the door by which she had entered, and then
passed out through the room where Mr. Rhodes
was working."
Mr. Rhodes cried out: "But I should have seen
&nb
sp; her. The electrician would have seen her go in."
"No," I said. "That's where you're wrong.
You wouldn't see her--not if she were dressed as a
chambermaid." I let it sink in, then I went on,
"You were engrossed in your work--out of the
tail of your eye you saw a chambermaid come in,
go into your wife's room, come back and go out.
It was the same dress--but not the same woman.
That's what the people having coffee saw--a
chambermaid go in and a chambermaid come
out. The electrician did the same. I daresay if a
chambermaid were very pretty a gentleman might
notice her face--human nature being what it is
--but if she were just an ordinary middle-aged
woman--well--it would be the chambermaid's
dressyou would see--not the woman herself."
Mr. Rhodes cried: "Who was she?"
140
Agatha Christie
"Well," I said, "that is going to be a little dif-ficult.
It must be either Mrs. Granby or Miss Car-ruthers.
Mrs. Granby sounds as though she might
wear a wig normally--so she could wear her own
hair as a chambermaid. On the other hand, Miss
Carruthers with her close-cropped mannish head