1. Madam. Madam.
Copy !req
2. - Madam.
- Madam.
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3. - Your ticket, please.
- Oh, yes.
Copy !req
4. Welcome aboard, Miss Debenham.
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5. Thank you.
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6. 'Bosphorus ferry will shortly
depart from Istanbul Sirkeci Station,
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7. 'connecting
with the Orient Express.'
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8. Ah. Here's your ticket,
Monsieur Poirot.
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9. I'm afraid you've still
got another hour.
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10. Then please do not wait.
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11. Not wait? Huh! After all you've
done for us, Monsieur Poirot?
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12. Ha-ha! Oh.
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13. Er... my general's orders were
to ensure your safe departure.
Copy !req
14. He also wished me
to thank you again
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15. for saving the honour
of the British Garrison in Jordan.
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16. The Brigadier's confession
was opportune.
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17. I say, how did you do it?
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18. Was it the old thumbscrew?
You know, the wrack, huh?
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19. - Hm.
- Yes.
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20. Well, you'll be able to rest
as soon as you get to Stamboul.
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21. Mm.
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22. The, er... the Church of Santa Sofia
is absolutely magnificent.
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23. You have seen it?
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24. No.
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25. Come on.
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26. Move! Come on.
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27. Get up. Come on.
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28. Chop-chop.
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29. Er... I hope we did the right thing
booking you into a hotel
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30. on the European side
rather than the Asian side.
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31. I have no prejudice
against either continent.
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32. The crossing
should be pleasant.
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33. The Bosphorus is always calm.
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34. You have crossed by the ferry?
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35. No.
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36. Allahu Akbar!
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37. Allahu Akbar!
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38. Welcome, Colonel Arboo...
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39. Arboo... Arboo...
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40. Arbuthnot.
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41. 'The Bosphorus ferry
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42. 'will shortly depart from
Istanbul Sirkeci Station
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43. 'connecting
with the Orient Express.'
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44. Not now.
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45. Not now. When it's all over.
When it's behind us. Then.
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46. What a funny little man!
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47. Obviously a Frog.
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48. Good evening, sir.
This way, please.
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49. Ecco finalmente, un amico.
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50. Monsieur Poirot!
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51. Ah!
Ha-ha-ha-ha! Bianchi!
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52. How are you, my friend?
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53. Ah, good to see you.
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54. You have saved me from apoplexy.
Sit down.
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55. Ah, thank you.
You have not dined well.
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56. Ah, no, the skewers are
of better quality than the kebab.
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57. The bottle is more distinguished
than its wine,
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58. and the... the café...
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59. Fortunately I have been called
to London. I leave tonight.
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60. - On the Orient Express?
- How else?
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61. Evviva!
I have a travelling companion.
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62. Eccellente.
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63. Well, where shall we dine?
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64. I am desolate, Monsieur Poirot.
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65. There is not one single
first-class sleeping berth
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66. on the entire train.
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67. - What? In December?
- In December, Signor Bianchi.
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68. Has Bulgaria declared war on Turkey?
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69. Are the aristocracy fleeing the country?
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70. I am a director of the line.
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71. Monsieur Hercule Poirot
is not only a detective
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72. of international fame and distinction,
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73. but he is also my personal friend.
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74. Signor Bianchi, Monsieur Poirot, I...
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75. Ah, corragio, my friend.
We'll arrange something.
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76. Andiamo!
We must go. Come on.
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77. 'The Orient Express will depart
from Platform 1 at 9:00pm
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78. 'for Uzonköprü, Sofia,
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79. 'Belgrade, Zagreb,
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80. 'Brod, Trieste,
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81. 'Venice, Milan,
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82. 'Lausanne, Basel,
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83. 'Paris, Calais,
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84. 'with connections for London.'
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85. 'Uzonköprü,
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86. 'Sofia, Belgrade,
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87. 'Zagreb, Brod, Trieste, Venice, Milan,
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88. 'Lausanne, Bâle, Paris et Calais...'
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89. Bonsoir, Pierre.
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90. Madame la Princesse,
mes hommages.
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91. Numero quatorze.
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92. - Fräulein Schmidt. Willkommen.
- Guten Tag.
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93. - Nummer sechs.
- Danke schön.
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94. Bitte schön.
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95. 'Orient Express will depart
from Platform 1 at 9:00pm.'
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96. 'Belgrade. Zagreb.
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97. 'Venice. Milan.
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98. 'Paris. Calais.'
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99. Ah, Mrs Hubbard. It's always
an honour to greet you.
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100. You have your favourite
number 11.
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101. Ecco, Signor Bianchi.
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102. Benvenuto!
Numero nove. Come sempre.
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103. Grazie, Pierre.
I understand that you are full up.
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104. It's unbelievable, signor.
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105. All the world elects to travel tonight.
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106. Nonetheless, you must find
room for Monsieur Poirot here.
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107. Monsieur Hercule Poirot,
the... the famous...
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108. Precisely, and he is also
a personal friend of mine.
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109. Please be so good as...
as to direct...
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110. Something is lost?
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111. My little medal of St Christopher
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112. to bring me luck and deliver...
deliver me from evil.
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113. Madame, madame, lucky tooth
from St Augustine of Hippo.
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114. Lucky Buddha, madame?
Madame, lucky Buddha.
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115. Please!
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116. Thank God, my St Christopher.
St Christopher.
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117. St Christopher?
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118. You see, my friend has been
urgently called to London
Copy !req
119. on a matter
of international importance,
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120. and I have given him
my personal assurance
Copy !req
121. that you will secure
an accommodation for him
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122. on the coach to Calais.
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123. - But I have already...
- Hector.
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124. Excuse me, excuse me,
gentlemen.
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125. But, uh... Mr Ratchett
has reservations
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126. and we'd be grateful
if we could board immediately.
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127. Ah, Mr Ratchett.
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128. Welcome to the number ten.
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129. Mr Beddoes,
the lower berth in number one.
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130. Mr McQueen, the lower berth
in number four.
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131. - The upper berth is...
- As arranged.
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132. Now, Pierre, it is cold.
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133. Now we can place
Monsieur Poirot in the number 16,
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134. which is always kept vacant.
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135. It is taken, signor, by a Mr Hardman.
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136. Then as a director of the line,
I command you to place Monsieur Poirot
Copy !req
137. in what we know to be the empty berth
above Mr McQueen's number four.
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138. Monsieur?
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139. At least you can get two tips.
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140. - Pardon, monsieur.
- Sorry.
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141. Pardon.
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142. Well, my second husband,
Mr Hubbard, would've raised hell.
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143. No place for my make-up bag,
no ice in my drinking water,
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144. and the hot water burps
as it comes out of the faucet.
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145. Pardon me.
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146. Excuse me.
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147. Have courage, my friend.
It is the last compartment but one.
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148. Pardon.
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149. No, I... I think there's...
there's a mistake.
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150. Er... je... je crois que
vous avez fait une erreur.
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151. Mr McQueen, there is
no other berth on the train.
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152. Monsieur Poirot has to come in here.
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153. Voilà, monsieur. All is arranged.
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154. Yours is the upper berth,
the number four.
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155. We start in one minute.
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156. I apologise if I have
incommoded you here.
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157. However, it is for one night
only at Belgrade Station.
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158. Oh, I see, at Belgrade,
you're getting off.
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159. Better than the hotel, eh?
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160. I shall probably keep the menu
as a souvenir.
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161. Hector, I ordered three Islamic
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162. 13th-century
perforated pottery bowls
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163. and six beakers.
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164. They delivered only five beakers
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165. and one of the bowls
arrived chipped,
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166. which it was not when I paid for it
through the nose.
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167. Send a telegram from Belgrade.
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168. Yes. Yes, Mr Ratchett.
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169. What's the matter? You look tired.
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170. I slept badly.
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171. Yeah? Why?
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172. The Belgian
in the upper berth snored.
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173. Really? Any other
unanswered letters on file?
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174. Er... only the anonymous ones.
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175. We can't answer those, can we?
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176. You'd better go catch up
on your sleep,
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177. before the Belgian gentleman
gets back to your compartment.
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178. Go on.
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179. Hi. My name's Hardman.
Call me Dick.
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180. Foscarelli. Call me Gino.
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181. Beddoes.
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182. Mr Beddoes.
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183. Ah, for the pen of a Balzac.
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184. For three days, all these people,
these total strangers,
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185. meet in a single train
whose engine controls their destiny.
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186. Ah, yes, I know. We are both envious
of the husband, eh?
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187. Is, er... is the husband
as British as his tweeds?
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188. Oh, heaven forbid.
He's a hot-blooded Hungarian.
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189. If you but look at his wife,
he will cease to be a diplomat.
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190. Thank God we are not young.
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191. My second husband said always
to ask for change in dollars,
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192. or at worst sterling.
Copy !req
193. So, for Pete's sake,
what's a drachma?
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194. It is, er... What do you call it?
The currency of...
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195. My second husband said,
"Take a book of food tickets, Mama,
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196. "and you'll have no problem,
no problem at all."
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197. That just isn't so.
First there's this ten per cent tip...
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198. I think Miss Ohlsson
has a headache.
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199. Would you forgive us
Copy !req
200. if we went back to the compartment,
Mrs Hubbard?
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201. Gladly, if you must.
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202. If you need aspirin,
I always carry it on my person.
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203. I mistrust foreign drugs.
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204. You must excuse me.
Mrs Hubbard is upon us.
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205. What's the matter with him?
Train-sick or something?
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206. Some of us, in the words
of the divine Greta Garbo,
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207. "want to be alone".
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208. And for dinner this evening?
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209. You will have the goodness
to serve me the poached sole,
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210. with one new potato
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211. and a small green salad
with no dressing.
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212. Hildegarde.
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213. Who was that majestic lady?
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214. The Princess Dragomiroff.
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215. Ah, I have heard.
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216. - Pardon me, sir.
- Mm?
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217. I wonder if you could oblige me
with a light?
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218. - Ah, certainly.
- Thank you.
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219. My name is Ratchett.
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220. Do I have the pleasure of speaking
to Mr Hercule Per-oh?
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221. The pleasure, possibly, Mr Ratchett.
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222. The intention, certainly.
You asked me for a light.
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223. I offered you one
and you have not used it.
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224. One can deduce that
without acute mental exhaustion.
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225. That's wonderful.
Sit down, sir, sit down.
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226. For a moment.
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227. Just for a moment.
Thank you very much.
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228. - Well, Mr Per-oh...
- Er...
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229. - What?
- Poirot.
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230. - How's that?
- Poirot.
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231. Oh! Per-oh. Right.
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232. I just wanted to say that
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233. in my country we also come
quickly to the point.
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234. I want you to take a job on for me.
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235. It means big money, very big money.
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236. What is the case,
or, as you put it, the job,
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237. which you wish me to undertake?
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238. Mr Per-oh, I'm a rich man.
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239. Naturally, men in my position have,
er... enemies.
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240. Only one?
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241. Now, what the hell
do you mean by that?
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242. Merely that when a man is in a position
to have, as you say, enemies,
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243. it does not usually resolve itself
into one enemy only.
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244. Oh. Oh, sure.
Sure, I appreciate that.
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245. - What is your profession?
- I'm retired.
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246. - From what?
- Business.
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247. What sort of business?
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248. Baby food.
But what does that matter?
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249. - What matters is my safety.
- You are in danger?
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250. My life has been threatened,
Mr Per-oh.
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251. My secretary can show you
two letters on file.
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252. And I...
Copy !req
253. can show you this.
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254. I sleep on it.
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255. Mr Per-oh...
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256. $5,000.
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257. No? Ten thousand?
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258. Fifteen thousand?
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259. Mr Ratchett, I have made
enough money
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260. to satisfy both my needs
and my caprices.
Copy !req
261. I take only such cases now
as interest me
Copy !req
262. and, to be frank,
my interest in your case is, er...
Copy !req
263. dwindling.
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264. 'Belgrade Station.
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265. 'The Orient Express will depart
in five minutes.'
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266. Ah, Monsieur Poirot!
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267. I am transferring Signor Bianchi's
luggage to the Pullman.
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268. He's giving you
his own compartment.
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269. But you cannot sit up all night!
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270. Ah, my dear friend,
do not concern yourself.
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271. Since you are going to England,
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272. it is better for you to stay
on the through coach to Calais.
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273. Now, Pierre has made me
very comfortable.
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274. There is no one in the Pullman
but one Greek doctor. Ecco.
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275. Such generosity deserves my thanks.
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276. Buon riposa.
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277. - Ah, Monsieur Poirot.
- Pierre!
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278. Could I have some clean towels?
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279. - Yes, monsieur.
- And who are my new neighbours?
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280. To the left, Monsieur,
the Swedish lady, Miss Ohlsson,
Copy !req
281. shares seven and eight with
the English lady, Miss Debenham,
Copy !req
282. and to the right in number ten
is Mr Ratchett.
Copy !req
283. And where is
the loquacious Mrs Hubbard?
Copy !req
284. I should like to get some sleep tonight.
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285. Beyond Mr Ratchett
in the number 11.
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286. - She is still too near.
- Good night, Mr Beddoes.
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287. Er... ah, pardon.
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288. Who is it?
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289. It's me, sir, Beddoes,
with your sedative.
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290. Come in.
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291. Thank you, Pierre. Good night.
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292. Good night, monsieur,
and pleasant dreams in number nine.
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293. How many drops?
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294. Of the valerian?
Two, sir, as you said.
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295. OK.
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296. No, no, put it on the table.
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297. And tell Mr McQueen
Copy !req
298. I want to see the text of the telegram
he sent from Belgrade.
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299. Very well, sir.
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300. He wants you.
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301. Come in.
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302. Tiens, tiens, tiens,
tiens, tiens, tiens, tiens.
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303. La belle Comtesse.
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304. Ce n'est rien.
C'était un cauchemar.
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305. Ah, bien, Monsieur Ratchett.
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306. May you now have
pleasant dreams.
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307. C'est le silence de mort.
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308. Ah, a snowdrift.
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309. Mon Dieu. Quelle nuit.
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310. So, now there's a man in my room.
Copy !req
311. I woke up in the dark
three minutes ago
Copy !req
312. and there was a man hiding
in this compartment. I sensed it.
Copy !req
313. What's more, I know who he was,
because I absent-mindedly
Copy !req
314. nearly walked through his open door
earlier this evening.
Copy !req
315. "Madame," said this Mr Ratchett,
Copy !req
316. "if you'd done this 20 years ago,
I'd have said come in."
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317. 20 years ago? Ha!
Why, I'd only have been 15.
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318. If there should be are-occurrence,
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319. do not hesitate to ring, madame.
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320. Enfin c'est le comble.
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321. Evidemment,
j'ai une crise de nerfs.
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322. It's me, sir, Beddoes,
with your pick-me-up.
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323. Your amber moon, Mr Ratchett.
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324. Your passkey.
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325. The chain.
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326. Pierre, touch nothing.
Copy !req
327. Where are Signor Bianchi
and the Greek doctor?
Copy !req
328. In... in the dining car, monsieur.
Copy !req
329. Fetch them at once.
Copy !req
330. Well, can't you tap
the telephone wires?
Copy !req
331. - Or fire a rocket?
- This is not a ship, madame.
Copy !req
332. Where exactly are we?
Copy !req
333. We are between Vinkovci and Brod.
Copy !req
334. - But in what country?
- In Yugoslavia.
Copy !req
335. The Balkans.
What else can you expect?
Copy !req
336. Snow is God's will
and all is for the best.
Copy !req
337. Yeah, but how...
how long do you think
Copy !req
338. before we can start
getting out of here?
Copy !req
339. As soon as
the stationmaster at Brod
Copy !req
340. sees that we do not arrive on time,
he will send...
Copy !req
341. Dr Constantine,
Monsieur Poirot wants to see you.
Copy !req
342. Ah.
Copy !req
343. And you too, Signor Bianchi.
Copy !req
344. Forgive me,
ladies and gentlemen.
Copy !req
345. Only God's forgiveness
is important.
Copy !req
346. Signor Bianchi and Dr Constantine.
Copy !req
347. Mind the broken glass, gentlemen.
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348. Pupils still slightly dilated.
Copy !req
349. Could've been drugged.
Was drugged.
Copy !req
350. With what?
Copy !req
351. Ah, there's a smell
of valerian, which is harmless,
Copy !req
352. but something must've been added.
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353. - May I close his eyes now?
- I wish you would.
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354. Why did he lose so much blood?
Copy !req
355. Can I pull back the bedclothes?
Copy !req
356. By all means.
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357. Mr Ratchett has been frontally stabbed...
Copy !req
358. ten, eleven, twelve times.
Copy !req
359. Dio.
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360. Mon pauvre,
if you must go whoop-whoop,
Copy !req
361. please go whoop-whoop
not to windward but to leeward.
Copy !req
362. Help him, Pierre.
Copy !req
363. There is something in the pocket.
Copy !req
364. - Permit me.
- Hmm...
Copy !req
365. His watch.
Copy !req
366. The time of death.
Copy !req
367. I can definitely say
that death occurred
Copy !req
368. between midnight
and two in the morning.
Copy !req
369. That would fit.
Copy !req
370. I myself heard him cry out
and ring for the conductor
Copy !req
371. at 20 minutes to one.
Copy !req
372. When Pierre arrived, he apologised
Copy !req
373. and said he had been having
a cauchemar,
Copy !req
374. a nightmare...
Copy !req
375. and then I heard him
use his washbasin...
Copy !req
376. and that is the last thing known.
Copy !req
377. I beg of you, monsieur.
You cannot refuse.
Copy !req
378. But it is the duty
of the Yugoslavian police!
Copy !req
379. Oh, what, monsieur?
Copy !req
380. To question my passengers
on my line?
Copy !req
381. Never. Now you must
solve the mystery.
Copy !req
382. When we get to Brod,
if we ever do,
Copy !req
383. we present the police
with a fait accompli.
Copy !req
384. We say that a murder has occurred.
Copy !req
385. There is the criminal.
Copy !req
386. I should like
the Pullman coach reserved
Copy !req
387. for the investigation's
headquarters.
Copy !req
388. It will be at your disposal.
Copy !req
389. And a plan of the Calais coach
Copy !req
390. with the names and locations
of all the people in it...
Copy !req
391. Yes, it will be there.
Copy !req
392. and the passports of all
the passengers concerned.
Copy !req
393. Yes, you can even have mine.
Copy !req
394. I go to make
a special announcement now.
Copy !req
395. Grazie. Yes, bring all the passports
to Mr Poirot.
Copy !req
396. Are there any other
passengers on the train?
Copy !req
397. In the Pullman coach,
nobody but myself and Mr Bianchi.
Copy !req
398. Alors. Then we must concentrate
on the Calais coach.
Copy !req
399. Where, in my amateur opinion,
the murderer is with us now.
Copy !req
400. Ladies and gentlemen!
Copy !req
401. Please, please, patience.
You must have patience.
Copy !req
402. Now, you will all get the chance
to state your views to Monsieur Poirot
Copy !req
403. at his own good time.
Copy !req
404. It is not good time. It is bad time.
Copy !req
405. God's laws have been bust.
Thou shalt not kill.
Copy !req
406. And why was I not notified at once,
Signor... Mr Bianchi?
Copy !req
407. - I was his nearest associate.
- Mr McQueen...
Copy !req
408. And I was nearest to his murderer.
Copy !req
409. You mean you saw the man?
You can identify the murderer?
Copy !req
410. I mean nothing of the kind.
Copy !req
411. I mean there was a man
in my compartment last night.
Copy !req
412. It was pitch-dark, of course,
Copy !req
413. and my eyes were closed in terror.
Copy !req
414. Then how did you know
it was a man?
Copy !req
415. Because I've enjoyed
very warm relationships
Copy !req
416. with both my husbands.
Copy !req
417. - With your eyes closed?
- That helped.
Copy !req
418. Excuse me.
Copy !req
419. Anyway,
the man smelt of tobacco.
Copy !req
420. Mr McQueen,
Monsieur Poirot would be grateful
Copy !req
421. for a few minutes of your time.
Copy !req
422. Excuse me.
Copy !req
423. Don't you agree the man must've
entered my compartment
Copy !req
424. to gain access to Mr Ratchett?
Copy !req
425. I can think of no other reason,
madame.
Copy !req
426. Pierre, your passkey.
Copy !req
427. Voilà, monsieur.
Copy !req
428. And, er... will you discreetly
procure me a lady's hatbox,
Copy !req
429. one of the big old-fashioned kind,
Copy !req
430. perhaps from
the Princess Dragomiroff's maid?
Copy !req
431. Mm, give me five minutes,
Doctor.
Copy !req
432. Ah, Mr McQueen,
I regret to have kept you waiting,
Copy !req
433. but there has been much
to establish.
Copy !req
434. Please be seated.
Copy !req
435. Now, Mr McQueen, I should be grateful
for anything you can usefully tell me.
Copy !req
436. What, for example...?
Copy !req
437. Let's get just a couple of things
straight first, Mr... Mr Poirot.
Copy !req
438. Who, for example, are you
and what is your status here?
Copy !req
439. Excuse me.
Copy !req
440. Monsieur Poirot is a detective
Copy !req
441. officially delegated
to investigate this case by me.
Copy !req
442. Let us proceed
with the matter in hand.
Copy !req
443. Your relationship with Ratchett?
Copy !req
444. I'm his... I was his secretary.
Copy !req
445. - For how long?
- A year, give or take.
Copy !req
446. - Where did you meet?
- In Persia.
Copy !req
447. He was... he was
collecting Gorgan pottery,
Copy !req
448. with considerable success,
Copy !req
449. and I was trying to collect
oil concessions, you know,
Copy !req
450. with so little success
that... that I went bankrupt
Copy !req
451. and he offered me the job
and I took it.
Copy !req
452. - And since then?
- Well, we've travelled around.
Copy !req
453. He was hampered
by not knowing any languages.
Copy !req
454. I acted more as his courier
than as his secretary.
Copy !req
455. It was a pleasant enough job.
Copy !req
456. What part of America
did Ratchett come from?
Copy !req
457. I don't know.
Copy !req
458. The fact is, er... he never talked
about his background.
Copy !req
459. - Why, do you think?
- Well, I used to... to...
Copy !req
460. Well, I began to... to believe
that he had left America
Copy !req
461. to escape something or someone,
Copy !req
462. and until a couple of weeks ago,
I think he succeeded.
Copy !req
463. And then?
Copy !req
464. Well, he began to get
these anonymous letters,
Copy !req
465. threatening letters, er... like these.
Copy !req
466. "I kill killers."
Copy !req
467. Mm-hm.
Copy !req
468. "Prepare to die."
How brief.
Copy !req
469. But, in a sense,
how complicated.
Copy !req
470. Last night, I noticed you despatching
a telegram from Belgrade Station.
Copy !req
471. That's right. Er... let's see.
Copy !req
472. He sent for me to see the text
right after we left Belgrade,
Copy !req
473. and then he went...
Yeah, it was the last I ever saw of him.
Copy !req
474. Were there any other
threatening letters?
Copy !req
475. Yeah, but none that
I was allowed to read.
Copy !req
476. He used to...
he used to burn them.
Copy !req
477. - That explains...
- What?
Copy !req
478. my interest in hatboxes.
Copy !req
479. Precisely what I needed.
Copy !req
480. Doctor, first the wounds.
Copy !req
481. - You counted a dozen?
- Yes.
Copy !req
482. Five are deep...
Copy !req
483. of which three are lethal.
Copy !req
484. The rest are shallow.
Copy !req
485. And two... are so slight
as to be mere scratches.
Copy !req
486. What does that suggest?
Copy !req
487. That there were two murderers?
Copy !req
488. A strong man and a weak man?
Copy !req
489. Or a weak woman?
Copy !req
490. Mm, or...
Copy !req
491. a strong man stabbing the victim
both strongly and weakly
Copy !req
492. in order to confuse us.
Copy !req
493. At least we know that,
by the time of the murder,
Copy !req
494. Ratchett was too drugged
to cry out or defend himself...
Copy !req
495. with this.
Copy !req
496. - But how did you guess that...
- I didn't.
Copy !req
497. He showed it to me
when he offered me $15,000
Copy !req
498. to be his bodyguard,
and I refused.
Copy !req
499. Ought I to have accepted?
Copy !req
500. Now, let us consider the ashtray.
Copy !req
501. Two different matches.
A smoked cigar.
Copy !req
502. - A pipe cleaner.
- And this.
Copy !req
503. Ah.
Copy !req
504. The initial H.
Copy !req
505. That should not be hard to identify.
Copy !req
506. I wonder, Christian name
or surname?
Copy !req
507. We must wait until
we examine the passports.
Copy !req
508. Bianchi. Doctor.
Copy !req
509. Has it occurred to you
Copy !req
510. that there are too many clues
in this room?
Copy !req
511. Let us proceed by examining
Copy !req
512. what I hope will prove
to be the last of them.
Copy !req
513. The burnt paper.
Copy !req
514. I use it for the moustaches.
Copy !req
515. - What has that to do with moustaches?
- To melt the wax.
Copy !req
516. Observe. Memorise.
You are my only witnesses.
Copy !req
517. A-I-S-Y, A-R-M-S?
Copy !req
518. What does that mean?
Copy !req
519. It means...
Copy !req
520. we know the true identity
of Mr Ratchett...
Copy !req
521. and why he had to leave America.
Copy !req
522. Do you remember the Armstrong case?
Copy !req
523. Of course.
Copy !req
524. The kidnapping of that
little American girl and the killing.
Copy !req
525. Ah, who does not?
Copy !req
526. You remember the name of the child?
Copy !req
527. Certamente. It was Daisy.
Copy !req
528. - D...
- D...
Copy !req
529. - ... A...
- ... A-I...
Copy !req
530. S-Y space A-R...
Copy !req
531. M-S.
Copy !req
532. Daisy Armstrong.
Copy !req
533. Ah.
And Ratchett was her murderer?
Copy !req
534. Well, no.
Copy !req
535. The actual murderer was tried,
sentenced and electrocuted.
Copy !req
536. But he was only the number two,
the subordinate of a boss
Copy !req
537. whom at first
he was too terrified to identify.
Copy !req
538. Only on the eve of his electrocution,
did he give the name of the boss,
Copy !req
539. who by then had disappeared
with the ransom money.
Copy !req
540. I remember feeling ashamed
that he had an Italian name.
Copy !req
541. Cassetti.
Copy !req
542. Che mostro.
He had a child's blood on his hands.
Copy !req
543. He had worse than that.
Copy !req
544. After the shock
of the body's discovery,
Copy !req
545. Mrs Armstrong gave premature birth
to a stillborn child
Copy !req
546. and herself died in the process.
Copy !req
547. Her husband Colonel Armstrong,
Copy !req
548. once a brave officer
in the Scots Guards, shot himself,
Copy !req
549. and Mrs Armstrong's personal maid,
Copy !req
550. who came wrongly
under suspicion of complicity,
Copy !req
551. threw herself from a bedroom window
and she died.
Copy !req
552. So five deaths. Five!
Copy !req
553. Then I thank heaven that Cassetti,
who spilt so much blood in his lifetime,
Copy !req
554. should have his own blood spilt now.
Copy !req
555. Excellent, Pierre.
Copy !req
556. And could you summon
the passengers to me here,
Copy !req
557. one by one in this order,
except for the Princess Dragomiroff,
Copy !req
558. who is not only of royal blood but also
much older than she tries not to look.
Copy !req
559. And, er...
Pierre, since you are here already,
Copy !req
560. we can conveniently start
by questioning you.
Copy !req
561. Your full name is
Pierre Paul Michel.
Copy !req
562. - Correct, monsieur.
- Two male saints' names.
Copy !req
563. You must be greatly blessed.
Copy !req
564. I've had my share
of good fortune, monsieur.
Copy !req
565. So, and of bad.
Copy !req
566. I note the cancellation of your wife's
photograph nearly five years ago.
Copy !req
567. She is deceased?
Copy !req
568. She died, monsieur,
of grief at the death of...
Copy !req
569. our only daughter from scarlet fever.
Copy !req
570. I am truly sorry.
Copy !req
571. Let us talk of less distressing matters.
Copy !req
572. On the night of the murder,
after we left Belgrade,
Copy !req
573. who were the last passengers
to retire to their compartment?
Copy !req
574. Show me on the diagram.
Copy !req
575. About 1:30, I remember seeing
the English colonel
Copy !req
576. say good night to Mr McQueen
outside number three and four.
Copy !req
577. 'I saw him walk back
into his compartment,
Copy !req
578. 'number 15,
which he did not leave.'
Copy !req
579. And after that, did no one re-emerge?
Copy !req
580. No.
Copy !req
581. But there was one lady
who opened a door,
Copy !req
582. I don't know which,
and walked in the direction of the toilet
Copy !req
583. at the far end of the corridor
next to the dining car.
Copy !req
584. 'Did you see her return?'
'No, monsieur.'
Copy !req
585. It is possible I was answering a bell.
Copy !req
586. Mm.
Ah, that reminds me of a final point.
Copy !req
587. Much earlier, soon after 12:30,
you and I both heard Mr Ratchett
Copy !req
588. ring his bell several times and then
apologise for having had a nightmare.
Copy !req
589. Ce n'est rien!
C'était un cauchemar!
Copy !req
590. Who rang the second bell while
you were answering Mr Ratchett's?
Copy !req
591. The Princess Dragomiroff,
monsieur.
Copy !req
592. She asked me to summon her maid.
Copy !req
593. Thank you, Pierre.
That is all for the moment.
Copy !req
594. He had the means to do it,
the passkey to Ratchett's room.
Copy !req
595. And a knife borrowed from the chef.
Copy !req
596. With whom he was in league.
Copy !req
597. Which he plunged repeatedly
and without motive
Copy !req
598. into the body of his suitably
astonished victim.
Copy !req
599. Anyway, we know the door
was not only locked but chained.
Copy !req
600. Mr McQueen,
since our last conversation,
Copy !req
601. I have learned the true identity
of your late employer.
Copy !req
602. You... you don't say?
Copy !req
603. Mm.
Copy !req
604. Ratchett was, as you yourself
suspected, merely an alias.
Copy !req
605. He was, in fact, Cassetti,
Copy !req
606. the gangster who masterminded
the kidnapping and killing
Copy !req
607. of little Daisy Armstrong.
Copy !req
608. You had no idea of this?
Copy !req
609. Oh, no, sir.
Copy !req
610. If I had, I..
I'd have cut off my right hand
Copy !req
611. so I couldn't type his lousy letters,
Copy !req
612. and I'd have killed him with my left.
Copy !req
613. You feel you, er... could have done
the good deed yourself?
Copy !req
614. It seems like I'm kind
of incriminating myself.
Copy !req
615. I should be more inclined
to suspect you, Mr McQueen,
Copy !req
616. if you displayed an inordinate sorrow
at your employer's decease.
Copy !req
617. Sorrow?
Copy !req
618. My dad, my father, was the...
the District Attorney, yeah,
Copy !req
619. who handled the Armstrong case.
Copy !req
620. Mrs Armstrong and her husband
came to our house twice
Copy !req
621. for... for advice
about the ransom money.
Copy !req
622. She was gentle and frightened.
Copy !req
623. But not... not too frightened
to take a... take an interest
Copy !req
624. in a young man who wanted
to go on the stage.
Copy !req
625. She even said she'd write to...
Copy !req
626. She died before
she got around to that.
Copy !req
627. She was as helpful to me
as, er... well, a mother.
Copy !req
628. Forgive a Freudian question.
Copy !req
629. Do, er... do you love your mother?
Copy !req
630. Er... I did.
Copy !req
631. She died when I was, er... eight,
an impressionable age.
Copy !req
632. Why... why do you ask?
Copy !req
633. We shared a compartment
on the first night of our journey.
Copy !req
634. You cried out, "Mother!"
twice in your sleep.
Copy !req
635. Did I?
Copy !req
636. I still dream about her.
Copy !req
637. Go on, tell me.
Copy !req
638. I'm emotionally retarded.
Tell me that's why I never married.
Copy !req
639. I am not here to tell you anything,
Mr McQueen.
Copy !req
640. You are here to tell me.
Copy !req
641. Yeah. I'm sorry.
Copy !req
642. Yeah, there... there's just,
er... one thing.
Copy !req
643. How did you, er... figure out,
um... Ratchett's identity?
Copy !req
644. By a message found in his compartment.
Copy !req
645. Ah, he'd have... he'd have burnt
that, though, as I told you.
Copy !req
646. Mm, he did.
Copy !req
647. Oh. Yeah, he did.
Copy !req
648. Er... then how did you decipher...?
Copy !req
649. With the help of a hatbox.
Thank you, Mr McQueen.
Copy !req
650. He did it.
Copy !req
651. He murdered Cassetti.
He practically confessed as much.
Copy !req
652. No, I...
No, the psychology is wrong.
Copy !req
653. A sensitive, motherless boy
conceives a passion for a lady
Copy !req
654. whom he admires above all
for her gentleness.
Copy !req
655. Now, could McQueen,
admiring the gentleness,
Copy !req
656. commit so foul a murder
without betraying the gentleness
Copy !req
657. of what we might call
his fairy godmother?
Copy !req
658. Ah! Godmother!
Copy !req
659. Now you have accidentally
said something valuable.
Copy !req
660. Come!
Copy !req
661. Mr Beddoes, this is not an inquisition
only an inquiry.
Copy !req
662. When you took Mr Ratchett
his valerian drops
Copy !req
663. about 9:40 yesterday evening,
Copy !req
664. was he already in bed?
Copy !req
665. That is so, sir. Mr Ratchett always
retired early on trains.
Copy !req
666. What were your duties
before leaving him for the night?
Copy !req
667. To place the valerian drops
within reach, sir.
Copy !req
668. - Beddoes.
- Sir?
Copy !req
669. Did you put this on my table
during dinner?
Copy !req
670. - No, sir.
- Then who the hell did?
Copy !req
671. I have no idea, sir.
May I ask what it is?
Copy !req
672. What it is,
is none of your damn business.
Copy !req
673. I want to know how it got here.
Copy !req
674. - Will there be anything more, sir?
- There will.
Copy !req
675. Tell Mr McQueen
I want to see him now.
Copy !req
676. Very well, sir.
Copy !req
677. At what time would you like
to be called in the morning, sir?
Copy !req
678. - Not before ten.
- Very good, sir.
Copy !req
679. - Was that usual?
- Oh, quite, sir, yes.
Copy !req
680. His breakfast was his amber moon.
Copy !req
681. He never rose
until it had had its full effect.
Copy !req
682. So, you instructed, er... Mr McQueen
Copy !req
683. and then returned
to your own compartment,
Copy !req
684. the number one and two,
Copy !req
685. whose upper berth was occupied
by, er... Signor Foscarelli?
Copy !req
686. Oh, yes, sir, the Italian person.
Copy !req
687. Er... does he speak English?
Copy !req
688. A kind of English, sir.
Copy !req
689. I think he learnt it
in a place called Chicago.
Copy !req
690. Do you talk together much?
Copy !req
691. Oh, no, sir. I prefer to read.
Copy !req
692. Hey, what are you reading,
Mr Beddoes?
Copy !req
693. "Love's Captive"
by Mrs Arabella Richardson.
Copy !req
694. Is it about sex?
Copy !req
695. No, it's about 10:30, Mr Foscarelli.
Copy !req
696. I like that. "It's about 10:30!"
Copy !req
697. And after that you went to sleep?
Copy !req
698. No, sir, not until four in the morning.
Unfortunately, I had the toothache.
Copy !req
699. Ah, and your companion?
Copy !req
700. - He snored incessantly.
- Ah.
Copy !req
701. One final point.
Copy !req
702. How did you come to be
employed by Mr Ratchett?
Copy !req
703. Through Maibaums, sir,
the big agency in New York.
Copy !req
704. You'll find me on their books.
Copy !req
705. And before then?
Copy !req
706. I was in the Army, sir,
as a private soldier.
Copy !req
707. - Where?
- Troon, sir.
Copy !req
708. - In the Far East?
- Oh, no, sir, in Scotland.
Copy !req
709. Oh, Scotland! Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Copy !req
710. Oh, forgive me.
I am only an ignorant Belgian.
Copy !req
711. Oh, a Belgian, sir?
I always thought you were French.
Copy !req
712. Belgian.
Copy !req
713. Did you know that Mr Ratchett
was of Italian extraction?
Copy !req
714. Ah, so that accounts for his hot temper.
Copy !req
715. His real name was Cassetti.
The name means nothing to you?
Copy !req
716. You remember the Armstrong case?
Copy !req
717. No, sir. Oh. Yes, yes.
Copy !req
718. Er... the little girl.
Copy !req
719. Cassetti was responsible
for her murder.
Copy !req
720. How does that strike you?
Copy !req
721. I've often thought, sir,
Copy !req
722. that instead of our employers
requiring references from us,
Copy !req
723. we should require references from them.
Copy !req
724. Thank you, Mr Beddoes.
Copy !req
725. Oh, please don't get up, sir.
Will there be anything else?
Copy !req
726. No, that is all.
Copy !req
727. He did it. The butler did it.
Copy !req
728. He had constant access to Ratchett.
Copy !req
729. He himself could have
poisoned the valerian
Copy !req
730. before bringing it to his master.
Copy !req
731. As for the psychological,
Copy !req
732. well, who knows what boils
and bubbles beneath that stiff shirt
Copy !req
733. to which his profession has called him?
Copy !req
734. Did he not read "Love's Captive", hm?
Copy !req
735. At a time when you suggest he should
have been stabbing Mr Ratchett?
Copy !req
736. I fear that help is at hand.
Copy !req
737. Even if it only a working party
with picks and shovels,
Copy !req
738. we must make haste to complete
this enquiry before we reach Brod.
Copy !req
739. If it is an engine with a snowplough,
our troubles will really begin.
Copy !req
740. - Who's next?
- Mrs Hubbard.
Copy !req
741. Oh, my God.
Copy !req
742. The whistle means
that help is near, madame.
Copy !req
743. And high time, too.
Copy !req
744. Time is what counts, Mrs Hubbard,
Copy !req
745. if we are to complete this enquiry
before reaching Brod.
Copy !req
746. I will make my questions as brief
as I hope you will make your answers,
Copy !req
747. and the more often you confine yourself
to a simple yes or no, the better.
Copy !req
748. Don't waste time yammering. Begin.
Copy !req
749. Your full name is
Harriet Belinda Hubbard?
Copy !req
750. Yes, I was called Harriet after my...
Copy !req
751. By now, Mr McQueen
has doubtless informed you
Copy !req
752. of the true identity of Mr Ratchett?
Copy !req
753. Yes, that low-down...
Copy !req
754. Were you acquainted
with the Armstrongs?
Copy !req
755. Of course not.
They were a very social family...
Copy !req
756. Mrs Hubbard, I overheard the whole
of your conversation with Pierre
Copy !req
757. about there being a man in your room
Copy !req
758. soon after one o'clock
on the night of the murder.
Copy !req
759. Tell me one thing more.
Copy !req
760. Wasn't the door locked
on your side of the door
Copy !req
761. that communicated with Mr Ratchett's
compartment when you went to bed?
Copy !req
762. Yes, so far as I know.
My second husband...
Copy !req
763. What do you mean,
as far as you know?
Copy !req
764. Could you not see the bolt
from the bed?
Copy !req
765. - No.
- Why?
Copy !req
766. It was masked by my make-up bag
on the hook above.
Copy !req
767. Pierre checked the bolt
after I rang my bell
Copy !req
768. and told him there had been
a man hiding in my compartment.
Copy !req
769. Yes, yes, we know all about that.
Copy !req
770. - Oh, no, you don't.
- I beg your pardon?
Copy !req
771. You don't know
what I found this morning
Copy !req
772. on top of the magazine
I'd been reading to send myself asleep.
Copy !req
773. What?
Copy !req
774. Dio mio.
Copy !req
775. This is a button from the tunic
of a Wagons-Lits conductor. Ah...
Copy !req
776. Doctor, would you kindly enquire
whether Pierre has lost a tunic button?
Copy !req
777. Gladly.
Copy !req
778. Your handkerchief, Mrs Hubbard.
Copy !req
779. Oh, that's not mine.
I have mine right here.
Copy !req
780. Oh, I, er... I thought the initial H...
Copy !req
781. H for Harriet. H for Hubbard.
But it's still not mine.
Copy !req
782. Mine are sensible things,
not expensive Paris frills.
Copy !req
783. What good's a hanky like that
to anybody?
Copy !req
784. One sneeze
and it has to go to the laundry.
Copy !req
785. Mrs Hubbard, you have afforded me
a great deal of help
Copy !req
786. in this difficult case.
Copy !req
787. Thank you, if I may so express it,
for playing your part.
Copy !req
788. If you need me again,
I'll be around.
Copy !req
789. Not one of Pierre's buttons
is missing
Copy !req
790. and all his buttons are sewn on
with old thread.
Copy !req
791. As I suspected.
Copy !req
792. - I'm frightened.
- Have no fear, mademoiselle.
Copy !req
793. They all come out looking
much more peaceful.
Copy !req
794. Only God can give peaceful.
Copy !req
795. God dag, fröken Ohlsson.
Copy !req
796. Nej, talar ni svenska.
Copy !req
797. Alas, mademoiselle,
that is the extent of my Swedish.
Copy !req
798. Forgive me if I am personal,
Copy !req
799. but most Scandinavians
of my acquaintance
Copy !req
800. are well educated in other languages,
Copy !req
801. and yet you have difficulty.
Copy !req
802. I... I was born backwards.
Copy !req
803. Oh?
Copy !req
804. That is why I work in Africa
as missionary,
Copy !req
805. teaching little brown babies
more backward than myself.
Copy !req
806. Mm. Hm.
Copy !req
807. But I... I see that you have
spent three months in America.
Copy !req
808. Were you not able to improve?
Copy !req
809. I was in a mis...
Copy !req
810. international group
Copy !req
811. for getting money
for African mission
Copy !req
812. from American rich.
Copy !req
813. Erm... I... I speak Swedish,
Copy !req
814. er... to big audiences
Copy !req
815. in... in Swedish-American
institution in Minneapolis
Copy !req
816. and other big cities.
Copy !req
817. In ten weeks we make, erm...
Copy !req
818. 14,000 dollars and 27 cents.
Copy !req
819. - Wonderful.
- Wonderful.
Copy !req
820. Miss Ohlsson, how long have you
been interested in religion?
Copy !req
821. From five years.
Copy !req
822. In summer,
I had been sick, as always,
Copy !req
823. and I sat in the grass
in the garden
Copy !req
824. and I... I saw Jesus in the sky,
Copy !req
825. mit many little children...
Copy !req
826. but all the children were brown.
Copy !req
827. So, it was a sign for me
to look after little brown babies.
Copy !req
828. Yes.
Copy !req
829. Were your parents religious?
Copy !req
830. Nej.
Copy !req
831. They had no respect for God.
Copy !req
832. No, so it was not just a sign.
Copy !req
833. It was also a punishment.
Copy !req
834. Oh, there, there, there, there.
Copy !req
835. I'm sure that God will
forgive you, Miss Ohlsson,
Copy !req
836. and perhaps,
which is more important,
Copy !req
837. so will your father and mother.
Copy !req
838. No, no, no.
Copy !req
839. Now.
Copy !req
840. Here is the compartment
you share with...
Copy !req
841. Ja, here is
my number seven bed.
Copy !req
842. Yes, your number seven.
Tell me about number eight.
Copy !req
843. Is filled with, er...
Miss, er... Debenham,
Copy !req
844. a very nice young lady from Baghdad,
Copy !req
845. where she teach English shorthand
to children,
Copy !req
846. to forward children.
Copy !req
847. Er... after the train left Vinkovci,
Copy !req
848. did she leave her berth?
Copy !req
849. Nej, er...
she sleep just like me.
Copy !req
850. Ah, if you were fast asleep,
Copy !req
851. how can you be so sure
she did not leave?
Copy !req
852. In Shimoga Mission,
I can hear snake breathe.
Copy !req
853. - Hm. Hm.
- I would know.
Copy !req
854. Good.
And did you leave your room?
Copy !req
855. Nej, not till morning
in my bed gown.
Copy !req
856. Er... is your bed gown
white with red animals?
Copy !req
857. Nej, is Jaeger.
Copy !req
858. A-ha, and Miss Debenham's
bed gown?
Copy !req
859. Den var em lila.
Copy !req
860. - Like the French lilas, lilac?
- Ja, just det lila.
Copy !req
861. Ah, good.
Copy !req
862. And why are you making this trip,
Miss Ohlsson?
Copy !req
863. Er... just as always,
money, money for mission.
Copy !req
864. Mm, good, good.
Copy !req
865. When this is all over,
mademoiselle,
Copy !req
866. I promise that I shall
make you an emolument.
Copy !req
867. God will find you a reward.
Copy !req
868. Tack så mycket. Tack, tack.
Copy !req
869. Monsieur, she did it.
Copy !req
870. Merci, Pierre,
Copy !req
871. and could you please inform
the Princess Dragomiroff
Copy !req
872. that Signor Bianchi and I
will attend on her and her maid
Copy !req
873. shortly in her compartment?
Copy !req
874. Oui, monsieur.
Copy !req
875. Ah.
Copy !req
876. That is very proper.
Copy !req
877. Monsieur le Comte, this is
a Hungarian diplomatic passport.
Copy !req
878. It gives you and your wife
the right to refuse interrogation.
Copy !req
879. In the circumstances,
we waive that right.
Copy !req
880. You are most kind.
Copy !req
881. As you know, Madame la Comtesse,
Copy !req
882. it is a joint passport which sets out
your husband's name and titles,
Copy !req
883. but requires no particulars
about yourself
Copy !req
884. except your signature
and your maiden name.
Copy !req
885. Your maiden name
is clearly Grunwald.
Copy !req
886. That is correct, monsieur,
my family is of German extraction,
Copy !req
887. though I now hold
Hungarian citizenship.
Copy !req
888. Unfortunately, the first letter
of your marriage signature
Copy !req
889. has been almost obliterated
by a grease spot.
Copy !req
890. I must say, I find immigration officials
are often less than clean.
Copy !req
891. They sit in their little box
eating a buttered roll with one hand
Copy !req
892. and stamping the spilt butter
into your passport with the other.
Copy !req
893. Precisely, therefore
I would be greatly obliged
Copy !req
894. if you could duplicate
the mutilated entry of your passport.
Copy !req
895. There.
Copy !req
896. Elena Andrenyi
Copy !req
897. née Grunwald.
Copy !req
898. Allowing for the difference in pens,
Copy !req
899. the duplication seems exact.
Copy !req
900. There would be little point, then,
in asking
Copy !req
901. whether this handkerchief is yours.
Copy !req
902. Since it contains neither of my initials,
no point whatsoever, monsieur.
Copy !req
903. And even less point in asking
the colour of your dressing gown.
Copy !req
904. None, unless monsieur takes
a professional interest
Copy !req
905. in apricot silk.
Copy !req
906. I take a professional interest
in crime, madame.
Copy !req
907. Have you and your husband
ever visited America together?
Copy !req
908. No. We first met in Wiesbaden
much later.
Copy !req
909. Later than what?
Copy !req
910. Later than the days of my youth
when I was on post in Washington.
Copy !req
911. You lived in Washington?
Copy !req
912. Oh, what diplomat of promise
has not?
Copy !req
913. You did not sleep well last night?
Copy !req
914. On the contrary, apart from one
of Mrs Hubbard's customary outbursts,
Copy !req
915. I slept very soundly.
Copy !req
916. And you, madame?
Copy !req
917. Oh, even more soundly.
Copy !req
918. We neither of us woke
till after eight.
Copy !req
919. As is my custom on night trains,
I took Trional.
Copy !req
920. Diethyl sulfone dimethyl methane.
Copy !req
921. One dilutes the white crystals
with water.
Copy !req
922. It is a strong hypnotic.
Copy !req
923. Ha-ha! He makes it
sound like a poison.
Copy !req
924. As with most sleeping draughts,
Copy !req
925. if taken in sufficient quantities,
it is a poison.
Copy !req
926. - You are not accusing...
- Ah-ah! You are not accused.
Copy !req
927. You are excused.
Copy !req
928. Thank you both for your help
and co-operation.
Copy !req
929. Kennst due das Land,
wo die Zitronen blühen?
Copy !req
930. Im dunklen Laub
die Gold-Orangen glühen,
Copy !req
931. Ein sanfter Wind
vom Blauen Himmel weht,
Copy !req
932. Die Myrtle still und hoch
der Lorbeer steht...
Copy !req
933. Kennst du es wohl?
Copy !req
934. Why have you stopped reading?
Copy !req
935. Dahin! Dahin!
Copy !req
936. Möcht ich mit dir,
O mein Gelieb...
Copy !req
937. - Altezza.
- Signor Bianchi.
Copy !req
938. Èpermesso presentare
I'investigatore distinto...
Copy !req
939. Monsieur Hercule Poirot.
Copy !req
940. Ah, Hildegarde has read me many
of your cases in the newspapers,
Copy !req
941. but I have had to stop her.
Copy !req
942. Nowadays they are
the only form of literature
Copy !req
943. that keeps me awake
Copy !req
944. and I need what
I defiantly continue to call
Copy !req
945. my beauty sleep.
Copy !req
946. Oh.
Copy !req
947. You would care for a little cognac?
Copy !req
948. - Thank you, no.
- Yes, please.
Copy !req
949. Now, you wish me to confess
Copy !req
950. to the murder
of Mr Whatshisname?
Copy !req
951. Au contraire,
Madame la Princesse,
Copy !req
952. it is I who wish to make
a confession.
Copy !req
953. You pay me the compliment
of having read about me.
Copy !req
954. I return the compliment
by admitting that I have read about you.
Copy !req
955. Continue.
Copy !req
956. I have been accidentally reminded
Copy !req
957. that you were the godmother
of Mrs Armstrong,
Copy !req
958. who was herself the mother
of the kidnapped child Daisy.
Copy !req
959. How did you become
Mrs Armstrong's godmother, madame?
Copy !req
960. I was the friend and admirer
of her mother,
Copy !req
961. the great American actress
Linda Arden.
Copy !req
962. "Why did you bring these daggers
from the place?"
Copy !req
963. Is that a quotation or a question?
Copy !req
964. A quotation. I saw her twice
as Lady Macbeth in London.
Copy !req
965. She was the greatest
tragic actress of her day.
Copy !req
966. Was?
Surely she is still alive, madame?
Copy !req
967. Alive but bedridden.
Copy !req
968. Did she not have a second daughter,
younger than Mrs Armstrong?
Copy !req
969. There was,
but I do not recall her name.
Copy !req
970. When I paid a visit,
she was always away at school.
Copy !req
971. What became of the younger daughter?
Copy !req
972. She married a Turk or some such.
Copy !req
973. We never spoke of it.
Copy !req
974. What was
Mrs Armstrong's maiden name?
Copy !req
975. Mrs Armstrong's maiden name
was Greenwood.
Copy !req
976. May I tax your memory and
indeed your patience a little longer?
Copy !req
977. There are other names in the Armstrong
household that I cannot recall.
Copy !req
978. - Was there not a secretary?
- Of course there was a secretary.
Copy !req
979. - Her name, madame?
- Her name?
Copy !req
980. Oh, my memory...
Copy !req
981. She was a Miss Freebody.
Copy !req
982. Hm.
Was there not a gallant chauffeur?
Copy !req
983. 'There was.'
Copy !req
984. I never used him. I had my own.
Copy !req
985. Surely he was not
the only male servant?
Copy !req
986. 'I seem to remember
one other there.'
Copy !req
987. He was, I think you would say,
the Colonel's Indian orderly.
Copy !req
988. Hm. And Mrs Armstrong's
personal maid.
Copy !req
989. The one who was wrongly suspected
Copy !req
990. of complicity in the kidnapping
and killed herself?
Copy !req
991. I always travel
with my own personal maid.
Copy !req
992. There was no need to speak
with Mrs Armstrong's.
Copy !req
993. Doubtless Fräulein Schmidt
will remember her name.
Copy !req
994. Surely, Fräulein,
as one lady's maid to another,
Copy !req
995. you conversed as equals
below stairs?
Copy !req
996. Ja, ja, natürlich.
Copy !req
997. But ladies' maids were often called
only by their Christian names.
Copy !req
998. - And what was hers?
- Paulette.
Copy !req
999. Hildegarde, you will be so kind
as to give me two aspirin
Copy !req
1000. and you will ask the dining-car attendant
to bring me a glass of Russian tea
Copy !req
1001. and then you may retire
to your own compartment.
Copy !req
1002. I will ring when I need you.
Copy !req
1003. Jawohl, meine Prinzessin.
Copy !req
1004. Finally, there was the nurse.
Copy !req
1005. I had... no need
Copy !req
1006. of a nurse.
Copy !req
1007. That is an ordeal still to come.
Copy !req
1008. You never smile,
Madame la Princesse.
Copy !req
1009. My doctor has advised against it.
Copy !req
1010. Excuse me, Countess.
Copy !req
1011. There is no need for us
to fatigue you further.
Copy !req
1012. You have been of the utmost help.
Copy !req
1013. Go back and tell Pierre to summon
Colonel Arbuthnot in five minutes.
Copy !req
1014. - I want a word with the maid.
- Yes, Poirot.
Copy !req
1015. Fräulein Schmidt.
Copy !req
1016. I wonder if I may have a word
with you about a small matter
Copy !req
1017. in the privacy
of your compartment?
Copy !req
1018. - I have to take these aspirins...
- We will leave the door ajar.
Copy !req
1019. I observed how moved you were
Copy !req
1020. at the mention
of Mrs Armstrong's maid Paulette.
Copy !req
1021. She had a sweet nature, mein Herr.
We were deep friends.
Copy !req
1022. Have you a photograph of her
in your possession?
Copy !req
1023. Ja. I never travel
without my photo box.
Copy !req
1024. It helps to pass the evenings.
Copy !req
1025. No, please, mein Herr.
I am strong.
Copy !req
1026. Be calm!
Copy !req
1027. This could be your salvation and that
of every passenger in the Calais coach,
Copy !req
1028. including your mistress.
Copy !req
1029. When did you last open
the suitcase?
Copy !req
1030. After Belgrade, when Pierre
summoned me to the Prinzessin,
Copy !req
1031. I took out a volume of Goethe
Copy !req
1032. in case she wished me
to read her to sleep.
Copy !req
1033. Too stout for Pierre.
Copy !req
1034. And, yes, there is a button
missing from the tunic.
Copy !req
1035. A button found by Mrs Hubbard.
Copy !req
1036. And a passkey in the trouser pocket.
Copy !req
1037. Here is the photo, mein Herr.
Copy !req
1038. Hmm...
Copy !req
1039. And this pretty innocent girl
Copy !req
1040. threw herself from a window?
Copy !req
1041. Ah, use this, Fräulein.
Copy !req
1042. I found it in the corridor
Copy !req
1043. and thought it must be yours
because it bears the initial H.
Copy !req
1044. No, no, that is the handkerchief
not of a maid but of a great lady.
Copy !req
1045. Like your mistress?
Copy !req
1046. It is her style, ja,
Copy !req
1047. but, er... not her handkerchief.
Copy !req
1048. I know all her linen.
Copy !req
1049. Besides, the initial is wrong.
Copy !req
1050. What is the Princess's first name?
Copy !req
1051. Natalia, mein Herr.
It is a Russian name.
Copy !req
1052. Then I must keep it
until I find the rightful owner.
Copy !req
1053. Might I also keep the photograph
until this evening?
Copy !req
1054. - I promise to return it.
- Ja, ja. That does not worry me.
Copy !req
1055. But this... this does.
Copy !req
1056. Am I to be accused of hiding it
in my suitcase?
Copy !req
1057. Fräulein, I am as sure
you did not hide the uniform
Copy !req
1058. as I am sure you are a good
and loyal friend to your mistress.
Copy !req
1059. Not only a good maid
but also a good cook.
Copy !req
1060. Not merely a good cook
but a companion, a comfort, a solace.
Copy !req
1061. You see? You are a good cook,
are you not?
Copy !req
1062. All my ladies have said so. I...
Copy !req
1063. Auf Wiedersehen.
Copy !req
1064. You opening a dress shop?
Copy !req
1065. No.
Copy !req
1066. We are closing an enquiry.
Where is Shimoga?
Copy !req
1067. - I beg your pardon?
- Shimoga. Where is it?
Copy !req
1068. It's a bit off my track.
I'm a North-West Frontier man myself.
Copy !req
1069. But Shimoga's down south
in Mysore. Why?
Copy !req
1070. Does it possess a mission?
Copy !req
1071. How the hell should I know?
India's pustular with missions.
Copy !req
1072. You are returning from leave
from India to England?
Copy !req
1073. - Yes?
- Why overland?
Copy !req
1074. Why not?
Copy !req
1075. Because the sea route
by P&O is more usual.
Copy !req
1076. I chose to come overland
for reasons of my own.
Copy !req
1077. Colonel Arbuthnot,
in a murder enquiry,
Copy !req
1078. no suspect's reasons
are exclusively his own.
Copy !req
1079. I stopped for one night
to see Ur of the Chaldees,
Copy !req
1080. and for three days in Baghdad
with the AOC,
Copy !req
1081. who happens to be a friend of mine.
Copy !req
1082. The English Miss Debenham
also has travelled from Baghdad.
Copy !req
1083. It is possible the murder
was committed by a woman
Copy !req
1084. or by a... a man and a woman
in collaboration.
Copy !req
1085. From your acquaintanceship
with Miss Debenham,
Copy !req
1086. would you have thought
that she was, er... capable
Copy !req
1087. physically or emotionally?
Copy !req
1088. That's a bloody irregular question.
Copy !req
1089. I know, but I ask it.
Copy !req
1090. Miss Debenham is not a woman.
Copy !req
1091. She's a lady.
Copy !req
1092. Which precludes her
from being a murderess?
Copy !req
1093. Damn it,
the man was a perfect stranger.
Copy !req
1094. - She'd never seen him before.
- You feel warmly in the matter.
Copy !req
1095. I don't know what you're driving at.
Copy !req
1096. Then let us be practical
and drive at facts.
Copy !req
1097. Did you know Colonel Armstrong?
Copy !req
1098. 'Not to speak to.'
Copy !req
1099. You see, his outfit and mine
wouldn't have mixed much.
Copy !req
1100. I'm Indian Army.
He was British Army, serving in India.
Copy !req
1101. - Royal Scots.
- How did you know?
Copy !req
1102. It was in the papers when he shot
himself after the kidnapping.
Copy !req
1103. Hm. Rotten show.
Copy !req
1104. Thought he'd have been
tougher than that.
Copy !req
1105. After all, he got a DSO
and an MC in France.
Copy !req
1106. Distinguished Service Order.
Copy !req
1107. Military Cross.
Copy !req
1108. Mon colonel,
Copy !req
1109. Ratchett was responsible
for five deaths.
Copy !req
1110. The suicide
of the falsely accused maid.
Copy !req
1111. The murder of the Armstrong child.
Copy !req
1112. The death of Mrs Armstrong
Copy !req
1113. while giving premature birth
to a stillborn baby.
Copy !req
1114. And the ultimate suicide
of Colonel Armstrong
Copy !req
1115. in the face of multiple
and intolerable bereavements!
Copy !req
1116. I would have understood his action,
if in addition to the DSO and MC,
Copy !req
1117. he had been awarded the VC,
Copy !req
1118. which stands, as you may know,
for Victoria Cross
Copy !req
1119. and is awarded for valour.
Copy !req
1120. Then, in my opinion,
Ratchett deserved what he got.
Copy !req
1121. Though I'd sooner have seen him
properly tried by jury.
Copy !req
1122. Trial by 12 good men and true
is a sound system.
Copy !req
1123. Hm.
Copy !req
1124. We believe the murder
was committed at 1:15.
Copy !req
1125. What were you doing then?
Copy !req
1126. I was yarning with young...
What's his name? McQueen.
Copy !req
1127. In his compartment.
Copy !req
1128. He was interested in the future
of India, a bit impractical.
Copy !req
1129. He thought the British
ought to move out.
Copy !req
1130. How long did you stay
yarning after that?
Copy !req
1131. Till, er... 1:30. It's...
Copy !req
1132. It's what I call
a three-pipe yarn.
Copy !req
1133. Colonel Arbuthnot, you are the only
passenger in the Calais coach
Copy !req
1134. who smokes a "peep".
Copy !req
1135. So it would appear.
Copy !req
1136. Then this must, er...
be your "peep" cleaner.
Copy !req
1137. Same brand.
Copy !req
1138. It was found in an ashtray
by the dead man's bedside.
Copy !req
1139. Then someone planted it there.
Copy !req
1140. It's a used "peep" cleaner!
Copy !req
1141. Or are you suggesting
that I'm fool enough
Copy !req
1142. to have entered Ratchett's cabin,
murdered him,
Copy !req
1143. cleaned my "peep" and dropped it
in the ashtray before leaving?
Copy !req
1144. No, Colonel Arbuthnot.
Copy !req
1145. Miss Debenham!
Copy !req
1146. - Er... can I stay?
- No, Colonel Arbuthnot.
Copy !req
1147. Please be seated.
Copy !req
1148. Forgive me,
Miss Debenham. I must be brief.
Copy !req
1149. You met Colonel Arbuthnot and fell
in love with each other in Baghdad.
Copy !req
1150. Why must the English conceal
even their most impeccable emotions?
Copy !req
1151. To answer your observations
in order, of course, yes,
Copy !req
1152. yes, and I don't know.
Copy !req
1153. Then let me tell you
what you do know,
Copy !req
1154. that on the Bosphorus ferryboat
Copy !req
1155. I overheard a part of your conversation
with the Colonel.
Copy !req
1156. Not now, not now. When it's all over.
When it's behind us. Then.
Copy !req
1157. When what was all over,
Miss Debenham?
Copy !req
1158. When what was behind you?
Copy !req
1159. Was it some task
that had to be performed?
Copy !req
1160. Some ordeal that had to be endured?
Copy !req
1161. Some dark deed
that had to be dispatched?
Copy !req
1162. Mr Poirot, I'm not at liberty
to answer any of those questions.
Copy !req
1163. Not here on this train perhaps,
but when the Yugoslav police
Copy !req
1164. take over an unsolved
murder case at Brod,
Copy !req
1165. you will not remain at liberty
unless you answer the questions!
Copy !req
1166. I can always call my lawyers
long-distance.
Copy !req
1167. This is a private matter
between the Colonel and myself.
Copy !req
1168. Miss Debenham,
in a murder case no matter is private
Copy !req
1169. and evasion breeds suspicion
so answer my question!
Copy !req
1170. When what was all over?
When what was behind you?
Copy !req
1171. Please answer the question!
Copy !req
1172. You will remain here
until I get an answer from you!
Copy !req
1173. Mon colonel, please!
Copy !req
1174. Monsieur Poirot has
expressly forbidden...
Copy !req
1175. Poirot has no right.
He's out of order.
Copy !req
1176. This is a private matter.
Copy !req
1177. Je vous en prie, mon colonel.
Copy !req
1178. - Mon colonel!
- Get out of my way.
Copy !req
1179. So answer my question.
When what was all over?
Copy !req
1180. - Answer my question!
- Get your hands off Miss Debenham!
Copy !req
1181. I was not aware that I was keeping
my hands on Miss Debenham.
Copy !req
1182. I asked her a simple question...
Copy !req
1183. - So I heard.
- ... which she refused to answer.
Copy !req
1184. Then perhaps
you can answer it for her.
Copy !req
1185. Can you give me your solemn oath,
as a foreigner...
Copy !req
1186. that if the answer has
nothing to do with the murder,
Copy !req
1187. you'll treat it confidentially?
Copy !req
1188. I will.
Copy !req
1189. Six months ago, before
I'd even met Miss Debenham,
Copy !req
1190. - my memsahib...
- Come?
Copy !req
1191. My wife expressed herself bored
Copy !req
1192. not only at living in India
but, er... at living with me,
Copy !req
1193. and, er... asked me
to provide her with a divorce.
Copy !req
1194. In view of my position,
Commanding Officer, 12th Gurkhas,
Copy !req
1195. I refused.
Copy !req
1196. Well, had I not,
I should have lost my command.
Copy !req
1197. My wife returned to England,
Copy !req
1198. where there is irrefutable evidence
Copy !req
1199. that she has been
persistently unfaithful to me.
Copy !req
1200. I have therefore instituted
divorce proceedings
Copy !req
1201. in which she is cited
as the guilty party,
Copy !req
1202. and when those proceedings
are behind us,
Copy !req
1203. when those proceedings are all over,
I propose to marry Miss Debenham.
Copy !req
1204. Meanwhile, it is of vital importance
under English law
Copy !req
1205. that, er... our...
Copy !req
1206. behaviour should
not provide evidence
Copy !req
1207. for counter-proceedings by my wife.
Copy !req
1208. Does that answer your question?
Copy !req
1209. Hm.
Copy !req
1210. Well, er...
Copy !req
1211. it is certainly an answer.
Copy !req
1212. Doctor,
is Pierre sufficiently recovered?
Copy !req
1213. - Fully.
- May we go?
Copy !req
1214. You may with my assurance that
our foreigners' lips shall be sealed.
Copy !req
1215. Sorry if I hurt the lad.
Provocation.
Copy !req
1216. They could've done it together.
Copy !req
1217. She has hidden fire.
She is very strong.
Copy !req
1218. Why did you not ask her
if she'd been to America?
Copy !req
1219. Because I did not need to.
Copy !req
1220. Pierre, le colonel
s'excuse de son geste.
Copy !req
1221. Merci, monsieur.
Copy !req
1222. Signor Foscarelli.
Copy !req
1223. You are a naturalised
American subject?
Copy !req
1224. You bet.
Copy !req
1225. - For how long?
- Seven years.
Copy !req
1226. Mi ricordo del giorno preciso
quando...
Copy !req
1227. Faccia di rispondere
alle domande.
Copy !req
1228. Otherwise, he will detain you longer
than you would detain him.
Copy !req
1229. - You are a motorcar salesman.
- You bet.
Copy !req
1230. American automobiles to Italians.
Copy !req
1231. Did you know Cassetti?
Copy !req
1232. Not on your sweet life.
Era Mafioso.
Copy !req
1233. Ah, he says he was Mafia.
Copy !req
1234. - Really?
- Vero.
Copy !req
1235. Who do you, er...
who do you think killed him?
Copy !req
1236. Un altro Mafioso.
Copy !req
1237. He says another Mafia.
Copy !req
1238. They are always killing each other
with a knife or a gun.
Copy !req
1239. Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa...
Copy !req
1240. Why did you bring this dagger
from the place?
Copy !req
1241. Because I found it
in my make-up bag.
Copy !req
1242. Ecco, what did I say?
Knives or guns.
Copy !req
1243. It's a vendetta
between two Mafiosi.
Copy !req
1244. Give me the dagger.
Copy !req
1245. When did you last open
your make-up bag?
Copy !req
1246. Yesterday evening,
when I took everything out.
Copy !req
1247. If you took everything out,
why did you need to reopen it?
Copy !req
1248. Because I was putting
something back in.
Copy !req
1249. You may set your mind at rest,
er... Mrs Hubbard.
Copy !req
1250. The missing button.
Copy !req
1251. Precisely, and I can assure you
Copy !req
1252. the owner of the tunic
is not now on the train.
Copy !req
1253. Are you going back
to the dining car?
Copy !req
1254. I'll say I am.
Copy !req
1255. Do you think I could face
my compartment so soon after that?
Copy !req
1256. Would you kindly ask
the chief attendant
Copy !req
1257. to arrange the tables and chairs
Copy !req
1258. so that Signor Bianchi,
Dr Constantine and myself
Copy !req
1259. can confront the passengers
with the solution of the murder?
Copy !req
1260. I, er... I help
with the risoluzione.
Copy !req
1261. Yes, if you will briefly
answer two more questions.
Copy !req
1262. Shoot.
Copy !req
1263. On the night of the murder,
Copy !req
1264. did Mr Beddoes leave
the compartment?
Copy !req
1265. No. No, he grunt like a pig
with the pain in his teeth.
Copy !req
1266. And, er... have you ever
been in private service?
Copy !req
1267. No.
Copy !req
1268. Ah. Thank you. That is all.
Copy !req
1269. - Excuse me, sir.
- Yes.
Copy !req
1270. Enfin, Doctor?
Copy !req
1271. This blood is human.
Copy !req
1272. This dagger could,
in two different hands,
Copy !req
1273. have inflicted all the wounds.
Copy !req
1274. And you know
who inflicted them, huh?
Copy !req
1275. Our last interrogation
will be something of a gamble.
Copy !req
1276. But if it succeeds...
Copy !req
1277. we'll know.
Copy !req
1278. Ah, come in, come in, please.
Copy !req
1279. - Be seated.
- Thanks.
Copy !req
1280. You are Cyrus B Hardman,
a theatrical agent.
Copy !req
1281. No.
Copy !req
1282. I mean,
I... I'm not a theatrical agent.
Copy !req
1283. That's a phony,
Copy !req
1284. issued to me under licence
by Pinkerton's.
Copy !req
1285. - The detective agency?
- Stamboul Branch.
Copy !req
1286. Ratchett asked them for an American
bodyguard. They sent me.
Copy !req
1287. I didn't do so hot.
Copy !req
1288. Can you prove this was the reason
for your journey?
Copy !req
1289. 'It's Paulette. Paulette.'
Copy !req
1290. Paulette Michel.
Copy !req
1291. Now I can stop pretending
to be anything.
Copy !req
1292. Ladies and gentlemen,
may I have your attention, please?
Copy !req
1293. May I respectfully suggest
that there should be no talking
Copy !req
1294. while Monsieur Poirot
addresses you?
Copy !req
1295. If anyone wishes
to make a statement,
Copy !req
1296. he or she can do so
at the meeting's end.
Copy !req
1297. Thank you.
Copy !req
1298. Ladies and gentlemen, you are
all aware that a repulsive murderer
Copy !req
1299. has himself been repulsively
and perhaps deservedly murdered.
Copy !req
1300. How and why?
Here is the simple answer.
Copy !req
1301. There is evidence supporting
the theory
Copy !req
1302. that the murderer was
a stranger to us all.
Copy !req
1303. Mrs Hubbard was conscious
of a man in her compartment
Copy !req
1304. soon after 1:15 am.
Copy !req
1305. She later found near her bedside
Copy !req
1306. the button
of a Wagons-Lits conductor.
Copy !req
1307. Fräulein Schmidt discovered,
planted in her suitcase,
Copy !req
1308. the uniform of a conductor
Copy !req
1309. which could not possibly
have fitted Pierre
Copy !req
1310. and from which in fact
there was a button missing,
Copy !req
1311. and in the trouser pocket
of the uniform
Copy !req
1312. was a conductor's passkey.
Copy !req
1313. Later still, Mrs Hubbard discovered
this bloodstained dagger,
Copy !req
1314. which Dr Constantine confirms
Copy !req
1315. could have been
the murderer's weapon.
Copy !req
1316. The obvious implication is
Copy !req
1317. that the murderer,
disguised as a conductor,
Copy !req
1318. boarded the train at Belgrade,
Copy !req
1319. made his way,
by means of the convenient passkey,
Copy !req
1320. to Ratchett's compartment,
Copy !req
1321. stabbed him to death,
planted the dagger and the uniform,
Copy !req
1322. and then departed, since the train
was now halted in a snowdrift.
Copy !req
1323. Who was he? I am inclined
to agree with Mr Foscarelli,
Copy !req
1324. who believes that he was
a rival member of the Mafia,
Copy !req
1325. exacting private vengeance
for a vendetta
Copy !req
1326. whose precise nature the Yugoslav
police will undoubtedly identify.
Copy !req
1327. But is that all?
Copy !req
1328. No. No, no, no, no.
Copy !req
1329. No, it is not.
Copy !req
1330. I said, er...
here is the simple answer.
Copy !req
1331. There is also a more... complex one.
Copy !req
1332. But remember
my first solution when uh...
Copy !req
1333. when you've heard my second.
Copy !req
1334. Let us for the moment assume
what is perfectly possible,
Copy !req
1335. that the mysterious stranger
did not exist.
Copy !req
1336. The murder must then have been
committed by some person
Copy !req
1337. or persons in the Calais coach
Copy !req
1338. and therefore at present
in this dining car.
Copy !req
1339. Let us not for the moment
ask the question how,
Copy !req
1340. but the question why,
which will tell us how.
Copy !req
1341. I was not surprised that every
single one of you should have heard
Copy !req
1342. of the notorious Armstrong case.
Copy !req
1343. But I confess to a mild surprise
Copy !req
1344. when the first passenger
I interrogated,
Copy !req
1345. Mr McQueen,
Copy !req
1346. admitted under emotional stress
Copy !req
1347. that he had actually known
Mrs Armstrong, albeit very slightly.
Copy !req
1348. She was gentle and frightened.
Copy !req
1349. But not too frightened to take
an interest in a young man,
Copy !req
1350. who wanted to go on the stage.
Copy !req
1351. Was Mr McQueen lying when
he denied ever having known
Copy !req
1352. that Ratchett was Cassetti?
Copy !req
1353. Or did he become Ratchett's secretary
as part of a deliberate plan
Copy !req
1354. to avenge Mrs Armstrong's death?
Copy !req
1355. Only by interrogating
the other passengers
Copy !req
1356. could I hope to see the light,
but when I began to question them,
Copy !req
1357. the light, as, er...
Macbeth would have said,
Copy !req
1358. thickened.
Copy !req
1359. When I told
the Princess Dragomiroff
Copy !req
1360. that I knew she was
Mrs Armstrong's godmother,
Copy !req
1361. her answers
to my subsequent questions
Copy !req
1362. smelt strongly of inaccuracy
and evasion.
Copy !req
1363. Even I knew more from reading
the newspaper reports
Copy !req
1364. than she from her frequent visits.
Copy !req
1365. Was there not a chauffeur?
Copy !req
1366. There was, monsieur, but I had
my own. I never used him.
Copy !req
1367. Evasion. What was the name
of Mrs Armstrong's personal maid?
Copy !req
1368. I always travel
with my own maid, monsieur.
Copy !req
1369. There was no need to speak
with Mrs Armstrong's.
Copy !req
1370. Evasion. I asked for particulars
of the manservant.
Copy !req
1371. He was, I think, the Colonel's...
Indian, how you would say, orderly.
Copy !req
1372. Inaccuracy.
Copy !req
1373. Colonel Armstrong was an officer
of the British Army in India.
Copy !req
1374. He would've had a British batman,
like, er... Private Beddoes,
Copy !req
1375. to serve his personal needs.
Copy !req
1376. Only officers of the Indian Army, like
Colonel Arbuthnot, have Indian orderlies.
Copy !req
1377. I asked her the name
of Mrs Armstrong's younger sister.
Copy !req
1378. I do not recall her name.
Copy !req
1379. Unbelievable evasion!
Copy !req
1380. I asked her the name
of Mrs Armstrong's secretary.
Copy !req
1381. Yes, a Miss Freebody.
Copy !req
1382. Non, c'est impossible ça!
Copy !req
1383. The Princess, it seems, is playing
the psychological game
Copy !req
1384. of word association.
Copy !req
1385. Ha-ha! Freebody is the name
of the junior partner
Copy !req
1386. of one of London's most famous
and most opulent ladies' stores
Copy !req
1387. of the sort perhaps patronised
by the Princess herself.
Copy !req
1388. The name of the senior partner
is Debenham,
Copy !req
1389. Debenham and Freebody.
Copy !req
1390. Was the Princess covering up
for our Miss Debenham,
Copy !req
1391. who taught shorthand in Baghdad?
Copy !req
1392. Can she tell us the name
of Mrs Armstrong's younger sister?
Copy !req
1393. Then I will tell you
her Christian and her maiden name.
Copy !req
1394. When I asked
the Princess Dragomiroff
Copy !req
1395. if she could tell me
the maiden name of her goddaughter,
Copy !req
1396. Mrs Armstrong,
Copy !req
1397. she could not possibly, as a godmother,
plead ignorance of this,
Copy !req
1398. she replied...
Copy !req
1399. Greenwood.
Copy !req
1400. Grunwald is the German
for Greenwood!
Copy !req
1401. The Princess's hesitation
persuades me
Copy !req
1402. that Grunwald was the true
maiden name of her goddaughter,
Copy !req
1403. Mrs Armstrong,
Copy !req
1404. and that the Countess Andrenyi
Copy !req
1405. is Mrs Armstrong's
surviving younger sister.
Copy !req
1406. The Christian name is Helena,
not Elena.
Copy !req
1407. No, no, no. But Helena.
Copy !req
1408. And where did she lose
her Christian name's initial H?
Copy !req
1409. She lost it under
a convenient grease spot
Copy !req
1410. in her husband's passport.
Copy !req
1411. And why was the grease spot
purposely applied?
Copy !req
1412. Because she and her husband
were afraid
Copy !req
1413. that this handkerchief
bearing the initial H
Copy !req
1414. might lead me to suspect her
of complicity in the murder.
Copy !req
1415. I swear before God, and on my word
of honour as a gentleman,
Copy !req
1416. that this handkerchief
does not belong to my wife.
Copy !req
1417. No. No, no, no, no, no.
Copy !req
1418. No, no.
No, no, no. It does not.
Copy !req
1419. No, nor does it belong
to Mrs Harriet Belinda Hubbard.
Copy !req
1420. Nor to Fräulein Hildegarde Schmidt,
Copy !req
1421. whose finest quality is her loyalty.
Copy !req
1422. The initial is wrong.
Copy !req
1423. What is the Princess's first name?
Copy !req
1424. Natalia, mein Herr.
It is a Russian name.
Copy !req
1425. Ah, in the Russian
or Cyrillic alphabet,
Copy !req
1426. their capital N
Copy !req
1427. is written like our capital H.
Copy !req
1428. Madame la Princess,
Copy !req
1429. should this costly handkerchief
cease to remain an exhibit,
Copy !req
1430. it will be returned to your loyal maid
for laundering.
Copy !req
1431. Or is Hildegarde Schmidt
really your maid?
Copy !req
1432. I have perhaps a nose
for the aura of fine food
Copy !req
1433. and laid a trap.
Copy !req
1434. You are a good cook,
are you not?
Copy !req
1435. All my ladies have said so. I...
Copy !req
1436. If you are a lady's maid,
Copy !req
1437. your ladies never have a chance
of discovering if you are a good cook,
Copy !req
1438. as good a cook as Hildegarde
Schmidt must have been
Copy !req
1439. to the Armstrong household.
Copy !req
1440. Enfin...
Copy !req
1441. Whom do we now
have here in this car
Copy !req
1442. that could have known
or could have been involved
Copy !req
1443. with the Armstrong household?
Copy !req
1444. We have, one, Mr McQueen,
Copy !req
1445. who became boyishly
devoted to Mrs Armstrong
Copy !req
1446. at the time of the kidnapping.
Copy !req
1447. Two, the Princess Dragomiroff,
Copy !req
1448. who was Mrs Armstrong's
devoted godmother.
Copy !req
1449. Three, the Countess Andrenyi,
Copy !req
1450. who was Mrs Armstrong's
devoted younger sister.
Copy !req
1451. Four, the Count Andrenyi, who
is Helena's devoted husband
Copy !req
1452. and Mrs Armstrong's
devoted brother-in-law.
Copy !req
1453. Five, Hildegarde Schmidt,
Copy !req
1454. who was Mrs Armstrong's
devoted cook.
Copy !req
1455. Six, Mary Debenham,
Copy !req
1456. who was Mrs Armstrong's
devoted secretary.
Copy !req
1457. Miss Debenham's inclusion
is pure conjecture.
Copy !req
1458. I did not have to ask
Miss Debenham
Copy !req
1459. if she had ever lived in America...
Copy !req
1460. because during
her interrogation she said...
Copy !req
1461. I can always call my lawyers
long-distance.
Copy !req
1462. An Englishwoman who had
never lived in America
Copy !req
1463. would have said,
Copy !req
1464. "I can always make
a trunk call to my solicitors."
Copy !req
1465. Tout de même, I must thank
the pipe-smoking Colonel Arbuthnot
Copy !req
1466. for a remark which finally
resolved all my confusions
Copy !req
1467. about this... this extraordinary case.
Copy !req
1468. I prefer to set aside the fact
Copy !req
1469. that he denied ever having spoken
to Colonel Armstrong in India,
Copy !req
1470. and yet he remembered
in great detail
Copy !req
1471. the decorations
which Colonel Armstrong had won
Copy !req
1472. years earlier in France.
Copy !req
1473. I prefer to remember his views
on the British jury system.
Copy !req
1474. Trial by twelve good men and true
is a sound system.
Copy !req
1475. The iron tongue of midnight
hath told... twelve.
Copy !req
1476. Suddenly, the number twelve
began to ring in my head
Copy !req
1477. like a great bell.
Copy !req
1478. Twelve.
Copy !req
1479. Doctor, how many wounds
were there in Ratchett's body?
Copy !req
1480. Twelve.
Copy !req
1481. Mr McQueen,
how many capital letters,
Copy !req
1482. each inscribed by a different hand,
Copy !req
1483. were contained in each
of the two threatening messages
Copy !req
1484. you showed me on Ratchett's
correspondence file?
Copy !req
1485. Er... twelve. Twelve.
Copy !req
1486. Colonel Arbuthnot,
how many persons in a jury?
Copy !req
1487. Twelve.
Copy !req
1488. Hm.
Copy !req
1489. Pierre Paul Michel.
Copy !req
1490. How many passengers
in the Calais coach,
Copy !req
1491. excluding myself
and the murdered man?
Copy !req
1492. Twelve, monsieur.
Copy !req
1493. - Show me your wallet.
- No!
Copy !req
1494. Votre portefeuille.
Mr Hardman, you may not speak!
Copy !req
1495. Ratchett never asked you
to be his bodyguard.
Copy !req
1496. He asked me,
and I, perhaps to my discredit, refused.
Copy !req
1497. Before you joined Pinkerton's
as a private detective,
Copy !req
1498. you were an ordinary policeman,
were you not?
Copy !req
1499. Eh?
Copy !req
1500. A, er... cop.
Copy !req
1501. Mm, who, as is customary with cops,
fell in love
Copy !req
1502. with a pretty housemaid
on his beat.
Copy !req
1503. Hm...
Copy !req
1504. Yes, and would have married her,
if, er...
Copy !req
1505. Hm...
Copy !req
1506. Your daughter Paulette never died
of scarlet fever, did she?
Copy !req
1507. No, she killed herself,
Copy !req
1508. when falsely accused of complicity
Copy !req
1509. in the kidnapping and killing
of little Daisy Armstrong.
Copy !req
1510. They, er...
Copy !req
1511. They could not have done it
without you, could they?
Copy !req
1512. You, the procurer of this disguise
Copy !req
1513. for the mysterious member
of the Mafia, who never existed,
Copy !req
1514. any more than the owner of
this kimono existed as a real character
Copy !req
1515. and not as a red herring
to confuse and deceive me,
Copy !req
1516. although I think I was not deceived.
Copy !req
1517. I have...
How shall I put it?
Copy !req
1518. an eye for the figure
of a receding woman.
Copy !req
1519. Countess, your cosmopolitan accent
showed an inherited ability...
Copy !req
1520. from your actress mother.
Copy !req
1521. But God knows
from what implausible source
Copy !req
1522. Miss Greta Ohlsson
learned her English vocabulary,
Copy !req
1523. too ludicrous to be credited.
Copy !req
1524. Hm?
Copy !req
1525. I was born backwards.
Copy !req
1526. That is why I work
in Africa as missionary,
Copy !req
1527. teaching little brown babies
more backwards than myself.
Copy !req
1528. You coined words like "bed gown"
Copy !req
1529. and yet you understand
words like "emolument".
Copy !req
1530. I truly believe you did look
after little brown babies
Copy !req
1531. at your mission in Shimoga,
which is in India, by the way.
Copy !req
1532. It's not Africa, huh?
Copy !req
1533. But I believe you were covering up,
Copy !req
1534. for once, years earlier,
when you were in America,
Copy !req
1535. having looked after a little white baby
called Daisy, whose death,
Copy !req
1536. though you could do nothing
to prevent it, so preyed on your mind
Copy !req
1537. that you sought refuge
in a vision of Jesus
Copy !req
1538. and your future as a missionary looking
after little brown babies was sealed.
Copy !req
1539. You... you were lucky
Copy !req
1540. only to be bound and gagged,
not coshed like the manservant.
Copy !req
1541. - Mr Beddoes.
- Sir.
Copy !req
1542. You served with
the British Army in Scotland.
Copy !req
1543. Colonel Armstrong was
in the Royal Scots.
Copy !req
1544. Would you kindly give Dr Constantine
your deepest butler's bow?
Copy !req
1545. Yes, there is an old contusion.
Copy !req
1546. The result of a slight fracas
in the mess, sir,
Copy !req
1547. with regard to the quality
of a pudding known as Spotted Dick.
Copy !req
1548. Thank you.
But I think you've been spotted too.
Copy !req
1549. Mr Foscarelli is very knowledgeable
about automobiles.
Copy !req
1550. I suspected that perhaps he had once
been the Armstrongs' chauffeur.
Copy !req
1551. I asked if he had ever been
in private service.
Copy !req
1552. No.
Copy !req
1553. I think Mr Foscarelli's
appalling English
Copy !req
1554. is more genuine than Miss Ohlsson's,
but I think he meant yes.
Copy !req
1555. - Think, monsieur?
- Think, think. Yes, think.
Copy !req
1556. What else can be done
on a train isolated by a snowdrift?
Copy !req
1557. If all these people are not implicated
in the crime,
Copy !req
1558. then why have they all told me
under interrogation
Copy !req
1559. stupid and often unnecessary lies?
Why? Why? Why? Why?
Copy !req
1560. Doubtless, because they did
not expect you to be on the train.
Copy !req
1561. They had no time
to concert their cover story.
Copy !req
1562. I was hoping someone other
than myself would say that.
Copy !req
1563. Ladies and gentlemen,
Copy !req
1564. we now come
to my own reconstruction
Copy !req
1565. of the night of the murder...
Copy !req
1566. or, er...
Copy !req
1567. the night of the red herrings.
Copy !req
1568. I... I only wish, er...
Copy !req
1569. Mm...
Copy !req
1570. I only wish I could describe it
with the, er...
Copy !req
1571. incomparable panache,
Copy !req
1572. the consummate verve,
Copy !req
1573. the enthralling cadences,
Copy !req
1574. the delicate gestures,
the evocative expressions,
Copy !req
1575. of America's greatest tragic actress,
Harriet Belinda...
Copy !req
1576. Miss Linda Arden.
Copy !req
1577. I've always heard she wanted
to play comedy parts,
Copy !req
1578. but her husband wouldn't have it.
Copy !req
1579. Which husband?
Your second husband, Mr Hubbard?
Copy !req
1580. Or your first husband, Mr Grunwald?
Copy !req
1581. Linda Arden, the actress,
Copy !req
1582. never played
as difficult a role as Mrs Hubbard,
Copy !req
1583. the organiser
of this extraordinary revenge.
Copy !req
1584. Dare I deduce
that the great Linda Arden
Copy !req
1585. has been cured of her incurable disease
and is no longer bedridden, hm?
Copy !req
1586. It is I who should be committed
to a bed in a mental home.
Copy !req
1587. It is I who need a cure
for being so slow
Copy !req
1588. to notice the tricks
that were being played on me
Copy !req
1589. with regard to the time of the murder.
Copy !req
1590. - Will there be anything more, sir?
- There will.
Copy !req
1591. Tell Mr McQueen
I want to see him now.
Copy !req
1592. Very good, sir.
Copy !req
1593. And six beakers. Stop.
Copy !req
1594. Only five, repeat, five beakers
were delivered.
Copy !req
1595. One, repeat, one, badly chipped,
Copy !req
1596. which will be returned
on receipt of replacement
Copy !req
1597. to my Paris address, signed...
Copy !req
1598. Ratchett.
Copy !req
1599. OK, Hector, that's all.
Copy !req
1600. - Good night, Mr Ratchett.
- Good night, Hector.
Copy !req
1601. Ce n'est rien.
Copy !req
1602. C'était un cauchemar.
Copy !req
1603. Ah, bien, Mr Ratchett.
May you now have pleasant dreams.
Copy !req
1604. At 1:15 came Mrs Hubbard's
announcement
Copy !req
1605. that there was a man in her room,
Copy !req
1606. who had, for reasons which I dare
not even guess, shed a button.
Copy !req
1607. The next morning,
the murder was discovered.
Copy !req
1608. Dr Constantine sets
the time of the murder
Copy !req
1609. anywhere between midnight
and 2:00am.
Copy !req
1610. Now, I came to various conclusions.
Copy !req
1611. The clumsy cliché of
the smashed watch registering 1:15
Copy !req
1612. had been done deliberately
to excite my disbelief.
Copy !req
1613. Hm...
Copy !req
1614. And since Mr McQueen
had over-emphatically said
Copy !req
1615. that Ratchett spoke no languages,
Copy !req
1616. I was being deliberately
manoeuvred into believing
Copy !req
1617. that Ratchett was already dead
Copy !req
1618. when a voice cried out
from his room in French.
Copy !req
1619. In other words,
I was being forced into the theory
Copy !req
1620. that the murder was
committed before 1:15,
Copy !req
1621. a period for which every single
one of you had an unshakeable alibi.
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1622. But supposing that
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1623. the crime had not
been committed earlier,
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1624. but later than 1:15,
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1625. when all the noises and incidents
designed to confuse me
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1626. had died down
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1627. and I had, er... lapsed into sleep,
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1628. because the train was now
silent and at peace.
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1629. Silent, yes.
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1630. At peace, no.
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1631. By two o'clock,
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1632. the murder was afoot.
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1633. Envisage it.
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1634. For my daughter.
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1635. My granddaughter.
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1636. In memory of Colonel Armstrong,
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1637. a great soldier
and an even greater friend.
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1638. And for Mrs Armstrong.
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1639. They took me into their home
and their hearts.
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1640. For their Daisy and mine.
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1641. God forgive me.
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1642. For my... my sister and my niece.
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1643. Cassetti, for the grief you brought
to my beloved wife.
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1644. Vigliacco.
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1645. Schweinhund.
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1646. For my beloved goddaughter.
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1647. For Mother Armstrong
from Hector.
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1648. For my gentleman.
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1649. To Paulette with love.
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1650. And with mine.
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1651. God rest the soul
of my dear dead daughter.
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1652. I repeat...
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1653. a repulsive murderer
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1654. has himself been repulsively
and perhaps deservedly murdered.
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1655. But in which of the two ways
that I have suggested?
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1656. In the simpler way by the Mafioso,
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1657. disguised as a Wagons-Lits conductor?
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1658. Or in the more complex way
that I have just outlined,
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1659. which involves many questions
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1660. and of course...
considerable scandal.
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1661. Signor Bianchi, it is for you,
as a director of the line,
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1662. to choose the solution that
we shall offer to the police at Brod,
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1663. though I confess
I am in two minds.
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1664. Though I, er...
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1665. I think the police at Brod
would, er... prefer
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1666. the simplicity of the first solution.
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1667. We have the uniform
to show the police.
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1668. If we have the uniform,
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1669. there must have been a man in it.
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1670. So, therefore,
I elect the first solution.
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1671. Hear, hear.
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1672. Hercule, I thank you.
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1673. My friend.
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1674. Now I must go and wrestle
with my report to the police
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1675. and, er... with my conscience.
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1676. Mama?
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