Mrs Ackroyd asked me to visit her early on Tuesday morning. She was in bed.

'Well, Mrs Ackroyd,' I said, 'what's the matter with you?'

'It's the shock of poor Roger's death. And then yesterday, that meeting with that dreadful little Frenchman - or Belgian - or whatever he is. He was bullying us. Does he really imagine I'm hiding something? He - he - positively accused me yesterday.'

'It doesn't matter, surely, Mrs Ackroyd. Since you are not hiding anything...'

Mrs Ackroyd looked away. 'Servants do gossip, and talk amongst themselves. And then rumors get round everyone... You were with Monsieur Poirot all the time, weren't you, Doctor? It was that girl, Ursula Bourne, wasn't it? She's leaving. She would want to make all the trouble she could. You must know exactly what she said. That girl may have said all sorts of things about - about something she saw me do, just to cause trouble.'

Poirot had been right. Of the six people round the table yesterday, Mrs Ackroyd at least had something to hide.

'If I were you, Mrs Ackroyd,' I said, 'I would tell Monsieur Poirot whatever it is you're hiding.'

'Oh!' Mrs Ackroyd began crying. 'I had hoped, Doctor, that you might tell Monsieur Poirot - explain it, you know. Even the smallest bill for something I'd bought - Roger would question it, as if he earned only a few hundred pounds a year instead of being a very wealthy man. Those dreadful bills! Some I didn't like to show Roger at all...

'And then I got a letter from a Scottish gentleman - Mr Bruce MacPherson, who was prepared to lend me anything from ten pounds to ten thousand pounds... I wrote to him, but there were difficulties. He needed to know that I would be able to repay the loan. And although I expected that Roger would provide for me on his death, I didn't know. I thought that if only I could see his will... Well, on Friday afternoon everyone was out, or so I thought. And I went into Roger's study - I had a real reason for going there - and when I saw all the papers on the desk, I suddenly had an idea: "I wonder if Roger keeps his will in one of the drawers of the desk."'

'I see,' I said. 'So you searched the desk. Did you find the will?'