The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie Page A

down lower than ever. He grunted disbelievingly:
    â€œWoman’s intuition, I suppose,” he said sceptically.
    â€œNo, she doesn’t call it that. Specialized knowledge is her claim.”
    â€œAnd what does that mean?”
    â€œWell, you know, Jefferson, we use it in police work. We get a burglary and we usually know pretty well who did it—of the regular crowd, that is. We know the sort of burglar who acts in a particular sort of way. Miss Marple has an interesting, though occasionally trivial, series of parallels from village life.”
    Jefferson said sceptically:
    â€œWhat is she likely to know about a girl who’s been brought up in a theatrical milieu and probably never been in a village in her life?”
    â€œI think,” said Sir Henry Clithering firmly, “that she might have ideas.”
    II
    Miss Marple flushed with pleasure as Sir Henry bore down upon her.
    â€œOh, Sir Henry, this is indeed a great piece of luck meeting you here.”
    Sir Henry was gallant. He said:
    â€œTo me it is a great pleasure.”
    Miss Marple murmured, flushing: “So kind of you.”
    â€œAre you staying here?”
    â€œWell, as a matter of fact, we are.”
    â€œ We? ”
    â€œMrs. Bantry’s here too.” She looked at him sharply. “Have you heard yet? Yes, I can see you have. It is terrible, is it not?”
    â€œWhat’s Dolly Bantry doing here? Is her husband here too?”
    â€œNo. Naturally, they both reacted quite differently. Colonel Bantry, poor man, just shuts himself up in his study, or goes down to one of the farms, when anything like this happens. Like tortoises, you know, they draw their heads in and hope nobody will notice them. Dolly, of course, is quite different.”
    â€œDolly, in fact,” said Sir Henry, who knew his old friend fairly well, “is almost enjoying herself, eh?”
    â€œWell—er—yes. Poor dear.”
    â€œAnd she’s brought you along to produce the rabbits out of the hat for her?”
    Miss Marple said composedly:
    â€œDolly thought that a change of scene would be a good thing and she didn’t want to come alone.” She met his eye and her own gently twinkled. “But, of course, your way of describing it is quite true. It’s rather embarrassing for me, because, of course, I am no use at all.”
    â€œNo ideas? No village parallels?”
    â€œI don’t know very much about it all yet.”
    â€œI can remedy that, I think. I’m going to call you into consultation, Miss Marple.”
    He gave a brief recital of the course of events. Miss Marple listened with keen interest.
    â€œPoor Mr. Jefferson,” she said. “What a very sad story. These terrible accidents. To leave him alive, crippled, seems more cruel than if he had been killed too.”
    â€œYes, indeed. That’s why all his friends admire him so much for the resolute way he’s gone on, conquering pain and grief and physical disabilities.”
    â€œYes, it is splendid.”
    â€œThe only thing I can’t understand is this sudden outpouring of affection for this girl. She may, of course, have had some remarkable qualities.”
    â€œProbably not,” said Miss Marple placidly.
    â€œYou don’t think so?”
    â€œI don’t think her qualities entered into it.”
    Sir Henry said:
    â€œHe isn’t just a nasty old man, you know.”
    â€œOh, no, no!” Miss Marple got quite pink. “I wasn’t implying that for a minute. What I was trying to say was—very badly, I know—that he was just looking for a nice bright girl to take his dead daughter’s place—and then this girl saw her opportunity and played it for all she was worth! That sounds rather uncharitable, I know, but I have seen so many cases of the kind. The young maid-servant at Mr. Harbottle’s, for instance. A very ordinary girl, but quiet with nice manners. His sister was