Death On The Nile

 
Part Two
EGYPT
 
Chapter 1
''That's Hercule Poirot, the detective," said Mrs. Allerton.
She and her son were sitting in brightly painted scarlet basket chairs outside the Cataract Hotel at Assuan.
They were watching the retreating figures of two people a short man dressed in a white silk suit and a tall slim girl.
Tim Allerton sat up in an unusually alert fashion.
"That funny little man?" he asked incredulously.
"That funny little man!"
Tim said: "What on earth's he doing out here?"
His mother laughed.
"Darling, you sound quite excited. Why do men enjoy crime so much? I hate detective stories and never read them. But I don't think M. Poirot is here with any ulterior motive. He's made a good deal of money and he's seeing life, I fancy." "Seems to have an eye for the best-looking girl in the place.'
Mrs. Allerton tilted her head a little on one side as she considered the retreating backs of M. Poirot and his companion.
The girl by his side overtopped him by some three inches. She walked well, neither stiffly nor slouchingly.
"I suppose she is quite good-looking?" said Mrs. Allerton.
She shot a little glance sideways at Tim. Somewhat to her amusement the fish rose at once.
"She's more than quite. Pity she looks so bad-tempered and sulky."
"Perhaps that's just expression, dear."
"Unpleasant young devil, I think. But she's pretty enough."
The subject of these remarks was walking slowly by Poirot's side. Rosalie Otterbourne was twirling an unopened parasol, and her expression certainly bore out what Tim had just said. She looked both sulky and bad-tempered. Her eyebrows were drawn together in a frown and the scarlet line of her mouth was drawn downwards.
They turned to the left out of the hotel gate and entered the cool shade of the public gardens.
Hercule Poirot was prattling gently, his expression that of beatific good humour. He wore a white silk suit, carefully pressed, a panama hat and carried a highly ornamental fly whisk with a sham amber handle.
" it enchants me," he was saying. "The black rocks of Elephantine, and the sun, the little boats on the river. Yes, it is good to be alive."
He paused and then added:
"You do not find it so, Mademoiselle?"
Rosalie Otterbourne said shortly:
"It's all right, I suppose. I think Assuan's a gloomy sort of place. The hotel's half empty, and every one's about a hundred-"
She stopped-biting her lip.
Hercule Poirot's eyes twinkled.
"It is true, yes, I have one leg in the grave."
"I-I wasn't thinking of you," said the girl. "I'm sorry. That sounded rude."
"Not at all. It is natural you should wish for young companions of your own age. Ah, well, there is one young man, at least."
"The one who sits with his mother all the time? I like her but I think he looks dreadful-so conceited!"
Poirot smiled.
"And I-am I conceited?"
"Oh, I don't think so."
She was obviously uninterested-but the fact did not seem to annoy Poirot.
He merely remarked with placid satisfaction:
"My best friend says that I am very conceited."
"Oh, well," said Rosalie vaguely, "I suppose you have something to be conceited about. Unfortunately crime doesn't interest me in the least."
Poirot said solemnly:
"I am delighted to learn that you have no guilty secret to hide."
Just for a moment the sulky mask of her face was transformed as she shot him a swift questioning glance. Poirot did not seem to notice it as he went on.
"Madame, your mother was not at lunch to-day. She is not indisposed, I trust?"
"This place doesn't suit her," said Rosalie briefly. "I shall be glad when we leave."
"We are fellow-passengers, are we not? We both make the excursion up to
Wadi Halfa and the Second Cataract?"
"Yes."
They came out from the shade of the garden on to a dusty stretch of road bordered by the river. Five watchful bead sellers, two vendors of postcards, three sellers of plaster scarabs, a couple of donkey boys and some detached but hopeful infantile riff-raft closed in upon them.
"You want beads, sir? Very good, sir. Very cheap "
"Lady, you want scarab. Look--great queen-very lucky."
"You look, sir-real lapis. Very good, very cheap.
"You want ride donkey, sir? This very good donkey. This donkey Whisky and Soda, sir… ' "You want to go granite' quarries, sir? This very good donkey. Other donkey very bad, sir, that donkey fall down… " "You want postcard-very cheap-very nice… "
"Look, lady… Only ten piastres-very cheap-lapis-this ivory… "
"This very good fly whisk--this all amber… "
"You go out in boat, sir? I got very good boat, sir "
"You ride back to hotel, lady? This first-class donkey " Hercule Poirot made vague gestures to rid himself of this human cluster of flies. Rosalie stalked through them like a sleep walker.
"It's best to pretend to be deaf and blind," she remarked.
The infantile riff-raft ran alongside murmuring plaintively.
"Bakshish? Bakshish? Hip, hip, hurrah-very good, very nice… " Their gaily coloured rags trailed picturesquely and the flies lay in clusters on their eyelids.
They were the most persistent. The others fell back and launched a fresh attack on the next corner. Now Poirot and Rosalie only ran the gauntlet of the shops-suave persuasive accents here.
"You visit my shop to-day, sir?" "You want that ivory crocodile, sir?" "You not been in my shop yet, sir? I show you very beautiful things." They turned into the fifth shop and Rosalie handed over several rolls of films-the object of the walk.
Then they came out again and walked towards the river's edge.
One of the Nile steamers was just mooring. Poirot and Rosalie looked interestedly at the passengers.
"Quite a lot, aren't there?" commented Rosalie.
She turned her head as Tim Allerton came up and joined them. He was a little out of breath as though he had been walking fast.
They stood there for a moment or two and then Tim spoke: "An awful crowd as usual, I suppose," he remarked disparagingly, indicating the disembarking passengers.
"They're usually quite terrible," agreed Rosalie.
All three wore the air of superiority assumed by people who are already in a place when studying new arrivals.
"Hallo!" said Tim, his voice suddenly excited. "I'm damned if that isn't Linnet Ridgeway." If the information left Poirot unmoved, it stirred Rosalie's interest. She leaned forward and her sulkiness quite dropped from her as she asked: "Where? That one in white?" "Yes, there with the tall man. They're coming ashore now. He's the new husband, I suppose. Can't remember her name now" "Doyle," said Rosalie. "Simon Doyle. It was in all the newspapers. She's simply rolling, isn't she?" "Only about the richest girl in England," said Tim cheerfully.
The three lookers-on were silent watching the passengers come ashore. Poirot gazed with interest at the subject of the remarks of his companions. He murmured: "She is beautiful." "Some people have got everything," said Rosalie bitterly.
There was a queer grudging expression on her face as she watched the other girl come up the gangplank.
Linnet Doyle was looking as perfectly turned out as if she was stepping on the centre of the stage in a Revue. She had something too of the assurance of a famous actress. She was used to being looked at, to being admired, to being the centre of the stage wherever she went.
She was aware of the keen glances bent upon her-and at the same time almost unaware of them, such tributes were part of her life.
She came ashore playing a r61e, even though she played it unconsciously. The rich, beautiful society bride on her honeymoon. She turned with a little smile and a light remark to the tall man by her side. He answered and the sound of his voice seemed to interest Hercule Poirot. His eyes lit up and he drew his brows together.