"Yes - it is all very neat."

"And the thing you can't get away from, to my mind, M. Poirot, is that he's the only person (he and his sister, that is to say) who has the ghost or shadow of a motive. Either David Hunter killed Underhay - or else Underhay was killed by some outsider who followed him here for some reason that we know nothing about - and that seems wildly improbable."

"Oh, I agree, I agree."

"You see, there's no one in Warmsley Vale who could possibly have a motive - unless by a coincidence someone is living here (other than the Hunters) who had a connection with Underhay in the past. I never rule out coincidence, but there hasn't been a hint or suggestion of anything of the kind. The man was a stranger to every one but that brother and sister."

Poirot nodded.

"To the Cloade family Robert Underhay would be the apple of their eye to be kept alive by every possible precaution. Robert Underhay, alive and kicking, means the certainty of a large fortune divided amongst them."

"Again, mon ami, I agree with you enthusiastically. Robert Underhay, alive and kicking, is what the Cloade family needs."

"So back we come - Rosaleen and David Hunter are the only two people who have a motive. Rosaleen Cloade was in London. But David, we know, was in Warmsley Vale that day. He arrived at 5.30 at Warmsley Heath station."

"So now we have Motive, written very big and the fact that at 5.30 and onward to some unspecified time, he was on the spot."

"Exactly. Now take Beatrice Lippincott's story. I believe that story. She overheard what she says she overheard, though she may have gingered it up a little, as is only human."

"Only human as you say."

"Apart from knowing the girl, I believe her because she couldn't have invented some of the things. She'd never heard of Robert Underhay before, for instance. So I believe her story of what passed between the two men and not David Hunter's."

"I, too," said Poirot. "She strikes me as a singularly truthful witness."

"We've confirmation that her story is true. What do you suppose the brother and sister went off to London for?"

"That is one of the things that has interested me most."

"Well, the money position's like this. Rosaleen Cloade has only a life interest in Gordon Cloade's estate. She can't touch the capital - except, I believe, for about a thousand pounds. But jewellery, etc., is hers. The first thing she did on going to town was to take some of the most valuable pieces round to Bond Street and sell them. She wanted a large sum of cash quickly - in other words she had to pay a blackmailer."

"You call that evidence against David Hunter?"

"Don't you?"

Poirot shook his head.