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isn’t old.’
    ‘Anyone can have a domestic accident,’ said Michael.
    ‘You’re starting to talk like Patrick,’ Jane complained.
    ‘What’s wrong with that? I know you love him dearly. In fact I’ve always thought there was something Grecian, or do I mean Egyptian, like the Pharaohs, in the brotherly love between you,’ said Michael, grinning at her.
    ‘I won’t be provoked,’ Jane said, looking prim.
    ‘You’ll hate it if he marries. Some other woman muscling in when you’ve him and me, ready to dance to your tune,’ Michael went on. ‘And Andrew will join your band of adorers – he has, in fact, though his powers are limited still.’
    ‘If Patrick could only be half as happy as we are, I’d rejoice,’ Jane said, very seriously. ‘But I’m afraid for him.’
    ‘He’s probably only buttering this girl up because he’s intrigued by something in the set-up,’ said Michael. ‘The old ladies and their tumbles, perhaps.’
    ‘There’s something odd about one of the houses in Meldsmead. The one where the other woman fell and twisted her ankle. It’s ill- fated in some way,’ Jane said.
    ‘Well, there you are, then. He wants some problem to chew over, so he’s found one. This girl’s just an excuse. Don’t worry about it. He’s got a genius for getting mixed up with odd types, I agree, but he won’t marry one.’
    ‘He’s been around so often when people are up to no good, I sometimes wonder if he acts as a sort of catalyst. By just being there, perhaps he sets off the chain of murky events.’
    ‘Darling, don’t be crazy. It’s just chance. He’s happened to be present when people have died in mysterious circumstances once or twice, and being Patrick, he’s seen more of what’s gone on under the surface than other people.’
    ‘There’s something bothering him about Miss Forrest,’ Jane said. ‘Poor old Amelia’s death really was a most unlucky accident – some rough youth rushed up those steps leading up to the Acropolis and jostled against her when she was standing above a sheer drop, and she fell. Someone younger wouldn’t have, or if they did, would have bounced.’
    ‘And Miss Forrest got dizzy. Bad heart, wasn’t it? Maybe she shouldn’t have walked up the stairs.’
    ‘I’m surprised she did. There are lifts,’ said Jane.
    ‘Perhaps she went up by lift and was walking down,’ Michael suggested. ‘That would seem reasonable. There must have been witnesses.’
    ‘Oddly enough, there were very few people about at the time, Patrick said. Evidently no one else was on the stairs. She pitched down on her head.’
    ‘Well, she wasn’t pushed if no one else was around,’ said Michael. ‘You usually ridicule Patrick when he gets these fanciful notions.’
    ‘I know. But he’s been right before, so I’m beginning to take him more seriously,’ Jane said. ‘When he suspects foul play, I mean, like they say in the papers.’
    ‘Well, he doesn’t suspect it this time. He’s just using it as an excuse to get together with this dolly-bird, and good for him,’ Michael chuckled.
    ‘That’s the direct opposite of what you said a moment ago,’ Jane declared triumphantly. ‘You said she was an excuse to get a foot in that house with the bad reputation.’
    ‘Well, it doesn’t much matter which way round it is, really, does it?’ Michael asked. ‘If he’s having an affair, that’s fine, and his business. If he’s doing a bit of sleuthing, he probably won’t do any harm even if he does no good.’
    ‘Miss Forrest had asked that girl to meet her at the British Museum,’ Jane said. ‘She wanted to talk to her.’
    ‘What an odd place to choose for a rendez-vous ,’ said Michael.
    ‘Oh, I don’t know. There are plenty of seats about, and it’s quiet. You can talk. Patrick said Miss Forrest often went there.’
    ‘Well, maybe he’ll bring the girl to see us. When he does that, you’ll know he really is interested,’ Michael said. ‘Then you can