to town arriving in time to get to the Savoy. There is one at four forty gets up to Paddington at nine ten.”
“And then?” said Tommy.
“And then,” said Tuppence, frowning, “it is rather more difficult. There is a midnight train from Paddington down again but she could hardly take that, that would be too early.”
“A fast car,” suggested Tommy.
“H’m,” said Tuppence. “It is just on two hundred miles.”
“Australians, I have always been told, drive very recklessly.”
“Oh, I suppose it could be done,” said Tuppence, “she would arrive there about seven.”
“Are you supposing her to have nipped into her bed at the Castle Hotel without being seen? Or arriving there explaining that she had been out all night and could she have her bill, please?”
“Tommy,” said Tuppence. “We are idiots. She needn’t have gone back to Torquay at all. She has only got to get a friend to go to the Hotel there and collect her luggage and pay her bill. Then you get the receipted bill with the proper date on it.”
“I think on the whole we have worked out a very sound hypothesis,” said Tommy. “The next thing to do is to catch the twelve o’clock train to Torquay tomorrow and verify our brilliant conclusions.”
Armed with a portfolio of photographs, Tommy and Tuppence duly established themselves in a first class carriage the following morning, and booked seats for the second lunch.