M. Hercule Poirot was a little late in entering the luncheon-car on the following day. He had risen early, had breakfasted almost alone, and had spent the morning going over the notes of the case that was recalling him to London. He had seen little of his travelling companion.
M. Bouc, who was already seated, gated a greeting and summoned his friend to the empty place opposite him. Poirot sat down and soon found himself in the favoured position of being at the table which was served first and with the choicest morsels. The food, too, was unusually good. It was not till they were eating a delicate cream cheese that M. Bouc allowed his attention to wander to matters other than nourishment. He was at the stage of a meal when one becomes philosophic.
"Ah!" he sighed. "If I had but the pen of a Balzac! I would depict this scene." He waved a hand. "It is an idea, that," said Poirot.
"Ah, you agree? It has not been done, I think? And yet—it lends itself to romance, my friend. All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages. For three days these people, these strangers to one another, are brought together. They sleep and eat under one roof, they cannot get away from each other. At the end of three days they part, they go their several ways, never perhaps to see each other again." "And yet," said Poirot, "suppose an accident" "Ah, no, my friend"
"From your point of view it would be regrettable, I agree. But nevertheless let us just for one moment suppose it. Then, perhaps, all these here are linked together by death." "Some more wine," said M. Bouc, hastily pouring it out. "You are morbid, mon cher. It is, perhaps the digestion."
"It is true," agreed Poirot, "that the food in Syria was not perhaps quite suited to my stomach." He sipped his wine. Then, leaning back, he ran his eye thoughtfully round the dining-car. There were thirteen people seated there and, as M. Bouc had said, of all classes and nationalities. He began to study them.
At the table opposite them were three men. They were, he guessed, single travellers graded and placed there by the unerring judgment of the restaurant attendants. A big swarthy Italian was picking his teeth with gusto. Opposite him a spare neat Englishman had the expressionless disapproving face of the well-trained servant. Next to the Englishman was a big American in a loud suit—possibly a commercial traveller. "You've got to put it over big," he was saying in a loud, nasal voice. The Italian removed his toothpick to gesticulate with it freely. "Sure," he said. "That whatta I say alla de time." The Englishman looked out of the window and coughed. Poirot's eye passed on. At a small table, sitting very upright, was one of the ugliest old ladies he had ever seen. It was an ugliness of distinction—it fascinated rather than repelled. She sat very upright. Round her neck was a collar of very large pearls which, improbable though it seemed, were real. Her hands were covered with rings. Her sable coat was pushed back on her shoulders. A very small and expensive black toque was hideously unbecoming to the yellow, toad-like face beneath it. She was speaking now to the restaurant attendant in a clear, courteous, but completely autocratic tone.
"You will be sufficiently amiable to place in my compartment a bottle of mineral water and a large glass of orange juice. You will arrange that I shall have chicken cooked without sauces for dinner this evening also some boiled fish."
The attendant replied respectfully that it should be done.
She gave a slight gracious nod of the head and rose. Her glance caught Poirot's and swept over him with the nonchalance of the uninterested aristocrat. "That is Princess Dragomiroff," said M. Bouc in a low tone. "She is a Russian. Her husband realised all his money before the Revolution and invested it abroad. She is extremely rich. A cosmopolitan." Poirot nodded. He had heard of Princess Dragomiroff.
"She is a personality," said M. Bouc. "Ugly as sin but she makes herself felt. You agree?" Poirot agreed.
At another of the large tables Mary Debenham was sitting with two other women. One of them was tall and middle-aged, in a plaid blouse and tweed skirt. She had a mass of faded yellow hair unbecomingly arranged in a large bun, wore glasses, and had a long mild amiable face rather like a sheep. She was listening to the third woman, a stout, pleasant-faced, elderly person who was talking in a slow clear monotone which showed no signs of pausing for breath or coming to a stop. "and so my daughter said, 'Why,' she said, 'you just can't apply American methods in this country. It's natural to the folks here to be indolent,' she said. 'They just haven't got any hustle in them' But all the same you'd be surprised to know what our college there is doing. They've got a fine staff of teachers. I guess there's nothing like education. We've got to apply our Western ideals and teach the East to recognise them. My daughter sans." The train plunged into a tunnel. The calm, monotonous voice was drowned.
At the next table, a small one, sat Colonel Arbuthnot alone. His gaze was fixed upon the back of Mary Debenham's head. They were not sitting together. Yet it could easily have been managed. Why?
Perhaps, Poirot thought, Mary Debenham had demurred. Agoverness learns to be careful. Appearances are important. A girl with her living to get has to be discreet. His glance shifted to the other side of the carriage. At the far end, against the wall, was a middle-aged woman dressed in black with a broad, expressionless face. German or Scandinavian, he thought. Probably the German lady's-maid.
Beyond her were a couple leaning forward and talking animatedly together.
The man wore English clothes of loose tweed, but he was not English.
Though only the back of his head was visible to Poirot, the shape of it and the set of the shoulders betrayed him. A big man, well made. He turned his head suddenly and Poirot saw his profile. A very handsome man of thirty-odd with a big fair moustache.
The woman opposite him was a mere girl twenty at a guess. A tight-fitting little black coat and skirt, white satin blouse, small chic black toque perched at the fashionable outrageous angle. She had a beautiful foreign-looking face, dead white skin, large brown eyes, jet black hair. She was smoking a cigarette in a long holder. Her manicured hands had deep red nails. She wore one large emerald set in platinum. There was coquetry in her glance and voice. "Elle est jolie et chic," murmured Poirot. "Husband and wife eh?"
M. Bouc nodded. "Hungarian Embassy, I believe," he said. "A handsome couple." There were only two more lunchers Poirot's fellow traveller MacQueen and his employer Mr. Ratchett. The latter sat facing Poirot, and for the second time Poirot studied that unprepossessing face, noting the false benevolence of the brow and the small, cruel eyes. Doubtless M. Bouc saw a change in his friend's expression. "It is at your wild animal you look?" he asked.
Poirot nodded.
As his coffee was brought to him, M. Bouc rose to his feet. Having started before Poirot he had finished some time ago.
"I return to my compartment," he said. "Come along presently and converse with me." "With pleasure."
Poirot sipped his coffee and ordered a liqueur. The attendant was passing from table to table with his box of money, accepting payment for bills. The elderly American lady's voice rose shrill and plaintive.
"My daughter said: 'Take a book of food tickets and you'll have no trouble at all.' Now, that isn't so. Seems they have to have a ten per cent tip, and then there's that bottle of mineral water and a queer sort of water too. They didn't have any Evian or Vichy, which seems queer to me." "It is they must, how do you say? serve the water of the country," explained the sheep-faced lady. "Well, it seems queer to me." She looked distastefully at the heap of small change on the table in front of her. "Look at all this peculiar stuff he's given me. Dinars or something. Just a lot of rubbish, it looks like! My daughter said"
Mary Debenham pushed back her chair and left with a slight bow to the other two. Colonel Arbuthnot got up and followed her. Gathering up her despised money the American woman followed suit, followed by the other one like a sheep. The Hungarians had already departed. The restaurant car was empty save for Poirot and Ratchett and MacQueen.
Ratchett spoke to his companion, who got up and left the car. Then he rose himself, but instead of following MacQueen he dropped unexpectedly into the seat opposite Poirot. "Can you oblige me with a light?" he said. His voice was soft faintly nasal. "My name is Ratchett." Poirot bowed slightly. He slipped his hand into his pocket and produced a matchbox which he handed to the other man, who took it but did not strike a light. "I think," he went on, "that I have the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Hercule Poirot. Is that so?" Poirot bowed again. "You have been correctly informed, Monsieur." The detective was conscious of those strange shrewd eyes summing him up before the other spoke again. "In my country," he said, "we come to the point quickly. Mr. Poirot, I want you to take on a job for me."
Hercule Poirot's eyebrows went up a trifle.
"My clientèle, Monsieur, is limited nowadays. I undertake very few cases."
"Why, naturally, I understand that. But this, Mr. Poirot, means big money." He repeated again in his soft, persuasive voice, "Big money."
Hercule Poirot was silent a minute or two. Then he said: "What is it you wish me to do for you, Monsieur er Ratchett?"
"Mr. Poirot, I am a rich man, a very rich man. Men in that position have enemies. I have an enemy." "Only one enemy?"
"Just what do you mean by that question?" asked Ratchett sharply. "Monsieur, in my experience when a man is in a position to have, as you say, enemies, then it does not usually resolve itself into one enemy only." Ratchett seemed relieved by Poirot's answer. He said quickly: "Why, yes, I appreciate that point. Enemy or enemies it doesn't matter. What does matter is my safety."
"Safety?"
"My life has been threatened, Mr. Poirot. Now I'm a man who can take pretty good care of himself." From the pocket of his coat his hand brought a small automatic into sight for a moment. He continued grimly. "I don't think I'm the kind of man to be caught napping. But, as I look at it, I might as well make assurance doubly sure. I fancy you're the man for my money, Mr. Poirot. And remember big money." Poirot looked at him thoughtfully for some minutes. His face was completely expressionless. The other could have had no clue as to what thoughts were passing in that mind.
"I regret, Monsieur," he said at length, "that I cannot oblige you." The other looked at him shrewdly. "Name your figure, then," he said. Poirot shook his head.
"You do not understand, Monsieur. I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as interest me."
"You've got a pretty good nerve," said Ratchett. "Will twenty thousand dollars tempt you?" "It will not."
"If you're holding out for more, you won't get it. I know what a thing's worth to me." "I, also, M. Ratchett."
"What's wrong with my proposition?"
Poirot rose. "If you will forgive me for being personal I do not like your face, M. Ratchett," he said.
And with that he left the restaurant car.