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Captain Hastings finds out from Gerald Parker about an unusually cheap flat rented to Mr and Mrs Robinson near Knightbridge. Mrs Robinson fears that the low price may be an indication that the house is haunted. Poirot is intrigued and sets out to investigate. A remarkable chain of circumstances led from the apparently trivial incidents which first attracted Poirot's attention to the sinister happenings which completed a most unusual case.
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Inhalt
THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHEAP FLAT
So far, in the cases which I have recorded, Poirot’s investigations have started from the central fact, whether murder or robbery, and have proceeded from thence by a process of logical deduction to the final triumphant unravelling. In the events I am now about to chronicle, a remarkable chain of circumstances led from the apparently trivial incidents which first attracted Poirot’s attention to the sinister happenings which completed a most unusual case.
I had been spending the evening with an old friend of mine, Gerald Parker.
There had been, perhaps, about half a dozen people there beside my host and myself, and the talk fell, as it was bound to do sooner or later wherever Parker found himself, on the subject of house-hunting in London. Houses and flats were Parker’s special hobby. Since the end of the War, he had occupied at least half a dozen different flats and maisonnettes. No sooner was he settled anywhere than he would light unexpectedly upon a new find, and would forthwith depart bag and baggage. His moves were nearly always accomplished at a slight pecuniary gain, for he had a shrewd business head, but it was sheer love of the sport that actuated him, and not a desire to make money at it. We listened to Parker for some time with the respect of the novice for the expert. Then it was our turn, and a perfect babel of tongues was let loose. Finally the floor was left to Mrs Robinson, a charming little bride who was there with her husband. I had never met them before, as Robinson was only a recent acquaintance of Parker’s.
“Talking of flats,” she said, “have you heard of our piece of luck, Mr Parker? We’ve got a flat - at last! In Montagu Mansions.”
“Well,” said Parker, “I’ve always said there are plenty of flats - at a price!”
“Yes, but this isn’t at a price. It’s dirt cheap. Eighty pounds a year!”
“But - but Montagu Mansions is just off Knightsbridge, isn’t it? Big handsome buildings. Or are you talking of a poor relation of the same name stuck in the slums somewhere?”
“No, it’s the Knightsbridge one. That’s what makes it so wonderful.”
“Wonderful is the word! It’s a blinking miracle. But there must be a catch somewhere. Big premium, I suppose?”
“No premium!”
“No prem-oh, hold my head, somebody!” groaned Parker.
“But we’ve got to buy the furniture,” continued Mrs Robinson.
“Ah!” Parker brisked up. “I knew there was a catch!”
“For fifty pounds. And it’s beautifully furnished!”
“I give it up,” said Parker. “The present occupants must be lunatics with a taste for philanthropy.” Mrs Robinson was looking a little troubled. A little pucker appeared between her dainty brows.
“It is queer, isn’t it? You don’t think that - that - the place is haunted?”
“Never heard of a haunted flat,” declared Parker decisively.
“N-o.” Mrs Robinson appeared far from convinced. “But there were several things about it all that struck me as -well, queer.”
“For instance -” I suggested.
