“The American stranger. He may have been in league with Parker, and possibly in

Parker we have the man who blackmailed Mrs. Ferrars. If so, Parker may have

heard enough to realize the game was up, have told his accomplice so, and the

latter did the crime with the dagger which Parker gave him.”

 

“It is a theory that,” admitted Poirot. “Decidedly you have cells of a kind. But

it leaves a good deal unaccounted for.”

 

“Such as——?”

 

“The telephone call, the pushed-out chair——”

 

“Do you really think the latter important?” I interrupted.

 

“Perhaps not,” admitted my friend. “It may have been pulled out by accident, and

Raymond or Blunt may have shoved it into place unconsciously under the stress of

emotion. Then there is the missing forty pounds.”

 

“Given by Ackroyd to Ralph,” I suggested. “He may have reconsidered his first

refusal.”

 

“That still leaves one thing unexplained?”

 

“What?”