The Red House Mystery
by A. A. Milne
TO JOHN VINE MILNE
My dear Father,
Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, andfeel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done forme, the least that I can do for you is to write you one. Here it is: with moregratitude and affection than I can well put down here.
A.A.M.
Contents
CHAPTER I.
Mrs. Stevens is Frightened
In the drowsy heat of the summer afternoon the Red House was taking its siesta.There was a lazy murmur of bees in the flower-borders, a gentle cooing ofpigeons in the tops of the elms. From distant lawns came the whir of amowing-machine, that most restful of all country sounds; making ease thesweeter in that it is taken while others are working.
It was the hour when even those whose business it is to attend to the wants ofothers have a moment or two for themselves. In the housekeeper’s roomAudrey Stevens, the pretty parlour-maid, re-trimmed her best hat, and talkedidly to her aunt, the cook-housekeeper of Mr. Mark Ablett’s bachelorhome.
“For Joe?” said Mrs. Stevens placidly, her eye on the hat. Audreynodded. She took a pin from her mouth, found a place in the hat for i