The Footsteps at the Lock · Chapter
IX: Nigel Goes Down explained
Bredon and Angela discuss the case over breakfast, debating whether Nigel Burtell could have murdered his cousin Derek.
What happens
Bredon and Angela discuss the case over breakfast, debating whether Nigel Burtell could have murdered his cousin Derek. Bredon argues that Nigel's alibi is strong, as the canoe would have taken too long to drift downstream for Nigel to have been responsible. They plan a motor trip along the river to investigate the Burtells' stops, using the pretext of searching for a lost camera. At Millington Bridge, they learn that one of the cousins arrived late, claiming the other had gone back to fetch a camera from the canoe, and that the first guest had breakfast in bed while the other paid the bill and left early.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Identity
Nigel's clever train evasion and the possibility of a third party impersonating one of the cousins highlight themes of deception and mistaken identity.
Detection and Rational Inquiry
Bredon and Angela systematically investigate the case, using logic and evidence to test alibis and reconstruct events.
Appearance vs. Reality
The seemingly ordinary pleasure trip masks a potential crime; the camera story may be a cover for something else.
Characters to notice
- Miles Bredon
Investigates the case, measures distances on a map, and plans a motor trip to retrace the Burtells' journey.
- Angela
Assists Bredon, suggests the camera pretext for questioning innkeepers, and accompanies him on the trip.
- Nigel Burtell
Suspected of murdering his cousin; discussed as having a possible alibi and as having performed a clever train evasion.
- Derek Burtell
The missing cousin; his disappearance is the central mystery.
- Mr. Burgess
Mentioned as the lock-keeper, described as a man of words rather than action.
- Lizzy
The maid at Millington Bridge who showed the second guest to his room.
Key passages
“He must have valued them a good deal. Looks much more as if he’d planted them out in that hedge on purpose.”
The films seem to have been deliberately hidden in the hedge rather than accidentally dropped.
Angela suggests the films were planted as evidence.
“I know too much; I know enough to make it a sight more complicated than it looks.”
Bredon's knowledge makes the case more complex, not simpler.
Bredon expresses the difficulty of the investigation.
“He wasn’t there; he simply wasn’t on the map.”
Nigel could not have been at the scene of the crime.
Bredon argues for Nigel's alibi.
“It wasn’t a very bright trick, but it was well carried out—played his part to the life.”
Nigel's train evasion was simple but executed perfectly.
Description of Nigel's escape from surveillance.
“Very late they was, and it was your speaking of the camera put me in mind of it; because the first gentleman came up and he said have you got two rooms, and I said yes, but you’re late, you know, we don’t ordinarily take in people so late; where’s the other gentleman? Oh, he says, he left his camera behind in the canoe, and he’s gone back to fetch it, in case it should rain in the night.”
The innkeeper at Millington Bridge recalled that one of the cousins arrived late, explaining the other had returned to the canoe for a camera.
Key testimony from the innkeeper about the cousins' movements.
