The Nine Tailors (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries) by Dorothy L. Sayers

Author:Dorothy L. Sayers
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Recent July 2014, Crime
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2009-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Lord Peter’s misgivings about the letter were duly confirmed. He honourably submitted it, unopened, to Superintendent Blundell, as soon as the latter returned from attendance at the Quarter Sessions where he had been engaged all day. The Superintendent was alarmed by Wimsey’s unorthodox raid on the post office, but pleased by his subsequent discretion, and readily allowed him full credit for zeal and intelligence. Together they opened the envelope. The letter, which bore no address, was written on thin paper of the same poor quality as the envelope, and began:

‘Mon cher mari—’

‘Hey!’ said Mr Blundell. ‘What’s that mean? I’m not much of a French scholar, but doesn’t mari mean husband?’

‘Yes. My dear husband, it begins.’

‘I never knew that Cranton – dash it!’ exclaimed Mr Blundell. ‘Where does Cranton come into this? I never heard of his having any wife at all, let alone a French one.’

‘We don’t know that Cranton comes into it at all. He came to St Paul and asked for a Mr Paul Taylor. This, presumably, is addressed to the Paul Taylor he asked for.’

‘But they said Paul Taylor was a bell.’

‘Tailor Paul is a bell, but Paul Taylor may be a person.’

‘Who is he, then?’

‘God knows. Somebody with a wife in France.’

‘And, the other chap, Batty Something – is he a person?’

‘No, he’s a bell. But he may be a person, too.’

‘They can’t both be persons,’ said Mr Blundell, ‘it’s not reasonable. And where is this Paul Taylor, anyhow?’

‘Perhaps he was the corpse.’

‘Then where’s Cranton? They can’t,’ added the Superintendent, ‘both be the corpse. That’s not reasonable, either.’

‘Possibly Cranton gave one name to Wilderspin and another to his correspondent.’

‘Then what did he mean by asking for Paul Taylor at Fenchurch St Paul?’

‘Perhaps that was the bell, after all.’

‘See here,’ said Mr Blundell, ‘it doesn’t seem reasonable to me. This Paul Taylor or Tailor Paul can’t be both a bell and a person. At least, not both at once. It sounds kind of, well, batty to me.’

‘Why bring Batty into it? Batty is a bell. Tailor Paul is a bell. Paul Taylor is a person, because he gets a letter. You can’t send letters to a bell. If you did you’d be batty. Oh, bother!’

‘Well, I don’t understand it,’ said Mr Blundell. ‘Stephen Driver, he’s a person, too. You don’t say he’s a bell, do you? What I want to know is, which of ’em all is Cranton. If he’s been and fixed himself up with a wife in France between this and last September – I mean, between this and January – no, I mean between September and January – I mean – here, dash it all, my lord, let’s read the blooming letter. You might read it out in English, would you? My French is a bit off, these days.’

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