discovery of the beard in the attic, completed his evidence.
But Sir Ernest’s cross-examination was yet to come.
“What day was it when you searched the prisoner’s room?”
“Tuesday, the 24th of July.”
“Exactly a week after the tragedy?”
“Yes.”
“You found these two objects, you say, in the chest of drawers. Was the drawer unlocked?”
“Yes.”
“Does it not strike you as unlikely that a man who had committed a crime should keep the evidence of it in an unlocked drawer for anyone to find?”
“He might have stowed them there in a hurry.”
be?” I mused, won over to Poirot’s views for the moment, although still retaining a faint conviction that the obvious deduction was the correct one.
“Can you not guess?” asked Poirot, smiling.
“No, can you?”
“Oh, yes, I had a little idea sometime ago—and it has turned out to be correct.”
“You never told me,” I said reproachfully.