The viaduct murder

Nothing is ever wasted. The death of the animal fertilizes the vegetable world: bees swarm in the disused pillar-box; sooner or later, somebody will find a use for the munition-...

The view from the third tee was one which even a golfer might pause to admire. Let the Wordsworthian say what he will, railways ennoble our landscape; they give to our unassumin...

If the general accommodation at the Paston Oatvile dormy-house cannot be described as cloistral, it must be admitted that the rooms in it where you can claim privacy are not muc...

There is no surer soporific than sleeping over a problem, no more fallacious method of attempting a solution. After murmuring to himself three times, “Let’s see; there was somet...

The afternoon seemed a compensation for yesterday; October sun glowed temperately over the links, with the air of a kind old gentleman producing sweetmeats unexpectedly. The ric...

Gordon felt that he was in a favourable position for inquiring into the whereabouts of the mysterious Mr. Davenant. He was himself little known at Paston Whitchurch, since he ha...

Carmichael joined the tips of his fingers and beamed at them, secure of an audience at last. “Well, you’ve just admitted that all you can remember about Davenant is hair and spe...

The inquest was held on the following afternoon (that is, the afternoon of Thursday) in the village school at Paston Whitchurch. As he sat waiting to give his evidence, Reeves f...

“Yes, only . . . only Campbell was open, for some reason. He made no difficulty about identifying the portrait or about giving me the address. When he told me the name and addre...

Morning, as might have been expected, brought division of counsel. Mordaunt Reeves could now find no difference between the photograph as he saw it at the moment and the photogr...

“Never mind,” said Carmichael, “we shall see if I’m right or not. Meanwhile, there’s the funeral this afternoon, and it would hardly be decent to take any action till after that...

If Carmichael let his colleagues in for a late sitting, at least he made amends for it himself by unwontedly early rising. Reeves found him fully dressed when, pyjamaed himself,...

“The first thing,” said Carmichael, “is to shut up this hole again exactly as it was. The next thing is to discuss what we do next. And, Reeves, I think it might be best if you...

There can be no doubt that, on most occasions, the sense of humour is a handicap in life. It implies introspection, and he who introspects is commonly lost. But laughter is, in...

“It seems,” said Carmichael, blinking through his spectacles, “that I have been mistaken. My old tutor always used to say to me—that was Benger: I suppose he’d be before your ti...

The conversation recorded in the last chapter took place (I forgot to say) on Saturday afternoon. It was while he was at tea downstairs that a message was brought in to Reeves t...

“I must congratulate you on your driving, Reeves. It’s all over the Club. But when I think of that poor fellow Davenant—I wonder now, do you think perhaps the jury will find Dav...

“No, there are two snags which seem to me hopeless. Look here, if Brotherhood was chucked off the 4.50 from Paston Oatvile, one can understand why Davenant should have got the w...

For some time after they had left, Mordaunt Reeves sat in his arm-chair hunting that most difficult of quarries, an intellectual inspiration. Merely artistic inspiration greets...

Reeves went to sit in Gordon’s room when he got back; his own was apt to be a port of call for stray comers, and he wanted this to be a _tête-à-tête_.

Marryatt came and sat with them at dinner—a situation which called forth Reeves’ utmost powers of self-control. He was glad that Carmichael was there too; glad that he had not c...

“It’s about Brotherhood. You’ll guess before I’ve finished who it is speaking, so I’d better tell you at once; it’s Reeves. I am going to talk to you for about ten minutes throu...

“I said, Davenant’s confessed. It’s an extraordinary thing, you know, the way we use ambiguous expressions, and expect the other man to interpret them in the right sense. Davena...

“It’s all right,” he said at last. “You get all the luck, Reeves. Marryatt wasn’t listening at the other end of the metaphone. And all the time you were talking through it, it w...

I write as you asked me to write, to supply what information I can about the actual course of events in connection with what is locally called the Links Mystery. I have put it t...