He paused. "So, in this case, although you have lied to me, you have also, unwittingly, told me the truth."

He heard a faint sigh, the scrape of a chair on the floor to his right, but he did not look around. He continued to look at the Boyntons.

"First, I examined the possibility of Mrs. Boynton's having died a natural death—and I decided against it. The missing drug, the hypodermic syringe, and above all, the attitude of the dead lady's family all convinced me that that supposition could not be entertained. Not only was Mrs. Boynton killed in cold blood—but every member of her family was aware of the fact! Collectively they reacted as guilty parties."

"But there are degrees in guilt. I examined the evidence carefully with a view to ascertaining whether the murder—yes, it was murder!—had been committed by the old lady's family acting on a concerted plan. There was, I may say, overwhelming motive. One and all stood to gain by her death—both in the financial sense—for they would at once attain financial independence and indeed enjoy very considerable wealth—and also in the sense of being freed from what had become an almost insupportable tyranny."

"To continue: I decided, almost immediately, that the concerted theory would not hold water. The stories of the Boynton family did not dovetail neatly into each other and no system of workable alibis had been arranged. The facts seemed more to suggest that one—or possibly two members of the family had acted in collusion and that the others were accessories after the fact."

"I next considered which particular member or members were indicated. Here, I may say, I was inclined to be biased by a certain piece of evidence known only to myself."

Here Poirot recounted his experience in Jerusalem.

"Naturally, that pointed very strongly to M. Raymond Boynton as the prime mover in the affair. Studying the family I came to the conclusion that the most likely recipient of his confidences that night would be his sister Carol. They strongly resembled each other in appearance and temperament, and so would have a keen bond of sympathy and they also possessed the nervous rebellious temperament necessary for the conception of such an act. That their motives were partly unselfish—to free the whole family and particularly their younger sister—only made the planning of the deed more plausible."

Poirot paused a minute.

Raymond Boynton half opened his lips, then shut them again. His eyes looked steadily at Poirot with a kind of dumb agony in them.

"Before I go into the case against Raymond Boynton, I would like to read to you a list of significant points which I drew up and submitted to Colonel Carbury this afternoon:

SIGNIFICANT POINTS

1. Mrs. Boynton was taking a mixture containing digitalis.

2. Dr. Gerard missed a hypodermic syringe.

3. Mrs. Boynton took definite pleasure in keeping her family from enjoying themselves with other people.

4. Mrs. Boynton, on the afternoon in question, encouraged her family to go away and leave her.