t I don't
at all see how it could have been done. The whole thing is absurd and
ridiculous to the last degree."

"Still you are right in one thing. It is always wise to suspect
everybody until you can prove logically, and to your own satisfaction,
that they are innocent. Now, what reasons are there against Miss
Howard's having deliberately poisoned Mrs. Inglethorp?"

"Why, she was devoted to her!" I exclaimed.

"Tcha! Tcha!" cried Poirot irritably. "You argue like a child. If
Miss Howard were capable of poisoning the old lady, she would be quite
equally capable of simulating devotion. No, we must look elsewhere.
You are perfectly correct in your assumption that her vehemence against
Alfred Inglethorp is too violent to be natural; but you are quite wrong
in the deduction you draw from it. I have drawn my own deductions, which
I believe to be correct, but I will not speak of them at present." He
paused a minute, then went on. "Now, to my way of thinking, there is one
insuperable objection to Miss Howard's being the murderess."

"And that is?"

"That in no possible way could Mrs. Inglethorp's death benefit Miss
Howard. Now there is no murder without a motive."

I reflected.

"Could not Mrs. Inglethorp have made a will in her favour?" Poirot shook
his head.

"But you yourself suggested that possibility to Mr. Wells?"

Poirot smiled.

"That was for a reason. I did not want to mention the name of the person
who was actually in my mind. Miss Howard occupied very much the same
position, so I used her name instead."

"Still, Mrs. Inglethorp might have done so. Why, that will, made on the
afternoon of her death may----"

But Poirot's shake of the head was so energetic that I stopped.

"No, my friend. I have certain little ideas of my own about that will.
But I can tell you this much--it was not in Miss Howard's favour."

I accepted his assurance, though I did not really see how he could be so
positive about the matter.

"Well," I said, with a sigh, "we will acquit Miss Howard, then. It is
partly your fault that I ever came to suspect her. It was what you said
about her evidence at the inquest that set me off."

Poirot looked puzzled.

"What did I say about her evidence at the inquest?"

"Don't you remember? When I cited her and John Cavendish as being above
suspicion?"

"Oh--ah--yes." He seemed a little confused, but recovered himself. "By
the way, Hastings, there is something I want you to do for me."