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at the inquest. So you can't get much further that way, my dear.

"There is somebody in the train you badly want to murder. You want to murder him to-day, because his bankruptcy has just been declared, and if he is found dead people will think it is suicide. You have warned him to look out for himself⁠—I wonder why you did that? But of course you must have done it on Monday so as to give him a chance to save himself. . . . No, that won't do, because you didn't know anything about his bankruptcy before Tuesday. . . . But the message reached him on Tuesday morning. That is to say, you have a motive for killing him which is probably quite unconnected with his bankruptcy, which is not known about at present⁠—certainly kind Mr. Davenant does not know about it. He is not coming by this train, he is waiting till the 3.47. You sent this man a message on Monday, containing a cipher which depended on a book which was in his possession, which you knew was in his possession⁠—did you, perhaps, give him that book? It will be a nuisance to you later on, when it is found, and you will want to steal it.

"Meanwhile, the train is steaming on, and you must do something; you must get on with the murder. Is he in the same carriage, or in a different one? And if it's a different one, is there a corridor between? Let's see, there's a corridor on the three o'clock train, but it doesn't connect with the slip that comes off at Binver. Probably you are in the Binver slip, because the railway people always try