# XXV: Bredon's Account of It All explained — The Three Taps

> Chapter companion for The Three Taps by Ronald A. Knox.

## What happens

Bredon reveals the truth behind Mottram's death, explaining it was an accident, not suicide or murder. He details Mottram's plan to test the Bishop's honesty, Brinkman's involvement, and the series of mishaps that led to the fatal gas leak. The chapter concludes with the group discussing the moral and practical aftermath, including the legacy to the diocese and Brinkman's escape.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Fraud

Mottram and Brinkman's elaborate plan to test the Bishop's honesty involves deception, including a fake codicil and a staged suicide.

### Morality and Amorality

The Bishop's moral dilemma over accepting the legacy, and Bredon's pragmatic decision to report the death as an accident, highlight moral versus amoral reasoning.

### Appearance vs. Reality

The entire plot hinges on appearances: the staged suicide, the planted letter, and the misinterpretation of events, all masking the accidental truth.

## Character check-ins

### Miles Bredon

Reveals the solution to the mystery, explaining the accident and Brinkman's role.

### Angela Bredon

Urges Bredon to explain clearly; observes a scuffle at the door.

### Mr. Brinkman

Collaborated with Mottram on the test, burned the unsigned will, and attempted to frame the death as suicide; escapes at the end.

### Mr. Mottram

Deceased; his plan to test the Bishop and his accidental death are explained.

### Mr. Leyland

Found the burnt will fragment; comments on the legal difficulty of charging Brinkman.

### Mr. Eames

Followed Brinkman in the storm and retrieved the planted envelope; expresses melancholy about church collections.

### Mr. Pulteney

Complains about getting nothing out of the affair; makes a dry remark about object-lessons.

### The Bishop

Questions his moral claim to the legacy; learns of Mottram's test of his honesty.

### Simmonds

Mentioned as the likely heir to Mottram's unsettled estate, enough for him to marry on.

## Key lines

> It’s like the optical illusion of the tumbling cubes⁠—you know, the pattern of cubes which looks concave to the eye, and then, by a readjustment of your mental focus, you suddenly see them as convex instead.

Bredon compares solving the mystery to an optical illusion where a shift in perspective reveals the truth.

_Bredon explains his method of sudden insight._

> He had an enormous amount of money, and no heir whom he cared for. He was a shrewd, rather grasping man, and he came to think that everybody else was after his money.

Mottram was wealthy and paranoid, believing everyone wanted his fortune.

_Bredon's psychological profile of Mottram._

> Brinkman had bad luck to the last. I dropped that card just after he started out with his despatch-box; he saw that I’d disappeared from the window, and supposed, with delight, that I was following him.

Brinkman mistakenly thought Bredon was tailing him, but it was actually Eames.

_A key misidentification that foiled Brinkman's plan._

> You can’t hang a man for turning the wrong gas-tap by mistake.

Leyland notes that Brinkman cannot be charged with murder because the death was accidental.

_Legal assessment of Brinkman's culpability._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_taps_se/chapters/xxv-bredon-s-account-of-it-all
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_taps_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_taps_se/chapters