Agatha Christie - The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd - Chapter 16

Sit back and relax as I continue reading Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. This is chapter sixteen. A 24.5-minute story with an additional 3 minutes of relaxing music.

The story: The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells” before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.

Transcript

Welcome to Restful Journeys.

In this track I will continue reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

This will be chapter 16.

Please find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and relax.

Take a few moments to clear your mind and allow yourself to listen to these words and help you relax.

Let's continue with chapter 16,

An Evening at Mahjong.

That night we had a little mahjong party.

This kind of simple entertainment is very popular in King's Abbot.

The guests arrive in galoshes and waterproofs after dinner.

They partake of coffee and later of cake,

Sandwiches and tea.

On this particular night our guests were Miss Gannett and Colonel Carter,

Who lives near the church.

A good deal of gossip is handed round at these evenings,

Sometimes seriously interfering with the game and progress.

We used to play bridge,

Chatty bridge of the worst description.

We find mahjong much more peaceful.

The irritated demand as to why on earth your partner did not lead a certain card is entirely done away with,

And though we still express criticisms frankly,

There is not the same incrimonious spirit.

Very cold evening,

Eh,

Dr.

Shepard?

" said Colonel Carter,

Standing with his back to the fire.

Caroline had taken Miss Gannett to her own room and was there insisting her to disentangle herself from her many raps.

Reminds me of Afghan passes.

"Indeed?

" I said politely.

Very mysterious business this about poor Aykroyd,

" continued the colonel,

Accepting a cup of coffee.

A deuce of a lot behind it,

That's what I say.

Between you and me,

Shepard,

I've heard the word blackmail mentioned.

" The colonel gave me the look which might be tabulated one man of the world to another.

A woman in it,

No doubt,

" he said,

Depend upon it,

A woman in it.

Caroline and Miss Gannett joined us at this minute.

Miss Gannett drank coffee whilst Caroline got out the mahjong box and poured out the tiles upon the table.

Washing the tiles,

" said the colonel,

Facetiously,

That's right,

Washing the tiles as we used to say in the Shanghai club.

It is this private opinion of both Caroline and myself that Colonel Carter has never been in the Shanghai club in his life,

More that he has never been farthest east than India where he juggled with tins of bully beef and plum and apple jam during the great war.

But the colonel is determinedly military and in King's Abbot we permit people to indulge their little idiosyncrasies freely.

Shall we begin,

" said Caroline.

We sat round the table.

For some five minutes there was complete silence owing to the fact that there is a tremendous secret competition amongst us as to who can build their wall quickest.

Go on,

James,

" said Caroline at last,

Your east wind.

I discarded a tile.

A round or two proceeded,

Broken by the monotonous remarks of the three bamboos,

Two circles,

Pung,

And frequently from Miss Gannett,

Unpung,

Owing to that lady's habit of too hastily claiming tiles to which she had no right.

I saw Flora Aykroyd this morning,

" said Miss Gannett.

Pung,

No,

Unpung,

I made a mistake.

Four circles,

" said Caroline.

Where did you see her?

She didn't see me,

" said Miss Gannett with that tremendous significance only to be met with in small villages.

Ah,

" said Caroline interestedly,

Chow,

I believe,

" said Miss Gannett,

Temporarily diverted,

That it's the right thing nowadays to say chi,

Not chow.

Nonsense,

" said Caroline.

I have always said chow.

In the Shanghai club,

" said Colonel Carter,

They say chow.

Miss Gannett retired,

Crushed.

What were you saying about Flora Aykroyd?

" said Caroline after a moment or two devoted to the game.

Was she with anyone?

Very much so,

" said Miss Gannett.

The eyes of the two ladies met and seemed to exchange information.

Really,

" said Caroline interestedly.

Is that it?

Well,

It doesn't surprise me in the least.

We are waiting for you to discard Miss Caroline,

" said the Colonel.

He sometimes affects the pose of the bluff male,

Intent on the game and indifferent to gossip,

But nobody is deceived.

If you ask me,

" said Miss Gannett,

Was that a bamboo you discarded,

Dear?

Oh,

No,

I see now it was a circle.

Well,

As I was saying,

If you ask me,

Flora's been exceedingly lucky,

Exceedingly lucky she's been.

" How's that,

Miss Gannett?

" asked the Colonel.

I'll pung that green dragon.

How do you make out that Miss Flora's been lucky?

Very charming girl and all that,

I know.

I may know very much about crime,

" said Miss Gannett.

With the air of one who knows everything there is to know.

But I can tell you one thing.

The first question that's always asked is,

Who last saw the deceased alive?

And the person who did is regarded with suspicion.

Now Flora Aykroyd last saw her uncle alive.

It might have looked very nasty for her,

Very nasty indeed.

It's my opinion,

And I give it for what it's worth,

That Ralph Payton is staying away on her account to draw suspicion away from her.

Come now,

" I protested moderately.

You surely can't suggest that a young girl like Flora Aykroyd is capable of stabbing her uncle in cold blood.

Well,

I don't know,

" said Miss Gannett.

I've just been reading a book from the library about the underworld of Paris,

And it says that some of the worst women criminals are young girls with faces of angels.

That's in France,

" said Caroline instantly.

Just so,

" said the Colonel.

Now I'll tell you a very curious thing,

A story that is going round the bazaars in India.

The Colonel's story was one of interminable length and of curiously little interest.

A thing that happened in India many years ago cannot compare for a moment with an event that took place in King's Abbot the day before yesterday.

It was Caroline who brought the Colonel's story to a close by fortunately going mahjong.

After the slight unpleasantness always occasioned by my corrections of Caroline's somewhat faulty arithmetic we started a new hand.

East wind passes,

" said Caroline.

I've got an idea of my own about Ralph Payton,

Three characters,

But I'm keeping it to myself for the present.

Are you dear?

" said Miss Gannett.

Chow,

I mean Pung.

Yes,

" said Caroline firmly.

Was it all right about the boots?

" asked Miss Gannett.

There being black I mean.

Quite all right,

" said Caroline.

What was the point do you think?

" asked Miss Gannett.

Caroline pursed up her lips and shook her head with an air of knowing all about it.

Pung,

" said Miss Gannett.

No,

Un-Pung.

I suppose that now the doctor's in with M.

Pierrot.

He knows all the secrets.

" Far from it,

" I said.

James is so modest,

" said Caroline.

Ah,

A concealed kong.

The colonel gave vent to a whistle.

For the moment gossip was forgotten.

Your own wind too,

" he said.

And you've got two Pungs of dragons.

We must be careful.

Miss Caroline's out for a big hand.

We played for some minutes with no irrelevant conversation.

This M.

Pierrot now,

" said Colonel Carter.

Is he really such a good detective?

The greatest the world has ever known,

" said Caroline solemnly.

He had to come here incognito to avoid publicity.

Ciao,

" said Miss Gannett.

Quite wonderful for our little village,

I'm sure.

By the way,

Clara,

My maid,

You know,

Is great friends with Elsie.

The housemaid at Fernley.

And what do you think Elsie told her?

That there's been a lot of money stolen,

And it's her opinion,

Elsie's I mean,

That the parlor maid had something to do with it.

She's leaving at the month,

And she's crying a good deal at night.

If you ask me,

The girl is very likely in league with a gang.

She's always been a queer girl.

She's not friends with any of the girls around here.

She goes off by herself on her days out.

Very unnatural,

I call it.

And most suspicious.

I asked her once to come to our girls' friendly evenings,

But she refused.

And then I asked her a few questions about her home and her family.

All,

All that sort of thing.

And I'm bound to say I considered her manner most impertinent.

Outwardly,

Very respectful,

But she shut me up in the most barefaced way.

Miss Gannett stopped for a breath,

And the colonel,

Who was totally uninterested in the servant question,

Remarked that in the Shanghai club,

Brisk play was the invariable rule.

We had a round of brisk play.

That,

Miss Russell,

Said Caroline.

She came here pretending to consult James on Friday morning.

It's my opinion she wanted to see where the poisons were kept.

Five characters.

Ciao,

Said Miss Gannett.

What an extraordinary idea.

I wonder if you can be right.

Talking of poisons,

Said the colonel.

Eh,

What?

Haven't I discarded?

Oh,

Eight bamboos.

My junk,

Said Miss Gannett.

Caroline was very much annoyed.

One red dragon,

She said regretfully.

And I should have had a hand of three doubles.

I've had two red dragons all the time,

I mentioned.

So exactly like you,

James,

Said Caroline reproachfully.

You've no conception of the spirit of the game.

I,

Myself,

Thought I had played rather cleverly.

I should have had to pay Caroline an enormous amount if she had gone mahjong.

Miss Gannett's mahjong was of the poorest variety possible,

And Caroline did not fail to point out to her.

East wind passes,

And we started a new hand in silence.

What I was going to tell you just now was this,

Said Caroline.

Yes,

Said Miss Gannett encouragingly.

My idea about Ralph Payton,

I mean.

Yes,

Dear,

Said Miss Gannett,

Still more encouragingly.

Ciao.

It's a sign of weakness to ciao so early,

Said Caroline severely.

You should go for a big hand.

I know,

Said Miss Gannett.

You were saying about Ralph Payton,

You know.

Yes,

Well,

I have a pretty shrewd idea where he is.

We all stopped to stare at her.

This is very interesting,

Miss Caroline,

Said Colonel Carter.

All your own idea,

Eh?

Well,

Not exactly.

I'll tell you about it.

You know that big map of the country we have in the hall?

We all said yes.

As M.

Pierrot was going out the other day,

He stopped and looked at it,

And he made some remark.

I can't remember exactly what it was.

Something about Cranchester being the only big town anywhere near us,

Which is true,

Of course.

But after he had gone,

It came to me suddenly.

What came to you?

His meaning.

Of course Ralph is in Cranchester.

It was at that moment that I knocked down the rack that held my pieces.

My sister immediately reproved me for clumsiness,

But half-heartedly.

She was intent on her theory.

Cranchester,

Miss Caroline,

Said Colonel Carter.

Surely not Cranchester.

It's so near.

That's exactly it,

Cried Caroline triumphantly.

It seems quite clear by now that he didn't get away from her by train.

He must simply have walked into Cranchester,

And I believe he's still there.

No one would dream of his being so near at hand.

I pointed out several objections to the theory,

But when once Caroline has got something firmly into her head,

Nothing dislodges it.

And do you think M.

Pierrot has the same idea?

Said Miss Gannett thoughtfully.

It's a curious coincidence,

But I was out for a walk this afternoon on Cranchester Road,

And he passed me in a car coming from that direction.

We all looked at each other.

Why,

Dear me,

Said Miss Gannett suddenly.

I'm mahjong all the time,

And I never noticed it.

Caroline's attention was distracted from her own inventive exercises.

She pointed out to Miss Gannett that a hand consisting of mixed suits and too many chows was hardly worth going mahjong on.

Miss Gannett listened imperturbably and collected her counters.

Yes,

Dear,

I know what you mean,

She said,

But it rather depends on what kind of hand you have to start with,

Doesn't it?

You'll never get the big hands if you don't go for them,

Urged Caroline.

Well,

We must all play our own way,

Mustn't we?

Said Miss Gannett.

She looked down at her counters.

After all,

I'm up so far.

Caroline,

Who was considerably down,

Said nothing.

East wind passes,

And we set to once more.

And he brought in the tea things.

Caroline and Miss Gannett were both slightly ruffled as often as the case during one of these festive evenings.

If you would only play a little quicker,

Dear,

Said Caroline,

As Miss Gannett hesitated over her discard.

The Chinese put the towels down so quickly it sounds like little birds pattering.

For some few minutes,

We played like the Chinese.

You haven't contributed much to the sum of information,

Shepard,

Said Colonel Carter genially.

You're a sly dog,

Hand in glove with the great detective and not a hint as to the way things are going.

James is an extraordinary creature,

Said Caroline.

He cannot bring himself to part with information.

She looked at me with some disfavor.

I assure you,

I said,

That I don't know anything.

Pierrot keeps his own counsel.

Wise man,

Said the colonel with a chuckle.

He doesn't give himself away,

But they're wonderful fellows,

These foreign detectives,

Up to all sorts of dodges,

I believe.

Punk,

Said Miss Gannett in a tone of quite triumph.

And mahjong,

The situation became more strained.

It was annoyance at Miss Gannett's going mahjong for the third time running which prompted Caroline to say to me as we built a fresh wall.

You're too tiresome,

James.

You sit there like a deadhead and say nothing at all.

But,

My dear,

I protested.

I have really nothing to say,

That is,

Of the kind you mean.

Nonsense,

Said Caroline as she sorted her hand.

You must know something interesting.

I did not answer for a moment.

I was overwhelmed and intoxicated.

I had read of there being such a thing as the perfect winning,

Going mahjong on one's original hand.

I had never hoped to hold the hand myself.

With suppressed triumph,

I laid my hand face upwards on the table.

As they say in the Shanghai club,

I remarked,

Ten ho,

The perfect winning.

The colonel's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

Upon my soul,

He said.

What an extraordinary thing.

I never saw that happen before.

It was then that I went on,

Goaded by Caroline's gibes and rendered reckless by my triumph.

And as to say anything interesting,

I said.

What about a gold wedding ring with a date and from R inside?

As I passed over the scene that followed,

I was made to say exactly where this treasure was found.

I was made to reveal the date.

March 13th,

Said Caroline.

Just six months ago?

Ah.

Out of babble of excited suggestions and suppositions,

Three theories were evolved.

One,

That of Colonel Carter,

That Ralph was secretly married to Flora,

The first or most simple solution.

Two,

That of Miss Gannett,

That Roger Ackroyd had been secretly married to Mrs.

Ferrara's.

Three,

That of my sister,

That Roger Ackroyd had married his housekeeper,

Miss Russell.

A fourth,

Or super theory,

Was propounded by Caroline later as we went up to bed.

Mark my words,

She said suddenly.

I shouldn't be at all surprised if Jeffrey Raymond and Flora weren't married.

Surely it would be from G,

Not from R then,

I suggested.

You never know.

Some girls call men by their surnames.

And you heard what Miss Gannett said this evening about Flora's carryings on?

Strictly speaking,

I had not heard Miss Gannett say anything of the kind,

But I respected Caroline's knowledge of innuendos.

How about Hector Blunt?

I hinted.

If it's anybody.

Nonsense,

Said Caroline.

I dare say he admires her,

May even be in love with her.

But depend upon it.

A girl isn't going to fall in love with a man old enough to be her father when there's a good-looking young secretary about.

She may encourage Major Blunt just as a blind.

Girls are very artful.

But there's one thing I do tell you,

James Shepherd.

Flora Ackroyd does not carry penny piece for Ralph Payton.

And never has.

You can take it from me.

I took it from her.

Meekly.

That concludes chapter 16,

An Evening at Mahjong,

From the story The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

Thank you for listening.

I hope you have enjoyed this story and hopefully become relaxed and possibly fallen asleep.

Reviews

I certainly find these readings very relaxing and always manage to fall asleep to them. Thank you! 🙏 Blessings