The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

you.'
    She took him into the dining-room, pulled forward a chair for him, sat herself facing him, and stared at him very attentively.
    'Excuse me,' she said, but are you - I mean -'
    'Eton and Oxford,' said the young man. 'That's what you wanted to ask me, wasn't it?'
    'Something of the kind,' admitted Virginia.
    'Come down on the world entirely through my own incapacity to stick to regular work. This isn't regular work you're offering me, I hope?'
    A smile hovered for a moment on her lips.
    'It's very irregular.'
    'Good,' said the young man in a tone of satisfaction.
    Virginia noted his bronzed face and long lean body with approval.
    'You see,' she explained. 'I'm in rather a hole, and most of my friends are - well, rather high up. They've all got something to lose.'
    'I've nothing whatever to lose. So go ahead. What's the trouble?'
    'There's a dead man in the next room,' said Virginia. 'He's been murdered, and I don't know what to do about it.' She blurted out the words as simply as a child might have done. The young man went up enormously in her estimation by the way he accepted her statement. He might have been used to hearing a similar announcement made every day of his life.
    'Excellent,' he said, with a trace of enthusiasm. 'I've always wanted to do a bit of amateur detective work. Shall we go and view the body, or will you give me the facts first?'
    'I think I'd better give you the facts.' She paused for a moment to consider how best to condense her story, and then began, speaking quietly and concisely:
    'This man came to the house for the first time yesterday and asked to see me. He had certain letter with him - love letters, signed with my name -'
    'But which weren't written by you,' put in the young man quietly.
    Virginia looked at him in some astonishment.
    'How did you know that?'
    'Oh, I deduced it. But go on.'
    'He wanted to blackmail me - and I - well, I don't know if you'll understand, but I - let him.'
    She looked at him appealingly, and he nodded his head reassuringly.
    'Of course I understand. You wanted to see what it felt like.'
    'How frightfully clever of you! That's just what I did feel.'
    'I am clever,' said the young man modestly. 'But, mind you, very few people would understand that point of view. Most people, you see, haven't got any imagination.'
    'I suppose that's so. I told this man to come back today - at six o'clock. I arrived home from Ranelagh to find that a bogus telegram had got all the servants except my maid out of the house. Then I walked into the study and found the man shot.'
    'Who let him in?'
    'I don't know. I think if my maid had done so she would have told me.'
    'Does she know what had happened?'
    'I have told her nothing.'
    The young man nodded, and rose to his feet.
    'And now to view the body,' he said briskly. 'But I'll tell you this - on the whole it's always best to tell the truth. One lie involves you in such a lot of lies - and continuous lying is so monotonous.'
    'Then you advise me to ring up the police?'
    'Probably. But we'll just have a look at the fellow first.'
    Virginia led the way out of the room. On the threshold she paused, looking back at him.
    'By the way,' she said, 'you haven't told me your name yet?'
    'My name? My name's Anthony Cade.'

The Secret of Chimneys

Chapter 9
    ANTHONY DISPOSES OF A BODY
    Anthony followed Virginia out of the room, smiling a little to himself. Events had taken quite an unexpected turn. But as he bent over the figure in the chair he grew grave again.
    'He's still warm,' he said sharply. 'He was killed less than half an hour ago.'
    'Just before I came in?'
    'Exactly.'
    He stood upright, drawing his brows together in a frown. Then he asked a question of which Virginia did not at once see the drift:
    'Your maid's not been in this room, of course?'
    'No.'
    'Does she know that you've been into it?'
    'Why - yes. I came to the door to speak to her.'
    'After you'd found the body?'
    'Yes.'
    'And you said nothing?'
    'Would it have been better if