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“I should hope not But I don’t bite”

The Colonel sat down

“Boy,” he called in peremptory fashion

He gave an order for eggs and coffee

His eyes rested for a moment on Hercule Poirot, but they passed on indifferently Poirot, reading the English mind correctly, knew that he had said to hiner”

True to their nationality, the two English people were not chatty They exchanged a few brief reirl rose and went back to her compartment

At lunch tiain they both coer Their conversation was more animated than at breakfast Colonel Arbuthnot talked of the Punjab, and occasionally asked the girl a few questions about Baghdad where it becaoverness In the course of conversation they discovered so them more friendly and less stiff They discussed old Tommy Somebody and Jerry Soht through to England or whether she was stopping in Stamboul

“No, I’ht on”

“Isn’t that rather a pity?”

“I cao and spent three days in Stamboul then”

“Oh, I see Well, I h, because I am”

Hea little as he did so

“He is susceptible, our Colonel,” thought Hercule Poirot to hierous as a sea voyage!”

Miss Debenham said evenly that that would be very nice Her htly repressive

The Colonel, Hercule Poirot noticed, accoh the nificent scenery of the Taurus As they looked doards the Cilician Gates, standing in the corridor side by side, a sigh ca near them and heard her murmur:

“It’s so beautiful! I wish—I wish—”

“Yes?”

“I wish, I could enjoy it!”

Arbuthnot did not answer The square line of his jaw seerimmer

“I wish to Heaven you were out of all this,” he said

“Hush, please Hush”

“Oh! it’s all right” He shot a slightly annoyed glance in Poirot’s direction Then he went on: “But I don’t like the idea of your being a governess—at the beck and call of tyrannical mothers and their tiresome brats”

She laughed with just a hint of uncontrol in the sound

“Oh! you overness is quite an exploded myth I can assure you that it’s the parents who are afraid of being bullied by me”

They said no more Arbuthnot was, perhaps, ashamed of his outburst

“Rather an odd little cohtfully

He was to reht of his later

They arrived at Konya that night about half-past eleven The two English travellers got out to stretch their legs, pacing up and down the snowy platform

M Poirot was content to watch the teeh apane After about ten minutes, however, he decided that a breath of air would not perhaps be a bad thing, after all Hehi his neat boots in goloshes Thus attired he descended gingerly to the platforine

It was the voices which gave hi in the shadow of a traffic van Arbuthnot was speaking

“Mary—”

The girl interrupted him

“Not now Not now When it’s all over When it’s behind us—then—”

Discreetly M Poirot turned away He wondered

He would hardly have recognized the cool, efficient voice of Miss Debenham…

“Curious,” he said to himself

The next day he wondered whether, perhaps, they had quarrelled They spoke little to each other The girl, he thought, looked anxious There were dark circles under her eyes

It was about half-past two in the afternoon when the train came to a halt Heads were poked out of s A little knot ofand pointing at so car

Poirot leaned out and spoke to the Wagon Lit conductor as hurrying past The , al just behind him

“What is the matter?” she asked rather breathlessly in French “Why are we stopping?”

“It is nothing, Madeht fire under the dining car Nothing serious I

t is put out They are now repairing the daer, I assure you”

Shethe idea of danger aside as so completely unimportant

“Yes, yes, I understand that But the time!”

“The time?”

“Yes, this will delay us”

“It is possible—yes,” agreed Poirot

“But we can’t afford delay! The train is due in at 6:55 and one has to cross the Bosphorus and catch the Simplon Orient Express the other side at nine o’clock If there is an hour or two of delay we shall miss the connection”

“It is possible, yes,” he admitted

He looked at her curiously The hand that held thebar was not quite steady, her lips too were tre

“Does it matter to you very much, Mademoiselle?” he asked

“Yes Yes, it does I—I must catch that train”

She turned away from him and went down the corridor to join Colonel Arbuthnot

Her anxiety, however, was needless Ten ain It arrived at Haydapassar only fivemade up time on the journey

The Bosphorus was rough and M Poirot did not enjoy the crossing He was separated fro coain

On arrival at the Galata Bridge he drove straight to the Tokatlian Hotel

Two

THE TOKATLIAN HOTEL

At the Tokatlian, Hercule Poirot asked for a rooe’s desk and inquired for letters