The Mysterious Affair at Styles

aside by a gentle pressure of the arm. I understood

d Poirot at once stepped forward,

ot remember me,

together-the Abercrombie forgery case-you remember, he was run down in Brussels. Ah, those were great days, moosier. Then, do you remember 'Baron' Al

rer, and was introduced to Detective-Inspector Japp, who, in his t

you are doing here, gent

d one eye

etty clear case

t answere

differ

time. "Surely the whole thing is clear as daylight. The ma

ooking attenti

e met before-and there's no man's judgment I'd sooner take than his. If I'm n

ot s

certain conc

rather sceptical, but Japp co

us. We shouldn't have been here as soon as this even, if it hadn't been for the fact that there was a smart doctor on the spot, who gave us the tip through the Coroner. But you've been on the spot from the first, and you may have picked up some little hints. From the evidence at the inquest, Mr. Ing

arrant for his arrest in your

officialdom came down from J

d perhaps I haven't

ed at him t

essieurs, that he sho

served Summerhay

ng Poirot with c

s good as a nod-from you. You've been on the spot-and

nodded

: Arrest Mr. Inglethorp. But it will bring you no kudos-the case against him

, though Summerhaye ga

with astonishment. I could onl

andkerchief, and was g

here's others over me who'll be asking what the devil I

eflected

or the present, but what you say is very just-the word of a Belgian policeman, whose day is past, is not enough! And Alfred Inglet

our. We're seeing the Cor

. Inglethorp will give you, or if he refuses-as is probable-I will give you such proofs that s

ged to you, though I'm bound to confess I can't at present see the faintest possib

away, Summerhaye with an i

I had some warm moments in that court; I did not figure to myself that the man would be so

ecility," I remarked. "For, if the case against him is

is I who have committed this murder, I can think of seven most plausi

not help

eriously, in spite of what I heard you say to the detectives, you surely

uch as before? No

dence is so

oo conc

eastways Cottage, and proceed

unsatisfactory. It has to be examined-sifted. But here the whole thing is cut and dried. No, my fri

ou make t

le, it was very hard to disprove. But, in his anxiety, the criminal

in a minute or two

ses strychnine under his own name, with a trumped up story about a dog which is bound to be proved absurd. He does not employ the poison that night. No, he waits until he has had a violent quarrel with her, of which the whole household is cognisant, and which naturally directs their suspicions

o not see-

l you, mon ami, it puzzl

nocent, how do you explain

y. He did n

e recogn

Mr. Inglethorp's rather noticeable clothes. He could not recognize a man whom he had probably only seen in the distance, since, y

you th

s I laid stress upon? Leave the first o

horp wears peculiar clothes, has a bla

to pass himself off as John or Law

ughtfully. "Of c

cut me shor

lient points about his personal appearance. Now, what is the first instinct of the criminal? To divert suspicion from himself, is it not so? And how can he best do that? By throwing it on someone else. In this instance, there was a man ready to his hand. Everybody was predisposed to believe in Mr. Inglethorp's guilt. It was a foregone conclusion that he would be susp

uence. "But, if that was the case, why does he not

at. I must make him see the gravity of his position. There is, of course, something discreditable behind his silence. If he di

for the moment, although still retaining a faint con

uess?" asked P

can

dea sometime ago-and it ha

d me," I said

out his hands

ympathique." He turned to me earnestly. "Tell

te indifferent to the fate of Alfred Inglethorp, a

watching me inte

ubject, "apart from Mr. Inglethorp, how di

much what

rike you as pec

to Mary Cavendi

what

e Cavendish's evid

reli

don't think so. He's

isoned accidentally by means of the tonic she was

iculed it of course. But it was quite a

old me yourself that he had started by studyi

thought of that." I was r

ot n

r of the family to uphold strenuously the theory of death from natural causes. If it had been Monsieur John, I could have understood it. He has no technical knowledge, and is by natu

confusing

irot. "That's another who is not telling all

conceivable that she should be shielding Alfr

dded refl

overheard a good deal more of that 'private

person one would accuse o

stake. Dorcas was quite right. The quarrel did take place

I had never understood hi

"Dr. Bauerstein, now, what was he doing up and dressed at that hour in

, I believe," I

arked Poirot. "It covers everything, and explains noth

nd with the evidence?"

the truth-look out! Now, unless I am much mistaken, at the inquest to-day only o

or Mrs. Cavendish. But there's John-and Miss

friend? One, I gra

wnright straightforward manner that it had never occurred to me to doubt her sincerity. Still, I had a great resp

s Howard had always seemed to me so ess

I could not quite fathom. He seemed

ntinued, "there's nothin

leeping next door; whereas Mrs. Cavendish, in the other

oung. And she

he must be a famous

ent a smart knock reached our ears, and looking out of the

ly brushing an imaginary speck of dust from his sleeve, motioned me to prece

gh of course after the verdict, he had realized that it was only a matter of time. Still, the p

requested that the household, with the exception of the servants, should be assembled together in

is belief in Inglethorp's innocence, but a man of the type of Summerhaye

men were the cynosure of all eyes. I think that for the first time we realized that the thing was not a bad dream, but a tangible reality. We had read

US TRAGED

Y LADY

d read a hundred times-things that happen to other people, not to oneself. And now, in this house, a murder had been committed. In front of us were "the

that it should be he and not one of the o

ty about to deliver a lecture, "I have asked you to come here all togethe

ciously, every one had drawn his chair slightly away from

him directly, "a very dark shadow is res

shook his

murmured. "Poor Emi

how terrible it may be-for you." And as Inglethorp did not appear to unde

"Anything you say will be used in evidence against you,"

erstand now

at do y

rately, "that you are suspec

ound the circle at

, starting up. "What a monstrous

e nature of your evidence at the inquest. Mr. Inglethorp, knowing what I have now to

wn again and buried his face in his han

he cried

s face from his hands. Then, slowly

ll not

yone could be so monstrous as

tfully, like a man w

. "Then I must

ethorp spra

k? You do not know--"

Mr. Inglethorp, for at six o'clock on that day Mr. Inglethorp was escorting Mrs. Raikes back to her home from a neighbouring farm. I can produce no less than five witnesses to swear to having seen them