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“Yes, sir You see, I’ain at 6 o’clock By then he must have left, or at any rate he was downstairs Not in his room He had left two suitcases behind”

“That’s right,” said Father The contents of the suitcases had been exaiven no useful lead He went on: “Did you call hi?”

“Call him? No, sir, he ay”

“What did you do ordinarily—take him early tea? Breakfast?”

“Early tea, sir He breakfasted downstairs always”

“So you didn’t go into his room at all the next day?”

“Oh yes, sir” Rose sounded shocked “I went into his roo And of course I dusted the room We dust all the rooms every day”

“Had the bed been slept in?”

She stared at him “The bed, sir? Oh no”

“Was it rumpled—creased in any way?”

She shook her head

“What about the bathroom?”

“There was a damp hand towel, sir, that had been used I presu before Heoff”

“And there was nothing to show that he had coht?”

She stared at him with an air of bewilderain Either she knew nothing about the Canon’s return or she was a highly accomplished actress

“What about his clothes—suits Were they packed up in his suitcases?”

“No, sir, they were hanging up in the cupboards He was keeping his room on, you see, sir”

“Who did pack them up?”

“Miss Gorringe gave orders, sir When the roo in”

A straightforward coherent account But if that old lady was correct in stating that she saw Canon Pennyfather leaving his roo, then he must have come back to that room sometime Nobody had seen him enter the hotel Had he, for so seen? He had left no traces in the room He hadn’t even lain down on the bed Had Miss Marple dreah An idea struck him

“What about the airport bag?”

“I beg your pardon, sir?”

“A s—you must have seen it?”

“Oh that—yes, sir But of course he’d take that with him abroad”

“But he didn’t go abroad He never went to Switzerland after all So he must have left it behind Or else he cae”

“Yes—yes—I think—I’m not quite sure—I believe he did”

Quite unsolicited, the thought raced into Father’s mind: They didn’t brief you on that, did they?

Rose Sheldon had been calm and competent up till now But that question had rattled her She hadn’t known the right answer to it But she ought to have known

The Canon had taken his bag to the airport, had been turned away fro would have been with him But Miss Marple hadhis roo down the stairs

Presumably it was left in the bedrooe room with the suitcases Why not? Because the Canon was supposed to have gone to Switzerland?

He thanked Rose genially and went downstairs again

Canon Pennyfather! Sooing to Switzerland, o to Switzerland, came back to his hotel so secretly that nobody saw hio where? To do what?)

Could absentmindedness account for all this?

If not, then as Canon Pennyfather up to? And more important, where was he?

From the staircase, Father cast a jaundiced eye over the occupants of the lounge, and wondered whether anyone hat they seeed people (nobody very young) nice old-fashioned people, nearly all well-to-do, all highly respectable Service people, lawyers, clergymen; American husband and wife near the door, a French family near the fireplace Nobody flashy, nobody out of place; lish afternoon tea Could there really be anything seriously wrong with a place that served old-fashioned afternoon teas?

The Frenchman h