Ten
“I’m sure, Marshall, that you’ll appreciate my reasons for asking you tocome here and have this conference.”
“Yes, certainly,” said Mr. Marshall. “The fact is that if you had not pro-posed it, Mr. Argyle, I should myself have suggested coming down. The an-nouncement was in all the morning papers this morning and there is nodoubt at all that it will lead to a revival¹ of interest in the case on the partof the Press.”
“We’ve already had a few of them ringing up and asking for interviews,”
said Mary Durrant.
“Quite so, it was only to be expected, I feel. I should advise that you takeup the position that you have no comment to make. Naturally you are de-lighted and thankful, but you prefer not to discuss the matter.”
“Superintendent Huish, who was in charge of the case at the time, hasasked to come and have an interview with us tomorrow morning,” saidLeo.
“Yes. Yes, I’m afraid there will have to be a certain amount of reopeningof the case, though I really cannot think that the police can have muchhope of arriving at any tangible² result. After all, two years have passedand anything that people might have remembered at the time—people inthe village, I mean—will by now have been forgotten. A pity, of course, insome ways, but it can’t be helped.”
“The whole thing seems quite clear,” said Mary Durrant. “The house wassecurely locked up against burglars but if anyone had come appealing tomy mother over some special case or pretending to be a friend or friendsof hers I have no doubt that person would have been admitted. That, Ithink, is what must have happened. My father here thought he heard aring at the bell just after seven o’clock.”
Marshall turned his head enquiringly to Leo.
“Yes, I think I did say so,” said Leo. “Of course, I can’t remember veryclearly now, but at the time I was under the impression that I heard thebell. I was ready to go down and then I thought I heard the door open andclose. There was no sound of voices or any question of anyone forcing anentry or behaving abusively. That I think I should have heard.”
“Quite so, quite so,” said Mr. Marshall. “Yes, I think there’s no doubt thatthat is what must have happened. Alas³, we know only too well the largenumber of unprincipled persons gaining admission to a house by a plaus-ible tale of

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