“No need to worry on that score,” I said. “My opportunities for conversation in Great Holling are limited. Everyone takes off as soon as they see me coming.” It had happened twice on the way to Margaret Ernst’s cottage that morning. One of the gaspers was a boy of no more than ten years old: a child, and yet he knew who I was and that he should avert his eyes and hurry past me to safety. He would, I felt sure, have known my Christian name, my surname, and the nature of my business in Great Holling. Small villages have at least one talent that London lacks: they know how to ignore a chap in a way that makes him feel terribly important.

“I am asking for a solemn promise, Mr. Catchpool—not an evasion.”

“Why is there a need for secrecy? Don’t all the villagers know about the Ives and whatever it was that happened to them?”

What Margaret said next revealed that her concern was for one villager in particular. “Once you have heard what I have to say, you will doubtless want to speak to Dr. Ambrose Flowerday.”

“The man you urge me to forget, yet remind me of time and time again?”

She blushed. “You must promise not to seek him out and, if you do happen to encounter him, not to raise the subject of Patrick and Frances Ive. Unless you can give me such an undertaking, I shan’t be able to tell you anything.”

“I’m not sure I can. What would I tell my boss at Scotland Yard? He sent me here to ask questions.”

“Well, then. We’re in a bind.” Margaret Ernst folded her arms.

“Supposing I find this Dr. Flowerday and ask him to tell me the story instead? He knew the Ives, didn’t he? Yesterday you said that, unlike you, he lived in Great Holling while they were still alive.”

“No!” The fear in her eyes was unmistakable. “Please don’t speak to Ambrose! You don’t understand. You can’t understand.”

“What are you so afraid of, Margaret? You seem to me to be a woman of integrity, but . . . well, I can’t help wondering if you intend to give me only a partial account.”

“Oh, my account will be thorough. It will lack nothing.”

For some reason, I believed her. “Then, if you’re not intending to withhold a portion of the truth, why must I not talk to anybody else about Patrick and Frances Ive?”