after elderly
parents, accepted the care of young children, nursed the sickly, cooked divinely, got
on well with any old crusted servants there
might happen to be (there usually weren't), was tactful with impossible people, soothed
habitual drunkards, was wonderful with
dogs. Best of all she never minded what she
did. She scrubbed the kitchen floor, dug in
the garden, cleaned up dog messes, and
carried coals!
One of her rules was never to accept an
engagement for any long length of time.
A fortnight was her usual period -- a
46
month at most under exceptional circumstances.
For that fortnight you had to pay
the earth! But, during that fortnight, your
life was heaven. You could relax completely, go abroad, stay at home, do as you
pleased, secure that all was going well on
the home front in Lucy Eyelesbarrow^s
capable hands.
Naturally the demand for her services
was enormous. She could have booked herself
up if she chose for about three years
ahead. She had been offered enormous
sums to go as a permanency. But Lucy had
no intention of being a permanency, nor
would she book herself for more than six
months ahead. And within that period, unknown to her clamouring clients, she
always kept certain free periods which
enabled her either to take a short luxurious
holiday (since she spent nothing otherwise
and was handsomely paid and kept) or to
accept any position at short notice that
happened to take her fancy, either by
reason of its character, or because she ^liked the people33. Since she was now at
liberty to pick and choose amongst the
vociferous claimants for her services, she
went very largely by personal liking. Mere
47
riches would not buy you the services of
Lucy Eyelesbarrow. She could pick and
choose and she did pick and choose. She
enjoyed her life very much and found in it
a continual source of entertainment.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow read and re-read the
letter from Miss Marple. She had made
Miss Marple's acquaintance two years ago
when her services had been retained by
Raymond West, the novelist, to go and
look after his old aunt who was recovering
from pneumonia. Lucy had accepted the
job and had gone down to St. Mary Mead.
She had liked Miss Marple very much. As
for Miss Marple, once she had caught a
glimpse out of her bedroom window of
Lucy Eyelesbarrow really trenching for
sweet peas in the proper way, she had
leaned back on her pillows with a sigh of
relief, eaten the tempting little meals that
Lucy Eyelesbarrow brought to her, and
listened, agreeably surprised, to the tales
told by her elderly irascible maidservant of
how "I taught that Miss Eyelesbarrow a
crochet pattern what she'd never heard of!
Proper grateful, she was." And had surprised
her doctor by the rapidity of her
convalescence.
48
Miss Marple wrote asking if Miss Eyelesbarrow
could undertake a certain task for
her -- rather an unusual one. Perhaps Miss
Eyelesbarrow could arrange a meeting at
which they could discuss the matter.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow frowned for a moment
or two as she considered. She was in
reality fully booked up. But the word unusual^ and her recollection of Miss
Marple's personality, carried the day and
she rang up Miss Marple straight away
explaining that she could not come down
to St. Mary Mead as she was at the
moment working, but that she was free
from 2 to 4 on the following afternoon and
could meet Miss Marple anywhere in
London. She suggested her own club, a
rather nondescript establishment which had
the advantage of having several small dark
writing-rooms which were usually empty.
Miss Marple accepted the suggestion and
on the following day the meeting took place.
Greetings were exchanged; Lucy Eyelesbarrow
led her guest to the gloomiest of
the writing-rooms, and said: "I'm afraid
I'm rather booked up just at present, but
perhaps you'll tell me what it is you want
me to undertake ?"
49
"It's very simple, really," said Miss
Marple. "Unusual, but simple. I want you
to find a body.5'
For a moment the suspicion crossed
Lucy's mind that Miss Marple was mentally
unhinged, but she rejected the idea.
Miss Marple was eminently sane. She
meant exactly what she had said.
"What kind of a body?" asked Lucy
Eyelesbarrow with admirable composure.
"A woman's body," said Miss Marple.
"The body of a woman who was murdered
-- strangled actually -- in a train."
Lucy's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Well, that's certainly unusual. Tell me
about it."
Miss Marple told her. Lucy Eyelesbarrow
listened attentively, without interrupting.
At the end she said:
"It all depends on what your friend saw
-- or thought she saw -- ?"
She left the sentence unfinished with a question in it.
"Elspeth McGillicuddy doesn't imagine
things," said Miss Marple. "That's why
I'm relying on what she said. If it had been
Dorothy Cartwright, now -- it would have
been quite a different matter. Dorothy
50
always has a good story, and quite often
believes it herself, and there is usually a
kind of basis of truth but certainly no more.
But Elspeth is the kind of woman who
finds it very hard to make herself believe
that anything at all extraordinary or out of
the way could happen. She's most unsuggestible,
rather like granite."
"I see,35 said Lucy thoughtfully. "Well,
let's accept it all. Where do I come in ?"
"I was very much impressed by you,"
said Miss Marple, "and you see, I haven't
got the physical strength nowadays to get
about and do things."
"You want me to make inquiries ? That
sort of thing ? But won't the police have
done all that ? Or do you think they have
been just slack?"
"Oh, no," said Miss Marple. "They
haven't been slack. It's just that I've got a
theory about the woman's body. It's got to
be somewhere. If it wasn't found in the
train, then it must have been pushed or
thrown out of the train—but it hasn't
been discovered anywhere on the line. So I
travelled down the same way to see if there
was anywhere where the body could have
been thrown off the train and yet wouldn't
51
have been found on the line -- and there
was. The railway line makes a big curve
before getting into Brackhampton, on the
edge of a high embankment. If a body were
thrown out there, when the train was leaning
at an angle, I think it would pitch right
down the embankment."
"But surely it would still be found --
even there?"
"Oh, yes. It would have to be taken
away. . . . But we'll come to that presently.
Here's the place -- on this map.55
Lucy bent to study where Miss Marple's
finger pointed.
"It is right in the outskirts of Brackhampton
now,55 said Miss Marple, "but
originally it was a country house with
extensive park and grounds and it's still
there, untouched -- ringed round now with
building estates and small suburban houses.
It's called Rutherford Hall. It was built by
a man called Crackenthorpe, a very rich
manufacturer in 1884. The original Crackenthorpe's
son, an elderly man, is living
there still with, I understand, a daughter.
The railway encircles quite half of the
property.55
"And you want me to do -- what ?55
52
Miss Marple replied promptly.
"I want yoa.to get a post there. Everyone
is crying out for efficient domestic help --
I should not imagine it would be difficult."
"No, I don't suppose it would be difficult."

"I understand that Mr. Crackenthorpe
is said locally to be somewhat of a miser. If
you accept a low salary, I will make it up to
the proper figure which should, I think, be
rather more that the current rate."
"Because of the difficulty ?"
"Not the difficulty so much as the
danger. It might, you know, be dangerous. It's only right to warn you of that."
"I don't know," said Lucy pensively, "that the idea of danger would deter me."
"I didn't think it would," said Miss
Marple. "You're not that kind of person."
"I dare say you thought it might even
attract me ? I've encountered very little
danger in my life. But do you really believe
it might be dangerous ?"
"Somebody," Miss Marple pointed out,
"has committed a very successful crime.
There has been no hue-and-cry, no real
suspicion. Two elderly ladies have told a
rather improbable story, the police have
53
investigated it and found nothing in it. So
everything is nice and quiet. I don't think
that this somebody, whoever he may be, will care about the matter being raked up --
especially if you are successful."
"What do I look for exactly ?"
"Any signs along the embankment, a
scrap of clothing, broken bushes -- that
kind of thing."
Lucy nodded.
"And then ?"
"I shall be quite close at hand," said
Miss Marple. "An old maidservant of
mine, my faithful Florence, lives in Brackhampton.
She has looked after her old
parents for years. They are now both dead,
and she takes in lodgers -- all most respectable
people. She has arranged for me
to have rooms with her. She will look after
me most devotedly, and I feel I should like
to be close at hand. I would suggest that
you mention you have an elderly aunt
living in the neighbourhood, and that you
want a post within easy distance of her,
and also that you stipulate for a reasonable
amount of spare time so that you can go
and see her often."
Again Lucy nodded.
54
"I was going to Taormina the day after
tomorrow," she said, "The holiday can
wait. But I can only promise three weeks.
After that, I am booked up."
"Three weeks should be ample," said
Miss Marple. "If we can't find out anything
in three weeks, we might a? well give
up the whole thing as a mare's nest."
Miss Marple departed, and Lucy, after
a moment's reflection, rang up a Registry
Office in Brackhampton, the manageress of
which she knew very well. She explained
her desire for a post in the neighbourhood
so as to be near her "aunt". After turning
down, with a little difficulty and a good
deal of ingenuity, several more desirable
places, Rutherford Hall was mentioned.
"That sounds exactly what I want," said
Lucy firmly.
The Registry Office rang up Miss
Crackenthorpe, Miss Crackenthorpe rang
up Lucy.
Two days later Lucy left London en
route for Rutherford Hall.
li
Driving her own small car, Lucy Eyelesbarrow
drove through an imposing pair of
55
vast iron gates. Just inside them was what
had originally been a small lodge which
now seemed completely derelict, whether
through war damage, or merely through
neglect, it was difficult to be sure. A long
winding drive led through large gloomy
clumps of rhododendrons up to the house.
Lucy caught her breath in a slight gasp
when she saw the house which was a kind of
miniature Windsor Castle. The stone steps
in front of the door could have done with
attention and the gravel sweep was green
with neglected weeds.
She pulled an old-fashioned wroughtiron
bell, and its clamour sounded echoing
away inside. A slatternly woman, wiping
her hands on her apron, opened the door
and looked at her suspiciously.
"Expected, aren't you ?" she said. "Miss
Something-barrow, she told me."
"Quite right," said Lucy.
The house was desperately cold inside.
Her guide led her along a dark hall and
opened a door on the right. Rather to
Lucy's surprise, it was quite a pleasant
sitting-room, with books and chintz-covered
chairs.
"I'll tell her," said the woman, and went
56
away shutting the door after having given
Lucy a look of profound disfavour.
After a few minutes the door opened
again. From the first moment Lucy decided
that she liked Emma Crackenthorpe.
She was a middle-aged woman with no
very outstanding characteristics, neither
good-looking nor plain, sensibly dressed in
tweeds and pullover, with dark hair swept
back from her forehead, steady hazel eyes
and a very pleasant voice.
She said: "Miss Eyelesbarrow ?" and
held out her hand.
Then she looked doubtful.
"I wonder," she said, "if this post is
really what you're looking for? I don't
want a housekeeper, you know, to supervise
things. I want someone to do the
work."
Lucy said that that was what most
people needed.
Emma Crackenthorpe said apologetically
:
"So many people, you know, seem to
think that just a little light dusting will
answer the case--but I can do all the
light dusting myself."
"I quite understand," said Lucy. "You
57
want cooking and washing up, and housework
and stoking the boiler. That's all
right. That's what I do. I'm not at all
afraid of work."
"It's a big house, I'm afraid, and inconvenient.
Of course we only live in a portion
of it -- my father and myself, that is. He is
rather an invalid. We live quite quietly,
and there is an Aga stove. I have several
brothers, but they are not here very often.
Two women come in, a Mrs. Kidder in the
morning, and Mrs. Hart three days a week
to do brasses and things like that. You have
your own car ?"
"Yes. It can stand out in the open if
there's nowhere to put it. It's used to it."
"Oh, there are any amount of old
stables. There's no trouble about that."
She frowned a moment, then said, "Eyelesbarrow
-- rather an unusual name. Some
friends of mine were telling me about a
Lucy Eyelesbarrow -- the Kennedys ?"
"Yes. I was with them in North Devon
when Mrs. Kennedy was having a baby."
Emma Crackenthorpe smiled.
"I know they said they'd never had such
a wonderful time as when you were there
seeing to everything. But I had the idea
58
that you were terribly expensive. The sum
I mentioned -- "
"That's quite all right," said Lucy. "I
want particularly, you see, to be near
Brackhampton. I have an elderly aunt in a
critical state of health and I want to be
within easy distance of her. That's why the
salary is a secondary consideration. I can't
afford to do nothing. If I could be sure, of
having some time off most days ?"
"Oh, of course. Every afternoon, till six,
if you like?"
"That seems perfect."
Miss Crackenthorpe hesitated a moment
before saying: "My father is elderly and a
little -- difficult sometimes. He is very
keen on economy, and he says things sometimes
that upset people. I wouldn't like -- "
Lucy broke in quickly:
"I'm quite used to elderly people, of all
kinds," she said. "I always manage to get
on well with them."
Emma Crackenthorpe looked relieved.
"Trouble with father!" diagnosed Lucy.
"I bet he's an old tartar."
She was apportioned a large gloomy bedroom
which a small electric heater did its
inadequate best to warm, and was shown
59
round the house, a vast uncomfortable
mansion. As they passed a door in the hall
a voice roared out:
"That you, Emma? Got the new girl
there ? Bring her in. I want to look at her."
Emma flushed, glanced at Lucy apologetically.

The two women entered the room. It
was richly upholstered in dark velvet, the
narrow windows let in very little light, and
it was full of heavy mahogany Victorian
furniture.
Old Mr. Crackenthorpe was stretched
out in an invalid chair, a silver-headed
stick by his side.
He was a big gaunt man, his flesh hanging
in loose folds. He had a face rather like a
bulldog, with a pugnacious chin. He had
thick dark hair flecked with grey, and small
suspicious eyes.
"Let's have a look at you, young lady."
Lucy advanced, composed and smiling.
"There's just one thing you'd better
understand straight away. Just because we
live in a big house doesn't mean we're
rich. We're not rich. We live simply -- do
you hear ? -- simply \ No good coming here
with a lot of high-falutin ideas. Cod's as
60
good a fish as turbot any day, and don't you
forget it. I don't stand for waste. I live here
because my father built the house and I
like it. After I'm dead they can sell it up if
they want to — amd I expect they will
want to. No sense of family. This house is
well built — it's solid, and we've got our
own land round us. Keeps us private. It
would bring in a lot if sold for building
land but not while /'m alive. You won't get
me out of here until you take me out feet
first."
He glared at Lucy.
"Your house is your castle," said Lucy.
"Laughing at me ?"
"Of course not. I think it's very exciting
to have a real country place all surrounded
by town."
"Quite so. Can't see another house from
here, can you ? Fields with cows in them —
right in the middle of Brackhampton. You
hear the traffic a bit when the wind's that
way — but otherwise it's still country."
He added, without pause of change of
tone, to his daughter:
"Ring up that damn' fool of a doctor.
Tell him that last medicine's no good at
all."
4.50 FP 3 6l
Lucy and Emma retired. He shouted
after them:
"And don't let that damned woman who
sniffs dust in here. She's disarranged all my
books."
Lucy asked:
"Has Mr. Crackenthorpe been an invalid
long ?"
Emma said, rather evasively:
"Oh, for years now. . . . This is the
kitchen."
The kitchen was enormous. A vast
kitchen range stood cold and neglected. An
Aga stood demurely beside it.
Lucy asked times of meals and inspected
the larder. Then she said cheerfully to
Emma Crackenthorpe:
"I know everything now. Don't bother.
Leave it all to me."
Emma Crackenthorpe heaved a sigh of
relief as she went up to bed that night.
"The Kennedy s were quite right," she
said. "She's wonderful."
Lucy rose at six the next morning. She
did the house, prepared vegetables, assembled,
cooked and served breakfast. With
Mrs. Kidder she made the beds and at
eleven o'clock they sat down to strong tea
62
and biscuits in the kitchen. Mollified by
the fact that Lucy "had no airs about her" and also by the strength and sweetness of
the tea, Mrs. Kidder relaxed into gossip.
She was a small spare woman with a sharp
eye and tight lips.
"Regular old skinflint he is. What she has
to put up with! All the same, she's not what
I call down-trodden. Can hold her own all
right when she has to. When the gentlemen
come down she sees to it there's something
decent to eat."
"The gentlemen ?"
"Yes. Big family it was. The eldest, Mr.
Edmund, he was killed in the war. Then
there's Mr. Cedric, he lives abroad somewhere.
He's not married. Paints pictures in
foreign parts. Mr. Harold's in the City, lives in London--married an earl's
daughter. Then there's Mr. Alfred, he's
got a nice way with him, but he's a bit of a
black sheep, been in trouble once or twice
-- and there's Miss Edith's husband, Mr.
Bryan, ever so nice, he is -- she died some
years ago, but he's always stayed one of the
family, and there's Master Alexander, Miss Edith's little boy. He's at school,
comes here for part of the holidays
63
always; Miss Emma's terribly set on him."
Lucy digested all this information, continuing
to press tea on her informant.
Finally, reluctantly, Mrs. Kidder rose to
her feet.
"Seem to have got along a treat, we do, this morning," she said wonderingly.
"Want me to give you a hand with the
potatoes, dear ?"
"They're all done ready."
"Well, you are a one for getting on with
things! I might as well be getting along
myself as there doesn't seem anything else
to do."
Mrs. Kidder departed and Lucy, with
time on her hands, scrubbed the kitchen
table which she had been longing to do, but
which she had put off so as not to offend
Mrs. Kidder whose job it properly was.
Then she cleaned the silver till it shone
radiantly. She cooked lunch, cleared it
away, washed it up, and at two-thirty was
ready to start exploration. She had set out
the tea things ready on a tray, with sandwiches
and bread and butter covered with
a damp napkin to keep them moist.
She strolled first round the gardens
which would be the normal thing to do.
64
The kitchen garden was sketchily cultivated
with a few vegetables. The hothouses
were in ruins. The paths everywhere were
overgrown with weeds. A herbaceous border
near the house was the only thing that
showed free of weeds and in good condition
and Lucy suspected that that had
been Emma's hand. The gardener was a
very old man, somewhat deaf, who was
only making a show of working. Lucy spoke
to him pleasantly. He lived in a cottage
adjacent to the big stableyard.
Leading out of the stableyard a back
drive led through the park which was
fenced on either side of it, and under a
railway arch into a small back lane.
Every few minutes a train thundered
along the main line over the railway arch.
Lucy watched the trains as they slackened
speed going round the sharp curve that
encircled the Crackenthorpe property. She
passed under the railway arch and out into
the lane. It seemed a little-used track. On the one side was the railway embankment,
on the other was a high wall which enclosed
some tall factory buildings. Lucy followed
the lane until it came out into a street of
small houses. She could hear a short dis-
65
tance away the busy hum of main road
traffic. She glanced at her watch. A woman
came out of a house nearby and Lucy
stopped her.
"Excuse me, can you tell me if there is a
public telephone near here ?"
"Post Office just at the corner of the
road."
Lucy thanked her and walked along
until she came to the post office which was
a combination shop and post office. There
was a telephone box at one side. Lucy went
into it and made a call. She asked to speak
to Miss Marple. A woman's voice spoke in
a sharp bark.
"She's resting. And I'm not going to disturb
her! She needs her rest -- she's an old
lady. Who shall I say called ?"
"Miss Eyelesbarrow. There's no need to
disturb her. Just tell her that I've arrived
and everything is going on well and that
I'll let her know when I've any news."
She replaced the receiver and made her
way back to Rutherford Hall.
66
CHAPTER V
"T SUPPOSE it will be all right if I just
| practise a few iron shots in the park ?55
A asked Lucy.
"Oh, yes, certainly. Are you fond of
golf?"
"I'm not much good, but I like to keep
in practice. It's a more agreeable form of
exercise than just going for a walk."
"Nowhere to walk outside this place,55
growled Mr. Crackenthorpe. "Nothing but
pavements and miserable little band boxes
of houses. Like to get hold of my land and
build more of them. But they won't until
I'm dead. And I'm not going to die to
oblige anybody. I can tell you that! Not to
oblige anybody^
Emma Crackenthorpe said mildly:
"Now, Father.55
"/ know what they think—and what
they're waiting for. All of 'em. Cedric, and
that sly fox Harold with his smug face. As
for Alfred, I wonder he hasn't had a shot
at bumping me off himself. Not sure he
didn't, at Christmas-time. That was a very
67
odd turn I had. Puzzled old Quimper. He
asked me a lot of discreet questions.53
"Everyone gets these digestive upsets
now and again. Father.35
"All right, all right, say straight out that
I ate too much! That's what you mean. And why did I eat too much ? Because there was
too much food on the table, far too much.
Wasteful and extravagant. And that reminds
me -- you, young woman. Five
potatoes you sent in for lunch -- goodsized
ones too. Two potatoes are enough for
anybody. So don't send in more than four
in future. The extra one was wasted
today."
"It wasn't wasted, Mr. Crackenthorpe.
I've planned to use it in a Spanish omelet
tonight."
"Urgh!" As Lucy went out of the room
carrying the coffee tray she heard him say, "Slick young woman, that, always got all
the answers. Cooks well, though -- and
she's a handsome kind of girl."
Lucy Eyelesbarrow took a light iron out
of the set of golf clubs she had had the forethought
to bring with her, and strolled out
into the park, climbing over the fencing.
She began playing a series of shots. After
68
five minutes or so, a ball, apparently
sliced, pitched on the side of the railway
embankment. Lucy went up and began to
hunt about for it. She looked back towards
the house. It was a long way away and
nobody was in the least interested in what
she was doing. She continued to hunt for
the ball. Now and then she played shots
from the embankment down into the grass.
During the afternoon she searched about
a third of the embankment. Nothing.
She played her ball back towards the
house.
Then, on the next day, she came upon
something. A thorn bush growing about
half-way up the bank had been snapped off.
Bits of it lay scattered about. Lucy examined
the tree itself. Impaled on one of the
thorns was a torn scrap of fur. It was almost
the same colour as the wood, a pale
brownish colour. Lucy looked at it for a
moment, then she took a pair of scissors out
of her pocket and snipped it carefully in
half. The half she had snipped off she put
in an envelope which she had in her pocket.
She came down the steep slope searching
about for anything else. She looked carefully
at the rough grass of the field. She
69
thought she could distinguish a kind of
track which someone had made walking
through the long grass. But it was very
faint -- not nearly so clear as her own
tracks were. It must have been made some
time ago and it was too sketchy for her to
be sure that it was not merely imagination
on her part.
She began to hunt carefully down in the
grass at the foot of the embankment just
below the broken thorn bush. Presently her
search was rewarded. She found a powder
compact, a small cheap enamelled affair.
She wrapped it in her handkerchief and
put it in her pocket. She searched on but
did not find anything more.
On the following afternoon, she got into
her car and went to see her invalid aunt.
Emma Crackenthorpe said kindly, "Don't
hurry back. We shan't want you until
dinnertime."
"Thank you, but I shall be back by six
at the latest."
No. 4 Madison Road was a small drab
house in a small drab street. It had very
clean Nottingham lace curtains, a shining
white doorstep and a well-polished brass
door handle. The dooor was opened by a
70
tall, grim-looking woman, dressed in black
with a large knob of iron-grey hair.
She eyed Lucy in suspicious appraisal as
she showed her in to Miss Marple.
Miss Marple was occupying the back
sitting-room which looked out on to a
small tidy square of garden. It was aggressively
clean with a lot of mats and doilies, a
great many china ornaments, a rather big
Jacobean suite and two ferns in pots. Miss
Marple was sitting in a big chair by the
fire busily engaged in crocheting.
Lucy came in and shut the door. She sat
down in the chair facing Miss Marple.
"Well!" she said. "It looks as though you
were right.35
She produced her finds and gave the
details of their finding.
A faint flush of achievement came into
Miss Marple's cheeks.
"Perhaps one ought not to feel so," she
said, "but it is rather gratifying to form a
theory and get proof that it is correct!"
She fingered the small tuft of fur.
"Elspeth said the woman was wearing a
light-coloured fur coat. I suppose the
compact was in the pocket of the coat and
fell out as the body rolled down the slope.
7i
It doesn't seem distinctive in any way, but
it may help. You didn't take all the fur ?"
"No, I left half of it on the thorn bush."
Miss Marple nodded approval.
"Quite right. You are very intelligent,
my dear. The police will want to check
exactly."
"You are going to the police — with
these things ?"
"Well—not quite yet. ..." Miss
Marple considered: "It would be better, I
think, to find the body first. Don't you ?"
"Yes, but isn't that rather a tall order ? I
mean, granting that your estimate is
correct. The murderer pushed the body
out of the train, then presumably got out
himself at Brackhampton and at some
time — probably that same night — came
along and removed the body. But what
happened after that? He may have taken
it anywhere."
"Not anywhere," said Miss Marple. "I
don't think you've followed the thing to
its logical conclusion, my dear Miss Eyelesbarrow."
"Do
call me Lucy. Why not anywhere ?"
"Because, if so, he might much more
easily have killed the girl in some lonely
72
spot and driven the body away from there.
You haven't appreciated -- "
Lucy interrupted.
"Are you saying -- do you mean -- that
this was a premeditated crime ?"
"I didn't think so at first,M said Miss
Marple. "One wouldn't--naturally. It
seemed like a quarrel and a man losing
control and strangling the girl and then
being faced with the problem of disposing
of his victim -- a problem which he had to
solve within a very few minutes. But it
really is too much of a coincidence that he
should kill the girl in a fit of passion, and
then look out of the window and find the
train was going round a curve exactly at a
spot where he could tip the body out, and where he could be sure of finding his way
later and removing it! If he'd just thrown
her out there by chance, he'd have done no
more about it, and the body would, long
before now, have been found."
She paused. Lucy stared at her.
"You know," said Miss Marple thoughtfully, "It's really quite a clever way to have
planned a crime -- and I think it was very
carefully planned. There's something so
anonymous about a train. If he'd killed her
73
in the place where she lived, or was staying, somebody might have noticed him come or
go. Or if he'd driven her out in the country
somewhere, someone might have noticed
the car and its number and make. But a
train is full of strangers coming and going.
In a non-corridor carriage, alone with her, it was quite easy -- especially if you realise
that he knew exactly what he was going to
do next. He knew -- he must have known
-- all about Rutherford Hall -- its geographical
position, I mean, its queer isolation
-- an island bounded by railway lines."
"It is exactly like that," said Lucy. "It's
an anachronism out of the past. Bustling
urban life goes on all around it, but
doesn't touch it. The tradespeople deliver
in the mornings and that's all."
"So we assume, as you said, that the
murderer comes to Rutherford Hall that
night. It is already dark when the body
falls and no one is likely to discover it
before the next day."
"No, indeed."
"The murderer would come -- how ? In
a car ? Which way ?"
Lucy considered.
"There's a rough lane, alongside a factory
74
wall. He'd probably come that way, turn
in under the railway arch and along the
back drive. Then he could climb the fence, go along at the foot of the embankment, find the body, and carry it back to the car."
"And then," continued Miss Marple. "He took it to some place he had already
chosen beforehand. This was all thought
out, you know. And I don't think, as I say,
that he would take it away from Rutherford
Hall, or if so, not very far. The obvious
thing, I suppose, would be to bury it
somewhere?" She looked inquiringly at
Lucy.
"I suppose so," said Lucy considering. "But it wouldn't be quite as easy as it
sounds."
Miss Marpe agreed.
"He couldn't bury it in the park. Too
hard work and very noticeable. Somewhere
where the earth was turned already ?"
"The kitchen garden, perhaps, but that's
very close to the gardener's cottage. He's
old and deaf -- but still it might be risky."
"Is there a dog?"
"No."
"Then in a shed, perhaps, or an outhouse
?"
75
"That would be simpler and quicker.. . .
There are a lot of unused old buildings;
broken down pig sties, harness rooms, workshops that nobody goes near. Or he
might perhaps thrust it into a clump of
rhododendrons or shrubs somewhere."
Miss Marple nodded.
"Yes, I think that's much more probable."

There was a knock on the door and the
grim Florence came in with a tray.
"Nice for you to have a visitor," she said
to Miss Marple, "I've made you my
special scones you used to like."
"Florence always made the most delicious
tea cakes," said Miss Marple.
Florence, gratified, creased Jier features
into a totally unexpected smife^and left the
room.
"I think, my dear," said Miss Marple,
"we won't talk any more about murder
during tea. Such an unpleasant subject!"
II
After tea, Lucy rose.
"I'll be getting back," she said. "As I've
already told you, there's no one actually
living at Rutherford Hall who could be the
76
man we're looking for. There's only an
old man and a middle-aged woman, and an
old deaf gardener."
"I didn't say he was actually living
there," said Miss Marple. All I mean is,
that he's someone who knows Rutherford
Hall very well. But we can go into that after
you've found the body."
"You seem to assume quite confidently
that I shall find it," said Lucy. "I don't
feel nearly so optimistic."
"I'm sure you will succeed, my dear
Lucy. You are such an efficient person."
"In some ways, but I haven't had any
experience in looking for bodies."
"I'm sure all it needs is a little common
sense," said Miss Marple encouragingly.
Lucy looked at her, then laughed. Miss
Marple smiled back at her.
Lucy set to work systematically the next
afternoon.
She poked round outhouses, prodded the
briars which wreathed the old pigsties, and
was peering into the boiler room under the
greenhouse when she heard a dry cough
and turned to find old Hillman, the
gardener, looking at her disapprovingly.
"You be careful you don't get a nasty
77
fall, miss," he warned her. "Them steps
isn't safe, and you was up in the loft
just now and the floor there ain't safe
neither."
Lucy was careful to display no embarrassment.

"I expect you think I'm very nosy," she
said cheerfully. "I was just wondering if
something couldn't be made out of this
place -- growing mushrooms for the market,
that sort of thing. Everything seems to
have been let go terribly."
"That's the master, that is. Won't spend
a penny. Ought to have two men and a boy
here, I ought, to keep the place proper, but
won't hear of it, he won't. Had all I could
do to make him get a motor mower. Wanted
me to mow all that front grass by hand, he
did."
"But if the place could be made to pay --
with some repairs ?"
"Won't get a place like this to pay -- too
far gone. And he wouldn't care about that, anyway. Only cares about saving. Knows
well enough what'll happen after he's gone -- the young gentlemen'll sell up as fast
as they can. Only waiting for him to pop
off, they are. Going to come into a tidy
78
lot of money when he dies, so I've heard."
cc! suppose he's a very rich man ?" said
Lucy.
"Crackenthorpe's Fancies, that's what
they are. The old gentleman started it, Mr.
Crackenthorpe's father. A sharp one he
was, by all accounts. Made his fortune, and
built this place. Hard as nails, they say, and
never forgot an injury. But with all that, he
was open-handed. Nothing of the miser
about him. Disappointed in both his sons,
so the story goes. Give 'em an education
and brought 'em up to be gentlemen—
Oxford and all. But they were too much of
gentlemen to want to go into the business.
The younger one married an actress and
then smashed himself up in a car accident
when he'd been drinking. The elder one,
our one here, his father never fancied so
much. Abroad a lot, he was, brought a lot
of heathen statues and had them sent home.
Wasn't so close with his money when he
was young — come on him more in middle
age, it did. No, they never did hit it off,
him and his father, so I've heard."
Lucy digested this information with an
air of polite interest. The old man leant
against the wall and prepared to go on with
79
his saga. He much preferred talking to
doing any work.
"Died afore the war, the old gentleman
did. Terrible temper he had. Didn't do to
give him any sauce, he wouldn't stand for it."
"And after he died, this Mr. Crackenthorpe
came and lived here ?"
"Him and his family, yes. Nigh to grown
up they was by then."
"But surely . . . Oh, I see, you mean the
1914 war."
"No, I don't. Died in 19283 that's what
I mean."
Lucy supposed that 1928 qualified as
"before the war" though it was not the way
she would have described it herself.
She said: "Well, I expect you'll be wanting
to go on with your work. You mustn't
let me keep you."
"Ar," said old Hillman without enthusiasm, "not much you can do this time of
day. Light's too bad."
Lucy went back to the house, pausing to
investigate a likely-looking copse of birch
and azalea on her way.
She found Emma Crackenthorpe standing
in the hall reading a letter. The afternoon
post had just been delivered.
80
"My nephew will be here tomorrow --
with a school-friend. Alexander's room is
the one over the porch. The one next to it
will do for James Stoddart-West. They'll
use the bathroom just opposite."
"Yes, Miss Crackenthorpe. I'll see the
rooms are prepared."
"They'll arrive in the morning before
lunch." She hesitated. "I expect they'll be
hungry."
"I bet they will," said Lucy. "Roast
beef, do you think? And perhaps treacle
tart ?"
"Alexander's very fond of treacle tart."
The two boys arrived on the following
morning. They both had well-brushed
hair, suspiciously angelic faces, and perfect
manners. Alexander Eastley had fair hair
and blue eyes, Stoddart-West was dark and
spectacled.
They discoursed gravely during lunch
on events in the sporting world, with
occasional references to the latest space
fiction. Their manner was that of elderly
professors discussing palaeolithic implements.
In comparison with them, Lucy
felt quite young.
The sirloin of beef vanished in no time
81
and every crumb of the treacle tart was
consumed.
Mr. Crackenthorpe grumbled: "You
two will eat me out of house and home."
Alexander gave him a blue-eyed reproving
glance.
"We'll have bread and cheese if you
can't afford meat. Grandfather."
"Afford it ? I can afford it. I don't like
waste."
"We haven't wasted any, sir," said
Stoddart-West, looking down at his place
which bore clear testimony of that fact.
"You boys both eat twice as much as I
do."
"We're at the body-building stage,"
Alexander explained. "We need a big
intake of proteins."
The old man grunted.
As the two boys left the table, Lucy
heard Alexander say apologetically to his
friend:
"You mustn't pay any attention to my
grandfather. He's on a diet or something
and that makes him rather peculiar. He's
terribly mean, too. I think it must be a
complex of some kind."
Stoddart-West said comprehendingly:
82
"I had an aunt who kept thinking she
was going bankrupt. Really, she had oodles
of money. Pathological, the doctors said.
Have you got that football, Alex ?"
After she had cleared away and washed
up lunch, Lucy went out. She could hear
the boys calling out in the distance on the
lawn. She herself went in the opposite
direction, down the front drive and from
there she struck across to some clumped
masses of rhododendron bushes. She began
to hunt carefully, holding back the leaves
and peering inside. She moved from clump
to clump systematically, and was raking
inside with a golf club when the polite
voice of Alexander Eastley made her start.
"Are you looking for something. Miss
Eyelesbarrow ?"
"A golf ball," said Lucy promptly. "Several golf balls in fact. I've been practising
golf shots most afternoons and I've
lost quite a lot of balls. I thought that today
I really must find some of them."
"We'll help you," said Alexander obligingly.

"That's very kind of you. I thought you
were playing football."
"One can't go on playing footer," ex83
plained Stoddart-West. "One gets too hot.
Do you play a lot of golf ?"
"I'm quite fond of it. I don't get much
opportunity."
"I suppose you don't. You do the cooking
here, don't you ?"
"Yes."
"Did you cook the lunch today ?"
"Yes. Was it all right ?"
"Simply wizard," said Alexander. "We
get awful meat at school, all dried up, I love
beef that's pink and juicy inside. That
treacle tart was pretty smashing, too."
"You must tell me what things you like
best."
"Could we have apple meringue one
day ? It's my favourite thing."
"Of course."
Alexander sighed happily.
"There's a clock golf set under the
stairs," he said. "We could fix it up on the
lawn and do some putting. What about
it, Stodders ?"
"Good-oh!" said Stoddart-West.
"He isn't really Australian," explained
Alexander courteously. "But he's practising
talking that way in case his people take him
out to see the Test Match next year."
84
Encouraged by Lucy, they went off to
get the clock golf set. Later, as she returned
to the house, she found them setting it out
on the lawn and arguing about the position
of the numbers.
"We don't want it like a clock," said
Stoddart-West. "That's kid stuff. We want
to make a course of it. Long holes and short
ones. It's a pity the numbers are so rusty.
You can hardly see them."
"They need a lick of white paint,53 said
Lucy. "You might get some tomorrow and
paint them."
"Good idea." Alexander's face lit up. "I
say, I believe there are some old pots of
paint in the Long Barn -- left there by the
painters last hols. Shall we see ?"
"What's the Long Barn ?" asked Lucy.
Alexander pointed to a long stone building
a little way from the house near the
back drive.
"It's quite old," he said. "Grandfather
calls it a Leak Barn and says it's Elizabethan,
but that's just swank. It belonged
to the farm that was here originally. My
great-grandfather pulled it down and built
this awful house instead."
He added: "A lot of grandfather's col85
lection is in the barn. Things he had sent
home from abroad when he was a young
man. Most of them are pretty frightful,
too. The Long Barn is used sometimes
for whist drives and things like that.
Women's Institute stuff. And Conservative
Sales of Work. Come and see it."
Lucy accompanied them willingly.
There was a big nail-studded oak door
to the barn.
Alexander raised his hand and detached
a key on a nail just under some ivy to the
right hand of the top of the door. He
turned it in the lock, pushed the door open
and they went in.
At a first glance Lucy felt that she was in
a singular ly bad museum. The heads of two
Roman emperors in marble glared at her
out of bulging eyeballs, there was a huge
sarcophagus of a decadent Greco-Roman
period, a simpering Venus stood on a
pedestal clutching her falling draperies.
Besides these works of art, there were a
couple of trestle tables, some stacked-up
chairs, and sundry oddments such as a
rusted hand-mower, two buckets, a couple
of moth-eaten car seats, and a greenpainted
iron garden seat that had lost a leg.
86
"I think I saw the paint over here," said
Alexander vaguely. He went to a corner and
pulled aside a tattered curtain that shut it
off.
They found a couple of paint pots and
brushes, the latter dry and stiff.
"You really need some turps," said Lucy.
They could not, however, find any
turpentine. The boys suggested bicycling
off to get some, and Lucy urged them to do
so. Painting the clock golf numbers would
keep them amused for some time, she
thought.
The boys went off, leaving her in the
barn.
"This really could do with a clear up,"
she had murmured.
"I shouldn't bother," Alexander advised
her. "It gets cleaned up if it's going to be
used for anything, but it's practically never
used this time of year."
"Do I hang the key up outside the door
again ? Is that where it's kept ?"
"Yes. There's nothing to pinch here, you
see. Nobody would want those awful
marble things and, anyway, they weigh a
ton."
Lucy agreed with him. She could hardly
87
admire old Mr. Crackenthorpe's taste in
art. He seemed to have an unerring instinct
for selecting the worst specimen of any
period.
She stood looking round her after the
boys had gone. Her eyes came to rest on the
sarcophagus and stayed there.
That sarcophagus ...
The air in the barn was faintly musty as
though unaired for a long time. She went
over to the sarcophagus. It had a heavy
close-fitting lid. Lucy looked at it speculatively.

Then she left the barn, went to the
kitchen, found a heavy crowbar, and returned.

It was not an easy task, but Lucy toiled
doggedly.
Slowly the lid began to rise, prised up by
the crowbar.
It rose sufficiently for Lucy to see what
was inside....
CHAPTER VI
A^EW minutes later Lucy, rather pale,
left the barn, locked the door and
put the key back on the nail.
She went rapidly to the stables, got out
her car and drove down the back drive.
She stopped at the post office at the end of
the road. She went into the telephone box,
put in the money and dialled.
"I want to speak to Miss Marple."
"She's resting, miss. It's Miss Eyelesbarrow,
isn't it ?"
"Yes."
"I'm not going to disturb her and that's
flat, miss. She's an old lady and she needs
her rest.3'
"You must disturb her. It's urgent."
"I'm not — "
"Please do what I say at once.35
When she chose, Lucy's voice could be
as incisive as steel. Florence knew authority
when she heard it.
Presently Miss Marple's voice spoke.
"Yes, Lucy ?"
Lucy drew a deep breath.
89
"You were quite right," she said. "I've
found it."
"A woman's body ?"
"Yes. A woman in a fur coat. It's in a
stone sarcophagus in a kind of barn-cummuseum
near the house. What do you want
me to do? I ought to inform the police,
I think."
"Yes. You must inform the police. At
once."
"But what about the rest of it ? About
you ? The first thing they'll want to know
is why I was prying up a lid that weighs
tons for apparently no reason. Do you want
me to invent a reason ? I can."
"No. I think, you know," said Miss
Marple in her gentle serious voice, "that
the only thing to do is to tell the exact
truth."
"About you ?"
"About everything."
A sudden grin split the whiteness of
Lucy's face.
"That will be quite simple for me," she
said. "But I imagine they'll find it quite
hard to believe!"
She rang off, waited a moment, and then
rang and got the police station.
90
"I have just discovered a dead body in a
sarcophagus in the Long Barn at Rutherford
Hall."
"What's that ?"
Lucy repeated her statement and anticipating
the next question gave her name.
She drove back, put the car away and
entered the house.
She paused in the hall for a moment, thinking.
Then she gave a brief sharp nod of her
head and went to the library where Miss
Crackenthorpe was sitting helping her
father to do The Times crossword.
"Can I speak to you a moment. Miss
Crackenthorpe ?"
Emma looked up, a shade of apprehension
on her face. The apprehension was,
Lucy thought, purely domestic. In such
words do useful household staff announce
their imminent departure.
"Well, speak up, girl, speak up," said
old Mr. Crackenthorpe irritably.
Lucy said to Emma:
"I'd like to speak to you alone, please."
"Nonsense," said Mr. Crackenthorpe. "You say straight out here what you've got
to say."
91
"Just a moment. Father." Emma rose
and went towards the door.
"All nonsense. It can wait," said the old
man angrily.
"I'm afraid it can't wait," said Lucy.
Mr. Crackenthorpe said, "What impertinence!"

Emma came out into the hall, Lucy followed
her and shut the door behind them.
"Yes ?" said Emma. "What is it ? If you
think there's too much to do with the boys
here, I can help you and -- "
"It's not that at all," said Lucy. "I didn't
want to speak before your father because
I understand he is an invalid and it might
give him a shock. You see, I've just discovered
the body of a murdered woman
in that big sarcophagus in the Long
Barn."
Emma Crackenthorpe stared at her.
"In the sarcophagus ? A murdered
woman ? It's impossible!"
"I'm afraid it's quite true. I've rung up
the police. They will be here at any
minute."
A slight flush came into Emma's cheek.
"You should have told me first -- before
notifying the police."
92
"I'm sorry," said Lucy.
"I didn't hear you ring up — " Emma's
glance went to the telephone on the hall
table.
"I rang up from the post office just down
the road."
"But how extraordinary. Why not from
here ?"
Lucy thought quickly.
cc! was afraid the boys might be about —
might hear — if I rang up from the hall
here."
"I see. . . . Yes. ... I see. . . . They are
coming — the police, I mean ?"
"They're here now," said Lucy, as with
a squeal of brakes a car drew up at the
front door and the front-door bell pealed
through the house.
ll
"I'm sorry, very sorry — to have asked this
of you," said Inspector Bacon.
His hand under her arm, he led Emma
Crackenthorpe out of the barn. Emma's
face was very pale, she looked sick, but she
walked firmly erect.
"I'm quite sure that I've never seen the
woman before in my life."
4.50 FP 4 Q1
"We're very grateful to you. Miss
Crackenthorpe. That's all I wanted to
know. Perhaps you'd like to lie down ?"
"I must go to my father. I telephoned to
Dr. Quimper as soon as I heard about this
and the doctor is with him now."
Dr. Quimper came out of the library as
they crossed the hall. He was a tall genial
man, with a casual off-hand, cynical manner
that his patients found very stimulating.
He and the inspector nodded to each
other.
"Miss Crackenthorpe has performed an
unpleasant task very bravely," said Bacon.
"Well done, Emma," said the doctor,
patting her on the shoulder. "You can
take things. I've always known that. Your
father's all right. Just go in and have a word
with him, and then go into the dining-room
and get yourself a glass of brandy. That's a
prescription."
Emma smiled at him gratefully and went
into the library.
"That woman's the salt of the earth,"
said the doctor, looking after her. "A
thousand pities she's never married. The
penalty of being the only female in a
family of men. The other sister got clear,
94
married at seventeen, I believe. This one's
quite a handsome woman really. She'd have
been a success as a wife and mother."
"Too devoted to her father, I suppose,"
said Inspector Bacon.
"She's not really as devoted as all that —
but she's got the instinct some women have
to make their menfolk happy. She sees that
her father likes being an invalid, so she lets
him be an invalid. She's the same with her
brothers. Cedric feels he's a good painter,
whatshisname — Harold — knows how
much she relies on his sound judgement —
she lets Alfred shock her with his stories
of his clever deals. Oh, yes, she's a clever
woman — no fool. Well, do you want me
for anything ? Want me to have a look at
your corpse now Johnstone has done with
it" (Johnstone was the police surgeon) "and
see if it happens to be one of my medical
mistakes ?"
"I'd like you to have a look, yes. Doctor.
We want to get her identified. I suppose
it's impossible for old Mr. Crackenthorpe ?
Too much of a strain ?"
"Strain ? Fiddlesticks. He'd never forgive
you or me if you didn't let him have a peep.
He's all agog. Most exciting thing that's
95
happened to him for fifteen years or so -- and it won't cost him anything!"
"There's nothing really much wrong
with him then ?"
"He's seventy-two," said the doctor. "That's all, really, that's the matter with
him. He has odd rheumatic twinges -- who
doesn't? So he calls it arthritis. He has
palpitations after meals -- as well he may
-- he puts them down to 'heart'. But he
can always do anything he wants to do! I've
plenty of patients like that. The ones who
are really ill usually insist desperately that
they're perfectly well. Come on, let's go
and see this body of yours. Unpleasant, I
suppose ?"
"Johnstone estimates she's been dead
between a fortnight and three weeks."
"Quite unpleasant, then."
The doctor stood by the sarcophagus and
looked down with frank curiosity, professionally
unmoved by what he had named
the "unpleasantness".
"Never seen her before. No patient of
mine. I don't remember ever seeing her
about in Brackhampton. She must have
been quite good-looking once -- hm -- somebody had it in for her all right."
96
They went out again into the air. Doctor
Quimper glanced up at the building.
"Found in the -- what do they call it ?
-- the Long Barn -- in a sarcophagus!
Fantastic! Who found her ?"
"Miss Lucy Eyelesbarrow."
"Oh, the latest lady help ? What was she doing, poking about in sarcophagi ?"
"That," said Inspector Bacon grimly, "is just what I am going to ask her. Now, about Mr. Crackenthorpe. Will you -- ?"
"I'll bring him along."
Mr. Crackenthorpe, muffled in scarves, came walking at a brisk pace, the doctor
beside him.
"Disgraceful," he said. "Absolutely disgraceful!
I brought back that sarcophagus
from Florence in -- let me see -- it must
have been in 1908 -- or was it 1909 ?"
"Steady now," the doctor warned
him. "This isn't going to be nice, you
know."
"No matter how ill I am, I've got to do
my duty, haven't I ?"
A very brief visit inside the Long Barn
was, however, quite long enough. Mr.
Crackenthorpe shuffled out into the air
again with remarkable speed.
97
"Never saw her before in my life!" he
said. "What's it mean? Absolutely disgraceful.
It wasn't Florence -- I remember
now -- it was Naples. A very fine specimen.
And some fool of a woman has to come and
get herself killed in it!"
He clutched at the folds of his overcoat
on the left side.
"Too much for me. . . . My heart. . . .
Where's Emma? Doctor ..."
Doctor Quimper took his arm.
"You'll be all right," he said. "I prescribe
a little stimulant. Brandy."
They went back together towards the
house.
"Sir. Please, sir."
Inspector Bacon turned. Two boys had
arrived, breathless, on bicycles. Their
faces were full of eager pleading.
"Please, sir, can we see the body ?"
"No, you can't," said Inspector Bacon.
"Oh, sir, please, sir. You never know.
We might know who she was. Oh, please, sir, do be a sport. It's not fair. Here's a
murder, right in our own barn. It's the sort
of chance that might never happen again.
Do be a sport, sir."
"Who are you two ?"
98
"I'm Alexander Eastley, and this is my
friend James Stoddart-West." %
"Have you ever seen a blonde woman
wearing a light-coloured dyed squirrel coat
anywhere about the place ?"
"Well, I can't remember exactly," said
Alexander astutely. "If I were to have a
look -- "
"Take 'em in, Sanders," said Inspector
Bacon to the constable who was standing
by the barn door. "One's only young once!"
"Oh, sir, thank you, sir." Both boys were
vociferous. "It's very kind of you, sir."
Bacon turned away towards the house.
"And now," he said to himself grimly,
"for Miss Lucy Eyelesbarrow!"
in
After leading the police to the Long Barn, and giving a brief account of her actions, Lucy had retired into the background, but
she was under no illusion that the police
had finished with her.
She had just finished preparing potatoes
for chips that evening when word was
brought to her that Inspector Bacon required
her presence. Putting aside the large
bowl of cold water and salt in which the
99
chips were reposing, Lucy followed the
policeman to where the Inspector awaited
her. She sat down and awaited his questions
composedly.
She gave her name -- and her address
in London, and added of her own accord:
"I will give you some names and
addresses of references if you want to know
all about me."
The names were very good ones. An
Admiral of the Fleet, the Provost of an
Oxford College, and a Dame of the British
Empire. In spite of himself Inspector Bacon
was impressed.
"Now, Miss Eyelesbarrow, you went into
the Long Barn to find some paint. Is that
right? And after having found the paint
you got a crowbar, forced up the lid of this
sarcophagus and found the body. What
were you looking for in the sarcophagus ?"
"I was looking for a body," said Lucy.
"You were looking for a body -- and you
found one! Doesn't that seem to you a very
extraordinary story ?"
"Oh, yes, it is an extraordinary story.
Perhaps you will let me explain it to you."
"I certainly think you had better do so."
Lucy gave him a precise recital of the
100
events which had led up to her sensational
discovery.
The inspector summed it up in an outraged
voice.
"You were engaged by an elderly lady
to obtain a post here and to search the
house and grounds for a dead body ? Is that
right ?"
"Yes."
"Who is this elderly lady ?"
"Miss Jane Marple. She is at present
living at 4 Madison Road."
The Inspector wrote it down.
"You expect me to believe this story ?"
Lucy said gently:
"Not, perhaps, until after you have
interviewed Miss Marple and got her
confirmation of it."
"I shall interview her all right. She must
be cracked."
Lucy forbore to point out that to be
proved right is not really a proof of mental
incapacity. Instead she said:
"What are you proposing to tell Miss
Crackenthorpe ? About me, I mean ?"
"Why do you ask ?"
"Well, as far as Miss Marple is concerned
I've done my job, I've found the body she
101
wanted found. But I'm still engaged by
Miss Crackenthorpe, and there are two
hungry boys in the house and probably
some more of the family will soon be
coming down after all this upset. She
needs domestic help. If you go and tell her
that I only took this post in order to hunt
for dead bodies she'll probably throw me
out. Otherwise I can get on with my job
and be useful."
The Inspector looked hard at her.
"I'm not saying anything to anyone at
present," he said. "I haven't verified your
statement yet. For all I know you may
be making the whole thing up."
Lucy rose.
"Thank you. Then I'll go back to the
kitchen and get on with things."
102
CHAPTER VII
"V IT 7E'D better have the Yard in on
\/\/ it, is that what you think,
T V Bacon?"
The Chief Constable looked inquiringly
at Inspector Bacon. The inspector was a
big solid man — his expression was that
of one utterly disgusted with humanity.
"The woman wasn't a local, sir," he said.
"There's some reason to believe — from
her underclothing — that she might have
been a foreigner. Of course," added
Inspector Bacon hastily, "I'm not letting
on about that yet awhile. We're keeping it
up our sleeves until after the inquest."
The Chief Constable nodded.
"The inquest will be purely formal, I
suppose ?"
"Yes, sir. I've seen the Coroner."
"And it's fixed for — when ?"
"Tomorrow. I understand the other
members of the Crackenthorpe family
will be here for it. There's just a chance
one of them might be able to identify her.
They'll all be here."
103
He consulted a list he held in his hand.
"Harold Crackenthorpe, he's something
in the City -- quite an important figure, I
understand. Alfred -- don't quite know
what he does. Cedric -- that's the one who
lives abroad. Paints!" The inspector invested
the word with its full quota of sinister
significance. The Chief Constable
smiled into his moustache.
"No reason, is there, to believe the
Crackenthorpe family are connected with
the crime in any way ?" he asked.
"Not apart from the fact that the body
was found on the premises," said Inspector
Bacon. "And of course it's just possible
that this artist member of the family might
be able to identify her. What beats me is
this extraordinary rigmarole about the
train."
"Ah, yes. You've been to see this old
lady, this -- er -- " (he glanced at the
memorandum lying on his desk) "Miss
Marple ?"
"Yes, sir. And she's quite set and
definite about the whole thing. Whether
she's barmy or hot, I don't know, but she
sticks to her story -- about what her friend
saw and all the rest of it. As far as all that
104
goes, I dare say it's just make-believe —
sort of thing old ladies do make up, like
seeing flying saucers at the bottom of the
garden, and Russian agents in the lending
library. But it seems quite clear that she
did engage this young woman, the lady
help, and told her to look for a body —
which the girl did."
"And found one," observed the Chief
Constable. "Well, it's all a very remarkable
story. Marple, Miss Jane Marple—the
name seems familiar somehow.... Anyway,
I'll get on to the Yard. I think you're right
about its not being a local case — though
we won't advertise the fact just yet. For
the moment we'll tell the Press as little as
possible."
ii
The inquest was a purely formal affair.
No one came forward to identify the dead
woman. Lucy was called to give evidence
of finding the body and medical evidence
was given as to the cause of death —
strangulation. The proceedings were then
adjourned.
It was a cold blustery day when the
Crackenthorpe family came out of the hall
105
where the inquest had been held. There
were five of them all told, Emma, Cedric, Harold, Alfred, and Bryan Eastley, the
husband of the dead daughter Edith. There
was also Mr. Wimborne, the senior partner
of the firm of solicitors who dealt with the
Crackenthorpes' legal affairs. He had come
down specially from London at great
inconvenience to attend the inquest. They
all stood for a moment on the pavement,
shivering. Quite a crowd had assembled;
the piquant details of the "Body in the
Sarcophagus" had been fully reported in
both the London and the local Press.
A murmur went round: "That's
them. ..."
Emma said sharply: "Let's get away."
The big hired Daimler drew up to the
kerb. Emma got in and motioned to Lucy.
Mr. Wimborne, Cedric and Harold followed.
Bryan Eastley said: "I'll take
Alfred with me in my little bus." The
chauffeur shut the door and the Daimler
prepared to roll away.
"Oh, stop!" cried Emma. "There are the
boys!"
The boys, in spite of aggrieved protests, had been left behind at Rutherford Hall,
106
but they now appeared grinning from ear to
ear.
"We came on our bicycles," said Stoddart-West.
"The policeman was very kind
and let us in at the back of the hall. I hope
you don't mind. Miss Crackenthorpe," he
added politely.
"She doesn't mind," said Cedric, answering
for his sister. "You're only young once.
Your first inquest, I expect ?"
"It was rather disappointing," said Alexander.
"All over so soon."
"We can't stay here talking," said Harold
irritably. "There's quite a crowd. And all
those men with cameras."
At a sign from him, the chauffeur pulled
away from the kerb. The boys waved cheerfully.

"All over so soon!" said Cedric. "That's
what they think, the young innocents! It's
just beginning."
"It's all very unfortunate. Most unfortunate,"
said Harold. "I suppose -- "
He looked at Mr. Wimborne who compressed
his thin lips and shook his head
with distaste.
cc! hope," he said sententiously, "that the
whole matter will soon be cleared up satis107
factorily. The police are very efficient.
However, the whole thing, as Harold says,
has been most unfortunate."
He looked, as he spoke, at Lucy, and
there was distinct disapproval in his glance.
"If it had not been for this young woman,"
his eyes seemed to say, "poking about
where she had no business to be -- none
of this would have happened."
This sentiment, or one closely resembling
it, was voiced by Harold Crackenthorpe.
"By the way -- er -- Miss -- er -- er --
Eyelesbarrow, just what made you go
looking in that sarcophagus ?"
Lucy had already wondered just when
this thought would occur to one of the
family. She had known that the police
would ask it first thing: what surprised her
was that it seemed to have occurred to no
one else until this moment.
Cedric, Emma, Harold and Mr. Wimborne
all looked at her.
Her reply, for what it was worth, had
naturally been prepared for some time.
"Really," she said in a hesitating voice,
"I hardly know ... I did feel that the whole
place needed a thorough clearing out and
cleaning. And there was" -- she hesitated
108
_ "a very peculiar and disagreeable
smell...."
She had counted accurately on the immediate
shrinking of everyone from the
unpleasantness of this idea. . . .
Mr. Wimborne murmured: "Yes, yes, of course . . . about three weeks the police
surgeon said ... I think, you know, we
must all try and not let our minds dwell on
this thing." He smiled encouragingly at
Emma who had turned very pale. "Remember," he said, "this wretched young woman
was nothing to do with any of us."
"Ah, but you can't be so sure of that,
can you ?" said Cedric.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow looked at him with
some interest. She had already been intrigued
by the rather startling differences
between the three brothers. Cedric was a
big man with a weather-beaten rugged
face, unkempt dark hair, and a jocund
manner. He had arrived from the airport
unshaven, and though he had shaved in
preparation for the inquest, he was still
wearing the clothes in which he had arrived
and which seemed to be the only ones he
had, old grey flannel trousers, and a
patched and rather threadbare baggy jacket.
109
He looked the stage Bohemian to the life
and proud of it.
His brother Harold, on the contrary, was the perfect picture of a City gentleman
and a director of important companies.
He was tall with a neat erect carriage, had
dark hair going slightly bald on the temples, a small black moustache, and was impeccably
dressed in a dark well-cut suit and a
pearl-grey tie. He looked what he was, a
shrewd and successful business man.
He now said stiffly:
"Really, Cedric, that seems a most uncalled
for remark."
"Don't see why? She was in our barn
after all. What did she come there for ?"
Mr. Wimborne coughed, and said:
"Possibly some -- er -- assignation. I
understand that it was a matter of local
knowledge that the key was kept outside
on a nail."
His tone indicated outrage at the carelessness
of such procedure. So clearly
marked was this that Emma spoke apologetically.

"It started during the war. FortheA.R.P.
wardens. There was a little spirit stove and
they made themselves hot cocoa. And after-
no
wards, since there was really nothing there
anybody could have wanted to take, we
went on leaving the key hanging up. It was
convenient for the Women's Institute
people. If we'd kept it in the house it
might have been awkward--when there
was no one at home to give it them when
they wanted it to get the place ready. With
only daily women and no resident servants.
..."
Her voice tailed away. She had spoken
mechanically, giving a wordy explanation
without interest, as though her mind was
elsewhere.
Cedric gave her a quick puzzled glance. "You're worried, sis. What's up ?" Harold spoke with exasperation:
"Really, Cedric, can you ask ?" "Yes, I do ask. Granted a strange young
woman has got herself killed in the barn
at Rutherford Hall (sounds like a Victorian
melodrama) and granted it gave Emma a
shock at the time -- but Emma's always
been a sensible girl -- I don't see why she
goes on being worried now. Dash it, one
gets used to everything."
"Murder takes a little more getting used
to by some people than it may in your
in
case," said Harold acidly. "I dare say murders
are two a penny in Majorca and -- "
"Iviza, not Majorca."
"It's the same thing."
"Not at all -- it's quite a different
island."
Harold went on talking:
"My point is that though murder may
be an everyday commonplace to you, living amongst hot-blooded Latin people,
nevertheless in England we take such
things seriously." He added with increasing
irritation, "And really, Cedric, to appear
at a public inquest in those clothes -- "
"What's wrong with my clothes?
They're comfortable."
"They're unsuitable."
"Well, anyway, they're the only clothes
I've got with me. I didn't pack my wardrobe
trunk when I came rushing home to
stand in with the family over this business.
I'm a painter and painters like to be comfortable
in their clothes."
"So you're still trying to paint ?"
"Look here, Harold, when you say trying
to paint -- "
Mr. Wimborne cleared his throat in an
authoritative manner.
112
"This discussion is unprofitable," he
said reprovingly. "I hope, my dear Emma, that you will tell me if there is any further
way in which I can be of service to you
before I return to town ?"
The reproof had its effect. Emma
Crackenthorpe said quickly:
"It was most kind of you to come down."
"Not at all. It was advisable that someone
should be at the inquest to watch the
proceedings on behalf of the family. I have
arranged for an interview with the inspector
at the house. I have no doubt that, distressing
as all this has been, the situation will
soon be clarified. In my own mind, there
seems little doubt as to what occurred. As
Emma has told us, the key of the Long
Barn was known locally to hang outside the
door. It seems highly probable that the
place was used in the winter months as a
place of assignation by local couples. No
doubt there was a quarrel and some young
man lost control of himself. Horrified at
what he had done, his eye lit on the sarcophagus
and he realised that it would
make an excellent place of concealment."

Lucy thought to herself, "Yes, it sounds
li3
most plausible. That's just what one might
think."
Cedric said, "You say a local couple —
but nobody's been able to identify the girl
locally."
"It's early days yet. No doubt we shall
get an identification before long. And it is
possible, of course, that the man in question
was a local resident, but that the girl came
from elsewhere, perhaps from some other
part of Brackhampton. Brackhampton's a
big place — it's grown enormously in the
last twenty years."
"If I were a girl coming to meet my
young man, I'd not stand for being taken to
a freezing cold barn miles from anywhere,"
Cedric objected. "I'd stand out for a nice
bit of cuddle in the cinema, wouldn't you,
Miss Eyelesbarrow ?"
"Do we need to go into all this ?" Harold
demanded plaintively.
And with the voicing of the question the
car drew up before the front door of
Rutherford Hall and they all got out.
114
CHAPTER VIII
ON entering the library Mr. Wimborne
blinked a little as his shrewd
old eyes went past Inspector Bacon
whom he had already met, to the fairhaired,
good-looking man beyond him.
Inspector Bacon performed introductions.

"This is Detective-Inspector Craddock
of New Scotland Yard," he said.
"New Scotland Yard -- hm." Mr. Wimborne's
eyebrows rose.
Dermot Craddock, who had a pleasant
manner, went easily into speech.
"We have been called in on the case,
Mr. Wimborne," he said. "As you are
representing the Crackenthorpe family, I
feel it is only fair that we should give you a
little confidential information."
Nobody could make a better show of
presenting a very small portion of the truth
and implying that it was the whole truth
than Inspector Craddock.
"Inspector Bacon will agree, I am
sure," he added, glancing at his colleague.
ii5
Inspector Bacon agreed with all due
solemnity and not at all as though the
whole matter were prearranged.
"It's like this," said Craddock. "We
have reason to believe, from information
that has come into our possession, that the
dead woman is not a native of these parts, that she travelled down here from London
and that she had recently come from abroad.
Probably (though we are not sure of that)
from France."
Mr. Wimborne again raised his eyebrows.
"Indeed," he said. "Indeed ?"
"That being the case," explained Inspector
Bacon, "the Chief Constable felt
that the Yard were better fitted to investigate
the matter."
"I can only hope," said Mr. Wimborne, "that the case will be solved quickly. As
you can no doubt appreciate, the whole
business has been a source of much distress
to the family. Although not personally concerned in any way, they are -- "
He paused for a bare second, but Inspector
Craddock filled the gap quickly.
"It's not a pleasant thing to find a
murdered woman on your property? I
couldn't agree with you more. Now I
116
should like to have a brief interview with
the various members of the family -- "
"I really cannot see -- "
"What they can tell me? Probably
nothing of interest -- but one never knows.
I dare say I can get most of the information
I want from you, sir. Information about this
house and the family.53
"And what can that possibly have to do
with an unknown young woman coming
from abroad and getting herself killed
here."
"Well, that's rather the point," said
Craddock. ^Why did she come here ? Had
she once had some connection with this
house ? Had she been, for instance, a servant
here at one time? A lady's maid,
perhaps. Or did she come here to meet a
former occupant of Rutherford Hall ?"
Mr. Wimborne said coldly that Rutherford
Hall had been occupied by the
Crackenthorpes ever since Josiah Crackenthorpe
built it in 1884.
"That's interesting in itself," said Craddock.
"If you'd just give me a brief outline
of the family history -- "
Mr. Wimborne shrugged his shoulders.
"There is very little to tell. Josiah
117
Crackenthorpe was a manufacturer of
sweet and savoury biscuits, relishes, pickles, etc. He accumulated a vast fortune. He
built this house. Luther Crackenthorpe, his
eldest son, lives here now."
"Any other sons ?"
"One other son. Henry, who was killed
in a motor accident in 1911."
"And the present Mr. Crackenthorpe
has never thought of selling the house ?"
"He is unable to do so," said the lawyer
dryly. "By the terms of his father's will."
"Perhaps you'll tell me about the will ?"
"Why should I ?"
Inspector Craddock smiled.
"Because I can look it up myself if I
want to, at Somerset House."
Against his will, Mr. Wimborne gave a
crabbed little smile.
"Quite right. Inspector. I was merely
protesting that the information you ask
for is quite irrelevant. As to Josiah Crackenthorpe's
will, there is no mystery about it.
He left his very considerable fortune in
trust, the income from it to be paid to his
son Luther for life, and after Luther's
death the capital to be divided equally
between Luther's children, Edmund,
118
Cedric, Harold, Alfred, Emma and Edith.
Edmund was killed in the war, and Edith
died four years ago, so that on Luther
Crackenthorpe's decease the money will be
divided between Cedric, Harold, Alfred, Emma and Edith's son Alexander Eastley."
"And the house?"
"That will go to Luther Crackenthorpe's
eldest surviving son or his issue."
"Was Edmund Crackenthorpe married
?"
"No."
"So the property will actually go -- ?"
"To the next son -- Cedric."
"Mr. Luther Crackenthorpe himself cannot
dispose of it ?"
"No."
"And he has no control of the capital."
"No."
"Isn't that rather unusual ? I suppose,"
said Inspector Craddock shrewdly, "that
his father didn't like him."
"You suppose correctly," said Mr. Wimborne.
"Old Josiah was disappointed that
his eldest son showed no interest in the
family business -- or indeed in business
of any kind. Luther spent his time travelling
abroad and collecting objets d'art. Old
119
M
||| Josiah was very unsympathetic to that kind
of thing. So he left his money in trust for
the next generation."
"But in the meantime the next generation
have no income except what they
make or what their father allows them, and
their father has a considerable income but
no power of disposal of the capital."
"Exactly. And what all this has to do
with the murder of an unknown young
woman of foreign origin I cannot imagine!"
"It doesn't seem to have anything to do
with it," Inspector Craddock agreed
promptly, "I just wanted to ascertain all
the facts."
Mr. Wimborne looked at him sharply,
then, seemingly satisfied with the result of
his scrutiny, rose to his feet.
"I am proposing now to return to London,"
he said. "Unless there is anything
further you wish to know ?"
He looked from one man to the other.
"No, thank you, sir."
The sound of the gong rose fortissimo
from the hall outside.
"Dear me," said Mr. Wimborne. "One
of the boys, I think, must be performing."
Inspector Craddock raised his voice,
120
to be heard above the clamour, as he said:
"We'll leave the family to have lunch
in peace, but Inspector Bacon and I would
like to return after it -- say at two-fifteen
-- and have a short interview with every
member of the family.53
"You think that is necessary ?55
"Well ..." Craddock shrugged his
shoulders. "It's just an off chance. Somebody might remember something that
would give us a clue to the woman's
identity.55
"I doubt it. Inspector. I doubt it very
much. But I wish you good luck. As I said
just now, the sooner this distasteful business
is cleared up, the better for everybody.55

Shaking his head, he went slowly out of
the room.
ll
Lucy had gone straight to the kitchen on
getting back from the inquest, and was busy
with preparations for lunch when Bryan
Eastley put his head in.
"Can I give you a hand in any way ?55 he
asked. "I'm handy about the house.55
Lucy gave him a quick, slightly pre121
occupied glance. Bryan had arrived at the
inquest direct in his small M.G. car, and
she had not as yet had much time to size
him up.
What she saw was likeable enough.
Eastley was an amiable-looking young man
of thirty-odd with brown hair, rather
plaintive blue eyes and an enormous fair
moustache.
"The boys aren't back yet," he said,
coming in and sitting on the end of the
kitchen table. "It will take 'em another
twenty minutes on their bikes."
Lucy smiled.
"They were certainly determined not to
miss anything.55
"Can't blame them. I mean to say —
first inquest in their young lives and right
in the family so to speak.55
"Do you mind getting off the table, Mr.
Eastley? I want to put the baking dish
down there.55
Bryan obeyed.
"I say, that fat's corking hot. What are
you going to put in it ?55
Yorkshire pudding.55
"Good old Yorkshire. Roast beef of old
England, is that the menu for today ?55
122
"Yes."
"The funeral baked meats, in fact.
Smells good." He sniffed appreciatively.
"Do you mind my gassing away ?"
"If you came in to help I'd rather you
helped." She drew another pan from the
oven. "Here — turn all these potatoes over
so that they brown on the other side. ..."
Bryan obeyed with alacrity.
"Have all these things been fizzling away
in here while we've been at the inquest?
Supposing they'd been all burnt up."
"Most improbable. There's a regulating
number on the oven."
Kind of electric brain, eh, what ? Is that
right ?"
Lucy threw a swift look in his direction.
"Quite right. Now put the pan in the
oven. Here, take the cloth. On the second
shelf — I want the top one for the Yorkshire
pudding."
Bryan obeyed, but not without uttering
a shrill yelp.
"Burn yourself?"
"Just a bit. It doesn't matter. What a
dangerous game cooking is!"
cc! suppose you never do your own
cooking ?"
123
"As a matter of fact I do — quite often.
But not this sort of thing. I can boil an
egg — if I don't forget to look at the clock.
And I can do eggs and bacon. And I can put
a steak under the grill or open a tin of soup.
I've got one of those little electric whatnots
in my flat."
"You live in London ?"
"If you call it living — yes."
His tone was despondent. He watched
Lucy shoot in the dish with the Yorkshire
pudding mixture.
"This is awfully jolly," he said and
sighed.
Her immediate preoccupations over,
Lucy looked at him with more attention.
"What is — this kitchen ?"
"Yes. Reminds me of our kitchen at
home — when I was a boy."
It struck Lucy that there was something
strangely forlorn about Bryan Eastley.
Looking closely at him, she realised that he
was older than she had at first thought. He
must be close on forty. It seemed difficult
to think of him as Alexander's father. He
reminded her of innumerable young pilots
she had known during the war when she
had been at the impressionable age of
124
FR1;fourteen. She had gone on and grown up
into a post-war world -- but she felt as
though Bryan had not gone on, but had
been passed by in the passage of years. His
next words confirmed this. He had subsided
on to the kitchen table again.
"It's a difficult sort of world," he said, "isn't it ? To get your bearings in, I mean.
You see, one hasn't been trained for it."
Lucy recalled what she had heard from
Emma.
"You were a fighter pilot, weren't you ?"
she said. "You've got a D.F.C."
"That's the sort of thing that puts you
wrong. You've got a gong and so people
try to make it easy for you. Give you a job and all that. Very decent of them. But
they're all admin jobs, and one simply
isn't any good at that sort of thing. Sitting
at a desk getting tangled up in figures. I've
had ideas of my own, you know, tried out
a wheeze or two. But you can't get the
backing. Can't get the chaps to come in and
put down the money. If I had a bit of
capital -- "
He brooded.
"You didn't know Edie, did you? My
wife. No, of course you didn't. She was

4.50 FP 5
125

quite different from all this lot. Younger,
for one thing. She was in the W.A.A.F.
She always said her old man was crackers.
He is, you know. Mean as hell over money.
And it's not as though he could take it
with him. It's got to be divided up when
he dies. Edie's share will go to Alexander,
of course. He won't be able to touch the
capital until he's twenty-one, though."
"I'm sorry, but will you get off the table
again ? I want to dish up and make gravy."
At that moment Alexander and StoddartWest
arrived with rosy faces and very much
out of breath.
"Hallo, Bryan," said Alexander kindly
to his father. "So this is where you've got
to. I say, what a smashing piece of beef. Is
there Yorkshire pudding ?"
"Yes, there is."
"We have awful Yorkshire pudding at
school -- all damp and limp."
"Get out of my way," said Lucy. "I want
to make the gravy."
"Make lots of gravy. Can we have two
sauce-boats full ?"
"Yes."
"Good-oh!" said Stoddart-West, pronouncing
the word carefully.
126
"I don't like it pale," said Alexander
anxiously.
"It won't be pale."
"She's a smashing cook," said Alexander
to his father.
Lucy had a momentary impression that
their roles were reversed. Alexander spoke
like a kindly father to his son.
"Can we help you. Miss Eyelesbarrow ?"
asked Stoddart-West politely.
"Yes, you can. Alexander, go and sound
the gong. James, will you carry this tray
into the dining-room? And will you take
the joint in, Mr. Eastley ? I'll bring the
potatoes and the Yorkshire pudding."
"There's a Scotland Yard man here," said Alexander. "Do you think he will have
lunch with us ?"
"That depends on what your aunt
arranges."
"I don't suppose Aunt Emma would
mind. . . . She's very hospitable. But I
suppose Uncle Harold wouldn't like it.
He's being very sticky over this murder."
Alexander went out through the door with
the tray adding a little additional information
over his shoulder. "Mr. Wimborne's
in the library with the Scotland Yard man
127
now. But he isn't staying to lunch. He said
he had to get back to London. Come on, Stodders. Oh, he's gone to do the gong."
At that moment the gong took charge.
Stoddart-West was an artist. He gave it
everything he had, and all further conversation
was inhibited.
Bryan carried in the joint, Lucy followed
with the vegetables -- returned to the
kitchen to get the two brimming sauceboats
of gravy.
Mr. Wimborne was standing in the hall
putting on his gloves -- as Emma came quickly down the stairs.
"Are you really sure you won't stop for
lunch, Mr. Wimborne? It's all ready."
"No. I've an important appointment in
London. There is a restaurant car on the
train."
"It was very good of you to come down,"
said Emma gratefully.
The two police officers emerged from the
library.
Mr. Wimborne took Emma's hand in his.
"There's nothing to worry about, my
dear," he said. "This is Detective-Inspector
Craddock from New Scotland Yard who
has come down to take charge of the case.
128
He is coming back at two-fifteen to ask you
for any facts that may assist him in his
inquiry. But, as I say, you have nothing to
worry about." He looked towards Craddock.
"I may repeat to Miss Crackenthorpe what
you have told me?" "Certainly, sir."
"Inspector Craddock has just told me
that this almost certainly was not a local
crime. The murdered woman is thought
to have come from London and was probably
a foreigner."
Emma Crackenthorpe said sharply:
"A foreigner. Was she French ?"
Mr. Wimborne had clearly meant his
statement to be consoling. He looked
slightly taken aback. Dermot Craddock's
glance went quickly from him to Emma's
face.
He wondered why she had leaped to the
conclusion that the murdered woman was
French, and why that thought disturbed
her so much ?
129
CHAPTER IX
THE only people who really did justice
to Lucy's excellent lunch were the
two boys and Cedric Crackenthorpe
who appeared completely unaffected by the
circumstances which had caused him to
return to England. He seemed, indeed, to
regard the whole thing as a rather good
joke of a macabre nature.
This attitude, Lucy noted, was most
unpalatable to his brother Harold. Harold
seemed to take the murder as a kind of
personal insult to the Crackenthorpe family
and so great was his sense of outrage that
he ate hardly any lunch. Emma looked
worried and unhappy and also ate very
little. Alfred seemed lost in a train of
thought of his own and spoke very little.
He was quite a good-looking man with a
thin dark face and eyes set rather too close
together.
After lunch the police officers returned
and politely asked if they could have a
few words with Mr. Cedric Crackenthorpe.

130
Inspector Craddock was very pleasant
and friendly.
"Sit down, Mr. Crackenthorpe. I understand
you have just come back from the
Balearics ? You live out there ?"
"Have done for the last six years. In
Iviza. Suits me better than this dreary
country."
"You get a good deal more sunshine than
we do, I expect," said Inspector Craddock
agreeably. "You were home not so very
long ago, I understand -- for Christmas, to
be exact. What made it necessary for you
to come back again so soon ?"
Cedric grinned.
"Got a wire from Emma -- my sister.
We've never had a murder on the premises
before. Didn't want to miss anything -- so
along I came."
"You are interested in criminology ?"
"Oh, we needn't put it in such highbrow
terms! I just like murders -- Whodunnits, and all that! With a Whodunnit parked
right on the family doorstep, it seemed the
chance of a lifetime. Besides, I thought
poor old Em might need a spot of help --
managing the old man and the police and
all the rest of it."
i3i
"I see. It appealed to your sporting
instincts and also to your family feelings.
I've no doubt your sister will be very
grateful to you — although her two other
brothers have also come to be with
her."
"But not to cheer and comfort," Cedric
told him. "Harold is terrifically put out.
It's not at all the thing for a City magnate
to be mixed up with the murder of a
questionable female.53
Craddock's eyebrows rose gently.
"Was she — a questionable female ?55
"Well, you're the authority on that
point. Going by the facts, it seemed to me
likely.55
"I thought perhaps you might have been
able to make a guess at who she was ?55
"Come now. Inspector, you already
know — or your colleagues will tell you,
that I haven't been able to identify her.55
"I said a guess, Mr. Crackenthorpe. You
might never have seen the woman before —
but you might have been able to make
a guess at who she was — or who she might
have been ?55
Cedric shook his head.
"You're barking up the wrong tree. I've
132
absolutely no idea. You're suggesting, I
suppose, that she may have come to the
Long Barn to keep an assignation with one
of us ? But we none of us live here. The
only people in the house were a woman and
an old man. You don't seriously believe
that she came here to keep a date with
my revered Pop ?"
"Our point is — Inspector Bacon agrees
with me — that the woman may once have
had some association with this house. It
may have been a considerable number of
years ago. Cast your mind back, Mr.
Crackenthorpe."
Cedric thought a moment or two, then
shook his head.
"We've had foreign help from time to
time, like most people, but I can't think of
any likely possibility. Better ask the others
— they'd know more than I would."
"We shall do that, of course."
Craddock leaned back in his chair and
went on:
"As you have heard at the inquest, the
medical evidence cannot fix the time of
death very accurately. Longer than two
weeks, less than four—which brings it
somewhere around Christmas-time. You
133
have told me you came home for Christmas.
When did you arrive in England and when
did you leave ?"
Cedric reflected.
"Let me see. ... I flew. Got here on the
Saturday before Christmas -- that would
be the 21 st."
"You flew straight from Majorca ?"
"Yes. Left at five in the morning and
got here midday."
"And you left?"
"I flew back on the following Friday, the 27th."
"Thank you."
Cedric grinned.
"Leaves me well within the limit, unfortunately.
But really. Inspector, strangling
young woman is not my favourite form
of Christmas fun."
"I hope not, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
Inspector Bacon merely looked disapproving.

"There would be a remarkable absence
of peace and good will about such an action,
don't you agree ?"
Cedric addressed this question to Inspector
Bacon who merely grunted. Inspector
Craddock said politely:
134
"Well, thank you, Mr. Crackenthorpe.
That will be all.'3
"And what do you think of him?"
Craddock asked as Cedric shut the door
behind him.
Bacon grunted again.
"Cocky enough for anything," he said.
"I don't care for the type, myself. A looseliving
lot, these artists, and very likely to
be mixed up with a disreputable class of
woman."
Craddock smiled.
"I don't like the way he dresses, either,"
went on Bacon. "No respect — going to an
inquest like that. Dirtiest pair of trousers
I've seen in a long while. And did you see
his tie ? Looked as though it was made of
coloured string. If you ask me, he's the
kind that would easily strangle a woman
and make no bones about it."
"Well, he didn't strangle this one—
if he didn't leave Majorca until the 2ist.
And that's a thing we can verify easily
enough."
Bacon threw him a sharp glance.
"I notice that you're not tipping your
hand yet about the actual date of the
crime."
135
"No, we'll keep that dark for the present.
I always like to have something up my
sleeve in the early stages."
Bacon nodded in full agreement.
"Spring it on 'em when the time comes," he said. "That's the best plan."
"And now," said Craddock, "we'll see
what our correct City gentleman has to say
about it all."
Harold Crackenthorpe, thin-lipped, had
very little to say about it. It was most
distasteful -- a very unfortunate incident.
The newspapers, he was afraid . . . Reporters,
he understood, had already been
asking for interviews. . . . All that sort of
thing.... Most regrettable....
Harold's staccato unfinished sentences
ended. He leaned back in his chair with
the expression of a man confronted with
a very bad smell.
The inspector's probing produced no
result. No, he had no idea who the woman
was or could be. Yes, he had been at
Rutherford Hall for Christmas. He had
been unable to come down until Christmas
Eve -- but had stayed on over the following
weekend.
"That's that, then," said Inspector Crad-
136
dock, without pressing his questions
further. He had already made up his mind
that Harold Crackenthorpe was not going
to be helpful.
He passed on to Alfred, who came into
the room with a nonchalance that seemed
just a trifle overdone.
Craddock looked at Alfred Crackenthorpe
with a faint feeling of recognition.
Surely he had seen this particular member
of the family somewhere before ? Or had
it been his picture in the paper? There
was something discreditable attached to the
memory. He asked Alfred his occupation
and Alfred's answer was vague.
"I'm in insurance at the moment. Until
recently I've been interested in putting
a new type of talking machine on the
market. Quite revolutionary. I did very
well out of that as a matter of fact."
Inspector Craddock looked appreciative
-- and no one could have had the least
idea that he was noticing the superficially
smart appearance of Alfred's suit and
gauging correctly the low price it had cost.
Cednc's clothes had been disreputable, almost threadbare, but they had been
originally of good cut and excellent ma137
terial. Here there was a cheap smartness
that told its own tale. Craddock passed
pleasantly on to his routine questions.
Alfred seemed interested--even slightly
amused.
"It's quite an idea, that the woman
might once have had a job here. Not as a
lady's maid; I doubt if my sister has ever
had such a thing. I don't think anyone has
nowadays. But, of course, there is a good
deal of foreign domestic labour floating
about. We've had Poles -- and a temperamental
German or two. As Emma
definitely didn't recognise the woman, I
think that washes your idea out. Inspector, Emma's got a very good memory for a face.
No, if the woman came from London . . .
What gives you the idea she came from
London, by the way P"
He slipped the question in quite casually, but his eyes were sharp and interested.
Inspector Craddock smiled and shook his
head.
Alfred looked at him keenly.
"Not telling, eh ? Return ticket in her
coat pocket, perhaps, is that it P"
"It could be, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
"Well, granting she came from London,
138
perhaps the chap she came to meet had
the idea that the Long Barn would be a
nice place to do a quiet murder. He knows
the set up here, evidently. I should go
looking for him if I were you. Inspector."

"We are," said Inspector Craddock, and
made the two little words sound quiet
and confident.
He thanked Alfred and dismissed him.
"You know," he said to Bacon, "I've
seen that chap somewhere before...."
Inspector Bacon gave his verdict. "Sharp customer," he said. "So sharp
that he cuts himself sometimes."
il
"I don't suppose you want to see me," said
Bryan Eastley apologetically, coming into
the room and hesitating by the door. "I
don't exactly belong to the family -- "
"Let me see, you are Mr. Bryan Eastley, the husband of Miss Edith Crackenthorpe, who died five years ago ?"
"That's right."
"Well, it's very kind of you, Mr. Eastley, especially if you know something that you
think could assist us in some way ?"
139
"But I don't. Wish I did. Whole thing
seems so ruddy peculiar, doesn't it?
Coming along and meeting some fellow
in that draughty old barn in the middle
of winter. Wouldn't be my cup of tea!"
"It is certainly very perplexing," Inspector
Craddock agreed.
"Is it true that she was a foreigner?
Word seems to have got round to that
effect."
"Does that fact suggest anything to
you ?" The inspector looked at him sharply,
but Bryan seemed amiably vacuous.
"No, it doesn't, as a matter of fact.35
"Maybe she was French," said Inspector
Bacon, with dark suspicion.
Bryan was roused to slight animation.
A look of interest came into his blue
eyes, and he tugged at his big fair moustache.

"Really? Gay Paree?" He shook his
head. "On the whole it seems to make it
even more unlikely, doesn't it? Messing
about in the barn, I mean. You haven't
had any other sarcophagus murders, have
you ? One of these fellows with an urge --
or a complex? Thinks he's Caligula or
someone like that ?"
140
Inspector Craddock did not even trouble
to reject this speculation. Instead he asked
in a casual manner:
"Nobody in the family got any French
connections, or — or — relationships that
you know of?"
Bryan said that the Crackenthorpes
weren't a very gay lot.
"Harold's respectably married," he said.
"Fish-faced woman, some impoverished
peer's daughter. Don't think Alfred cares
about women much — spends his life going
in for shady deals which usually go wrong
in the end. I dare say Cedric's got a few
Spanish senoritas jumping through hoops
for him in Iviza. Women rather fall for
Cedric. Doesn't always shave and looks
as though he never washes. Don't see why
that should be attractive to women, but
apparently it is — I say, I'm not being very
helpful, am I ?"
He grinned at them.
"Better get young Alexander on the job.
He and James Stoddart-West are out
hunting for clues in a big way. Bet you they
turn up something.35
Inspector Craddock said he hoped they
would. Then he thanked Bryan Eastley
141
and. said he would like to speak to Miss
Emma Crackenthorpe.
in
Inspector Craddock looked with more
attention at Emma Crackenthorpe than he
had done previously. He was still wondering
about the expression that he had
surprised on her face before lunch.
A quiet woman. Not stupid. Not brilliant either. One of those comfortable pleasant
women whom men were inclined to take
for granted, and who had the art of making
a house into a home, giving it an atmosphere of restfulness and quiet harmony.
Such, he thought, was Emma Crackenthorpe.

Women such as this were often underrated.
Behind their quiet exterior they had
force of character, they were to be reckoned
with. Perhaps, Craddock thought, the clue
to the mystery of the dead woman in the
sarcophagus was hidden away in the
recesses of Emma's mind.
Whilst these thoughts were passing
through his head; Craddock was asking
various unimportant questions.
"I don't suppose there is much that you
142
haven't already told Inspector Bacon," he
said. "So I needn't worry you with many
questions."
"Please ask me anything you like."
"As Mr. Wimborne told you, we have
reached the conclusion that the dead
women was not a native of these parts.
That may be a relief to you -- Mr. Wimborne
seemed to think it would be -- but it
makes it really more difficult for us. She's
less easily identified."
"But didn't she have anything -- a handbag
? Papers ?"
Craddock shook his head.
"No handbag, nothing in her pockets."
"You've no idea other name -- of where
she came from -- anything at all ?"
Craddock thought to himself: She wants
to know -- she's very anxious to know --
who the woman is. Has she felt like that
all along, I wonder ? Bacon didn't give me
that impression--and he's a shrewd
man....
"We know nothing about her," he said.
"That's why we hoped one of you could
help us. Are you sure you can't? Even if
you didn't recognise her -- can you think
of anyone she might be ?"
143
He thought, but perhaps he imagined it, that there was a very slight pause before
she answered.
"I've absolutely no idea," she said.
Imperceptibly, Inspector Craddock's
manner changed. It was hardly noticeable
except as a slight hardness in his voice.
"When Mr. Wimborne told you that the
woman was a foreigner, why did you
assume that she was French ?"
Emma was not disconcerted. Her eyebrows
rose slightly.
"Did I ? Yes, I believe I did. I don't
really know why -- except that one always
tends to think foreigners are French until
one finds out what nationality they really
are. Most foreigners in this country are
French, aren't they ?"
"Oh, I really wouldn't say that was so, Miss Crackenthorpe. Not nowadays. We
have so many nationalities over here, Italians, Germans, Austrians, all the
Scandinavian countries -- "
"Yes, I suppose you're right."
"You didn't have some special reason
for thinking that this woman was likely to
be French."
She didn't hurry to deny it. She just
144
thought a moment and then shook her head
almost regretfully.
"No," she said. "I really don't think so."
Her glance met his placidly, without
flinching. Craddock looked towards Inspector
Bacon. The latter leaned forward and
presented a small enamel powder compact.
"Do you recognise this. Miss Crackenthorpe
?"
She took it and examined it.
"No. It's certainly not mine."
"You've no idea to whom it belonged ?"
"No."
"Then I don't think we need worry you
any more -- for the present."
"Thank you."
She smiled briefly at them, got up, and
left the room. Again he may have imagined
it, but Craddock thought she moved rather
quickly, as though a certain relief hurried
her.
"Think she knows anything?" asked
Bacon.
Inspector Craddock said ruefully :
"At a certain stage one is inclined to
think everyone knows a little more than
they are willing to tell you."
"They usually do, too," said Bacon out
145
of the depth of his experience. "Only,"
he added, "it quite often isn't anything to
do with the business in hand. It's some
family peccadillo or some silly scrape that
people are afraid is going to be dragged
into the open."
"Yes, I know. Well, at least -- "
But whatever Inspector Craddock had
been about to say never got said, for the
door was flung open and old Mr. Crackenthorpe
shuffled in in a high state of indignation.

"A pretty pass," he said. "Things have
come to a pretty pass, when Scotland Yard
comes down and doesn't have the courtesy
to talk to the head of the family first! Who's
the master of this house, I'd like to know ?
Answer me that ? Who's master here ?"
"You are, of course, Mr. Crackenthorpe,"
said Craddock soothingly and
rising as he spoke. "But we understood
that you had already told Inspector Bacon
all you knew, and that, your health not
being good, we must not make too many
demands upon it. Dr. Quimper said -- 33
"I dare say -- I dare say. I'm not a
strong man. ... As for Dr. Quimper, he's
a regular old woman -- perfectly good
146
doctor, understands my case--but inclined
to wrap me up in cotton-wool. Got
a bee in his bonnet about food. Went on at
me Christmas-time when I had a bit of
a turn--what did I eat? When? Who
cooked it ? Who served it ? Fuss, fuss, fuss!
But though I may have indifferent health, I'm well enough to give you all the help
that's in my power. Murder in my own
house -- or at any rate in my own barn!
Interesting building, that. Elizabethan.
Local architect says not -- but fellow
doesn't know what he's talking about. Not
a day later than 1580 -- but that's not what
we're talking about. What do you want to
know ? What's your present theory ?"
"It's a little too early for theories, Mr.
Crackenthorpe. We are still trying to find
out who the woman was ?"
"Foreigner, you say ?"
"We think so."
"Enemy agent ?"
"Unlikely, I should say."
"You'd say -- you'd say! They're everywhere, these people. Infiltrating! Why the
Home Office lets them in beats me. Spying
on industrial secrets, I'd bet. That's what
she was doing."
i47
"In Brackhampton ?"
"Factories everywhere. One outside my
own back gate."
Craddock shot an inquiring glance at
Bacon who responded.
"Metal Boxes."
"How do you know that's what they're
really making? Can't swallow all these
fellows tell you. All right, if she wasn't
a spy, who do you think she was ? Think
she was mixed up with one of my precious
sons? It would be Alfred, if so. Not
Harold, he's too careful. And Cedric
doesn't condescend to live in this country.
All right, then, she was Alfred's bit of
skirt. And some violent fellow followed her
down here, thinking she was coming to
meet him and did her in. How's that ?"
Inspector Craddock said diplomatically
that it was certainly a theory. But Mr.
Alfred Crackenthorpe, he said, had not
recognised her.
"Pah! Afraid, that's all! Alfred always
was a coward. But he's a liar, remember,
always was! Lie himself black in the face.
None of my sons are any good. Crowd of
vultures, waiting for me to die, that's their
real occupation in life." He chuckled. "And
148
they can wait. I won't die to oblige them\
Well, if that's all I can do for you . . . I'm
tired. Got to rest."
He shuffled out again.
"Alfred's bit of skirt?" said Bacon
questioningly. "In my opinion the old man
just made that up." He paused, hesitated.
"I think, personally, Alfred's quite all
right — perhaps a shifty customer in some
ways — but not our present cup of tea.
Mind you — I did just wonder about that
Air Force chap."
"Bryan Eastley ?"
"Yes. I've run into one or two of his
type. They're what you might call adrift
in the world — had danger and death and
excitement too early in life. Now they find
life tame. Tame and unsatisfactory. In a
way, we've given them a raw deal. Though
I don't really know what we could do about
it. But there they are, all past and no future,
so to speak. And they're the kind that don't
mind taking chances — the ordinary fellow
plays safe by instinct, it's not so much
morality as prudence. But these fellows
aren't afraid — playing safe isn't really in
their vocabulary. If Eastley were mixed
up with a woman and wanted to kill her.. ."
149
He stopped, threw out a hand hopelessly. "But why should he want to kill her ? And
if you do kill a woman, why plant her in
your father-in-law's sarcophagus ? No, if
you ask me, none of this lot had anything
to do with the murder. If they had, they
would have gone to all the trouble of
planting the body on their own back door
step, so to speak."
Craddock agreed that that hardly made
sense.
"Anything more you want to do here ?"
Craddock said there wasn't.
Bacaon suggested coming back to Brackhampton
and having a cup of tea -- but
Inspector Craddock said that he was going
to call on an old acquaintance.
150
CHAPTER X
MISS MARPLE, sitting erect
against a background of china dogs
and presents from Margate, smiled
approvingly at Inspector Dermot Craddock.
"I'm so glad," she said, "that you have
been assigned to the case. I hoped you
would be."
"When I got your letter," said Craddock, "I took it straight to the A.C. As it happened
he had just heard from the Brackhampton
people calling us in. They seemed
to think it wasn't a local crime. The A.C.
was very interested in what I had to tell
him about you. He'd heard about you,
I gather, from my godfather."
"Dear Sir Henry," murmured Miss
Marple affectionately.
"He got me to tell him all about the
Little Paddocks business. Do you want to
hear what he said next ?"
"Please tell me if it is not a breach of
confidence."
"He said, "Well, as this seems a completely
cockeyed business, all thought up
i5i
by a couple of old ladies who've turned out, against all probability, to the right, and
since you already know one of these old
ladies, I'm sending you down on the case.5 So here I am! And now, my dear Miss
Marple, where do we go from here ? This
is not, as you probably appreciate, an
official visit. I haven't got my henchmen
with me. I thought you and I might take
down our back hair together first."
Miss Marple smiled at him.
"I'm sure," she said, "that no one who
only knows you officially would ever guess
that you could be so human, and betterlooking
than ever -- don't blush. . . . Now, what, exactly, have you been told so far ?"
"I've got everything, I think. Your
friend, Mrs. McGillicuddy's original statement
to the police at St. Mary Mead,
confirmation of her statement by the ticket
collector, and also the note to the station
master at Brackhampton. I may say that
all the proper inquiries were made by the
people concerned -- the railway people and
the police. But there's no doubt that you
outsmarted them all by a most fantastic
process ofguesswork."
"Not guesswork," said Miss Marple.
152
"And I had a great advantage. I knew Elspeth McGillicuddy. Nobody else did.
There was no obvious confirmation of her
story, and if there was no question of any
woman being reported missing, then quite
naturally they would think it was just an
elderly lady imagining things -- as elderly
ladies often do -- but not Elspeth MeGillicuddy."
"Not
Elspeth McGillicuddy," agreed the
Inspector. "I'm looking forward to meeting
her, you know. I wish she hadn't gone to
Ceylon. We're arranging for her to be
interviewed there, by the way."
"My own process of reasoning was not
really original," said Miss Marple. "It's
all in Mark Twain. The boy who found the
horse. He just imagined where he would
go if he were a horse and he went there
and there was the horse."
"You imagined what you'd do if you
were a cruel and cold-blooded murderer ?"
said Craddock looking thoughtfully at Miss
Marple's pink and white elderly fragility.
"Really, your mind -- "
"Like a sink, my nephew Raymond used
to say," Miss Marple agreed, nodding her
head briskly. "But as I always told him,
153
sinks are necessary domestic equipment
and actually very hygienic.3?
"Can you go a little further still, put
yourself in the murderer's place, and tell
me just where he is now ?33
Miss Marple sighed.
"I wish I could. I've no idea--no
idea at all. But he must be someone who
has lived in, or knows all about, Rutherford
Hall."
"I agree. But that opens up a very wide
field. Quite a succession of daily women
have worked there. There's the Women's
Institure -- and the A.R.P. Wardens before
them. They all know the Long Barn
and the sarcophagus and where the key
was kept. The whole set up there is
widely known locally. Anybody living round
about might hit on it as a good spot for his
purpose."
"Yes, indeed. I quite understand your
difficulties."
Craddock said: "We'll never get anywhere
until we identify the body."
"And that, too, may be difficult ?"
"Oh, we'll get there -- in the end. We're
checking up on all the reported disappearances
of a woman of that age and
154
appearance. There's no one outstanding
who fits the bill. The M.O. puts her down
as about thirty-five, healthy, probably a
married woman, has had at least one child.
Her fur coat is a cheap one purchased at
a London store. Hundreds of such coats
were sold in the last three months, about
sixty per cent of them to blonde women.
No sales girl can recognise the photograph
of the dead woman, or is likely to if the
purchase were made just before Christmas.
Her other clothes seem mainly of foreign
manufacture, mostly purchased in Paris.
There are no English laundry marks.
We've communicated with Paris and they
are checking up there for us. Sooner or
later, of course, someone will come forward
with a missing relative or lodger. It's just
a matter of time."
"The compact wasn't any help P"
"Unfortunately, no. It's a type sold by
the hundred in the Rue de Rivoli, quite
cheap. By the way, you ought to have
turned that over to the police at once, you
know—or rather Miss Eyelesbarrow
should have done so."
Miss Marple shook her head.
"But at that moment there wasn't any
155
question of a crime having been committed,"
she pointed out. "If a young lady, practising golf shots, picks up an old
compact of no particular value in the long
grass, surely she doesn't rush straight off
to the police with it ?" Miss Marple paused, and then added firmly: "I thought it much wiser to find the body first."
Inspector Craddock was tickled.
"You don't seem ever to have had any
doubts but that it would be found ?"
"I was sure it would. Lucy Eyelesbarrow
is a most efficient and intelligent person."
"I'll say she is! She scares the life out of
me, she's so devastatingly efficient. No man
will ever dare marry that girl."
"Now you know, I wouldn't say that. .. . It would have to be a special type of man,
of course." Miss Marple brooded on this
thought a moment. "How is she getting
on at Rutherford Hall ?"
"They're completely dependent upon
her as far as I can see. Eating out of her
hand -- literally as you might say. By the
way, they know nothing about her connection
with you. We've kept that dark."
"She has no connection now with me.
She has done what I asked her to do."
156
"So she could hand in her notice and go
if she wanted to?"
"Yes."
"But she stops on. Why ?"
"She has not mentioned her reasons to
me. She is a very intelligent girl. I suspect
that she has become interested."
"In the problem ? Or in the family ?"
"It may be," said Miss Marple,
"that it is rather difficult to separate the
two."
Craddock looked hard at her.
"Have you got anything particular in
mind ?"
"Oh, no — oh, dear me, no."
"I think you have."
Miss Marple shook her head.
Dermot Craddock sighed. "So all I can
do is to 'prosecute my inquiries' — to put
it in jargon. A policeman's life is a dull
one!"
"You'll get results, I'm sure."
"Any ideas for me? More inspired
guesswork ?"
"I was thinking of things like theatrical
companies," said Miss Marple rather
vaguely. "Touring from place to place and
perhaps not many home ties. One of those
4..JO FP 6
157

young women would be much less likely
to be missed."
"Yes. Perhaps you've got something
there. We'll pay special attention to that
angle." He added, "What are you smiling
about ?"
"I was just thinking," said Miss Marple,
"of Elspeth McGillicuddy's face when she
hears we've found the body!"
ii
"Well!" said Mrs. McGillicuddy. "Well /"
Words failed her. She looked across at
the nicely spoken pleasant young man who
had called upon her with official credentials
and then down at the photographs that
he had handed her.
"That's her all right," she said. "Yes,
that's her. Poor soul. Well, I must say I'm
glad you've found her body. Nobody
believed a word I said! The police, or the
railway people or anyone else. It's very
galling not to be believed. At any rate,
nobody could say I didn't do all I possibly
could."
The nice young man made sympathetic
and appreciative noises.
"Where did you say the body was found ?"
158
"In a barn at a house called Rutherford
Hall, just outside Brackhampton."
"Never heard of it. How did it get there, I wonder ?"
The young man did not reply.
"Jane Marple found it, I suppose. Trust
Jane."
"The body," said the young man,
referring to some notes, "was found by a
Miss Lucy Eyelesbarrow."
"Never heard of her either," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy. "I still think Jane Marple
had something to do with it."
"Anyway, Mrs. McGillicuddy, you
definitely identify this picture as that of the
woman whom you saw in a train ?"
"Being strangled by a man. Yes, I do."
"Now, can you describe this man ?"
"He was a tall man," said Mrs. MeGillicuddy.
"Yes
?"
"And dark."
"Yes ?"
"That's all I can tell you," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy. "He had his back to me.
I didn't see his face."
"Would you be able to recognise him
if you saw him?"
159
"Of course I shouldn't! He had his back
to me. I never saw his face."
"You've no idea at all as to his age ?"
Mrs. McGillicuddy considered. "No -- not really. I mean, I don't know.
. . . He wasn't, I'm almost sure -- very
young. His shoulders looked -- well, set,
if you know what I mean." The young man
nodded. "Thirty and upward, I can't get
closer than that. I wasn't really looking at
him, you see. It was her -- with those
hands round her throat and her face --
all blue. . . . You know, sometimes I dream
of it even now...."
"It must have been a distressing experience,"
said the young man sympathetically.

He closed his notebook and said:
"When are you returning to England ?"
"Not for another three weeks. It isn't
necessary, is it, for me ?"
He quickly reassured her.
"Oh, no. There's nothing you could do
at present. Of course, if we make an
arrest -- "
It was left like that.
The mail brought a letter from Miss
Marple to her friend. The writing was
160
spiky and spidery and heavily underlined.
Long practice made it easy for Mrs.
McGillicuddy to decipher. Miss Marple
wrote a very full account to her friend who
devoured every word with great satisfaction.
She and Jane had shown them all right!
161
CHAPTER VI
"T SIMPLY can't make you out," said
| Cedric Crackenthorpe.
-X. He eased himself down on the
decaying wall of a long derelict pigsty and
stared at Lucy Eyelesbarrow.
"What can't you make out ?"
"What you're doing here."
"I'm earning my living."
"As a skivvy ?" He spoke disparagingly.
"You're out of date," said Lucy.
"Skivvy, indeed! I'm a Household Help,
a Professional Domestician, or an Answer
to Prayer, mainly the latter."
"You can't like all the things you have
to do — cooking and making beds and
whirring about with a hoopla or whatever
you call it, and sinking your arms up to
the elbows in greasy water."
Lucy laughed.
"Not the details, perhaps, but
cooking satisfies my creative instincts,
and there's something in me that really
revels in clearing up mess."
"I live in a permanent mess," said
162
Cedric. "I like it," he added defiantly.
"You look as though you did."
"My cottage in Iviza is run on simple
straightforward lines. Three plates, two
cups and saucers, a bed, a table and a
couple of chairs. There's dust everywhere
and smears of paint and chips of stone — I
sculpt as well as paint —.and nobody's
allowed to touch a thing. I won't have a
woman near the place."
"Not in any capacity ?"
"Just what do you mean by that ?"
"I was assuming that a man of such
artistic tastes presumably had some kind
of love life."
"My love life, as you call it, is my own
business," said Cedric with dignity. "What
I won't have is woman in her tidying-up
interfering bossing capacity!"
"How I'd love to have a go at your
cottage," said Lucy. "It would be a
challenge!"
"You won't get the opportunity."
"I suppose not."
Some bricks fell out of the pigsty.
Cedric turned his head and looked into
its nettle-ridden depths.
"Dear old Madge," he said. "I remember
163
her well. A sow of most endearing disposition
and a prolific mother. Seventeen
in the last litter, I remember. We used to
come here on fine afternoons and scratch
Madge's back with a stick. She loved it."
"Why has this whole place been allowed
to get into the state it's in? It can't only
be the war ?"
"You'd like to tidy this up, too, I
suppose? What an interfering female you
are. I quite see now why you would be
the person to discover a body! You couldn't
even leave a Greco-Roman sarcophagus
alone." He paused and then went on.
"No, it's not only the war. It's my father.
What do you think of him, by the way ?"
"I haven't had much time for thinking."
"Don't evade the issue. He's as mean as
hell, and in my opinion a bit crazy as
well. Of course he hates all of us -- except
perhaps Emma. That's because of my
grandfather's will."
Lucy looked inquiring.
"My grandfather was the man who
mada-da-monitch. With the Crunchies
and the Cracker Jacks and the Cosy Crisps.
All the afternoon tea delicacies, and then, being far sighted, he switched on very
164
early to Cheesies and Canapes so that now
we cash in on cocktail parties in a big way.
Well, the time came when father intimated
that he had a soul above Crunchies. He
travelled in Italy and the Balkans and
Greece and dabbled in art. My grandfather
was peeved. He decided my father
was no man of business and a rather poor
judge of art (quite right in both cases),
so left all his money in trust for his grandchildren.
Father had the income for life, but he couldn't touch the capital. Do you
know what he did? He stopped spending
money. He came here and began to save.
I'd say that by now he's accumulated
nearly as big a fortune as my grandfather
left. And in the meantime all of us,
Harold, myself, Alfred and Emma haven't
got a penny of grandfather's money. I'm
a stony-broke painter. Harold went into
business and is now a prominent man
in the City -- he's the one with the moneymaking
touch, though I've heard rumours
that he's in Queer Street lately. Alfred --
well, Alfred is usually known in the
privacy of the family as Flash Alf-- "
"Why ?»
"What a lot of things you want to
165
know! The answer is that Alf is the black
sheep of the family. He's not actually
been to prison yet, but he's been very
near it. He was in the Ministry of Supply
during the war, but left it rather abruptly
under questionable circumstances. And
after that there were some dubious deals
in tinned fruits — and trouble over eggs.
Nothing in a big way — just a few doubtful
deals on the side."
"Isn't it rather unwise to tell strangers
all these things ?"
"Why ? Are you a police spy ?"
"I might be."
"I don't think so. You were here slaving
away before the police began to take an
interest in us. I should say — "
He broke off as his sister Emma came
through the door of the kitchen garden.
"Hallo, Em? You're looking very
perturbed about something."
"I am. I want to talk to you, Cedric."
"I must get back to the house," said
Lucy, tactfully.
"Don't go," said Cedric. "Murder has
made you practically one of the family."
"I've got a lot to do," said Lucy. "I
only came out to get some parsley."
166
She beat a rapid retreat to the kitchen
garden. Cedric's eyes followed her.
"Good-looking girl," he said. "Who is
she really ?"
"Oh, she's quite well known," said
Emma. "She's made a speciality of this
kind of thing. But never mind Lucy
Eyelesbarrow, Cedric, I'm terribly worried.
Apparently the police think that the dead
woman was a foreigner, perhaps French.
Cedric, you don't think that she could
possibly be — Marline ?"
ll
For a moment or two Cedric stared at her
as though uncomprehending.
"Martine ? But who on earth — oh, you
mean Martine ?"
"Yes. Do you think — "
"Why on earth should it be Martine ?"
"Well, her sending that telegram was odd
when you come to think of it. It must
have been roughly about the same time. ...
Do you think that she may, after all, have
come down here and — "
"Nonsense. Why should Martine come
down here and find her way into the Long
167
Barn ? What for ? It seems wildly unlikely
tome."
"You don't think, perhaps, that I ought
to tell Inspector Bacon — or the other
one ?"
"Tell him what?"
"Well—about Martine. About her
letter."
"Now don't you go complicating
things, sis, by bringing up a lot of irrelevant
stuff that has nothing to do with all this.
I was never very convinced about that letter
from Martine, anway."
"I was."
"You've always been good at believing
impossible things before breakfast, old
girl. My advice to you is, sit tight, and
keep your mouth shut. It's up to the
police to identify their precious corpse.
And I bet Harold would say the same."
"Oh, I know Harold would. And Alfred,
also. But I'm worried, Cedric, I really
am worried. I don't know what I ought to
do."
"Nothing," said Cedric promptly. "You
keep your mouth shut, Emma. Never go
half-way to meet trouble, that's my motto."
Emma Crackenthorpe sighed. She went
168
slowly back to the house uneasy in her
mind.
As she came into the drive. Doctor
Quimper emerged from the house and
opened the door of his battered Austin
car. He paused when he saw her, then
leaving the car, he came towards her.
"Well, Emma," he said. "Your father's
in splendid shape. Murder suits him. It's
given him an interest in life. I must recommend
it for more of my patients."
Emma smiled mechanically. Dr. Quimper
was always quick to notice reactions.
"Anything particular the matter?" he
asked.
Emma looked up at him. She had come
to rely a lot on the kindliness and sympathy
of the doctor. He had become a friend on
whom to lean, not only a medical attendant.
His calculated brusqueness did not deceive
her -- she knew the kindness that lay
behind it.
"I am worried, yes," she admitted.
"Care to tell me? Don't if you don't
want to."
"I'd like to tell you. Some of it you know
already. The point is I don't know what
to do."
169
"I should say your judgement was
usually most reliable. What's the trouble ?"
"You remember -- or perhaps you don't
-- what I once told you about my
brother--the one who was killed in the
war ?"
"You mean about his having married --
or wanting to marry -- a French girl ?
Something of that kind ?"
"Yes. Almost immediately after I got
that letter, he was killed. We never heard
anything of or about the girl. All we knew, actually, was her Christian name. We
always expected her to write or to turn
up, but she didn't. We never heard anything
-- until about a month ago, just
before Christmas."
"I remember. You got a letter, didn't
you ?"
"Yes. Saying she was in England and
would like to come and see us. It was all
arranged and then, at the last minute, she
sent a wire that she had to return unexpectedly
to France."
"Well ?"
"The police think that this woman who
was killed -- was French."
"They do, do they ? She looked more of
170
an English type to me, but one can't really
judge. What's worrying you then, is that
just possibly the dead woman might be
your brother's girl ?"
"Yes."
"I think it's most unlikely," said Dr.
Quimper, adding: "But all the same, I
understand what you feel."
"I'm wondering if I ought not to tell
the police about — about it all. Cednc
and the others say it's quite unnecessary.
What do you think?"
"Hm." Dr. Quimper pursed up his
lips. He was silent for a moment or two,
deep in thought. Then he said, almost
unwillingly, "It's much simpler, of course,
if you say nothing. I can understand what
your brothers feel about it. All the
same — "
"Yes ?"
Quimper looked at her. His eyes had
an affectionate twinkle in them.
"I'd go ahead and tell 'em," he said.
"You'll go on worrying if you don't. I
know you."
Emma flushed a little.
"Perhaps I'm foolish." ^
"You do what you want to do, my dear —
171
and let the rest of the family go hang!
I'd back your judgement against the lot
of them any day.33
172
CHAPTER XII
cc ^^\ IRL! You, girl! Come in here.35
| Lucy turned her head, surV^J
prised. Old Mr. Crackenthorpe was
beckoning to her fiercely from just inside
a door.
"You want me, Mr. Crackenthorpe ?"
"Don't talk so much. Come in here."
Lucy obeyed the imperative finger. Old
Mr. Crackenthorpe took hold of her arm
and pulled her inside the door and shut
it.
"Want to show you something," he said.
Lucy looked round her. They were in a
small room evidently designed to be used
as a study, but equally evidently not used
as such for a very long time. There were
piles of dusty papers on the desk and
cobwebs festooned from the corners of
the ceiling. The air smelt damp and musty.
"Do you want me to clean this room ?"
she asked.
Old Mr. Crackenthorpe shook his head
fiercely.
"No, you don't! I keep this room
173
locked up. Emma would like to fiddle about
in here, but I don't let her. It's my room.
See these stones? They're geological
specimens."
Lucy looked at a collection of twelve
or fourteen lumps of rock, some polished
and some rough.
"Lovely," she said kindly. "Most
interesting."
"You're quite right. They are interesting.
You're an intelligent girl. I don't show them
to everybody. I'll show you some more
things."
"It's very kind of you, but I ought
really to get on with what I was doing.
With six people in the house — "
"Eating me out of house and home. . . .
That's all they do when they come down
here! Eat. They don't offer to pay for
what they eat, either. Leeches! All waiting
for me to die. Well, I'm not'going to die
just yet — I'm not going to die to please
them. I'm a lot stronger than even Emma
knows."
"I'm sure you are."
"I'm not so old, either. She makes out
I'm an old man, treats me as an old man.
You don't think I'm old, do you ?"
174
"Of course not," said Lucy.
"Sensible girl. Take a look at this."
He indicated a large faded chart which
hung on the wall. It was, Lucy saw, a
genealogical tree; some of it done so
finely that one would have had to have a
magnifying glass to read the names. The
remote forebears, however, were written
in large proud capitals with crowns over
the names.
"Descended from Kings," said Mr.
Crackenthorpe. "My mother's family tree,
that is — not my father's. He was a
vulgarian! Common old man! Didn't like
me. I was a cut above him always. Took
after my mother's side. Had a natural
feeling for art and classical sculpture — he
couldn't see anything in it — silly old fool.
Don't remember my mother — died when
I was two. Last of her family. They were
sold up and she married my father. But
you look there — Edward the Confessor —
Ethelred the Unready — whole lot of them.
And that was before the Normans came.
Before the Normans—that's something,
isn't it?"
"It is indeed."
'^ow I'll show you something else."
NK' 175
He guided her across the room to an
enormous piece of dark oak furniture.
Lucy was rather uneasily conscious of the
strength of the fingers clutching her arm.
There certainly seemed nothing feeble about
old Mr. Crackenthorpe today. "See this?
Came out of Lushington -- that was my
mother's people's place. Elizabethan, this
is. Takes four men to move it. You don't
know what I keep inside it, do you ? Like
me to show you ?"
"Do show me," said Lucy politely.
"Curious, aren't you? All women are
curious." He took a key from his pocket
and unlocked the door of the lower
cupboard. From this he took out a surprisingly
new-looking cash box. This, again, he unlocked.
"Take a look here, my dear. Know what
these are ?"
He lifted out a small paper-wrapped
cylinder and pulled away the paper from
one end. Gold coins trickled out into his
palm.
"Look at these, young lady. Look at
'em, touch 'em. Know what they are ?
Bet you don't! You're too young. Sovereigns
-- that's what they are. Good
176
golden sovereigns. What we used before
all these dirty bits of paper came into
fashion. Worth a lot more than silly pieces
of paper. Collected them a long time back.
I've got other things in this box, too. Lots
of things put away in here. All ready for the
future. Emma doesn't know — nobody
knows. It's our secret, see, girl? D'you
know why I'm telling you and showing
you ?"
"Why?"
"Because I don't want you to think I'm
a played-out sick old man. Lots of life
in the old dog yet. My wife's been dead a
long time. Always objecting to everything,
she was. Didn't like the names I gave the
children — good Saxon names — no
interest in that family tree. I never paid
any attention to what she said, though —
and she was a poor-spirited creature —
always gave in. Now you're a spirited
filly — a very nice filly indeed. I'll give
you some advice. Don't throw yourself
away on a young man. Young men are
fools! You want to take care of your future.
You wait. ..." His fingers pressed into
Lucy's arm. He leaned to her ear. "I
don't say more than that. Wait. Those
177
silly fools think I'm going to die soon.
I'm not. Shouldn't be surprised if I outlived
the lot of them. And then we'll see!
Oh, yes, then we'll see. Harold's got no
children. Cedric and Alfred aren't married.
Emma -- Emma will never marry now.
She's a bit sweet on Quimper -- but
Quimper will never think of marrying
Emma. There's Alexander, of course. Yes, there's Alexander. . . . But, you know, I'm
fond of Alexander.... Yes, that's awkward.
I'm fond of Alexander."
He paused for a moment, frowning, then
said:
"Well, girl, what about it ? What about
it, eh ?"
"Miss Eyelesbarrow...."
Emma's voice came faintly through the
closed study door. Lucy seized gratefully at
the opportunity.
"Miss Crackenthorpe's calling me. I
must go. Thank you so much for all you
have shown me...."
"Don't forget... our secret..."
"I won't forget," said Lucy, and hurried
out into the hall not quite certain as to
whether she had or had not just received a
conditional proposal of marriage.
178
II
Dermot Craddock sat at his desk in his
room at New Scotland Yard. He was
slumped sideways in an easy attitude,
and was talking into the telephone receiver
which he held with one elbow propped
up on the table. He was speaking in
French, a language in which he was
tolerably proficient.
"It was only an idea, you understand," he said.
"But decidedly it is an idea,35 said the
voice at the other end, from the Prefecture
in Paris. "Already I have set inquiries in
motion in those circles. My agent reports
that he has two or three promising lines
of inquiry. Unless there is some family
life -- or a lover, these women drop out
of circulation very easily and no one
troubles about them. They have gone on
tour, or there is some new man -- it
is no one's business to ask. It is a pity
that the photograph you sent me is so
difficult for anyone to recognise. Strangulation, it does not improve the appearance.
Still, that cannot be helped. I go now to
study the latest reports of my agents on this
179
matter. There will be, perhaps, something.
Au revoir, mon cher."
As Craddock reiterated the farewell
politely, a slip of paper was placed before
him on the desk. It read:
Miss Emma Crackenthorpe.
To see Detective-Inspector Craddock.
Rutherford Hall case.
He replaced the receiver and said to the
police constable:
"Bring Miss Crackenthorpe up."
As he waited, he leaned back in his
chair, thinking.
So he had not been mistaken — there
was something that Emma Crackenthorpe
knew — not much, perhaps, but something.
And she had decided to tell him.
He rose to his feet as she was shown in,
shook hands, settled her in a chair and
offered her a cigarette which she refused.
Then there was a momentary pause. She
was trying, he decided, to find just the
words she wanted. He leaned forward.
"You have come to tell me something,
Miss Crackenthorpe ? Can I help you ?
You've been worried about something,
180
haven't you? Some little thing, perhaps,
that you feel probably has nothing to do
with the case, but on the other hand, just
might be related to it. You've come here
to tell me about it, haven't you? It's to
do, perhaps, with the identity of the dead
woman. You think you know who she
was ?"
"No, no, not quite that. I think really
it's most unlikely. But — "
"But there is some possibility that
worries you. You'd better tell me about it
— because we may be able to set your
mind at rest."
Emma took a moment or two before
speaking. Then she said:
"You have seen three of my brothers.
I had another brother, Edmund, who was
killed in the war. Shortly before he was
killed, he wrote to me from France."
She opened her handbag and took out
a worn and faded letter. She read from it:
'I hope this won't be a shock to you,
Emmie, but I'm getting married — to a '•
French girl. It's all been very sudden —
but I know you'll be fond of Martine —
and look after her if anything happens to
181
me. Will write you all the details in my
next — by which time I shall be a married
man. Break it gently to the old man, won't
you ? He'll probably go up in smoke.'
Inspector Craddock held out a hand.
Emma hesitated, then put the letter into
it. She went on, speaking rapidly.
"Two days after receiving this letter,
we had a telegram saying Edmund was
Missing, believed killed. Later he was
definitely reported killed. It was just before
Dunkirk — and a time of great confusion.
There was no Army record, as far as I
could find out, of his having been married
— but as I say, it was a confused time. I
never heard anything from the girl. I
tried, after the war, to make some inquiries,
but I only knew her Christian name and
that part of France had been occupied by
the Germans and it was difficult to find
out anything, without knowing the girl's
surname and more about her. In the end I
assumed that the marriage had never taken
place and that the girl had probably
married someone else before the end of
the war, or might possibly herself have
been killed."
182
Inspector Craddock nodded. Emma went
on.
"Imagine my surprise to receive a letter
just about a month ago, signed Mar tine
Crackenthorpe.5)
"You have it?" -
Emma took it from her bag and handed
it to him. Craddock read it with interest.
It was written in a slanting French hand —
an educated hand.
dear mademoiselle,
I hope it will not be a shock to you to
get this letter. I do not even know if your
brother Edmund told you that we "were
married. He said he was going to do so.
He was killed only a few days after our
marriage and at the same time the Germans
occupied our village. After the war ended, I
decided that I would not write to you or
approach you, though Edmund had told
me to do so. But by then I had made a new
life for myself, and it was not necessary.
But now things have changed. For my son's
sake I write this letter. He is your brother's
son, you see, and I — I can no longer
give him the advantages he ought to have.
I am coming to England early next week.
183
Will you let me know if I can come and
see you? My address for letters is 126
Elvers Crescent, n.i o. I hope again this
will not be the great shock to you.
I remain with assurance of my excellent
sentiments,
martine crackenthorpe
Craddock was silent for a moment or
two. He reread the letter carefully before
handing it back.
"What did you do on receipt of this
letter. Miss Crackenthorpe ?"
"My brother-in-law, Bryan Eastley,
happened to be staying with me at the time
and I talked to him about it. Then I rang
up my brother Harold in London and
consulted him about it. Harold was rather
sceptical about the whole thing and
advised extreme caution. We must, he
said, go carefully into this woman's
credentials."
Emma paused and then went on:
"That, of course, was only common
sense and I quite agreed. But if this girl—
woman — was really the Martine about
whom Edmund had written to me, I felt
that we must make her welcome. I wrote
184
to the address she gave in her letters, inviting
her to come down to Rutherford Hall
and meet us. A few days later I received a
telegram from London: Very sorry forced
to return to France unexpectedly. Marline. There was no further letter or news of any
kind."
"All this took place -- when ?"
Emma frowned.
"It was shortly before Christmas. I
know, because I wanted to suggest her
spending Christmas with us -- but my
father would not hear of it -- so I suggested
she should come down the weekend after
Christmas while the family would still be
there. I think the wire saying she was
returning to France came actually a few
days before Christmas."
"And you believe that this woman whose
body was found in the sarcophagus might
be this Martine ?"
"No, of course I don't. But when you
said she was probably a foreigner -- well, I couldn't help wondering ... if perhaps
..."
Her voice died away.
Craddock spoke quickly and reassuringly.

185
"You did quite right to tell me about
this. We'll look into it. I should say there
is probably little doubt that the woman
who wrote to you actually did go back
to France and is there now alive and
well. On the other hand, there is a certain
coincidence of dates, as you yourself have
been clever enough to realise. As you heard
at» the inquest, the woman's death according
to the police surgeon's evidence
must have occurred about three to four
weeks ago. Now don't worry. Miss
Crackenthorpe, just leave it to us." He
added casually, "You consulted Mr.
Harold Crackenthorpe. What about your
father and your other brothers ?"
"I had to tell my father, of course. He
got very worked up," she smiled faintly.
"He was convinced it was a put-up thing
to get money out of us. My father gets
very excited about money. He believes,
or pretends to believe, that he is a very
poor man, and that he must save every
penny he can. I believe elderly people do
get obsessions of that kind sometimes.
It's not true, of course, he has a very large
income and doesn't actually spend a quarter
of it -- or used not to until these days of
186
high income tax. Certainly he has a large
amount of savings put by." She paused
and then went on. "I told my other two
brothers also. Alfred seemed to consider
it rather a joke, though he, too, thought it
was almost certainly an imposture. Cedric
just wasn't interested — he's inclined to
be self-centered. Our idea was that the
family would receive Martine, and that
our lawyer, Mr. Wimborne, should also
be asked to be present."
"What did Mr. Wimborne think about
the matter ?"
"We hadn't got as far as discussing the
matter with him. We were on the point
of doing so when Martine's telegram
arrived."
"You have taken no further steps ?"
"Yes. I wrote to the address in London
with Please forward on the envelope, but
I have had no reply of any kind."
"Rather a curious business.... Hm ..."
He looked at her sharply.
"What do you yourself think about it ?"
"I don't know what to think."
"What were your reactions at the time ?
Did you think the letter was genuine—
or did you agree with your father and
187
brothers? What about your brother-inlaw,
by the way, what did he think ?"
"Oh, Bryan thought that the letter was
genuine."
"And you ?"
cc! --wasn't sure."
"And what were your feelings about it --
supposing that this girl really was your
brother Edmund's widow ?"
Emma's face softened.
"I was very fond of Edmund. He was my
favourite brother. The letter seemed to
me exactly the sort of letter that a girl
like Martine would write under the circumstances.
The course of events she described
was entirely natural. I assumed that by
the time the war ended she had either
married again or was with some man who
was protecting her and the child. Then
perhaps, this man had died, or left her,
and it then seemed right to her to apply
to Edmund's family -- as he himself had
wanted her to do. The letter seemed
genuine and natural to me -- but, of
course, Harold pointed out that if it was
written by an impostor, it would be
written by some woman who had known
Martine and who was in possession of all
188
the facts, and so could write a thoroughly
plausible letter. I had to admit the justice
of that -- but all the same..."
She stopped.
"You wanted it to be true?" said
Craddock gently.
She looked at him gratefully.
"Yes, I wanted it to be true. I would be
so glad if Edmund had left a son."
Craddock nodded.
"As you say, the letter, on the face of it, sounds genuine enough. What is surprising
is the sequel, Martine Crackenthorpe's
abrupt departure for Paris and the fact
that you have never heard from her since.
You had replied kindly to her, were prepared
to welcome her. Why, even if she
had to return to France, did she not write
again? That is, presuming her to be the
genuine article. If she were an impostor,
of course, it's easier to explain. I thought
perhaps that you might have consulted Mr.
Wimborne, and that he might have
instituted inquiries which alarmed the
woman. That, you tell me, is not so.
But it's still possible that one or other of
your brothers may have done something
of the kind. It's possible that this Martine
4.50 Pp 7 lg9
may have had a background that would
not stand investigation. She may have
assumed that she would be dealing only
with Edmund's affectionate sister, not
with hard-headed suspicious business men.
She may have hoped to get sums of money
out of you for the child (hardly a child
now -- a boy presumably of fifteen or
sixteen) without many questions being
asked. But instead she found she was
going to run up against something quite
different. After all, I should imagine that
serious legal aspects would arise. If
Edmund Crackenthorpe left a son, born
in wedlock, he would be one of the heirs
to your grandfather's estate ?"
Emma nodded.
"Moreover, from what I have been told, he would in due course inherit Rutherford
Hall and the land round it -- very valuable
building land, probably, by now."
Emma looked slightly startled. "Yes, I hadn't thought of that." "Well, I shouldn't worry," said Inspector
Craddock. "You did quite right
to come and tell me. I shall make inquiries,
but it seems to me highly probable that
there is no connection between the woman
190
who wrote the letter (and who was probably
trying to cash in on a swindle) and
the woman whose body was found in the
sarcophagus."
Emma rose with a sigh of relief.
"I'm so glad I've told you. You've been
very kind."
Craddock accompanied her to the door.
Then he rang for Detective-Sergeant
Wetherall.
"Bob, I've got a job for you. Go to 126
Elvers Crescent, N.io.^Take photographs
of the Rutherford Hall woman with you.
See what you can find out about a woman
calling herself Mrs. Crackenthorpe--
Mrs. Martine Crackenthorpe, who was
either living there, or calling for letters
there, between the dates of, say, i5th to
the end of December."
"Right, sir."
Craddock busied himself with various
other matters that were waiting attention
on his desk. In the afternoon he went to
see a theatrical agent who was a friend of
his. His inquiries were not fruitful.
Later in the day when he returned to his
office he found a wire from Paris on his
desk.
191
Particulars given by you might apply to
Anna Stravinska of Ballet Maritski.
Suggest you come over. Dessin, Prefecture.
Craddock heaved a big sigh of relief,
and his brow cleared.
At last! So much, he thought, for the
Martine Crackenthorpe hare. . . . He
decided to take the night ferry to Paris.
192
CHAPTER XIII
""•"T'S so very kind of you to have asked
| me to take tea with you,33 said Miss
^Marple to Emma Crackenthorpe.
Miss Marple was looking particularly
woolly and fluffy — a picture of a sweet
old lady. She beamed as she looked round
her — at Harold Crackenthorpe in his
well-cut dark suit, and at Alfred handing
her sandwiches with a charming smile,
at Cedric standing by the mantelpiece
in a ragged tweed jacket scowling at the
rest of his family.
"We are very pleased that you could
come," said Emma politely.
There was no hint of the scene which
had taken place after lunch that day when
Emma had exclaimed: "Dear me, I quite
forgot. I told Miss Eyelesbarrow that she
could bring her old aunt to tea today."
"Put her off," said Harold brusquely.
"We've still got a lot to talk about. We
don't want strangers here."
"Let her have tea in the kitchen or
somewhere with the girl," said Alfred.
I W
"Oh, no, I couldn't do that," said Emma
firmly. "That would be very rude."
"Oh, let her come," said Cedric. "We
can draw her out a little about the wonderful
Lucy. I should like to know more
about that girl, I must say. I'm not sure
that I trust her. Too smart by half."
"She's very well connected and quite
genuine," said Harold. "I've made it my
business to find out. One wanted to be
sure. Poking about and finding the body
the way she did."
"If only we knew who this damned
woman was," said Alfred.
Harold added angrily:
"I must say, Emma, that I think you
were out of your senses, going and suggesting
to the police that the dead woman might
be Edmund's French girl friend. It will
make them convinced that she came here,
and that probably one of us killed her."
"Oh, no, Harold. Don't exaggerate."
"Harold's quite right," said Alfred.
"Whatever possessed you, I don't know.
I've a feeling I'm being followed everywhere
I go by plain-clothes men."
"I told her not to do it," said Cedric.
"Then Quimper backed her up."
194
"It's no business of his," said Harold
angrily. "Let him stick to pills and powders
and National Health."
"Oh, do stop quarrelling," said Emma
wearily. "I'm really glad this old Miss
Whatshername is coming to tea. It will
do us all good to have a stranger here and
be prevented from going over and over
the same things again and again. I must
go and tidy myself up a little."
She left the room.
"This Lucy Eyelesbarrow," said Harold,
and stopped. "As Cedric says, it is odd
that she should nose about in the barn
and go opening up a sarcophagus — really
a Herculean task. Perhaps we ought to
take steps. Her attitude, I thought, was
rather antagonistic at lunch — "
"Leave her to me," said Alfred. "I'll
soon find out if she's up to anything."
"I mean, why open up that sarcophagus ?"
"Perhaps she isn't really Lucy Eyelesbarrow
at all," suggested Cedric.
"But what would be the point— ?"
Harold looked thoroughly upset. "Oh,
damn!"
They looked at each other with worried
faces.
195
"And here's this pestilential old woman
coming to tea. Just when we want to
think.,"
"We'll talk things over this evening,"
said Alfred. "In the meantime, we'll
pump the old aunt about Lucy.35
So Miss Marple had duly been fetched
by Lucy and installed by the fire and she
was now smiling up at Alfred as he handed
her sandwiches with the approval she
always showed towards a good-looking
man.
"Thank you so much.... May I ask ... ?
Oh, egg and sardine, yes, that will be
very nice. I'm afraid I'm always rather
greedy over my tea. As one gets on, you
know . . . And, of course, at night only a
very light meal. ... I have to be careful."
She turned to her hostess once more.
"What a beautiful house you have. And
so many beautiful things in it. Those
bronzes, now, they remind me of some my
father bought — at the Paris Exhibition.
Really, your grandfather did? In the
classical style, aren't they ? Very handsome.
How delightful for you having your
brothers with you? So often families are
scattered — India, though I suppose that
196
is all done with now -- and Africa -- the
west coast, such a bad climate."
"Two of my brothers live in London."
"That is very nice for you."
"But my brother Cedric is a painter
and lives in Iviza, one of the Balearic
Islands."
"Painters are so fond of islands, are they not?" said Miss Marple. "Chopin--that
was Majorca, was it not ? But he was a
musician. It is Gauguin I am thinking of.
A sad life -- misspent, one feels. I myself
never really care for paintings of native
women -- and although I know he is
very much admired -- I have never cared
for that lurid mustard colour. One really
feels quite bilious looking at his pictures."
She eyed Cedric with a slightly disapproving
air.
"Tell us about Lucy as a child. Miss
Marple," said Cedric.
She smiled up at him delightedly.
"Lucy was always so clever," she said.
"Yes, you were, dear -- now don't interrupt.
Quite remarkable at arithmetic. Why,
I remember when the butcher overcharged
me for topside of beef..."
Miss Marple launched full steam ahead
197
into reminiscences of Lucy's childhood
and from there to experiences of her own
in village life.
The stream of reminiscence was interrupted
by the entry of Bryan and the boys
rather wet and dirty as a result of an
enthusiastic search for clues. Tea was
brought in and with it came Dr. Quimper
who raised his eyebrows slightly as he
looked round after acknowledging his
introduction to the old lady.
"Hope your father's not under the
weather, Emma P"
"Oh, no -- that is, he was just a little
tired this afternoon -- "
"Avoiding visitors, I expect," said Miss
Marple with a roguish smile. "How well I
remember my own dear father. 'Got a lot
of old pussies coming?5 he would say
to my mother. 'Send my tea into the
study.' Very naughty about it, he was."
"Please don't think -- " began Emma, but Cedric cut in.
"It's always tea in the study when his
dear sons come down. Psychologically to
be expected, eh. Doctor ?"
Dr. Quimper, who was devouring
sandwiches and coffee cake with the frank
198
appreciation of a man who has usually
too little time to spend on his meals, said:
"Psychology's all right if it's left to the
psychologists. Trouble is, everyone is an
amateur phychologist nowadays. My
patients tell me exactly what complexes
and neuroses they're suffering from, without
giving me a chance to tell them. Thanks,
Emma, I will have another cup. No time
for lunch today."
"A doctor's life, I always think, is so
noble and self-sacrificing," said Miss
Marple.
"You can't know many doctors," said
Dr. Quimper. "Leeches they used to be
called, and leeches they often are! At any
rate, we do get paid nowadays, the State
sees to that. No sending in of bills that you
know won't ever be met. The trouble is
that all one's patients are determined to
get everything they can 'out of the Government', and as a result, if little Jenny
coughs twice in the night, or little Tommy
eats a couple of green apples, out the poor
doctor has to come in the middle of the
night. Oh, well! Glorious cake, Emma.
What a cook you are!"
"Not mine. Miss Eyelesbarrow's."
199
"You make 'em just as good,55 said
Quimper loyally.
"Will you come and see Father ?55
She rose and the doctor followed her.
Miss Marple watched them leave the room.
"Miss Crackenthorpe is a very devoted
daughter, I see,55 she said.
"Can't imagine how she sticks the old
man, myself," said the outspoken Cedric.
"She has a very comfortable home here, and her father is very much attached to
her," said Harold quickly.
"Em's all right," said Cedric. "Born to
be an old maid."
There was a faint twinkle in Miss
Marple's eye as she said:
"Oh, do you think so ?"
Harold said quickly:
"My brother didn't use the term old
maid in any derogatory sense. Miss
Marple."
"Oh, I wasn't offended," said Miss
Marple. "I just wondered if he was right.
I shouldn't say myself that Miss Crackenthorpe
would be an old maid. She's the
type, I think, that's quite likely to marry
late in life -- and make a success of it."
"Not very likely living here," said
200
Cedric. "Never sees anybody she could
marry."
Miss Marple's twinkle became more
pronounced than ever.
"There are always clergymen — and
doctors."
Her eyes, gentle and mischievous, went
from one to another.
It was clear that she had suggested to
them something that they had never
thought of and which they did not find
over pleasing.
Miss Marple rose to her feet, dropping
as she did so, several little woolly scarves
and her bag.
The three brothers were most attentive
picking things up.
"So kind of you," fluted Miss Marple.
"Oh, yes, and my little blue muffler.
Yes — as I say — so kind to ask me here.
I've been picturing, you know, just what
your home was like — so that I can visualise
dear Lucy working here."
"Perfect home conditions—with murder
thrown in," said Cedric.
"Cedric!" Harold's voice was angry.
Miss Marple smiled up at Cedric.
"Do you know who you remind me of?
201
Young Thomas Eade, our bank manager's
son. Always out to shock people. It didn't
do in banking circles, of course, so he
went to the West Indies.... He came home
when his father died and inherited quite a
lot of money. So nice for him. He was
always better at spending money than
making it."
ll
Lucy took Miss Marple home. On her way
back a figure stepped out of the darkness
and stood in the glare of the headlights
just as she was about to turn into the
back lane. He held up his hand and Lucy
recognised Alfred Crackenthorpe.
"That's better," he observed, as he got
in. "Brr, it's cold! I fancied I'd like a nice
bracing walk. I didn't. Taken the old lady
home all right ?"
"Yes. She enjoyed herself very much."
"One could see that. Funny what a
taste old ladies have for any kind of society,
however dull. And, really, nothing could
be duller than Rutherford Hall. Two days
here is about as much as I can stand. How
do you manage to stick it out, Lucy?
Don't mind if I call you Lucy, do you ?"
202
"Not at all. I don't find it dull. Of course
with me it's not a permanency.55
"I've been watching you — you're a
smart girl, Lucy. Too smart to waste
yourself cooking and cleaning."
"Thank you, but I prefer cooking and
cleaning to the office desk."
"So would I. But there are other ways
of living. You could be a freelance."
"lam."
"Not this way. I mean, working for
yourself, pitting your wits against — "
"Against what ?"
"The powers that be! All the silly
pettifogging rules and regulations that
hamper us all nowadays. The interesting
thing is there's always a way round them if
you're smart enough to find it. And you're
smart. Come now, does the idea appeal to
you ?"
"Possibly."
Lucy manoeuvred the car into the stableyard.
"Not
going to commit yourself?"
"I'd have to hear more."
"Frankly, my dear girl, I could use you.
You've got the sort of manner that's
invaluable — creates confidence."
203
"Do you want me to help you sell gold
bricks ?"
"Nothing so risky. Just a little bypassing
of the law -- no more." His hand
slipped up her arm. "You're a damned
attractive girl. Lucy. I'd like you as a
partner."
"I'm flattered."
"Meaning nothing doing ? Think about
it. Think of the fun, the pleasure you'd
get out of outwitting all the sobersides.
The trouble is, one needs capital."
"I'm afraid I haven't got any."
"Oh, it wasn't a touch! I'll be laying my
hands on some before long. My revered
Papa can't live forever, mean old brute.
When he pops off, I lay my hands on some
real money. What about it, Lucy ?"
"What are the terms ?"
"Marriage if you fancy it. Women seem
to, no matter how advanced and selfsupporting
they are. Besides, married
women can't be made to give evidence
against their husbands."
"Not so flattering!"
"Come off it, Lucy. Don't you realise
I've fallen for you ?"
Rather to her surprise Lucy was aware
204
of a queer fascination. There was a
quality of charm about Alfred, perhaps due
to sheer animal magnetism. She laughed
and slipped from his encircling arm.
"This is no time for dalliance. There's
dinner to think about."
"So there is, Lucy, and you're a lovely
cook. What's for dinner ?"
"Wait and see! You're as bad as the
boys!"
They entered the house and Lucy
hurried to the kitchen. She was rather
surprised to be interrupted in her preparations
by Harold Crackenthorpe.
"Miss Eyelesbarrow, can I speak to you
about something ?"
"Would later do, Mr. Crackenthorpe?
I'm rather behind hand."
"Certainly. Certainly. After dinner ?"
"Yes, that will do."
Dinner was duly served and appreciated.
Lucy finished washing up and came out
into the hall to find Harold Crackenthorpe
waiting for her.
"Yes, Mr. Crackenthorpe ?"
"Shall we come in here ?" He opened the
door of the drawing-room and led the way.
He shut the door behind her.
205
cc! shall be leaving early in the morning,"
he explained, "but I want to tell you how
struck I have been by your ability."
"Thank you," said Lucy, feeling a little
surprised.
"I feel that your talents are wasted here
— definitely wasted."
"Do you? I don't."
At any rate, he can't ask me to marry
him, thought Lucy. He's got a wife
already.
"I suggest that having very kindly seen
us through this lamentable crisis, you call
upon me in London. If you will ring up
and make an appointment, I will leave
instructions with my secretary. The truth
is that we could use someone of your
outstanding ability in the firm. We could
discuss fully in what field your talents
would be most ably employed. I can offer
you. Miss Eyelesbarrow, a very good
salary indeed with brilliant prospects. I
think you will be agreeably surprised."
His smile was magnanimous.
Lucy said demurely:
"Thank you. Mr. Crackenthorpe, I'll
think about it."
"Don't wait too long. These opportu-
206
nities should not be missed by a young
woman anxious to make her way in the
world."
Again his teeth flashed.
"Good-night, Miss Eyelesbarrow, sleep
well."
"Well," said Lucy to herself, "well . . .
this is all very interesting...."
On her way up to bed, Lucy encountered
Cedric on the stairs.
"Look here, Lucy, there's something I
want to say to you."
"Do you want me to marry you and
come to Iviza and look after you ?"
Cedric looked very much taken aback,
and slightly alarmed.
"I never thought of such a thing."
"Sorry. My mistake."
"I just wanted to know if you've a timetable
in the house ?"
"Is that all? There's one on the hall
table."
"You know," said Cedric, reprovingly, "you shouldn't go about thinking everyone
wants to marry you. You're quite a
good-looking girl but not as good-looking
as all that. There's a name for that sort
of thing -- it grows on you and you get
207
worse. Actually, you're the last girl in the
world I should care to marry. The last
girl."
"Indeed ?" said Lucy. "You needn't rub
it in. Perhaps you'd prefer me as a stepmother
?"
"What's that?" Cedric stared at her
stupefied.
"You heard me," said Lucy, and went
into her room and shut the door.
208
CHAPTER XIV
DERMOT CRADDOCK was
fraternising with Armand Dessin
of the Paris Prefecture. The two
men had met on one or two occasions and
got on well together. Since Craddock
spoke French fluently, most of their conversation
was conducted in that language.
"It is an idea only," Dessin warned him,
"I have a picture here of the corps de
ballet -- that is she, the fourth from the
left -- it says anything to you, yes ?"
Inspector Craddock said that actually it
didn't. A strangled young woman is not
easy to recognise, and in this picture all the
young women concerned were heavily
made up and were wearing extravagant
bird headdresses.
"It could be,53 he said. "I can't go
further than that. Who was she ? What do
you know about her ?"
"Almost less than nothing," said the
other cheerfully. "She was not important, you see. And the Ballet Maritski--it is
not important, either. It plays in suburban
209
theatres and goes on tour -- it has no real
names, no stars, no famous ballerinas.
But I will take you to see Madame Joliet
who runs it."
Madame Joliet was a brisk businesslike
Frenchwoman with a shrewd eye, a small
moustache, and a good deal of adipose
tissue.
"Me, I do not like the police!" She
scowled at them, without camouflaging
her dislike of the visit. "Always, if they
can, they make me embarrassments."
"No, no, Madame, you must not say
that," said Dessin, who was a tall thin
melancholy-looking man. "When have I
ever caused you embarrassments ?"
"Over that little fool who drank the
carbolic acid," said Madame Joliet promptly.
"And all because she has fallen in love
with the chef d'orchestre -- who does not
care for women and has other tastes. Over
that you made the big brouhaha! Which is
not good for my beautiful Ballet."
"On the contrary, big box-office
business," said Dessin, "And that was
three years ago. You should not bear
malice. Now about this girl, Anna
Stravinska."
210
"Well, what about her?" said Madame
cautiously.
"Is she Russian?" asked Inspector
Craddock.
"No, indeed. You mean, because of her
name ? But they all call themselves names
like that, these girls. She was not important,
she did not dance well, she was not
particularly good-looking. Elk etait assez
bien, c'est tout. She danced well enough for
the corps de ballet — but no solos."
"Was she French ?"
"Perhaps. She had a French passport.
But she told me once that she had an
English husband."
"She told you that she had an English
husband ? Alive — or dead ?"
Madame Joliet shrugged her shoulders.
"Dead, or he had left her. How should
I know which ? These girls — there is
always some trouble with men — "
"When did you last see her ?"
"I take my company to London for six
weeks. We play at Torquay, at Bournemouth,
at Eastbourne, at somewhere else
I forget and at Hammersmith. Then we
come back to France, but Anna — she
does not come. She sends a message only
211
that she leaves the company, that she goes
to live with her husband's family -- some
nonsense of that kind. I did not think it is
true, myself. I think it more likely that she
has met a man, you understand."
Inspector Craddock nodded. He perceived
that that was what Madame Joliet
would invariably think.
"And it is no loss to me. I do not care.
I can get girls just as good and better to
come and dance, so I shrug the shoulders
and do not think of it any more. Why
should I ? They are all the same, these
girls, mad about men."
"What date was this ?"
"When we return to France ? It was --
yes -- the Sunday before Christmas. And
Anna she leaves two -- or is it three --
days before that? I cannot remember
exactly. . . . But the end of the week at
Hammersmith we have to dance without
her -- and it means rearranging things. . . .
It was very naughty of her -- but these
girls -- the moment they meet a man they
are all the same. Only I say to everybody,
'Zut, I do not take her back, that one!' "
"Very annoying for you."
"Ah! Me -- I do not care. No doubt
212
she passes the Christmas holiday with
some man she has picked up. It is not my
affair. I can find other girls -- girls who
will leap at the chance of dancing in the
Ballet Maritski and who can dance as well
-- or better than Anna."
Madame Joliet paused and then asked
with a sudden gleam of interest:
"Why do you want to find her ? Has she
come into money ?"
"On the contrary," said Inspector
Craddock politely. "We think she may
have been murdered."
Madame Joliet relapsed into indifference.
"C<3 se peut! It happens. Ah, well! She
was a good Catholic. She went to Mass on
Sundays, and no doubt to confession."
"Did she ever speak to you, Madame, of a son ?"
"A son ? Do you mean she had a child ?
That, now, I should consider most unlikely.
These girls, all -- all of them know a useful address to which to go. M. Dessin
knows that as well as I do."
"She may have had a child before she
adopted a stage life," said Craddock.
"During the war, for instance."
"Ah! clans la guerre. That is always
213
possible. But if so, I know nothing about
it.5'
"Who amongst the other girls were her closest friends ?"
"I can give you two or three names --
but she was not very intimate with anyone."
They could get nothing else useful from
Madame Joliet.
Shown the compact, she said Anna had
one of that kind, but so had most of the
other girls. Anna had perhaps bought a
fur coat in London -- she did not know.
"Me, I occupy myself with the rehearsals,
with the stage lighting, with all the difficulties
of my business. I have not time to
notice what my artists wear."
After Madame Joliet, they interviewed
the girls whose names she had given them.
One or two of them had known Anna
fairly well, but they all said that she had
not been one to talk much about herself, and that when she did, it was, so one girl
said, mostly lies.
"She liked to pretend things -- stories
about having been the mistress of a Grand
Duke -- or of a great English financier --
or how she worked for the Resistance in the
214
war. Even a story about being a film star
in Hollywood."
Another girl said:
"I think that really she had had a very
tame bourgeois existence. She liked to be
in ballet because she thought it was
romantic, but she was not a good dancer.
You understand that if she were to say,
'My father was a draper in Amiens,5 that
would not be romantic! So instead she
made up things."
"Even in London," said the first girl,
"she threw out hints about a very rich
man who was going to take her on a cruise
round the world, because she reminded
him of his dead daughter who had died
in a car accident. Quelle blague /"
"She told me she was going to stay
with a rich lord in Scotland," said the
second girl. "She said she would shoot the
deer there."
None of this was helpful. All that seemed
to emerge from it was that Anna Stravinska
was a proficient liar. She was certainly not
shooting deer with a peer in Scotland,
and it seemed equally unlikely that she
was on the sun deck of a liner cruising
round the world. But neither was there
215
any real reason to believe that her body
had been found in a sarcophagus at
Rutherford Hall. The identification by the
girls and Madame Joliet was very uncertain
and hesitating. It looked something like
Anna, they all agreed. But really! All
swollen up -- it might be anybody!
The only fact that was established was
that on the i9th of December Anna
Stravinska had decided not to return to
France, and that on the 20th December a
woman resembling her in appearance had
travelled to Brackhampton by the 4.33
train and had been strangled.
If the woman in the sarcophagus was not Anna Stravinska, where was Anna now ?
To that, Madame Joliet's answer was
simple and inevitable.
"With a man!"
And it was probably the correct answer,
Craddock reflected ruefully.
One other possibility had to be considered
-- raised by the casual remark
that Anna had once referred to having an
English husband.
Had that husband been Edmund
Crackenthorpe ?
It seemed unlikely, considering the
216
word picture of Anna that had been given
him by those who knew her. What was
much more probable was that Anna had
at one time known the girl Martine
sufficiently intimately to be acquainted
with the necessary details. It might have
been Anna who wrote that letter to
Emma Crackenthorpe and, if so, Anna
would have been quite likely to have
taken fright at any question of an investigation.
Perhaps she had even thought
it prudent to sever her connection with
the Ballet Maritski. Again, where was she
now?
And again, inevitably, Madame Joliet's
answer seemed the most likely.
With a man. . ..
ll
Before leaving Paris, Craddock discussed
with Dessin the question of the woman
named Martine. Dessin was inclined to
agree with his English colleague that the
matter had probably no connection with
the woman found in the sarcophagus.
All the same, he agreed, the matter ought
to be investigated.
He assured Craddock that the Surete
217
would do their best to discover if there
actually was any record of a marriage
between Lieutenant Edmund Crackenthorpe
of the 4th Southshire Regiment
and a French girl whose Christian name
was Martine. Time -- just prior to the fall
of Dunkirk.
He warned Craddock, however, that a
definite answer was doubtful. The area
in question had not only been occupied by
the Germans at almost exactly that time, but subsequently that part of France had
suffered severe war damage at the time of
the invasion. Many buildings and records
had been destroyed.
"But rest assured, my dear colleague, we shall do our best."
With this, he and Craddock took leave
of each other.
in
On Craddock's return Sergeant Wetherall
was waiting to report with gloomy relish:
"Accommodation address, sir -- that's
what 126 Elvers Crescent is. Quite respectable
and all that."
"Any identifications ?"
"No, nobody could recognise the photo218
graph as that of a woman who had called
for letters, but I don't think they would
anyway -- it's a month ago, very near,
and a good many people use the place.
It's actually a boarding-house for students."
"She might have stayed there under
another name.35
"If so, they didn't recognise her as the
original of the photograph."
He added:
"We circularised the hotels -- nobody
registering as Martine Crackenthorpe anywhere.
On receipt of your call from Paris, we checked up on Anna Stravinska. She
was registered with other members of the
company in a cheap hotel off Brook Green.
Mostly theatricals there. She cleared out
on the night of Thursday i9th after the
show. No further record."
Craddock nodded. He suggested a line
of further inquiries -- though he had little
hope of success from them.
After some thought, he rang up Wimborne,
Henderson and Carstairs and asked
for an appointment with Mr. Wimborne.
In due course, he was ushered into a
particularly airless room where Mr. Wimborne
was sitting behind a large old219
fashioned desk covered with bundles of
dusty-looking papers. Various deed boxes
labelled Sir John ffouldes, dec. Lady
Derrin, George Rowbotham, Esq.y ornamented
the walls; whether as relics of a
bygone era or as part of present-day legal
affairs, the inspector did not know.
Mr. Wimborne eyed his visitor with the
polite wariness characteristic of a family
lawyer towards the police.
"What can I do for you. Inspector ?"
"This letter ..." Craddock pushed
Martinets letter across the table. Mr.
Wimborne touched it with a distasteful
finger but did not pick it up. His colour
rose very slightly and his lips tightened.
"Quite so,35 he said; "quite so! I received
a letter from Miss Emma Crackenthorpe
yesterday morning, informing me of her visit to Scotland Yard and of -- ah -- all
the circumstances. I may say that I am at a
loss to understand -- quite at a loss --
why I was not consulted about this letter
at the time of its arrival! Most extraordinary!
I should have been informed
immediately...."
Inspector Craddock repeated soothingly
such platitudes as seemed best calculated
220
to reduce Mr. Wimborne to an amenable
frame of mind.
"I'd no idea that there was ever any
question of Edmund's having married," said Mr. Wimborne in an injured voice.
Inspector Craddock said that he supposed
-- in war time -- and left it to trail
away vaguely.
"War time!" snapped Mr. Wimborne
with waspish acerbity. "Yes, indeed, we
were in Lincoln's Inn Fields at the outbreak
of war and there was a direct hit
on the house next door, and a great number
of our records were destroyed. Not the
really important documents, of course;
they had been removed to the country for
safety. But it caused a great deal of confusion.
Of course, the Crackenthorpe
business was in my father's hands at that
time. He died six years ago. I dare say he may have been told about this so-called
marriage of Edmund's -- but on the face
of it, it looks as though that marriage, even if contemplated, never took place,
and so, no doubt, my father did not
consider the story of any importance.
I must say, all this sounds very fishy to me.
This coming forward, after all these years,
4.50 FP 8 221
and claiming a marriage and a legitimate
son. Very fishy indeed. What proofs had
she got, I'd like to know ?"
"Just so," said Craddock. "What
would her position, or her son's position
be?"
"The idea was, I suppose, that she
would get the Crackenthorpes to provide
for her and for the boy."
"Yes, but I meant, what would she and
the son be entitled to, legally speaking --
if she could prove her claim ?"
"Oh, I see." Mr. Wimborne picked up
his spectacles which he had laid aside in
his irritation, and put them on, staring
through them at Inspector Craddock with
shrewd attention. "Well, at the moment,
nothing. But if she could prove that the
boy was the son of Edmund Crackenthorpe,
born in lawful wedlock, then
the boy would be entitled to his share
of Josiah Crackenthorpe's trust on the
death of Luther Crackenthorpe. More
than that, he'd inherit Rutherford Hall, since he's the son of the eldest son."
"Would anyone want to inherit the
house ?"
"To live in ? I should say, certainly not.
222
But that estate, my dear Inspector, is
worth a considerable amount of money.
Very considerable. Land for industrial
and building purposes. Land which is now
in the heart of Brackhampton. Oh, yes, a
very considerable inheritance."
"If Luther Crackenthorpe dies, I believe
you told me that Cedric gets it ?"
"He inherits the real estate — yes, as
the eldest surviving son."
"Cedric Crackenthorpe, I have been
given to understand, is not interested in
money ?"
Mr. Wimborne gave Craddock a cold
stare.
"Indeed ? I am inclined, myself, to take
statements of such a nature with what I
might term a grain of salt. There are
doubtless certain unworldly people who
are indifferent to money. I myself have
never met one."
Mr. Wimborne obviously derived a
certain satisfaction from this remark.
Inspector Craddock hastened to take
advantage of this ray of sunshine.
"Harold and Alfred Crackenthorpe,"
he ventured, "seem to have been a good
deal upset by the arrival of this letter ?"
223
"Well they might be," said Mr. Wimborne.
"Well they might be."
"It would reduce their eventual inheritance
?"
"Certainly. Edmund Crackenthorpe's
son -- always presuming there is a son --
would be entitled to a fifth share of the
trust money."
"That doesn't really seem a very serious
loss ?"
Mr. Wimborne gave him a shrewd
glance.
"It is a totally inadequate motive for
murder, if that is what you mean."
"But I suppose they're both pretty
hard up," Craddock murmured.
He sustained Mr. Wimborne's sharp
glance with perfect impassivity.
"Oh! So the police have been making
inquiries ? Yes, Alfred is almost incessantly
in low water. Occasionally he is very
flush of money for a short time -- but it
soon goes. Harold, as you seem to have
discovered, is at present somewhat precariously
situated."
"In spite of his appearance of financial
prosperity ?"
"Fa9ade. All facade! Half these city
224
concerns don't even know if they're solvent
or not. Balance sheets can be made to look
all right to the inexpert eye. But when
the assets that are listed aren't really
assets -- when those assets are trembling
on the brink of a crash -- where are you ?"
"Where, presumably, Harold Crackenthorpe
is, in bad need of money."
"Well, he wouldn't have got it by
strangling his late brother's widow," said
Mr. Wimborne. "And nobody's murdered
Luther Crackenthorpe which is the only
murder that would do the family any good.
So, really. Inspector, I don't quite see
where your ideas are leading you ?"
The worst of it was. Inspector Craddock
thought, that he wasn't very sure himself.
225
CHAPTER XV
NSPECTOR CRADDOCK had made
I
an appointment with Harold Cracken-thorpe
at his office, and he and Sergeant
Wetherall arrived there punctually. The
office was on the fourth floor of a big block
of City offices. Inside everything showed
prosperity and the acme of modern business
taste.
A neat young woman took his name,
spoke in a discreet murmur through a telephone, and then, rising, showed them into
Harold Crackenthorpe's own private office.
Harold was sitting behind a large leathertopped
desk and was looking as impeccable
and self-confident as ever. If, as the inspector's
private knowledge led him to
surmise, he was close upon Queer Street, no trace of it showed.
He looked up with a frank welcoming
interest.
"Good-morning, Inspector Craddock.
I hope this means that you have some
definite news for us at last ?"
"Hardly that, I am afraid, Mr. Cracken-
226
thorpe. It's just a few more questions I'd
like to ask."
"More questions? Surely by now we
have answered everything imaginable."
"I dare say it feels like that to you, Mr.
Crackenthorpe, but it's just a question of
our regular routine."
"Well, what is it this time ?" He spoke
impatiently.
"I should be glad if you could tell me
exactly what you were doing on the afternoon
and evening of 20th December last --
say between the hours of 3 p.m. and midnight."

Harold Crackenthorpe went an angry
shade of plum-red.
"That seems to be a most extraordinary
question to ask me. What does it mean, I should like to know ?"
Craddock smiled gently.
"It just means that I should like to
know where you were between the hours
of 3 p.m. and midnight on Friday, 20th
December.
"Why ?"
"It would help to narrow things down."
"Narrow them down? You have extra
information, then ?"
227
"We hope that we're getting a little
closer, sir."
"I'm not at all sure that I ought to
answer your question. Not, that is, without
having my solicitor present."
"That, of course, is entirely up to you,"
said Craddock. "You are not bound to
answer any questions, and you have a
perfect right to have a solicitor present
before you do so."
"You are not -- let me be quite clear --
er -- warning me in any way ?"
"Oh, no, sir." Inspector Craddock
looked properly shocked. "Nothing of that
kind. The questions I am asking you, I
am asking of several other people as well.
There's nothing directly personal about
this. It's just a matter of necessary
eliminations."
"Well, of course -- I'm anxious to assist
in any way I can. Let me see now. Such a
thing isn't easy to answer offhand, but
we're very systematic here. Miss Ellis, I
expect, can help."
He spoke briefly into one of the telephones
on his desk and almost immediately
a streamlined young woman in a well-cut
black suit entered with a notebook.
228
"My secretary, -Miss Ellis, Inspector
Craddock. Now, Miss Ellis, the inspector
would like to know what I was doing on
the afternoon and evening of — what was
the date ?"
"Friday, 20th December."
"Friday, 20th December. I expect you
will have some record."
"Oh, yes." Miss Ellis left the room,
returned with an office memorandum
calendar and turned the pages.
"You were in the office in the morning
of 20th December. You had a conference
with Mr. Goldie about the Cromartie
merger, you lunched with Lord Forthville
at the Berkeley — "
"Ah, it was that day, yes."
"You returned to the office at about
3 o'clock and dictated half a dozen letters.
You then left to attend Sotheby's sale
rooms where you were interested in some
rare manuscripts which were coming up
for sale that day. You did not return to the
office again, but I have a note to remind
you that you were attending the Catering
Club dinner that evening." She looked up
interrogatively.
"Thank you. Miss Ellis."
229
Miss Ellis glided from the room.
"That is all quite clear in my mind," said Harold. "I went to Sotheby's that
afternoon but the items I wanted there
went for far too high a price. I had tea
in a small place in Jermyn Street --
Russells, I think, it is called. I dropped
into a News Theatre for about half an
hour or so, then went home -- I live at 43
Cardigan Gardens. The Catering Club
dinner took place at seven-thirty at
Caterers' Hall, and after it I returned
home to bed. I think that should answer
your questions."
"That's all very clear, Mr. Crackenthorpe.
What time was it when you returned
home to dress ?"
"I don't think I can remember exactly.
Soon after six, I should think."
"And after the dinner?"
"It was, I think, half-past eleven when I
got home."
"Did your manservant let you in? Or perhaps Lady Alice Crackenthorpe --"
"My wife. Lady Alice, is abroad in the
South of France and has been since early
in December. I let myself in with my latch
key."
230
"So there is no one who can vouch for
your returning home when you say you
did?"
Harold gave him a cold stare.
"I dare say the servants heard me come
in. I have a man and wife. But, really,
Inspector — "
"Please, Mr. Crackenthorpe, I know
these kind of questions are annoying,
but I have nearly finished. Do you own a
car?"
"Yes, a Humber Hawk."
"You drive it yourself?"
"Yes. I don't use it much except at
weekends. Driving in London is quite
impossible nowadays."
"I presume you use it when you go
down to see your father and sister at
Brackhampton ?"
"Not unless I am going to stay there
for some length of time. If I just go down
for the night — as, for instance, to the
inquest the other day — I always go by
train. There is an excellent train service
and it is far quicker than going by car.
The car my sister hires meets me at the
station."
"Where do you keep your car ?"
231
"I rent a garage in the Mews behind
Cardigan Gardens. Any more questions ?"
"I think that's all for now," said Inspector
Craddock, smiling and rising.
"I'm very sorry for having to bother you.55
When they were outside. Sergeant
Wetherall, a man who lived in a state of
dark suspicion of all and sundry, remarked
meaningly:
"He didn't like those questions -- didn't
like them at all. Put out, he was."
"If you have not committed a murder,
it naturally annoys you if it seems someone
thinks that you have," said Inspector
Craddock mildly. "It would particularly
annoy an ultra respectable man like Harold
Crackenthorpe. There's nothing in that.
What we've got to find out now is if anyone
actually saw Harold Crackenthorpe at the
sale that afternoon, and the same applies
to the teashop place. He could easily have
travelled by the 4.33, pushed the woman
out of the train and caught a train back to
London in time to appear at the dinner.
In the same way he could have driven his
car down that night, moved the body to
the sarcophagus and driven back again.
Make inquiries in the Mews."
232
"Yes, sir. Do you think that's what he
did do ?"
"How do I know?" asked Inspector
Craddock. "He's a tall dark man. He could have been on that train and he's got a
connection with Rutherford Hall. He's
a possible suspect in this case. Now for
Brother Alfred."
n
Alfred Crackenthorpe had a flat in West
Hampstead, in a big modern building
of slightly jerry-built type with a large
courtyard in which the owners of flats
parked their cars with a certain lack of
consideration for others.
The flat was of the modern built-in
type, evidently rented furnished. It had
a long plywood table that let down from
the wall, a divan bed, and various chairs of
improbable proportions.
Alfred Crackenthorpe met them with
engaging friendliness but was, the inspector
thought, nervous.
"I'm intrigued," he said. "Can I offer
you a drink. Inspector Craddock?" He
held up various bottles invitingly.
"No, thank you, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
233
"As bad as that?" He laughed at his
own little joke, then asked what it was all
about.
Inspector Craddock said his little piece.
"What was I doing on the afternoon
and evening of 20th December. How
should I know ? Why, that's -- what --
over three weeks ago."
"Your brother Harold has been able
to tell us very exactly."
"Brother Harold, perhaps. Not Brother
Alfred." He added with a touch of something
-- envious malice possibly: "Harold
is the successful member of the family --
busy, useful, fully employed -- a time
for everything, and everything at that
time. Even if he were to commit a --
murder, shall we say ? -- it would be
carefully timed and exact."
"Any particular reason for using that
example ?"
"Oh, no. It just came into my mind --
as a supreme absurdity."
"Now about yourself."
Alfred spread out his hands.
"It's as I tell you -- I've no memory
for times or places. If you were to say
Christmas Day now -- then I should be
234
able to answer you — there's a peg to
hang it on. I know where I was Christmas
Day. We spend that with my father
at Brackhampton. I really don't-s know
why. He grumbles at the expense of
having us — and would grumble that we
never came near him if we didn't come.
We really do it to please my sister."
"And you did it this year ?"
"Yes."
"But unfortunately your father was
taken ill, was he not ?"
Craddock was pursuing a sideline
deliberately, led by the kind of instinct
that often came to him in his profession.
"He was taken ill. Living like a sparrow
in the glorious cause of economy, sudden
full eating and drinking had its effect."
"That was all it was, was it ?"
"Of course. What else ?"
"I gathered that his doctor was —
worried."
"Oh, that old fool Quimper," Alfred
spoke quickly and scornfully. "It's no
use listening to him. Inspector. He's an
alarmist of the worst kind."
"Indeed? He seemed a rather sensible
kind of man to me."
235
"He's a complete fool. Father's not
really an invalid, there's nothing wrong
with his heart, but he takes in Quimper
completely. Naturally, when father really
felt ill, he made a terrific fuss, and had
Quimper going and coming, asking
questions, going into everything he'd eaten
and drunk. The whole thing was ridiculous!55 Alfred spoke with unusual heat.
Craddock was silent for a moment
or two, rather effectively. Alfred fidgeted, shot him a quick glance, and then said
petulantly:
"Well, what is all this? Why do you
want to know where I was on a particular
Friday, three or four weeks ago ?"
"So you do remember that it was a
Friday ?"
"I thought you said so."
"Perhaps I did," said Inspector Craddock.
"At any rate, Friday 20th is the day
I am asking about."
"Why ?"
"A routine inquiry."
"That's nonsense. Have you found out
something more about this woman ? About
where she came from ?"
"Our information is not yet complete."
236
Alfred gave him a sharp glance.
"I hope you're not being led aside by
this wild theory of Emma's that she might
have been my brother Edmund's widow.
That's complete nonsense."
"This--Martine, did not at any time
apply to you ?"
"To me? Good lord, no! That would
have been a laugh."
"She would be more likely, you think, to go to your brother Harold ?"
"Much more likely. His name's frequently
in the papers. He's well off.
Trying a touch there wouldn't surprise
me. Not that she'd have got anything.
Harold's as tight-fisted as the old man
himself. Emma, of course, is the softhearted
one of the family, and she was
Edmund's favourite sister. All the same, Emma isn't credulous. She was quite
alive to the possibility of this woman
being phoney. She had it all laid on
for the entire family to be there -- and a
hard-headed solicitor as well."
"Very wise," said Craddock. "Was there
a definite date fixed for this meeting ?"
"It was to be soon after Christmas --
the weekend of the 2yth ..." He stopped.
237
"Ah," said Craddock pleasantly. "So
I see some dates have a meaning to you."
"I've told you — no definite date was i
fixed." . "
"But you talked about it — when ?"
"I really can't remember."
"And you can't tell me what you
yourself were doing on Friday, 20th i
December ?" I
"Sorry — my mind's an absolute blank."
"You don't keep an engagement book ?"
"Can't stand the things."
"The Friday before Christmas — it
shouldn't be too difficult."
"I played golf one day with a likely
prospect." Alfred shook his head. "No,
that was the week before. I probably
just mooched around. I spend a lot of
my time doing that. I find one's business
gets done in bars more than anywhere
else."
"Perhaps the people here, or some of
your friends, may be able to help ?"
"Maybe. I'll ask them. Do what I
can."
Alfred seemed more sure of himself
now.
cc
r •
I can't tell you what I was doing
238
that day," he said; "but I can tell you
what I wasn^t doing. I wasn't murdering
anyone in the Long Barn."
"Why should you say that, Mr. Crackenthorpe?"

"Come now, my dear Inspector. You're
investigating this murder, aren't you?
And when you begin to ask 'Where
were you on such and such a day at
such and such a time?' you're narrowing
down things. I'd very much like to know
why you've hit on Friday the 20th between
-- what ? Lunch-time and midnight ? It
couldn't be medical evidence, not after
all this time. Did somebody see the
deceased sneaking into the barn that
afternoon? She went in and she never
came out, etc. ? Is that it ?"
The sharp black eyes were watching
him narrowly, but Inspector Craddock
was far too old a hand to react to that sort
of thing.
"I'm afraid we'll have to let you guess
about that," he said pleasantly.
"The police are so secretive."
"Not only the police. I think, Mr.
Crackenthorpe, you could remember what
you were doing on that Friday if you
239
tried. Of course you may have reasons
for not wishing to remember -- "
"You won't catch me that way. Inspector.
It's very suspicious, of course, very suspicious, indeed, that I can't remember
-- but there it is! Wait a minute
now -- I went to Leeds that week --
stayed at an hotel close to the Town Hall
-- can't remember its name -- but you'd
find it easily enough. That might have been
on the Friday."
"We'll check up," said the inspector
unemotionally.
He rose. "I'm sorry you couldn't have
been more co-operative, Mr. Crackenthorpe."

"Most unfortunate for me\ There's
Cedric with a safe alibi in Iviza, and
Harold, no doubt, checked with business
appointments and public dinners every
hour -- and here am I with no alibi
at all. Very sad. And all so silly. I've
already told you I don't murder people.
And why should I murder an unknown
woman, anyway? What for? Even if
the corpse is the corpse of Edmund's
widow, why should any of us wish to do
away with her? Now if she'd been
240
married to Harold in the war, and had
suddenly reappeared -- then it might have
been awkward for the respectable Harold
--bigamy and all that. But Edmund!
Why, we'd all have enjoyed making Father
stump up a bit to give her an allowance
and send the boy to a decent school.
Father would have been wild, but he
couldn't in decency refuse to do something.
Won't you have a drink before
you go. Inspector? Sure? Too bad I
haven't been able to help you."
ill
"Sir, listen, do you know what ?"
Inspector Craddock looked at his excited
sergeant.
"Yes, Wetherall, what is it ?"
"I've placed him, sir. That chap. All
the time I was trying to fix it and suddenly
it came. He was mixed up in that tinned
food business with Dicky Rogers. Never
got anything on him -- too cagey for
that. And he's been in with one or more
of the Soho lot. Watches and that Italian
sovereign business."
Of course! Craddock realised now why
Alfred's face had seemed vaguely familiar
241
from the first. It had all been smalltime
stuff -- never anything that could
be proved. Alfred had always been on
the outskirts of the racket with a plausible
innocent reason for having been mixed
up in it at all. But the police had been
quite sure that a small steady profit came
his way.
"That throws rather a light on things,"
Craddock said.
"Think he did it ?"
"I shouldn't have said he was the type
to do murder. But it explains other
things -- the reason why he couldn't come
up with an alibi."
"Yes, that looks bad for him."
"Not really," said Craddock. "It's quite
a clever line -- just to say firmly you
can't remember. Lots of people can't
remember what they did and where they
were even a week ago. It's especially
useful if you don't particularly want to
call attention to the way you spend your
time--interesting rendezvous at lorry
pull-ups with the Dicky Rogers crowd,
for instance."
"So you think he's all right ?"
"I'm not prepared to think anyone's
242
all right just yet," said Inspector Craddock. "You've got to work on it, Wetherall."
Back at his desk, Craddock sat frowning, and making little notes on the pad in front
of him.
Murderer (he wrote).... A tall dark man I I I Victim? . . . Could have been Martine, Edmund Crackenthorpe's girl-friend or
widow.
Or
Could have been Anna Stravinska. Went
out of circulation at appropriate time, right age and appearance, clothing, etc.
No connection with Rutherford Hall as
far as is known.
Could be Harold's first wife! Bigamy!
„ „ mistress. Blackmail?!
If connection with Alfred, might be
blackmail. Had knowledge that could
have sent him to gaol ?
If Cedric -- might have had connection
with him abroad -- Paris ? Balearics ?
Or
Victim could be Anna S. posing as Martine
or
Victim is unknown woman killed by
unknown murderer!
243
"And most probably the latter," said
Craddock aloud.
He reflected gloomily on the situation.
You couldn't get far with a case until
you had the motive. All the motives
suggested so far seemed either inadequate
or far fetched.
Now if only it had been the murder of
old Mr. Crackenthorpe. . . . Plenty of
motive there. . ..
Something stirred in his memory. . . .
He made further notes on his pad.
Ask Dr. Q. about Christmas illness.
Cedric — alibi.
Consult Miss M. for latest gossip.
244
CHAPTER XVI
"HEN Craddock got to 4 Madison
Road he found Lucy Eyelesbarrow
with Miss Marple.
w;
He hesitated for a moment on his plan
of campaign and then decided that Lucy
Eyelesbarrow might prove a valuable ally.
After greetings, he solemnly drew out
his notecase, extracted three pound notes,
added three shillings and pushed them
across the table to Miss Marple.
"What's this. Inspector ?"
"Consultation fee. You're a consultant
— on murder! Pulse, temperature, local
reactions, possible deep-seated cause of
said murder. I'm just the poor harassed
local G.P."
Miss Marple looked at him and twinkled.
He grinned at her. Lucy Eyelesbarrow gave
a faint gasp and then laughed.
"Why, Inspector Craddock — you're
human after all."
"Oh, well, I'm not strictly on duty this
afternoon."
"I told you we had met before," said
245
Miss Marple to Lucy. "Sir Henry Clithering
is his godfather -- a very old friend of
mine."
"Would you like to hear. Miss Eyelesbarrow,
what my godfather said about her
-- the first time we met ? He described her
as just the finest detective God ever made
-- natural genius cultivated in a suitable
soil. He told me never to despise the" --
Dermot Craddock paused for a moment
to seek for a synonym for "old pussies" --
" -- er -- elderly ladies. He said they could
usually tell you what might have happened, what ought to have happened, and even
what actually did happen! And," he said, "they can tell you why it happened," he
added, "that this particular -- er -- elderly
lady -- was at the top of the class."
"Well!" said Lucy. "That seems to be a
testimonial all right."
Miss Marple was pink and confused and
looked unusually dithery.
"Dear Sir Henry," she murmured. "Always
so kind. Really I'm not at all clever --
just, perhaps, a slight knowledge of human
nature -- living, you know, in a village -- "
She added, with more composure:
"Of course, I am somewhat handicapped,
246
by not actually being on the spot. It is so
helpful, I always feel, when people remind
you of other people — because types are
alike everywhere and that is such a valuable
guide."
Lucy looked a little puzzled, but Craddock
nodded comprehendingly.
"But you've been to tea there, haven't
you ?" he said.
"Yes, indeed. Most pleasant. I was a
little disappointed that I didn't see old
Mr. Crackenthorpe — but one can't have
everything."
"Do you feel that if you saw the person
who had done the murder, you'd know ?"
asked Lucy.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, dear. One is
always inclined to guess — and guessing
would be very wrong when it is a question
of anything as serious as murder. All one
can do is to observe the people concerned
— or who might have been concerned—
and see of whom they remind you."
"Like Cedric and the bank manager ?"
Miss Marple corrected her.
"The bank manager's son, dear. Mr.
Eade himself was far more like Mr. Harold
— a very conservative man — but perhaps
247
a little too fond of money -- the sort of
man, too, who would go a long way to
avoid scandal."
Craddock smiled, and said:
"And Alfred ?"
"Jenkins at the garage," Miss Marple
replied promptly. "He didn't exactly
appropriate tools -- but he used to exchange
a broken or inferior jack for a good
one. And I believe he wasn't very honest
over batteries -- though I don't understand
these things very well. I know Raymond left
off dealing with him and went to the garage
on the Milchester road. As for Emma,"
continued Miss Marple thoughtfully, "she
reminds me very much of Geraldine Webb
-- always very quiet, almost dowdy -- and
bullied a good deal by her elderly mother.
Quite a surprise to everybody when the
mother died unexpectedly and Geraldine
came into a nice sum of money and went
and had her hair cut and permed, and went
off on a cruise, and came back married to
a very nice barrister. They had two
children."
The parallel was clear enough. Lucy
said, rather uneasily: "Do you think you
ought to have said what you did about
248
Emma marrying? It seemed to upset the
brothers."
Miss Marple nodded.
"Yes," she said. "So like men -- quite
unable to see what's going on under their
eyes. I don't believe you noticed yourself."

"No," admitted Lucy. "I never thought
of anything of that kind. They both seemed
to me -- "
"So old?" said Miss Marple smiling a
little. "But Dr. Quimper isn't much over
forty, I should say, though he's going grey
on the temples, and it's obvious that he's
longing for some kind of home life, and
Emma Crackenthorpe is under forty --
not too old to marry and have a family.
The doctor's wife died quite young having
a baby, so I have heard."
"I believe she did. Emma said something
about it one day."
"He must be lonely," said Miss Marple.
"A busy hard-working doctor needs a wife
-- someone sympathetic -- not too young."
"Listen, darling," said Lucy. "Are we
investigating crime, or are we matchmaking
?"
Miss Marple twinkled.
249
"I'm afraid I am rather romantic. Because
I am an old maid, perhaps. You
know, dear Lucy, that, as far as I am
concerned, you have fulfilled your contract.
If you really want a holiday abroad before
taking up your next engagement, you
would have time still for a short trip."
"And leave Rutherford Hall? Never!
I'm the complete sleuth by now. Almost
as bad as the boys. They spend their
entire time looking for clues. They looked
all through the dustbins yesterday. Most
unsavoury -- and they hadn't really the
faintest idea what they were looking for. If they come to you in triumph. Inspector
Craddock, bearing a torn scrap of paper
with Marline -- if you value your life keep
away from the Long Barn! on it, you'll
know that I've taken pity on them and
concealed it in the pigsty!"
"Why the pigsty, dear?" asked Miss
Marple with interest. "Do they keep
pigs ?"
"Oh, no, not nowadays. It's just -- I go
there sometimes."
For some reason Lucy blushed. Miss
Marple looked at her with increased
interest.
250
"Who's at the house now?33 asked
Craddock.
"Cedric's there, and Bryan's down for
the weekend. Harold and Alfred are coming
down tomorrow. They rang up this morning.
I somehow got the impression that you
had been putting the cat among the pigeons, Inspector Craddock."
Craddock smiled.
"I shook them up a little. Asked them to
account for their movements on Friday, 20th December."
"And could they ?"
"Harold could. Alfred couldn't--or
wouldn't."
"I think alibis must be terribly difficult,"
said Lucy. "Times and places and dates.
They must be hard to check up on, too.33
"It takes time and patience -- but we
manage." He glanced at his watch. "I'll
be coming along to Rutherford Hall presently
to have a word with Cedric, but I
want to get hold of Dr. Quimper first."
"You'll be just about right. He has his
surgery at six and he's usually finished
about half past. I must get back and deal
with dinner."
"I'd like your opinion on one thing. Miss
251
Eyelesbarrow. What's the family view
about this Martine business — amongst
themselves ?"
Lucy replied promptly.
"They're all furious with Emma for
going to you about it — and with Dr.
Quimper who, it seemed, encouraged her
to do so. Harold and Alfred think it was a
try on and not genuine. Emma isn't sure.
Cedric thinks it was phoney, too, but he
doesn't take it as seriously as the other two.
Bryan, on the other hand, seems quite sure
that it's genuine."
"Why, I wonder?"
"Well, Bryan's rather like that. Just
accepts things at their face value. He thinks
it was Edmund's wife — or rather widow
— and that she had suddenly to go back to
France, but that they'll hear from her again
sometime. The fact that she hasn't written,
or anything, up to now, seems to him
to be quite natural because he never writes
letters himself. Bryan's rather sweet. Just
like a dog that wants to be taken for a
walk."
"And do you take him for a walk, dear ?"
asked Miss Marple. "To the pigsties,
perhaps ?"
252
Lucy shot a keen glance at her.
"So many gentlemen in the house, coming
and going," mused Miss Marple.
When Miss Marple uttered the word
"gentlemen" she always gave it its full
Victorian flavour -- an echo from an era
actually before her own time. You were
conscious at once of dashing full-blooded
(and 'probably whiskered) males, sometimes
wicked, but always gallant.
"You're such a handsome girl," pursued
Miss Marple, appraising Lucy. "I expect
they pay you a good deal of attention, don't
they ?"
Lucy flushed slightly. Scrappy remembrances
passed across her mind. Cedric,
leaning against the pigsty wall. Bryan
sitting disconsolately on the kitchen table.
Alfred's fingers touching hers as he helped
her collect the coffee cups.
"Gentlemen," said Miss Marple, in the
tone of one speaking of some alien and
dangerous species, "are all'very much alike
in some ways -- even if they are quite old. ..."
"Darling," cried Lucy. "A hundred
years ago you would certainly have been
burned as a witch!"

4.50 FP 9
253

And she told her story of old Mr. Crackenthorpe's conditional proposal of
marriage.
"In fact," said Lucy, "they've all made
what you might call advances to me in a
way. Harold's was very correct -- an advantageous
financial position in the City.
I don't think it's my attractive appearance
-- they must think I know something."
She laughed.
But Inspector Craddock did not laugh.
"Be careful," he said. "They might
murder you instead of making advances to
you."
"I suppose it might be simpler," Lucy
agreed.
Then she gave a slight shiver.
"One forgets," she said. "The boys have
been having such fun that one almost
thought of it all as a game. But it's not a
game."
"No," said Miss Marple. "Murder isn't
a game."
She was silent for a moment or two before
she said:
"Don't the boys go back to school
soon ?"
"Yes, next week. They go tomorrow to
254
James Stoddart-West's home for the last
few days of the holidays."
"I'm glad of that,33 said Miss Marple
gravely. "I shouldn't like anything to
happen while they're there."
"You mean to old Mr. Crackenthorpe.
Do you think he's going to be murdered
next ?"
"Oh, no," said Miss Marple. "He'll be all
right. I meant to the boys."
"To the boys ?"
"Well. to Alexander."
"But surely -- "
"Hunting about, you know -- looking
for clues. Boys love that sort of thing --
but it might be very dangerous."
Craddock looked at her thoughtfully.
"You're not prepared to believe, are you, Miss Marple, that it's a case of an unknown
woman murdered by an unknown
man ? You tie it up definitely with Rutherford
Hall ?"
"I think there's a definite connection, yes."
"All we knew about the murderer is
that he's a tall dark man. That's what your
friend says and all she can say. There are
three tall dark men at Rutherford Hall.
255
On the day of the inquest, you know, I
came out to see the three brothers standing
waiting on the pavement for the car to
draw up. They had their backs to me and
it was astonishing how, in their heavy
overcoats, they looked all alike. Three tall
dark men. And yet, actually, they're all
three quite different types." He sighed. "It makes it very difficult."
"I wonder," murmured Miss Marple. "I have been wondering -- whether it
might perhaps be all much simpler than we
suppose. Murders so often are quite simple
-- with an obvious rather sordid motive.
..."
"Do you believe in the mysterious
Martine, Miss Marple ?"
"I'm quite ready to believe that Edmund
Crackenthorpe either married, or meant
to marry, a girl called Martine. Emma
Crackenthorpe showed you his letter, I
understand, and from what I've seen of
her and from what Lucy tells me, I should
say Emma Crackenthorpe is quite incapable
of making up a thing of that kind -- indeed, why should she ?"
"So granted Martine," said Craddock
thoughtfully, "there is a motive of a kind.
256
Martinets reappearance with a son would
diminish the Crackenthorpe inheritance --
though hardly to a point, one would think, to activate murder. They're all very hard
up--"
"Even Harold ?" Lucy demanded incredulously.

"Even the prosperous-looking Harold
Crackenthorpe is not the sober and conservative
financier he appears to be. He's
been plunging heavily and mixing himself
up in some rather undesirable ventures.
A large sum of money, soon, might avoid
a crash."
"But if so -- " said Lucy, and stopped.
"Yes, Miss Eyelesbarrow -- "
"I know, dear," said Miss Marple. "The
wrong murder, that's what you mean."
"Yes. Marline's death wouldn't do
Harold -- or any of the others -- any
good. Not until -- "
"Not until Luther Crackenthorpe died.
Exactly. That occurred to me. And Mr.
Crackenthorpe, senior, I gather from his
doctor, is a much better life than any
outsider would imagine."
"He'll last for years," said Lucy. Then
she frowned.
. 257
"Yes ?" Craddock spoke encouragingly.
"He was rather ill at Christmas-time,"
said Lucy. "He said the doctor made a
lot of fuss about it — 'Anyone would have
thought I'd been poisoned by the fuss he
made.7 That's what he said.55
She looked inquiringly at Craddock.
"Yes,53 said Craddock. "That's really
what I want to ask Dr. Quimper about."
"Well, I must go," said Lucy. "Heavens,
it's late."
Miss Marple put down her knitting and
picked up The Times with a half-done
crossword puzzle.
"I wish I had a dictionary here," she
murmured. "Tontine and Tokay — I
always mix those two words up. One, I
believe, is a Hungarian wine."
"That's Tokay," said Lucy, looking back
from the door. "But one's a five-letter
word and one's a seven. What's the clue ?"
"Oh, it wasn't in the crossword," said
Miss Marple vaguely. "It was in my head."
Inspector Craddock looked at her very
hard. Then he said good-bye and went.
258
CHAPTER XVII
CRADDOCK had to wait a few
minutes whilst Quimper finished
his evening surgery, and then the
doctor came to him. He looked tired and
depressed.
He offered Craddock a drink and when
the latter accepted he mixed one for himself
as well.
"Poor devils," he said as he sank down in
a worn easy-chair. "So scared and so
stupid -- no sense. Had a painful case
this evening. Woman who ought to have
come to me a year ago. If she'd come then,
she might have been operated on successfully.
Now it's too late. Makes me mad.
The truth is people are an extraordinary
mixture of heroism and cowardice. She's
been suffering agony, and borne it without
a word, just because she was too scared to
come and find out that what she feared
might be true. At the other end of the
scale are the people who come and waste
my time because they've got a dangerous
swelling causing them agony on their little
259
finger which they think may be cancer
and which turns out to be a common or
garden chilblain! Well, don't mind me. I've
blown off steam now. What did you want
to see me about ?"
"First, I've got you to thank, I believe,
for advising Miss Crackenthorpe to come to
me with the letter that purported to be
from her brother's widow."
"Oh, that? Anything in it? I didn't
exactly advise her to come. She wanted
to. She was worried. All the dear little
brothers were trying to hold her back, of
course."
"Why should they ?"
The doctor shrugged his shoulders.
"Afraid the lady might be proved
genuine, I suppose."
"Do you think the letter was genuine ?"
"No idea. Never actually saw it. I should
say it was someone who knew the facts, just
trying to make a touch. Hoping to work on
Emma's feelings. They were dead wrong,
there. Emma's no fool. She wouldn't take
an unknown sister-in-law to her bosom
without asking a few practical questions
first."
He added with some curiosity:
260
"But why ask my views ? I've got nothing
to do with it ?"
"I really came to ask you something
quite different -- but I don't quite know
how to put it."
Dr. Quimper looked interested.
"I understand that not long ago -- at
Christmas-time, I think it was -- Mr.
Crackenthorpe had rather a bad turn of
illness."
He saw a change at once in the doctor's
face. It hardened.
"Yes."
"I gather a gastric disturbance of some
kind ?"
"Yes."
"This is difficult. . . . Mr. Crackenthorpe
was boasting of his health, saying he intended
to outlive most of his family. He
referred to you -- you'll excuse me, Doctor..."
"Oh, don't mind me. I'm not sensitive
as to what my patients say about me!"
"He spoke of you as an old fusspot."
Quimper smiled. "He said you had asked
him all sorts of questions, not only as to
what he had eaten, but as to who prepared
it and served it."
261
The doctor was not smiling now. His
face was hard again.
"Goon."
"He used some such phrase as —
'Talked as though he believed someone
had poisoned me.' "
There was a pause.
"Had you — any suspicion of that
kind ?"
Quimper did not answer at once. He got
up and walked up and down. Finally, he
wheeled round on Craddock.
"What the devil do you expect me to
say ? Do you think a doctor can go about
flinging accusations of poisoning here and
there without any real evidence ?"
"I'd just like to know, off the record, if
— that idea — did enter your head ?"
Dr. Quimper said evasively:
"Old Crackenthorpe leads a fairly frugal
life. When the family comes down, Emma
steps up the food. Result — a nasty attack
of gastro-enteritis. The symptoms were
consistent with that diagnosis."
Craddock persisted.
"I see. You were quite satisfied? You
were not at all — shall we say — puzzled ?"
"All right. All right. Yes, I was Yours
262
Truly Puzzled! Does that please you?"
"It interests me," said Craddock. "What
actually did you suspect — or fear ?33
"Gastric cases vary, of course, but there
were certain indications that would have
been, shall we say, more consistent with
arsenical poisoning than with plain gastro
enteritis. Mind you, the two things are
very much alike. Better men than myself
have failed to recognise arsenical poisoning
— and have given a certificate in all good
faith."
"And what was the result of your
inquiries ?33
"It seemed that what I suspected could
not possibly be true. Mr. Crackenthorpe
assured me that he had had similar attacks
before I attended him — and from the same
cause, he said. They had always taken place
when there was too much rich food about.33
"Which was when the house was full?
With the family ? Or guests ?33
"Yes. That seemed reasonable enough.
But frankly, Craddock, I wasn't happy.
I went so far as to write to old Dr. Morris.
He was my senior partner and retired soon
after I joined him. Crackenthorpe was his
patient originally. I asked about these
263
earlier attacks that the old man had had."
"And what response did you get ?"
Quimper grinned.
"I got a flea in the ear. I was more or less
told not to be a damned fool. Well" — he
shrugged his shoulders — "presumably I
was a damned fool."
"I wonder." Craddock was thoughtful.
Then he decided to speak frankly.
"Throwing discretion aside. Doctor,
there are people who stand to benefit pretty
considerably from Luther Crackenthorpe's
death," The doctor nodded. "He's an old
man — and a hale and hearty one. He may
live to be ninety odd ?"
"Easily. He spends his life taking care
of himself, and his constitution is sound."
"And his sons — and daughter — are all
getting on, and they are all feeling the
pinch ?"
"You leave Emma out of it. She's no
poisoner. These attacks only happen when
the others are there — not when she and
he are alone."
"An elementary precaution — if she's
the one," the inspector thought, but was
careful not to say aloud.
He paused, choosing his words carefully.
264
"Surely -- I'm ignorant in these matters
-- but supposing just as a hypothesis that
arsenic was administered -- hasn't Crackenthorpe
been very lucky not to succumb ?"
"Now there," said the doctor, "you have got something odd. It is exactly that fact
that leads me to believe that I have been, as old Morris puts it, a damned fool. You
see, it's obviously not a case of small doses
of arsenic administered regularly -- which
is what you might call the classic method
of arsenic poisoning. Crackenthorpe has
never had any chronic gastric trouble. In
a way, that's what makes these sudden
violent attacks seem unlikely. So, assuming
they are not due to natural causes, it looks
as though the poisoner is muffing it every
time -- which hardly makes sense."
"Giving an inadequate dose, you mean ?"
"Yes. On the other hand, Crackenthorpe's
got a strong constitution and what
might do in another man, doesn't do him
in. There's always personal idiosyncrasy
to be reckoned with. But you'd think that
by now the poisoner -- unless he's unusually
timid -- would have stepped up the
dose. Why hasn't he ?
"That is," he added, "if there is a pois-
265
oner which there probably isn't! Probably
all my ruddy imagination from start to
finish."
"It's an odd problem," the inspector
agreed. "It doesn't seem to make sense."
ii
"Inspector Craddock!"
The eager whisper made the inspector
jump.
He had been just on the point of ringing
the front-door bell.
Alexander and his friend Stoddart-West
emerged cautiously from the shadows.
"We heard your car, and we wanted to
get hold of you."
"Well, let's go inside." Craddock's
hand went out to the door bell again, but
Alexander pulled at his coat with the
eagerness of a pawing dog.
"We've found a clue," he breathed.
"Yes, we've found a clue," StoddartWest
echoed.
"Damn that girl," thought Craddock
unamiably.
"Splendid," he said in a perfunctory
manner. "Let's go inside the house and
look at it."
266
"No." Alexander was insistent. "Someone's
sure to interrupt. Come to the
harness room. We'll guide you."
Somewhat unwillingly, Craddock allowed
himself to be guided round the
corner of the house and along to the stable
yard. Stoddart-West pushed open a heavy
door, stretched up, and turned on a rather
feeble electric light. The harness room, once the acme of Victorian spit and polish, was now the sad repository of everything
that no one wanted. Broken garden chairs, rusted old garden implements, a vast
decrepit mowing-machine, rusted spring
mattresses, hammocks, and disintegrated
tennis nets.
"We come here a good deal," said Alexander.
"One can really be private here."
There were certain tokens of occupancy
about. The decayed mattresses had been
piled up to make a kind of divan, there
was an old rusted table on which reposed
a large tin of chocolate biscuits, there was
a hoard of apples, a tin of toffee, and a jigsaw
puzzle.
"It really is a clue, sir," said StoddartWest
eagerly, his eyes gleaming behind his
spectacles. "We found it this afternoon."
267
"We've been hunting for days. In the
bushes — "
"And inside hollow trees — "
"And we went .all through the ash
bins — "
"There were some jolly interesting
things there, as a matter of fact — "
"And then we went into the boiler
house — "
"Old Hillman keeps a great galvanised
tub there full of waste paper — 35
"For when the boiler goes out and he
wants to start it again — "
"Any odd paper that's blowing about.
He picks it up and shoves it in there — "
"And that's where we found it — "
"Found what?" Craddock interrupted
the duet.
"The clue. Careful, Stodders, get your
gloves on."
Importantly, Stoddart-West, in the best
detective story tradition, drew on a pair
of rather dirty gloves and took from his
pocket a Kodak photographic folder. From
this he extracted in his gloved fingers with
the utmost care a soiled and crumpled
envelope which he handed importantly to
the inspector.
268
Both boys held their breath in excitement.

Craddock took it with due solemnity.
He liked the boys and he was ready to enter
into the spirit of the thing.
The letter had been through the post, there was no enclosure inside, it was just a
torn envelope -- addressed to Mrs. Martine
Crackenthorpe, 126 Elvers Crescent, N.io.
"You see ?" said Alexander breathlessly. "It shows she was here -- Uncle Edmund's French wife, I mean -- the one there's all
the fuss about. She must have actually been
here and dropped it somewhere. So it
looks, doesn't it -- "
Stoddart-West broke in:
"It looks as though she was the one who
got murdered -- I mean, don't you think, sir, that it simply must have been her in
the sarcophagus ?"
They waited anxiously.
Craddock played up.
"Possible, very possible," he said.
"This is important, isn't it P"
"You'll test it for fingerprints, won't you, sir ?»
"Of course," said Craddock.
269
Stoddart-West gave a deep sigh.
"Smashing luck for us, wasn't it?" he
said. "On our last day, too."
"Last day ?"
"Yes," said Alexander. "I'm going to
Stodders' place tomorrow for the last few
days of the holidays. Stodders' people have
got a smashing house -- Queen Anne, isn't
it?"
"William and Mary," said Stoddart-West.
"I thought your mother said -- "
"Mum's French. She doesn't really know
about English architecture."
"But your father said it was built -- "
Craddock was examining the envelope.
Clever of Lucy Eyelesbarrow. How had
she managed to fake the post mark ? He
peered closely, but the light was too feeble.
Great fun for the boys, of course, but
rather awkward for him. Lucy, drat her, hadn't considered that angle. If this were
genuine, it would enforce a course of
action. There . . .
Beside him a learned architectual argument
was being hotly pursued. He was
deaf to it.
"Come on, boys," he said, "we'll go
into the house. You've been very helpful."
270
CHAPTER XVIII
CRADDOCK was escorted by the
boys through the back door into the
house. This was, it seemed, their
common mode of entrance. The kitchen
was bright and cheerful. Lucy, in a large
white apron, was rolling out pastry. Leaning
against the dresser, watching her with
a kind of dog-like attention, was Bryan
Eastley. With one hand he tugged at his
large fair moustache.
"Hallo, Dad,53 said Alexander kindly. "You out here again ?"
"I like it out here," said Bryan, and
added: "Miss Eyelesbarrow doesn't mind."
"Oh, I don't mind," said Lucy. "Goodevening,
Inspector Craddock."
"Coming to detect in the kitchen?"
asked Bryan with interest.
"Not exactly. Mr. Cedric Crackenthorpe
is still here, isn't he ?"
"Oh, yes, Cedric's here. Do you want
him ?"
"I'd like a word with him--yes,
please."
271
"I'll go and see if he's in," said Bryan.
"He may have gone round to the local." He unpropped himself from the dresser.
"Thank you so much," said Lucy to
him. "My hands are all over flour or I'd
go.55
"What are you making?" asked Stoddart-West
anxiously.
"Peach flan."
"Good-oh," said Stoddart-West.
"Is it nearly supper-time ?" asked Alexander.

"No."
"Gosh! I'm terribly hungry."
"There's the end of the ginger cake in the
larder."
The boys made a concerted rush and
collided in the door.
"They're just like locusts," said Lucy.
"My congratulations to you," said Craddock.
"What
on -- exactly ?"
"Your ingenuity -- over this!"
"Over what ?"
Craddock indicated the folder containing
the letter.
"Very nicely done," he said.
"What are you talking about ?"
272
"This, my dear girl—this." He halfdrew
it out.
She stared at him uncomprehendingly.
Craddock felt suddenly dizzy.
"Didn't you fake this clue — and put
it in the boiler room for the boys to find ?
Quick—tell me.'5
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're
talking about," said Lucy. "Do you mean
that — ?"
Craddock slipped the folder quickly
back in his pocket as Bryan returned.
"Cedric's in the library," he said. "Go
on in."
He resumed his place on the dresser.
Inspector Craddock went to the library.
ll
Cedric Crackenthorpe seemed delighted
to see the inspector.
"Doing a spot more sleuthing down
here ?" he asked. "Got any further ?"
"I think I can say we are a little further
on, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
"Found out who the corpse was ?"
"We've not got a definite identification,
but we have a fairly shrewd idea."
"Good for you."
273
"Arising out of our latest information, we want to get a few statements. I'm starting
with you, Mr. Crackenthorpe, as you're
on the spot."
"I shan't be much longer. I'm going
back to Iviza in a day or two."
"Then I seem to be just in time."
"Go ahead."
"I should like a detailed account, please, of exactly where you were and what you
were doing on Friday, 20th December."
Cedric shot a quick glance at him. Then
he leaned back, yawned, assumed an air
of great nonchalance, and appeared to be
lost in the effort of remembrance.
"Well, as I've already told you, I was in
Iviza. Trouble is, one day there is so like
another. Painting in the morning, siesta
from three p.m. to five. Perhaps a spot of
sketching if the light's suitable. Then an
aperitif, sometimes with the Mayor, sometimes
with the doctor, at the cafe in the
Piazza. After that some kind of a scratch
meal. Most of the evening in Scotty's Bar
with some of my lower-class friends. Will
that do you ?"
"I'd rather have the truth, Mr. Crackenthorpe."

274
Cedric sat up.
"That's a most offensive remark. Inspector.53

"Do you think so? You told me, Mr.
Crackenthorpe, that you left Iviza on 2ist
December and arrived in England that same
day ?"
"SoIdid.Em!Hi,Em?"
Emma Crackenthorpe came through the
adjoining door from the small morningroom.
She looked inquiringly from Cedric
to the inspector.
"Look here, Em. I arrived here for
Christmas on the Saturday before, didn't
I ? Came straight from the airport ?"
"Yes," said Emma wonderingly. "You
got here about lunch time."
"There you are," said Cedric to the
inspector.
"You must think us very foolish, Mr,
Crackenthorpe," said Craddock pleasantly. "We can check on these things, you know.
I think, if you'll show me your passport
-- "
He paused expectantly.
"Can't find the damned thing," said
Cedric. "Was looking for it this morning.
Wanted to send it to Cook's."
275
"I think you could find it, Mr. Crackenthorpe.
But it's not really necessary. The
records show that you actually entered this
country on the evening of i9th December.
Perhaps you will now account to me for
your movements between that time until
lunch-time on 2ist December when you
arrived here."
Cedric looked very cross indeed.
"That's the hell of life nowadays," he
said angrily. "All this red tape and formfilling.
That's what comes of a bureaucratic
state. Can't go where you like and do as you
please any more! Somebody's always asking
questions. What's all this fuss about the
20th, anyway? What's special about the
20th ?"
"It happens to be the day we believe the
murder was committed. You can refuse to
answer, of course, but -- "
"Who says I refuse to answer? Give a
chap time. And you were vague enough
about the date of the murder at the inquest.
What's turned up new since then ?"
Craddock did not reply.
Cedric said, with a sidelong glance at
Emma:
"Shall we go into the other room ?"
276
Emma said quickly: "I'll leave you." At the door, she paused and turned.
"This is serious, you know, Cedric. If
the 20th was the day of the murder, then
you must tell Inspector Craddock exactly
what you were doing."
She went through into the next room and
closed the door behind her.
"Good old Em," said Cedric. "Well,
here goes. Yes, I left Iviza on the i9th all
right. Planned to break the journey in
Paris, and spend a couple of days routing
up some old friends on the left Bank. But, as a matter of fact, there was a very attractive
woman on the plane. . . . Quite a
dish. To put it plainly, she and I got off
together. She was on her way to the States, had to spend a couple of nights in London
to see about some business or other. We
got to London on the i9th. We stayed at the
Kingsway Palace in case your spies haven't
found that out yet! Called myself John
Brown -- never does to use your own name
on these occasions."
"And on the 20th?"
Cedric made a grimace.
"Morning pretty well occupied by a
terrific hangover."
277
"And the afternoon. From three o'clock
onwards ?"
"Let me see. Well, I mooned about, as
you might say. Went into the National
Gallery--that's respectable enough. Saw
a film. Rowenna of the Range. I've always
had a passion for Westerns. This was a
corker. . . . Then a drink or two in the bar
and a bit of a sleep in my room, and out
about ten o'clock with the girl-friend and a
round of various hot spots--can't even
remember most of their names -- Jumping
Frog was one, I think. She knew 'em all.
Got pretty well plastered and, to tell you
the truth, don't remember much more till
I woke up the next morning -- with an
even worse hangover. Girl-friend hopped
off to catch her plane and I poured cold
water over my head, got a chemist to
give me a devil's brew, and then started
off for this place, pretending I'd just
arrived at Heathrow. No need to upset
Emma, I thought. You know what
women are -- always hurt if you don't
come straight home. I had to borrow
money from her to pay the taxi. I was
completely cleaned out. No use asking
the old man. He'd never cough
278
up. Mean old brute. Well, Inspector, satisfied ?"
"Can any of this be substantiated, Mr. Crackenthorpe ? Say, between 3 p.m. and
7 p.m."
"Most unlikely, I should think," said
Cedric cheerfully. "National Gallery where
the attendants look at you with lacklustre
eyes and a crowded picture house. No, not
likely."
Emma re-entered. She held a small
engagement book in her hand.
"You want to know what everyone was
doing on 20th December, is that right, Inspector Craddock ?"
"Well -- er -- yes. Miss Crackenthorpe."

"I have just been looking in my engagement
book. On the 20th I went into
Brackhampton to attend a meeting of the
Church Restoration Fund. That finished
about a quarter to one and I lunched with
Lady Adington and Miss Bartlett who were
also on the Committee, at the Cadena
Cafe. After lunch I did some shopping, stores for Christmas, and also Christmas
presents. I went to Greenford's and Lyall
and Swift's, Boots', and probably several
279
other shops. I had tea about a quarter to
five in the Shamrock Tea Rooms and then
went to the station to meet Bryan who was
coming by train. I got home about six
o'clock and found my father in a very bad
temper. I had left lunch ready for him, but
Mrs. Hart who was to come in in the afternoon
and give him his tea had not arrived.
He was so angry that he had shut himself in
his room and would not let me in or speak
to me. He does not like my going out in
the afternoon, but I make a point of doing
so now and then."
"You're probably wise. Thank you. Miss
Crackenthorpe."
He could hardly tell her that as she was a
woman, height five foot seven, her movements
that afternoon were of no great
importance. Instead he said:
"I'our other two brothers came down
later, I understand ?"
"Alfred came down late on Saturday
evening. He tells me he tried to ring me on
the telephone the afternoon I was out --
but my father, if he is upset, will never
answer the telephone. My brother Harold
did not come down until Christmas Eve."
"Thank you. Miss Crackenthorpe."
280
"I suppose I mustn't ask55 -- she hesitated
-- "what has come up new that
prompts these inquiries ?"
Craddock took the folder from his
pocket. Using the tips of his fingers, he
extracted the envelope.
"Don't touch it, please, but do you
recognise this ?"
"But ..." Emma stared at him, bewildered,
"That's my handwriting. That's the
letter I wrote to Martine."
"I thought it might be.55
"But how did you get it ? Did she -- ?
Have you found her ?"
"It would seem possible that we have --
found her. This empty envelope was found here."
"In the house?"
"In the grounds."
"Then -- she did come here! She . . .
You mean -- it was Martine there -- in the
sarcophagus ?"
"It would seem very likely. Miss
Crackenthorpe," said Craddock gently.
It seemed even more likely when he got
back to town. A message was awaiting him
from Armand Dessin.
281
"One of the girl-friends has had a postcard
from Anna Stravinska. Apparently the
cruise story was true! She has reached
Jamaica and is having, in your phrase, a
wonderful time /"
Craddock crumpled up the message and
threw it into the wastepaper basket.
in
"I must say," said Alexander, sitting up in
bed, thoughtfully consuming a chocolate
bar, "that this has been the most smashing
day ever. Actually finding a real clue\^
His voice was awed.
"In fact the whole holidays have been
smashing," he added happily. "I don't
suppose such a thing will ever happen
again."
"I hope it won't happen again to me,"
said Lucy who was on her knees packing
Alexander's clothes into a suitcase. "Do you
want all this space fiction with you ?"
"Not those two top ones. I've read them.
The football and my football boots, and
the gum-boots can go separately."
"What difficult things you boys do travel
with."
"It won't matter. They're sending the
282
Rolls for us. They've got a smashing Rolls.
They've got one of the new MercedesBenzestoo."

"They must be rich."
"Rolling! Jolly nice, too. All the same, I rather wish we weren't leaving here.
Another body might turn up."
"I sincerely hope not."
"Well, it often does in books. I mean
somebody who's seen something or heard
something gets done in, too. It might be
you," he added, unrolling a second chocolate
bar.
"Thank you!"
"I don't want it to be you," Alexander
assured her. "I like you very much and so
does Stodders. We think you're out of this
world as a cook. Absolutely lovely grub.
You're very sensible, too."
This last was clearly an expression of
high approval. Lucy took it as such, and
said: "Thank you. But I don't intend to
get killed just to please you."
"Well, you'd better be careful, then,"
Alexander told her.
He paused to consume more nourishment
and then said in a slightly offhand
voice:
283
"If Dad turns up from time to time,
you'll look after him, won't you ?"
"Yes, of course," said Lucy, a little
surprised.
"The trouble with Dad is," Alexander
informed her, "that London life doesn't
suit him. He gets in, you know, with quite
the wrong type of women." He shook his
head in a worried manner.
"I'm very fond of him," he added, "but
he needs someone to look after him. He
drifts about and gets in with the wrong
people. It's a great pity Mum died when
she did. Bryan needs a proper home life."
He looked solemnly at Lucy and reached
out for another chocolate bar.
"Not a fourth one, Alexander," Lucy
pleaded. "You'll be sick."
"Oh, I don't think so. I ate six running
once and I wasn't. I'm not the bilious
type." He paused and then said:
"Bryan likes you, you know."
"That's very nice of him."
"He's a bit of an ass in some ways," said
Bryan's son, "but he was a jolly good
fighter pilot. He's awfully brave. And he's
awfully good-natured."
He paused. Then, averting his eyes to
284
the ceiling, he said rather self-consciously:
"I think, really, you know, it would be a
good thing if he married again. . . . Somebody
decent. ... I shouldn't, myself, mind
at all having a stepmother . . . not, I mean, if she was a decent sort. ..."
With a sense of shock Lucy realised that
there was a definite point in Alexander's
conversation.
"All this stepmother bosh," went on
Alexander, still addressing the ceiling, "is
really quite out of date. Lots of chaps
Stodders and I know have stepmothers --
divorce and all that -- and they get on
quite well together. Depends on the stepmother, of course. And, of course, it does
make a bit of confusion taking you out and
on Sports Day, and all that. I mean if
there are two sets of parents. Though again
it helps if you want to cash in!" He paused,
confronted with the problems of modern
life. "It's nicest to have your own home and your own parents -- but if your mother's
dead -- well, you see what I mean ? If she's
a decent sort," said Alexander for the
third time.
Lucy felt touched.
"I thinkyou're very sensible, Alexander,"
4.50 FP 10 285
she said. "We must try and find a nice wife
for your father."
"Yes," said Alexander noncommittally.
He added in an offhand manner:
"I thought I'd just mention it. Bryan
likes you very much. He told me so. . . ."
"Really," thought Lucy to herself.
"There's too much match-making round
here. First Miss Marple and now Alexander!"

For some reason or other, pigsties came
into her mind.
She stood up.
"Good-night, Alexander. There will be
only your washing things and pyjamas to
put in in the morning. Goodnight."
"Good-night," said Alexander. He slid
down in bed, laid his head on the pillow,
closed his eyes, giving a perfect picture of a
sleeping angel, and was immediately
asleep.
286
CHAPTER XIX
cc^^ TOT what you'd call conclusive,"
j^L said Sergeant Wetherall with his
1. ^1 usual gloom.
Craddock was reading through the report
on Harold Crackenthorpe's alibi for 20th
December.
He had been noticed at Sotheby's about
three-thirty, but was thought to have left
shortly after that. His photograph had not
been recognised at Russell's teashop, but
as they did a busy trade there at teatime,
and he was not an habitue, that was hardly
surprising. His manservant confirmed that
he had returned to Cardigan Gardens to
dress for his dinner-party at a quarter to
seven — rather late, since the dinner was at
seven-thirty, and Mr. Crackenthorpe had
been somewhat irritable in consequence.
Did not remember hearing him come in
that evening, but, as it was some time ago,
could not remember accurately and, in any
case, he frequently did not hear Mr.
Crackenthorpe come in. He and his wife
liked to retire early whenever they could.
287
The garage in the mews where Harold kept
his car was a private lock-up that he rented
and there was no one to notice who came or
went or any reason to remember one evening
in particular.
"All negative," said Craddock, with a
sigh.
"He was at the Caterers' Dinner all
right, but left rather early before the end of
the speeches."
"What about the railway stations ?"
But there was nothing there, either at
Brackhampton or at Paddington. It was
nearly four weeks ago, and it was highly
unlikely that anything would have been
remembered.
Craddock sighed, and stretched out his
hand for the data on Cedric. That again was negative, though a taxi-driver had made a
doubtful recognition of having taken a fare
to Paddington that day some time in the
afternoon "what looked something like
that bloke. Dirty trousers and a shock of
hair. Cussed and swore a bit because fare
had gone up since he was last in England".
He identified the day because a horse called
Crawler had won the two-thirty and he'd
had a tidy bit on. Just after dropping the
288
gent, he'd heard it on the radio in his
cab and had gone home forthwith to celebrate.

"Thank God for racing!" said Craddock, and put the report aside.
"And here's Alfred," said Sergeant
Wetherall.
Some nuance in his voice made Craddock
look up sharply. Wetherall had the pleased
appearance of a man who has kept a titbit
until the end.
In the main the check was unsatisfactory.
Alfred lived alone in his flat and came and
went at unspecified times. His neighbours
were not the inquisitive kind and were in
any case office workers who were out all
day. But towards the end of the report, Wetherall's large finger indicated the final
paragraph.
Sergeant Leakie, assigned to a case of
thefts from lorries, had been at the Load of
Bricks, a lorry pull-up on the WaddingtonBrackhampton
Road, keeping certain lorry
drivers under observation. He had noticed
at an adjoining table. Chick Evans, one of
the Dicky Rogers mob. With him had been
Alfred Crackenthorpe whom he knew by
sight, having seen him give evidence in the
289
Dicky Rogers case. He'd wondered What
they were cooking up together. Time, 9-30 p.m., Friday, 20th December. Alfred
Crackenthorpe had boarded a bus a few
minutes later, going in the direction of
Brackhampton. William Baker, ticket collector
at Brackhampton station, had clipped
ticket of gentleman whom he recognised by
sight as one of Miss Crackenthorpe's
brothers, just before departure of elevenfifty-five
train for Paddington. Remembers
day as there had been story of some batty
old lady who swore she had seen somebody
murdered in a train that afternoon.
"Alfred ?" said Craddock as he laid the
report down. "Alfred ? I wonder."
"Puts him right on the spot, there,"
Wetherall pointed out.
Craddock nodded. Yes, Alfred could
have travelled down by the 4.33 to Brackhampton
committing murder on the way.
Then he could have gone out by bus to the
Load of Bricks. He could have left there at
nine-thirty and would have had plenty of
time to go to Rutherford Hall, move the
body from the embankment to the sarcopagus,
and get into Brackhampton in
time to catch the 11.55 back to London. One
290
of the Dicky Rogers gang might even have
helped him move the body, though Craddock
doubted this. An unpleasant lot, but
not killers.
"Alfred ?" he repeated speculatively.
ll
At Rutherford Hall there had been a
gathering of the Crackenthorpe family.
Harold and Alfred had come down from
London and very soon voices were raised
and tempers were running high.
On her own initiative, Lucy mixed cocktails
in a jug with ice and took them towards
the library. The voices sounded clearly in
the hall, and indicated that a good deal of
acrimony was being directed towards
Emma.
"Entirely your fault, Emma." Harold's
deep bass voice rang out angrily. "How
you could be so short-sighted and foolish
beats me. If you hadn't taken that letter to
Scotland Yard -- and started all this -- "
Alfred's higher-pitched voice said: "You
must have been out of your senses!"
"Now don't bully her," said Cedric.
"What's done is done. Much more fishy if
they'd identified the woman as the missing
291
Martine and we'd all kept mum about
having heard from her."
"It's all very well for you, Cedric," said
Harold angrily. "You were out of the
country on the 20th which seems to be the
day they are inquiring about. But it's very
embarrassing for Alfred and myself. Fortunately, / can remember where I was that
afternoon and what I was doing."
"I bet you can," said Alfred. "If you'd
arranged a murder, Harold, you'd arrange
your alibi very carefully, I'm sure."
"I gather you are not so fortunate," said
Harold coldly.
"That depends," said Alfred. "Anything's
better than presenting a cast-iron
alibi to the police if it isn't really cast iron.
They're so clever at breaking these things
down."
"If you are insinuating that I killed the
woman -- "
"Oh, do stop, all of you," cried Emma.
"Of course none of you killed the woman."
"And just for your information, I wasn't out of England on the 20th," said Cedric. "And the police are wise to it! So we're all
under suspicion."
"If it hadn't been for Emma -- "
292
"Oh, don't begin again, Harold," cried
Emma.
Dr. Quimper came out of the study
where he had been closeted with old Mr.
Crackenthorpe. His eye fell on the jug in
Lucy's hand.
"What's this ? A celebration ?"
"More in the nature of oil on troubled
waters. They're at it hammer and tongs in
there."
"Recriminations ?"
"Mostly abusing Emma."
Dr. Quimper's eyebrows rose.
"Indeed ?" He took the jug from Lucy's
hand, opened the library door and went in.
"Good-evening."
"Ah, Dr. Quimper, I should like a word
with you." It was Harold's voice, raised and
irritable. "I should like to know what you
meant by interfering in a private and
family matter, and telling my sister to go to
Scotland Yard about it."
Dr. Quimper said calmly:
"Miss Crackenthorpe asked my advice.
I gave it to her. In my opinion, she did
perfectly right."
"You dare to say — "
"Girl!"
293
It was old Mr. Crackenthorpe's familiar
salutation. He was peering out of the study
door just behind Lucy.
Lucy turned rather reluctantly.
"Yes, Mr. Crackenthorpe ?"
"What are you giving us for dinner tonight
? I want curry. You make a very good
curry. It's ages since we've had curry."
"The boys don't care much for curry, you see."
"The boys -- the boys. What do the
boys matter? I'm the one who matters.
And, anyway, the boys have gone -- good
riddance. I want a nice hot curry, do you
hear ?"
"All right, Mr. Crackenthorpe, you shall
have it."
"That's right. You're a good girl, Lucy.
You look after me, and I'll look after you."
Lucy went back to the kitchen. Abandoning
the fricassee of chicken which she had
planned, she began to assemble the preparations
for curry. The front door banged and
from the window she saw Dr. Quimper
stride angrily from the house to his car and
drive away.
Lucy sighed. She missed the boys. And
in a way she missed Bryan, too.
294
Oh, well. She sat down and began to
peel mushrooms.
At any rate, she'd give the family a
rattling good dinner.
Feed the brutes!
in
It was 3 a.m. when Dr. Quimper drove his
car into the garage, closed the doors and
came in pulling the front door behind him
rather wearily. Well, Mrs. Josh Simpkins
had a fine healthy pair of twins to add to
her present family of eight. Mr. Simpkins
had expressed no elation over the arrival. Twins," he had said gloomily. "What's
the good of they ? Quads now, they're good
for something. All sorts of things you get
sent, and the Press comes round and
there's pictures in the paper and they do
say as Her Majesty sends you a telegram.
But what's twins except two mouths to
feed instead of one ? Never been twins in
our family, nor in the missus's either.
Don't seem fair, somehow."
Dr. Quimper walked upstairs to his bedroom
and started throwing off his clothes.
He glanced at his watch. Five minutes past
three. It had proved an unexpectedly tricky
295
business bringing those twins into the
world, but all had gone well. He yawned.
He was tired -- very tired. He looked
appreciatively at his bed.
Then the telephone rang.
Dr. Quimper swore, and picked up the
receiver.
"Dr. Quimper ?"
"Speaking."
"This is Lucy Eyelesbarrow from
Rutherford Hall. I think you'd better come
over. Everybody seems to have been taken
ill."
"Taken ill ? How ? What symptoms ?"
Lucy detailed them.
"I'll be over straight away. In the meantime
..." He gave her short sharp instructions.

Then he quickly resumed his clothes, flung a few extra things into his emergency
bag, and hurried down to his car.
IV
It was some three hours later when the
doctor and Lucy, both of them somewhat
exhausted, sat down by the kitchen table
to drink large cups of black coffee.
"Ha," Dr. Quimper drained his cup, set
296
it down with a clatter on the saucer. "I
needed that. Now, Miss Eyelesbarrow, let's get down to brass tacks."
Lucy looked at him. The lines of fatigue
showed clearly on his face making him look
older than his forty-four years, the dark
hair on his temples was necked with grey, and there were lines under his eyes.
"As far as I can judge," said the doctor,
"they'll be all right now. But how come ?
That's what I want to know. Who cooked
the dinner ?"
(c! did," said Lucy.
"And what was it ? In detail."
"Mushroom soup. Curried chicken and
rice. Syllabubs. A savoury of chicken
livers in bacon."
"Canapes Dianey" said Dr. Quimper
unexpectedly.
Lucy smiled faintly.
"Yes, Canapes Diane."
"All right -- let's go through it. Mushroom
soup -- out of a tin, I suppose ?"
"Certainly not. I made it."
"You made it. Out of what ?"
"Half a pound of mushrooms, chicken
stock, milk, a roux of butter and flour, and
lemon juice."
297
"Ah. And one's supposed to say 'It must
have been the mushrooms.5 "
"It wasn't the mushrooms. I had some
of the soup myself and I'm quite all right."
"Yes, you're quite all right. I hadn't forgotten
that."
Lucy flushed.
"If you mean-- "
"I don't mean. You're a highly intelligent
girl. You'd be groaning upstairs, too, if I'd
meant what you thought I meant. Anyway, I know all about you. I've taken the trouble
to find out."
"Why on earth did you do that ?"
Dr. Quimper's lips were set in a grim
line.
"Because I'm making it my business to
find out about the people who come here
and settle themselves in. You're a bona ride young woman who does this particular job
for a livelihood, and you seem never to have
had any contact with the Crackenthorpe
family previous to coming here. So you're
not a girl-friend of either Cedric, Harold, or
Alfred -- helping them to do a bit of dirty
work."
"Do you really think -- ?"
"I think quite a lot of things," said
298
Quimper. "But I have to be careful. That's
the worst of being a doctor. Now let's get
on. Curried chicken. Did you have some
of that?"
"No. When you've cooked a curry, you've dined off the smell, I find. I tasted
it, of course. I had soup and some syllabub."

"How did you serve the syllabub ?"
"In individual glasses.35
"Now, then, how much of all this is
cleared up ?"
"If you mean washing up, everything
was washed up and put away."
Dr. Quimper groaned.
"There's such a thing as being overzealous,"
he said.
"Yes, I can see that, as things have
turned out, but there it is, I'm afraid."
"What do you have still ?"
"There's some of the curry left -- in a
bowl in the larder. I was planning to use it
as a basis for mulligatawny soup this evening.
There's some mushroom soup left, too. No syllabub and none of the savoury."
"I'll take the curry and the soup. What
about the chutney ? Did they have chutney
with it?"
299
"Yes. On one of those stone jars."
"I'll have some of that, too."
He rose. "I'll go up and have a look at
them again. After that, can you hold the
fort until morning ? Keep an eye on them
all? I can have a nurse round, with full
instructions, by eight o'clock."
"I wish you'd tell me straight out. Do
you think it's food poisoning — or — or —
well, poisoning."
"I've told you already. Doctors can't
think — they have to be sure. If there's a
positive result from these food specimens
I can go ahead. Otherwise — "
"Otherwise ?" Lucy repeated.
Dr. Quimper laid a hand on her
shoulder.
"Look after two people in particular," he
said. "Look after Emma. I'm not going to
have anything happen to Emma...."
There was emotion in his voice that
could not be disguised. "She's not even
begun to live yet," he said. "And you
know, people like Emma Crackenthorpe
are the salt of the earth. . . . Emma — well,
Emma means a lot to me. I've never told
her so, but I shall. Look after Emma."
"You bet I will," said Lucy.
300
"And look after the old man. I can't say
that he's ever been my favourite patient,
but he is my patient, and I'm damned if I'm
going to let him be hustled out of the
world because one or other of his ununpleasant
sons -- or all three of them, maybe -- want him out of the way so that
they can handle his money."
He threw her a sudden quizzical glance.
"There," he said. "I've opened my
mouth too wide. But keep your eyes skinned, there's a good girl, and, incidentally, keep your mouth shut."
v
Inspector Bacon was looking upset.
"Arsenic ?" he said. "Arsenic ?"
"Yes. It was in the curry. Here's the rest
of the curry -- for your fellow to have a go
at. I've only done a very rough test on a
little of it, but the result was quite definite."
"So there's a poisoner at work ?"
"It would seem so," said Dr. Quimper
dryly.
"And they're all affected, you say --
except that Miss Eyelesbarrow."
"Except Miss Eyelesbarrow."
"Looks a bit fishy for her...."
301
"What motive could she possibly have ?"
"Might be barmy," suggested Bacon.
"Seem all right, they do, sometimes, and
yet all the time they're right off their
rocker, so to speak."
"Miss Eyelesbarrow isn't off her rocker.
Speaking as a medical man. Miss Eyelesbarrow
is as sane as you or I are. If Miss
Eyelesbarrow is feeding the family arsenic
in their curry, she's doing it for a reason.
Moreover, being a highly intelligent young
woman, she'd be careful not to be the only
one unaffected. What she'd do, what any
intelligent poisoner would do, would be to
eat a very little of the poisoned curry, and
then exaggerate the symptoms."
"And then you wouldn't be able to tell ?"
"That she'd had less than the others?
Probably not. People don't all react alike
to poisons anyway — the same amount
will upset some people more than others.
Of course," added Dr. Quimper cheerfully,
"once the patient's dead, you can estimate
fairly closely how much was taken."
"Then it might be ..." Inspector Bacon
paused to consolidate his ideas. "It might
be that there's one of the family now
who's making more fuss than he need —
302
someone who you might say is mucking in
with the rest so as to avoid arousing suspicion
? How's that ?"
"The idea has already occurred to me.
That's why I'm reporting to you. It's in
your hands now. I've got a nurse on the
job that I can trust, but she can't be everywhere
at once. In my opinion, nobody's
had enough to cause death."
"Made a mistake, the poisoner did ?"
"No. It seems to me more likely that the
idea was to put enough in the curry to
cause signs of food poisoning -- for which
probably the mushrooms would be blamed.
People are always obsessed with the idea of
mushroom-poisoning. Then one person would probably take a turn for the worse
and die."
"Because he'd been given a second
dose ?"
The doctor nodded.
"That's why I'm reporting to you at
once, and why I've put a special nurse on
the job."
"She knows about the arsenic ?"
"Of course. She knows and so does Miss
Eyelesbarrow. You know your own job
best, of course, but if I were you, I'd get
303
out there and make it quite clear to them
all that they're suffering from arsenic
poisoning. That will probably put the fear
of the Lord into our murderer and he
won't dare to carry out his plan. He's
probably been banking on the food-poisoning
theory."
The telephone rang on the inspector's
desk. He picked it up and said:
"O.K. Put her through." He said to
Quimper, "It's your nurse on the phone.
Yes, hallo -- speaking. . . . What's that ?
Serious relapse.... Yes.. .. Dr. Quimper's
with me now. ... If you'd like a word with
him..."
He handed the receiver to the doctor.
"Quimper speaking ... I see.... Yes.... Quite right. . . . Yes, carry on with that.
We'll be along."
He put the receiver down and turned to
Bacon.
"Who is it?"
"It's Alfred," said Dr. Quimper. "And
he's dead."
304
CHAPTER XX
OVER the telephone, Craddock's
voice came in sharp disbelief.
"Alfred ?55 he said. "Alfred ?55
Inspector Bacon, shifting the telephone
receiver a little, said: "You didn't expect
that ?55
"No, indeed. As a matter of fact, I'd just
got him taped for the murderer!"
"I heard about him being spotted by the
ticket collector. Looked bad for him all
right. Yes, looked as though we'd got our
man."
"Well,55 said Craddock flatly, "we
were wrong.53
There was a moment's silence. Then
Craddock asked:
"There was a nurse in charge. How did
she come to slip up ?55
"Can't blame her. Miss Eyelesbarrow
was all in and went to get a bit of sleep. The
nurse had got five patients on her hands,
the old man, Emma, Cedric, Harold and
Alfred. She couldn't be everywhere at
once. It seems old Mr. Crackenthorpe
305
started creating in a big way. Said he was
dying. She went in, got him soothed down, came back again and took Alfred in some
tea with glucose. He drank it and that was
that."
"Arsenic again ?"
"Seems so. Of course it could have been
a relapse, but Quimper doesn't think so and
Johnson agrees."
"I suppose," said Craddock, doubtfully, "that Alfred was meant to be the victim?"

Bacon sounded interested. "You mean
that whereas Alfred's death wouldn't do
anyone a penn'orth of good, the old man's
death would benefit the lot of them? I
suppose it might have been a mistake --
somebody might have thought the tea was
intended for the old man."
"Are they sure that that's the way the
stuff was administered ?"
"No, of course they aren't sure. The
nurse, like a good nurse, washed up the
whole contraption. Cups, spoons, teapot --
everything. But it seems the only feasible
method."
"Meaning," said Craddock thoughtfully,
"that one of the patients wasn't as ill
306
as the others ? Saw his chance and doped
the cup ?"
"Well, there won't be any more funny
business," said Inspector Bacon grimly. "We've got two nurses on the job now, to
say nothing of Miss Eyelesbarrow, and
I've got a couple of men there too. You
coming down ?"
"As fast as I can make it!"
ii
Lucy Eyelesbarrow came across the hall to
meet Inspector Craddock. She looked pale
and drawn.
"You've been having a bad time of it,"
said Craddock.
"It's been like one long ghastly nightmare,"
said Lucy. "I really thought last
night that they were all dying."
"About this curry -- "
"It was the curry ?"
"Yes, very nicely laced with arsenic --
quite the Borgia touch."
"If that's true," said Lucy. "It must --
it's got to be -- one of the family."
"No other possibility ?"
"No, you see I only started making that
damned curry quite late -- after six o'clock
307
--because Mr. Crackenthorpe specially
asked for curry. And I had to open a new
tin of curry powder -- so that couldn't
have been tampered with. I suppose curry
would disguise the taste ?"
"Arsenic hasn't any taste," said Craddock
absently. "Now, opportunity. Which
of them had the chance to tamper with the
curry while it was cooking ?"
Lucy considered.
"Actually," she said, "anyone could have
sneaked into the kitchen whilst I was laying
the table in the dining-room."
"I see. Now, who was there in the
house ? Old Mr. Crackenthorpe, Emma, Cedric -- "
"Harold and Alfred. They'd come down
from London in the afternoon. Oh, and
Bryan -- Bryan Eastley. But he left just
before dinner. He had to meet a man in
Brackhampton."
Craddock said thoughtfully, "It ties up
with the old man's illness at Christmas.
Quimper suspected that that was arsenic.
Did they all seem equally ill last night ?"
Lucy considered. "I think old Mr.
Crackenthorpe seemed the worst. Dr.
Quimper had to work like a maniac on him.
308
He's a jolly good doctor, I will say. Cedric
made by far the most fuss. Of course, strong
healthy people always do."
"What about Emma ?"
"She has been pretty bad."
"Why Alfred, I wonder?" said Craddock.
"I
know," said Lucy. "I suppose it was meant to be Alfred ?"
"Funny -- I asked that too!"
"It seems, somehow, so pointless."
"If I could only get at the motive for all
this business," said Craddock. "It doesn't
seem to tie up. The strangled woman in the
sarcophagus was Edmund Crackenthorpe's
widow, Martine. Let's assume that. It's
pretty well proved by now. There must be
a connection between that and the deliberate
poisoning of Alfred. It's all here, in the
family somewhere. Even saying one of
them's mad doesn't help."
"Not really," Lucy agreed.
"Well, look after yourself," said Craddock
warningly. "There's a poisoner in this
house, remember, and one of your patients
upstairs probably isn't as ill as he pretends
to be."
Lucy went upstairs again slowly after
309
Craddock's departure. An imperious voice, somewhat weakened by illness, called to her
as she passed old Mr. Crackenthorpe's
room.
"Girl -- girl -- is that you ? Come here."
Lucy entered the room. Mr. Crackenthorpe
was lying in bed well propped up
with pillows. For a sick man he was looking, Lucy thought, remarkably cheerful.
"The house is full of damned hospital
nurses," complained Mr. Crackenthorpe. "Rustling about, making themselves important, taking my temperature, not giving
me what I want to eat -- a pretty penny all
that must be costing. Tell Emma to send
'em away. You could look after me quite well."
"Everybody's been taken ill, Mr. Crackenthorpe,"
said Lucy. "I can't look after
everybody, you know."
"Mushrooms," said Mr. Crackenthorpe.
"Damned dangerous things, mushrooms.
It was that soup we had last night. You
made it," he added accusingly.
"The mushrooms were quite all right,
Mr. Crackenthorpe."
"I'm not blaming you, girl, I'm not
blaming you. It's happened before. One
310
blasted fungus slips in and does it. Nobody
can tell. I know you're a good girl. You
wouldn't do it on purpose. How's Emma ?"
"Feeling rather better this afternoon."
"Ah. And Harold ?"
"He's better too."
"What's this about Alfred having kicked
the bucket ?"
"Nobody's supposed to have told you
that, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
Mr. Crackenthorpe laughed, a high,
whinnying laugh of intense amusement. "I
hear things," he said. "Can't keep things
from the old man. They try to. So Alfred's
dead, is he? He won't sponge on me any
more, and he won't get any of the money
either. They've all been waiting for me to
die, you know -- Alfred in particular. Now he's dead. I call that rather a good joke."
"That's not very kind of you, Mr.
Crackenthorpe," said Lucy severely.
Mr. Crackenthorpe laughed again. "I'll
outlive them all," he crowed. "You see if I
don't, my girl. You see if I don't."
Lucy went to her room, she took out her
dictionary and looked up the word "tontine".
She closed the book thoughtfully and
stared ahead other.
3li
Ill
"Don't see why you want to come to me,"
said Dr. Morris, irritably.
"You've known the Crackenthorpe family
a long time," said Inspector Craddock.
"Yes, yes, I knew all the Crackenthorpes.
I remember old Josiah Crackenthorpe.
He was a hard nut -- shrewd man,
though. Made a lot of money." He shifted
his aged form in his chair and peered under
bushy eyebrows at Inspector Craddock.
"So you've been listening to that young
fool, Quimper," he said. "These zealous
young doctors! Always getting ideas in
their heads. Got it into his head that somebody
was trying to poison Luther Crackenthorpe.
Nonsense. Melodrama! Of course, he had gastric attacks. I treated him for
them. Didn't happen very often -- nothing
peculiar about them."
"Dr. Quimper," said Craddock, "seemed
to think there was."
"Doesn't do for a doctor to go thinking.
After all, I should hope I could recognise
arsenical poisoning when I saw it."
"Quite a lot of well-known doctors
haven't noticed it," Craddock pointed out.
312
"There was" -- he drew upon his memory
-- "the Greenbarrow case, Mrs. Reney,
Charles Leeds, three people in the Westbury
family, all buried nicely and tidily
without the doctors who attended them
having the least suspicion. Those doctors
were all good, reputable men."
"All right, all right," said Doctor Morris, "you're saying that I could have made a
mistake. Well, / don't think I did." He
paused a minute and then said, "Who did
Quimper think was doing it -- if it was
being done ?"
"He didn't know," said Craddock. "He was worried. After all, you know," he
added, "there's a great deal of money
there."
"Yes, yes, I know, which they'll get
when Luther Crackenthorpe dies. And
they want it pretty badly. That is true
enough, but it doesn't follow that they'd
kill the old man to get it."
"Not necessarily," agreed Inspector
Craddock.
"Anyway," said Dr. Morris, "my principle
is not to go about suspecting things
without due cause. Due cause," he repeated.
"I'll admit that what you've just
313
told me has shaken me up a bit. Arsenic on
a big scale, apparently -- but I still don't
see why you come to me. All I can tell you
is that I didn't suspect it. Maybe I should
have. Maybe I should have taken those
gastric attacks of Luther Crackenthorpe's
much more seriously. But you've got a long
way beyond that now."
Craddock agreed. "What I really need,"
he said, "is to know a little more about the
Crackenthorpe family. Is there any queer
mental strain in them -- a kink of any
kind ?"
The eyes under the bushy eyebrows
looked at him sharply. "Yes, I can see your
thoughts might run that way. Well, old Josiah was sane enough. Hard as nails, very much all there. His wife was neurotic, had a tendency to melancholia. Came of an
inbred family. She died soon after her
second son was born. I'd say, you know, that Luther inherited a certain -- well, instability, from her. He was commonplace
enough as a young man, but he was
always at loggerheads with his father. His
father was disappointed in him and I
think he resented that and brooded on it, and in the end got a kind of obsession
3M
about it. He carried that on into his own
married life. You'll notice, if you talk to
him at all, that he's got a hearty dislike for
all his own sons. His daughters he was fond
of. Both Emma and Edie -- the one who
died."
"Why does he dislike the sons so much ?"
asked Craddock.
"You'll have to go to one of these newfashioned
psychiatrists to find that out. I'd
just say that Luther has never felt very
adequate as a man himself, and that he
bitterly resents his financial position. He has possession of an income but no power
of appointment of capital. If he had the
power to disinherit his sons he probably
wouldn't dislike them as much. Being
powerless in that respect gives him a feeling
of humiliation."
"That's why he's so pleased at the idea of
outliving them all ?" said Inspector Craddock.
"Possibly.
It is the root, too, of his parsimony, I think. I should say that he's
managed to save a considerable sum out of
his large income -- mostly, of course, before
taxation rose to its present giddy
heights."
315
A new idea struck Inspector Craddock. "I suppose he's left his savings by will to
someone ? That he can do."
"Oh, yes, though God knows who he
has left it to. Maybe to Emma, but I should
rather doubt it. She'll get her share of the
old man's money. Maybe to Alexander, the
grandson."
"He's fond of him, is he ?" said Craddock.
"Used
to be. Of course he was his
daughter's child, not a son's child. That
may have made a difference. And he had
quite an affection for Bryan Eastley, Edie's
husband. Of course, I don't know Bryan
well, it's some years since I've seen any of
the family. But it struck me that he was
going to be very much at a loose end after
the war. He's got those qualities that you
need in wartime, courage, dash, and a
tendency to let the future take care of
itself. But I don't think he's got any stability. He'll probably turn into a drifter."
"As far as you know there's no peculiar
kink in any of the younger generation ?"
"Cedric's an eccentric type, one of those
natural rebels. I wouldn't say he was perfectly
normal, but you might say, who is ?
316
Harold's fairly orthodox, not what I call a
very pleasant character, cold-hearted, eye
to the main chance. Alfred's got a touch of
the delinquent about him. He's a wrong
'un, always was. Saw him taking money
out of a missionary box once that they used
to keep in the hall. That type of thing. Ah,
well, the poor fellow's dead, I suppose I
shouldn't be talking against him."
"What about . . ." Craddock hesitated.
"Emma Crackenthorpe ?"
"Nice girl, quiet, one doesn't always
know what she's thinking. Has her own
plans and her own ideas, but she keeps
them to herself. She's more character than
you might think from her general manner
and appearance."
"You knew Edmund, I suppose, the son
who was killed in France ?"
"Yes. He was the best of the bunch I'd
say. Good-hearted, gay, a nice boy."
"Did you ever hear that he was going to
marry, or had married, a French girl just
before he was killed ?"
Dr. Morris frowned. "It seems as though
I remember something about it," he said,
but it's a long time ago."
"Quite early on in the war, wasn't it ?"
4.50 fp n 317
"Yes. Ah, well, I dare say he'd have lived
to regret it if he had married a foreign
wife.53
"There's some reason to believe that he
did do just that," said Craddock.
In a few brief sentences he gave an
account of recent happenings.
"I remember seeing something in the
papers about a woman found in a sarcophagus.
So it was at Rutherford Hall."
"And there's reason to believe that the
woman was Edmund Crackenthorpe's
widow."
"Well, well, that seems extraordinary.
More like a novel than real life. But who'd
want to kill the poor thing -- I mean, how
does it tie up with arsenical poisoning in
the Crackenthorpe family ?"
"In one of two ways," said Craddock, "but they are both very far-fetched. Somebody
perhaps is greedy and wants the whole
ofJosiah Crackenthorpe's fortune."
"Damn fool if he does," said Dr. Morris.
"He'll only have to pay the most stupendous
taxes on the income from it."
318
CHAPTER XXI
"^"Y TASTY things, mushrooms," said ^ Mrs. Kidder.
1. ^ Mrs. Kidder had made the same
remark about ten times in the last few days.
Lucy did not reply.
"Never touch 'em myself," said Mrs.
Kidder, "much too dangerous. It's a merciful
Providence as there's only been one
death. The whole lot might have gone, and
you, too, miss. A wonderful escape, you've
had."
"It wasn't the mushrooms," said Lucy.
"They were perfectly all right."
"Don't you believe it," said Mrs. Kidder.
"Dangerous they are, mushrooms. One
toadstool in among the lot and you've had
it.
"Funny," went on Mrs. Kidder, among
the rattle of plates and dishes in the sink, "how things seem to come all together, as it
were. My sister's eldest had measles and
our Ernie fell down and broke 'is arm, and
my 'usband came out all over with boils.
All in the same week! You'd hardly believe
319
it, would you? It's been the same thing
here,35 went on Mrs. Kidder, "first that
nasty murder and now Mr. Alfred dead
with mushroom-poisoning. Who'll be the
next, I'd like to know ?"
Lucy felt rather uncomfortably that she
would like to know too.
"My husband, he doesn't like me coming
here now," said Mrs. Kidder, "thinks it's
unlucky, but what I say is I've known Miss
Crackenthorpe a long time now and she's
a nice lady and she depends on me. And I
couldn't leave poor Miss Eyelesbarrow, I
said, not to do everything herself in the
house. Pretty hard it is on you, miss, all these trays."
Lucy was forced to agree that life did
seem to consist very largely of trays at the
moment. She was at the moment arranging
trays to take to the various invalids.
"As for them nurses, they never do a
hand's turn," said Mrs. Kidder. "All they
want is pots and pots of tea made strong.
And meals prepared. Wore out, that's what I
am." She spoke in a tone of great satisfaction,
though actually she had done very
little more than her normal morning's
work.
320
Lucy said solemnly, "You never spare
yourself, Mrs. Kidder."
Mrs. Kidder looked pleased. Lucy picked
up the first of the trays and started off up
the stairs.
"What's this ?" said Mr. Crackenthorpe
disapprovingly.
"Beef tea and baked custard," said Lucy.
"Take it away," said Mr. Crackenthorpe.
"I won't touch that sort of stuff. I told that
nurse I wanted a beefsteak."
"Dr. Quimper thinks you ought not to
have beefsteak just yet," said Lucy.
Mr. Crackenthorpe snorted. "I'm practically
well again. I'm getting up tomorrow.
How are the others ?"
"Mr. Harold's much better," said Lucy.
"He's going back to London tomorrow."
"Good riddance," said Mr. Crackenthorpe.
"What about Cedric--any hope
that he's going back to his island tomorrow
?"
"He won't be going just yet."
"Pity. What's Emma doing? Why
doesn't she come and see me ?"
"She's still in bed, Mr. Crackenthorpe."
"Women always coddle themselves,"
said Mr. Crackenthorpe. "But you're a
321
good strong girl," he added approvingly.
"Run about all day, don't you ?"
"I get plenty of exercise," said Lucy.
Old Mr. Crackenthorpe nodded his head
approvingly. "You're a good strong girl,"
he said, "and don't think I've forgotten
what I talked to you about before. One of
these days you'll see what you'll see. Emma
isn't always going to have things her own
way. And don't listen to the others when
they tell you I'm a mean old man. I'm
careful of my money. I've got a nice little
packet put by and I know who I'm going
to spend it on when the time comes." He
leered at her affectionately.
Lucy went rather quickly out of the
room, avoiding his clutching hand.
The next tray was taken in to Emma.
"Oh, thank you, Lucy. I'm really feeling
quite myself again by now. I'm hungry,
and that's a good sign, isn't it ? My dear,"
went on Emma as Lucy settled the tray on
her knees, "I'm really feeling very upset
about your aunt. You haven't had any time
to go and see her, I suppose ?"
"No, I haven't, as a matter of fact."
"I'm afraid she must be missing you."
"Oh, don't worry. Miss Crackenthorpe.
322
She understands what a terrible time we've
been through."
"Have you rung her up ?"
"No, I haven't just lately."
"Well, do. Ring her up every day. It
makes such a difference to old people to get
news."
"You're very kind," said Lucy. Her
conscience smote her a little as she went
down to fetch the next tray. The complications
of illness in a house had kept her
thoroughly absorbed and she had had no
time to think of anything else. She decided
that she would ring Miss Marple up as soon
as she had taken Cedric his meal.
There was only one nurse in the house
now and she passed Lucy on the landing,
exchanging greetings.
Cedric, looking incredibly tidied up and
neat, was sitting up in bed writing busily on
sheets of paper.
"Hallo, Lucy," he said, "what hell brew
have you got for me today ? I wish you'd
get rid of that god-awful nurse, she's
simply too arch for words. Calls me 'we'
for some reason. 'And how are we this
morning? Have we slept well? Oh, dear,
we're very naughty, throwing off the bed323
clothes like that.' " He imitated the refined
accents of the nurse in a high falsetto voice.
"You seem very cheerful," said Lucy.
"What are you busy with ?"
"Plans," said Cedric. "Plans for what to
do with this place when the old man pops
off. It's a jolly good bit of land here, you
know. I can't make up my mind whether
I'd like to develop some of it myself, or
whether I'll sell it in lots all in one go. Very
valuable for industrial purposes. The house
will do for a nursing home or a school. I'm
not sure I shan't sell half the land and use
the money to do something rather outrageous
with the other half. What do you
think ?"
"You haven't got it yet," said Lucy, dryly.
"I shall have it, though," said Cedric.
"It's not divided up like the other stuff. /
get it outright. And if I sell it for a good fat
price the money will be capital, not
income, so I shan't have to pay taxes on it.
Money to burn. Think of it."
"I always understood you rather despised
money," said Lucy.
"Of course I despise money when I
haven't got any," said Cedric. "It's the only
dignified thing to do. What a lovely girl you
324
are, Lucy, or do I just think so because I
haven't seen any good-looking women for
a long time ?"
"I expect that's it," said Lucy.
"Still busy tidying everyone and everything
up ?"
"Somebody seems to have been tidying
you up," said Lucy, looking at him.
"That's that damned nurse," said Cedric
with feeling. "Have they had the inquest on
Alfred yet ? What happened ?"
"It was adjourned," said Lucy.
"Police being cagey. This mass poisoning
does give one a bit of a turn, doesn't it ?
Mentally, I mean. I'm not referring to
more obvious aspects." He added: "Better
look after yourself, my girl."
"I do," said Lucy.
"Has young Alexander gone back to
school yet ?"
"I think he's still with the StoddartWests.
I think it's the day after tomorrow
that school begins."
Before getting her own lunch Lucy went
to the telephone and rang up Miss Marple.
"I'm so terribly sorry I haven't been able
to come over, but I've really been very
busy."
325
"Of course, my dear, of course. Besides,
there's nothing that can be done just now.
We just have to wait."
"Yes, but what are we waiting for ?"
"Elspeth McGillicuddy ought to be
home very soon now," said Miss Marple.
"I wrote to her to fly home at once. I said it
was her duty. So don't worry too much, my
dear." Her voice was kindly and reassuring.
"You don't think ..." Lucy began, but
stopped.
"That there will be any more deaths?
Oh, I hope not, my dear. But one never
knows, does one? When anyone is really
wicked, I mean. And I think there is great
wickedness here."
"Or madness," said Lucy.
"Of course I know that is the modern
way of looking at things. I don't agree
myself."
Lucy rang off, went into the kitchen and
picked up her tray of lunch. Mrs. Kidder
had divested herself of her apron and was
about to leave.
"You'll be all right, miss, I hope ?" she
asked solicitously.
"Of course I shall be all right," snapped
Lucy.
326
She took her tray not into the big,
gloomy dining-room but into the small
study. She was just finishing the meal when
the door opened and Bryan Eastley came in.
"Hallo," said Lucy, "this is very unexpected."

cc! suppose it is," said Bryan "How is
everybody ?"
"Oh, much better. Harold's going back
to London tomorrow."
"What do you think about it all ? Was it
really arsenic ?"
"It was arsenic all right," said Lucy.
"It hasn't been in the papers yet."
"No, I think the police are keeping it
up their sleeves for the moment."
"Somebody must have a pretty good
down on the family," said Bryan. "Who's
likely to have sneaked in and tampered
with the food ?"
"I suppose I'm the most likely person
really," said Lucy.
Bryan looked at her anxiously. "But you
didn't, did you?" he asked. He sounded
slightly shocked.
"No. I didn't," said Lucy.
Nobody could have tampered with the
curry. She had made it--alone in the
327
kitchen, and brought it to table, and the
only person who could have tampered with
it was one of the five people who sat down
to the meal.
"I mean--why should you?" said
Bryan. "They're nothing to you, are they ?
I say," he added, "I hope you don't mind
my coming back here like this ?"
"No, no, of course I don't. Have you
come to stay ?"
"Well, I'd like to, if it wouldn't be an
awful bore to you."
"No. No, we can manage."
"You see, I'm out of a job at the moment
and I -- well, I get rather fed up. Are you
really sure you don't mind ?"
"Oh, I'm not the person to mind, anyway.
It's Emma."
"Oh, Emma's all right," said Bryan.
"Emma's always been very nice to me. In
her own way, you know. She keeps things
to herself a lot, in fact, she's rather a dark
horse, old Emma. This living here and
looking after the old man would get most
people down. Pity she never married. Too
late now, I suppose."
"I don't think it's too late at all," said
Lucy.
328
"Well..." Bryan considered. "A clergyman
perhaps," he said hopefully. "She'd be
useful in the parish and tactful with the
Mothers' Union. I do mean the Mothers'
Union, don't I ? Not that I know what it
really is, but you come across it sometimes
in books. And she'd wear a hat in church on
Sundays," he added.
"Doesn't sound much of a prospect to
me," said Lucy, rising and picking up the
tray.
"I'll do that," said Bryan, taking the tray
from her. They went into the kitchen together.
"Shall I help you wash up? I do
like this kitchen," he added. "In fact, I
know it isn't the sort of thing that people
do like nowadays, but I like this whole
house. Shocking taste, I suppose, but there
it is. You could land a plane quite easily in
the park," he added with enthusiasm.
He picked up a glass-cloth and began to
wipe the spoons and forks.
"Seems a waste, it's coming to Cedric,"
he remarked. "First thing he'll do is to sell
the whole thing and go beaking off abroad
again. Can't see, myself, why England isn't
good enough for anybody. Harold wouldn't
want this house either, and of course it's
329
much too big for Emma. Now, if only it
came to Alexander, he and I would be as
happy together here as a couple of sand
boys. Of course it would be nice to have a
woman about the house." He looked
thoughtfully at Lucy. "Oh, well, what's the
good of talking ? If Alexander were to get this
place it would mean the whole lot of them
would have to die first, and that's not really
likely, is it ? Though from what I've seen
of the old boy he might easily live to be a
hundred, just to annoy them all. I don't
suppose he was much cut up by Alfred's
death, was he ?"
Lucy said shortly, "No, he wasn't."
"Cantankerous old devil," said Bryan
Eastley cheerfully.
330
CHAPTER XXII
"T^vREADFUL, the things people go
| | about saying," said Mrs. Kidder. \^/"1 don't listen, mind you, more
than I can help. But you'd hardly believe
it." She waited hopefully.
"Yes, I suppose so," said Lucy. "About that body that was found in the
Long Barn," went on Mrs. Kidder, moving
crablike backwards on her hands and
knees, as she scrubbed the kitchen floor,
"saying as how she'd been Mr. Edmund's
fancy piece during the war, and how she
come over here and a jealous husband followed
her, and did her in. It is a likely
thing as a foreigner would do, but it
wouldn't be likely after all these years,
would it ?"
"It sounds most unlikely to me."
"But there's worse things than that, they say," said Mrs. Kidder. "Say anything, people will. You'd be surprised.
There's those that say Mr. Harold married
somewhere abroad and that she come over
and found out he'd committed bigamy with
33i
that Lady Alice, and that she was going to
bring 'im to court and that he met her
down here and did her in, and hid her body
in the sarcoffus. Did you ever!"
"Shocking," said Lucy vaguely, her
mind elsewhere.
"Of course I don't listen," said Mrs.
Kidder virtuously, "I wouldn't put no
stock in such tales myself. It beats me how
people think up such things, let alone say
them. All I hope is none of it gets to Miss
Emma's ears. It might upset her and I
shouldn't like that. She's a very nice lady, Miss Emma is, and I've not heard a word
against her, not a word. And of course Mr.
Alfred being dead nobody says anything
against him now. Not even that it's a
judgement, which they might well do. But
it's awful, miss, isn't it, the wicked talk
there is."
Mrs. Kidder spoke with immense enjoyment.

"It must be quite painful for you to
listen to it," said Lucy.
"Oh, it is," said Mrs. Kidder. "It is
indeed. I says to my husband, I says, how-
^er can they ?"
The bell rang.
332
"There's the doctor, miss. Will you let
'im in, or shall I ?"
"I'll go," said Lucy.
But it was not the doctor. On the doorstep
stood a tall, elegant woman in a mink
coat. Drawn up to the gravel sweep was a
purring Rolls with a chauffeur at the wheel.
"Can I see Miss Emma Crackenthorpe, please ?"
It was an attractive voice, the R's slightly
blurred. The woman was attractive too.
About thirty-five, with dark hair and
expensively and beautifully made up.
"I'm sorry," said Lucy, "Miss Crackenthorpe
is ill in bed and can't see anyone."
"I know she has been ill, yes, but it is
very important that I should see her."
"I'm afraid," Lucy began.
The visitor interrupted her. "I think you
are Miss Eyelesbarrow, are you not ?" She
smiled, an attractive smile. "My son has
spoken of you, so I know. I am Lady
Stoddart-West and Alexander is staying
with me now."
"Oh, I see," said Lucy.
"And it is really important that I should
see Miss Crackenthorpe," continued the
other. "I know all about her illness and I
333
assure you this is not just a social call. It is
because of something that the boys have
said to me -- that my son has said to me.
It is, I think, a matter of grave importance
and I would like to speak to Miss Crackenthorpe
about it. Please, will you ask her ?"
"Come in." Lucy ushered her visitor
into the hall and into the drawing-room.
Then she said, "I'll go up and ask Miss
Crackenthorpe."
She went upstairs, knocked on Emma's
door and entered.
"Lady Stoddart-West is here," she said.
"She wants to see you very particularly."
"Lady Stoddart-West?" Emma looked
surprised. A look of alarm came into her
face. "There's nothing wrong, is there, with the boys -- with Alexander ?"
"No, no," Lucy reassured her. "I'm sure
the boys are all right. It seems to be something
the boys have told her or said to
her." -- '^
"Oh. Well ..." Emma hesitated. "Perhaps
I ought to see her. Do I look all right, Lucy ?"
"You look very nice," said Lucy.
Emma was sitting up in bed, a soft pink
shawl was round her shoulders and brought
334
out the faint rose-pink of her cheeks. Her
dark hair had been neatly brushed and
combed by Nurse. Lucy had placed a bowl
of autumn leaves on the dressing-table the
day before. Her room looked attractive and
quite unlike a sick room.
"I'm really quite well enough to get up,"
said Emma. "Dr. Quimper said I could
tomorrow."
"You look really quite yourself again,"
said Lucy. "Shall I bring Lady StoddartWest
up ?"
"Yes, do."
Lucy went downstairs again. "Will you
come up to Miss Crackenthorpe's room ?"
She escorted the visitor upstairs, opened
the door for her to pass in and then shut it.
Lady Stoddart-West approached the bed
with outstretched hand.
"Miss Crackenthorpe ? I really do apologise
for breaking in on you like this. I
have seen you, I think, at the sports at the
school."
"Yes," said Emma, "I remember you
quite well. Do sit down."
In the chair conveniently placed by the
bed Lady Stoddart-West sat down. She
said in a quiet low voice:
335
"You must think it very strange of me
coming here like this, but I have a reason.
I think it is an important reason. You see, the boys have been telling me things. You
can understand that they were very excited
about the murder that happened here. I
confess I did not like it at the time. I was
nervous. I wanted to bring James home at
once. But my husband laughed. He said
that obviously it was a murder that had
nothing to do with the house and the
family, and he said that from what he
remembered from his boyhood, and from
James's letters, both he and Alexander
were enjoying themselves so wildly that it
would be sheer cruelty to bring them back.
So I gave in and agreed that they should
stay on until the time arranged for James
to bring Alexander back with him."
Emma said: "You think we ought to have
sent your son home earlier ?"
"No, no, that is not what I mean at all.
Oh, it is difficult for me, this! But what I
have to say must be said. You see, they have
picked up a good deal, the boys. They told
me that this woman -- the murdered woman
-- that the police have an idea that she
may be a French girl whom your eldest
336
brother—who was killed in the war—
knew in France. That is so ?"
"It is a possibility," said Emma, her
voice breaking slightly, "that we are forced
to consider. It may have been so."
"There is some reason for believing that
the body is that of this girl, this Martine ?"
"I have told you, it is a possibility."
"But why — why should they think that
she was this Martine ? Did she have letters
on her — papers ?"
"No. Nothing of that kind. But you see, I
had had a letter, from this Martine."
"You had had a letter — from Martine ?"
"Yes. A letter telling me she was in
England and would like to come and see
me. I invited her down here, but got a
telegram saying she was going back to
France. Perhaps she did go back to France.
We do not know. But since then an
envelope was found here addressed to her.
That seems to show that she had come
down here. But I really don't see ..." She
broke off.
Lady Stoddart-West broke in quickly:
"You really do not see what concern it
is of mine ? That is very true. I should not
in your place. But when I heard this — or
337
rather, a garbled account of this — I had to
come to make sure it was really so because,
if it is—"
"Yes ?" said Emma.
"Then I must tell you something that I
had never intended to tell you. You see, I
am Marline Dubois."
Emma stared at her guest as though she
could hardly take in the sense of her
words.
"You!" she said. "You are Martine ?"
The other nodded vigorously. "But, yes.
It surprises you, I am sure, but it is true.
I met your brother Edmund in the first
days of the war. He was indeed billeted at
our house. Well, you know the rest. We
fell in love. We intended to be married, and
then there was the retreat to Dunkirk,
Edmund was reported missing. Later he
was reported killed. I will not speak to you
of that time. It was long ago and it is over.
But I will say to you that I loved your
brother very much....
"Then came the grim realities of war.
The Germans occupied France. I became
a worker for the Resistance. I was one of
those who was assigned to pass Englishmen
through France to England. It was in that
338
way that I met my present husband. He was
an Air Force officer, parachuted into France
to do special work. When the war ended we
were married. I considered once or twice
whether I should write to you or come and
see you, but I decided against it. It could
do no good, I thought, to rake up old
memories. I had a new life and I had no
wish to recall the old." She paused and
then said: "But it gave me, I will tell you, a
strange pleasure when I found that my son
James's greatest friend at his school was a
boy whom I found to be Edmund's nephew.
Alexander, I may say, is very like Edmund,
as I dare say you yourself appreciate. It
seemed to me a very happy state of affairs
that James and Alexander should be such
friends."
She leaned forward and placed her hand
on Emma's arm. "But you see, dear Emma,
do you not, that when I heard this story
about the murder, about this dead woman
being suspected to be the Martine that
Edmund had known, that I had to come
and tell you the truth. Either you or I must
inform the police of the fact. Whoever the
dead woman is, she is not Martine."
"I can hardly take it in," said Emma,
339
"that you, you should be the Martine that
dear Edmund wrote to me about." She
sighed, shaking her head, then she frowned
perplexedly. "But I don't understand. Was
it you, then, who wrote to me ?"
Lady Stoddart-West shook a vigorous
head. "No, no, of course I did not write to
you."
"Then..." Emma stopped.
"Then there was someone pretending to
be Martine who wanted perhaps to get
money out of you ? That is what it must
have been. But who can it be ?"
Emma said slowly: "I suppose there
were people at the time, who knew ?"
The other shrugged her shoulders.
"Probably, yes. But there was no one
intimate with me, no one very close to me.
I have never spoken of it since I came to
England. And why wait all this time ? It is
curious, very curious."
Emma said: "I don't understand it. We
will have to see what Inspector Craddock
has to say." She looked with suddenly
softened eyes at her visitor. "I'm so glad to
know you at last, my dear."
"And I you. . . . Edmund spoke of you
very often. He was very fond of you. I am
340
happy in my new life, but all the same, I do
not quite forget."
Emma leaned back and heaved a deep
sigh. "It's a terrible relief," she said. "As
long as we, feared that the dead woman
might be Martine — it seemed to be tied up
with the family. But now — oh, it's an
absolute load off my back. I don't know who
the poor soul was but she can't have had
anything to do with us!"
341
CHAPTER XXIII
THE streamlined secretary brought
Harold Crackenthorpe his usual
afternoon cup of tea.
"Thanks, Miss Ellis, I shall be going
home early today."
"I'm sure you ought really not to have
come at all, Mr. Crackenthorpe," said Miss
Ellis. "You look quite pulled down still."
"I'm all right," said Harold Crackenthorpe,
but he did feel pulled down. No
doubt about it, he'd had a very nasty turn.
Ah, well, that was over.
Extraordinary, he thought broodingly,
that Alfred should have succumbed and
the old man should have come through.
After all, what was he -- seventy-three --
seventy-four? Been an invalid for years.
If there was one person you'd have thought
would have been taken off, it would have
been the old man. But no. It had to be
Alfred. Alfred who, as far as Harold knew, was a healthy wiry sort of chap. Nothing
much the matter with him.
He leaned back in his chair sighing. That
342
girl was right. He didn't feel up to things
yet, but he had wanted to come down to
the office. Wanted to get the hang of how
affairs were going. Touch and go, that's
what it was! Touch and go. All this --
he looked round him--the richly appointed
office, the pale gleaming wood, the
expensive modern chairs, it all looked
prosperous enough, and a good thing too!
That's where Alfred had always gone
wrong. If you looked prosperous, people
thought you were prosperous. There were
no rumours going around as yet about his
financial stability. All the same, the crash
couldn't be delayed very long. Now, if only
his father had passed out instead of Alfred, as surely, surely he ought to have done.
Practically seemed to thrive on arsenic!
Yes, if his father had succumbed -- well, there wouldn't have been anything to
worry about.
Still, the great thing was not to seem
worried. A prosperous appearance. Not
like poor old Alfred who always looked
seedy and shiftless, who looked in fact
exactly what he was. One of those smalltime
speculators, never going all out boldly
for the big money. In with a shady crowd
343
here, doing a doubtful deal there, never
quite rendering himself liable to prosecution
but going very near the edge. And
where had it got him? Short periods of
affluence and then back to seediness and
shabbiness once more. No broad outlook
about Alfred. Taken all in all, you couldn't
say Alfred was much loss. He'd never been
particularly fond of Alfred and with Alfred
out of the way the money that was coming
to him from that old curmudgeon, his
grandfather, would be sensibly increased, divided not into five shares but into four
shares. Very much better.
Harold's face brightened a little. He
rose, took his hat and coat and left the
office. Better take it easy for a day or two.
He wasn't feeling too strong yet. His car
was waiting below and very soon he was
weaving through the London traffic to his
house.
Darwin, his manservant, opened the door.
"Her ladyship has just arrived, sir," he
said.
For a moment Harold stared at him.
Alice! Good heavens, was it today that
Alice was coming home? He'd forgotten
all about it. Good thing Darwin had
344
warned him. It wouldn't have looked so
good if he'd gone upstairs and looked too
astonished at seeing her. Not that it really
mattered, he supposed. Neither Alice nor
he had many illusions about the feeling
they had for each other. Perhaps Alice was
fond of him -- he didn't know.
All in all, Alice was a great disappointment
to him. He hadn't been in love with
her, of course, but though a plain woman
she was quite a pleasant one. And her
family and connections had undoubtedly
been useful. Not perhaps as useful as they
might have been, because in marrying
Alice he had been considering the position
of hypothetical children. Nice relations for
his boys to have. But there hadn't been any
boys, or girls either, and all that had
remained had been he and Alice growing
older together without much to say to each
other and with no particular pleasure in
each other's company.
She stayed away a good deal with
relations and usually went to the Riviera
in the winter. It suited her and it didn't
worry him.
He went upstairs now into the drawingroom
and greeted her punctiliously.
345
"So you're back, my dear. Sorry I
couldn't meet you, but I was held up in
the City. I got back as early as I could.
How was San Raphael ?"
Alice told him how San Raphael was.
She was a thin woman with sandy-coloured
hair, a well-arched nose and vague, hazel
eyes. She talked in a well-bred, monotonous
and rather depressing voice. It had been a
good journey back, the Channel a little
rough. The Customs, as usual, very trying
at Dover.
"You should come by air," said Harold, as he always did. "So much simpler."
"I dare say, but I don't really like air
travel. I never have. Makes me nervous."
"Saves a lot of time," said Harold.
Lady Alice Crackenthorpe did not
answer. It was possible that her problem
in life was not to save time but to occupy it.
She inquired politely after her husband's
health.
"Emma's telegram quite alarmed me,"
she said. "You were all taken ill, I understand."

"Yes, yes," said Harold.
"I read in the paper the other day,"
said Alice, "of forty people in an hotel going
346
down with food poisoning at the same
time. All this refrigeration is dangerous, I think. People keep things too long in
them."
"Possibly," said Harold. Should he, or
should he not mention arsenic ? Somehow, looking at Alice, he felt himself quite
unable to do so. In Alice's world, he felt,
there was no place for poisoning by
arsenic. It was a thing you read about in the
papers. It didn't happen to you or your
own family. But it had happened in the
Crackenthorpe family....
He went up to his room and lay down
for an hour or two before dressing for
dinner. At dinner, tete-a-tete with his wife, the conversation ran on much the same
lines. Desultory, polite. The mention of
acquaintances and friends at San Raphael.
"There's a parcel for you on the hall
table, a small one," Alice said.
"Is there ? I didn't notice it."
"It's an extraordinary thing but somebody
was telling me about a murdered
woman having been found in a barn, or
something like that. She said it was at
Rutherford Hall. I suppose it must be some
other Rutherford Hall."
347
"No," said Harold, "no, it isn't. It was
in our barn, as a matter of fact."
"Really, Harold! A murdered woman in
the barn at Rutherford Hall — and you
never told me anything about it."
"Well, there hasn't been much time,
really," said Harold, "and it was all rather
unpleasant. Nothing to do with us, of
course. The Press milled round a good
deal. Of course we had to deal with the
police and all that sort of thing."
"Very unpleasant," said Alice. "Did they
find out who did it?" she added, with
rather perfunctory interest.
"Not yet," said Harold.
"What sort of a woman was she ?"
"Nobody knows. French apparently."
"Oh, French^ said Alice, and allowing
for the difference in class, her tone was not
unlike that of Inspector Bacon. "Very
annoying for you all," she agreed.
They went out from the dining-room
and crossed into the small study where they
usually sat when they were alone. Harold
was feeling quite exhausted by now. "I'll
go up to bed early," he thought.
He picked up the small parcel from the
hall table, about which his wife had spoken
348
to him. It was a small neatly waxed parcel, done up with meticulous exactness. Harold
ripped it open as he came to sit down in
his usual chair by the fire.
Inside was a small tablet box bearing
the label, "Two to be taken nightly." With
it was a small piece of paper with the
chemist's heading in Brackhampton, "Sent
by request of Doctor Quimper," was
written on it.
Harold Crackenthorpe frowned. He
opened the box and looked at the tablets.
Yes, they seemed to be the same tablets he
had been having. But surely, surely Quimper
had said that he needn't take any
more? "You won't want them now."
That's what Quimper had said.
"What is it, dear ?" said Alice. "You look
worried."
"Oh, it's just -- some tablets. I've been
taking them at night. But I rather thought
the doctor said don't take any more."
His wife said placidly: "He probably
said don't forget to take them."
"He may have done, I suppose," said
Harold doubtfully.
He looked across at her. She was watching
him. Just for a moment or two he
4.50 FP 12 349
wondered — he didn't often wonder about
Alice—exactly what she was thinking.
That mild gaze of hers told him nothing.
Her eyes were like windows in an empty
house. What did Alice think about him,
feel about him ? Had she been in love with
him once? He supposed she had. Or did
she marry him because she thought he was
doing well in the City, and she was tired
of her own impecunious existence ? Well,
on the whole, she'd done quite well out of it.
She'd got a car and a house in London,
she could travel abroad when she felt like
it and get herself expensive clothes, though
goodness knows they never looked like
anything on Alice. Yes, on the whole she'd
done pretty well. He wondered if she
thought so. She wasn't really fond of him,
of course, but then he wasn't really fond
of her. They had nothing in common,
nothing to talk about, no memories to
share. If there had been children — but
there hadn't been any children — odd that
there were no children in the family except
young Edie's boy. Young Edie. She'd been
a silly girl, making that foolish, hasty
war-time marriage. Well, he'd given her
good advice.
350
He'd said: "It's all very well, these
dashing young pilots, glamour, courage, all
that, but he'll be no good in peacetime, you know. Probably be barely able to
support you."
And Edie had said, what did it matter ?
She loved Bryan and Bryan loved her, and
he'd probably be killed quite soon. Why
shouldn't they have some happiness ? What
was the good of looking to the future when
they might all be bombed any minute. And
after all, Edie had said, the future doesn't
really matter because some day there'll be
all grandfather's money.
Harold squirmed uneasily in his chair.
Really, that will of his grandfather's had
been iniquitous! Keeping them all dangling
on a string. The will hadn't pleased anybody.
It didn't please the grandchildren
and it made their father quite livid. The
old boy was absolutely determined not to
die. That's what made him take so much
care of himself. But he'd have to die soon.
Surely, surely he'd have to die soon.
Otherwise--all Harold's worries swept
over him once more making him feel sick
and tired and giddy.
Alice was still watching him, he noticed.
351
Those pale, thoughtful eyes, they made
him uneasy somehow.
"I think I shall go to bed," he said.
"It's been my first day out in the City."
"Yes," said Alice, "I think that's a good
idea. I'm sure the doctor told you to take
things easily at first."
"Doctors always tell you that," said
Harold.
"And don't forget to take your tablets,
dear," said Alice. She picked up the box
and handed it to him.
He said good-night and went upstairs.
Yes, he needed the tablets. It would have
been a mistake to leave them off too soon.
He took two of them and swallowed them
with a glass of water.
352
CHAPTER XXIV
cc^^ TOBODY could have made more
|^L of a muck of it than I seem to
1. ^ have done," said Dermot Craddock
gloomily.
He sat, his long legs stretched out,
looking somehow incongruous in faithful
Florence's somewhat over-furnished parlour.
He was thoroughly tired, upset and
dispirited.
Miss Marple made soft, soothing noises
of dissent. "No, no, you've done very good
work, my dear boy. Very good work
indeed."
"I've done very good work, have I ? I've
let a whole family be poisoned, Alfred
Crackenthorpe's dead and now Harold's
dead too. What the hell's going on there ?
That's what I should like to know."
"Poisoned tablets," said Miss Marple
thoughtfully.
"Yes. Devilishly cunning, really. They
looked just like the tablets that he'd been
having. There was a printed slip sent in
with them 'by Doctor Quimper's instruc-
353
tions'. Well, Quimper never ordered them.
There were chemist's labels used. The
chemist knew nothing about it, either. No.
That box of tablets came from Rutherford
Hall."
"Do you actually know it came from
Rutherford Hall ?"
"Yes. We've had a thorough check up.
Actually, it's the box that held the sedative
tablets prescribed for Emma."
"Oh, I see. For Emma...."
"Yes. It's got her fingerprints on it and
the fingerprints of both the nurses and the
fingerprint of the chemist who made it up.
Nobody else's, naturally. The person who
sent them was careful."
"And the sedative tablets were removed
and something else substituted ?"
"Yes. That of course is the devil with
tablets. One tablet looks exactly like
another."
"You are so right," agreed Miss Marple.
"I remember so very well in my young
days, the black mixture and the brown
mixture (the cough mixture that was) and^
the white mixture, and Doctor So-and-So's
pink mixture. People didn't mix those up
nearly as much. In fact, you know, in my
354
village of St. Mary Mead we still like that
kind of medicine. It's a bottle they always
want, not tablets. What were the tablets ?"
she asked.
"Aconite. They were the kind of tablets
that are usually kept in a poison bottle,
diluted one in a hundred for outside
application."
"And so Harold took them, and died,"
Miss Marple said thoughtfully. Dermot
Craddock uttered something like a groan.
"You mustn't mind my letting off steam
to you," he said. "Tell it all to Aunt Jane,
that's how I feel!"
"That's very, very nice of you," said
Miss Marple, "and I do appreciate it. I feel
towards you, as Sir Henry's godson, quite
differently from the way I should feel to
any ordinary detective-inspector."
Dermot Craddock gave her a fleeting
grin. "But the fact remains that I've made
the most ghastly mess of things all along
the line," he said. "The Chief Constable
down here calls in Scotland Yard, and what
do they get ? They get me making a prize
ass of myself!"
"No, no," said Miss Marple.
"Yes, yes. I don't know who poisoned
355
Alfred, I don't know who poisoned Harold, and, to cap it all, I haven't the least idea
now who the original murdered woman
was! This Martine business seemed a
perfectly safe bet. The whole thing seemed
to tie up. And now what happens? The
real Martine shows up and turns out, most
improbably, to be the wife of Sir Robert
Stoddart-West. So who's the woman in
the barn now ? Goodness knows. First I go
all out on the idea she's Anna Stravinska, and then she's out of it -- "
He was arrested by Miss Marple giving
one of her small peculiarly significant
coughs.
"But is she ?" she murmured.
Craddock stared at her. "Well, that
postcard from Jamaica -- "
"Yes,53 said Miss Marple; "but that
isn't really evidence, is it ? I mean, anyone
can get a postcard sent from almost
anywhere, I suppose. I remember Mrs.
Brierly, such a very bad nervous breakdown.
Finally, they said she ought to go to
the mental hospital for observation, and
she was so worried about the children
knowing about it and so she wrote about
fourteen postcards and arranged that they
356
should be posted from different places
abroad, and told them that Mummy was
going abroad on a holiday.35 She added,
looking at Dermot Craddock, "You see
what I mean."
"Yes, of course," said Craddock, staring
at her. "Naturally we'd have checked that
postcard if it hadn't been for the Martine
business fitting the bill so well."
"So convenient," murmured Miss
Marple.
"It tied up," said Craddock. "After all,
there's the letter Emma received signed
Martine Crackenthorpe. Lady StoddartWest
didn't send that, but somebody did.
Somebody who was going to pretend to be
Martine, and who was going to cash in,
if possible, on being Martine. You can't
deny that."
"No, no."
"And then, the envelope of the letter
Emma wrote to her with the London
address on it. Found at Rutherford Hall,
showing she'd actually been there."
"But the murdered woman hadn't been
there!" Miss Marple pointed out. "Not in
the sense you mean. She only came to
Rutherford Hall after she was dead. Pushed
357
out of a train on to the railway embankment."

"Oh, yes.55
"What the envelope really proves is that
the murderer was there. Presumably he took
that envelope off her with her other papers
and things, and then dropped it by mistake
-- or -- I wonder now, was it a mistake ?
Surely Inspector Bacon, and your men too, made a thorough search of the place,
didn't they, and didn't find it. It only
turned up later in the boiler house."
"That's understandable," said Craddock.
"The old gardener chap used to spear up
any odd stuff that was blowing about and
shove it in there."
"Where it was very convenient for the
boys to find," said Miss Marple thoughtfully.

"You think we were meant to find it ?"
"Well, I just wonder. After all, it would
be fairly easy to know where the boys were
going to look next, or even to suggest to
them.... Yes, I do wonder. It stopped you
thinking about Anna Stravinska any more,
didn't it ?"
Craddock said: "And you think it really
may be her all the time ?"
358
"I think someone may have got alarmed
when you started making inquiries about
her, that's all. ... I think somebody didn't
want those inquiries made."
"Let's hold on to the basic fact that
someone was going to impersonate Martine,"
said Craddock. "And then for some
reason — didn't. Why ?"
"That's a very interesting question,"
said Miss Marple.
"Somebody sent a wire saying Martine
was going back to France, then arranged
to travel down with the girl and kill her
on the way. You agree so far ?"
"Not exactly," said Miss Marple. "I
don't think, really, you're making it simple
enough."
"Simple!" exclaimed Craddock. "You're
mixing me up," he complained.
Miss Marple said in a distressed voice
that she wouldn't think of doing anything
like that.
"Come, tell me," said Craddock, "do you
or do you not think you know who the
murdered woman was ?"
Miss Marple sighed. "It's so difficult,"
she said, "to put it the right way. I mean,
I don't know who she was, but at the same
359
time I'm fairly sure who she was, if you
know what I mean."
Craddock threw up his head. "Know
what you mean? I haven't the faintest
idea." He looked out through the window.
"There's your Lucy Eyelesbarrow coming
to see you," he said. "Well, I'll be off. My
amour propre is very low this afternoon and
having a young woman coming in, radiant
with efficiency and success, is more than
I can bear."
360
CHAPTER XXV
"T LOOKED up tontine in the diction|
ary," said Lucy.
A The first greetings were over and
now Lucy was wandering rather aimlessly
round the room, touching a china dog here,
an antimacassar there, the plastic workbox
in the window.
"I thought you probably would," said
Miss Marple equably.
Lucy spoke slowly, quoting the words.
"Lorenzo Tonti, Italian banker, originator, 1653, of a form of annuity in which the
shares of subscribers who die are added
to the profit shares of the survivors." She
paused. "That's it, isn't it ? That fits well
enough, and you were thinking of it even then before the last two deaths."
She took up once more her restless,
almost aimless prowl round the room. Miss
Marple sat watching her. This was a very
different Lucy Eyelesbarrow from the one
she knew.
"I suppose it was asking for it really,55 said Lucy. "A will of that kind, ending so
361
that if there was only one survivor left he'd
get the lot. And yet — there was quite a lot
of money, wasn't there? You'd think it
would be enough shared out ..." She
paused, the words trailing off.
"The trouble is," said Miss Marple,
"that people are greedy. Some people.
That's so often, you know, how things
start. You don't start with murder, with
wanting to do murder, or even thinking
of it. You just start by being greedy, by
wanting more than you're going to have."
She laid her knitting down on her knee and
stared ahead of her into space. "That's
how I came across Inspector Craddock
first, you know. A case in the country.
Near Medenham Spa. That began the same
way, just a weak amiable character who
wanted a great deal of money. Money that
that person wasn't entitled to, but there
seemed an easy way to get it. Not murder
then. Just something so easy and simple
that it hardly seemed wrong. That's how
things begin. . . . But it ended with three
murders."
"Just like this," said Lucy. "We've had
three murders now. The woman who
impersonated Martine and who would have
362
been able to claim a share for her son, and
then Alfred, and then Harold. And now
it only leaves two, doesn't it ?"
"You mean," said Miss Marple, "there
are only Cedric and Emma left ?"
"Not Emma. Emma isn't a tall dark man.
No. I mean Cedric and Bryan Eastley.
I never thought of Bryan because he's fair.
He's got a fair moustache and blue eyes,
but you see — the other day ..." She
paused.
"Yes, go on," said Miss Marple. "Tell
me. Something has upset you very badly,
hasn't it ?"
"It was when Lady Stoddart-West was
going away. She had said good-bye and
then suddenly turned to me just as she
was getting into the car and asked: 'Who
was that tall dark man who was standing
on the terrace as I came in ?'
"I couldn't imagine who she meant at
first, because Cedric was still laid up. So
I said, rather puzzled, 'You don't mean
Bryan Eastley ?' and she said, 'Of course,
that's who it was. Squadron Leader Eastley.
He was hidden in our loft once in France
during the Resistance. I remembered the
way he stood, and the set of his shoulders,'
363
and she said, 'I should like to meet him
again,' but we couldn't find him."
Miss Marple said nothing, just waited.
"And then," said Lucy, "later I looked at
him. ... He was standing with his back to
me and I saw what I ought to have seen
before. That even when a man's fair his
hair looks dark because he plasters it down
with stuff. Bryan's hair is a sort of medium
brown, I suppose, but it can look dark. So
you see, it might have been Bryan that your
friend saw in the train. It might ..."
"Yes," said Miss Marple. "I had thought
of that."
"I suppose you think of everything!"
said Lucy bitterly.
"Well, dear, one has to really."
"But I can't see what Bryan would get
out of it. I mean the money would come to
Alexander, not to him. I suppose it would
make an easier life, they could have a bit
more luxury, but he wouldn't be able to
tap the capital for his schemes, or anything
like that."
"But if anything happened to Alexander
before he was twenty-one, then Bryan
would get the money as his father and next
of kin," Miss Marple pointed out.
364
Lucy cast a look of horror at her.
"He'd never do that. No father would
ever do that just — just to get the money."
Miss Marple sighed. "People do, my
dear. It's very sad and very terrible, but
they do.
"People do very terrible things,33 went
on Miss Marple. "I know a woman who
poisoned three of her children just for a
little bit of insurance money. And then
there was an old woman, quite a nice old
woman apparently, who poisoned her son
when he came home on leave. Then there
was that old Mrs. Stanwich. That case was
in the papers. I dare say you read about it.
Her daughter died and her son, and then
she said she was poisoned herself. There
was poison in some gruel, but it came out,
you know, that she'd put it there herself.
She was just planning to poison the last
daughter. That wasn't exactly for money.
She was jealous of them for being younger
than she was and alive, and she was afraid
— it's a terrible thing to say but it's true —
they would enjoy themselves after she was
gone. She'd always kept a very tight hold
on the purse strings. Yes, of course she
was a little peculiar, as they say, but I
365
never see myself that that's any real excuse.
I mean you can be a little peculiar in so
many different ways. Sometimes you just
go about giving all your possessions away
and writing cheques on bank accounts that
don't exist, just so as to benefit people.
It shows, you see, that behind being
peculiar you have quite a nice disposition.
But of course if you're peculiar and behind
it you have a bad disposition — well, there
you are. Now, does that help you at all,
my dear Lucy ?"
"Does what help me?" asked Lucy
bewildered.
"What I've been telling you," said Miss
Marple. She added gently, "You mustn't
worry, you know. You really mustn't
worry. Elspeth McGillicuddy will be here
any day now."
"I don't see what that has to do with it."
"No, dear, perhaps not. But / think it's
important myself."
"I can't help worrying," said Lucy. "You
see I've got interested in the family."
"I know, dear, it's very difficult for you
because you are quite strongly attracted
to both of them, aren't you, in very
different ways."
366
"What do you mean?55 said Lucy. Her
tone was sharp.
"I was talking about the two sons of the
house," said Miss Marple. "Or rather the
son and the son-in-law. It's unfortunate
that the two more unpleasant members of
the family have died and the two more
attractive ones are left. I can see that
Cedric Crackenthorpe is very attractive. He
is inclined to make himself out worse than
he is and has a provocative way with him."
"He makes me fighting mad sometimes,"
said Lucy.
"Yes," said Miss Marple, "and you enjoy
that, don't you? You're a girl with a lot
of spirit and you enjoy a battle. Yes, I can
see where that attraction lies. And then
Mr. Eastley is a rather plaintive type,
rather like an unhappy little boy. That, of
course, is attractive, too."
"And one of them's a murderer," said
Lucy bitterly, "and it may be either of
them. There's nothing to choose between
them really. There's Cedric, not caring a
bit about his brother Alfred's death or
about Harold's. He just sits back looking
thoroughly pleased making plans for what
he'll do with Rutherford Hall, and he keeps
367
saying that it'll need a lot of money to
develop it in the way he wants to do. Of
course I know he's the sort of person who
exaggerates his own callousness and all that.
But that could be a cover, too. I mean
everyone says that you're more callous than
you really are. But you mightn't be. You
might be even more callous than you
seem!"
"Dear, dear Lucy, I'm so sorry about all
this."
"And then Bryan," went on Lucy. "It's
extraordinary, but Bryan really seems to
want to live there. He thinks he and
Alexander would find it awfully jolly and
he's full of schemes."
"He's always full of schemes of one kind
or another, isn't he ?"
"Yes, I think he is. They all sound rather
wonderful — but I've got an uneasy feeling
that they'd never really work. I mean,
they're not practical. The idea sounds all
right — but I don't think he ever considers
the actual working difficulties."
"They are up in the air, so to speak ?"
"Yes, in more ways than one. I mean
they are usually literally up in the air. They
are all air schemes. Perhaps a really good
368
fighter pilot never does quite come down
to earth again...."
She added: "And he likes Rutherford
Hall so much because it reminds him of the
big rambling Victorian house he lived in
when he was a child."
"I see," said Miss Marple thoughtfully.
"Yes, I see..."
Then, with a quick sideways glance at
Lucy, she said with a kind of verbal
pounce, "But that isn't all of it, is it, dear ?
There's something else."
"Oh, yes, there's something else. Just
something that I didn't realise until just
a couple of days ago. Bryan could actually
have been on that train."
"On the 4.33 from Paddington ?"
"Yes. You see Emma thought she was
required to account for her movements on
2oth December and she went over it all
very carefully — a committee meeting in
the morning, and then shopping in the
afternoon and tea at the Green Shamrock,
and then, she said, she went to meet Bryan
at the station. The train she met was the
4.50 from Paddington, but he could have
been on the earlier train and pretended
to come by the later one. He told me quite
369
casually that his car had had a biff and was
being repaired and so had to come down
by train — an awful bore, he said, he hates
trains. He seemed quite natural about it
all. ... It may be quite all right — but I
wish, somehow, he hadn't came down by
train."
"Actually on the train," said Miss
Marple thoughtfully.
"It doesn't really prove anything. The
awful thing is all this suspicion. Not to
know. And perhaps we never shall know!"
"Of course we shall know, dear," said
Miss Marple briskly. "I mean—all this
isn't going to stop just at this point. The
one thing I do know about murderers is
that they can never let well alone. Or
perhaps one should say — ill alone. At any
rate,'3 said Miss Marple with finality, "they
can't once they've done a second murder.
Now don't get too upset, Lucy. The police
are doing all they can, and looking after
everybody — and the great thing is that
Elspeth McGillicuddy will be here very
soon now!"
370
CHAPTER XXVI
cc^^ TOW, Elspeth, you're quite clear
^^ as to what I want you to do ?"
-1. ^1 "I'm clear enough," said Mrs.
McGillicuddy, "but what I say to you is,
Jane, that it seems very odd."
"It's not odd at all," said Miss Marple.
"Well, I think so. To arrive at the house
and to ask almost immediately whether
I can — er — go upstairs."
"It's very cold weather," Miss Marple
pointed out, "and after all, you might have
eaten something that disagreed with you
and — er — have to ask to go upstairs.
I mean, these things happen. I remember
poor Louisa Felby came to see me once
and she had to ask to go upstairs five times
during one little half-hour. That," added
Miss Marple parenthetically, "was a bad
Cornish pasty."
"If you'd just tell me what you're
driving at, Jane," said Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"That's just what I don't want to do,"
said Miss Marple.
"How irritating you are, Jane. First you
371
make me come all the way back to England
before I need -- "
"I'm sorry about that," said Miss
Marple; "but I couldn't do anything else.
Someone, you see, may be killed at any
moment. Oh, I know they're all on their
guard and the police are taking all the
precautions they can, but there's always
the outside chance that the murderer might
be too clever for them. So you see, Elspeth,
it was your duty to come back. After all,
you and I were brought up to do our duty,
weren't we ?"
"We certainly were," said Mrs. MeGillicuddy,
"no laxness in our young days."
"So that's quite all right," said Miss
Marple, "and that's the taxi now," she
added, as a faint hoot was heard outside
the house.
Mrs. McGillicuddy donned her heavy
pepper-and-salt coat and Miss Marple
wrapped herself up with a good many shawls
and scarves. Then the two ladies got into
the taxi and were driven to Rutherford Hall.
ll
"Who can this be driving up?" Emma
asked, looking out of the window, as the
372
taxi swept past it. "I do believe it's Lucy's
old aunt."
"What a bore," said Cedric.
He was lying back in a long chair looking
at Country Life with his feet reposing on
the side of the mantelpiece.
"Tell her you're not at home."
"When you say tell her I'm not at home,
do you mean that I should go out and say
so ? Or that I should tell Lucy to tell her
aunt so ?"
"Hadn't thought of that," said Cedric.
"I suppose I was thinking of our butler
and footman days, if we ever had them.
I seem to remember a footman before the
war. He had an affair with the kitchen maid
and there was a terrific rumpus about it.
Isn't there one of those old hags about the
place cleaning ?"
But at that moment the door was opened
by Mrs. Hart, whose afternoon it was for
cleaning the brasses, and Miss Marple
came in, very fluttery, in a whirl of shawls
and scarves, with a tall uncompromising
figure behind her.
"I do hope," said Miss Marple, taking
Emma's hand, "that we are not intruding.
But you see, I'm going home the day after
373
tomorrow, and I couldn't bear not to come
over and see you and say good-bye, and
thank you again for your goodness to Lucy.
Oh, I forgot. May I introduce my friend, Mrs. McGillicuddy, who is staying with
me?"
"How d'you do," said Mrs. McGillicuddy,
looking at Emma with complete
attention and then shifting her gaze to
Cedric, who had now risen to his feet. Lucy
entered the room at this moment.
"Aunt Jane, I had no idea..."
"I had to come and say good-bye to
Miss Crackenthorpe," said Miss Marple, turning to her, "who has been so very, very
kind to you, Lucy."
"It's Lucy who's been very kind to us,"
said Emma.
"Yes, indeed," said Cedric. "We've
worked her like a galley slave. Waiting on
the sick room, running up and down the
stairs, cooking little invalid messes...."
Miss Marple broke in. "I was so very, very sorry to hear of your illness. I do hope
you're quite recovered now. Miss Crackenthorpe
?"
"Oh, we're quite well again now," said
Emma.
374
"Lucy told me you were all very ill. So
dangerous, isn't it, food poisoning ? Mushrooms,
I understand."
"The cause remains rather mysterious," said Emma.
"Don't you believe it," said Cedric. "I
bet you've heard the rumours that are
flying round. Miss -- er -- "
"Marple," said Miss Marple.
"Well, as I say, I bet you've heard the
rumours that are flying round. Nothing
like arsenic for raising a little flutter in the
neighbourhood."
"Cedric," said Emma, "I wish you
wouldn't. You know Inspector Craddock
said..."
"Bah," said Cedric, "everybody knows.
Even you've heard something, haven't
you ?" He turned to Miss Marple and Mrs.
McGillicuddy.
"I myself," said Mrs. McGillicuddy, "have only just returned from abroad, the
day before yesterday," she added.
"Ah, well, you're not up in our local
scandal then," said Cedric. "Arsenic in the
curry, that's what it was. Lucy's aunt
knows all about it, I bet."
"Well," said Miss Marple, "I did just
375
hear — I mean, it was just a hint, but of
course I didn't want to embarrass you in
any way. Miss Crackenthorpe."
"You must pay no attention to my
brother," said Emma. "He just likes
making people uncomfortable." She gave
him an affectionate smile as she spoke.
The door opened and Mr. Crackenthorpe
came in, tapping angrily with his stick.
"Where's tea?" he said, "why isn't tea
ready? You! Girl!" he addressed Lucy,
"why haven't you brought tea in ?"
"It's just ready, Mr. Crackenthorpe. I'm
bringing it in now. I was just setting the
table ready."
Lucy went out of the room again and
Mr. Crackenthorpe was introduced to Miss
Marple and Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"Like my meals on time," said Mr.
Crackenthorpe. "Punctuality and economy.
Those are my watchwords."
"Very necessary, I'm sure," said Miss
Marple, "especially in these times with
taxation and everything."
Mr. Crackenthorpe snorted. "Taxation!
Don't talk to me of those robbers. A
miserable pauper — that's what I am. And
it's" going to get worse, not better. You wait,
376
my boy," he addressed Cedric, "when you
get this place ten to one the Socialists will
have it off you and turn it into a Welfare
Centre or something. And take all your
income to keep it up with!33
Lucy reappeared with a tea tray, Bryan
Eastley followed her carrying a tray of
sandwiches, bread and butter and cake.
"What's this? What's this?33 Mr.
Crackenthorpe inspected the tray. "Frosted
cake ? We having a party today ? Nobody
told me about it.33
A faint flush came into Emma's face.
"Dr. Quimper's coming to tea. Father.
It's his birthday today and -- 33
"Birthday?33 snorted the old man,
"what's he doing with a birthday ? Birthdays
are only for children. I never count
my birthdays and I won't let anyone else
celebrate them either.33
"Much cheaper,33 agreed Cedric. "You
save the price of candles on your cake.33
"That's enough from you, boy,33 said
Mr. Crackenthorpe.
Miss Marple was shaking hands with
Bryan Eastley. "I've heard about you, of
course,33 she said, "from Lucy. Dear me,
you remind me so much of someone I used
377
to know at St. Mary Mead. That's the
village where I've lived for so many years, you know. Ronnie Wells, the solicitor's
son. Couldn't seem to settle somehow when
he went into his father's business. He went
out to East Africa and started a series of
cargo boats on the lakes out there. Victoria
Nyanza, or is it Albert, I mean ? Anyway, I'm sorry to say that it wasn't a success, and he lost all his capital. Most unfortunate
I Not any relation of yours, I suppose ?
The likeness is so great."
"No," said Bryan, "I don't think I've
any relations called Wells."
"He was engaged to a very nice girl,"
said Miss Marple. "Very sensible. She
tried to dissuade him, but he wouldn't
listen to her. He was wrong of course.
Women have a lot of sense, you know, when it comes to money matters. Not high
finance, of course. No woman can hope to
understand that, my dear father said. But
everyday L s.d. -- that sort of thing. What
a delightful view you have from this
window," she added, making her way
across and looking out.
Emma joinecTher.
"Such an expanse of parkland! How
378
picturesque the cattle look against the
trees. One would never dream that one
was in the middle of a town."
"We're rather an anachronism, I think," said Emma. "If the windows were open
now you'd hear far off the noise of the
traffic."
"Oh, of course," said Miss Marple, "there's noise everywhere, isn't there?
Even in St. Mary Mead. We're now quite
close to an airfield, you know, and really
the way those jet planes fly over! Most
frightening. Two panes in my little greenhouse
broken the other day. Going through
the sound barrier, or so I understand, though what it means I never have known."
"It's quite simple, really," said Bryan, approaching amiably. "You see, it's like
this."
Miss Marple dropped her handbag and
Bryan politely picked it up. At the same
moment Mrs. McGillicuddy approached
Emma and murmured, in an anguished
voice -- the anguish was quite genuine
since Mrs. McGillicuddy deeply disliked
the task which she was now performing:
"I wonder--could I go upstairs for a
moment ?"
379
"Of course," said Emma.
"I'll take you," said Lucy.
Lucy and Mrs. McGillicuddy left the
room together.
"Very cold, driving today," said Miss
Marple in a vaguely explanatory manner.
"About the sound barrier," said Bryan, "you see, it's like this .. . Oh, hallo, there's
Quimper."
The doctor drove up in his car. He came
in rubbing his hands and looking very cold.
"Going to snow," he said, "that's my
guess. Hallo, Emma, how are you? Good
lord, what's all this ?"
"We made you a birthday cake," said
Emma. "D'you remember? You told me
today was your birthday."
"I didn't expect all this," said Quimper.
"You know it's years -- why, it must be --
yes, sixteen years since anyone's remembered
my birthday." He looked almost
uncomfortably touched.
"Do you know Miss Marple ?" Emma
introduced him.
"Oh, yes," said Miss Marple, "I met
Dr. Quimper here before and he came and
saw me when I had a very nasty chill the
other day and he was most kind."
380
"All right again now, I hope ?" said the
doctor.
Miss Marple assured him that she was
quite all right now. .
"You haven't been to see me lately,
Quimper," said Mr. Crackenthorpe. "I
might be dying for all the notice you take
of me!"
"I don't see you dying yet awhile," said
Dr. Quimper.
"I don't mean to," said Mr. Crackenthorpe.
"Come on, let's have tea. What're
we waiting for ?"
"Oh, please," said Miss Marple, "don't
wait for my friend. She would be most
upset if you did."
They sat down and started tea. Miss
Marple accepted a piece of bread and
butter first, and then went on to a sandwich.

"Are they -- ?" She hesitated.
"Fish," said Bryan. "I helped make
s ^
"em."
Mr. Crackenthorpe gave a cackle of
laughter.
"Poisoned fishpaste," he said. "That's
what they are. Eat 'em at your peril."
"Please, Father!"

4.50 FP 13
38i

"You've got to be careful what you eat
in this house," said Mr. Crackenthorpe
to Miss Marple. "Two of my sons have
been murdered like flies. Who's doing it —
that's what I want to know."
"Don't let him put you off," said Cedric,
handing the plate once more to Miss
Marple. "A touch of arsenic improves the
complexion, they say, so long as you don't
have too much."
"Eat one yourself, boy," said old Mr.
Crackenthorpe.
"Want me to be official taster?" said
Cedric. "Here goes."
He took a sandwich and put it whole
into his mouth. Miss Marple gave a gentle,
ladylike little laugh and took a sandwich.
She took a bite, and said:
"I do think it's so brave of you all to
make these jokes. Yes, really, I think it's
very brave indeed. I do admire bravery so
much."
She gave a sudden gasp and began to
choke. "A fish bone," she gasped out, "in
my throat."
Quimper rose quickly. He went across
to her, moved her backwards towards the
window and told her to open her mouth.
382
He pulled out a case from his pocket, selecting some forceps from it. With quick
professional skill he peered down the old
lady's throat. At that moment the door
opened and Mrs. McGillicuddy followed
by Lucy, came in. Mrs. McGillicuddy gave
a sudden gasp as her eyes fell on the
tableau in front of her. Miss Marple
leaning back and the doctor holding her
throat and tilting up her head.
"But that's himy" cried Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"That's the man in the train...."
With incredible swiftness Miss Marple
slipped from the doctor's grasp and came
towards her friend.
"I thought you'd recognise him, Elspeth!"
she said. "No. Don't say another
word." She turned triumphantly round to
Dr. Quimper. "You didn't know, did you, Doctor, when you strangled that woman
in the train, that somebody actually saw
you do it ? It was my friend here. Mrs.
McGillicuddy. She saw you. Do you
understand ? Saw you with her own eyes. She was in another train that was running
parallel with yours."
"What the hell ?" Dr. Quimper made a
quick step towards Mrs. McGillicuddy but
383
again, swiftly. Miss Marple was between
him and her.
"Yes," said Miss Marple. "She saw you,
and she recognises youy and she'll swear to
it in court. It's not often, I believe," went
on Miss Marple in her gentle plaintive
voice, "that anyone actually sees a murder
committed. It's usually circumstantial
evidence of course. But in this case the
conditions were very unusual. There was
actually an eye witness to murder."
"You devilish old hag," said Dr.
Quimper. He. lunged forward at Miss
Marple but this time it was Cedric who
caught him by the shoulder.
"So yo^re the murdering devil, are
you ?" said Cedric as he swung him round.
"I never liked you and I always thought
you were a wrong 'un, but lord knows, I never suspected you."
Bryan Eastley came quickly to Cedric's
assistance. Inspector Craddock and Inspector
Bacon entered the room from the
farther door.
"Dr. Quimper," said Bacon, "I must
caution you that..."
"You can take your caution to hell,"
said Dr. Quimper. "Do you think anyone's
384
going to believe what a couple of batty old
women say ? Who^s ever heard of all this
rigmarole about a train!"
Miss Marple said: "Elspeth McGillicuddy
reported the murder to the police
at once on the 20th of December and gave
a description of the man."
Dr. Quimper gave a sudden heave of the
shoulders. "If ever a man had the devil's
own luck," said Dr. Quimper.
"But -- " said Mrs. McGillicuddy. "Be quiet, Elspeth," said Miss Marple. "Why should I want to murder a
perfectly strange woman?" said Dr.
Quimper.
"She wasn't a strange woman," said
Inspector Craddock. "She was your wife."
385
CHAPTER XXVII
"f^O you see," said Miss Marple, "it
^^ really turned out to be, as I began to
k^ suspect, very, very simple. The simplest
kind of crime. So many men seem to
murder their wives."
Mrs. McGillicuddy looked at Miss
Marple and Inspector Craddock. "I'd be
obliged,3' she said, "if you'd put me a little
more up to date."
"He saw a chance, you see," said Miss
Marple, "of marrying a rich wife, Emma
Crackenthorpe. Only he couldn't marry
her because he had a wife already. They'd
been separated for years but she wouldn't
divorce him. That fitted in very well with
what Inspector Craddock told me of this
girl who called herself Anna Stravinska. She had an English husband, so she told
one of her friends, and it was also said she
was a very devout Catholic. Dr. Quimper
couldn't risk marrying Emma bigamously,
so he decided, being a very ruthless and
cold-blooded man, that he would get rid
of his wife. The idea of murdering her in
386
the train and later putting her body in the
sarcophagus in the barn was really rather
a clever one. He meant it to tie up, you see,
with the Crackenthorpe family. Before that
he'd written a letter to Emma which
purported to be from the girl Martine
whom Edmund Crackenthorpe had talked
of marrying. Emma had told Dr. Quimper
all about her brother, you see. Then, when
the moment arose he encouraged her to go
to the police with the story. He wanted the
dead woman identified as Martine. I think
he may have heard that inquiries were
being made by the Paris police about
Anna Stravinska, and so he arranged
to have a postcard come from her from
Jamaica.
"It was easy for him to arrange to meet
his wife in London, to tell her that he hoped
to be reconciled with her and that he would
like her to come down and 'meet his
family5. We won't talk about the next part
of it, which is very unpleasant to think
about. Of course he was a greedy man.
When he thought about taxation, and how
much it cuts into income, he began thinking
that it would be nice to have a good deal
more capital. Perhaps he'd already thought
387
of that before he decided to murder his
wife. Anyway, he started spreading rumours
that someone was trying to poison
old Mr. Crackenthorpe so as to get the
ground prepared, and then he ended by
administering arsenic to the family. Not
too much, of course, for he didn't want old
Mr. Crackenthorpe to die."
"But I still don't see how he managed," said Craddock. "He wasn't in the house
when the curry was being prepared."
"Oh, but there wasn't any arsenic in the,
curry then.," said Miss Marple. "HeJicldedl
it to the curry afterwards when he tooK
it away to be tested. He probably put the
arsenic in the cocktail jug earlier. Then,
of course, it was quite easy for him, in his
role of medical attendant, to poison off
Alfred Crackenthorpe and also to send the
tablets to Harold in London, having safeguarded
himself by telling Harold that he
wouldn't need any more tablets. Everything
he did was bold and audacious and cruel
and greedy, and I am really very, very
sorry," finished Miss Marple, looking
as fierce as a fluffy old lady can look,
"that they have abolished capital punishment
because I do feel that if there
388
is anyone who ought to hang, it's Dr.
Quimper."
"Hear, hear," said Inspector Craddock.
"It occurred to me, you know," continued
Miss Marple, "that even if you only
see anybody from the back view, so to
speak, nevertheless a back view is characteristic.
I thought that if Elspeth were to
see Dr. Quimper in exactly the same
position as she'd seen the man in the train
in, that is, with his back to her, bent over
a woman whom he was holding by the
throat, then I was almost sure she would
recognise him, or would make some kind
of startled exclamation. That is why I had
to lay my little plan with Lucy's kind
assistance."
"I must say," said Mrs. McGillicuddy, "it gave me quite a turn. I said, 'That's
him' before I could stop myself. And yet, you know, I hadn't actually seen the man's
face and -- "
"I was terribly afraid that you were going
to say so, Elspeth," said Miss Marple.
"I was," said Mrs. McGillicuddy. "I was
going to say that of course I hadn't seen his face."
"That," said Miss Marple, "would have
389
been quite fatal'\ You see, dear, he thought
you really did recognise him. I mean, he
couldn't know that you hadn't seen his
face."
"A good thing I held my tongue then,"
said Mrs. McGillicuddy.
"I wasn't going to let you say another
word," said Miss Marple.
Craddock laughed suddenly. "You two!"
he said. "You're a marvellous pair. What
next. Miss Marple? What's the happy
ending? What happens to poor Emma
Crackenthorpe, for instance ?"
"She'll get over the doctor, of course,"
said Miss Marple, "and I dare say if her
father were to die — and I don't think he's
quite so robust as he thinks he is — that
she'd go on a cruise or perhaps to stay
abroad like Geraldine Webb, and I dare say
something might come of it. A nicer man
than Dr. Quimper, I hope."
"What about Lucy Eyelesbarrow ? Weding
bells there too ?"
"Perhaps," said Miss Marple, "I
shouldn't wonder."
"Which of 'em is she going to choose ?"
said Dermot Craddock.
"Don't you know ?" said Miss Marple.
390
"No, I don't," said Craddock. "Do
you ?"
"Oh, yes, I think so," said Miss Marple.
And she twinkled at him.
THE END
Books by Agatha Christie in the
Ulverscroft Large Print Series:
LORD EDGWARE DIES
THE HOUND OF DEATH
MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA
CARDS ON THE TABLE
THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS
THE MOVING FINGER
A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY
A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED
POCKET FULL OF RYE
AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL
THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY
CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS
THE CLOCKS • CROOKED HOUSE
DEAD MAN'S FOLLY
DEATH COMES AS THE END
ENDLESS NIGHT • EVIL UNDER THE SUN
MURDER IS EASY • THE PALE HORSE
THE MIRROR CRACK'D FROM SIDE TO SIDE
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS
DESTINATION UNKNOWN
THIRD GIRL • TOWARDS ZERO
4.50 FROM PADDINGTON
DEATH IN THE CLOUDS
TAKEN AT THE FLOOD
ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE
THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD
SAD CYPRESS • AFTER THE FUNERAL
DEATH ON THE NILE
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
DUMB WITNESS
ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE
THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY
WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS ?
THE BIG FOUR
THE HOLLOW
THREE ACT TRAGEDY
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
FR1;This book is published under the
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