By The Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie

Beresford.'
    'How do you do?' said Tuppence.
    Amos Perry was a tall, shambling-looking man. He was bigger and more powerful than Tuppence had realized.
    Although he had a shambling gait and walked slowly, he was a big man of muscular build. He said, 'Pleased to meet you, Mrs Beresford.'
    His voice was pleasant and he smiled, but Tuppence wondered for a brief moment whether he was really what she would have called 'all there'. There was a kind of wondering simplicity about the look in his eyes and she wondered, too, whether Mrs Perry had wanted a quiet place to live in because of some mental disability on the part of her husband.
    'Ever so fond of the garden, he is,' said Mrs Perry.
    At his entrance the conversation dimmed down. Mrs Perry did most of the talking but her personality seemed to have changed. She talked with rather more nervousness and with particular attention to her husband. Encouraging him, Tuppence thought, rather in a way that a mother might prompt a shy boy to talk, to display the best of himself before a visitor, and to be a little nervous that he might be inadequate. When she'd finished her tea, Tuppence got up. She said, 'I must be going. Thank you, Mrs Perry, very much for your hospitality.'
    'You'll see the garden before you go.' Mr Perry rose. 'Come on, I'll show you.'
    She went with him outdoors and he took her down to the corner beyond where he had been digging.
    'Nice, them flowers, aren't they?' he said. 'Got some old-fashioned roses here. See this one, striped red and white.'
    '“Commandant Beaurepaire”,' said Tuppence.
    'Us calls it “York and Lancaster” here,' said Perry. 'Wars of the Roses. Smells sweet, don't it?'
    'Smells lovely.'
    'Better than them new-fashioned Hybrid Teas.'
    In a way the garden was rather pathetic. The weeds were imperfectly controlled, but the flowers themselves were carefully tied up in an amateurish fashion.
    'Bright colours,' said Mr Perry. 'I like bright colours. We often get folk to see our garden,' he said. 'Glad you came.'
    'Thank you very much,' said Tuppence. 'I think your garden and your house are very nice indeed.'
    'You ought to see t'other side of it.'
    'Is it to let or to be sold? Your wife says there's nobody living there now.'
    'We don't know. We've not seen anyone and there's no board up and nobody's ever come to see over it.'
    'It would be a nice house, I think, to live in.'
    'You wanting a house?'
    'Yes,' said Tuppence, making up her mind quickly. 'Yes, as a matter of fact, we are looking round for some small place in the country, for when my husband retires. That'll be next year probably, but we like to look about in plenty of time.'
    'It's quiet here if you like quiet.'
    'I suppose,' said Tuppence, 'I could ask the local house agents. Is that how you got your house?'
    'Saw an advertisement first we did in the paper. Then we went to the house agents, yes.'
    'Where was that, in Sutton Chancellor? That's your village, isn't it?'
    'Sutton Chancellor? No. Agents' place is in Market Basing. Russell & Thompson, that's the name. You could go to them and ask.'
    'Yes,' said Tuppence, 'so I could. How far is Market Basing from here?'
    'It's two miles to Sutton Chancellor and it's seven miles to Market Basing from there. There's a proper road from Sutton Chancellor, but it's all lanes hereabouts.'
    'I see,' said Tuppence. 'Well, goodbye, Mr Perry, and thank you very much for showing me your garden.'
    'Wait a bit.' He stopped, cut off an enormous peony and taking Tuppence by the lapel of her coat, he inserted this trough the buttonhole in it. 'There,' he said, 'there you are. Looks pretty, it does.'
    For a moment Tuppence felt a sudden feeling of panic. This large, shambling, good-natured man suddenly frightened her.
    He was looking down at her, smiling. Smiling rather wildly, almost leering. 'Pretty it looks on you,' he said again. 'Pretty.'
    Tuppence thought 'I'm glad I'm not a young girl... I don't think I'd like him putting a flower on me then.' She said