“I comprehend. Mr. Hammond, I take it that you are acquainted with the

provisions of Mr. Ackroyd’s will?”

 

“Certainly. That is my principal business here to-day.”

 

“Then, seeing that I am acting for Miss Ackroyd, you will not object to telling

me the terms of that will?”

 

“They are quite simple. Shorn of legal phraseology, and after paying certain

legacies and bequests——”

 

“Such as——?” interrupted Poirot.

 

Mr. Hammond seemed a little surprised.

 

“A thousand pounds to his housekeeper, Miss Russell; fifty pounds to the cook,

Emma Cooper; five hundred pounds to his secretary, Mr.

 

Geoffrey Raymond. Then to various hospitals——”

 

Poirot held up his hand.

 

“Ah! the charitable bequests, they interest me not.”