III
When Chief-Inspector Davy opened the door of No. 18, Miss Marple was
still sitting in the armchair by the window.
“A good many people in the street today,” she observed. “More than
usual.”
“Oh well—this is a way through to Berkeley Square and Shepherd Mar-
ket.”
“I didn’t mean only passersby. Men doing things—road repairs, a tele-
phone repair van—meat trolley—a couple of private cars—”
“And what—may I ask—do you deduce from that?”
“I didn’t say that I deduced anything.”
Father gave her a look. Then he said:
“I want you to help me.”
“Of course. That is why I am here. What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to do exactly what you did on the night of November 19th.
You were asleep—you woke up—possibly awakened by some unusual
noise. You switched on the light, looked at the time, got out of bed, opened
the door and looked out. Can you repeat those actions?”
“Certainly,” said Miss Marple. She got up and went across to the bed.
“Just a moment.”
Chief-Inspector Davy went and tapped on the connecting walls of the
next room.
“You’ll have to do that louder,” said Miss Marple. “This place is very well
built.”
The Chief-Inspector redoubled the force of his knuckles.
“I told Canon Pennyfather to count ten,” he said, looking at his watch.
“Now then, off you go.”
Miss Marple touched the electric lamp, looked at an imaginary clock, got
up, walked to the door, opened it and looked out. To her right, just leaving
his room, walking to the top of the stairs, was Canon Pennyfather. He ar-
rived at the top of the stairs and started down them. Miss Marple gave a
slight catch of her breath. She turned back.
“Well?” said Chief-Inspector Davy.
“The man I saw that night can’t have been Canon Pennyfather,” said
Miss Marple. “Not if that’s Canon Pennyfather now.”
“I thought you said—”
“I know. He looked like Canon Pennyfather. His hair and his clothes and
everything. But he didn’t walk the same way. I think—I think he must
have been a younger man. I’m sorry, very sorry, to have misled you, but it
wasn’t Canon Pennyfather that I saw that night. I’m quite sure of it.”
“You really are quite sure this time, Miss Marple?”
“Yes,” said Miss Marple. “I’m sorry,” she added again, “to have misled
you.”
“You were very nearly right. Canon Pennyfather did come back to the
hotel that night. Nobody saw him come in—but that wasn’t remarkable.
He came in after midnight. He came up the stairs, he opened the door of
his room next door and he went in. What he saw or what happened next
we don’t know, because he can’t or won’t tell us. If there was only some
way we could jog his memory….”
“There’s that German word of course,” said Miss Marple, thoughtfully.
“What German word?”
“Dear me, I’ve forgotten it now, but—”
There was a knock at the door.
“May I come in?” said Canon Pennyfather. He entered. “Was it satisfact-
ory?”
“Most satisfactory,” said Father. “I was just telling Miss Marple—you
know Miss Marple?”
“Oh yes,” said Canon Pennyfather, really slightly uncertain as to
whether he did or not.
“I was just telling Miss Marple how we have traced your movements.
You came back to the hotel that night after midnight. You came upstairs
and you opened the door of your room and went in—” He paused.
Miss Marple gave an exclamation.
“I remember now,” she said, “what the German word is. Doppelgänger!”
Canon Pennyfather uttered an exclamation. “But of course,” he said, “of
course! How could I have forgotten? You’re quite right, you know. After
that film, The Walls of Jericho, I came back here and I came upstairs and I
opened my room and I saw—extraordinary, I distinctly saw myself sitting
in a chair facing me. As you say, dear lady, a doppelgänger. How very re-
markable! And then—let me see—” He raised his eyes, trying to think.
“And then,” said Father, “startled out of their lives to see you, when they
thought you were safely in Lucerne, somebody hit you on the head.”
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