II

“But you’ll admit, sir, that the two things would fit in very prettily to-gether,” he said a little later to Sir Henry Clithering. “Kill two birds withone stone. First the girl—and the fact of her death takes off Mr. Jeffersontoo—before he’s had any opportunity of altering his will.”

“Do you think he will alter it?”

“You’d be more likely to know that, sir, than I would. What do you say?”

“I don’t know. Before Ruby Keene came on the scene I happen to knowthat he had left his money between Mark Gaskell and Mrs. Jefferson. Idon’t see why he should now change his mind about that. But of course hemight do so. Might leave it to a Cats’ Home, or to subsidize young profes-sional dancers.”

Superintendent Harper agreed.

“You never know what bee a man is going to get in his bonnet—espe-cially when he doesn’t feel there’s any moral obligation in the disposal ofhis fortune. No blood relations in this case.”

Sir Henry said:

“He is fond of the boy—of young Peter.”

“D’you think he regards him as a grandson? You’d know that better thanI would, sir.”

Sir Henry said slowly:

“No, I don’t think so.”

“There’s another thing I’d like to ask you, sir. It’s a thing I can’t judge formyself. But they’re friends of yours and so you’d know. I’d like very muchto know just how fond Mr. Jefferson is of Mr. Gaskell and young Mrs. Jef-ferson.”

Sir Henry frowned.

“I’m not sure if I understand you, Superintendent?”

“Well, it’s this way, sir. How fond is he of them as persons—apart fromhis relationship to them?”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

“Yes, sir. Nobody doubts that he was very attached to them both—but hewas attached to them, as I see it, because they were, respectively, the hus-band and the wife of his daughter and his son. But supposing, for instance,one of them had married again?”

Sir Henry reflected. He said:

“It’s an interesting point you raise there. I don’t know. I’m inclined tosuspect—this is a mere opinion—that it would have altered his attitude agood deal. He would have wished them well, borne no rancour, but Ithink, yes, I rather think that he would have taken very little more interestin them.”

“In both cases, sir?”

“I think so, yes. In Mr. Gaskell’s, almost certainly, and I rather think inMrs. Jefferson’s also, but that’s not nearly so certain. I think he was fond ofher for her own sake.”

“Sex would have something to do with that,” said SuperintendentHarper sapiently. “Easier for him to look on her as a daughter than to lookon Mr. Gaskell as a son. It works both ways. Women accept a son-in-law asone of the family easily enough, but there aren’t many times when a wo-man looks on her son’s wife as a daughter.”

Superintendent Harper went on:

“Mind if we walk along this path, sir, to the tennis court? I see MissMarple’s sitting there. I want to ask her to do something for me. As a mat-ter of fact I want to rope you both in.”

“In what way, Superintendent?”

“To get at stuff that I can’t get at myself. I want you to tackle Edwardsfor me, sir.”

“Edwards? What do you want from him?”

“Everything you can think of! Everything he knows and what he thinks!

About the relations between the various members of the family, his angleon the Ruby Keene business. Inside stuff. He knows better than anyonethe state of affairs—you bet he does! And he wouldn’t tell me. But he’ll tellyou. And something might turn up from it. That is, of course, if you don’tobject?”

Sir Henry said grimly:

“I don’t object. I’ve been sent for, urgently, to get at the truth. I mean todo my utmost.”

He added:

“How do you want Miss Marple to help you?”

“With some girls. Some of those Girl Guides. We’ve rounded up half adozen or so, the ones who were most friendly with Pamela Reeves. It’spossible that they may know something. You see, I’ve been thinking. Itseems to me that if that girl was really going to Woolworth’s she wouldhave tried to persuade one of the other girls to go with her. Girls usuallylike to shop with someone.”

“Yes, I think that’s true.”

“So I think it’s possible that Woolworth’s was only an excuse. I want toknow where the girl was really going. She may have let slip something. Ifso, I feel Miss Marple’s the person to get it out of these girls. I’d say sheknows a thing or two about girls—more than I do. And, anyway, they’d bescared of the police.”

“It sounds to me the kind of village domestic problem that is right upMiss Marple’s street. She’s very sharp, you know.”

The Superintendent smiled. He said:

“I’ll say you’re right. Nothing much gets past her.” Miss Marple lookedup at their approach and welcomed them eagerly. She listened to the Su-perintendent’s request and at once acquiesced.

“I should like to help you very much, Superintendent, and I think thatperhaps I could be of some use. What with the Sunday School, you know,and the Brownies, and our Guides, and the Orphanage quite near—I’m onthe committee, you know, and often run in to have a little talk with Mat-ron—and then servants—I usually have very young maids. Oh, yes, I’vequite a lot of experience in when a girl is speaking the truth and when sheis holding something back.”

“In fact, you’re an expert,” said Sir Henry.

Miss Marple flashed him a reproachful glance and said:

“Oh, please don’t laugh at me, Sir Henry.”

“I shouldn’t dream of laughing at you. You’ve had the laugh of me toomany times.”

“One does see so much evil in a village,” murmured Miss Marple in anexplanatory voice.

“By the way,” said Sir Henry, “I’ve cleared up one point you asked meabout. The Superintendent tells me that there were nail clippings inRuby’s wastepaper basket.”

Miss Marple said thoughtfully:

“There were? Then that’s that….”

“Why did you want to know, Miss Marple?” asked the Superintendent.

Miss Marple said:

“It was one of the things that—well, that seemed wrong when I looked atthe body. The hands were wrong, somehow, and I couldn’t at first thinkwhy. Then I realized that girls who are very much made-up, and all that,usually have very long fingernails. Of course, I know that girls everywheredo bite their nails—it’s one of those habits that are very hard to break one-self of. But vanity often does a lot to help. Still, I presumed that this girlhadn’t cured herself. And then the little boy—Peter, you know—he saidsomething which showed that her nails had been long, only she caughtone and broke it. So then, of course, she might have trimmed off the restto make an even appearance, and I asked about clippings and Sir Henrysaid he’d find out.”

Sir Henry remarked:

“You said just now, ‘one of the things that seemed wrong when youlooked at the body.’ Was there something else?”

Miss Marple nodded vigorously.

“Oh yes!” she said. “There was the dress. The dress was all wrong.”

Both men looked at her curiously.

“Now why?” said Sir Henry.

“Well, you see, it was an old dress. Josie said so, definitely, and I couldsee for myself that it was shabby and rather worn. Now that’s all wrong.”

“I don’t see why.”

Miss Marple got a little pink.

“Well, the idea is, isn’t it, that Ruby Keene changed her dress and wentoff to meet someone on whom she presumably had what my young neph-ews call a ‘crush’?”

The Superintendent’s eyes twinkled a little.

“That’s the theory. She’d got a date with someone—a boy friend, as thesaying goes.”

“Then why,” demanded Miss Marple, “was she wearing an old dress?”

The Superintendent scratched his head thoughtfully. He said:

“I see your point. You think she’d wear a new one?”

“I think she’d wear her best dress. Girls do.”

Sir Henry interposed.

“Yes, but look here, Miss Marple. Suppose she was going outside to thisrendezvous. Going in an open car, perhaps, or walking in some rough go-ing. Then she’d not want to risk messing a new frock and she’d put on anold one.”

“That would be the sensible thing to do,” agreed the Superintendent.

Miss Marple turned on him. She spoke with animation.

“The sensible thing to do would be to change into trousers and apullover, or into tweeds. That, of course (I don’t want to be snobbish, butI’m afraid it’s unavoidable), that’s what a girl of—of our class would do.

“A well-bred girl,” continued Miss Marple, warming to her subject, “is al-ways very particular to wear the right clothes for the right occasion. Imean, however hot the day was, a well-bred girl would never turn up at apoint-to-point in a silk flowered frock.”

“And the correct wear to meet a lover?” demanded Sir Henry.

“If she were meeting him inside the hotel or somewhere where eveningdress was worn, she’d wear her best evening frock, of course—but outsideshe’d feel she’d look ridiculous in evening dress and she’d wear her mostattractive sportswear.”

“Granted, Fashion Queen, but the girl Ruby—”

Miss Marple said:

“Ruby, of course, wasn’t—well, to put it bluntly—Ruby wasn’t a lady. Shebelonged to the class that wear their best clothes however unsuitable tothe occasion. Last year, you know, we had a picnic outing at ScrantorRocks. You’d be surprised at the unsuitable clothes the girls wore. Foularddresses and patent shoes and quite elaborate hats, some of them. Forclimbing about over rocks and in gorse and heather. And the young menin their best suits. Of course, hiking’s different again. That’s practically auniform—and girls don’t seem to realize that shorts are very unbecomingunless they are very slender.”

The Superintendent said slowly:

“And you think that Ruby Keene—?”

“I think that she’d have kept on the frock she was wearing—her bestpink one. She’d only have changed it if she’d had something newer still.”

Superintendent Harper said:

“And what’s your explanation, Miss Marple?”

Miss Marple said:

“I haven’t got one—yet. But I can’t help feeling that it’s important….”