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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. The afternoon sun lay gently over

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the village of Rosal, casting a warm golden glow upon

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its nee cottages and well kept gardens. It was the

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sort of date when the world seemed content to remain

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exactly as it was, with roses blooming proudly along fences

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and the sound of church bells faintly drifting through the

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air on the village green. A small crowd had gathered

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for the annual garden party, a tradition that combined tea,

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polite conversation, and the quite satisfaction of showing one's best

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bloomster admiring neighbors. Miss Jane Marple, dressed in her familiar

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pale summer dress and straw hat, sat on a wooden

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chair near the refreshment table. Her knitting needles clicked steadily,

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though her eyes were far more active than her hands.

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She observed the villagers as they moved among the stalls,

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their smiles polite, but their glances quick, as if each

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one carried a private thought not meant for sharing. There

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was missus Harper, proud of her spongecake, yet faintly resentful

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that Missus Allison's had received more prize. Jan Clara Simmons

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whispered tannese to her companion, her cheeks pink with more

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than the warmth of the day. Colonel Bradshaw retired, and

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stiff in manner, stood near the lemonade joug delivering loud

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opinions that few cared to hear. All in all, it

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was a scene of simple village life, outwardly tranquil, inwardly

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threaded with small revelries, jealousies, and secrets. The vicar just

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begun a shot speech of fence when the pleasant dare

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was pierced by a choire maid rushed from behind the mocky,

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her apron stained and her face piled. The chatters ceased

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at once as she stumbled forward and gasped at words

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that froze the gathering. Mister Denan, he's lying on the

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floor in the library. He's not breathing. There was opposed

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the kind of silence the falls when ordinary life is

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suddenly disturbed by the unthinkable. Then voses broke out all

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upon Missus Harper dropped her teat up with a crust.

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The colonel demanded order, though his voice trembled. A few

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hurry towards the house, or his hand back in fearful curiosity.

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Miss Marple alone remained still in her chair, her knitting

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now forgotten. In her laporate depression, was one of grave

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attentions that the words had not surprised her, but rather

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confirmed some quiet knowledge of human frilled as she rose

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with a sore didnity and followed the stream of villagist

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orders the house inside the Denham residents, the library stood wide,

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un filled, the center of old books lindering in the air,

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and that upon the carpet near the riding desk lay

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mister Arthur Denham as they so naturally still, his handfuft

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as her in protest against summon, Seene assaulted glass of

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cordial WestEd toppled in the desk, its contents forming a

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duck stain upon the polish would was beswealed. Some declared

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at a sudden seizure of as mutteret of poison, and

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the few hinted darkly of quarrels over heart. In recent

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days a made rent in the corner the village. Doctor

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bent over. The body is brought fur of Miss Marple,

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quiet and un noticed, stood a little apart. Her eyes

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moved from the glass, to the position of the body,

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to the scattering of peppers upon the floor. She neither

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book nor intruded, yet it was clear she absorbed every detail.

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The garden party, once so ordinary, had become the scene

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of tragedy. The calm rhythm of village life had been broken,

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and though no one yet realized it, or web secrets,

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motives and lies had begun to reveal itself, a web

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that only Miss Marple, with her sharp eye and deep

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understanding of human nature, would be able to untangle. The

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following morning, the village of Rose hilst with a restless

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and ease. Whether there had once been ordinary chatter about

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gardens and recipes, now there was only speculation about the

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sudden and dreadful death of mister Denham. Every cottage seemed alive,

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with whispers cut and stretched more frequently than usual, and

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the sound of horrow footsteps carried the weight of secrecy.

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Amessess Ellison's tea room, the small tables were crowded earlier

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than usual, villagers gathered under the pretense of morning tea,

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though few cups were emptied. The air was thick with rumor.

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It was poison, I tell you, declared Missus Harper, her

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voice pitched a little higher than necessary. Did you not

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hear about the glass? My nephew's wife saw it quiet suspicious.

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Missus Ellison usually compressed her lets together before replying. The

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doctor said nothing of poisonous size. Perhaps it is not

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inhomin at hissage. But Missus Harper shook her head with conviction.

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Arthur Denham was not the sort of soft sudden sigure

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as he was hell as ever yesterday morning. And did

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he not of enemies that business were the property boundary

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people did not forget such quarrels. San Chloas Summons seated

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at the edge of the room, then closer to her companion,

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I heard it was about money, my cousins, whereas mister

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Denham was pressing some unf repayment that could drive a

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desperate person to end it in the voses of lapped

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until the whole ruine hand with dantisin vention to one

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aside that it might have seemed like idol bossab, but

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to the villagers it carried the throll of proximity to scandal.

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Itch postoned on to be that one should possess the

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Trup's version of events, and which carefully measured him. They

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repeated it Tennis Marple and ipiedly at presence at first

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to notice she chose a seating at the window, earned

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in once again in her hands high rested on the

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fres butt out as missed not what she had the

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tremor in missus Harper's insistence, the defenderness, and Missus Elson's correction,

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the eupoligness of Clara's whispers. Chinnoted who reveated details would

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relish and who would help them lutinly presently, Colonel bradchlestroden

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is kN tapping sharply upon the floorboats this tough mass

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Sissy Nunce Puffinger's chest. The police are quite capable of

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determining the truth. We are not to indulge in wild rumors.

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Despite his bluster, the Colonel's eyes darted about with keen interest,

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betraying his own hunger for information. Mississ Harper smoked faintly

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into her teacup, and the gossip continued in quieter turnes

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once he was seated. By midday it was known that

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the police had questioned the household staff at the Denham residence.

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The cook the maid, and even the gardener had all

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been asked about mister Denham's movement. That fact alone ignited

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fresh buriers. Some suggested that the maid's distress had been

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feigned to conceal guilt. Others claimed the gardener had been

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seen owguing with mister Denham only a week before. Miss

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Marple left the tea room as quietly as she had ended.

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She strolled through the village lanes, her eyes noting the

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way neighbors paused in conversation when she passed house shutters

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open a fraction too late, how the milkman exchanged crave

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looks with his customers. Fear, she knew, spread quickly in

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a small place, and fear often revealed more truth than

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it concealed. As she passed the churchild, she paused, gazing

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at the old headstones worm By time, death in a

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village was never just an event, It was a mirror.

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If reflected the hidden tentions, the grudges long buried, the

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jealousies politely disguised. Mister Denham's death would prove no different.

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By evening, the story had grown so tangled that no

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tear accounts matched. Yet, beneath the confusion, Miss Marple sense

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of patent forming. It was like the beginning of a tapestry,

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faint outlines, loose throats, a shape not yet clear, but

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undeniably present. She resolved to continue, or quite watch, knowing

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that truth revealed itself, most often in the smallest of details.

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The quiet order of rose Hill had been unsettled, yet

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outwardly the village tried to maintain its routine. The milk

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was delivered, the post arrived, and the church bells marked

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the IROs as always. But beneath that appearance of calm,

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every conversation carried the same subject. Mister Arthur Denham's death

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had become unseen, guessed at every table. Miss Marple, however,

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did not dwell on rumor. She preferred a privation the

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small things people overlooked. On the morning after the garden party,

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she paid a polite call to the Denham residence. It

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was a courtesy easily explained, for she often visited householes

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and moments of trouble, her quiet manner and gentle wores

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bringing comfort. No one questioned her presence. The maid Alice

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greeted her with red rand eyes. She spoke too quickly,

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as if eager to reasure, both herself and her visitor.

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The master was quite well that morning, Miss Marple. He

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even complimented Cook's John Tarts. None of us expected well

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this dreadful end. Miss Marple listened kindly, nodding with understanding.

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She asked only the gentlest of questions, never pressing, never alarming.

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It was in Alice's hesitation, in her tendency to glance

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towards the library door, that something subtle revealed itself. Not guilt, perhaps,

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but fear. The library itself had been tidy, though not entirely.

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The glass from which mister Denham ha drunk remained in

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the desk, awaiting official examination. Miss Marple stood by the window,

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noting how the light fell across the rubbed, the position

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of the chair, the angle of the bodies described, the

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paper scattered in a curious half circle. They were details

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that seemed ord near, yet in her mind that formed

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the beginning of a picture. Was mister Denham expecting a

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visitor that day? She asked softly. Alice started slightly. I

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cannot say, Miss, there was no appointment in his diary,

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but I did hear voices not long before She trailed off,

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passing a handkerchief to her eyes. Miss Marple did not

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press her further. Instead, she allowed the silence to linger,

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And in that silence the maid betrayed another clue, her

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hands tissing the edge of her apron, her eyes darting

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not towards the door, but towards the desk. Something about

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that desk had settled her. Miss Marple observed the hesitation

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before the words not always kind. It suggested more than

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pastoral concern. It suggested knowledge of grievances. She remembered then

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the sharp glance exchanged between mister Denham and missus Ellison

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at the garden party, a glance quickly concealed. By afternoon,

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she had walked the length of the village, hanknitting back

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at her side, her steps unheard. She noticed Hamsy's harper,

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avoided mentioning mister Denham altogether, how Connel Bradchas spoke too

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loudly of his respect to the man, And how young

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Clora Simmons flushed deeply when asked if she had ever

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visited the Denham house. Each fragment by itself seen trivial,

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but to Miss Marple they were threads of the same cloth.

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She thought of the glass on the desk of Alice's

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nervous glances of the vicar's careful words. They pointed not

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to the certainty of accident, nor to the knee conclusion

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of a natural death, but to the beginning of something darker.

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That evening, as she sat by her fire with her netting,

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Miss Marple considered her next step. She had not yet

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formed a conclusion, but she had the beginnings of a map,

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a faint outline of connections and motives. She knew the

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police would sin decide upon a suspect eager for resolution.

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Yet she also knew human nature too well to be

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content with appearances. In rose Hill, beneath its charming surface,

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secrets waited to be uncovered, and Miss Marble, patient and observant,

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had already begun to see where the first cracks lay.

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The morning air in rose Hill was cool and damp,

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a thin mistanning low over the hedgerows and culling lazily

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across the village green. For once, the jeep stillness of

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dawn did not bring comfort, instead oppressed upon the cottages

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like an unlockham weight. By eight o'clock, the first villages

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were already whispering to one another at the post office

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and bakery. The police had made progress in their inquiries.

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A suspect had been taken assidh for questioning. It was

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the may Alice. News of her detention traveled through the

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narrow lanes faster than the baker's first tray of bread.

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Some greeted it with satisfaction, for had she not been

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the one to raise the alarm, and had she not

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behaved so nervously since others pitied her, shaking their heads

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of the cruelty of fate, for she was only a girl,

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no more than twenty, and had always been considered decent

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and hard working. At missus Ellison's tea room, the speculation

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was already fierce. I knew it, Missess Harp, pronounced triumphantly

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to her table of listeners. I said from the very

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first that her tears were too dramatic. Mark my words,

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A guilty conscience weeps the loudest. Missus Ellison frowned, but

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said nothing. Clara Simmonds, sitting quietly nearby, bit her lip

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and look down into her teacup. The colonel overhearing, struck

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his cane upon the floor. Nonsense. A servant girl lacks

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the cunning for such a crime. This is the work

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of a calculating mind. Still, his voice faltered, softening a fraction.

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Appearances are against her appearances indeed, for Alice had been

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the last to serve mister Denham. She had brought the

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court into the library, set it upon the desk, and

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later discovered the body to the police. These facts formed

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a neat circle. Motive could be invented later, perhaps a

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grievance over wages, perhaps a foolish theft. Discovered evidence mattered

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less when suspicion was convenient. Miss Marple listened to all

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this without interruption. She sat in her usual place by

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the window, her knitting resting quietly in her lap. To

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anyone watching, she seemed more interested in her needles than

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in the gossip around her. Yet she noted carefully the

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eagerness with which Missess Harper pressed her opinion, the discomfort

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of young Clara at the colonel's force certainty. That afternoon

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she called upon Inspector Graves, a practical man who had

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been dispatched from the county town. He was not unkind,

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but preferred matters settled quickly. We must act in the

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evidence at hand. Miss Marple he explained as they stood

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outside the Denham residence. The mid admit she was alone

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in the room before the body was discovered. The glass

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bears her fingerprints. There is no sign of forced entry,

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no indication of a stranger. It is straightforward. Miss Marple's

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blue eyes regarded him with polite pain. And yet she

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said softly, human behavior is seldom straightforward, Inspector, might I ask,

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has it not struck you as peculiar that a guilty

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servant would call attention to herself by summoning help immediately?

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The inspector shifted a touch impatient panoic. Perhaps people do

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strange things when cornered, indeed, murmured Miss Marple, And people

241
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also do strange things when innocent. She did not argue further,

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for she knew argument rarely persuaded. Instead, she returned home,

243
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her mind occupied not with Alice's supposed guilt, but with

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the details others had overlooked. The position of the papers

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in the floor, the faint stain upon the edge of

246
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the desk, the expressions of those who had crowded into

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the library that first afternoon. All these were store carefully,

248
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like stitches in her knitting, forming a pattern others could

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not yet see. Meanwhile, the village moved, grew darker. Neighbors

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avoided the Dunham house as though guilt were contagious. Children

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were kept close indoors. Missus Harper declared it a disgrace

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that such a girl had been trusted in a respectable household.

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The vicar parayed publicly for mercy and guidance, though his

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voice betrayed unease. Alice herself was seen only once, escorted

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by constable to the station for further questioning. Her pale

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face and trembling hands spoke of fear. Yet in her

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eyes if flickered something more complex, bewilderment perhaps, or the

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desperate hope that some one might believe her. That evening,

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Miss Marple sat before her fire, her knitting needles moving

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in slow rhythm. She re called of the maids she

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had known in other villages, girls called in scandals they

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had not created, blamed for troubles not of their making,

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simply because they were powerless. Urcist accusation. Human nature, she reflected,

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was fond of simple answers, and the weakest were always

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the simplest answer. She poured herself a cup of tea

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and considered the small details once more. Why had the

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cordial been served in the library and not in the

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drawing room as was usual. Why had mister Denham, a

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00:12:40,919 --> 00:12:43,320
man known for his exacting habits, allow of papers to

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fall entidily at his fee? And why had the maid

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glance not at the body but at the desk when

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she spoke of that dreadful moment. These were not the

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actions of a guilty girl. They were the faint outlines

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of another truth, still hidden beneath the surface. By the

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close of the state, the official word was clear the

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police intended to pursue charges against Alice, pending further evidence.

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The village, ever eager foreclosure, prepared to accept it. But

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Miss Marple, gazing into her fire, whispered to herself words

279
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no one else would hear. It will not do. No,

280
00:13:11,759 --> 00:13:14,039
it will not do at all. The news of Alice's

281
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arrests settled heavily upon the village, but rather than silence

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in speculation, it seemed only to stir it more. The

283
00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,759
tidy picture painted by the police that the nevis made

284
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a poisoned how master and betrayed herself through tears was

285
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accepted by some. With Grim's satisfaction. Yet for others, especially

286
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:30,879
those with sharper memories of quarrels and slights, the explanation

287
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did not sit comfortably. Miss Marple spent her morning walking

288
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along the hedgerows and cottage paths, knitting bag over her

289
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arm to a casual as. She appeared, engaged only in

290
00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,919
her stitches. But she paused at doorways, exchanged gentle words

291
00:13:42,919 --> 00:13:45,639
with neighbors, and listened with quiet attention to the tones

292
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in which they spoke. For in villages she knew, secrets

293
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,840
did not shout. They whispered, They trembled at the edges

294
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of ordinary speech, and they revealed themselves, most often when

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people believed no one was listening. At the vicarge, she

296
00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,519
found missess Alden, the vicaro's wife, tending a basket of laundry.

297
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,879
The woman's hands moved briskly, but her voice betrayed at ease,

298
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poor girl, she murmured, meaning, Alice, I cannot believe she

299
00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:09,440
could be capable of such wickedness. And yet, well, there

300
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,879
were quarrels enough of mister Denham. He was not always easy.

301
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,799
Miss Marple, with her air of mild curiosity, let the

302
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,879
silence linger. Misss Alden, sighed, I dare say you heard

303
00:14:19,919 --> 00:14:23,600
about his dispute with Colonel Bradshaw lamb boundaries. I believe

304
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,360
there were angry words. Oh quite heeded. The colonel has

305
00:14:27,399 --> 00:14:30,360
a temper, though he means no harm. Still I wonder

306
00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:33,360
if the inspector has been told. A little later, Miss

307
00:14:33,399 --> 00:14:36,080
Marple called at the tea room. This she encountered un

308
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:40,039
c Lora Simmons, who looked pale and restless. With gentle persistence,

309
00:14:40,039 --> 00:14:43,799
Miss Marple coaxed her into conversation. Clara hasitated, then whispered,

310
00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:45,720
I ought not to speak, but I cannot keep it in.

311
00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,480
Mister Denham had been pressing my uncle for a payment

312
00:14:48,519 --> 00:14:51,960
of a loan, quite a large sum. I think Uncle

313
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,720
swore he would find a way, but I know he

314
00:14:53,799 --> 00:14:57,759
was desperate. If mister Denham threatened exposure, well who can

315
00:14:57,759 --> 00:15:00,639
say what a desperate man might do. Mins Marple did

316
00:15:00,639 --> 00:15:03,840
not press her further, though she stored away every word.

317
00:15:04,559 --> 00:15:06,879
By afternoon she stopped at the grocer's, where the gossip

318
00:15:06,919 --> 00:15:10,039
was leves. This she heard another tale that missus Ellison,

319
00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,240
the dignified mistress of the tea room, had once been

320
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,000
seen in earnest conversation with mister Denham in the churchyard.

321
00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,279
The witness claimed she had looked both angry and distressed.

322
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,480
Some hinted at money again, others at more delka matters

323
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,039
that could not be spoken aloud in a shop. Everywhere

324
00:15:24,039 --> 00:15:26,600
miss Marple walked the picture of mister Denham became clearer.

325
00:15:27,159 --> 00:15:30,200
He was not merely a respectable gentleman fell by sudden illness.

326
00:15:30,879 --> 00:15:33,080
He was a man who had entangled himself in dispute

327
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,080
both financial and personal. He had pricked the pride of

328
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,120
Colonel Bradshaw, placed in bearable pressure upon Clara's uncle, and

329
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,320
carried on some private quarrel with missus Ellison. Such a

330
00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,919
man might command doubt, would respect, but beneath its surface

331
00:15:44,919 --> 00:15:47,519
he left a trail of resentment. The news of Alice's

332
00:15:47,559 --> 00:15:50,879
arrests settled heavily upon the village, but rather than silencing speculation,

333
00:15:50,919 --> 00:15:53,600
it seemed only to stir it more. The tidy picture

334
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,519
painted by the police that a nervous maid had puzzoned

335
00:15:55,559 --> 00:15:57,879
her massa and betrayed herself for tears was accepted by

336
00:15:57,879 --> 00:16:00,720
some with room satisfaction. For others, specially those with sharper

337
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,440
memories of quarrels and slights, the explanation did not sucomfortably.

338
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,000
Miss Marple spent that morning walking along the hedgerss and

339
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,639
cottage pastinating back over her armed or cattle eye. She

340
00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:10,639
appeared and aged only in her stitches, but she paused

341
00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:13,000
at always exchanged gentle words with neighbors, and listened with

342
00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:15,000
quiet attention to the tones in which this book for

343
00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:17,120
In villages she knew, secrets did not chat. They whispered,

344
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,120
They trembled at the edges of ordinary speech, and they

345
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:21,919
revealed themselves, most often when people believed no one was listening.

346
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,000
At the vicarage, she found missus Holden, the Vicker's wife,

347
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,159
tenting a basket of laundry. The woman's hand moved briskly,

348
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,600
but her voice betrayed in these purgurel She murmured, meaning, Alice,

349
00:16:28,639 --> 00:16:30,799
I cannot believe she could be capable of such wickedness.

350
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,960
And yet while there were quarrels enough with mister Denham,

351
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,799
he was not always easy. Miss Marple, with her air

352
00:16:35,799 --> 00:16:39,600
of mild curiosity, let the silence linger. Missus Olden sighed,

353
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,240
I dare say you heard about his dispute with Colonel

354
00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:47,480
bradgraw Land boundaries. I believe there were angry words. Oh,

355
00:16:47,559 --> 00:16:50,720
quite heated. The colonel has a temper, though he means

356
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,960
no harm. Still, I wonder if the inspector has been told.

357
00:16:54,679 --> 00:16:57,000
A little later, Miss Marple called at the tea room.

358
00:16:57,559 --> 00:17:01,919
There she encountered young Clorisim, who looked pale and restless.

359
00:17:02,399 --> 00:17:06,799
With gentle persistence, Miss Marple coaxed her into conversation. Clara hesitated,

360
00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:08,920
then whispered, I ought not to speak, but I cannot

361
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,559
keep it in. Mister Denham had been pressing my uncle

362
00:17:11,559 --> 00:17:13,640
for repayment of a loan, quite a large sum. I

363
00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,480
think uncle swore he would find a way, but I

364
00:17:16,559 --> 00:17:19,960
know he was desperate. If mister Denham threatened exposure, well

365
00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:22,599
who can say what a desperate man might do. Miss

366
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,119
Marple did not press her further, though she stored away

367
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,440
every word. By afternoon she stopped at the grocer's while

368
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,480
the gossip was liveliest this she heard another tale that

369
00:17:31,599 --> 00:17:34,160
missus Ellison, the dignified mistress of the tea room, had

370
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,640
once been seen in earnest conversation with mister Denham in

371
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,720
the churchyard. The witness claimed she had looked both angry

372
00:17:39,799 --> 00:17:43,160
and distressed. Some hinted at money again, others a more

373
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:45,599
delicate matters that could not be spoken aloud in a shop.

374
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,160
Everywhere Miss Marple walked, the picture of mister Dinnam became clearer.

375
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,160
He was not merely a respectable gentleman felled by sudden illness.

376
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,400
He was a man who had entangled himself in disputes

377
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:56,480
both financial and personal. He had print the pride of

378
00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,720
Colonel Bradshaw, placed in barable pressure upon Clara's uncle, and

379
00:17:59,799 --> 00:18:02,799
carried on some private quarrel with Miss s Ellison. Such

380
00:18:02,839 --> 00:18:05,359
a man might command outward respect, but beneath that surface

381
00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,640
he left a trail of resentment. By the end of

382
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,279
the day, the village seemed to hum attension. People who

383
00:18:10,279 --> 00:18:14,319
once greeted one another cheerfully now spoken guarded tones, friendships

384
00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:16,759
trained under the weight of suspicion. At the post office

385
00:18:16,839 --> 00:18:19,319
chat women argued openly about whether Alsi's guilt was credible,

386
00:18:19,319 --> 00:18:21,519
their voss sharp with modern curiosity at the inn love

387
00:18:21,559 --> 00:18:23,799
of their voices. When strangers entered for fear of repeating

388
00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:26,119
to muster in her poets sitting room, Miss Marple lu'side

389
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,079
her need and reflected upon what she had gathered, a

390
00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:30,680
human nature she thought was consistent people revealed themselves, not

391
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:32,759
in their protestations of innocence, but in the small ways

392
00:18:32,799 --> 00:18:35,200
the sorts of distance themselves from Guilt's tenoparture of inter

393
00:18:35,319 --> 00:18:37,759
insistent upon his respect for mister denimployer was on, although

394
00:18:37,759 --> 00:18:39,599
she had not named him directly, had shown signs of

395
00:18:39,599 --> 00:18:42,079
fear whenever money was mentioned, and missus Ellison's startle at

396
00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,480
Composer suggested knowledge she would rather deep beary. The police,

397
00:18:44,519 --> 00:18:46,759
satisfied with their servants, suspect looked no further than Miss

398
00:18:46,839 --> 00:18:49,119
Marple knew better for behind every polite curtain of Russell

399
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,160
someone as the secret that connected directly to the dead

400
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,039
man in the lobbrary. The question was not whether mister

401
00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,200
Denham had enemies, but rather but enemy it chosen to

402
00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:56,880
act that now the village slept in his lily dogged

403
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,039
Bard that nothing shutters were drawn tightly, and more than

404
00:18:59,079 --> 00:19:01,079
one has solved teptal Eve burning late the appearance of

405
00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:03,039
farm and Vannis rose Hill was a village of secret,

406
00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,039
snow and secrets once and Huddle could never again be

407
00:19:05,079 --> 00:19:07,279
neatly put away. Miss Marple sat by a lamp and needles,

408
00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:09,319
moving with steady rhythm in a mine. The pattern was

409
00:19:09,319 --> 00:19:11,440
becoming clear. Alice was no more than a third useful

410
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,160
to the two which the matter settled quickly. But the

411
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,119
real tapestry was woven of pried desperation and long nursed assentments.

412
00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:17,799
She knew it would not be long before one of

413
00:19:17,839 --> 00:19:19,880
theres would fray and revealed the truth. Beneath the church

414
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,240
bells at scarcely strautinaim in the village of Rosel began

415
00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:25,720
its restless stone. Though the world outside remained green and peaceful,

416
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,119
with spurrows darting along the hedgerows and the smell of

417
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,319
fresh bread drifting from the baker's oven, the hearts of

418
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:32,920
its people were far from tranquil. The death of mister

419
00:19:33,039 --> 00:19:35,759
Denham had unsettled the village, but the continued attention of

420
00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:38,200
Alice had sharpened the air. With her knees in the

421
00:19:38,279 --> 00:19:41,640
tea room, forces buzzed like bees. Missess Harper was more

422
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,960
strident than ever, insisting the maid's guilt was beyond doubt,

423
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:49,359
while others less certain exchanged anxious glances. Colonel Bradshaw's beriom

424
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:51,680
in tones could be heard half the street away, proclaiming

425
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:53,640
that the police had the matter well in hand. Yet

426
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,480
even he carried as stiffness that betrayed his discomfered. Miss Marple, however,

427
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,279
passed quietly through the scene, offering polite greeting as she

428
00:20:00,319 --> 00:20:03,759
made her way toward the Denham residence. She had, after

429
00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:05,680
all promised the cook that she would bring over a

430
00:20:05,759 --> 00:20:08,440
recipe for seed cake, and such promises must be honored.

431
00:20:09,039 --> 00:20:10,720
No one thought it odd that she might call again

432
00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:13,640
upon the household in mourning. The library door stood open

433
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,039
when she arrived, and though the air of tragedy still lingered,

434
00:20:16,079 --> 00:20:18,319
the room had been put back into some order. The

435
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,359
papers were stacked neatly upon the desk, the glass had

436
00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,119
been removed for examination, and the heavy cuttons were drawn

437
00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,319
against the morning light. Yet Miss Marple's eyes, accustomed to

438
00:20:27,319 --> 00:20:29,559
observe in the small shifts and human behavior, were quick

439
00:20:29,599 --> 00:20:32,000
to note the tidiness often concealed more than it revealed.

440
00:20:33,039 --> 00:20:35,079
As she set down her recipe cart upon the table,

441
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,079
her gaze lingered upon the carpet, a faint indentation in

442
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:40,920
the thick pile caught her attention. It lay just beyond

443
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:42,720
the corner of the rug, near where the chair had

444
00:20:42,759 --> 00:20:45,039
been moved on the day of the garden party. The

445
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,279
mark was square edged, as if made by a small

446
00:20:47,279 --> 00:20:49,640
box or case, something heavy enough to leave its memory

447
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,839
upon the floor. Yet now there was nothing there. Miss

448
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,519
Marble bent her movement slow and then obtrusive, as though

449
00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:58,680
examining her knitting back. Her fingers brushed lightly over The

450
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,039
impression confirmed its shape, a box, certainly, perhaps of wood

451
00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,000
or metal. Why had it been placed there? And more importantly,

452
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,920
why was it gone? At that moment, the maid Alice

453
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,519
was led into the room by a constable for further questioning.

454
00:21:12,039 --> 00:21:15,200
Her face was pale, her hands trembling. Miss Marple greeted

455
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,279
her kindly, with none of the suspicion the gull had

456
00:21:17,319 --> 00:21:20,240
grown accustomed to, My dear, you must be quite tired

457
00:21:20,279 --> 00:21:23,039
of all this, she said gently. I only wonder did

458
00:21:23,079 --> 00:21:25,200
mister Dennan keep a small case here in the library,

459
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,519
something about the size of a writing box. Alice's eyes widened,

460
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,519
I looked, parting as if she might speak, then quickly

461
00:21:32,559 --> 00:21:34,960
pressed together again. She shook her head, yet her glance

462
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,039
betrayed her. It darted not toward Miss Marple, but toward

463
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:41,799
the desk, lingering a fraction toulon. The constable cleared his throat,

464
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,319
impatient with interruptions and led the girl away. But Miss

465
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,000
Marple had seen enough a missing box, a nervous glance,

466
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,160
and his silence too deliberate to be innocent. These were

467
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,799
not coincidences. Later, as she walked home along the lane,

468
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,799
Miss Marple's thoughts turned over the matter. What might such

469
00:21:58,839 --> 00:22:04,319
a box have contained? Letters, perhaps personal dangerous letters, or

470
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,039
financial papers, the sort that could ruin reputations if reveiled.

471
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,400
She recalled the whispered hints of deaths, of quarrels over money,

472
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,759
of Miss Sess Ellison's troubled encounter in the church. Shared

473
00:22:14,799 --> 00:22:17,279
a box of documents could bind these reds together, as

474
00:22:17,319 --> 00:22:19,640
if it had vanished, then some one had taken it deliberately,

475
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:22,559
knowing that within it lay the truth of motive. That evening,

476
00:22:22,599 --> 00:22:26,079
Miss Marple attended evensong at the church. She noticed Clara

477
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,559
Simmons and the peel across from her, fidgeting with her prayer.

478
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,920
Boke her eyes down gas She noticed Colonel Bradchall bowing

479
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:33,839
his head a little too stiffly, his lips pressed tight

480
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,839
in silent discomfort, And she noticed missus Ellison's absence, explained

481
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,440
away by a neighbor as a touch of nerves Each

482
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,079
observation was tucked away, quiet as stitches in her knitting,

483
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,000
each one part of a pattern. When the service ended,

484
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,799
miss Marple lingered by the Church of Gates, speaking softly

485
00:22:48,839 --> 00:22:52,480
with the vicar. A sad business, he said, gravely. One

486
00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:56,799
cannot help but pray for u swift conclusion. Miss Marple nodded, yes.

487
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,440
But swiftest is not always the same as truth, is it.

488
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,200
The vicar looked trouble, but he did not reply. As

489
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,720
she walked, hung beneath the fading light, Miss Marple considered

490
00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:08,880
again the missing box. It was a small thing, easily

491
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:10,839
overlooked by those eager to close the matter, But to

492
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,039
her it spoke volumes. Someone had been in the library,

493
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,960
not merely to kill, but to remove some one had

494
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,240
wished not only for mister Denham's death, but for the

495
00:23:19,279 --> 00:23:22,079
silence of whatever secrets he kept locked away. By the

496
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,319
time she reached her cottage, Miss Marple was certain of

497
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,200
one thing. Alice was not the key to this mystery.

498
00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:28,279
She was merely the thread pull forward to distract from

499
00:23:28,279 --> 00:23:30,160
the true design. The real anti lay in the vanished

500
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:31,799
boxin in the head and face of those who had

501
00:23:31,839 --> 00:23:33,720
reason to seek. And she set aside her netting bag

502
00:23:33,759 --> 00:23:35,440
and pulled herself a cup of tea. In the quiet

503
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:36,920
of her parlor, she spoke aloud, as if to the

504
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:38,880
empty chair across from her, The truth will come, my dear.

505
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,160
It always does, and it is never quite what people expect.

506
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,240
The following morning brought with it a brisqu wind, scattering

507
00:23:43,279 --> 00:23:45,559
driyal leaves across rose Hell's quiet lanes and bratling the

508
00:23:45,599 --> 00:23:47,759
shutters of cottages not yet opened for the day. Though

509
00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:49,519
the ere car at the scent of wood smoke candeu

510
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,799
there was a restless energy that Hahrn about the village.

511
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,279
The death of mister Denham had ceased to feel like

512
00:23:54,319 --> 00:23:57,200
a singular tragedy. It had instead become the pulse of

513
00:23:57,279 --> 00:24:00,839
every conversation, every whisper behind lace curtains, every sidelong glance

514
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,440
exchanged at the grocer's counter. Miss Marple, having whizen early,

515
00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:06,839
tended to a small garden before making her way toward

516
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,799
the post office. It was a happy she kept collecting

517
00:24:09,839 --> 00:24:12,359
the daily paper and exchanging like greetings with mister Finch,

518
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,960
the postmaster, who knew the life of the village more intimately.

519
00:24:15,079 --> 00:24:18,759
The most morning, Miss Marple, he said, sliding the newspaper

520
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:22,160
across the counter. The inspector has been about again, asking

521
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,720
after telegrams. Seems he's quite fixed on timing, as though

522
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,599
the very minutes might unpick the crime. Indeed, Miss Marple replied, mildly,

523
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,759
slipping the paper into her bag. But minutes, you know,

524
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,839
can be as misleading as gossip. Sometimes it is not

525
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,880
when something is done, but why that tells us the truth.

526
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,759
Mister Finch chuckled, though uneasily he was aware, as many were,

527
00:24:42,839 --> 00:24:44,720
that Miss Marple's words had a way of reaching further

528
00:24:44,799 --> 00:24:48,119
than idle chatter. On her walk back Miss Marple's path

529
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,599
cross was missus Ellison. The woman looked drawn, her eyes shadowed,

530
00:24:51,799 --> 00:24:54,319
her hands cut tightly together, as if in constant prayer.

531
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,920
When Miss Marple inquired gently after her health, missus Ellison

532
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,720
forced a smile. Oh, it is only fatigue. These terrible

533
00:25:01,759 --> 00:25:04,759
events way heavily on one spear. But the smile faltered

534
00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:08,160
almost at once. She excused herself hastily and walked on,

535
00:25:08,519 --> 00:25:12,160
leaving Miss Marble thoughtful. Missus Allison's sustress was too sharp,

536
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,559
too persistent, to be explained by village nerves alone. By midday,

537
00:25:15,599 --> 00:25:17,640
word had reached the village that the inspector was to

538
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,000
hold a further inquiry to the Denham residence, the principal

539
00:25:21,079 --> 00:25:24,160
village os were invited or compelled to attend. Miss Marble,

540
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,000
with her quiet authority and unobtrusive presence, found herself there

541
00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:29,720
as well. The gathering took place in the drawing room.

542
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,799
Colonel Barrach arrived first, punctual as always, his mustache bristling

543
00:25:33,839 --> 00:25:38,359
and his cane dapping against the floorboards. Clara Simmons came next,

544
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,079
pale and anxious, her fingers working nervously at her shawl.

545
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,480
Missus Allison entered last, accompanied by her son, who kept

546
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,480
his eyes firmly fixed upon the floor. The inspector began

547
00:25:47,599 --> 00:25:50,480
by reviewing the established facts, but his questions soon took

548
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,799
a shoper edge. Mister Denham was known to keep private papers,

549
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,759
financial records, correspondents, Yet when the desk was examined, certain

550
00:25:57,799 --> 00:26:00,799
items appeared to be missing. I asked, plainly, did any

551
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:03,559
of you remove them? There was a silence, broken only

552
00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:06,319
by the faint ticking of the mantel clock. Then Colonel

553
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:10,279
Bradsher cleared his throat. I resent the implications, sir, my

554
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,799
dealings with mister Denham were of a purely social nature.

555
00:26:13,559 --> 00:26:15,920
If the man had debts or entanglements, there were no

556
00:26:16,039 --> 00:26:18,759
concern of mine. Miss Marples keen i Haes noticed how

557
00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:20,839
his hand tightened on his cane to the knuckles, whitening

558
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,480
a denial too forceful. She thought a man accustomed to

559
00:26:24,519 --> 00:26:27,440
command need not purdice so loudly, unless he feared discovery.

560
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,559
Clara Simmons spoke next, her voice faltering, I hardly knew

561
00:26:31,599 --> 00:26:35,160
mister Denham, only through village events. If he had papers,

562
00:26:35,279 --> 00:26:38,519
I never saw them. Yet her gaze flicker toward Missess Ellison,

563
00:26:38,599 --> 00:26:42,039
a swift, betraying glance that suggested knowledge, and spoken missus

564
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:44,519
Ellison' sat rigid, her lips pressed into a thin line.

565
00:26:45,079 --> 00:26:47,559
At last, she said, quietly, it is unkind to torment us.

566
00:26:47,599 --> 00:26:50,640
So a good man is dead. Must we not re

567
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:55,319
adde reputations with suspicion? The inspector regarded her sharply, Madame,

568
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,880
I must follow the evidence wherever it leads. Miss Marple

569
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,759
said nothing, though within her her mind the threads were

570
00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:05,039
weaving together. Colonel bradgho wass aggression, Chlora's fear, Missess Ellison's

571
00:27:05,039 --> 00:27:08,640
concealment all pointed not to innocence, but to secrets jealously guarded.

572
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,200
When the gathering dispersed, Miss Marple contrived to walk beside

573
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,880
Chlora Simmonds. In her gentle and threatening manner, she observed,

574
00:27:16,079 --> 00:27:17,680
it is such a strain, is it not? When one

575
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:19,799
carries more than one can manage. Secrets come away upon

576
00:27:19,799 --> 00:27:22,079
the heart dreadfully. My dear Clara flushed, Garlet. I don't

577
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:23,839
know what you mean, but the tremor in her voice,

578
00:27:23,839 --> 00:27:25,799
the way her hands clutched her shoul betrayed, and Miss

579
00:27:25,839 --> 00:27:28,200
Marple only smiled, kindly, saying no more, for she knew

580
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,880
that silence often pride opened doors more effectively than questions.

581
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,880
That evening, as the lumplike glowed softly and her polor,

582
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:35,480
Miss Marple reflected on what she had seen, Lias's surfaced

583
00:27:35,559 --> 00:27:38,000
like stones beinga shallow water branch, as financial deal in

584
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,200
Chlora's fearful silence, missus Ellison's troubled conscience. Yet the shape

585
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,599
of the crime was not complete. It was as though

586
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,920
she were knitting a pattern with missing stitches, a design

587
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,160
obscured until the final three was placed. She poured herself

588
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,319
a cup of tea, settled into her chair and whispered

589
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,839
softly into the quiet room. They are all hiding something,

590
00:27:54,079 --> 00:27:56,519
But which of these lies is worth killing for? The

591
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,240
rain came without warning. By late afternoon, darc Clarks had

592
00:28:00,279 --> 00:28:02,279
rolled and from the dawns pressing low and heavy over

593
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,960
Rose Hill. The air smelt of damp earth and smoke.

594
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,720
As the first dropped battered against the cottage windows. Villagers

595
00:28:08,799 --> 00:28:11,279
hurried indoors, shutting out the chill, But inside each home

596
00:28:11,319 --> 00:28:13,920
the tension of the past week remained. No one could

597
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,720
speak of anything except the murder of mister Denham. Miss

598
00:28:16,799 --> 00:28:19,160
Marple settled in her small parlor, watched the rain streaking

599
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,119
the glass. She had just finished writing a note to

600
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,079
her niece when a knox sanded at the door. Opening it,

601
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,599
she found Clara Simmons, pale and trembling beneath the search

602
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,880
all Miss Marple. Clara whispered, her voice broken, me I

603
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:29,920
come in with a testation. Miss Marple guided her to

604
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:31,640
the hearth ware. The fire burned low but warm. She

605
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,680
finished a blanket and poured a cup of tea aloe.

606
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,759
The young woman turned to gather herself That lent. Clara's

607
00:28:35,759 --> 00:28:38,240
sob suitsided and her stoic came halting before that. Cannot

608
00:28:38,279 --> 00:28:42,000
bear it any longer, she said. Everyone suspects poor Alice,

609
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,640
but it is not she. I know it, and yet

610
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,440
I'm so afraid, so terribly afraid. Miss Marple regarded her

611
00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:50,880
with quiet compassion. My diffea grows heavier when one tries

612
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:52,720
to carry it alone. You must tell me what it is.

613
00:28:52,759 --> 00:28:54,720
He no, Clara's hands twisted in her lap. It is

614
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,880
about mister Denham. He eared papers let as they were,

615
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,039
not as they belonged to missus Ellison, she confided in

616
00:28:59,119 --> 00:29:01,160
me once, when she feared he might use them against her.

617
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,119
I think I think she paid him to keep them hidden.

618
00:29:03,599 --> 00:29:06,519
The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. Miss

619
00:29:06,599 --> 00:29:09,319
Marple did not interrupt, only nodded gently to encourage her.

620
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,160
But then Clara continued. The night of the fate, I

621
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,279
saw miss s Allison in the library. She looked distraught.

622
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,440
I thought she might have been pleading with him. I

623
00:29:18,559 --> 00:29:21,200
dared not tell any one. I could not bring myself

624
00:29:21,279 --> 00:29:24,519
to But now with Alice arrested, it feels unbearable to

625
00:29:24,519 --> 00:29:28,960
stay silent. Her confession broke into sobs once more. Miss

626
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:31,799
Marble patted her hand. You have done ready to speak.

627
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,079
My dear secrets such as these left to festor can

628
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,240
poison more lives than one. As Clara calmed, Miss Marple's

629
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,759
mind worked swiftly. If missus Ellison had indeed been blackmail,

630
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,279
then the missing box might have contained as very letters.

631
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:48,559
Such a motive was clear enough desperation, shame, the fear

632
00:29:48,599 --> 00:29:50,480
of ruin, But was it strong enough to drive one

633
00:29:50,519 --> 00:29:53,559
to murder? The storm raged outside. As the evening wore on,

634
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,119
Miss Marple sat in thoughtful silence. After Clara departed her

635
00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,839
knitting and touched upon her lap. She reflected on me

636
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,920
missus Allison's pale face, her evasions, her son's quiet unease.

637
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,799
She thought of Colonel Bradsch's sharp denial, and of the

638
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,839
Inspector's certainty in Alice's guilt. Jack Claw's confession had shifted

639
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,480
the ground beneath her feet. The next morning brought a

640
00:30:12,519 --> 00:30:15,000
gathering at the church hall, where the Inspector addressed the village.

641
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,200
He spoke of progress of evidence being reviewed, but Miss

642
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,440
Marple noticed the uneyes in his tone. For all his determination,

643
00:30:21,599 --> 00:30:23,839
he two sends that the matter was not so straightforward

644
00:30:24,559 --> 00:30:27,640
as the villagers dispersed Missus ellison lingered, her gloved hands

645
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,920
trembling as she adjusted her hat. Miss Marple approached her gently.

646
00:30:31,519 --> 00:30:34,119
My dear missus Allison, she set softly. Sometimes the burdens

647
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,319
we carry a lighter when shared offe holds too tightly

648
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,319
to seecrets, They may consume more than one intends. For

649
00:30:38,359 --> 00:30:40,920
a moment, Missus Allison's ayes filled with tears, her composure crocking.

650
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,119
But then with visible effort, she gathered herself, offering only

651
00:30:43,119 --> 00:30:45,240
a faint smile before hurrying away. Yet Miss Marple had

652
00:30:45,279 --> 00:30:47,400
seen enough. The strain was wroten plenty upon her face

653
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,599
that even where to very quickly, Missus Allison had collapsed

654
00:30:49,599 --> 00:30:51,680
at him over time, by what the doctor town nervous exhaustion.

655
00:30:51,759 --> 00:30:54,319
The village buzzed with speculation, but Miss Marple, listening quietly

656
00:30:54,359 --> 00:30:56,400
to the chatter, knew it meant only one thinderweight of guilt,

657
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,640
weather of action or silence, was finally too much for

658
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,880
missus Ellison to bear alone in a cottage. Miss Marple

659
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,160
whispered to herself, the druce pess's hardest of others who

660
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,079
try most to conceal it, and sin concealment will no

661
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,599
longer be possible. To September sun retunned after the storm,

662
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,759
casting a deceptive colmover Rose Hill. The cottage is stood

663
00:31:10,799 --> 00:31:13,400
bright beneath their climbing roses, and the village green gleamed

664
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,839
fresh with rain. Yet within the village's attention only sharpened.

665
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:21,079
Missus Ellison's collapse had stowed speculation to fever pitch. Some

666
00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:24,279
said it was guilt, others whispered blackmail, and still others,

667
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,480
with the hint of cruelty, declared that her nerves had

668
00:31:26,519 --> 00:31:29,480
simply failed. Miss Marple, sitting in her nee parlor with

669
00:31:29,519 --> 00:31:32,680
her netting, while otherwise she understood better than most that

670
00:31:32,759 --> 00:31:35,240
a human, how pressed by fear, rarely breeks without reason.

671
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,240
She believed missus Ellison knew more of mister Denham's death

672
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:40,119
than she had yet admitted. But to force a confession

673
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,880
outright would serve littlegood. No, what was required now was

674
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,119
patience and a trap set with the quietest of hands.

675
00:31:46,799 --> 00:31:50,759
The inspector remained convinced of Alice's guilt opportunity mode of

676
00:31:50,799 --> 00:31:53,240
an evidence, he declared firmly. When Miss Marple paid a

677
00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:55,880
polite call at the station, the glass was in her care.

678
00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,200
She had access to the room, and she was found nearby.

679
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,400
I grant you she is a timic creature. But desperation

680
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,359
can drive the timid to desperate acts. Miss Marple listened nodding,

681
00:32:05,599 --> 00:32:09,079
but her eyes softened with mild reproach. Forgive me, inspector,

682
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,200
but I have often found that desperation more commonly, for

683
00:32:12,319 --> 00:32:14,119
as the strong world, the timid o more apt to

684
00:32:14,119 --> 00:32:16,960
suffer in silence. He frowned, unewsed to being contradicted by

685
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,359
an elderly spinster, yet said nothing further. Miss Marble departed

686
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,559
her thoughts, already turning to the quiet plans she had

687
00:32:22,559 --> 00:32:26,000
begun to weave. That afternoon, she visited Colonel Bradshaw, under

688
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,640
the predixt of delivering a jar of her well known marmalade.

689
00:32:29,279 --> 00:32:32,519
The colonel received her stiffly is maner brasque. Yet when

690
00:32:32,599 --> 00:32:35,640
she gently inquired about his investments, mentioning almost as in

691
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,119
a side, the rumor of debts in connection with mister Denham,

692
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,519
he readened and stammered in a way wholly uncharacteristic of

693
00:32:40,559 --> 00:32:43,680
his military poise. Miss Mapple tucked the observation away like

694
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,200
a drop stitch, to be picked up later. Her next

695
00:32:46,279 --> 00:32:49,720
call was upon missus Ellison, the woman, pale from her collapse,

696
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,279
lay upon the drawing room sofa, her son attending her

697
00:32:52,359 --> 00:32:56,279
with anxious devotion. Miss Mapple exspressed sympathy, offering quiet words

698
00:32:56,319 --> 00:32:59,400
of comfort. Then, as though idly, she remarked, it is

699
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,000
remarkable how small things are so easily overlooked. A box,

700
00:33:03,319 --> 00:33:05,920
for instance, left in the library corner, one wonders what

701
00:33:06,079 --> 00:33:07,720
might become of it if some one wished it hidden.

702
00:33:08,279 --> 00:33:10,759
Missus Allison's hand trembled, spilling a little off the tea

703
00:33:10,799 --> 00:33:13,720
her son had just bored. She murmured some faint denial,

704
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,200
but her color drained visibly. Miss Marple made no further mention,

705
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,200
Content to let the silence do its work. That evening,

706
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,039
she set her plan in motion. She invited several of

707
00:33:23,079 --> 00:33:26,440
the villagers, Colonel Bratwaugh, Clara Simmons, and young mister Ellison

708
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,960
among them, for tea at her cottage. The gathering appeared

709
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,079
no more than a kindly neighbor's attempt at comfort and

710
00:33:31,119 --> 00:33:35,240
troubled times. Yet Miss Marple prepared carefully, insuring the conversation

711
00:33:35,279 --> 00:33:37,599
would drift as naturally as the turning of the tide

712
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,519
toward mister Denham's death. She began with a knockyous remarks gardens,

713
00:33:41,559 --> 00:33:43,559
the weather, and you had chosen by the vicar, until

714
00:33:43,559 --> 00:33:46,960
gradually she observed the group relax. Then, with her needles

715
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,319
clicking softly, she said, in her mild way, it is

716
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,160
curious how certain things vanish at the most inconvenient moments.

717
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:54,880
I once lost a button box that contained a most

718
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,920
important token. I thought it gone forever, yet it turned

719
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:02,079
upon quite a surprising place. There was a pause, Chloraglance

720
00:34:02,119 --> 00:34:05,799
nervously at missus Ellison, who stiffened. Colonel Bradshaw shifted in

721
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,079
his chair, his cane tapping restlessly against the floor. Miss

722
00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:13,480
Marple continued, still mild, still seemingly harmless. In fact, she added,

723
00:34:13,599 --> 00:34:15,920
I should not be surprised if mister Denham's missing box

724
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,639
were to appear again. Things have a way of returning,

725
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,719
you know, sometimes when one least expects them. The silence deepened.

726
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:26,440
Missess Ellison's breathing grew labored, as some placing a steading

727
00:34:26,559 --> 00:34:29,760
hand upon her shoulder, the colonel's jaw clench, his eyes

728
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,280
dotting toward the doors of calculating an escape. Miss Marple

729
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,400
poured more tea, and troubled, she spoke of nothing further,

730
00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:39,119
but she had seen what she needed. The fear in

731
00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:41,960
Missess Ellison's eyes, the anger in Bratcha's clenched fist, the

732
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,079
strain upon young Ellison's face. The trap had been set

733
00:34:45,119 --> 00:34:48,199
not with accusation, but with suggestion. In time, one of

734
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,199
them would stumble into it. When her guests departed, Miss

735
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,800
Marple stood by the window, watching their figures retreat into

736
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,800
the twilight. Her knitting lamb finished on her lap, but

737
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,719
her thoughts were sharp and clear. They are all untangled.

738
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,280
She moment softly, But only one hand poured the poson,

739
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,519
and it will not remain hidden much longer. The next morning,

740
00:35:04,599 --> 00:35:06,400
dawn crisp and bright, the sword of morning that seemed

741
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,280
to mark the uneas gripping rosal. The bells from the

742
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,480
church shined cheerfully, but the villagers gathered with uneasy anticipation

743
00:35:11,559 --> 00:35:13,920
at the Denam residence, Summoned by the Inspector for what

744
00:35:14,039 --> 00:35:18,199
he promised would be a conclusive discussion, most came reluctantly, curiosity,

745
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:22,000
battling with dread. Colonel Bradge arrived first, his kne striking

746
00:35:22,079 --> 00:35:24,360
sharply against the floorboards, his jaw set as though he

747
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,599
faced a battle. Line. Missus Ellison entered with her son,

748
00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:31,360
her complexion pale, eye shadowed. Clara Simmons slipped and quietly,

749
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,679
her hands twisting a handkerchief until it nearly tore alice.

750
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,480
The accused maid sat trembling beside a constable, her gaze

751
00:35:37,559 --> 00:35:40,559
darting nervously from one village to the next, and then

752
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,320
quite unobtrusively, Miss Marple took her seat by the fire.

753
00:35:44,079 --> 00:35:46,239
She seemed only a kindly old lady, who knitting back

754
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,159
by her side, her expression mild. Yet as the inspector

755
00:35:50,159 --> 00:35:52,079
began to speak, it was she to whom the villager's

756
00:35:52,119 --> 00:35:56,000
eyes turned. Almost without realizing it, the inspector cleared his throat.

757
00:35:56,599 --> 00:35:59,719
We have gathered sufficient evidence to proceed. The case against

758
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:04,360
el Simonds is compelling. Forgive me, inspector. Miss Marple interrupted softly.

759
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,400
Her tone was courteous, but a coward await that silence

760
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:12,360
the room. Compelling, perhaps, but mistaken. The inspector bristled, but

761
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,960
Miss Marple continued before he could object. You see, she said,

762
00:36:16,199 --> 00:36:18,760
folding her hands neatly in her lap. The matter of

763
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,519
mister Denham's death was never about opportunity. Many had that,

764
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,159
Nor was it truly about means the poison could have

765
00:36:26,199 --> 00:36:29,079
been placed by any who approached the library. No, it

766
00:36:29,159 --> 00:36:31,960
was about motive and the silence surrounding a very particular box.

767
00:36:32,679 --> 00:36:35,920
At this Missus Ellison's face Blanche and Colonel bradshaw shifted

768
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,599
uncomfortably in his chair. Miss Marple's eyes, kind but unyielding,

769
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:44,119
rested on them both. That box contained letters, private letters

770
00:36:44,159 --> 00:36:47,679
belonging to Missus Ellison. Mister Denham, the ugly respectable has

771
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:49,599
taken to tepping them, tending to use them for his

772
00:36:49,679 --> 00:36:52,039
own advantage of farm, a blackmail inter If Missus Allison,

773
00:36:52,039 --> 00:36:53,760
distressed and deaths were have visited him on the night

774
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:55,480
of the face, she pleaded, but she did not call. No,

775
00:36:55,559 --> 00:36:57,559
her heart is far too gentle, our pnscience too heavy

776
00:36:57,599 --> 00:36:59,400
to have varted at such a day of Missus Ellison's.

777
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,440
To his sprindle a son place in the arm, particularly

778
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:02,880
a one, and to Miss Marple, press on have I

779
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,440
steadied the Colonel toy? Of course, his investments polychads had

780
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,400
placed him at them. As he of mister Denham's knowledge,

781
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:09,559
he feared exposure field ruin. His temper was sharp as

782
00:37:09,639 --> 00:37:11,840
man and breast, but his courage for Alla's blusters, not

783
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:13,960
the courage of stealthy would have struck up and Inanda

784
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,320
not potted in poisonteronal brush of fluster Scarlett, but did

785
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,320
not speak. And so Miss Marble continued to become at

786
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:19,719
last to the one who had but the means and

787
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,199
the resolve, the one who moved silently, terefully insurance suspision

788
00:37:22,199 --> 00:37:24,199
would fall upon another, Mister Ellison, in knew of her

789
00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:26,280
mother's letters, who feared what their exposure would mean, not

790
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,440
onely for her reputation, but for the understanding. It was

791
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,239
who ended the library with the night, who poured the

792
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,280
poison into mister Denham's glass. And when it was done

793
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,280
he he removed the box, thinking to bear the matter forever.

794
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:36,599
The room out to gasps exclamation quires of DISPOUTI if

795
00:37:36,639 --> 00:37:39,039
missus Ellison cluster Son's arm, her face stricken, He stared

796
00:37:39,079 --> 00:37:41,280
at Miss Marple that spotted gathered raining from mischieks, that

797
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:43,480
diabsurt the inspector Bart, though his false ware of Miss

798
00:37:43,519 --> 00:37:47,679
Marple's reply was comprecise. The Rugge told me the indentation

799
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:49,599
left by the missing box showed it had been moved

800
00:37:49,599 --> 00:37:52,599
after the chair was disturbed, not before that meant it

801
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,320
was taken after the murder. Only one he knew what

802
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,679
lay was in would think to remove it. And when

803
00:37:57,679 --> 00:37:59,639
I hinted the other night that the box might reappear,

804
00:37:59,679 --> 00:38:02,239
it was not missus Ellison or the colonel who betrayed themselves.

805
00:38:03,039 --> 00:38:05,800
It was the sun. His hand upon his mother's shoulder

806
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,599
tightened at the mention. Fear, not compassion, gripped him. Young

807
00:38:09,679 --> 00:38:13,519
Allison's composure broke. His voice trembled as he cried, I

808
00:38:13,599 --> 00:38:15,559
had no choice. He would have ruined her, He would

809
00:38:15,599 --> 00:38:18,039
have destroyed everything, our name, all life. I only meant

810
00:38:18,039 --> 00:38:21,039
to frighten him, but he laughed, He mocked. His words

811
00:38:21,079 --> 00:38:24,800
dissolved into sobs, his shoulder shaking. Missess Ellison collapsed against

812
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:27,199
her chair, of her face hidden in her hands. The

813
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,159
inspector gave a sharp order, and the Constable stepped forward,

814
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,960
placing a firm hand upon the young man's arm. The

815
00:38:33,039 --> 00:38:35,840
villagers sat in stun silence, unable to reconcile the quiet

816
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,840
youth with a dreadful crime. Miss Marple, still seated by

817
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,679
the fire, drew her knitting from her bag. Her needles

818
00:38:41,679 --> 00:38:44,760
clicked softly as she murmured, murder, Ye see is never

819
00:38:45,519 --> 00:38:48,440
so simple as it appears. It is rarely the hardened criminal,

820
00:38:48,599 --> 00:38:50,920
more often the desperate soul who believes wrongly that one

821
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,960
act can preserve all they hold dear. But the truth,

822
00:38:53,079 --> 00:38:56,519
however painful, always finds its way. Through the days that

823
00:38:56,599 --> 00:38:59,320
followed the shocking revelation at the dNaM residence passed under

824
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,320
a cloud that no sonechan could dispel. Rose Hill, once

825
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:04,679
a village of gentle rhythms and kindly gossip, now bore

826
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,800
the heavy weight of scandal. Neighbors who had once greeted

827
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:11,079
each other with cheerful nods, now exchanged hushed words, glances

828
00:39:11,119 --> 00:39:14,000
full of pity or suspicion. The calm surface of village

829
00:39:14,039 --> 00:39:15,960
life had been cracked, and though the truth had been

830
00:39:16,039 --> 00:39:19,159
laid bare, the echoes of the crime lingered. Misss Ellison

831
00:39:19,199 --> 00:39:22,320
remained secluded in her home, attended faithfully by her servants

832
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,920
and her doctor, the weight of her son's where crimes

833
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,360
seemed to have crushed her spirit. She was seen no

834
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,679
more in the church peu she had once frequented, nor

835
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:31,599
in the lines where she used to pause and offer

836
00:39:31,679 --> 00:39:34,840
a kindly word. Her curtains remained drawn, and though the

837
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,639
villagers spoke sympathetically. They did so with an air of caution.

838
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:40,960
It was, after all, a terrible thing for a respectable

839
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:44,400
lady to be so entangled in disgrace. Colonel Bradshaw walked

840
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,840
about with even greater stiffness than before, his cane striking

841
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:49,920
the ground with sharp authority. Yet Miss Marple noticed that

842
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,000
the Colonel spoke less loudly now, his booming confidence subdued.

843
00:39:53,639 --> 00:39:55,320
It was as though the shadow of suspicion that had

844
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,119
once touched him had left behind a permanent mark. He

845
00:39:58,199 --> 00:40:00,599
bowed to Miss Marple politely when the cross, but he

846
00:40:00,679 --> 00:40:03,960
did not linger for conversation. Far Or Simmons, by contrast,

847
00:40:04,079 --> 00:40:07,480
seemed oddly lightened for confession to Miss Marble, difficult though

848
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,000
it had been, had freed her from the crushing weight

849
00:40:09,039 --> 00:40:11,760
of silence. She moved with the new stadness, though her

850
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,199
eyes still betrayed sorrow when she spoke of Alice. For Alice,

851
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:17,360
though released from suspicion, could not yet shake the village.

852
00:40:17,519 --> 00:40:20,360
Whisper's innocence proved does not always restore innocence belief. She

853
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,280
had returned to her position, but her smile was thin,

854
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:24,519
her laughter hastened, as though she feared it might be thought,

855
00:40:24,559 --> 00:40:26,559
and see me. As for the inspector, he carried himself

856
00:40:26,599 --> 00:40:28,400
with the determined briskness of a man who would not

857
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,639
acknowledge defeat. Yet when he encountered Miss Marble in the

858
00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:33,079
churchyard one afternoon, he doffed his hat with more humility

859
00:40:33,159 --> 00:40:35,639
than before. You were right, madam, he admitted, stiffly. I

860
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:38,679
was misled by what seemed the most obvious facts. Miss

861
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,480
Marble inclined her head, her expression kindly. It is a

862
00:40:41,559 --> 00:40:45,320
common error, Inspector, One must always remember people light knitting

863
00:40:45,519 --> 00:40:47,840
form patterns. If a stitch appears too plain, it may

864
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,280
be precisely where the flour lies. The Inspector gave a

865
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:52,280
right smile, though his pride would allow no more, and

866
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,599
strode away. Life in rose Hill attempted to resume its course.

867
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,719
The bells rang for Sunday service, the children played upon

868
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:00,559
the green, and the baker's loaves filled the air with

869
00:41:00,639 --> 00:41:03,719
the comforting scent. Yet beneath it all there was an unease,

870
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,320
a sense that innocence, once lost, can never quite be reclaimed.

871
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,760
Miss Marple, in her cottage, returned to her knitting. The

872
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,679
days grew shorter, the evening's cooler, but her mind remained

873
00:41:12,679 --> 00:41:15,760
sharp and reflective. She thought often of young Ellison, whose

874
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,559
desperate act had brought such a rum. She pitied him,

875
00:41:18,599 --> 00:41:20,519
for his crime had been born not of cruelty, but

876
00:41:20,639 --> 00:41:22,679
of fear, the fear of losing what he held most dear.

877
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,480
And yet pity could not excuse murderer. She sipped her tea,

878
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,360
her needles clicking softly. It is a curious thing, she

879
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,599
murmured to herself, how one believes a crime will end

880
00:41:32,599 --> 00:41:36,239
a fear, but instead it breeds only greater ones. People

881
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,639
imagine they can silence the truth, Yet the truth is

882
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:41,960
rather like ivy. It creeps back, however often one cuts

883
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,719
it down. Outside the village returned to its gentle murmurings,

884
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:47,719
but Rose Hall would not soon forget the lesson of

885
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,559
mister Denham's death. And though miss mob asked for no thanks,

886
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:52,400
those with wisdom enough to see knew it was her

887
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,239
quiet eyes, her gentle words, and her understanding of human

888
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,840
weakness that had brought the truth to light. The September

889
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,760
evenings grewgle and quiet. The last roses in the gardens

890
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:03,440
of Rosehill as odd and krypton. The village had begun

891
00:42:03,679 --> 00:42:06,559
outwardly at least to settle once more into its castomary rhythm.

892
00:42:07,039 --> 00:42:09,360
The bakest Old placed his loaves upon the counter. At dawn,

893
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,360
the vick still walked the lanes with his gentle nod

894
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,159
of greeting, and the children still played in the fading

895
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:15,639
light upon the green. Yet to those with attentive ve

896
00:42:15,639 --> 00:42:18,280
as the tone of the village had changed. The laughter

897
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,119
was softer, the gossip more restrained, as though everyone carried

898
00:42:21,159 --> 00:42:23,280
within them the memory of how swiftly shadows might fall.

899
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,320
Miss Marple sat in her parlor, her knittings spread neatly

900
00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,559
across her lap. The fire burned low, casting a warm

901
00:42:29,599 --> 00:42:32,400
glow upon the familiar room. She had received that morning

902
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:34,679
a letter from her knees, full of cheerful chatter about

903
00:42:34,679 --> 00:42:37,840
London life. Miss Marple smiled as she read, but when

904
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:39,880
she laid it aside, her thoughts turned once more to

905
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,599
the events that had so shaken how little village. She

906
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:46,119
thought of missus Allison, whose health remained fragile, and whose dignity,

907
00:42:46,199 --> 00:42:48,480
though defended by the sympathy of her neighbors, could never

908
00:42:48,559 --> 00:42:51,840
be quite restored. She thought of Alice, the maid, still

909
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,400
working in quiet humility, yet carrying the scar of suspicion

910
00:42:54,519 --> 00:42:57,559
unjustly placed upon her. She thought of Colonel Bradshaw, whose

911
00:42:57,599 --> 00:43:00,239
bluster no longer rang with the same authority. And she

912
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,119
thought with sorrow of young mister Ellison, whose fear had

913
00:43:03,159 --> 00:43:05,360
driven him to enact that destroyed everything he had sought

914
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:09,440
to protect. Miss Marple sighed softly her needles, pausing. Oh,

915
00:43:09,679 --> 00:43:12,880
it is always the same, she murmured. One imagines murder

916
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,360
to be the work of villain's, cold blooded, cunning creatures

917
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,239
set apart from ordinary folk. Yet time and again it

918
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,639
proves otherwise. It is not monsters, but men and women,

919
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,960
much like yourselves, Those who loved too strongly, fear too greatly,

920
00:43:25,079 --> 00:43:27,760
or hey too bitterly, who commit the darkest deeds. She

921
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,079
poured herself a cup of tea, the steam curling gently

922
00:43:30,119 --> 00:43:32,960
in the lamplight. She reflected on how swiftly the village

923
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:35,159
had turned suspicion upon Alice, how ready they had been

924
00:43:35,199 --> 00:43:36,840
to believe the worst of one who was powerless to

925
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,880
defend herself. It was a reminder. Miss Marple thought of

926
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,400
how dangerous it is to judge upon appearances, and how

927
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,800
often the truth lies into quiet details ovoloked by most

928
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,159
The mental clock struck the ire outside the church, bell's

929
00:43:48,199 --> 00:43:51,199
answer with the calm, familiar chime. Miss Marble set down

930
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:54,480
her cup and resumed her knitting, the needles clicking softly, steadily,

931
00:43:54,559 --> 00:43:57,239
as if marking the passage of time itself. Her eyes

932
00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:59,679
trinkled faintly, for though the tragedy of mister Denham's death

933
00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:01,880
had wains heavily upon rose Hill, she knew that life,

934
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:05,360
in its stubborn fashion, would go on. Gardens would bloom again,

935
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,400
face would be held upon the green, and the gossip

936
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:10,599
of villagers would turn to new subjects. But always beneath

937
00:44:10,639 --> 00:44:13,840
the gentle surface there would remain secrets, quiet hidden waiting,

938
00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:16,480
and Miss Marple, with her sharp mind concealed behind mild

939
00:44:16,519 --> 00:44:18,719
manners and knitting needles, would beat her to see them.

940
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:21,800
Thus ends the tale of mister Denham's murder in rose Hill,

941
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,639
a reminder that evil rarely comes from strangers, but more

942
00:44:24,679 --> 00:44:27,159
often from the fears and frailties of those closest to us.

943
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,320
Miss Marple has once again shown that truth, though hidden,

944
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,920
will always rise to the surface. But this will not

945
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,639
be her last case. For wherever human natured, world's mystery

946
00:44:35,719 --> 00:44:39,400
and folly are never far behind, and that is the end.

947
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:41,719
Thank you for listening, and I will see you in

948
00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:42,239
the next one.