Part I.

The Facts

1. An Important Passenger on the Taurus

Express
It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at
Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus
Express. It consisted of a kitchen and dining-car, a sleeping-car and two local
coaches.
By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young French lieutenant,
resplendent in uniform conversing, with a small man muffled up to the ears of
whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an
upward-curled moustache.
It was freezingly cold, and this job of seeing off a distinguished stranger was
not one to be envied, but Lieutenant Dubosc performed his part manfully.
Graceful phrases fell from his lips in polished French. Not that he knew what it
was all about. There had been rumours, of course, as there always were in such
cases. The General’s – his General’s – temper had grown worse and worse. And
then there had come this Belgian stranger – all the way from England, it seemed.
There had been a week – a week of curious tensity. And then certain things had
happened. A very distinguished officer had committed suicide, another had
suddenly resigned, anxious faces had suddenly lost their anxiety, certain military
precautions were relaxed. And the General, Lieutenant Dubosc’s own particular
General, had suddenly looked ten years younger.
Dubosc had overheard part of a conversation between him and the stranger.
“You have saved us, mon cher,” said the General emotionally, his great white
moustache trembling as he spoke. “You have saved the honour of the French
Army – you have averted much bloodshed! How can I thank you for acceding to
my request? To have come so far–”
To which the stranger (by name M. Hercule Poirot) had made a fitting reply
including the phrase – “But indeed, do I not remember that once you saved my
life?” And then the General had made another fitting reply to that, disclaiming
any merit for that past service; and with more mention of France, of Belgium, of
glory, of honour and of such kindred things they had embraced each other
heartily and the conversation had ended.
As to what it had all been about, Lieutenant Dubosc was still in the dark, but
to him had been delegated the duty of seeing off M. Poirot by the Taurus
Express, and he was carrying it out with all the zeal and ardour befitting a young
officer with a promising career ahead of him.
“To-day is Sunday,” said Lieutenant Dubosc. “Tomorrow, Monday evening,
you will be in Stamboul.”
It was not the first time he had made this observation. Conversations on the
platform, before the departure of a train, are apt to be somewhat repetitive in
character.
“That is so,” agreed M. Poirot.
“And you intend to remain there a few days, I think?”
“Mais oui. Stamboul, it is a city I have never visited. It would be a pity to
pass through – comme ça.” He snapped his fingers descriptively. “Nothing
presses – I shall remain there as a tourist for a few days.”
“La Sainte Sophie, it is very fine,” said Lieutenant Dubosc, who had never
seen it.
A cold wind came whistling down the platform. Both men shivered.
Lieutenant Dubosc managed to cast a surreptitious glance at his watch. Five
minutes to five – only five minutes more!
Fancying that the other man had noticed his glance, he hastened once more
into speech.
“There are few people travelling this time of year,” he said, glancing up at
the windows of the sleeping-car above them.
“That is so,” agreed M. Poirot.
“Let us hope you will not be snowed up in the Taurus!”
“That happens?”
“It has occurred, yes. Not this year, as yet.”
“Let us hope, then,” said M. Poirot. “The weather reports from Europe, they
are bad.
“Very bad. In the Balkans there is much snow.”
“In Germany, too, I have heard.”
“Eh bien,” said Lieutenant Dubosc hastily as another pause seemed to be
about to occur. “Tomorrow evening at seven-forty you will be in
Constantinople.”
“Yes,” said M. Poirot, and went on desperately, “La Sainte Sophie, I have
heard it is very fine.”
“Magnificent, I believe.”
 Above their heads the blinds of one of the sleeping-car compartments was
pushed aside and a young woman looked out.
Mary Debenham had had little sleep since she left Baghdad on the preceding
Thursday. Neither in the train to Kirkuk, nor in the Rest House at Mosul, nor last
night on the train had she slept properly. Now, weary of lying wakeful in the hot
stuffiness of her overheated compartment, she got up and peered out.
This must be Aleppo. Nothing to see, of course. Just a long, poorly lighted
platform with loud, furious altercations in Arabic going on somewhere. Two men
below her window were talking French. One was a French officer, the other was
a little man with enormous moustaches. She smiled faintly. She had never seen
anyone quite so heavily muffled up. It must be very cold outside. That was why
they heated the train so terribly. She tried to force the window down lower, but it
would not go.
The Wagon Lit conductor had come up to the two men. The train was about
to depart, he said. Monsieur had better mount. The little man removed his hat.
What an egg-shaped head he had! In spite of her preoccupations Mary
Debenham smiled. A ridiculous-looking little man. The sort of little man one
could never take seriously.
Lieutenant Dubosc was saying his parting speech. He had thought it out
beforehand and had kept it till the last minute. It was a very beautiful, polished
speech.
Not to be outdone, M. Poirot replied in kind…
“En voiture, Monsieur,” said the Wagon Lit conductor. With an air of infinite
reluctance M. Poirot climbed aboard the train. The conductor climbed after him.
M. Poirot waved his hand. Lieutenant Dubosc came to the salute. The train, with
a terrific jerk, moved slowly forward.
“Enfin!” murmured M. Hercule Poirot.
“Brrrrrrrr,” said Lieutenant Dubosc, realising to the full how cold he was.
“Voilà, Monsieur!” The conductor displayed to Poirot with a dramatic
gesture the beauty of his sleeping compartment and the neat arrangement of his
luggage. “The little valise of Monsieur, I have put it here.”
His outstretched hand was suggestive. Hercule Poirot placed in it a folded
note.
“Merci, Monsieur.” The conductor became brisk and business-like. “I have
the tickets of Monsieur. I will also take the passport, please. Monsieur breaks his
journey in Stamboul, I understand?”
M. Poirot assented. “There are not many people travelling, I imagine?” he
said.
“No, Monsieur. I have only two other passengers – both English. A Colonel
fromIndia and a young English lady fromBaghdad. Monsieur requires
anything?”
Monsieur demanded a small bottle of Perrier.
Five o’clock in the morning is an awkward time to board a train. There were
still two hours before dawn. Conscious of an inadequate night’s sleep, and of a
delicate mission successfully accomplished, M. Poirot curled up in a corner and
fell asleep.
When he awoke it was half-past nine he sallied forth to the restaurant car in
search of hot coffee.
There was only one occupant at the moment, obviously the young English
lady referred to by the conductor. She was tall, slim and dark – perhaps twenty-
eight years of age. There was a kind of cool efficiency in the way she was eating
her breakfast and in the way she called to the attendant to bring her more coffee
which bespoke a knowledge of the world and of travelling. She wore a dark-
coloured travelling dress of some thin material eminently suitable for the heated
atmosphere of the train.
M. Hercule Poirot, having nothing better to do, amused himself by studying
her without appearing to do so.
She was, he judged, the kind of young woman who could take care of herself
with perfect ease wherever she went. She had poise and efficiency. He rather
liked the severe regularity of her features and the delicate pallor of her skin. He
liked the burnished black head with its neat waves of hair, and her eyes – cool,
impersonal and grey. But she was, he decided, just a little too efficient to be what
he called “jolie femme.”
Presently another person entered the restaurant car. This was a tall man of
between forty and fifty, lean of figure, brown of skin, with hair slightly grizzled
round the temples.
“The Colonel from India,” said Poirot to himself.
The newcomer gave a little bow to the girl. “Morning, Miss Debenham.”
“Good morning, Colonel Arbuthnot.”
The Colonel was standing with a hand on the chair opposite her.
“Any objections?” he asked.
“Of course not. Sit down.”
“Well, you know, breakfast isn’t always a chatty meal.”
“I should hope not. But I don’t bite.”
The Colonel sat down. “Boy,” he called in peremptory fashion.
He gave an order for eggs and coffee.
His eyes rested for a moment on Hercule Poirot, but they passed on
indifferently. Poirot, reading the English mind correctly, knew that he had said to