The Characters in the Tale

Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn, CID

Lady Alleyn, His mother

Sarah Alleyn, His débutante niece

Miss Violet Harris, Secretary to Lady Carrados

Lady Evelyn Carrados, A London hostess

Bridget O’Brien, Her daughter

Sir Herbert Carrados, Her husband

Lord Robert Gospell (‘Bunchy’), A relic of Victorian days

Sir Daniel Davidson, A fashionable London physcian

Agatha Troy, RA, A painter

Lady Mildred Potter, Lord Robert’s widowed sister

Donald Potter, Her son, a medical student

Mrs Halcut-Hackett, A social climber

General Halcut-Hackett, Her husband

Miss Rose Birnbaum, Her protégée

Captain Maurice Withers (‘Wits’), A man about town

Colombo Dimitri, A fashionable caterer

Lucy, Dowager Marchioness of Lorrimer, Eccentric old lady

A Taxi-driver

Miss Smith, A friend of Miss Harris

Detective-Inspector Fox, CID

Percy Percival, A young man about town

Mr Trelawney-Caper, His friend

James d’Arcy Carewe, A detective-constable

François Dupont, Dimitri’s servant

Mr Cuthbert, Manager of the Matador

Vassily, Alleyn’s servant

The Reverend Walter Harris, A retired clergyman

Mrs Walter Harris, His wife

The Assistant Commissioner

CHAPTER ONE

The Protagonists

‘RODERICK,’ SAID LADY ALLEYN, looking at her son over the top of her spectacles, ‘I am coming out.’

‘Out?’ repeated Chief Detective-Inspector Alleyn vaguely. ‘Out where, mama? Out of what?’

‘Out into the world. Out of retirement. Out into the season. Out. Dear me,’ she added confusedly, ‘how absurd a word becomes if one says it repeatedly. Out.’

Alleyn laid an official-looking document on the breakfast-table and stared at his mother.

‘What can you be talking about?’ he said.

‘Don’t be stupid, darling. I am going to do the London season.’

‘Have you taken leave of your senses?’

‘I think perhaps I have. I have told George and Grace that I will bring Sarah out this coming season. Here is a letter from George and here is another from Grace. Government House, Suva. They think it charming of me to offer.’

‘Good Lord, mama,’ said Alleyn, ‘you must be demented. Do you know what this means?’

‘I believe I do. It means that I must take a flat in London. It means that I must look up all sorts of people who will turn out to be dead or divorced or remarried. It means that I must give little luncheon-parties and cocktail-parties and exchange cutlets with hard-working mothers. It means that I must sit in ballrooms praising other women’s granddaughters and securing young men for my own. I shall be up until four o’clock five nights out of seven and I’m afraid, darling, that my black lace and my silver charmeuse will not be quite equal to the strain. So that in addition to buying clothes for Sarah I shall have to buy some for myself. And I should like to know what you think about that, Roderick?’

‘I think it is all utterly preposterous. Why the devil can’t George and Grace bring Sarah out themselves?’

‘Because they are in Fiji, darling.’