“The story of her dismissal. Does it take half an hour to dismiss a servant? Was the story of those important papers a likely one? And remember, though she says she was in her bedroom from nine-thirty until ten o’clock, there is no one to confirm her statement.”
“You bewilder me,” I said.
“To me it grows clearer. But tell me now your own ideas and theories.”
I drew a piece of paper from my pocket. “I just scribbled down a few suggestions,” I said apologetically.
“But excellent—you have method. Let us hear them.”
I read out in a somewhat embarrassed voice. “To begin with, one must look at the thing logically—”
“Just what my poor Hastings used to say,” interrupted Poirot, “but alas! he never did so.”
“ Point No. 1 — Mr. Ackroyd was heard talking to someone at half-past nine.
“ Point No. 2 —At some time during the evening Ralph Paton must have come in through the window, as evidenced by the prints of his shoes.
“ Point No. 3 — Mr. Ackroyd was nervous that evening, and would only have admitted someone he knew.
“ Point No. 4 —The person with Mr. Ackroyd at nine-thirty was asking for money. We know Ralph Paton was in a scrape.
“ These four points go to show that the person with Mr. Ackroyd at nine-thirty was Ralph Paton. But we know that Mr. Ackroyd was alive at