Inglethorp. Because, in no
other way can you account for the fact that, on one of the
hottest days of the year, Mrs. Inglethorp ordered a fire to be
lighted in her room."
I gave a gasp. What idiots we had been never to think of that
fire as being incongruous! Poirot was continuing:
"The temperature on that day, messieurs, was 80 degrees in the
shade. Yet Mrs. Inglethorp ordered a fire! Why? Because she
wished to destroy something, and could think of no other way.
You will remember that, in consequence of the War economics
practiced at Styles, no waste paper was thrown away. There was
therefore no means of destroying a thick document such as a will.
The moment I heard of a fire being lighted in Mrs. Inglethorp's
room, I leaped to the conclusion that it was to destroy some
important document--possibly a will. So the discovery of the
charred fragment in the grate was no surprise to me. I did not,
of course, know at the time that the will in question had only
been made this afternoon, and I will admit that, when I learnt
that fact, I fell into a grievous error.
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