At Bertram's Hotel

"Of course it wasn't inside the hotel," said Miss Gorringe, cheering up a little as this aspect of the affair struck her. "It was outside in the street."

"So really nothing to do with you at all," said the canon, helpfully.

That apparently was not quite the right thing to say. "But it was co

"So that's a new man you have outside. D'you know, I thought somehow things looked a little strange."

"Yes, I don't know that he's very satisfactory. I mean, not quite the style we're used to here. But of course we had to get someone quickly."

"I remember all about it now," said Canon Pe

"You mean Lady Sedgwick's daughter? I expect you remember seeing her here with her guardian Colonel Luscombe. Apparently she was attacked by someone in the fog. I expect they wanted to snatch her bag. Anyway they fired a shot at her and then Gorman, who of course had been a soldier and was a man with a lot of presence of mind, rushed down, got in front of her and got shot himself, poor fellow."

"Very sad, very sad," said the canon, shaking his head.

"It makes everything terribly difficult," complained Miss Gorringe. "I mean, the police constantly in and out. I suppose that's to be expected, but we don't like it here, though I must say Chief Inspector Davy and Sergeant Wadell are very respectable looking. Plain clothes, and very good style, not the sort with boots and mackintoshes like one sees in films. Almost like one of us."

"Er-yes," said Canon Pe

"Did you have to go to hospital?" inquired Miss Gomnge.

"No," said the canon, "some very nice people, really Good Samaritans-a market gardener, I believe-picked me up and his wife nursed me back to health. I'm most grateful, most grateful. It is refreshing to find there is still human kindness in the world. Don't you think so?"

Miss Gorringe said she thought it was very refreshing. "After all one reads about the increase in crime," she added, "all those dreadful young men and girls holding up banks and robbing trains and ambushing people." She looked up and said, "There's Chief Inspector Davy coming down the stairs now. I think he wants to speak to you."

"I don't know why he should want to speak to me," said Canon Pe

"You couldn't?"

The canon shook his head sorrowfully. "I couldn't remember. The accident took place somewhere near a place called Bedhampton and really I don't understand what I can have been doing there. The Chief Inspector kept asking me why I was there and I couldn't tell him. Very odd, isn't it? He seemed to think I'd been driving a car from somewhere near a railway station to a vicarage."

"That sounds very possible," said Miss Gorringe.

"It doesn't seem possible at all," said Canon Pe

Chief Inspector Davy had come up to them. "So here you are, Canon Pe

"Oh, I feel quite well now," said the canon, "but rather inclined to have headaches still. And I've been told not to do too much. But I still don't seem to remember what I ought to remember, and the doctor says it may never come back."

"Oh well," said Chief Inspector Davy, "we mustn't give up hope." He led the canon away from the desk. "There's a little experiment I want you to try," he said. "You don't mind helping me, do you?"

When Chief Inspector Davy opened the door of Number 18, Miss Marple was still sitting in the armchair by the window.

"A good many people in the street today," she observed. "More than usual."

"Oh well-this is a way through to Berkeley Square and Shepherd's Market."

"I didn't mean only passers-by. Men doing things- road repairs, a telephone repair van, a couple of private cars-"

"And what-may I ask-do you deduce from that?"

"I didn't say that I deduced anything."

Father gave her a look. Then he said, "I want you to help me."

"Of course. That is why I am here. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to do exactly what you did on the night of November nineteenth. You were asleep-you wOke up-possibly awakened by some unusual noise. You switched on the light, looked at the time, got out of bed, opened the door and looked out. Can you repeat those actions?"

"Certainly," said Miss Marple. She got up and went across to the bed.

"Just a moment."

Chief Inspector Davy went and tapped on the co

"You'll have to do that louder," said Miss Marple. "This place is very well built."

The Chief Inspector redoubled the force of his knuckles.

"I told Canon Pe

Miss Marple touched the electric lamp, looked at an imaginary clock, got up, walked to the door, opened it and looked out. To her right, just leaving his room, walking to the top of the stairs, was Canon Pe

"Well?" said Chief Inspector Davy.

"The man I saw that night can't have been Canon Pe

"I thought you said-"

"I know. He looked like Canon Pe

"You really are quite sure this time, Miss Marple."

"Yes," said Miss Marple. "I'm sorry," she added again, "to have misled you."

"You were very nearly right. Canon Pe

"There's that German word of course," said Miss Marple, thoughtfully.

"What German word?"

"Dear me, I've forgotten it now, but-"

There was a knock at the door.

"May I come in?" said Canon Pe

"Most satisfactory," said Father. "I was just telling Miss Marple-you know Miss Marple?"

"Oh yes," said Canon Pe

"I was just telling Miss Marple how we have traced your movements. You came back to the hotel that night after midnight. You came upstairs and you opened the door of your room and went in-" He paused.

Miss Marple gave an exclamation. "I remember now," she said, "what that German word is. Doppelganger!"

Canon Pe

"And then," said Father, "startled out of their lives to see you, when they thought you were safely in Lucerne, somebody hit you on the head."