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but she’d only had the little table light on in the drawing-room. So he groped his way forward, talking all the time, calling Stella, his wife. As he went, he tripped over something and nearly fell. He knelt down and felt with his hands, up and down her body. He realised that his hands were covered in blood. He doesn’t remember much after that, but there’s a senior master living a hundred yards up the road – Mr D’Arcy his name is, lives with his sister – and he heard him screaming on the road. D’Arcy went out to him. Rode had blood all over his hands and face and seemed to be out of his mind. D’Arcy rang the police and I got there at about one o’clock that morning. I’ve seen some nasty things in my time, but this is the worst. Blood everywhere. Whoever killed her must have been covered in it. There’s an outside tap against the conservatory wall. The tap had been turned on, probably by the murderer to rinse his hands. The boffins have found traces of blood in the snow underneath it. The tap was lagged recently by Rode, I gather …’
    ‘And fingerprints?’ Smiley asked. ‘What about them?’
    ‘Mr Rode’s were everywhere. On the floor, the walls and windows, on the body itself. But there were other prints; smudges of blood, little more, made with a gloved hand probably.’
    ‘And they were the murderer’s?’
    ‘They had been made before Rode made his. In some cases Rode’s prints were partly superimposed on the glove-prints.’
    Smiley was silent for a moment.
    ‘These examination papers he went back for. Were they as important as all that?’
    ‘Yes. I gather they were. Up to a point anyway. The marks had to be handed in to Mr D’Arcy by midday on Friday.’
    ‘But why did he take them to Fielding’s in the first place?’
    ‘He didn’t. He’d been invigilating exams all afternoon and the papers were handed in to him at six o’clock. He put them in his little case and had them taken to Fielding’s by a boy – head boy in Mr Fielding’s house, name of Perkins. Rode was on Chapel Duty this week, so he didn’t have time to return home before dinner.’
    ‘Where did he change then?’
    ‘In the Tutors’ Robing Room, next to the Common Room. There are facilities there, mainly for games tutors who live some distance from Carne.’
    ‘The boy who brought this case to Fielding’s house – who was he?’
    ‘I can’t tell you much more than I’ve said. His name is Perkins; he’s Head of Mr Fielding’s house. Fielding has spoken to him and confirmed Rode’s statement … House tutors are very possessive about their boys, you know … don’t like them to be spoken to by rough policemen.’ Rigby seemed to be slightly upset.
    ‘I see,’ Smiley said at last, helplessly, and then: ‘But how do you explain the letter?’
    ‘It isn’t only the letter we’ve got to explain.’
    Smiley looked at him sharply.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean,’ said Rigby slowly, ‘that Mrs Rode did several pretty queer things in the last few weeks.’

4 Town and Gown
    ‘Mrs Rode was Chapel, of course,’ Rigby continued, ‘and we’ve quite a community in Carne. Truth to tell,’ he added with a slow smile, ‘my wife belongs to it.
    ‘A couple of weeks ago our Minister called round to see me. It was in the evening, about half past six, I suppose. I was just thinking of going home, see. He walked in here and sat himself down where you’re sitting now. He’s a big fellow, the Minister, a fine man; comes from up North, where Mrs Rode came from. Cardew, his name is.’
    ‘The Mr Cardew in the letter?’
    ‘That’s him. He knew all about Mrs Rode’s family before the Rodes ever came here. Glaston’s quite a name up North, and Mr Cardew was very pleased when he heard that Stella Rode was Mr Glaston’s daughter; very pleased indeed. Mrs Rode came to the Tabernacle regular as clockwork, you can imagine, and they like to see that round here. My wife was pleased as Punch, I can tell you. It