XVII
Sydney Horbury did not present a very prepossessing appearance. He came into the room and
stood rubbing his hands together and darting quick looks from one person to another. His manner
was unctuous.
Johnson said
You’re Sydney Horbury
Yes, sir.
Valet attendant to the late Mr. Lee
Yes, sir. It’s terrible, isn’t it? You could have knocked me down with a feather when I heard
from Gladys. Poor old gentleman
Johnson cut him short.
Just answer my questions, please.
Yes, sir, certainly, sir.
What time did you go out tonight, and where have you been
I left the house just before eight, sir. I went to the Superb, sir, just five minutes’ walk away.
Love in Old Seville was the picture, sir.
Anyone who saw you there
The young lady in the box office, sir, she knows me. And the commissionaire at the door, he
knows me too. And—er—as a matter of fact, I was with a young lady, sir. I met her there by
appointment.
Oh, you did, did you? What’s her name
Doris Buckle, sir. She works in the Combined Dairies, sir, 23, Markham Road.
Good. We’ll look into that. Did you come straight home
I saw my young lady home first, sir. Then I came straight back. You’ll find it’s quite all
right, sir. I didn’t have anything to do with this. I was
Colonel Johnson said curtly
Nobody’s accusing you of having anything to do with it.
No, sir, of course not, sir. But it’s not very pleasant when a murder happens in a house.
Nobody said it was. Now, then, how long had you been in Mr. Lee’s service
Just over a year, sir.
Did you like your place here
Yes, sir. I was quite satisfied. The pay was good. Mr. Lee was rather difficult sometimes, but
of course I’m used to attending on invalids.
You’ve had previous experience
Oh, yes, sir. I was with Major West and with the Honourable Jasper Finch
You can give all those particulars to Sugden later. What I want to know is this: At what time
did you last see Mr. Lee this evening
It was about half past seven, sir. Mr. Lee had a light supper brought to him every evening at
seven o’clock. I then prepared him for bed. After that he would sit in front of the fire in his
dressing gown till he felt like going to bed.
What time was that usually
It varied, sir. Sometimes he would go to bed as early as eight o’clock—that’s if he felt tired.
Sometimes he would sit up till eleven or after.
What did he do when he did want to go to bed
Usually he rang for me, sir.
And you assisted him to bed
Yes, sir.
But this was your evening out. Did you always have Fridays
Yes, sir. Friday was my regular day.
What happened then when Mr. Lee wanted to go to bed
He would ring his bell and either Tressilian or Walter would see to him.
He was not helpless? He could move about
Yes, sir, but not very easily. Rheumatoid arthritis was what he suffered from, sir. He was
worse some days than others.
Did he never go into another room in the daytime
No, sir. He preferred to be in just the one room. Mr. Lee wasn’t luxurious in his tastes. It
was a big room with plenty of air and light in it.
Mr. Lee had his supper at seven, you say
Yes, sir. I took the tray away and put out the sherry and two glasses on the bureau.
Why did you do that
Mr. Lee’s orders.
Was that usual
Sometimes. It was the rule that none of the family came to see Mr. Lee in the evening unless
he invited them. Some evenings he liked to be alone. Other evenings he’d send down and ask Mr.
Alfred, or Mrs. Alfred, or both of them, to come up after dinner.
But, as far as you know, he had not done so on this occasion? That is, he had not sent a
message to any member of the family requesting their presence
He hadn’t sent any message by me, sir.
So that he wasn’t expecting any of the family
He might have asked one of them personally, sir.
Of course.
Horbury continued
I saw that everything was in order, wished Mr. Lee good night and left the room.
Poirot asked
Did you make up the fire before you left the room
The valet hesitated.
It wasn’t necessary, sir. It was well built up.
Could Mr. Lee have done that himself
Oh no, sir. I expect Mr. Harry Lee had done it.
Mr. Harry Lee was with him when you came in before supper
Yes, sir. He went away when I came.
What was the relationship between the two as far as you could judge
Mr. Harry Lee seemed in very good spirits, sir. Throwing back his head and laughing a good
deal.
And Mr. Lee
He was quiet and rather thoughtful.
I see. Now, there’s something more I want to know, Horbury: What can you tell us about the
diamonds Mr. Lee kept in his safe
Diamonds, sir? I never saw any diamonds.
Mr. Lee kept a quantity of uncut stones there. You must have seen him handling them.
Those funny little pebbles, sir? Yes, I did see him with them once or twice. But I didn’t
know they were diamonds. He was showing them to the foreign young lady only yesterday—or
was it the day before
Colonel Johnson said abruptly
These stones have been stolen.
Horbury cried out
I hope you don’t think, sir, that I had anything to do with it
I’m not making any accusations,” said Johnson. “Now then, is there anything you can tell us
that has any bearing on this matter
The diamonds, sir? Or the murder
Both.
Horbury considered. He passed his tongue over his pale lips. At last he looked up with eyes
that were a shade furtive.
I don’t think there’s anything, sir.
Poirot said softly
Nothing you’ve overheard, say, in the course of your duties, which might be helpful
The valet’s eyelids flickered a little.
No, sir, I don’t think so, sir. There was a little awkwardness between Mr. Lee and—and
some members of his family.
Which members
I gathered there was a little trouble over Mr. Harry Lee’s return. Mr. Alfred Lee resented it.
I understand he and his father had a few words about it—but that was all there was to it. Mr. Lee
didn’t accuse him for a minute of having taken any diamonds. And I’m sure Mr. Alfred wouldn’t
do such a thing.
Poirot said quickly
His interview with Mr. Alfred was after he had discovered the loss of the diamonds, was it
not, though
Yes, sir.
Poirot leaned forward.
I thought, Horbury,” he said softly, “that you did not know of the theft of the diamonds until
we informed you of it just now. How, then, do you know that Mr. Lee had discovered his loss
before he had this conversation with his son
Horbury turned brick red.
No use lying. Out with it,” said Sugden. “When did you know
Horbury said sullenly
I heard him telephoning to someone about it.
You weren’t in the room
No, outside the door. Couldn’t hear much—only a word or two.
What did you hear exactly?” asked Poirot sweetly.
I heard the words robbery and diamonds, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know who to
suspect’—and I heard him say something about this evening at eight o’clock.
Superintendent Sugden nodded.
That was to me he was speaking, my lad. About five ten, was it
That’s right, sir.
And when you went into his room afterwards, did he look upset
Just a bit, sir. Seemed absentminded and worried.
So much so that you got the wind up—eh
Look here, Mr. Sugden, I won’t have you saying things like that. Never touched any
diamonds, I didn’t, and you can’t prove I did. I’m not a thief.
Superintendent Sugden, unimpressed, said
That remains to be seen.” He glanced questioningly at the chief constable, received a nod
and went on: “That’ll do for you, my lad. Shan’t want you again tonight.
Horbury went out gratefully in haste.
Sugden said appreciatively
Pretty bit of work, M. Poirot. You trapped him as neatly as I’ve ever seen it done. He may
be a thief or he may not, but he’s certainly a first-class liar
An unprepossessing person,” said Poirot.
Nasty bit of goods,” agreed Johnson. “Question is, what do we think of his evidence
Sugden summarized the position neatly.
Seems to me there are three possibilities: (1) Horbury’s a thief and a murderer.
Horbury’s a thief, but not a murderer. (3) Horbury’s an innocent man. Certain amount of evidence
for (1). He overheard telephone call and knew the theft had been discovered. Gathered from old
man’s manner that he was suspected. Made his plans accordingly. Went out ostentatiously at eight
o’clock and cooked up an alibi. Easy enough to slip out of a cinema and return there unnoticed.
He’d have to be pretty sure of the girl, though, that she wouldn’t give him away. I’ll see what I can
get out of her tomorrow.
How, then, did he manage to reenter the house?” asked Poirot.
That’s more difficult,” Sugden admitted. “But there might be ways. Say one of the women
servants unlocked a side door for him.
Poirot raised his eyebrows quizzically.
He places, then, his life at the mercy of two women? With one woman it would be taking a
big risk; with two—eh bien, I find the risk fantastic
Sugden said
Some criminals think they can get away with anything
He went on
Let’s take (2). Horbury pinched those diamonds. He took ’em out of the house tonight and
has possibly passed them on to some accomplice. That’s quite easy going and highly probable.
Now we’ve got to admit that somebody else chose this night to murder Mr. Lee. That somebody
being quite unaware of the diamond complication. It’s possible, of course, but it’s a bit of a
coincidence.
Possibility (3)—Horbury’s innocent. Somebody else both took the diamonds and murdered
the old gentleman. There it is; it’s up to us to get at the truth.
Colonel Johnson yawned. He looked again at his watch and got up.
Well,” he said, “I think we’ll call it a night, eh? Better just have a look in the safe before we
go. Odd thing if those wretched diamonds were there all the time.
But the diamonds were not in the safe. They found the combination where Alfred Lee had
told them, in the small notebook taken from the dressing gown pocket of the dead man. In the safe
they found an empty chamois-leather bag. Among the papers the safe contained only one was of
interest.
It was a will dated some fifteen years previously. After various legacies and bequests, the
provisions were simple enough. Half Simeon Lee’s fortune went to Alfred Lee. The other half was
to be divided in equal shares between his remaining children: Harry, George, David and Jennifer.
