The mystery of the Blue Train

THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN

                          By AGATHA CHRISTIE

            Copyright, 1928, by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc.

                         PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.




                            _Dedicated to_

                       TWO DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS
                            OF THE O. F. D.

                         CARLOTTA _and_ PETER




                               Contents


                  1. The Man with the White Hair

                  2. M. le Marquis

                  3. Heart of Fire

                  4. In Curzon Street

                  5. A Useful Gentleman

                  6. Mirelle

                  7. Letters

                  8. Lady Tamplin Writes a Letter

                  9. An Offer Refused

                 10. On the Blue Train

                 11. Murder

                 12. At the Villa Marguerite

                 13. Van Aldin Gets a Telegram

                 14. Ada Mason's Story

                 15. The Comte de la Roche

                 16. Poirot Discusses the Case

                 17. An Aristocratic Gentleman

                 18. Derek Lunches

                 19. An Unexpected Visitor

                 20. Katherine Makes a Friend

                 21. At the Tennis

                 22. M. Papopolous Breakfasts

                 23. A New Theory

                 24. Poirot Gives Advice

                 25. Defiance

                 26. A Warning

                 27. Interview with Mirelle

                 28. Poirot Plays the Squirrel

                 29. A Letter From Home

                 30. Miss Viner Gives Judgment

                 31. Mr. Aarons Lunches

                 32. Katherine and Poirot Compare Notes

                 33. A New Theory

                 34. The Blue Train Again

                 35. Explanations

                 36. By the Sea




                          Cast of Characters


MONSIEUR LE MARQUIS, an elegant gentleman who merits his mask but not
his white hairs

DEMETRIUS PAPOPOLOUS, a venerable dealer in unique antiques

ZIA PAPOPOLOUS, whose resemblance to her father, Demetrius, is more
than physical

RUFUS VAN ALDIN, a hard man, with plenty of hard cash

MAJOR RICHARD KNIGHTON, Van Aldin's secretary--quick, intelligent, and
resourceful

RUTH KETTERING, another daughter who resembles her father, Rufus Van
Aldin

DEREK KETTERING, Ruth's husband, the future Lord Leconbury

MIRELLE, an exotic dancer who was not made to be poor

KATHERINE GREY, a grey-eyed saint with a sense of humor--and a
brand-new fortune

VISCOUNTESS ROSALIE TAMPLIN, who has an eye (blue and charming) for a
quick penny

THE HONORABLE LENOX TAMPLIN, who does _not_ resemble her mother

M. HERCULE POIROT, the semiretired Belgian detective who is semimodest
about admitting that he is always right

ADA MASON, lady's maid to Ruth Kettering, and English to the tip of her
red nose

COMTE ARMAND DE LA ROCHE, a plausible scoundrel with a fatal
fascination for women




                     The Mystery of the Blue Train




                    1. The Man with the White Hair


It was close on midnight when a man crossed the Place de la Concorde.
In spite of the handsome fur coat which garbed his meagre form, there
was something essentially weak and paltry about him.

A little man with a face like a rat. A man, one would say, who could
never play a conspicuous part, or rise to prominence in any sphere.
And yet, in leaping to such a conclusion, an onlooker would have been
wrong. For this man, negligible and inconspicuous as he seemed, played
a prominent part in the destiny of the world. In an Empire where rats
ruled, he was the king of the rats.

Even now, an Embassy awaited his return. But he had business to do
first--business of which the Embassy was not officially cognizant. His
face gleamed white and sharp in the moonlight. There was the least
hint of a curve in the thin nose. His father had been a Polish Jew, a
journeyman tailor. It was business such as his father would have loved
that took him abroad to-night.

He came to the Seine, crossed it, and entered one of the less reputable
quarters of Paris. Here he stopped before a tall, dilapidated house
and made his way up to an apartment on the fourth floor. He had barely
time to knock before the door was opened by a woman who had evidently
been awaiting his arrival. She gave him no greeting, but helped him
off with his overcoat and then led the way into the tawdrily furnished
sitting-room. The electric light was shaded with dirty pink festoons
and it softened, but could not disguise, the girl's face with its mask
of crude paint. Could not disguise, either, the broad Mongolian cast of
her countenance. There was no doubt of Olga Demiroff's profession, nor
of her nationality.

"All is well, little one?"

"All is well, Boris Ivanovitch."

He nodded murmuring: "I do not think I have been followed."

But there was anxiety in his tone.