"It Is One Thing to Hear What Men Say and Another to Hear What They Mean"

"The White Pillars Murder."
By G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936).
Short story.
First appearance: English Life, January 1925 (as "Dr. Hyde, Detective, and the White Pillars Murder").
Reprinted in EQMM, September 1945.
Online HERE and HERE.

An important lesson for any detective: If you're going to eavesdrop, pay attention! Several excerpts:

. . . 'They say the cleverest murderer forgets something.'  . . .

. . . 'Don't you feel by this time that it's the atmosphere of the whole place? It's not a bit like those delightful detective stories. In a detective story all the people in the house are gaping imbeciles, who can't understand anything, and in the midst stands the brilliant sleuth who understands everything. Here am I standing in the midst, a brilliant sleuth, and I believe, on my soul, I'm the only person in the house who doesn't know all about the crime.'  . . .

. . . 'I don't believe in all this detective romance about deducing everything from a trifle.'  . . .

Resources:
- Roy Glashan has produced a handsome website of classic stories of many types, wherein we located Chesterton's story; see his homepage HERE.
- Our latest visit with GKC was HERE.

Category: Detective fiction, Ackroyd School (it's a small school)