“That is correct, sir,” said the elder of the two women, who had a rather fine, but sad face, as though she had found life disappointingly short of her expectations. “You gentlemen will be requiring tea, I expect.”
“An excellent idea,” Rossiter put in. “And then, when you return, I have no doubt Mr. Pons will ask a few questions.”
Pons nodded absently. He did not seem to notice the two women quit the room with quiet, self-effacing modesty. He had gone to stand a little to one side of the fireplace and his eyes were burning with concentration.
“You observe, Parker, from here one can see the half-open safe in the far wall.”
“I see, Pons,” I returned as I went to stand beside him. “What do you conclude from that, sir?” put in the Inspector quietly.
“It is obvious,” returned Pons crisply.
He looked back at the girl, and then glanced at a massive oak door set in the fireplace wall at the opposite corner.
“That is the room of which you spoke?”
Miss Chambers nodded.
“I understood from Rollo that the former study was used as Miss Schneider’s sewing room.”
Pons crossed to the door. He flung it open and I heard a tumbling noise on the bare oak boards. I joined him at the threshold to find him examining the heap of cordwood that lay behind the panelling.
“Curious, Pons,” I ventured.
He smiled mischievously.
“But obvious, Parker.”
He closed the door and crossed to the fireplace. The two women were already returning with a laden tray so it was evident that Sergeant Chatterton had already advised them to prepare something before our arrival. His eyes met mine in an amused, conspiratorial glance which was not lost upon the Inspector. The housekeeper had cleared the books and magazines from the centre table while the cook bent to place the laden tray upon it.
“Tell me, Mrs. Hambleton,” said Pons. “What did you ladies think about this statuette, The Hound of Hell and Miss Schneider’s gift of it to Mr. Watling?”
The elder woman shook her head and a shadow passed across her face.
“She was a strange and much-feared old lady, Mr. Pons. There were lots of tales about the statuette. I thought it was a horrible thing and it was a relief to me when she got rid of it. I’m not superstitious normally but I felt it to be evil.”
The cook had been listening avidly to the conversation and now broke in, without interrupting her pouring of the tea.
“There was a curse on it, sir! And it certainly brought ill-luck to Miss Schneider and to her nephew.”
“Nevertheless,” said Solar Pons, almost dreamily, “there was a strong human agency at work here. Tell me, what was the cause of the quarrels between you and your employer on Saturday?”
The two women exchanged glances. Again it was the elder who was the spokesman.
“It was the usual tale, Mr. Pons. Wages. The expense of finding people to work for her. Reductions for breakages. Both Mrs. Rose and I were fed up with it. I am afraid I expressed myself in quite strong terms and so did Cook.”
The other woman nodded silent assent, her wide eyes obviously conjuring up the scene.
“I understand there were a number of visitors here that day. I would like a brief resume of their calls, what was said and who they were. The Inspector has a list there compiled from your statements.”
The housekeeper drew herself up.
“That is correct, Mr. Pons. There were a good many people here throughout the day.”
“Tell me, was the safe open all the time that the visitors were here. And did any of them come into the room?”
“Most of them, Mr. Pons, though I do not think that they could have seen the safe from where they stood. But it was obvious what was going on, for Miss Schneider was counting out coins and shouting at the top of her voice, even when tradesmen were here. She invited everyone into the living room and she did not mince words whether there was company or not.”
Pons walked over and picked up his tea-cup, sitting down at one end of the settee. We all sat down too and at a muttered exhortation from Rossiter, the Sergeant, the constable and the two women settled themselves on the opposite settee, facing Pons. The girl got up, and despite the cook’s protests, started handing round plates of sandwiches and slices of cut-cake.
“I see,” said Pons, as though there had been no interruption in his questioning.
“So the tramp, the grocer, the postman, the milkman, Mr. Cornfield, as well as yourselves, were all here in this room at various times on that Saturday.”
“That is correct, sir. She even asked the tramp in, mistaking him, I suppose, for a man who cuts timber and does odd jobs hereabouts. When she found her mistake she sent him packing quickly enough.”
“But that was not the only row that afternoon. Apart from yourselves and the tramp, of course?”
Mrs. Hambleton shook her head decisively after a silent conference with the cook.
“It was the same old story, Mr. Pons. Almost everyone, including the postman had a complaint or a grumble. We stayed on late because of the delay to our routine caused by disgruntled visitors.”
“Unpaid bills, I suppose?”
“Indeed, Mr. Pons. Mr. Cornfield, even though he is normally the most even-tempered of men, grew quite bitter on occasion. After all, Miss Schneider owed him £100 as her share of the fencing and that is a lot of money in these times.”
“Quite so,” said Pons, his deep-set eyes raking across the room as though he saw things that were denied to our less keen vision. “So all the visitors were here when, to the best of your knowledge, the safe was standing open or at least ajar all that time?”
“That is so, Mr. Pons.”
“A sum mentioned more than once in this affair was said to be kept in that safe, Mrs. Hambleton. About £10,000 was the amount. Was there any truth in that?”
Mrs. Hambleton flushed.
“That is true, to the best of my belief, Mr. Pons and I am sure that Mrs. Rose will confirm it. There were large bundles of notes on the top shelf of the safe. Over and over again Miss Schneider referred to it in our presence. I believe it was one of her ways of flaunting her wealth — and through that her power — over us.”
Pons regarded the housekeeper with a very bright eye.
“You are an astute woman, Mrs. Hambleton. I have noticed that myself in my varied dealings about the world. I am sure you are right. But why did she keep such a large amount in the safe if she were as parsimonious as everyone says?”
The housekeeper was obviously choosing her words with care.
“I told her she was foolish to have that much money about the house many times, Mr. Pons, but she would never listen. She referred to the notes as her liquid assets. It was her belief that there would be some natural disaster one day — she often talked of this part of Essex being flooded — and I think she felt safer if she had actual cash on hand. Of course, she had enormous sums of money in the bank in holdings — she showed me her bankbooks on more than one occasion — but that was one of her strangest quirks.”
“Almost as though she were tempting fate, in one way, Pons,” I ventured.
“As you say, my dear fellow. So it was fairly common knowledge, Mrs. Hambleton, that large sums of money were kept in the safe?”
“Indeed, Mr. Pons.”
“And that the safe was often open, though only when Miss Schneider was present.”
“That is correct, Mr. Pons.”
“And that a number of people, though they could not directly see the safe last Saturday, were present at various times throughout the day and that they heard arguments and money being discussed.”
“I would not quarrel with that, Mr. Pons. It was just as you have said.”
Solar Pons pulled thoughtfully at the lobe of his left ear while Inspector Rossiter’s eyes never left his face.