Miss Marple interrupted.

'Couldn't Edgar Lawson have poisoned Mrs Serro-cold?' she asked.

'Hardly. He's only been here a few weeks. And anyway, it's ridiculous! Why should Edgar want to poison my wife? What could he possibly gain by doing SO?'

'Nothing material, I know. But he might have - some odd reason. He is odd, you know.'

'You mean unbalanced?'

'I suppose so. No, I don't - not quite. What I mean is, he's all wrong.'

It was not a very lucid exposition of what she felt.

Lewis Serrocold accepted the words at their face value.

'Yes,' he said with a sigh. 'He's all wrong, poor lad.

And he was showing such marked improvement. I can't really understand why he had this sudden set-back…' Miss Marple leaned forward eagerly.

'Yes, that's what I wondered. If-'

She broke off as Inspector Curry came into the room.

Lewis Serrocold went away, and Inspector Curry sat down and gave Miss Marple a rather peculiar smile.

'So Mr Serrocold has been asking you to act as Watch dog,' he said.

'Well, yes,' she added apologetically: 'I hope you don't mind ' 'I don't mind. I think it's a very good idea. Does Mr Serrocold know just how well qualified you are for the post?' 'I don't quite understand, Inspector.' 'I see. He thinks you're just a very nice elderly lady who was at school with his wife.' He shook his head at her. 'We know you're a bit more than that, Miss Marple, aren't you? Crime is right down your street. Mr Serro-cold only knows one aspect of crime - the promising beginners. Makes me a bit sick, sometimes. Daresay I'm wrong and old-fashioned. But there are plenty of good decent lads about, lads who could do with a start in life.

But there, honesty has to be its own reward - millionaires don't leave trust funds to help the worthwhile. Well well, don't pay any attention to me. I'm old-fashioned.

I've seen boys - and girls - with everything against them, bad homes, bad luck, every disadvantage, and they've had the grit to win through. That's the kind I shall leave my packet to, if I ever have one. But then, of course, that's what I never shall have. Just my pension and a nice bit of garden.'

He nodded his head at Miss Marple.

'Superintendent Blacker told me about you last night.

Said you'd had a lot of experience of the seamy side of human nature. Well now, let's have your point of view.

Who's the nigger in the woodpile? The G.I. husband?' 'That,' said Miss Marple, 'would be very convenient for everybody.' Inspector Curry smiled softly to himself.

'A G.I. pinched my best girl,' he said reminiscently.

'Naturally, I'm prejudiced. His manner doesn't help.

Let's have the amateur point of view. Who's been secretly and systematically poisoning Mrs Serrocold?' 'Well,' said Miss Marple judicially, 'one is always inclined, human nature being what it is, to think of the husband. Or if it's the other way round, the wife. That's the first assumption, don't you think, in a poisoning case?' 'I agree with you every time,' said Inspector Curry.

'But really - in this case -' Miss Marple shook her head. 'No, frankly - I can not seriously consider Mr Serrocold. Because you see, Inspector, he really is devoted to his wife. Naturally he would make a parade of being so - but it isn't a parade. It's very quiet, but it's genuine. He loves his wife, and I'm quite certain that he wouldn't poison her.' 'To say nothing of the fact that he wouldn't have any motive for doing so. She's made over her money to him already.' 'Of course,' said Miss Marple primly, 'there are other reasons for a gentleman wanting his wife out of the way.

An attachment to a young woman, for instance. But I really don't see any signs of it in this case. Mr Serrocold does not act as though he had any romantic preoccupation. I'm really afraid,' she sounded quite regretful about it, 'we shall have to wash him out.' 'Regrettable, isn't it?' said the Inspector. He grinned. 'And anyway, he couldn't have killed Gulbrandsen. It seems to me that there's no doubt that the one thing hinges on the other. Whoever is poisoning Mrs Serrocold killed Gulbrandsen to prevent him spilling the beans.

What we've got to get at now is who had an opportunity to kill Gulbrandsen last night. And our prize suspect -there's no doubt about it - is young Walter Hudd. It was he who switched on a reading lamp which resulted in a fuse going, thereby giving him the opportunity to leave the Hall and go to the fuse box. The fuse box is in the kitchen passage which opens off from the main corridor.

It was during his absence from the Great Hall that the shot was heard. So that's suspect No. 1 perfectly placed for committing the crime.' 'And suspect No. 2?' asked Miss Marple.

'Suspect No. 2 is Alex Restarick, who was alone in his car between the lodge and the house and took too long getting there.' 'Anybody else?' Miss Marple leaned forward eagerly remembering to add: 'It's very kind of you to tell me all this.' 'It's not kindness,' said Inspector Curry. 'I've got to have your help. You put your finger on the spot when you said "Anybody else?" Because there I've got to depend onyou. You were there, in the Hall last night, and you can tell me who left it…' 'Yes - yes, I ought to be able to tell you… But can I?

You see - the circumstances ' 'You mean that you were all listening to the argument going on behind the door of Mr Serrocold's study.'

Miss Marple nodded vehemently.

'Yes, you see we were all really very frightened. Mr Lawson looked - he really did - quite demented. Apart from Mrs Serrocold, who seemed quite unaffected, we all feared that he would do a mischief to Mr Serrocold. He was shouting, you know, and saying the most terrible things - we could hear them quite plainly - and what with that and with most of the lights being out - I didn't really notice anything else.' 'You mean that whilst that scene was going on, anybody could have slipped out of the Hall, gone along the corridor, shot Mr Gulbrandsen and slipped back again?' 'I think it would have been possible…' 'Could you say definitely that anybody was in the Great Hall the whole time?' Miss Marple considered.

'I could say that Mrs Serrocold was - because I was watching her. She was sitting quite close to the study door, and she never moved from her seat. It surprised me, you know, that she was able to remain so calm.' 'And the others?' 'Miss Bellever went out - but I think - I am almost sure - that that was after the shot. Mrs Strete? I really don't know. She was sitting behind me, you see. Gina was over by the far window. I think she remained there the whole time but of course I cannot be sure. Stephen was at the piano. He stopped playing when the quarrel began to get heated ' 'We mustn't be misled by the time you heard the shot,' said Inspector Curry. 'That's a trick that's been done before now, you know. Fake up a shot so as to fix the time of a crime, and fix it wrong. If Miss Bellever had cooked up something of that kind (far fetched - but you never know) then she'd leave as she did, openly, after the shot was heard. No, we can't go by the shot. The limits are between when Christian Gulbrandsen left the Hall to the moment when Miss Believer found him dead, and we can only eliminate those people who were known not to have had opportunity. That gives us Lewis Serrocold and young Edgar Lawson in the study, and Mrs Serrocold in the Hall. It's very unfortunate, of course, that Gulbrandsen should be shot on the same evening that this schemozzle happened between Serrocold and this young Lawson.' 'Just unfortunate, you think?' murmured Miss Marple.

'Oh? What do you think?' 'It occurred to me,' murmured Miss Marple, 'that it might have been contrived.' 'So that's your idea?' 'Well, everybody seems to think it very odd that Edgar Lawson should quite suddenly have a relapse, so to speak.