She used to be my dresser, and she is devoted to me. She came to me when she was only a girl, and she’s about sixty now. Then there are two women who come in daily – a girl called Joan Cuttle, a silly irritating creature, but you can’t imagine her wanting to poison anyone – and a middle-aged widow whose husband used to be an under gardener. Her name, if you want it, is Pratt. Outside, there’s a gardener called Robertson, and a young man under him, Sam Bolton. He looks after the car and does odd jobs.’

Miss Silver wrote down the names in the blue exercise-book whilst Adriana fell into a frowning silence. In the end she said,

‘Well, that’s all the staff, and I can’t think of a single reason why any of them should want me out of the way.’

Miss Silver coughed.

‘No legacies?’

‘Well, of course! What do you take me for? Meeson’s been with me for forty years, and the Simmons for twenty.’

‘Are they aware that you have provided for them?’

‘They would think very badly of me if I hadn’t.’

‘Miss Ford, I must ask you to be exact. Do they actually know that you have provided for them?’

‘Of course they do!’

‘And to a considerable extent?’

‘I don’t do things by halves!’

‘Any other legacies to the staff?’

‘Oh, no. At least – that is – five pounds for every year of service. A hundred would cover the lot.’

Miss Silver drew a line across the page.

‘We have now disposed of the staff. May I ask who else resides at Ford House?’

Adriana’s fingers traced the outline of a carved acanthus leaf.

‘My cousin Geoffrey Ford and his wife Edna. He is in his late forties. His means are not what he would like them to be, and the life of a country gentleman suits him. He began by coming for visits, which have prolonged themselves into a more or less permanent stay. He is agreeable company, and I like to have a man about the house. His wife is one of those tiresome well-meaning women. She interferes with the servants and calls it doing the housekeeping. She would like to keep everything locked up and dole it out in daily doses. And she is ridiculously jealous of Geoffrey.’