XVI
Colonel Johnson looked at his watch.
Nothing much more that I can do here. You’ve got things well in hand, Sugden. Oh, just one
thing. We ought to see the butler fellow. I know you’ve questioned him, but we know a bit more
about things now. It’s important to get confirmation of just where everybody says he was at the
time of the murder.
Tressilian came in slowly. The chief constable told him to sit down.
Thank you, sir. I will, if you don’t mind. I’ve been feeling very queer—very queer indeed.
My legs, sir, and my head.
Poirot said gently: “You have had the shock, yes.
The butler shuddered. “Such — such a violent thing to happen. In this house! Where
everything has always gone on so quietly.
Poirot said
It was a well-ordered house, yes? But not a happy one
I wouldn’t like to say that, sir.
In the old days when all the family was at home, it was happy then
Tressilian said slowly
It wasn’t perhaps what one would call very harmonious, sir.
The late Mrs. Lee was somewhat of an invalid, was she not
Yes, sir, very poorly she was.
Were her children fond of her
Mr. David, he was devoted to her. More like a daughter than a son. And after she died he
broke away, couldn’t face living here any longer.
Poirot said: “And Mr. Harry? What was he like
Always rather a wild young gentleman, sir, but good-hearted. Oh, dear, gave me quite a
turn, it did, when the bell rang—and then again, so impatient like, and I opened the door and there
was a strange man, and then Mr. Harry’s voice said, ‘Hallo, Tressilian. Still here, eh?’ Just the
same as ever.
Poirot said sympathetically
It must have been the strange feeling, yes, indeed.
Tressilian said, a little pink flush showing in his cheek
It seems sometimes, sir, as though the past isn’t the past! I believe there’s been a play on in
London about something like that. There’s something in it, sir—there really is. There’s a feeling
comes over you—as though you’d done everything before. It just seems to me as though the bell
rings and I go to answer it and there’s Mr. Harry—even if it should be Mr. Farr or some other
person—I’m just saying to myself—but I’ve done this before. . . .
Poirot said
That is very interesting—very interesting.
Tressilian looked at him gratefully.
Johnson, somewhat impatient, cleared his throat and took charge of the conversation.
Just want to get various times checked correctly,” he said. “Now, when the noise upstairs
started, I understand that only Mr. Alfred Lee and Mr. Harry Lee were in the dining room. Is that
so
I really couldn’t tell you, sir. All the gentlemen were there when I served coffee to them
but that would be about a quarter of an hour earlier.
Mr. George Lee was telephoning. Can you confirm that
I think somebody did telephone, sir. The bell rings in my pantry, and when anybody takes
off the receiver to call a number, there’s just a faint noise on the bell. I do remember hearing that
but I didn’t pay attention to it.
You don’t know exactly when it was
I couldn’t say, sir. It was after I had taken coffee to the gentlemen, that is all I can say.
Do you know where any of the ladies were at the time I mentioned
Mrs. Alfred was in the drawing room, sir, when I went for the coffee tray. That was just a
minute or two before I heard the cry upstairs.
Poirot asked
What was she doing
She was standing by the far window, sir. She was holding the curtain a little back and
looking out.
And none of the other ladies were in the room
No, sir.
Do you know where they were
I couldn’t say at all, sir.
You don’t know where anyone else was
Mr. David, I think, was playing in the music room next door to the drawing room.
You heard him playing
Yes, sir.” Again the old man shivered. “It was like a sign, sir, so I felt afterwards. It was the
Dead March’ he was playing. Even at the time, I remember, it gave me the creeps.
It is curious, yes,” said Poirot.
Now, about this fellow, Horbury, the valet,” said the chief constable. “Are you definitely
prepared to swear that he was out of the house by eight o’clock
Oh yes, sir. It was just after Mr. Sugden here arrived. I remember particular because he
broke a coffee cup.
Poirot said
Horbury broke a coffee cup
Yes, sir—one of the old Worcester ones. Eleven years I’ve washed them up and never one
broken till this evening.
Poirot said
What was Horbury doing with the coffee cups
Well, of course, sir, he’d no business to have been handling them at all. He was just holding
one up, admiring it like, and I happened to mention that Mr. Sugden had called, and he dropped
it.
Poirot said
Did you say ‘Mr. Sugden’ or did you mention the word police
Tressilian looked a little startled.
Now I come to think of it, sir, I mentioned that the police superintendent had called.
And Horbury dropped the coffee cup,” said Poirot.
Seems suggestive, that,” said the chief constable. “Did Horbury ask any questions about the
superintendent’s visit
Yes, sir, asked what he wanted here. I said he’d come collecting for the Police Orphanage
and had gone up to Mr. Lee.
Did Horbury seemed relieved when you said that
Do you know, sir, now you mention it, he certainly did. His manner changed at once. Said
Mr. Lee was a good old chap and free with his money—rather disrepectfully he spoke—and then
he went off.
Which way
Out through the door to the servants’ hall.
Sugden interposed
All that’s O.K., sir. He passed through the kitchen, where the cook and the kitchenmaid saw
him, and out through the back door.
Now listen, Tressilian, and think carefully. Is there any means by which Horbury could
return to the house without anyone seeing him
The old man shook his head.
I don’t see how he could have done so, sir. All the doors are locked on the inside.
Supposing he had had a key
The doors are bolted as well.
How does he get in when he comes
He has a key of the back door, sir. All the servants come in that way.
He could have returned that way, then
Not without passing through the kitchen, sir. And the kitchen would be occupied till well
after half past nine or a quarter to ten.
Colonel Johnson said
That seems conclusive. Thank you, Tressilian.
The old man got up and with a bow left the room. He returned, however, a minute or two
later.
Horbury has just returned, sir. Would you like to see him now
Yes, please, send him in at once.
