H庄园的午餐49

IV

Inspector¹ Brill had taken the oath with mechanical fluency². He stood there, soldierly and stolid,reeling off his evidence with practised ease.

“Summoned to the house… The accused said, ‘It must have been bad fish paste.’…search of thepremises…one jar of fish paste washed out was standing³ on the draining board in the pantry,another half full…further search of pantry kitchen….”

“What did you find?”

“In a crack behind the table, between the floorboards, I found a tiny scrap⁴ of paper.”

The exhibit went to the jury.

“What did you take it to be?”

“A fragment torn off a printed label—such as are used on glass tubes of morphia.”

Counsel for the Defence arose with leisurely⁵ ease.

He said:

“You found this scrap in a crack in the flooring?”

“Yes.”

“Part of a label?”

“Yes.”

“Did you find the rest of that label?”

“No.”

“You did not find any glass tube or any bottle to which that label might have been affixed⁶?”

“No.”

“What was the state of that scrap of paper when you found it? Was it clean or dirty?”

“It was quite fresh.”

“What do you mean, quite fresh?”

“There was surface dust on it from the flooring, but it was quite clean otherwise.”

“It could not have been there for any length of time?”

“No, it had found its way there quite recently.”

“You would say, then, that it had come there on the actual day you found it—not earlier?”

“Yes.”

With a grunt⁷ Sir Edwin sat down.

 

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