They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie

opens his mouth. And he always looks so dirty and uncouth.”
    â€œHe is unhappy, I think,” said Miss Marple mildly.
    â€œI really don’t know why he should be—apart from Gina’s behaviour, I mean. Everything has been done for him here. Lewis has suggested several ways in which he could try to make himself useful—but he prefers to skulk about doing nothing.” She burstout, “Oh this whole place is impossible—quite impossible. Lewis thinks of nothing but these horrible young criminals. And Mother thinks of nothing but him. Everything Lewis does is right. Look at the state of the garden—the weeds—the overgrowth. And the house—nothing properly done. Oh, I know a domestic staff is difficult nowadays, but it can be got. It’s not as though there were any shortage of money. It’s just that nobody cares. If it were my house—” She stopped.
    â€œI’m afraid,” said Miss Marple, “that we have all to face the fact that conditions are different. These large establishments are a great problem. It must be sad for you, in a way, to come back here and find everything so different. Do you really prefer living here to—well—somewhere of your own?”
    Mildred Strete flushed.
    â€œAfter all, it’s my home,” she said. “It was my father’s house. Nothing can alter that. I’ve a right to be here if I choose. And I do choose. If only Mother were not so impossible! She won’t even buy herself proper clothes. It worries Jolly a lot.”
    â€œI was going to ask you about Miss Bellever.”
    â€œSuch a comfort having her here. She adores Mother. She’s been with her a long time now—she came in John Restarick’s time. And was wonderful, I believe, during the whole sad business. I expect you heard that he ran away with a dreadful Yugoslavian woman—a most abandoned creature. She’s had any amount of lovers, I believe. Mother was very fine and dignified about it all. Divorced him as quietly as possible. Even went so far as to have the Restarick boys for their holidays—quite unnecessary, really, other arrangements could have been made. It would have been unthinkable, of course, to have let them go to their father and that woman. Anyway, Mother hadthem here … And Miss Bellever stood by all through things and was a tower of strength. I sometimes think she makes Mother even more vague than she need be, by doing all the practical things herself. But I really don’t know what Mother would do without her.”
    She paused and then remarked in a tone of surprise:
    â€œHere is Lewis. How odd. He seldom comes out in the garden.”
    Mr. Serrocold came towards them in the same single-minded way that he did everything. He appeared not to notice Mildred, because it was only Miss Marple who was in his mind.
    â€œI’m so sorry,” he said. “I wanted to take you round our institution and show you everything. Caroline asked me to. Unfortunately I have to go off to Liverpool. The case of that boy and the railways parcels office. But Maverick will take you. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I shan’t be back until the day after tomorrow. It will be splendid if we can get them not to prosecute.”
    Mildred Strete got up and walked away. Lewis Serrocold did not notice her go. His earnest eyes gazed at Miss Marple through thick glasses.
    â€œYou see,” he said, “the Magistrates nearly always take the wrong view. Sometimes they’re too severe, but sometimes they’re too lenient. If these boys get a sentence of a few months it’s no deterrent—they get a kind of a kick out of it, even. Boast about it to their girlfriends. But a severe sentence often sobers them. They realise that the game isn’t worth it. Or else it’s better not to serve a prison sentence at all. Corrective training—constructional training like we have here.”
    Miss