"I can see," he said, scratching his ear, "that it wasn't a murder." He said this hoping that she would say, "Well, that's where you're jolly well mistaken, because it was." He was disappointed.
"I shan't say what it wasn't," she replied, "nor yet what it was. Them as lives longest'll learn most, Inspector."
The Inspector rubbed his left eye with his right forefinger.
"It's evident," he said, "that it happened more than ten years ago." He trusted that she would reply, "Well, you're wrong, because it happened only five years ago." Again he was foiled.
"It's evident," she said tartly, "that you're a very clever old gentleman, aren't you? But am I to have this plain-clothes man?"
The Inspector tried a new snare. He was infinitely resourceful.
