‘What do you make of this, my friend?’ There were four imprints close together.
‘A dog,’ I cried.
‘A very small dog, Hastings.’ ‘A Porn.’ ‘Smaller than a Porn.’ ‘A griffon?’ I suggested doubtfully.
‘Smaller even than a griffon. A species unknown to the Kennel Club.’ I looked at him. His face was alight with excitement and atisfaction.
‘I was right,’ he murmured. ‘I knew I was right. Come, Hastings.’ As we stepped out into the hall and the panel closed behind ua, a young lady came out of a door farther down the passage. Mr Waverl¥ presented her to us.
‘Miss Collins.’ Miss Collins was about thirty years of age, brisk and alert in
manner. She had fair, rather dull hair, and wore pincenez.
At Poirot’s request, we passed into a small morning-room, and he questioned her closely as to the servants and particularly as to Tredwell. She admitted that she did not like the butler.
‘He gives himself air,’ she explained.
They then went into the question of the food eaten by Mrs Waverly on the night of the zSth. Miss Collins declared that she had partaken of the same dishes upstairs in her sitting-room and had felt no ill effects. As she was departing I nudged Poirot.
‘The dog,’ I whispered.
‘Ah, yes, the dog? He smiled broadly. ‘Is there a dog kept here by any chance, mademoiselle?’ ‘There are two retriever in the kennels outside.’ ‘No, I mean a small dog, a toy dog.’ ‘No – nothing of the kind.’ Poirot permitted her to depart. Then, pressing the bell, he remarked to me, ‘She lies, that Mademoiselle Collins. Possibly I should, also, in her place. Now for the butler.’ Tredwell was a dignified individual. He told his story with perfect aplomb, and it was essentially the same as that of Mr Waverly. He admitted that he knew the secret of the priest’s hole.
When he finally withdrew, pontifical to the last, I met Poirot’s quizzical eyes.
‘What do you make of it all, Hastings?’ ‘What do you?’ I parried.
‘How cautious you become. Never, never will the grey cells function unless you stimulate them. Ah, but I will not tease youl Let us make our deductions together. What points strike us specially as being difficult?’ ‘There is one thing that strikes me,’ I said. ‘Why did the man who kidnapped the child go out by the south lodge instead of by the east lodge where no one would see him?’ ‘That is a very good point, Hastings, an excellent one. I will match it with another. Why warn the Waverlys beforehand? Why not simply kidnap the child and hold him to ransom?’ ‘BeCause they hoped to get the money without being forced to actiol.’
‘Surely it was very unlikely that the money would be paid on a mere threat?’ ‘Also they wanted to focus attention on twelve o’clock, so that when the tramp man’ was seized, the other could emerge from his hiding-place and get away with the child unnoticed.’ ‘That does not alter the fact that they were making a thing difficult that was perfectly easy. If they do not specify a time or date, nothing would be easier than to wait their chance, and carry off the child in a motor one day when he is out with his nurse.’ ‘Ye – es,’ I admitted doubtfully.
‘In fact, there is a deliberate playing of the farce! Now let us approach the question from another side. Everything goes to show that there was an accomplice inside the house. Point number one, the mysterious poisoning of Mrs Waverly. Point number two, the letter pinned to the pillow. Point number three, the putting on of the clock ten minutes – all inside jobs. And an additional fact that you may not have noticed. There was no dust in the priest’s hole. It had been swept out with a broom.
‘Now then, we have four people in the house. We can exclude the nurse, since she could not have swept out the priest’s hole, though she could have attended to the other three points. Four people, Mr and Mrs Waverly, Tredwell, the butler, and Miss Collins. We will take Miss Collins first. We have nothing much against her, except that we know very little about her, that she is obviously an intelligent young woman, and that she has only been here a year.’ ‘She lied about the dog, you said,’ I reminded him.