'How nasty!' said Jane Helier, and shuddered.

'But how did the message come? That was the point I tried to elucidate - the one hope of solving my problem. One of those four people must have been approached or communicated with in some way. There would be no delay - I knew that; as soon as the command came, it would be carried out. That was a peculiarity of the Schivartze Hand.

'I went into the question, went into it in a way that will probably strike you as being ridiculously meticulous. Who had come to the cottage that morning? I eliminated nobody. Here is the list.'

He took an envelope from his pocket and selected a paper from its contents.

'The butcher, bringing some neck of mutton. Investigated and found correct.

'The grocer's assistant, bringing a packet of corn flour, two pounds of sugar, a pound of butter, and a pound of coffee. Also investigated and found correct.

'The postman, bringing two circulars for Fraulein Rosen, a local letter for Gertrud, three letters for Dr. Rosen, one with a foreign stamp, and two letters for Mr. Templeton, one also with a foreign stamp.'

Sir Henry paused and then took a sheaf of documents from the envelope.

'It may interest you to see these for yourself. They were handed me by the various people concerned or collected from the waste-paper basket. I need hardly say they've been tested by experts for invisible ink, et cetera. No excitement of that kind is possible.'

Everyone crowded round to look. The catalogues were respectively from a nurseryman and from a prominent London fur establishment. The two bills addressed to Dr. Rosen were a local one for seeds for the garden and one from a London stationery firm. The letter addressed to him ran as follows:

My Dear Rosen,

Just back from Dr. Helmuth Spath's. I saw Edgar Jackson the other day. He and Amos Perry have just come back from Tsingtau. In all Honesty I can't say I envy them the trip. Let me have news of you soon. As I said before: Beware of a certain person. You know who I mean, though you don't agree.

Yours,

Georgina.

'Mr. Templeton's mail consisted of this bill which, as you see, is an account rendered from his tailor, and a letter from a friend in Germany,' went on Sir Henry. 'The latter, unfortunately, he tore up while out on his walk. Finally we have the letter received by Gertrud.'

Dear Mrs. Swartz,

We've hoping as how you be able to come the social on friday evening the vicar says has he hopes you will - one and all being welcome. The resipy for the ham was very good, and I thanks you for it. Hoping as this finds you well and that we shall see you friday I remain,

Yours faithfully,

Emma Greene.

Dr. Lloyd smiled a little over this and so did Mrs. Bantry.

'I think the last letter can be put out of court,' said Dr. Lloyd.

'I thought the same,' said Sir Henry, 'but I took the precaution of verifying that there was a Mrs. Greene and a church social. One can't be too careful, you know.'

'That's what our friend Miss Marple always says,' said Dr. Lloyd, smiling. 'You're lost in a daydream, Miss Marple. What are you thinking out? '

Miss Marple gave a start.

'So stupid of me,' she said. 'I was just wondering why the word Honesty in Dr. Rosen's letter was spelled with a capital H.'

Mrs. Bantry picked it up.

'So it is,' she said. 'Oh!'

'Yes, dear,' said Miss Marple. 'I thought you'd notice!'

'There's a definite warning in that letter,' said Colonel Bantry. 'That's the first thing caught my attention. I notice more than you'd think. Yes, a definite warning - against whom?'

'There's rather a curious point about that letter,' said Sir Henry. 'According to Templeton, Dr. Rosen opened the letter at breakfast and tossed it across to him, saying he didn't know who the fellow was from Adam.'

'But it wasn't a fellow,' said Jane Helier. 'It was signed 'Georgina.' '

'It's difficult to say which it is,' said Dr. Lloyd. 'It might be Georgey, but it certainly looks more like Georgina. Only it strikes me that the writing is a man's.'

'You know, that's interesting,' said Colonel Bantry. 'His tossing it across the table like that and pretending he knew nothing about it. Wanted to watch somebody's face. Whose face - the girl's? Or the man's?'

'Or even the cook's?' suggested Mrs. Bantry. 'She might have been in the room bringing in the breakfast. But what I don't see is… it's most peculiar -'

She frowned over the letter. Miss Marple drew closer to her. Miss Marple's finger went out and touched the sheet of paper. They murmured together.

'But why did the secretary tear up the other letter?' asked Jane Helier suddenly. 'It seems - oh, I don't know - it seems queer. Why should he have letters from Germany? Although, of course, if he' s above suspicion, as you say -'

'But Sir Henry didn't say that,' said Miss Marple quickly, looking up from her murmured conference with Mrs. Bantry. 'He said four suspects. So that shows that he includes Mr. Templeton. I'm right, am I not, Sir Henry? '

'Yes, Miss Marple. I have learned one thing through bitter experience. Never say to yourself that anyone is above suspicion. I gave you reasons just now why three of these people might after all be guilty, unlikely as it seemed. I did not at that time apply the same process to Charles Templeton. But I came to it at last through pursuing the rule I have just mentioned. And I was forced to recognise this: That every army and every navy and every police force has a certain number of traitors within its ranks, much as we hate to admit the idea. And I examined dispassionately the case against Charles Templeton.

'I asked myself very much the same questions as Miss Helier has just asked. Why should he, alone of all the house, not be able to produce the letter he had received - a letter, moreover, with a German stamp on it. Why should he have letters from Germany?

'The last question was an innocent one, and I actually put it to him. His reply came simply enough. His mother's sister was married to a German. The letter had been from a German girl cousin. So I learned something I did not know before - that Charles Templeton had relations with people in Germany. And that put him definitely on the list of suspects - very much so. He is my own man - a lad I have always liked and trusted; but in common justice and fairness I must admit that he heads that list.

'But there it is - I do not know! I do not know… And in all probability I never shall know. It is not a question of punishing a murderer. It is a question that to me seems a hundred times more important. It is the blighting, perhaps, of an honourable man's whole career…because of suspicion - a suspicion that I dare not disregard.'

Miss Marple coughed and said gently:

'Then, Sir Henry, if I understand you rightly, it is this young Mr. Templeton only who is so much on your mind? '

'Yes, in a sense. It should, in theory, be the same for all four, but that is not actually the case. Dobbs, for instance - suspicion may attach to him in my mind, but it will not actually affect his career. Nobody in the village has ever had any idea that old Dr. Rosen's death was anything but an accident. Gertrud is slightly more affected. It must make, for instance, a difference in Fraulein Rosen's attitude toward her. But that, possibly, is not of great importance to her.

'As for Greta Rosen - well, here we come to the crux of the matter. Greta is a very pretty girl and Charles Templeton is a good-looking young man, and for five months they were thrown together with no outer distract ions. The inevitable happened.