Peter and Harriet are depressed by their inability to solve the crime, but their personal relationship is going well. After 5 years of waiting, they are a happy couple. But Harriet does worry that Peter is upset by not being able to solve the crime, as it is his "legitimate work for society" since he does not have a job. However, he has some property in London which he has inherited, and has developed over the past 20 years, as he prefers London life to country life. He has built houses and tried to help his tenants.
But it seems he cannot help Joe Sellon who has this shadow hanging over him. He has always disliked the fact that his job as a detective sometimes entails getting people hanged, but he believes that whatever happens, its better that the right person suffers for the crime.
He and Harriet go to visit Mr Simon Goodacre, the vicar and his wife who have invited them to a small party. Mr Goodacre likes plants, and wants to buy Mr Noakes' collection of cactuses. They learn that Mrs Sellon, Joe's wife, who is pregnant again, was taken ill probably due to the strain that she is under. When they return to Talboys, after their visit, they talk emotionally about how much they love each other, and are startled by the sudden appearance of Miss Twitterton. She had been visiting the house, where she had a quarrel with Frank Crutchley, who was there, and she hid when the Wimseys came back, feeling embarrassed.
She cries on Harriet's shoulder and tells her that she and Frank were engaged, but that now she realises he didn't love her and was only courting her because he thought that she had a little money and would inherit more from Noakes.. and that he was seeing a young village girl as well... Harriet is sympathetic - but when she tells Peter what she's been told, he is appalled. He tells her that this casts a lot of doubt on Miss Twitterton. She had keys, she was in and out of the House, and she is a middle aged woman, in love with a younger selfish man, and she might have been tempted to kill her uncle in order to have the money to marry Frank as he would drop his girlfriend if he could marry a woman with a bit of money. Harriet is very upset, feeling that she had been given Miss Twitterton's trust and now Peter is saying that they will have to tell the police of this new development. Peter realises how she feels but says again that they must tell the truth and find out who did the crime, or the whole thing will hang over all the village or the wrong person will be hanged for it.
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