Major characters:
• Mark Ablett (40), owner of Red House, unmarried, mustasch and beard, independently wealthy, and his
father was a parson
• Bill Beverley, friend of Mark and Antony, guest at Red House
• Antony Gillingham, friend of Bill and guest at “The George” until after the murder, then a guest at the Red House until the inquest
• Mrs. Stevens, housekeeper and aunt to Audrey, lives at Red House
• Audrey Stevens, parlor maid, lives at Red House
• Elsie Wood, housemaid (also eferred to as second parlor maid)
• Matthew Cayley (28), cousin of Mark Ablet, lives in room on first floor of Red House (others live upstairs)
• Robert Ablett, brother of Mark, clean shaven. Arrived from Australia (he was there for 15 years) the day he was killed.
• Miss Betty Calladine (18), guest at Red House
• Mrs. John Calladine, mother of Betty and driver of the car (owned by Mark?), guest at Red House
• Major Rumbold, retired, guest at Red House
• Miss Ruth Norris, actress, guest at Red House
• Inspector Birch, policeman from Middleston
• Angela Norbury, a young (single) lady living nearby, possibly a romantic interest of Cayley
• Mrs Norbury, owner of Jallands (a neighboring cottage) and Angela’s mother
• the Coroner, presumably from Middleston
Minor characters:
• Joe Turner, boyfriend of Audrey (mentioned only)
• landlord and landlady of The George
• police associates of Inspector Birch
• train station employees
• inquest witnesses: Andrew Amos (lives in the “inner lodge” of the Red House estate), Parsons (a gardener who lives in the “outer lodge” of the Red House estate), John Borden (a local man who happened to be on the train station platform when someone who might have been Mark was seen boarding a train)
• inquest jury (no names but listening to evidence collected at the inquest)
Locations:
• Red House, interior (kitchen, dining room, library and underground tunnel, bedrooms, housekeeper’s room, suite of 3 rooms: office and Cayley’s room and bathroom) and exterior (the Temple, bowling green and lake/pond, all on the estate)
• Waldheim (the closest town), in particular The George inn
• Stanton train station (Robert arrives there from Australia)
• golf course
• police station in Middleston
• Jallands, a neighboring country cottage belonging to a widow Mrs Norbury (it is 600 yards from the nearest road, with no driveway)
• The Lamb, an inn/meeting house/theater in Stanton (where the inquest takes place)
(click to enlarge)
The Red House is about a half-mile from the nearest town of Waldheim (which has no police station) and about 3 miles from the next largest town of Stanton (which has no police station either). The nearest police station is in Middleston, about twenty miles away.
The timeline is not linear. Chapter 1 begins after breakfast. Chapter 2 covers who was at breakfast.
Chapter 1. Mrs. Stevens is Frightened.
Location(s): The Red House, housekeeper’s room
Characters: Mrs. Stevens, Audrey Stevens, Elsie, Robert Ablett, Matthew Cayley
Summary: Audrey and her aunt talk about the arrival of Mark Ablett’s brother, Robert Ablett. Robert arrives and waits for Mark in Mark’s home office. While Audrey is searching for Mark, a gunshot is heard from within the house. Audrey was out of the house at the time. The chapter ends with someone banging on the front door.
Chapter 2. Mr. Gillingham Gets Out at the Wrong Station
Location(s): The Red House, kitchen/dining room
Characters: Major Rumbold, Mrs Calladine, Betty Calladine, Bill Beverley, Ruth Norris, Antony Gillingham, landlord and landlady of The George, Matthew Cayley
Summary: Background on Mark and Cayley. Introduction to Mark’s guests (Major Rumbold, Mrs Calladine, Betty Calladine, Bill Beverley, Ruth Norris). Mark, Cayley and the guests have breakfast. After that, except for Mrs Calladine, the guests play golf at the golf course (driven to by Mrs Calladine, who eats lunch with friends instead). Mark and Cayley stay at the Red House. Antony arrives while they are out to visit with friend Bill. Chapter 2 ends at the same time that chapter 1 ends: with banging on the front door. This time we learn it is Cayley who is doing that.
Chapter 3. Two Men and a Body
Location(s): The Red House, exterior, office and Cayley’s room.
Characters: Antony Gillingham, Matthew Cayley
Summary: We get a good read on the geometry of Red House (see the diagram on page 2). Cayley and Antony break into the office via the rear window. They discover Robert shot between the eyes, dead. Antony agrees to stay at the Red House during the police investigation. Antony sees the window to Cayley’s room open and suggests to Cayley that the killer might have escaped out the window into the back bushes and gardens.
Chapter 4. The Brother from Australia
Location(s): Golf course, tea at golf course (in a club house?), car (back to the Red House), Red House (various), exterior
Characters: Major Rumbold, Mrs Calladine, Betty Calladine, Bill Beverley, Ruth Norris, Antony Gillingham, Inspector Birch
Summary: The guests finish their golf match, have tea at the golf course, and drive back to Red House in Mrs Calladine’s car. When they arrive, Antony explains the situation. Mrs Calladine, her daughter Betty, and Ruth Norris decide to leave for London. The Inspector does over the clues with Antony and Cayley.
Chapter 5. Mr. Gillingham Chooses a New Profession
Location(s): Red House
Characters: Antony Gillingham, Inspector Birch, Matthew Cayley, Elsie, Audrey, Mrs. Stevens,
Summary: Inspector interviews Cayley, Audrey, Elsie. Elsie told him she overheard Mark say to Robert 'It's my turn now. You wait.' Facts of the case so far: Robert had been shown into the office (witness Audrey); Mark had gone in to Robert (witness Cayley); Mark and Robert had been heard talking (witness Elsie); there was a shot (witness everybody); the office had been entered and Robert's body had been found (witness Cayley and Gillingham). And Mark was missing.
Chapter 6. Outside Or Inside?
Location(s): Red House exterior (front garden), car, at the end of the scene Antony and Bill start along path towards The George in Waldheim
Characters: Major Rumbold, Mrs Calladine, Betty Calladine, Ruth Norris, Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, Matthew Cayley,
Summary: Every one of the guests except for Bill leaves. Antony and Bill decide to walk to The George, pay Antony’s bill and get his things.
Chapter 7. Portrait of a Gentleman
Location(s): Red House exterior from front garden of house along path towards The George in Waldheim
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: Antony and Bill discuss the character of Mark (somewhat controlling, set in his ways) and of Cayley (loner but hard working). For example, Mark believed in ghosts and thought the house was haunted. One night, for fun, guests devised a ghost character played by Ruth Norris who appeared in costume on the bowling green. This upset Mark so much he left and went to his room, calling for Cayley. Bill was there and assumed Cayley calmed him down. This clue plays a role in chapter 9. Antony suspects Cayley is complicit in the murder somehow.
Chapter 8. "Do You Follow Me, Watson?"
Location(s): Red House interior (Antony’s bedroom upstairs, hall downstairs) and exterior (path to “bowling green” still on the estate)
Characters: Matthew Cayley, Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: Antony and Bill talk in Antony’s bedroom, while Antony gets dressed for dinner, then go down to the hall and smoke a cigar. They talk to Cayley and they discuss what Elsie told the Inspector. Cayley thinks it was accidental. Cayley leaves then Antony and Bill walk from the Red House to the “bowling green” (still on the estate) to talk privately. Bill shows he can imitate Mark’s rather monotonous, high-pitched voice. Antony asks Bill to be Watson to his Sherlock. They discuss the case. In particular, they notice each room has a lockable door with a skeleton key on a hook hanging either inside or outside the room, depending on the room.
Chapter 9. Possibilities of a Croquet Set
Location(s): Red House exterior, “bowling green”
Characters: Matthew Cayley, Bill Beverley Antony Gillingham
Summary: Antony and Bill continue to discuss the case. Antony suspects that the story of the ghost character played by Ruth Norris appeared on the bowling green (which upset Mark) lends evidence that there is a secret (very long) tunnel from the house to the bowling green. They search the shed where the croquet balls were kept (“bowling” refers to lawn bowling, related to croquet). While there, Antony hears someone coming, so they sit on a nearby bench and Bill talks as if Antony is there while Antony sneaks around looking for the spy. He sees Cayley’s head pop out of a box where croquet balls are stored. Antony goes back to Bill, they decide to play a game of bowling and then quit. As they walk back to the Red House (it’s bedtime), they run into Cayley. They innocently discuss things, with no indication from Cayley that he was spying on them and no indiction from Antony or Bill that they knew it. Antony and Bill realize that the reason Miss Norris was hurried away (by Cayley) because she knew about the secret passage.
Chapter 10. Mr. Gillingham Talks Nonsense
Location(s): Red House interior (dining room, hall, Antony’s room) and exterior (Cayley outside the dining room window, Antony and Bill walk to the park and lake).
Characters: Matthew Cayley, Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, Elsie
Summary: Antony comes down and talks to Cayley. Cayley tells him the police plan to drag the lake, in case the gun was dumped there or Mark drowned. Cayley leaves and Bill joins Antony. Bill and Antony have breakfast and discuss the case in guarded terms, as Cayley is smoking outside the dining room window. Antony goes up to his bedroom and meets the parlor maid Elsie there. He tells her the inquest will be the next day. Antony then goes to the hall and meets Bill again. They agree to walk in the park (in the Red House estate), but detour to the lake. They surmise Mark did not drown himself. They surmised Cayley told Ruth Norris of the tunnel, as he wanted her to like him. The chapter ends with the question: Where does the secret passage begin?
Chapter 11. The Reverend Theodore Ussher
Location(s): Red House exterior (lake) and interior (library) Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: At the lake, Antony and Bill decide to search the library for the beginning of the tunnel. They walk back and , making sure Cayley is not nearby, enter the library. It’s full of books and is well-organized by subject. Antony comes across a shelf of sermons (remember Mark’s father was a parson). When he sees 'The Narrow Way, being Sermons by the Rev. Theodore Ussher' he gets an inspiration. He takes out the book and tries pressing the back of the bookshelf in various places. Eventually, the shelf swings open, revealing the tunnel entrance. They close it back, agreeing to search it later in the afternoon or that night when Cayley is away.
Chapter 12. A Shadow on the Wall
Location(s): Police station in Middleston, Red House exterior (lake/pond), Red House interior (office and Cayley’s room)
Characters: Inspector Birch and other police associates, Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: Inspector Birch calls London police about the case, and the train station in Stanton with a description of Mark Ablett. In the afternoon, the Inspector and his associates go to the lake to drag it for a body or the gun. Antony and Bill talk with the Inspector at the lake. The Inspector does not need them there. (No mention is made of Cayley being at the lake in this chapter. However, it appears that is is there after all – see chapter 14.) So Bill and Antony go back to the Red House. Antony mentions the idea that Cayley recommended dragging the lake so might be planning on planting something there after the police are done with it. At 3pm, 24 hours after Antony and Cayley discovered the body, Antony and Bill enter the office. As Antony recreates the events, he remembers Cayley left to get “water”. He returned with a sponge and a handkerchief. Antony remembers a shadow he saw at one point that does not appear unless Cayley quietly shut his room (just beside the office) while getting the sponge and handkerchief. Why would he quietly shut his room just to “get water”?
Chapter 13. The Open Window
Location(s): Red House interior (office and Cayley’s room), Red House exterior (path to lake)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: Antony and Bill talk about what Cayley did which needed him to quietly shut his room (just beside the office) while getting the sponge and handkerchief. Bill discovers a collar at the bottom of the trash basket in the office. Bill opens the window to Cayley’s room to get some air. At that, Antony thinks it must have been Cayley wanted the door shut so he could quietly open the window. Then they agree to search the passage but first they must be sure Cayley is at the lake. Bill sneaks off to the lake to spy on the Inspector and hope to catch and eye of Cayley, then rush back. Antony will wait for Bill in the library. Bill leaves for the lake.
Chapter 14. Mr. Beverley Qualifies for the Stage
Location(s): Red House exterior (path to lake, car in driveway) and interior (library, hall)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, (in the distance) Inspector Birch, Matthew Cayley
Summary: Bill returns from the lake to meet Antony in the library to tell him Cayley is indeed with the Inspector at the lake, as expected. They open the shelf door to the tunnel. Antony decides to go in to see if it’s safe. As soon as he does, Bill hears Cayley outside. He has just enough time to close the door, straighten the sermon shelf, move over to another shelf and make up an excuse for being in the library (he’s trying to verify a quotation on a bet with Antony), when Cayley opens the door. Cayley says that nothing was found at the lake so far but mud. Cayley stays to write a letter (before he takes the car to Stanton) so Bill tries tapping a Morse code message to Antony (annoying Cayley in the process, as he thinks it is merely nervous tapping). It seems to work. Bill tells Cayley he’s waiting for Antony as they plan to walk into town. Cayley finishes his letter and Antony doesn’t open the tunnel door while Cayley is there. Cayley gets in the car. Antony walks up to them, apologizing to Bill for being late. Cayley asks them to deliver his letter to Jallands in town and then he leaves in the car. Antony and Bill decide to deliver the letter instead of investigating the tunnel. Antony tells Bill that he took the length or the tunnel to the bowling green, then ran back. In the tunnel, he discovered in the passage a large locked cupboard.
Chapter 15. Mrs. Norbury Confides in Dear Mr. Gillingham
Location(s): Path from the Red House to Jallands, Jallands interiors (living room)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, Matthew Cayley (in the car in the distance), Angela Norbury, Mrs Norbury (her mother)
Summary: Antony and Bill walk to Jallands to the letter. They see Cayley in the car in the distance returning to the Red House. Antony surmises that Cayley just wants to get back into the tunnel and wrote the letter to make sure they were gone from the house while he did. They meet (beautiful) Angela and her mother. Bill and Antony discover that the mother nearly arranged the engagement between Angela and Mark (before he disappeared, that is). They assumed it was Cayley that was interested in Angela. In fact, Angela was not interested in Mark (nor Cayley, except as a friend) but when she turned to Cayley for support, he apparently fell in love with her. Now she has his letter, which she dreads opening. They learn from Mrs Norbury that Mark went to Middleston the day before yesterday, But why? Bill and Antony leave Jallands, and head back to the Red House.
Chapter 16. Getting Ready for the Night
Location(s): Red House exterior (path from Jallands to the lake then to the house), Red House interior (hall, bedrooms)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, Matthew Cayley
Summary: Antony meditates on how and why Cayley may have killed Robert. If Bill could imitate Mark’s voice so successfully, why not Cayley? This would explain the voice Elsie heard the day of the murder. They stop at the lake and plan their night. Cayley will likely check on them in their bedroom before leaving to take the tunnel to throw Mark’s body (they presume) in the lake. They plan to wait for his visit and for him to get into the tunnel before running to the lake to watch Cayley dump the body. They discuss using two pine trees, one for each of them, behind them and a fence on the far side of the lake to determine the position Cayley’s boat is when he dumps the body in the lake. (They need two lines to intersect in order to determine the point where the boat is located.) They decide not to call the police but to dive for the dumped body themselves. They walked back to the house together. Cayley was in the hall as they came in. They said hellos then went upstairs to dress for dinner. They dressed, discussed strategies more, then went downstairs together for dinner.
Chapter 17. Mr. Beverley Takes the Water
Location(s): Red House interior (dining room, billiard room, hall, bedrooms), Red House exterior (path around house)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham, Matthew Cayley
Summary: They have dinner, take a stroll with Cayley around the house, play billiards with Cayley, have drinks with Cayley in the hall, then go to bed. They wait for Cayley to check on them (he does) then Bill dresses and goes to Antony’s room (in the dark). They leave then house via Antony’s 2nd floor bedroom window and head off for the lake. Antony points out each other’s tree to mark the boat from. After waiting for some time, Cayley arrives at the boat with a paper bag in his hand. He puts the bag in the boat with him, pushes off, rows into the middle of the lake, dumps the bag into the lake, then rows back and ties up the boat at the shore. Cayley leaves. Antony tells Bill to wait until he returns. Antony plans to follow Cayley back to the house, check everything’s okay, then return. He does. When he gets back to Bill, they do the dive. Bill dove 3 or 4 times before finding it, but gets the bag back into the boat. In the bag: (a) all of the clothes Mark wore when Robert died (including underwear but not the collar), (b) stones (for weight), (c) letters, (d) two keys including the office key and the key of the passage cupboard (see chapter 14). On the way back to the house, they unlocked the cupboard in the tunnel. It was empty.
Chapter 18. Guess-work
Location(s): Red House interior (bedrooms)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: The inquest is today at 3pm. After breakfast, Antony gets packed to be ready to go to The George after the inquest. They tell Cayley that Bill is leaving for London after the inquest and Antony is leaving for The George. In fact, Bill will go with Antony to The George. Then Bill and Antony goes to the park to talk by themselves. They have this timeline: Monday Robert's unpleasant letter came in the morning (saysing Robert would arrive the next day around 3pm) then Mark told Mrs. Norbury about Robert (the black sheep of the family), on Tuesday Mark tells his guests he got his brother's letter that morning, Robert arrived later that day, was killed about the time Antony arrived. They have the puzzle of the missing collar in the bag of clothes (see chapter 13). Also, the puzzle of why hide clothes if there is a body to hide? They surmise that Mark is alive and that Cayley helped him escape by helping disguise him with a change of clothes and hiding the clothes he wore.
Chapter 19. The Inquest
Location(s): The Lamb, an inn located in Stanton
Characters: All major characters but Mark and Robert Ablett, as well as Andrew Amos, Parsons, John Borden
Summary: The Coroner asks everyone questions about Mark and Robert. The chapter only covers interviews with Bill, Andrew Amos, Parsons, Audrey Stevens, Elsie, Cayley, Antony, Inspector Birch, and John Borden. The Coroner sums up and turns it over to the jury. They deliberate and announced that the deceased had died as the result of a bullet-wound, and that the bullet had been fired by his brother Mark Ablett. The chapter ends with Andrew Amos and Parsons going out of the room together, with Antony between them.
Chapter 20. Mr. Beverley is Tactful
Location(s): The Lamb Inn in Stanton exterior, walking along the road from the Lamb Inn to Waldheim, The George interior (dining room); implicit location: Plough and Horses Inn (pub/dining room) in Stanton
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham; implicit character: innkeeper of the Plough and Horses Inn
Summary: Antony tells Bill that Amos and Parsons are old friends of his (in the previous chapter he indicates he doesn’t know who they are, so perhaps this is a joke). Bill and Antony discuss a poster for a local play that Mark, Cayley and Bill acted in last December. Antony asks if they share the same dentist. Bill says yes, Cartwright, on Wimpole Street. Antony asks: was Mark fond of swimming? Bill says no. Antony asks Bill to return to Stanton and go to the other inn there, the one closest to the train station, the Plough and Horses Inn. To drink a few beers and ask if a stranger stayed there on Monday night. They agree to meet again for dinner at The George at 8pm. Bill leaves. Antony walks another 20 yards, takes a lane off to the left and stops at a gate on the right side of the lane. Time jumps to 8pm when they meet for dinner. Bill tells Antony the innkeeper told of a woman who stayed Monday night, and no one else. She had her own car and drover herself. Antony announces that Robert was not killed by Mark or Cayley, but will give other details tomorrow. They finished eating and went to bed. The morning there was a letter for Antony from Cayley.
Chapter 21. Cayley's Apology
Location(s): The George interior (dining room)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham; implicitly Matthew Cayley
Summary: This whole chapter is a letter from Cayley to Antony, read over breakfast by Bill (eating with Antony at The George). The letter mentions a letter Antony wrote to Cayley, so this is a response. Cayley confesses to killing Mark (who pretended he was Robert to trick the guests, especially Ruth Norris who he was mad with) over Mark’s mistreatment of Cayley’s brother and over Cayley’s jealously regarding Mark’s relationship with Angela Norbury. Other than that, he outlines events as Antony already knows.
Chapter 22. Mr. Beverley Moves On
Location(s): The George interior (dining room)
Characters: Bill Beverley, Antony Gillingham
Summary: Antony tells Bill (they are still eating breakfast at The George) that he needed the dentist Mr. Cartwright of Wimpole Street to identify the teeth of Robert Ablett as those of Mark. Antony wrote a letter to Cayley telling him Antony was telegraphing to Cartwright to identify the body as that of Mark. Cayley knew the truth would come out then. Antony explains which clues lead him to the solution. The clothes were an important clue since (Antony reasoned) they were important for Cayley. The collar had to be taken off by Mark since otherwise Cayley would have included them in those he dumped. Antony explains more clues (but not why he stopped at the gate on the walk back from the inquest). Bill says to Antony about Cayley: "He's a clever devil. If you hadn't turned up just when you did, he would never have been found out." They wonder if Cayley has committed suicide as a result of being caught.
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