'But Parker is the most likely. It is in my mind to try a little experiment with Parker. How say you, my friend, will you accompany me to Fernly?' I acquiesced, and we set out at once. Poirot asked to see Miss Ackroyd, and presently Flora came to us.
'Mademoiselle Flora,' said Poirot, 'I have to confide in you a little secret. I am not yet satisfied of the innocence of Parker. I propose to make a little experiment with your assistance. I want to reconstruct some of his actions on that night. But we must think of something to tell him - ah! I have it. I wish to satisfy myself as to whether voices in the little lobby could have been heard outside on the terrace.
Now, ring for Parker, if you will be so good.' I did so, and presently the butler appeared, suave as ever.
'You rang, sir?' 'Yes, my good Parker. I have in mind a little experiment.
I have placed Major Blunt on the terrace outside the study window. I want to see if anyone there could have heard the voices of Miss Ackroyd and yourself in the lobby that night.
I want to enact that little scene over again. Perhaps you would fetch the tray or whatever it was you were carrying?' Parker vanished, and we repaired to the lobby outside the study door. Presently we heard a chink in the outer hall, and Parker appeared in the doorway carrying a tray with a siphon, a decanter of whisky, and two glasses on it.
'One moment,' cried Poirot, raising his hand and seemingly very excited. 'We must have everything in order.
Just as it occurred. It is a little method of mine.' 'A foreign custom, sir,' said Parker. 'Reconstruction of the crime they call it, do they not?' He was quite imperturbable as he stood there politely waiting on Poirot's orders.
'Ah! he knows something, the good Parker,' cried Poirot.
'He has read of these things. Now, I beg you, let us have everything of the most exact. You came from the outer hall - so. Mademoiselle was - where?' 'Here,' said Flora, taking up her stand just outside the study door.
'Quite right, sir,' said Parker.
'I had just closed the door,' continued Flora.
'Yes, miss,' agreed Parker. 'Your hand was still on the handle as it is now.' 'Then allez,' said Poirot. 'Play me the little comedy.' Flora stood with her hand on the door handle, and Parker came stepping through the door from the hall, bearing the tray.
He stopped just inside the door. Flora spoke.
'Oh! Parker. Mr Ackroyd doesn't want to be disturbed again tonight.' 'Is that right?' she added in an undertone.
'To the best of my recollection, Miss Flora,' said Parker, 'but I fancy you used the word evening instead of night.' Then, raising his voice in a somewhat theatrical fashion: 'Very good, miss. Shall I lock up as usual?' 'Yes, please.' Parker retired through the door. Flora followed him, and started to ascend the main staircase.
'Is that enough?' she asked over her shoulder.
'Admirable,' declared the little man, rubbing his hands.
'By the way, Parker, are you sure there were two glasses on the tray that evening? Who was the second one for?' 'I always bring two glasses, sir,' said Parker. 'Is there anything further?' 'Nothing. I thank you.' Parker withdrew, dignified to the last.
Poirot stood in the middle of the hall frowning. Flora came down and joined us.
'Has your experiment been successful?' she asked. 'I don't quite understand, you know -' Poirot smiled admiringly at her.
'It is not necessary that you should,' he said. 'But tell me, were there indeed two glasses on Parker's tray that night?' Flora wrinkled her brows a minute.
'I really can't remember,' she said. 'I think there were. Is - is that the object of your experiment?' Poirot took her hand and patted it.
'Put it this way,' he said. 'I am always interested to see if people will speak the truth.' 'And did Parker speak the truth?' 'I rather think he did,' said Poirot thoughtfully.
A few minutes later saw us retracing our steps to the village.
'What was the point of that question about the glasses?' I asked curiously.
Poirot shrugged his shoulders.
'One must say something,' he remarked. 'That particular question did as well as any other.' I stared at him.
'At any rate, my friend,' he said seriously, 'I know now something I wanted to know. Let us leave it at that.'
Chapter 14. An Evening at Mah Jong
That night we had a little Mah Jong party. This kind of simple entertainment is very popular in King's Abbot. The guests arrive in goloshes and waterproofs after dinner. They partake of coffee and later of cake, sandwiches and tea.
On this particular night our guests were Miss Gannett and Colonel Carter, who lives near the church. A good deal of gossip is handed round at these evenings, sometimes seriously interfering with the game in progress. We used to play bridge - chatty bridge of the worst description. We find Mah Jong much more peaceful. The irritated demand as to why on earth your partner did not lead a certain card is entirely done away with, and though we still express criticisms frankly, there is not the same acrimonious spirit.
'Very cold evening, eh, Sheppard?' said Colonel Carter, standing with his back to the fire. Caroline had taken Miss Gannett to her own room, and was there assisting her to disentangle herself from her many wraps. 'Reminds me of the Afghan passes.' 'Indeed?' I said politely.
'Very mysterious business this about poor Ackroyd,' continued the colonel, accepting a cup of coffee. 'A deuce of a lot behind it - that's what I say. Between you and me, Sheppard, I've heard the word blackmail mentioned!' The colonel gave me the look which might be tabulated 'one man of the world to another.' 'A woman in it, no doubt,' he said. 'Depend upon it, a woman in it.' Caroline and Miss Gannett joined us at this minute. Miss Gannett drank coffee whilst Caroline got out the Mah Jong box and poured out the tiles upon the table.
'Washing the tiles,' said the colonel facetiously. 'That's right - washing the tiles, as we used to say in the Shanghai Club.' It is the private opinion of both Caroline and myself that Colonel Carter has never been in the Shanghai Club in his life. More, that he has never been farther east than India, where he juggled with tins of bully beef and plum and apple jam during the Great War. But the colonel is determinedly military, and in King's Abbot we permit people to indulge their little idiosyncrasies freely.
'Shall we begin?' said Caroline.
We sat round the table. For some five minutes there was complete silence, owing to the fact that there is tremendous secret competition amongst us as to who can build their wall quickest.
'Go on, James,' said Caroline at last. 'You're East Wind.' I discarded a tile. A round or two proceeded, broken by the monotonous remarks of 'Three Bamboos,' 'Two Circles,' 'Pung,' and frequently from Miss Gannett 'Unpung,' owing to that lady's habit of too hastily claiming tiles to which she had no right.
'I saw Flora Ackroyd this morning,' said Miss Gannett.
'Pung - no - Unpung. I made a mistake.' 'Four Circles,' said Caroline. 'Where did you see her?' 'She didn't see me,' said Miss Gannett, with that tremendous significance only to be met with in small villages.
'Ah!' said Caroline interestedly. 'Chow.' 'I believe,' said Miss Gannett, temporarily diverted, 'that it's the right thing nowadays to say "Chee" not "Chow."' 'Nonsense,' said Caroline. 'I have always said "Chow."' 'In the Shanghai Club,' said Colonel Carter, 'they say "Chow;" Miss Gannett retired, crushed.
'What were you saying about Flora Ackroyd?' asked Caroline, after a moment or two devoted to the game. 'Was she with anyone?' 'Very much so,' said Miss Gannett.
The eyes of the two ladies met, and seemed to exchange information.
'Really,' said Caroline interestedly. 'Is that it? Well, it doesn't surprise me in the least.' 'We're waiting for you to discard. Miss Caroline,' said the colonel. He sometimes affects the pose of the bluff male, intent on the game and indifferent to gossip. But nobody is deceived.