“Well,” I said, “what about them?”

 

“M. Poirot thought they were probably brown. He was wrong. They’re black.”

 

And Caroline nodded her head several times. She evidently felt that she had

scored a point over Poirot.

 

I did not answer. I was puzzling over what the color of a pair of Ralph Paton’s

boots had to do with the case.

 

CHAPTER XV

 

GEOFFREY RAYMOND

 

I was to have a further proof that day of the success of Poirot’s tactics. That

challenge of his had been a subtle touch born of his knowledge of human nature.

A mixture of fear and guilt had wrung the truth from Mrs. Ackroyd. She was the

first to react.

 

That afternoon when I returned from seeing my patients, Caroline told me that

Geoffrey Raymond had just left.

 

“Did he want to see me?” I asked, as I hung up my coat in the hall.