Paper with "Chimneys 11.45 Thursday" written on it

The scrap marked "Chimneys 11.45 Thursday" is a small piece of paper found torn from the lining of Giuseppe Manelli’s clothing after his murder. Its fragmentary appointment-like wording links the stripped body to Virginia Revel’s intended journey to Chimneys, and it becomes both a clue in Anthony Cade’s suspicions and a prop in his later account of why he went to the house.

Discovery and Physical Clues

After considering whether to summon the police or conceal the body, Anthony settles on a compromise: report the death but withhold the pistol and the blackmailing letters, if they are still on Giuseppe. He searches the dead man’s pockets and finds them empty. The absence matters: someone has already stripped Giuseppe of whatever he carried, leaving Anthony to wonder what further trouble the letters may cause.

The scrap emerges not from a pocket but from a hole in the lining. Anthony notices that something has been roughly torn away and that a remnant has caught in the damaged cloth. He draws it out and brings it into the light, with Virginia joining him to examine it. The paper is therefore not an intact message and does not disclose who wrote it, who carried it, or what was removed. Its evidentiary force lies in what survives: a place, a time, and a day.

Anthony reads the words as suggesting an appointment. The note gives no name or explanation, and its incompleteness prevents a firm conclusion. It offers a pointed clue without resolving whether the proposed meeting concerned the murder, the stolen letters, or some separate business.

The Connection to Virginia and Chimneys

The place-name immediately changes the scrap from an obscure remnant into a personal warning. Virginia says she was going to Chimneys that evening. Anthony recognizes the possible connection and asks whether someone might have wanted badly to prevent her from going there. The question is a hypothesis, not a conclusion: the paper does not identify a would-be obstructer or establish that its appointment was intended for Virginia.

Virginia names her cousin George Lomax as someone who wanted her not to go, but rejects the idea that she could seriously suspect him of murder. The exchange separates two propositions that the clue might otherwise blur: George’s preference that she stay away is known, while his involvement in the killing is not. Anthony does not share Virginia’s light response; he falls silent, turning the scrap over as a possible link between her visit and the violence surrounding Giuseppe.

The fragment’s wording also has a useful ambiguity. "Chimneys" may refer to the house, but Anthony later acknowledges that it could have no connection to that particular place. The note thus supports suspicion without proving identity or intent. Its precise-looking time and day invite interpretation, while the missing portion withholds the information that might make the appointment intelligible.

Reappearance in Anthony’s Account

When Superintendent Battle questions Anthony about his presence at Chimneys the previous night, Anthony denies that he would ordinarily enter a country house by scaling a wall and trying its downstairs windows. He says that he had replied to George Lomax’s letter, explaining that the manuscript had left his keeping and declining Lord Caterham’s invitation. He then presents the scrap as the reason he reconsidered: during his struggle with Giuseppe, he says, he had taken a small paper bearing words that meant nothing to him at the time. The mention of Chimneys later recalled it.

Anthony produces the fragment for Battle to inspect and identifies its writing as "Chimneys 11.45 Thursday". He offers a cautious explanation: the word might not refer to the house, but it might, and Giuseppe was a thief. Anthony says that these considerations led him to motor to Chimneys, stay at the inn, and plan to warn Lord Caterham the next morning in case mischief was intended over the weekend.

The paper’s role consequently shifts. At the murder scene, it is an unexplained remnant that draws Virginia’s impending visit into the investigation. In Anthony’s later statement, it becomes the stated prompt for his return to Chimneys and his proposed warning. The clue carries both its original uncertainty and the additional significance of being used to account for his actions; Anthony’s explanation is his own account, while the fragment itself establishes only the surviving words and its connection to Giuseppe’s torn lining.