utes to ten when I reached the summer-house. Ralph was waiting for me. I was with him ten minutes—not longer, for it was just a quarter to ten when I got back to the house."
I saw now the insistence of her question the other day. If only Ackroyd could have been proved to have been killed before a quarter to ten, and not after.
I saw the reflection of that thought in Poirot's next question.
"Who left the summer-house first?"
"I did."
"Leaving Ralph Paton in the summer-house?"
"Yes—but you don’t think———"
"Mademoiselle, it is of no importance what I think. What did you do when you got back to the house?"
"I went up to my room."
"And stayed there until when?"
"Until about ten o'clock."
"Is there any one who can prove that?"
"Prove? That I was in my room, you mean? Oh! no. But surely—oh! I see, they might think—they might think———"
I saw the dawning horror in her eyes.
Poirot finished the sentence for her.
"That it was you who entered by the window and stabbed Mr. Ackroyd as he sat in his chair? Yes, they might think just that."
"Nobody but a fool would think any such thing," said Caroline indignantly.
She patted Ursula on the shoulder.
[266]
