internal arrangements. He had various men posted in the park
outside, guarding all the approaches to the house, and he
assured me that if the whole thing were not a hoax, we should
undoubtedly catch my mysterious correspondent.
'I had Johnnie with me, and he and I and the inspector went
together into the room we call the council chamber. The
igspector 16cked the door. There is a big grandfather clock
tlzre, and as the hands drew near to twelve I don't mind
confessing that I was as nervous as a cat. There was a whirring
sound, and the clock began to strike. I clutched at Johrmie. I
hd a feeling a man might drop from the skies. The last stroke
sounded, and as it did so, there was a great commotion outside
- shouting and running. The inspector flung up the window,
and a constable came running up.
'"We've got him sir," he panted. "He was sneaking up
through the bushes. He's got a wholedope outfit on him."
'We hurried out on the terrace where two constables were
holding a ruffianly-looking fellow in shabby clothes, who was
twisting and turning in a vain endcav0ur to escape. One of the
policemen held out an unrolled parcel which the3;had wrested
from their captive. It contained a pad of cotton wool and a
bottle of chloroform. It made my blood boil to see it. There was
a note, too, addressed to me. I tore it open. It bore the following
words: "You should have paid up. To ransom your son will
now cost you fifty thousand. In spite of all your precautions he
has been abducted on the twenty-ninth as I said."
'I gave a great laugh, the laugh of relief, but as I did so I
heard the hum of a motor and a shout. I turned my head.
Racing down the drive towards the south lodge at a furious
speed was a low, long grey car. It was the man who drove it who
shouted, but that was not what gave me a shock of horror. It
was the sight of Johnnie's flaxen curls. The child was in the car
beside him.
225
'The inspector ripped out an oath. "The child was here not
a minute ago," he cried. His eyes swept over us. We were all
there: myself, Tredwell, Miss Collins. "When did you last see
him, Mr Waverly?"
'I cast my mind back, trying to remember. When the
constable had called us, I had run out with the inspector,
forgetting all about Johnnle.
'And then there came a sound that startled us, the chiming
of a church clock from the village. With an exclamation the
inspector pulled out his watch. It was exactly twelve o'clock.
With one common accord we ran to the council chamber; the
clock there marked the hour as ten minutes past. Someone
must have deliberately tampered with it, for I have never
known it gain or lose before. It is a perfect timekeeper.'
Mr Waverly paused. Poirot smiled to himself and straightened
a little mat which the anxious father had pushed askew.
'A pleasing little problem, obscure and charming,' murmured
Poirot. 'I will investigate it for you with pleasure. Truly
it was planned i mervle.'
Mrs Waverly looked at him reproachfully. 'But my boy,' she
wailed.
Poirot hastily composed his face and looked the picture of
earnest sympathy again. 'He is safe, madame, he is unlmrmed.
Rest assured, these miscreants will take the greatest care of
him. Is he not to them the turkey - no, the goose - that lays the
golden eggs?'
'M. Poirot, I'm sure there's only one thing to be done - pay
up. I was all against it at first- but now! A mother's feelings '
'But we have interrupted monsieur in his history,' cried
Poirot hastily.
'I expect you know the rest pretty well from the papers,' said Me Waverly. 'Of course, Inspector McNeil got on to the
telephone immediately. A description of the car and the man
was circulated all round, and it looked at first as though
everything was going to turn out all right. A car, answering to
the description, with a man and a small boy, had passed
through various villages, apparently making for London. At
one place they had stopped, and it was noticed that the child
226
IllspeCt°'
- - --an and boy detained, I was almost ill with relief. You oW
the sequel. The boy was not ]ohtmie,
ardent motorist, fond of children, who had pickl up a small
child playing in the streets of Edenswcll, a village about fifteen
ailes from us, and was 16ndiy giving him a ride. Thanks to the
cocksure blundering of the police, all traces have disappeared.
Had they not persistently followed the wrong car, they might
go ,
by now have found the .y.
police are a brave and
'Calm yourself, monsieur. The
intelligent force of men. Their mistake was a very natural one.
Ad altogether it was a clever scheme. As to the man they
caught in the grounds, I understand that his defence has
consisted all along of a persistent denial. He declared that the
and arcel were given to him to deliver at Waverly Court.
· note P
- handed him a ten-shllinS note
I The man who gave mere to
and promised him another if it were delivered at exactly ten
· utes to twelve. He was to approach the house tluongh the
- '- ' -r'
'I don't believe a wora ox n,
'It's all a parcel of lies.'
'Eh veritY, it is a thin story,' said Poimt reflectively. 'But so
far they have not shaken it. I understand, also, that he made a
certain accusation?'
His glance interrogated Mr Waverly. The latter got rather
red again,
impertinence to pretend that he
'The fellow had the
recognized in Tredwell the man who gave him the parcel.
"Only the bloke has shaved offhis moustache." Tredwell, who
was born on the estate!' ···
Poirot smiled a little at the country gentleman's 'indignation.
'Yet you yourself suspect an inmate of the house to have been
accessory to the abduction.'
'Yes, but not Tredwell.'
' And you, madame?' asked Poirot, suddenly mining to her.
'It could not have been Tredwell who gave this tramp the
letter and parcel - if anybody ever did, which I don't believe.
227
It was given him at ten o'clock, he says. At ten o'clock Tredve
was with my husband in the smoking-room.'
'Were you able to see the face of the man in the
monsieur? Did it resemble that of Tredwell in any
'It was too far away for me to see his face.'
'Has TredweU a brother, do you know?'
'He had several, but they are all dead. The last one was killed
in the war.'
'I am not yet clear as to the grounds of Waverly Court. The
car was heading for the south lodge. Is there another entranee?'
'Yes, what we call the east lodge. It can be seen from the
other side of the house.'
'It seems to me strange that nobody saw the cat entering the
grounds.'
'There is a right of way through, and access to a small chapel,
A good ma
ny cars pass through. The mm must have stopped
the car in a convenient phce and run up to the house just as the
alarm was given and attention attracted elsewhere.'
'Unless he was already inside the house,' mused Poirot 'Is
there any place where he could have hidden?'
'Well, we certainly didn't make a thorough search of the
house beforehand. There seemed no need. I suppose he might
have hidden himself somewhere, but who would have let him
in?'
'We shall come to that later. One thing at a time - let us be
methodical.. There is no special hiding-place in the house?
Waverly Court is an old place, and there are sometimes
"priests' holes", as they call them.'
'By gad, there/s a priest's hole. It opens from one of the
panels in the hall.'
'Near the council chamber?'
'Just outside the door.'
'But nobody knows of its existence except my wife and
myself.'
'Tredwell?'
'Well - he might have heard of it.'
'Miss Collins?'
228
'I have never mentioned it to her.'
poirot reflected for a minute.
,Well, monsieur, the next thing is for me to come down to
averly Court. If I arrive this afternoon, will it suit you:?'
, . soon as sible, please, Monsieur Poirot!' cried
Oh. as
pos
Waverly. 'Read this once more.'
She thrust into his hands the last missive from the enemy
which had reached the Waverlys that morning and which had
sent her post-haste to Poirot. It gave clever and explicit
· ' long for the paying over of the money, and ended .wth
that the boy's life would pay for any treachery. It
dtea
warred with the essential mother love
clear that a love of money
gaining the day.
of Mrs Waverly, and that the latter was at last behind her
Poirot detained Mrs Waverly for a minute
husband.
'Madame, the truth, if you please. Do you share your
husband's faith in the butler, Tredweii?'
nothing against him, Monsieur Poirot, I rmot see
'I have
concerned in this, but - well, I have
how he can have been
never liked him - never?
'One other thing, madame, can you give me the address of
the child's nurse?'
·
don't imagine '
'149 lqetherall Road, Hammersmith. You
grey cells.
'Never do I imagine. Only - I employ the little
And sometimes, inst sometimes, I have a little idea.'
Poirot came back to me as the door dosed.
'So madame has never liked the butler. It is interesting, that,
eh, Hastings?'
I refused to be drawn. Poirot has deceived me so often that
I now go warily. There is always a catch somewhere.
After completing an elaborate outdoor toilet, we set off for
.4etherall Road. We were fortunate enough to find Miss Jessie
Withers at home·She was a pleasant-faced woman of thirty-five,
capable and superior. I could not believe that she could be
mixed up in the affair. She was bitterly resendul of the way she
had been dismissed, but admitted that she hsd been in the
wrong. She was engaged to be married to a painter and
decorator who happened to be in the neighbourhood, and she
229
had run out to meet him. The thing seemed natural eoug.
could not quite understand Poirot. All his questions
me quite irrelevant. They were concerned mainly v ith
daily murine of her life at Waverly Court. I was frankl bored
and glad when Poirot took his departure.
'Kidnapping is an easy job, mon am/,' he observed, as he
hailed a taxi in the Hammersmith Road and ordered it to drive
to Waterloo. 'That child could have been abducted with greatest ease any day for the last three years.'
'I don't see that that advances us much,' I remarked coldly. 'Au contraire, it advances us enormously, but enonnouslyt If
you must wear a tie pin, Hastings, at least let it be in the eyact
centre of your tie. At present it is at least a sixteenth of an inch
too much to the right.'
Waverly Court was a frae old place and had recently been
restored with taste and care. Mx Waverly showed us the
council chamber, the terrace, and all the various spots
'connected with the case. Finally, at Poirot's request, he pressed
a spring in the wall, a panel slid aside, and a short passage led
us into the priest's hole.
'You see,' said Waverly. 'There is nothing here.'
The tiny room was bare enough, there was not even the mark
of a footstep on the floor. I joined Poirot where he was bending
attentively over a mark in the corner.
'ghat do you make of this, my friend?'
There were four imprints dose together.
'A dog,' I cried.
'A very small dog, Hastings.'
'A Porn.'
'Smaller than a Porn.'
'A griffon?' I suggested doubtfully.
'Smaller even than a griffon. A species unknown to the
Kennel Club.'
I looked at him. His face was alight with excitement
satisfaction.
'I was right,' he murmured. 'I knew I was right. Come, Hastings.'
As we stepped out into the hall and the panel closed behind
230
a our lady came out of a door farther down the passage.
s ./,, resented her to us.
,Miss .onms.
thirty years of age, brisk .and alert in
Miss Collins was about
fair
rather dull hair, and wore pm. ce-nez.
.,saner. She had ,
----a into a small morning-room,
'" At poirOt'S request, we pa,,
· her closely as to the servants and particularly
¢ uesnoned
·
· the butler.
and h q . , o,.. oamitted that she did not like
aS tO Treclweu. of
'He gives himself airs,' she explained.
They then went into the question of the food eaten by Mrs
VsverlY on the night of the 28th. Miss Collins declared that
she had partaken of the same dishes upstairs in her sitting
ora
and had felt no ill effects. As she was departing I nudged
Poirot.
'The dog,' I whispered.
'Ah, yes, the dog!' He smiled broadly. 'Is there a dog kept
here by any chance, mademoiselle?'
'There arc two retrievers in the kennels outside.'
'No, I mean a small dog, a toy dog.'
'No - nothing of the kind.'
Poirot permitted her to depart. Then, pressing the hell, he
remarked to me, 'She lies, that Mademoiselle Collins. Possibly
I should, also, in her place, blow for the butler.'
Tredwell was a dignified individual. He told his story with
perfect aplomb, and it was essentially the same as that of Mr
Waverly. He admitted that he knew the secret of the priest's
hole.
When he finally withdrew, pontifical to the last, I met
Poirot's quizzical eyes.
.
'What do you make of it all, Hastings?
'What do you?' I parried.
'How cautious you become, b
lever, never will the grey cells
function unless you stimulate them. Ah, but I will not tease
you! Let us make our deductions together. What points strike
us specially as being difficult?'
I said. 'Why did the man
'There s one thing that strikes me;
instead of
who kidnapped the child go out by the south lodge
by the east lodge where no one would see him?'
231
'That is a very good point, ltastis, an excellent
match it with another. Why warn the Waverlys be '. 'and?
Why not simply kidnap the child and hold him to t
'Because they hoped to get the money without be:
to action.'
'Surely it was very unlikely that the money would be paid on
a mere threat?'
'Also they wanted to focus attention on twelve o'clock, so
that when the tramp man was seized, the other could emerge
from his hiding-place and get away with the child unnoticed.,
'That does not alter the fact that they were nmldng a thing
difficult that was perfectly easy. If they do not spe a time or
date, nothing would be easier than to wait their chance, ami
carry off the child in a motor one day when he is out with his
'Ye - es,' I admitted doubtfully.
'In fact, there is a deliberate playing of the farce! Now let us
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