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it and the other's got a sunflower and they'll not take more than a pound. It's all so silly.'
    At intervals, Tuppence made other suggestions.
    'The Laurels,' she said. 'Silly name for a house, I think. I don't see why it's called The Laurels. It hasn't got any laurels. They could have called it The Plane Trees much better. Plane trees are very nice,' said Tuppence.
    'Before The Laurels it was called Long Scofield, so they told me,' said Tommy.
    'That name doesn't seem to mean anything either,' said Tuppence. 'What is a Scofield, and who lived in it then?'
    'I think it was the Waddingtons.'
    'One gets so mixed,' said Tuppence. 'Waddingtons and then the Joneses, the people who sold it to us. And before that the Blackmores? And once, I suppose, the Parkinsons. Lots of Parkinsons. I'm always running into more Parkinsons.'
    'What way do you mean?'
    'Well, I suppose it's that I'm always asking,' said Tuppence. 'I mean, if I could find out something about the Parkinsons, we could get on with our - well, with our problem.'
    'That's what one always seems to call everything nowadays. The problem of Mary Jordan, is that it?'
    'Well, it's not just that. There's the problem of the Parkinsons and the problem of Mary Jordan and there must be a lot of other problems too. Mary Jordan didn't die naturally, then the next thing the message said was, “It was one of us.” Now did that mean one of the Parkinson family or did it mean just someone who lived in the house? Say there were two to three Parkinsons and some older Parkinsons, and people with different names but who were aunts to the Parkinsons or nephews and nieces of the Parkinsons, and I suppose something like a housemaid and a parlour maid and a cook and perhaps a governess and perhaps - well, not an au pair girl, it would be too long ago for an au pair girl - but “one of us” must mean a householdful. Households were fuller then than they are now. Well, Mary Jordan could have been a housemaid or a parlour maid or even the cook. And why should someone want her to die, and not die naturally? I mean, somebody must have wanted her to die or else her death would have been natural, wouldn't it? - I'm going to another coffee morning the day after tomorrow,' said Tuppence.
    'You seem to be always going to coffee mornings.'
    'Well, it's a very good way of getting to know one's neighbours and the people who live in the same village. After all, it's not very big, this village. And people are always talking about their old aunts or people they knew. I shall try and start on Mrs Griffin, who was evidently a great character in the neighbourhood. I should say she ruled everyone with a rod of iron. You know. She bullied the vicar and she bullied the doctor and I think she bullied the district nurse and all the rest of it.'
    'Wouldn't the district nurse be helpful?'
    'I don't think so. She's dead. I mean, the one who would have been here in the Parkinsons' time is dead, and the one who is here now hasn't been here very long. No sort of interest in the place. I don't think she even knew a Parkinson.'
    'I wish,' said Tommy desperately, 'oh, how I wish that we could forget all the Parkinsons.'
    'You mean, then we shouldn't have a problem?'
    'Oh dear,' said Tommy. 'Problems again.'
    'It's Beatrice,' said Tuppence.
    'What's Beatrice?'
    'Who introduced problems. Really, it's Elizabeth. The cleaning help we had before Beatrice! She was always coming to me and saying, “Oh madam, could I speak to you a minute? You see, I've got a problem,” and then Beatrice began coming on Thursdays and she must have caught it, I suppose. So she has problems too. It's just a way of saying something - but you always call it a problem.'
    'All right,' said Tommy. 'We'll admit that's so. You've got a problem - I've got a problem - We've both got problems.'
    He sighed, and departed.
    Tuppence came down the stairs slowly, shaking her head. Hannibal came up to her hopefully, wagging his tail and wriggling in hopes of favours