Lord Peter Views the Body (8 page)

    It took, however, some time to get the basin emptied, and it was not till next morning that the party, armed with sticks of charcoal, squatted down in the empty impluvium to fill in Uncle Meleager’s cross-word on the marble tiles. Their first difficulty was to decide whether the red squares counted as stops or had to be filled in, but, after a few definitions had been solved, the construction of the puzzle grew apace. The investigators grew steadily hotter and more thickly covered with charcoal, while the attentive Mr Bunter hurried to and fro between the atrium and the library, and the dictionaries piled up on the edge of the impluvium.

‘Truth, poor girl, was nobody’s daughter;

She took off her clothes and jumped into the water.’

Across.

I.1.        Foolish or wise, yet one remains alone,

       
’Twixt Strength and Justice on a heavenly throne.

XI.1.        O to what ears the chink of gold was sweet!

       
The greed for treasure brought him but defeat.

   
‘That’s a hint to us,’ said Lord Peter
.

I.2.        One drop of vinegar to two of oil

       
Dresses this curly head sprung from the soil.

X.2.        Nothing itself, it needs but little more

       
To be that nothingness the Preacher saw.

I.3.        Dusty though my fellows be,

       
We are a kingly company.

IV.3.        Have your own will, though here, I hold,

       
The new is
not
a patch upon the old.

XIV.3.        Any loud cry would do as well,

       
Or so the poet’s verses tell.

I.4.        This is the most unkindest cut of all,

       
Except your skill be mathematical.

X.4.        Little and hid from mortal sight.

       
I darkly work to make all light.

I.5.        The need for this (like that it’s cut off short)

       
The building of a tower to humans taught.

XI.5.        ‘More than mind discloses and more than men believe’

       
(A definition by man whom Pussyfoot doth grieve).

II.6.        Backward observe her turn her way,

       
The way of wisdom, wise men say.

VII 6.        Grew long ago by river’s edge

       
Where grows to-day the common sedge.

XII.6.        One of three by which, they say,

       
You’ll know the Cornishmen alway.

VI.7.        Blow upon blow; five more the vanquished Roman shows;

       
And if the foot slip one, on crippled feet one goes.

I.8.        By this Jew’s work the whole we find,

       
In a glass clearly, darkly in the mind.

IX.8.        Little by little see it grow

       
Till cut off short by hammer-blow.

VI.9.        Watch him go, heel and toe,

       
Across the wide Karroo!

II.10.        In expectation to be rich

       
Here you reach the highest pitch.

VII.10.        Of this, concerning nothing, much—

       
Too often do we hear of such!

XII.10.        O’er land and sea, passing on deadly wings,

       
Pain to the strong, to weaklings death it brings.

I.11.        Requests like these, however long they be,

       
Stop just too soon for common courtesy.

XI.11.        Caesar, the living dead salute thee here,

       
Facing for thy delight tooth, claw, and spear.

I.12.        One word had served, but he in ranting vein

       
‘Lend me your ears’ must mouth o’er Caesar slain.

X.12.        Helical circumvolution

       
Adumbrates correct solution.

I.13.        One that works for Irish men

       
Both by word and deed and pen.

   
‘That’s an easy one,’ said Miss Marryat.

IV.13.        Seven out of twelve this number makes complete

       
As the sun journeys on from seat to seat.

XIV.13.        My brothers play with planets; Cicero,

       
Master of words, my master is below.

I.14.        Free of her jesses let the falcon fly,

       
With sight undimmed into the azure sky.

X.14.        And so you dine with Borgia? Let me lend

       
You this as a precaution, my poor friend.

I.15.        Friendship carried to excess

       
Got him in a horrid mess.

XI.15.        Smooth and elastic and, I guess,

       
The dearest treasure you possess.

Down.

1.I.
         
If step by step the Steppes you wander through

       
Many of those in this, of these in those you’ll view.

 
‘Bunter,’ said Lord Peter, ‘bring me a whisky-and-soda!’

11.I.        If me without my head you do,

       
Then generously my head renew,

       
Or put it to my hinder end—

       
Your cheer it shall nor may nor mend.

1.II.
         
Quietly, quietly, ’twixt edge and edge,

       
Do this unto the thin end of the wedge.

10.II.        ‘Something that hath a reference to my state?’

       
Just as you like, it shall be written straight.

1.III.
         
When all is read, then give the world its due,

       
And never need the world read this of you.

   
‘That’s a comfort,’ said Lady Mary. ‘It shows we’re on the right lines.’

4.III.
         
Sing Nunc Dimittis and Magnificat—

       
But look a little farther back than that.

14.III.        Here in brief epitome

       
Attribute of royalty.

1.IV.
         
Lo! at a glance

       
The Spanish gipsy and her dance.

10.IV.        Bring me skin and a needle or a stick—

       
A needle does it slowly, a stick does it quick.

1.V.
         
It was a brazen business when

       
King Phalaris made these for men.

11.V.        This king (of whom not much is known),

       
By Heaven’s mercy was o’erthrown.

2.VI.
         
‘Bid
farewell?’ Nay, in this

       
The sterner Roman stands by that which is.

7.VI.
         
This the termination is

       
Of many minds’ activities.

12.VI.        I mingle on Norwegian shore,

       
With ebbing water’s backward roar.

6.VII.
         
I stand, a ladder to renown,

       
Set ’twixt the stars and Milan town.

1.VIII.
         
Highest and lowliest both to me lay claim,

       
The little hyssop and the king of fame.

   
‘That makes that point about the squares clear,’ said Mary.

    ‘I think it’s even more significant,’ said her brother.

9.VIII.
         
This sensible old man refused to tread

       
The path to Hades in a youngster’s stead.

6.IX.
         
Long since, at Nature’s call, they let it drop,

       
Thoughtlessly thoughtful for our next year’s crop.

2.X.
         
To smallest words great speakers greatness give;

       
Here Rome propounded her alternative.

7.X.
         
We heap up many with toil and trouble,

       
And find that the whole of our gain is a bubble.

12.X.        Add it among the hidden things—

       
A fishy tale to light it brings.

1.XI.
         
‘Lions,’ said a Gallic critic, ‘are not these.’

       
Benevolent souls – they’d make your heart’s blood freeze.

11.XI.        An epithet for husky fellows.

       
That stand, all robed in greens and yellows.

1.XII.
         
Whole without holes behold me here,

       
My meaning should be wholly clear.

10.XII.        Running all around, never setting foot to floor,

       
If there isn’t one in this room, there may be one next door.

1.XIII.
         
Ye gods! think also of that goddess’ name

       
Whose might two hours on end the mob proclaim.

4.XIII.
         
The Priest uplifts his voice on high,

       
The choristers make their reply.

14.XIII.        When you’ve guessed it, with one voice

       
You’ll say it was a golden choice.

1.XIV.
         
Shall learning die amid a war’s alarms?

       
I, at my birth, was clasped in iron arms.

10.XIV.        At sunset see the labourer now

       
Loose all his oxen from the plough.

1.XV.
         
Without a miracle it cannot be—

       
At this point, Solver, bid him pray for thee!

11.XV.        Two thousand years ago and more

       
(Just as we do to-day),

       
The Romans saw these distant lights—

       
But, oh? How hard the way!

The most remarkable part of the search – or so Lord Peter thought – was its effect on Miss Marryat. At first she hovered disconsolately on the margin, aching with wounded dignity, yet ashamed to dissociate herself from people who were toiling so hard and so cheerfully in her cause.

    ‘I think that’s so-and-so,’ Mary would say hopefully.

    And her brother would reply enthusiastically, ‘Holed it in one, old lady. Good for you! We’ve got it this time, Miss Marryat’ – and explain it.

    And Hannah Marryat would say with a snort: