Dr. Gerard missed a hypodermic syringe.
3.
Mrs. Boynton took definite pleasure in keeping her family from enjoying themselves with other people.
4.
Mrs. Boynton, on the afternoon in question, encouraged her family to go away and leave her.
5.
Mrs. Boynton was a mental sadist.
6.
The distance from the marquee to the place where Mrs. Boynton was sitting is (roughly) two hundred yards.
7.
M. Lennox Boynton said at first he did not know what time he returned to the camp, but later he admitted having set his mother's wristwatch to the right time.
8.
Dr. Gerard and Miss Ginevra Boynton occupied tents next door to each other.
9.
At half-past six, when dinner was ready, a servant was dispatched to announce the fact to Mrs. Boynton.
10.
Mrs. Boynton, in Jerusalem, used these words: 'I never forget.
Remember that. I've never forgotten anything.'
Although I have numbered the points separately, occasionally they can be bracketed in pairs.
That is the case, for instance, with the first two.
Mrs. Boynton was taking a mixture containing digitalis.
Dr. Gerard had missed a hypodermic syringe.
Those two points were the first thing that struck me about the case, and I may say to you that I found them most extraordinary - and quite irreconcilable.
You do not see what I mean?
No matter. I will return to the point presently.
Let it suffice that I noted those two points as something that had definitely got to be explained satisfactorily."
"I will conclude now with my study of the possibility of Raymond Boynton's guilt.
The following are the facts: He had been heard to discuss the possibility of taking Mrs. Boynton's life.
He was in a condition of great nervous excitement.
He had - Mademoiselle will forgive me - "he bowed apologetically to Sarah - "just passed through a moment of great emotional crisis. That is, he had fallen in love.
The exaltation of his feelings might lead him to act in one of several ways.
He might feel mellowed and softened towards the world in general, including his stepmother, he might feel the courage at last to defy her and shake off her influence or he might find just the additional spur to turn his crime from theory to practice.
That is the psychology!
Let us now examine the facts."
"Raymond Boynton left the camp with the others about three-fifteen.
Mrs. Boynton was then alive and well.
Before long Raymond and Sarah King had a tete-a-tete interview.
Then he left her.
According to him, he returned to the camp at ten minutes to six. He went up to his mother, exchanged a few words with her, then went to his tent and afterwards down to the marquee.
He says that at ten minutes to six Mrs. Boynton was alive and well."
"But we now come to a fact which directly contradicts that statement.
At half-past six Mrs. Boynton's death was discovered by a servant.
Miss King, who holds a medical degree, examined her body and she swears definitely that at that time, though she did not pay any special attention to the time when death had occurred, it had most certainly and decisively taken place at least an hour (and probably a good deal more) before six o'clock."
"We have here, you see, two conflicting statements.
Setting aside the possibility that Miss King may have made a mistake - "
Sarah interrupted him. "I don't make mistakes. That is, if I had, I would admit to it." Her tone was hard and clear.
Poirot bowed to her politely.
"Then there are only two possibilities - either Miss King or M. Boynton is lying!
Let us examine Raymond Boynton's reasons for so doing.
Let us assume that Miss King was not mistaken and not deliberately lying.