handle are those of Mr. Ackroyd himself. It is an easy matter to verify. His

body is still available.”

 

“But why? What would be the point of it? You’re surely not suggesting suicide,

Mr. Poirot?”

 

“Ah! no. My theory is that the murderer wore gloves or wrapped something round

his hand. After the blow was struck, he picked up the victim’s hand and closed

it round the dagger handle.”

 

“But why?”

 

Poirot shrugged his shoulders again.

 

“To make a confusing case even more confusing.”

 

“Well,” said the inspector, “I’ll look into it. What gave you the idea in the

first place?”

 

“When you were so kind as to show me the dagger and draw attention to the

fingerprints. I know very little of loops and whorls—see, I confess my ignorance

frankly. But it did occur to me that the position of the prints was somewhat

awkward. Not so would I have held a dagger in order to strike. Naturally, with

the right hand brought up over the shoulder backwards, it would have been

difficult to put it in exactly the right position.”