The Old English Peep Show Read Online Free PDF Page A

out to be least trouble in the end,” said Pibble. “But you’re stuck with me now, so there’s no point in worrying about it.”
    â€œSound fellow,” said the General. “What would you like to do first?”
    â€œPerhaps Mr. Singleton could tell me about finding the body; then I could ask any questions that occurred to me, and then we could look at the place where he died. I must see the body, and talk to the doctor who examined it—I suppose it’s in Southampton. I ought also to talk to any of the local police who have already been involved; it would be madness, from your point of view, if I didn’t.”
    â€œQuite right,” said the General, springing from his chair. He picked an internal telephone off the desk and pressed one of the dozen buttons that lined its base.
    â€œJudith? Arrange to get Dr. Kirtle out here at once, please. Ask him if he’d be kind enough to pick up Sergeant Maxwell on his way. Then ring up the police station and see that you talk to Roberts, not Flagstaff. Ask him to arrange for Maxwell to be free in ten minutes’ time for about an hour, and say that Dr. Kirtle will pick him up. Got all that? Good lass.”
    â€œThe body’s still here,” said Mr. Singleton. “We have a spare cold-storage room which we hardly use at this time of year, with the visitors tailing off; to be frank, they have nothing as suitable in town, and Southampton’s a long way for you to drive over to. As for what happened, I never go to bed until three or four in the morning, and I have excellent hearing. There was a curious thud at about two, followed by a brief drumming, which I thought came from Uncle Dick’s floor. I do not normally go up there, but I felt it was my duty to investigate. The light was on in Deakin’s pantry, and the door was open. He was hanging by a rope from a pipe across the ceiling; his stool was lying on the floor; he was still swinging. I cut the rope with one of his chisels and lowered him to the floor to administer the kiss of life, a technique in which I have taken instruction. It was not efficacious. Indeed, Dr. Kirtle told me afterward that it could not have been, as Deakin had broken his neck.”
    â€œHanged himself bloody neatly,” said the General approvingly. “Deakin was always a thoroughly seamanlike fellow.”
    â€œDidn’t Sir Richard hear any of this?” said Pibble.
    â€œMy brother’s a bit deaf,” said the General. “Sailors never learn; they will go standing too near those bloody great guns they affect. He’s very cut up about it, particularly about not hearing, as a matter of fact. That’s one reason why he’s left it to us to cope with you.”
    â€œAnd the other reason?” said Pibble.
    â€œHe’s an author,” said the General, with his silly giggle, “and authors mustn’t be bothered.”
    Mr. Singleton sighed, the despairing exhalation of the puritan confronted with frivolity.
    â€œLet me be honest with you,” he said. “The Claverings don’t give a damn for anybody. I have reasoned with them, but they still insist on behaving with all the social irresponsibility of their grandparents.”
    The General leaned back in his chair, beaming as at a compliment.
    â€œAt the moment,” said Mr. Singleton, “Uncle Dick is absorbed in writing a book about lions. We have some here, as you may be aware—indeed we make quite a feature of them. Uncle Dick has not interested himself much in the business side of the Herryngs enterprise, but a year ago he began to study the lions very seriously, very seriously indeed.”
    â€œHe’s had papers published in zoological journals,” said the General with motherly pride. “He’s got a theory that in a couple of generations there won’t be any wild animals left; they’ll all have to be kept in conditions like ours because pressure of