Partners in Crime

"It's very simple. I've got a habit of drawing a little silly thing-three fish intertwined-whenever I have a pencil in my hand. A parcel of silk stockings arrived from a certain shop in London not long ago. We were at the breakfast table. I'd just been marking something in the newspaper, and without thinking, I began to draw my silly little fish on the label of the parcel before cutting the string and opening it. I thought no more about the matter, but when I was examining the piece of brown paper in which the chocolates had been sent, I caught sight of the corner of the original label-most of which had been torn off. My silly little drawing was on it."

Tommy drew his chair forward.

"That is very serious. It creates, as you say, a very strong presumption that the sender of the chocolates is a member of your household. But you will forgive me if I say that I still do not see why that fact should render you indisposed to call in the police?"

Lois Hargreaves looked him squarely in the face.

"I will tell you, Mr. Blunt. I may want the whole thing hushed up."

Tommy retired gracefully from the position.

"In that case," he murmured, "we know where we are. I see, Miss Hargreaves, that you are not disposed to tell me who it is you suspect?"

"I suspect no one-but there are possibilities."

"Quite so. Now will you describe the household to me in detail?"

"The servants, with the exception of the parlormaid, are all old ones who have been with us many years. I must explain to you, Mr. Blunt, that I was brought up by my Aunt, Lady Radclyffe, who was extremely wealthy. Her husband made a big fortune, and was knighted. It was he who bought Thurnly Grange, but he died two years after going there, and it was then that Lady Radclyffe sent for me to come and make my home with her. I was her only living relation. The other inmate of the house was Dennis Radclyffe, her husband's nephew. I have always called him cousin, but of course he is really nothing of the kind. Aunt Lucy always said openly that she intended to leave her money, with the exception of a small provision for me, to Dennis. It was Radclyffe money, she said, and ought to go to a Radclyffe. However, when Dennis was twenty-two, she quarrelled violently with him-over some debts that he had run up, I think. When she died, a year later, I was astonished to find that she had made a will leaving all her money to me. It was, I know, a great blow to Dennis, and I felt very badly about it. I would have given him the money if he would have taken it, but it seems that that kind of thing can't be done. However, as soon as I was twenty-one, I made a will leaving it all to him. That's the least I can do. So if I'm run over by a motor, Dennis will come into his own."

"Exactly," said Tommy. "And when were you twenty-one, if I may ask the question?"

"Just three weeks ago."

"Ah!" said Tommy. "Now will you give me fuller particulars of the members of your household at this minute?"

"Servants-or-others?"

"Both."

"The servants, as I say, have been with us some time. There is old Mrs. Holloway, the cook, and her niece Rose, the kitchenmaid. Then there are two elderly housemaids, and Hannah who was my aunt's maid and who has always been devoted to me. The parlormaid is called Esther Quant, and seems a very nice quiet girl. As for ourselves, there is Miss Logan who was Aunt Lucy's companion and who runs the house for me, and Captain Radclyffe-Dennis, you know, whom I told you about, and there is a girl called Mary Chilcott, an old school friend of mine who is staying with us."

Tommy thought for a moment.

"That all seems fairly clear and straightforward, Miss Hargreaves," he said after a minute or two. "I take it that you have no special reason for attaching suspicion more to one person than another? You are only afraid it might prove to be-well-not a servant, shall we say?"

"That's it exactly, Mr. Blunt. I have honestly no idea who used that piece of brown paper. The handwriting was printed."

"There seems only one thing to be done," said Tommy. "I must be on the spot."

The girl looked at him inquiringly.

Tommy went on after a moment's thought.

"I suggest that you prepare the way for the arrival of-say, Mr. and Miss Van Dusen-American friends of yours. Will you be able to do that quite naturally?"

"Oh! yes. There will be no difficulty at all. When will you come down-to-morrow-or the day after?"

"To-morrow, if you please. There is no time to waste."

"That is settled, then."

The girl rose, and held out her hand.

"One thing, Miss Hargreaves, not a word, mind, to anyone-anyone at all, that we are not what we seem."

"What do you think of it, Tuppence?" he asked, when he returned from showing the visitor out.

"I don't like it," said Tuppence decidedly. "Especially I don't like the chocolates having so little arsenic in them."

"What do you mean?"