And
now let us attack this mystery in a sane and businesslike manner. You
have already examined the room. Well, here is a rough sketch of it.
There is the table; in this corner stood the chair on which the coat
was flung. Here sat Gibbes at the head of the table. Those on the
left-hand side had their backs to the chair. I, being on the centre to
the right, saw the chair, the coat, and the notes, and called
attention to them. Now our first duty is to find a motive. If it were
a murder, our motive might be hatred, revenge, robbery--what you like.
As it is simply the stealing of money, the man must have been either a
born thief or else some hitherto innocent person pressed to the crime
by great necessity. Do you agree with me, Monsieur Valmont?'
'Perfectly. You follow exactly the line of my own reasoning.'
'Very well. It is unlikely that a born thief was one of Mr. Gibbes's
guests. Therefore we are reduced to look for a man under the spur of
necessity; a man who has no money of his own but who must raise a
certain amount, let us say, by a certain date. If we can find such a
man in that company, do you not agree with me that he is likely to be
the thief?'
'Yes, I do.'
'Then let us start our process of elimination.
Pages:
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141