‘It might have caught there at any time.’

‘I believe not. It was a new dress, and she was wearing it for the first time. For some time after half past six no one seems to have seen her. Later, Meeson, Adriana Ford’s maid, saw Meriel Ford with coffee stains all down the front of this dress. Later still, when the guests had gone away, she had changed it.’

‘And what do you want to make of that?’

‘I think she was certainly down by the pool between half past six and the time Meeson saw her. She had never worn the dress before, and she packed it off to the cleaners on the Monday. In no other way and at no other time could that shred of her dress have got caught in the hedge. The spilled coffee suggests that the dress had become stained as well as torn, and that the stains were of such a nature that she thought it necessary to camouflage them with coffee. I believe that she was down by the pool, and that she either heard or saw something which made her dangerous to the person who pushed Miss Preston in. I believe there was such a person, and that Meriel Ford had some clue to this person’s identity. It is significant that her own death occurred very shortly after a violent quarrel between Meeson and herself. This quarrel took place on the landing at the top of the stairs. It was certainly overheard by Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Ford, by Mr Ninian Rutherford, and by the butler Simmons. It could have been heard by almost anyone in the house. In the course of it Meeson stated that I had found a torn piece of Meriel’s dress in the hedge by the pool, and Meriel loudly accused her of telling tales. I find it difficult to believe that this scene has no connection with what followed.’

Superintendent Martin was in two minds. He was impressed, and he had no desire to be impressed. He felt like a man who is doing a jigsaw puzzle and to whom an intrusive stranger proffers the missing piece. Gratitude is very seldom the reward of the onlooker who sees more of the game than you do yourself. He was, at the same time, a just man and too intelligent not to recognize intelligence in another. He recognized it in Miss Silver, and while not prepared to subscribe to her reasoning, he was prepared to consider it.

As he turned these things over in his mind he became aware that Miss Silver was waiting for him to speak. She did not fidget or show any signs of wishing to interrupt his train of thought. She sat there knitting quietly and maintained an attentive attitude. It occurred to him that he would like to know what impression had been made upon her by the scene in the drawing-room on the previous evening. He said with an effect of abruptness,

‘You were in the drawing-room last night when Mr Ford left the room, and when Meriel Ford followed him. Would you mind telling me just what passed?’

She did so without comment and in her usual careful and accurate manner. When she had finished he said,

‘Miss Johnstone and Mr Rutherford did not come into the drawing-room until after Mr Ford left it, then?’

‘Just a few minutes afterwards.’

‘And how long was it before Meriel Ford went after him?’

‘Not long at all. Not more than five minutes. There was some talk about Mrs Somers having rung up – the little girl’s mother. And then Miss Meriel suggested that they might dance. She took up a record, but put it down again almost at once and said, “I’ll get Geoffrey back. It’s nonsense his going off to write letters. Besides, does anyone believe in them? I don’t! Or perhaps Esmé Trent gives him a hand!” ’

‘This was said in front of Mrs Geoffrey Ford?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did she say anything?’

‘Not at the time. But a little later, when I unfortunately made some reference to a little boy who shares the children’s class at the Vicarage, Miss Adriana Ford said he was Mrs Trent’s child, and that she neglected him. Mrs Geoffrey then showed considerable feeling. She said Mrs Trent was an immoral woman, and told Miss Adriana Ford that she ought not to have her in the house.’

‘And what did Adriana Ford say to that?’

Miss Silver coughed.

‘She said that she was not a censor of morals, and she told Mrs Geoffrey not to be a fool.’

‘A pleasant family atmosphere,’ said Martin drily.

Miss Silver said,

‘If I may draw an apposite quotation from the works of the late Lord Tennyson-

‘Manners are not idle, but the fruit

Of loyal nature, and of noble mind.“’

He gave a short laugh.

‘Not much of that here!’

This time she quoted from the book of Common Prayer.

‘ “Envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness.” Where these are present you have the ingredients of a crime.’

‘Well, I suppose that’s true. At least none of these people seem to mind treading on each other’s corns. You must have had a pleasant evening – I don’t wonder you were ready to go to bed by half past nine. Let us come back to Meriel Ford for a minute. I don’t expect a definite answer to this, but if you have any kind of impression on the subject, I shall be interested to know what it is. She went out in pursuit of Geoffrey Ford, and so far as anyone will admit, that was the last time she was seen alive. Did you have any idea from her manner that her following him might have been just an excuse for getting out of the room – like his saying that he was going to write letters? Or did you think she had a serious interest in getting him to come back?’

Miss Silver pulled on her ball of wool. After a moment she said,

‘I cannot answer that directly. From what I have been told, and from what I have myself observed, Meriel was one of those people who crave to be the centre of attention. She was noticeably vexed and jealous because of Mr Rutherford’s attentions to Janet Johnstone. Her references to Mrs Trent suggested a personal resentment. She evinced jealous ill feeling towards Mrs Geoffrey. She was, I think, anxious to attract and keep the attention of both Mr Rutherford and Mr Ford.’

He said, ‘You don’t miss much, do you!’

She gave him a grave smile.

‘I was for some time engaged in the scholastic profession. Human nature shows itself very plainly in the schoolroom. “The Child is father to the man”, as Mr Wordsworth says.’

He nodded.

‘Do you think she followed Geoffrey Ford? We know she did go out. He admits that he went to see Mrs Trent. If she followed him there, what took her to the pool?’

Miss Silver knitted thoughtfully. After a moment she said,

‘I walked down to the general shop and post office this morning. It is very nearly opposite to the lodge occupied by Mrs Trent. She came out and walked along the road to the bus stop. After the bus had left, the little boy came out and ran off up the road to the Vicarage. I thought it a good opportunity to observe the surroundings of the lodge. The actual entrance, as you doubtless know, is within the drive. I walked up the flagged path to the front door and afterwards skirted the house. The sitting-room windows look towards the garden. There is a wide bed under them, neglected and full of weeds. There are bushes of lavender and rosemary in sad need of pruning, You will remember that it rained yesterday morning. The streets were still wet when my train got in, but it has been dry since then. The soil in the bed was soft and damp. It retained the clear evidence that a woman had stood outside that window for some little time. The footprints are deep, especially that of the right foot. If you will look at them yourself you will, I think, agree that a woman did stand there at some time after it had rained, and that she was leaning forward on her right foot. Such an attitude would suggest that she was either listening or looking in. To maintain her balance she would have had to rest her hands upon the windowsill. Perhaps a test for fingerprints would determine whether this woman was Meriel Ford.’

Martin said suddenly and irrelevantly,