“Yes, Monsieur, I clean Milady’s bath.”
“Well, perhaps you’ll help me with some photography instead. I have a special kind of camera here, and I am photographing the interiors of all the rooms in this house.”
He was interrupted by the communicating door to the bedroom banging suddenly behind him. Elise jumped at the sound.
“What did that?”
“It must have been the wind,” said Tuppence.
“We will come into the other room,” said Tommy.
Elise went to open the door for them, but the door knob rattled aimlessly.
“What’s the matter?” said Tommy sharply.
“Ah, Monsieur, but someone must have locked it on the other side.” She caught up a towel and tried again. But this time the door handle turned easily enough, and the door swung open.
“ Voilà ce qui est curieux. It must have stuck,” said Elise.
There was no one in the bedroom.
Tommy fetched his apparatus. Tuppence and Elise worked under his orders. But again and again his glance went back to the communicating door.
“I wonder,” he said between his teeth. “I wonder why that door stuck?”
He examined it minutely, shutting and opening it. It fitted perfectly.