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Poirot answered them categorically--almost mechanically.
"
Who? That is the question. Why? Ah, if I only knew. When? Since I was
here an hour ago. As to the door being locked, it is a very ordinary lock.
Probably any other of the doorkeys in this passage would fit it."
We stared at one another blankly. Poirot had walked over to the mantel-
piece. He was outwardly calm, but I noticed his hands, which from long
force of habit were mechanically straightening the spill vases on the mantel-
piece, were shaking violently.
"See here, it was like this," he said at last. "There was something in that
case--some piece of evidence, slight in itself perhaps, but still enough of a
clue to connect the murderer with the crime. It was vital to him that it
should be destroyed before it was discovered and its significance
appreciated. Therefore, he took the risk, the great risk, of coming in here.
Finding the case locked, he was obliged to force it, thus betraying his
presence. For him to take that risk, it must have been something of great
importance."
"But what was it?"
"Ah!" cried Poirot, with a gesture of anger. "That, I do not know! A document
of some kind, without doubt, possibly the scrap of paper Dorcas saw in her
hand yesterday afternoon. And I--" his anger burst forth freely--"miserable
animal that I am! I guessed nothing! I have behaved like an imbecile! I
should never have left that case here. I should have carried it away with me.
Ah, triple pig! And now it is gone. It is destroyed--but is it destroyed? Is
there not yet a chance--we must leave no stone unturned--"
He rushed like a madman from the room, and I followed him as soon as I
had sufficiently recovered my wits. But, by the time I had reached the top of
the stairs, he was out of sight.
Mary Cavendish was standing where the staircase branched, staring down
into the hall in the direction in which he had disappeared.
"
What has happened to your extraordinary little friend, Mr. Hastings? He
has just rushed past me like a mad bull."
"
He's rather upset about something," I remarked feebly. I really did not know
how much Poirot would wish me to disclose. As I saw a faint smile gather on
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