‘To detract from the significance of the first occasion, probably, and to make the gate a special object of interest, knowing that on this second occasion it had no criminal connections. You see, I fancy that more than the official guests were present at the disinterment of Mr Clarence Fullalove.’

‘Yes, but what about this ghost business on Christmas Eve?’

‘A rehearsal, I fancy, for moving the body of Bill Fullalove.’

‘Bill was still alive at that time.’

‘Yes. He had been got out of the way by Tiny. As a matter of fact, and as you probably already know, Bill Fullalove came to the manor house whilst his friends were out, and had a very short talk and a very short drink with my nephew Jonathan.’

‘Faking an alibi, I should say, for the time of Mrs Dalby Whittier’s death.’

‘She must have died soon after lunch, you know. The belladonna would have acted fairly quickly. You won’t give up the search for those two dogs and the cats belonging to Tiny, will you?’

‘No, no. To find their bodies and show that they died of belladonna poisoning would be tantamount to proving that they were poisoned at the bungalow and by the curry. Even I can see that, and it would leave Tiny Fullalove with a good deal of explaining to do.’

‘I quite agree: may I go on?’

‘Do, do. You have a most constructive mind.’

‘Young Emming visited us on Christmas Day. Miss Hughes, from the College, came, too. Emming had a grievance against Tiny Fullalove. He accused Tiny of unkindness towards some of his choirboys who had trespassed on Jonathan’s land in order to gather holly.’

‘Little brutes! Pulling the place to pieces, as likely as not!’

‘I know. That’s the interesting thing. As Miss Hughes, a kindly and merciful person, pointed out, boys can be pests and usually are. But boys who can be and have been pests, rarely, if ever, go to complain to their choirmaster of the way in which they have been treated. Our ability to “take it” is, as a nation, at once our glory, and our shame.’

‘Leave politics out of it, dash it! You mean these kids split to Emming and he took it up with Tiny Fullalove?’

‘We don’t know whether he did or not. The inference is not that the boys complained, but that the incident had been prearranged, and that Emming himself was a party to the arrangement. He had to show that he and Tiny were at war and not in collusion – a mistake.’

‘When did this business take place?’

‘That did not transpire, but it is easy enough to find out. By the way, it was not Tiny’s habit to clout the boys. That also is interesting.’

The Chief Constable went to the telephone.