Overview

Tabitha is – or rather was – a cat, the property of Lavinia, a dear old lady, who lives with two other dear old ladies in an apartment house owned by Mrs Trellington. Now as a landlady Mrs Trellington has some very unattractive and even tactless habits: she helps herself to the old ladies’ little store of whisky; she chooses to put up their rents on Christmas Eve; and – last straw of all- she has done away with the beloved Tabitha. No wonder the three old ladies are roused in indignation, and no wonder the most authoritative of them, Mrs Pendergast – widow of a colonial judge – is tempted to do away with the odious landlady. Under her instruction the others, Lavinia and Janet, dilute a bottle of whisky with the poisoned water that killed Tabitha, knowing perfectly well that even though they lock it up the landlady will find it while they are out. And if she drinks from it – well, isn’t it her own fault? When, a few hours later, Mrs Trellington is found dead, the old ladies stare guiltily at each other: but they are also mystified; for didn’t Lavinia and Janet relent and swap the whisky for another bottle? Or didn’t they? There is only one way to find out and find out they must for Mary, Mrs Trellington’s stepdaughter, whom everybody loves, is now suspected of murder. After writing a full, if muddled, account of their part in the event, they drink the whisky themselves. Hours later, a puzzled detective inspector and a mystified young doctor find three elderly ladies genteelly sleeping off the effects of strong drink. But, brought back once more to sobriety, they are able to help the detective prove that Mrs Trellington accidentally poisoned herself in the course of her nefarious occupations.