"
"But that door was bolted on the inside!" I cried.
"When I examined the room, yes. But in the first place we have
only her word for it, since it was she who tried that particular
door and reported it fastened. In the ensuing confusion she
would have had ample opportunity to shoot the bolt across. I
took an early opportunity of verifying my conjectures. To begin
with, the fragment corresponds exactly with a tear in Mrs.
Cavendish's armlet. Also, at the inquest, Mrs. Cavendish
declared that she had heard, from her own room, the fall of the
table by the bed. I took an early opportunity of testing that
statement by stationing my friend Monsieur Hastings in the left
wing of the building, just outside Mrs. Cavendish's door. I
myself, in company with the police, went to the deceased's room,
and whilst there I, apparently accidentally, knocked over the
table in question, but found that, as I had expected, Monsieur
Hastings had heard no sound at all. This confirmed my belief
that Mrs. Cavendish was not speaking the truth when she declared
that she had been dressing in her room at the time of the
tragedy.
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