‘You are Ursula Bourne?’ asked the inspector.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I understand you are leaving?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Why is that?’
‘I disarranged some papers on Mr Ackroyd’s desk. He was very angry about it, and I said I had better leave. he told me to go as soon as possible.’
‘Were you in Mr Ackroyd’s bedroom at all last night? Tidying up or anything?’
‘No, sir. That is Elsie’s work. I never went near that part of the house.’
‘I must tell you, my girl, that a large sum of money is missing from Mr Ackroyd’s room.’
At last I saw her roused. A wave of colour swept over her face.
‘I know nothing about any money. If you think I took it, and that that is why Mr Ackroyd dismissed me, you are wrong.’
‘I’m not accusing you of taking it, my girl,’ said the inspector. ‘Don’t flare up so.’
The girl looked at him coldly.
‘You can search my things if you like,’ she said disdainfully. ‘But you won’t find anything.’
Poirot suddenly interposed.
‘It was yesterday afternoon that Mr Ackroyd dismissed you – or you dismissed yourself, was it not?’ he asked.
The girl nodded.
‘How long did the interview last?’
‘The interview?’
‘Yes, the interview between you and Mr Ackroyd in the study?’
‘I–I don’t know.’
‘Twenty minutes? Half an hour?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Not longer?’
‘Not longer than half an hour, certainly.’
‘Thank you, mademoiselle.’
I looked curiously at him. He was rearranging a few objects on the table, setting them straight with precise fingers. His eyes were shining.
‘That’ll do,’ said the inspector.
Ursula Bourne disappeared. The inspector turned to Miss Russell.
‘How long has she been here? have you got a copy of the reference you had with her?’
Without answering the first question, Miss Russell moved to an adjacent bureau, opened one of the drawers, and took out a handful of letters clipped together with a patent fastener. She selected one and handed it to the inspector.
‘H’m,’ said he. ‘reads all right. Mrs Richard Folliott, Marby grange, Marby. Who’s this woman?’
‘Quite good country people,’ said Miss Russell.
‘Well,’ said the inspector, handing it back, ‘let’s have a look at the other one, Elsie Dale.’
Elsie Dale was a big fair girl, with a pleasant but slightly stupid face. She answered our questions readily enough, and showed much distress and concern at the loss of the money.
‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her,’ observed the inspector, after he had dismissed her. ‘What about Parker?’
Miss Russell pursed her lips together and made no reply.
‘I’ve a feeling there’s something wrong about that man,’ the inspector continued thoughtfully. ‘The trouble is that I don’t quite see when he got his opportunity. he’d be busy with his duties immediately after dinner, and he’d got a pretty good alibi all through the evening. I know, for I’ve been devoting particular attention to it. Well, thank you very much, Miss russell. We’ll leave things as they are for the present. It’s highly probable Mr Ackroyd paid that money away himself.’
The housekeeper bade us a dry good afternoon, and we took our leave.
I left the house with Poirot.
‘I wonder,’ I said, breaking the silence, ‘what the papers the girl disarranged could have been for Ackroyd to have got into such a state about them? I wonder if there is any clue there to the mystery.’
‘The secretary said there were no papers of particular importance on the desk,’ said Poirot quietly.
