Chapter Twelve
M iss Marple had found no difficulty in enjoying her stay in London. She did a lot of the things that she had not hadthe time to do in her hitherto brief visits to the capital. It has to be regretfully noted¹ that she did not avail herself of thewide cultural activities that would have been possible to her. She visited no picture galleries and no museums. Theidea of patronizing a dress show of any kind would not even have occurred to her. What she did visit were the glassand china departments of the large stores, and the household linen² departments, and she also availed herself of somemarked down lines in furnishing fabrics³. Having spent what she considered a reasonable sum upon these householdinvestments, she indulged in various excursions of her own. She went to places and shops she remembered from heryoung days, sometimes merely with the curiosity of seeing whether they were still there. It was not a pursuit that shehad ever had time for before, and she enjoyed it very much. After a nice little nap after lunch, she would go out, and,avoiding the attentions of the commissionaire if possible, because he was so firmly imbued⁴ with the idea that a lady ofher age and frailty⁵ should always go in a taxi, she walked towards a bus stop, or tube station. She had bought a smallguide to buses and their routes—and an Underground Transport Map; and she would plan her excursion carefully. Oneafternoon she could be seen walking happily and nostalgically round Evelyn Gardens or Onslow Square murmuringsoftly, “Yes, that was Mrs. Van Dylan’s house. Of course it looks quite different now. They seem to have remodelledit. Dear me, I see it’s got four bells. Four flats, I suppose. Such a nice old-fashioned square this always was.”
Rather shamefacedly she paid a visit to Madame Tussaud’s, a well-remembered delight of her childhood. InWestbourne Grove⁶ she looked in vain for Bradley’s. Aunt Helen had always gone to Bradley’s about her sealskinjacket.
Window shopping in the general sense did not interest Miss Marple, but she had a splendid time rounding upknitting patterns, new varieties of knitting wool, and suchlike delights. She made a special expedition to Richmond tosee the house that had been occupied by Great-Uncle Thomas, the

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