They slipped into a discussion which was so like old times that both of them were taken back to the days before Lois came.

CHAPTER 40

Miss Silver never returned from a case without experiencing a very deep and heartfelt gratitude. For many years of her life she had lived permanently in other people’s houses. For many years of her life she had seen no prospect before her of doing anything else until, too elderly for her services as governess to be any longer in request, she retired to exist on the few shillings a week which her savings might bring in. You cannot save very much from the salary which governesses at that time received. To think of this, and then to see the front door of her little flat thrown wide with her faithful Emma waiting to welcome her, to come into her sitting-room and to behold its modest comfort-the pictures on its walls, the rows of photographs framed in plush, in beaten metal, in silver filigree, all speaking of valued friendships-never failed to evoke feelings of thankfulness.

If it made her happy to have these things for herself, it made her still happier to be able to share them with others- to pour tea from a Victorian silver teapot, and to dispense the sandwiches and little cakes in the making of which Emma Meadows excelled.

On the day after her return from Latter End, Sergeant Abbott dropped in to tea. For him Emma produced three separate kinds of sandwich, as well as drop scones which melted in the mouth, and a honeycomb which she would not ordinarily have produced for a visitor.

Frank gazed at the loaded cake-stand and groaned.

“If I came here as often as I’d like to I should be getting a Chief Inspector’s figure, and then as likely as not they’d never make me one.”

Miss Silver beamed upon him.

“My dear Frank, you are if anything too thin. Pray make a good tea.”

He proceeded to do so.

It was at about the third cup of tea and perhaps the tenth sandwich that he broke into Miss Silver’s best tea-table talk. He had been abstracted from what she was saying, but to the best of his subsequent recollection it was a computation of the variations in temperature between the September weather of this and several preceding years. He stretched out his hand for another sandwich and said,

“When did you first begin to suspect Mrs. Latter?”

Miss Silver set down her cup and reached for her knitting. She had begun a new grey stocking, the first of Derek’s second pair. Three inches of ribbing showed upon the needles. She began to knit, her expression thoughtful.

“That is a very difficult question to answer. The conflict between what I may call the material and the immaterial facts appeared to be complete. I do not recall any case where this has been so marked. If Mrs. Latter’s death was to be considered as suicide, there was the evidence of everyone who knew her that she was the last person in the world to throw away a life which she thoroughly enjoyed. If, on the other hand, she was murdered, there were only three people who could have made certain that it was she and not Mr. Latter who drank from the cup which had been poisoned. They were Mr. Latter himself, Mrs. Street, and Miss Mercer. The more I thought about these alternatives, the less could I persuade myself to accept either of them. I talked about the dead woman to each member of the family. Innumerable small touches made up the picture of a hard, determined woman who would stick at nothing to get her own way-a persevering woman. There were many small instances of this. A cool and calculating woman. Not at all the type to be abashed before her husband, or to commit suicide because she had been rebuffed by Mr. Antony, whom she might have married two years ago if she had chosen. She had independent means, she had magnificent health and self-confidence. She had as little sentiment and affection in her composition as anyone can have. She was handsome, and attractive to men. I could not bring myself to believe that she had committed suicide.”

Frank took another sandwich.

“Two minds with but a single thought-you and the Chief! Two hearts that beat as one!”

Miss Silver had a weakness for impudent young men. She coughed indulgently.

“When I considered the other alternative I was equally at a loss. If it was murder, was it Mr. Latter, or Mrs. Street, or Miss Mercer who had murdered her? Here again the physical and the psychological evidence were in contradiction. According to the former any one of the three might have done it. According to the latter not one of them. I will begin with Mrs. Street. When I realized how unhappy she was making herself over the separation from her husband, and how intensely she had desired that he should be received at Latter End, I gave some thought to the possibility that, regarding Mrs. Latter as an obstacle, she might have removed her. I discerned that she was terribly afraid that she might be losing her husband’s affection. She was overworked and overwrought. In fact she was in just the kind of nervous state in which some loss of mental balance might have occurred. If you add to this that Miss Mercer when interrogated about the medicine-cupboard stated that it was open on that Tuesday evening because she had been getting out some face-cream for Mrs. Street, you will see that I really did have food for thought. You will remember it was shortly afterwards that Miss Mercer noticed that the morphia bottle had been moved. I had to consider whether it was Mrs. Street who had moved it.”

“Well?”

Miss Silver regarded him intelligently.

“I became convinced that it was not in Mrs. Street ’s character to commit a cold-blooded, premeditated murder. She is a gentle, not very efficient girl, and she is generally lacking in resource and initiative. She has, I imagine, been accustomed all her life to rely for these things upon her sister Julia, a very intelligent and forceful young woman. If Julia Vane had turned her attention to crime she would, I am convinced, have been most efficient. Fortunately for herself and for others, she has good principles and a warm and generous nature. Mrs. Street is of the type which drifts and suffers. I could not believe her capable of definite and ruthless action. I was really unable to believe in her as a poisoner.”

Frank Abbott nodded.

Miss Silver continued to knit.

“Mr. Latter, of course, had a very serious motive. It was quite natural that the Chief Inspector should have suspected him. He had indeed great provocation-just such provocation as has brought about so many crimes of violence. In the presence of strong conjugal jealousy few would look past the injured husband for a suspect. I myself was fully aware of my client’s dangerous position, but after he had talked to me I was able to reject the idea that he had poisoned his wife. He was in great agony of mind, and full of self-reproach because he was afraid that she had committed suicide. The one hope he clung to was that I might be able to prove that she had been murdered. I found him as open and as simple as a child, and of a kindly and forgiving nature. Whatever the evidence might be, I considered him incapable of murder.” She paused, coughed, and said, “Miss Mercer also had a very strong motive.”

Frank’s eyebrows rose.

“Would you call her motive so strong?”

She inclined her head.

“Yes, Frank-the strongest which a woman of her type could have. She loved Mr. Latter devotedly. It was impossible not to be aware of it. Unfortunately, I suppose it had never occurred to him. He had lived too close to her and become too much accustomed to her presence and to her affection to notice it until it was about to be withdrawn, when he became, according to all accounts, extremely unhappy. They are exactly suited to one another, and if they had married twenty years ago, it would have been an admirable thing for them both. Bearing all this in mind, you will see how strong Miss Mercer’s motive might have been. She saw Mr. Latter being made exceedingly unhappy, she saw Mrs. Latter determined to come between Mr. Antony and Miss Julia, she saw her set upon a course which threatened to disrupt the family. Yes, the motive might have been very strong. There was also the undoubted fact that she was in a state of mental distress even beyond what the situation warranted. I was convinced that she was concealing something, and that whatever it was, it was causing her great agony of mind.”