'With two hands,' said Fred. 'So, of course, it wasn't Isabel. I see.'
'But . . .' Alice stopped herself.
'A blind woman, you know,' Duff purred, 'doesn't read the newspaper.'
Alice and Fred looked at each other.
'Yes, but how did you know she was holding the thing spread out?'
'It must have been spread out, to hide her whole face and head. Try to hold a newspaper in one hand when it's spread out.'
'One to you,' said Fred. 'O.K. Even if Gerty can see a little, she wouldn't be reading the newspaper. I give up. So it wasn't Maud.' He leaned back, looking gloomy.
'Therefore, let us say in the case of attempt number one, only Maud couldn't have done it,'
'Go on,' said Fred.
'Attempt number two, the accident to the car, the moving of the detour sign. Not Gertrude, was said.'
'But possibly Maud.'
'Especially if she can hear. If she did hear you say which road you'd be taking.'
'That's right'
'And possibly Isabel, of course. Then let us say of attempt number two, only Gertrude couldn't have done it,'
'Go on,' said Alice.
'Attempt number three, the coal gas, the tampering
with the furnace. What about that?'
'Not hkely Gertrude,' said Fred. 'She couldn't see the signs on the pipes.'
'She knows everything about that house,' objected Alice. 'She makes a point of it. Besides, all she'd really have to know is which one went to Papa's room, and turn off all the rest.'
'I had wondered,' Duff said, 'whether Maud could have moved as quietly as would have been necessary, if she couldn't hear her own noise. With the storm to help her, I had concluded that it was possible. But, of course, if she can hear . . .'
'Listen, old Maud could have managed that one. Gertrude's well. . . just a possibility. Barely.'
'Barely,' said Ahce significantly, and looked at Duff.
'But now Isabel,' said Duff. 'Number three, only Isabel couldn't have done it.'
'Why couldn't she?'
'Whoever turned the dampers got a greasy stain on her arm when she reached for the pipe to the kitchen. No stained sleeves. Therefore a bare arm. Isabel can't scrub such a stain off her own left arm, with only her own left hand to do it.'
'But Gertrude could have scrubbed it off for her,' said Alice triumphantly, 'with the witch hazel!'
Duffs eyes twinkled. 'How true!' he said. 'Gertrude denied it was her arm. Said it was her limb. A limb's a leg, isn't it? Could it possibly be anything else? However, what's to prevent Isabel from putting her hand into her bedroom slipper, shall we say. To a blind sister, her arm was her shin, or limb. Yes, it does look suspicious, especially if Gertrude is really blind. But alas, kids, Maud gives her an alibi.'
'Maud says she came upstairs about eleven, when the heat was still pouring out of the registers, and that she did not go down later. At least not through Maud's room. Fred says she didn't go down by the only other route. Isabel has an alibi.'
'We believe me,' said Fred, 'but do we believe Maud?'
'I don't know why we shouldn't,' said Duff thoughtfully, 'unless we beheve in a conspiracy.'
'We don't, though.'
'What do we believe?' cried Alice. 'It seems to me that we're all at sea.'
'I know what I think,' said Fred, darkly. 'So Maud didn't dump over the lamp. I'll grant her that But she caught on quick. I think Maud scooted down the hill in the dark and moved that sign. And when that didn't work, Maud went down cellar, between, say, eleven thirty and twelve, and monkeyed with those dampers.'
'Maybe,' said Alice. 'But I think Isabel must have dumped the lamp. And I don't agree with you about the next one. I think Isabel must have been the one who moved the sign down the road. I do think that was Isabel.'
They turned eagerly to Duff for his vote. But Duff wasn't voting. He said quietly, 'Who was it that tried to poison Innes? Which one was that?'
'Poison!'
Alice said, trembling, 'You mean the pillbox. You mean the pills.' She took the box out of her pocket and opened it with fumbling hands. 'These aren't right!' she said. 'They don't look . . . No! They aren't the same!'
'Oh,' said Duff lightly, 'those are aspirin.'
'Aspirm!'
He was smiling. 'I did that while we conferred this morning. I have the others here.' He took out an aspirin bottle and dumped the round white pills into his hand. 'These were in your box. One of them is a trifle larger than
