“Randall!” she gasped. “You're perfectly right! Aunt Harriet took it!”
“I thought as much,” said Randall.
Mrs Matthews said in a stupefied way: “Harriet took Gregory's toothpaste? To use? Well, really! How very distasteful!”
“Are you sure of this, Miss Matthews?” Hannasyde asked.
“Yes. Oh, perfectly sure! I'd forgotten all about it until my cousin asked that question. Then I remembered at once. It was the very day we found uncle's body. My aunt had his room turned out, and I met her on the landing, carrying all sorts of oddments she'd collected. I can't remember what they were—I know she had uncle's faceflannel, which she said would do for a cleaning rag, and I distinctly remember her showing me a tube of toothpaste. It was half-used, and she said she saw no reason to waste it, and was going to use it herself when she'd finished her own.”
Sergeant Hemingway, who had been till now a silent but an intensely interested auditor, said: “That accounts for the empty tube we found, Superintendent. She'd only just come to the end of it. It puzzled me a bit, that empty one being left on the wash-stand when it looked as though she'd been using the other for several days.”
Hannasyde nodded. Guy blurted out: “Then—then Aunt Harriet's death was a pure accident?”
Mrs Lupton drew a deep breath. “If this story is true, I can only say that it is a judgment on Harriet!” she announced. “I warned her that her exaggerated economies would come to no good. She would not listen to me, and here is the result! It puts me out of all patience. I am utterly disgusted!”
“Gertrude dear, remember that you are speaking of the dead,” said Mrs Matthews reproachfully.
Hannasyde was still looking at Stella. “Miss Matthews, can you remember what time it was when you met your aunt on the landing?”