‘I wouldn’t mind betting,’ said Alleyn cheerfully to Fox, ‘that it was Sonia Orrincourt who got in first with that thing.’

‘Ah,’ said Fox. Mr Juniper smiled archly. ‘Well, now,’ he said, ‘I oughtn’t to give the young lady away, ought I? Professional secrets. Ha-ha!’

‘Ha-ha!’ Alleyn agreed, putting Happy Families in his pocket. ‘Thank you, Mr Juniper.’

‘Thank you, sir. All well up at the Manor, I hope? Great loss, that. Loss to the Nation, you might say. Little trouble with the children clearing up, I hope?’

‘On its way. Lovely afternoon, isn’t it? Goodbye.’

‘I didn’t want any toothpaste,’ said Fox, as they continued up the street.

‘I didn’t see why I should make all the purchases and you were looking rather too portentous. Put it down to expenses. It was worth it.’

‘I don’t say it wasn’t that,’ Fox agreed. ‘Now, sir, if this woman Orrincourt took the Raspberry, I suppose we look to her for all the other pranks, don’t we?’

‘I hardly think so, Fox. Not all. We know, at least, that this ghastly kid tied a notice to the tail of her Aunt Millamant’s coat. She’s got a reputation for practical jokes. On the other hand, she definitely, it seems, did not perpetrate the Raspberry and the flying cow, and my wife is convinced she’s innocent of the spectacles, the painted stair rail and the rude writing on Sir Henry’s looking-glass. As for the book in the cheese-dish, I don’t think either Panty or Miss Orrincourt is guilty of that flight of fancy.’

‘So that if you count out the little girl for anything that matters, we’ve got Miss Orrincourt and another.’

‘That’s the cry.’

‘And this other is trying to fix something on Miss Orrincourt in the way of arsenic and the old gentleman?’

‘It’s a reasonable thesis, but Lord knows.’

‘Where are we going, Mr Alleyn?’

‘Are you good for a two-mile walk? I think we’ll call on the Ancreds.’

‘It isn’t,’ said Alleyn as they toiled up the second flight of terraces, ‘as if we can hope to keep ourselves dark, supposing that were advisable. Thomas will have rung up his family and told them that we have at least taken notice. We may as well announce ourselves and see what we can see. More especially, this wretched old fellow’s bedroom.’

‘By this time,’ said Fox sourly, ‘they’ll probably have had it repapered.’

‘I wonder if Paul Kentish is handy with electrical gadgets. I’ll wager Cedric Ancred isn’t.’

‘What’s that?’ Fox demanded.

‘What’s what?’

‘I can hear something. A child crying, isn’t it, sir?’