“Exactly,” said Tommy. “And when were you twenty-one, if I may ask the question?”
“Just three weeks ago.”
“Ah!” said Tommy. “Now will you give me fuller particulars of the members of your household at this minute?”
“Servants-or-others?”
“Both.”
“The servants, as I say, have been with us some time. There is old Mrs. Holloway, the cook, and her niece Rose, the kitchenmaid. Then there are two elderly housemaids, and Hannah who was my aunt’s maid and who has always been devoted to me. The parlormaid is called Esther Quant, and seems a very nice quiet girl. As for ourselves, there is Miss Logan who was Aunt Lucy’s companion and who runs the house for me, and Captain Radclyffe-Dennis, you know, whom I told you about, and there is a girl called Mary Chilcott, an old school friend of mine who is staying with us.”
Tommy thought for a moment.
“That all seems fairly clear and straightforward, Miss Hargreaves,” he said after a minute or two. “I take it that you have no special reason for attaching suspicion more to one person than another? You are only afraid it might prove to be-well-not a servant, shall we say?”
“That’s it exactly, Mr. Blunt. I have honestly no idea who used that piece of brown paper. The handwriting was printed.”
“There seems only one thing to be done,” said Tommy. “I must be on the spot.”
The girl looked at him inquiringly.
Tommy went on after a moment’s thought.
“I suggest that you prepare the way for the arrival of-say, Mr. and Miss Van Dusen-American friends of yours. Will you be able to do that quite naturally?”
“Oh! yes. There will be no difficulty at all. When will you come down-to-morrow-or the day after?”
“To-morrow, if you please. There is no time to waste.”
“That is settled, then.”
The girl rose, and held out her hand.
“One thing, Miss Hargreaves, not a word, mind, to anyone-anyone at all, that we are not what we seem.”
“What do you think of it, Tuppence?” he asked, when he returned from showing the visitor out.
“I don’t like it,” said Tuppence decidedly. “Especially I don’t like the chocolates having so little arsenic in them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you see? All those chocolates being sent round the neighborhood were a blind. To establish the idea of a local maniac. Then, when the girl was really poisoned, it would be thought to be the same thing. You see, but for a stroke of luck, no one would ever have guessed that the chocolates were actually sent by someone in the house itself.”
“That was a stroke of luck. You’re right. You think it’s a deliberate plot against the girl herself?”
“I’m afraid so. I remember reading about old Lady Radclyffe’s will. That girl has come into a terrific lot of money.”
“Yes, and she came of age and made a will three weeks ago. It looks bad-for Dennis Radclyffe. He gains by her death.”
Tuppence nodded.
“The worst of it is-that she thinks so too! That’s why she won’t have the police called in. Already she suspects him. And she must be more than half in love with him to act as she has done.”
”In that case,” said Tommy thoughtfully, “why the devil doesn’t he marry her? Much simpler and safer.”
Tuppence stared at him.
“You’ve said a mouthful,” she observed. “Oh! boy. I’m getting ready to be Miss Van Dusen, you observe.”
“Why rush to crime, where there is a lawful means near at hand?”
Tuppence reflected for a minute or two.
“I’ve got it,” she announced. “Clearly he must have married a barmaid whilst at Oxford. Origin of the quarrel with his aunt. That explains everything.”
“Then why not send poisoned sweets to the barmaid?” suggested Tommy. “Much more practical. I wish you wouldn’t jump to these wild conclusions, Tuppence.”
“They’re deductions,” said Tuppence, with a good deal of dignity. “This is your first corrida, my friend, but when you have been twenty minutes in the arena-”
Tommy flung the office cushion at her.
18. THE HOUSE OF LURKING DEATH (continued)
“Tuppence, I say, Tuppence, come here.”
It was breakfast time the next morning. Tuppence hurried out of her bedroom and into the dining room. Tommy was striding up and down, the open newspaper in his hand.