THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
"Raymond or Blunt must have pushed it back," I suggested. "Surely it isn't important?"
"It is completely unimportant," said Poirot. "That is why it is so interesting," he added softly.
"Excuse me a minute," said Colonel Melrose. He left the room with Parker.
"Do you think Parker is speaking the truth?" I asked.
"About the chair, yes. Otherwise I do not know. You will find, M. le docteur, if you have much to do with cases of this kind, that they all resemble each other in one thing."
"What is that?" I asked curiously.
"Every one concerned in them has something to hide."
"Have I?" I asked, smiling.
Poirot looked at me attentively.
"I think you have," he said quietly.
"But———"
"Have you told me everything known to you about this young man Paton?" He smiled as I grew red. "Oh! do not fear. I will not press you. I shall learn it in good time."
"I wish you'd tell me something of your methods," I said hastily, to cover my confusion. "The point about the fire, for instance?"
"Oh! that was very simple. You leave Mr. Ackroyd at—ten minutes to nine, was it not?"
"Yes, exactly, I should say."
"The window is then closed and bolted and the door unlocked. At a quarter past ten when the body is discovered, the door is locked and the window is open.
[90]
