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The murder of Roger Ackroyd
Mrs
.
Ferrars
died
on
the
night
of
the
16th17th
September
–
a
Thursday
.
I
was
sent
for
at
eight
o
’
clock
on
the
morning
of
Friday
the
17th
.
There
was
nothing
to
be
done
.
She
had
been
dead
some
hours
.
It
was
just
a
few
minutes
after
nine
when
I
reached
home
once
more
.
I
opened
the
front
door
with
my
latchkey
,
and
purposely
delayed
a
few
moments
in
the
hall
,
hanging
up
my
hat
and
the
light
overcoat
that
I
had
deemed
a
wise
precaution
against
the
chill
of
an
early
autumn
morning
.
To
tell
the
truth
,
I
was
considerably
upset
and
worried
.
I
am
not
going
to
pretend
that
at
that
moment
I
foresaw
the
events
of
the
next
few
weeks
.
I
emphatically
did
not
do
so
.
But
my
instinct
told
me
that
there
were
stirring
times
ahead
.
From
the
dining
-
room
on
my
left
there
came
the
rattle
of
tea
-
cups
and
the
short
,
dry
cough
of
my
sister
Caroline
.
"
Is
that
you
,
James
?
"
she
called
.
An
unnecessary
question
,
since
who
else
could
it
be
?
To
tell
the
truth
,
it
was
precisely
my
sister
Caroline
who
was
the
cause
of
my
few
minutes
"
delay
.
The
motto
of
the
mongoose
family
,
so
Mr
.
Kipling
tells
us
,
is
:
"
Go
and
find
out
.
"
If
Caroline
ever
adopts
a
crest
,
I
should
certainly
suggest
a
mongoose
rampant
.
One
might
omit
the
first
part
of
the
motto
.
Caroline
can
do
any
amount
of
finding
out
by
sitting
placidly
at
home
.
I
don
’
t
know
how
she
manages
it
,
but
there
it
is
.
I
suspect
that
the
servants
and
the
tradesmen
constitute
her
Intelligence
Corps
.
When
she
goes
out
,
it
is
not
to
gather
in
information
,
but
to
spread
it
.
At
that
,
too
,
she
is
amazingly
expert
.
It
was
really
this
last
named
trait
of
hers
which
was
causing
me
these
pangs
of
indecision
.
Whatever
I
told
Caroline
now
concerning
the
demise
of
Mrs
.
Ferrars
would
be
common
knowledge
all
over
the
village
within
the
space
of
an
hour
and
a
half
.
As
a
professional
man
,
I
naturally
aim
at
discretion
.
Therefore
I
have
got
into
the
habit
of
continually
withholding
all
information
possible
from
my
sister
.
She
usually
finds
out
just
the
same
,
but
I
have
the
moral
satisfaction
of
knowing
that
I
am
in
no
way
to
blame
.
Mrs
.
Ferrars
"
husband
died
just
over
a
year
ago
,
and
Caroline
has
constantly
asserted
,
without
the
least
foundation
for
the
assertion
,
that
his
wife
poisoned
him
.
