MR. WOOD RELAXED AND sipped his own drink. From somewhere aloft, a number of individually insignificant traces added up to fairly reliable evidence that Florence and Mrs. Wood were about to return. I gathered that the cross-questioning had allayed any parental suspicion.
I said, “One thing you haven’t mentioned,” and paused for effect. “To the Hindu, ‘perfection’ means the inclusion of an almost imperceptible flaw so that its maker cannot be accused of presuming to be as good as God. Is your ‘perfect crime’ to be perfect in the eyes of the criminal, or in the eyes of the police?”
He said, “Ah, Captain Schnell, that is indeed one of my bothersome problems.”
Mrs. Wood came into the room, followed by Florence. The girl had lost the soaked-gamin look. She was transformed by modern alchemy i
