Mr Waverly paused. Poirot smiled to himself and straightened a little mat which the anxious father had pushed askew.
‘A pleasing little problem, obscure and charming,’ murmured Poirot. ‘I will investigate it for you with pleasure. Truly it was planned d merveille.’
Mrs Waverly looked at him reproachfully. ‘But my boy,’ she wailed.
Poirot hastily composed his face and looked the picture of earnest sympathy again. ‘He is safe, madame, he is unharmed.
Rest assured, these miscreants will take the greatest care of him.
I he not to them the turkey – no, the goose – that lays the golden egg?’
‘M. Poirot, I’m sure there’s only one thing to be done – pay up.
I was all against it at first – but hOWl A mother’s feelings – ‘
‘But we have interrupted monsieur in his history,’ cried Poirot hastily.
‘I expect you know the rest pretty well from the papers,’ said Mr Waverly. ‘Of course, Inspector McNeil got on to the telephone immediately. A description of the car and the man was circulated all round, and it looked at first as though everything was going to turn out all right. A car, answering to the description, with a man and a small boy, had passed through various villages, apparently making for London. At one place they had stopped, and it wa noticed that the child was crying and obviously afraid of his companion. When Inspector McNeil announced that the car had
been stopped and the man and boy detained, I was almost ill with relief. You know the sequel. The boy was not Johnnie, and the man was an ardent motorist, fond of children, who had picked up a small child playing in the streets of Edenswell, a village about fifteen miles from us, and was kindly giving him a ride. Thanks to the cocksure blundering of the police, all traces have disappeared.
Had they not persistently followed the wrong car, they might by now have found the boy.’
‘Calm yourself, monsieur. The police are a brave and intelligent force of men. Their mistake was a very natural one. And altogether it was a clever scheme. As to the man they caught in the grounds, I understand that his defence has consisted all along of a persistent denial. He declares that the note and parcel were given to him to deliver at Waverly Court. The man who gave them to him handed him a ten-shilling note and promised him another if it were delivered at exactly ten minutes to twelve. He was to approach the house through the grounds and knock at the side door.’
‘I don’t bdieve a word of it,’ declared Mrs Waverly hotly. ‘It’s all a parcel of lies.’
‘Eh vritg, it is a thin story,’ said Poirot reflectively. ‘But so far they have not shaken it. I understand, also, that he made a certain accusation?’
His glance interrogated Mr Waverly. The latter got rather red again.
‘Tlle fellow had the impertinence to pretend that he recognized in Tredwell the man who gave him the parcel. “Only the bloke has shaved off his moustache.” Tredwell, who was born on the estatel’
Poirot smiled a little at the country gentleman’s indignation.
‘Yet you yourself suspect an inmate of the house to have been accessory to the abduction.’
‘Yes, but not Tredwell.’
‘And you, madame?’ asked Poirot, suddenly turning to her.
‘It could not have been Tredwell who gave this tramp the letter and parcel – if anybody ever did, which I don’t believe. It was given him at ten o’clock, he says. At ten o’clock Tredwell waa with my husband in the smoking-room.’
‘Were you able to see the face of the man in the car, monsieur?
Did it resemble that of Tredwell in any way?’ ‘It was too far away for me to see his face.’ ‘Has Tredwell a brother, do you know?’
‘He had several, but they are all dead. The last one was killed in the war.’
‘I am not yet clear as to the grounds of Waverly Court. The car was heading for the south lodge. Is there another entrance?’
‘Yes, what we call the east lodge. It can be seen from the other side of the house.’