The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

After Dr. Sheppard’s conversation with Poirot, he begins to see how much information Poirot has concealed. He showed Sheppard the objects he collected, but not the logical deductions he made. Before Monday, Sheppard thought of himself as playing Watson to Poirot’s Sherlock Holmes; now, he realizes, their paths have diverged.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Ackroyd summons Dr. Sheppard to examine her. She claims that she’s “prostrated” by the horror of Roger’s death—a claim that Sheppard finds ridiculous. He prescribes a tonic. Mrs. Ackroyd continues to complain—first about how Poirot has “bullied” her, and then about how Flora should have consulted her before hiring Poirot. She brings up Dr. Sheppard’s conversation with Ursula, and asks what Ursula told him. Sheppard senses that Mrs. Ackroyd has something to hide. She begs Sheppard to listen to her, and to present her testimony to Poirot “in the right light.” Sheppard says he will.

Mrs. Ackroyd proceeds to explain to Dr. Sheppard that she’s had “many bills,” some of which she didn’t show to Roger. On the day of Roger’s killing, she opened Roger’s desk and found his will. While she was reading it, Ursula Bourne entered the room. Afterwards, Roger came home, and Ursula asked if she could speak with him. Mrs. Ackroyd begs Sheppard to present this information to Poirot in a favorable light. Dr. Sheppard can sense that Mrs. Ackroyd has more to say—intuitively, he asks her if she left the silver cabinet open, and she admits that she did, knowing that some of Roger’s silver could fetch a high price. Miss Russell startled her as she was going through the silver. Dr. Sheppard remembers seeing Miss Russell closing the silver table on the evening before Roger’s murder. He also remembers how Miss Russell seemed slightly out of breath at the time. He wonders aloud if Miss Russell “has had her handkerchiefs starched.”

Dr. Sheppard leaves to speak to Ursula Bourne. He tells her that he knows she wanted to speak to Roger, not the other way around. Ursula admits this, but also asks Dr. Sheppard about Ralph Paton, murmuring, “He ought to come back.” Finally, she asks Dr. Sheppard when the murder was committed. When Sheppard replies that it can’t have happened before 9:45, Ursula seems relieved.

When Dr. Sheppard comes home, his sister tells him that Poirot asked her to determine if Ralph Paton’s boots, which he left at the Three Boars, were black or brown. Caroline asks a friend’s maid, Clara, who also works around the Three Boars, about the boots, and by lunchtime Caroline has determined that the boots were—contrary to what Poirot thought—black. Dr. Sheppard can’t imagine what the color of the boots has to do with Roger Ackroyd’s murder.