# XVI: Cogitations explained — That Affair Next Door > Chapter companion for That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green. ## What happens Amelia Butterworth retreats to her home to reflect on the day's events and the inquest testimony. She reexamines her earlier notes on the death, weighing the possibilities of accident, suicide, and murder. Despite the circumstantial evidence against Howard Van Burnam, she finds herself unconvinced of his guilt, relying on her instincts and the clue of the stopped clock. She entertains callers but keeps her own counsel, determined to trust her judgment for the night. ## Themes in this chapter ### Observation and Deduction Amelia meticulously reviews her own notes and the physical evidence (the clock, the position of the body) to deduce the likely cause of death, demonstrating the theme's centrality. ### Justice and Truth The chapter grapples with the difficulty of determining truth from contradictory testimony and the danger of hasty judgment, as Amelia resists popular opinion to seek a just conclusion. ## Character check-ins ### Amelia Butterworth The narrator and central consciousness of the chapter; she cogitates alone, reviews her old notes, and resists popular opinion about Howard's guilt. ### Howard Van Burnam The prime suspect; Amelia analyzes his contradictory testimony and struggles to reconcile her instinct that he is innocent with the evidence against him. ### Mr. Gryce Mentioned indirectly through the police discoveries; his work is part of the evidence Amelia weighs. ### Randolph Stone His testimony about the time Howard left the Van Burnam house is recalled as a key point in Amelia's reasoning. ### Coroner Dahl Presided over the inquest; Amelia references his proceedings and Howard's statements before him. ## Key lines > My reasons for not thinking it an accident. If it had been an accident, and she had pulled the cabinet over upon herself, she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the wall where the cabinet had stood. But her feet were towards the door and her head under the cabinet. Amelia argues that the victim's orientation—feet toward the door, head under the cabinet—rules out an accidental fall of the shelves. _Amelia's logical deduction from physical evidence._ > My reason for not thinking it a suicide. She could not have been found in the position observed without having lain down on the floor while living, and then pulled the shelves down upon herself. Suicide is impossible because the victim would have had to lie down and then pull the cabinet onto herself, an absurd scenario. _Amelia dismisses suicide as physically implausible._ > My reason for not thinking it murder. She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was being pulled over on her, a thing which the quiet aspect of the hands and feet make appear impossible. Murder seemed unlikely because the victim's calm hands and feet suggested no struggle, but Amelia later realizes she was already dead when the cabinet fell. _Amelia revises her earlier reasoning after learning the cause of death._ > The man who is all firmness one minute may be all weakness the next, and in face of the calm assertions made by this one when driven to bay by the unexpected discoveries of the police, I dared not decide that his final assurances were altogether false. Amelia acknowledges human inconsistency and refuses to dismiss Howard's later testimony as entirely false, despite his earlier contradictions. _Amelia's nuanced view of human nature and testimony._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/that_affair_next_door_se/chapters/xvi-cogitations - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/that_affair_next_door_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/that_affair_next_door_se/chapters