Murder On The Orient Express Page #5

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Well, don't waste time

yammering, begin.

Your full name

is Harriet Belinda Hubbard?

Yes. I was called Harriet after my...

By now, Mr. McQueen

has doubtless informed you

- of the true identity of Mr. Ratchett?

- Yes, that low-down, stinking...

Were you acquainted

with the Armstrongs?

No, of course not. They were

a very social family. Anyway...

Mrs. Hubbard, I overhead the whole

of your conversation with Pierre

about there being a man

in your room soon after 1:00

on the night of the murder.

Tell me one thing more.

Wasn't the door locked

on your side of the door

that communicated with Mr. Ratchett's

compartment when you went to bed?

Yes, so far as I know.

My second husband...

What do you mean,

as far as you know?

Could you not see

the bolt from the bed?

- No.

- Why?

It was masked by my makeup bag

on the hook above.

Pierre checked the bolt

after I rang my bell

and told him there had been a man

hiding in my compartment.

Yes, yes, we know all about that.

Oh, no, you don't.

I beg your pardon.

You don't know what I found this

morning on top of the magazine

I'd been reading to send myself asleep.

What?

Dio mio.

This is a button from the tunic

of a wagon-lit conductor.

Doctor, would you kindly inquire

whether Pierre has lost a tunic button?

Gladly.

Your handkerchief, Mrs. Hubbard.

Oh, that's not mine.

I have mine right here.

Oh, I thought the initial H...

H for Harriet, H for Hubbard,

but it's still not mine.

Mine are sensible things,

not expensive Paris frills.

What good's a hankie like that

to anybody?

One sneeze and it has to go

to the laundry.

Oh, Mrs. Hubbard,

you have afforded me a great deal

of help in this difficult case.

Thank you, if I may so express it,

for playing your part.

If you need me again, I'll be around.

Not one of Pierre's buttons

is missing,

and all his buttons are sewn on

with old thread.

As I suspected.

- I'm fright.

- Have no fear, mademoiselle.

They all come out looking

much more peaceful.

Only God can give peaceful.

- God dag, fr?en Ohlsson.

- Nej, talar ni svenska.

Alas, mademoiselle,

that is the extent of my Swedish.

Forgive me if I am personal,

but most Scandinavians

of my acquaintance

are well-educated

in other languages.

And yet you have difficulty...

I... I was born backwards.

That is why I work in Africa

as missionary,

teaching little brown babies

more backward than myself.

But I... I see that you have spent

three months in America.

Were you not able to improve?

I was in... In a mis...

I... I... International group.

In... For getting money for

African mission from American rich.

I... I speak Swedish

to big audiences

in... In...

In Swedish-American institution

in Minneapolis and other big cities.

In ten weeks,

we make $14,000 and...

And 27 cents.

That's wonderful, wonderful.

Miss Ohlsson, how long have you

been interested in religion?

From five years.

In summer, in...

I had been sick as always.

And I sat in the grass in the garden.

And I... I saw Jesus in the sky,

mit many little children,

but all the children were brown.

So it was a sign for me

- to look after little brown babies.

- Yes.

Were your parents religious?

Ne, they had no respect for God.

No.

So it was not just a sign,

it was also a punishment.

Oh, there, there, there, there.

I'm sure that God will forgive you,

Miss Ohlsson,

and perhaps, which is more important,

so will your father and mother.

Now...

...here is the compartment

you share with...

Ja, and here is

my number seven bed.

Yes, your number seven.

Tell me about number eight.

Is filled with Miss Debenham,

a very nice young lady from Baghdad,

where she teach English shorthand

to children,

to forward children.

After the train left Vinkovci,

did she leave her berth?

Ne, she sleep just like me.

If you were fast asleep, how could

you be so sure she did not leave?

In Shimoga Mission,

I can hear snake breathe.

I would know.

Good. And did you leave your room?

Ne, not till morning, in my bed gown.

Is your bed gown white

with red animals?

Ne, is Jaeger.

And Miss Debenham's bed gown?

Den var em lila.

- Oh, like the French "lilas", "lilac".

- Ja.

- Just det lila, just det lila.

- Lila, lila.

Good. And why are you making

this trip, Miss Ohlsson?

Just as always, money,

money for mission.

Good. Good.

When this is all over, mademoiselle,

I promise that I shall make you

an emolument.

God will find you a reward.

Tack s?mycket. Tack. Tack.

Monsieur, she did it.

Merci, Pierre, and could you please

inform the Princess Dragomiroff

that Signor Bianchi and I will attend

on her and her maid

- shortly in her compartment?

- Oui, monsieur.

That is very proper.

Monsieur le Comte, this is

a Hungarian diplomatic passport.

It gives you and your wife

the right to refuse interrogation.

In the circumstances,

we waive that right.

You are most kind.

As you know,

Madame la Comtesse,

it is a joint passport which sets out

your husband's name and titles,

but requires no particulars

about yourself,

except your signature

and your maiden name.

Your maiden name

is clearly Grunwald.

That is correct, monsieur.

My family is of German extraction,

though I now hold

Hungarian citizenship.

Unfortunately, the first letter

of your married signature

has been almost obliterated

by a grease spot.

I must say, I find immigration officials

are often less than cleanly. They...

They sit in their little box,

eating a buttered roll with one hand

and stamping the spilt butter

into your passport with the other.

Precisely. Therefore,

I would be greatly obliged

if you could duplicate

the mutilated entry of your passport

there.

Elena Andrenyi n? Grunwald.

Allowing for the difference in pens,

the duplication seems exact.

There would be little point, then,

in asking

whether this handkerchief is yours?

Since it contains neither of my initials,

no point whatsoever, monsieur.

And even less point in asking

the color of your dressing gown?

None, unless monsieur takes

a professional interest in apricot silk?

I take a professional interest

in crime, Madame.

Have you and your husband

ever visited America together?

No. We first met in Wiesbaden...

...much later.

- Later than what?

Later than the days of my youth,

when I was on post in Washington.

You lived in Washington?

Oh, what diplomat of promise has not?

You did not sleep well last night?

On the contrary, apart from one of

Mrs. Hubbard's customary outbursts,

I slept very soundly.

- And you, Madame?

- Oh, even more soundly.

We, neither of us, woke till after 8.

As is my custom on night trains,

I took Trional.

Diethyl-sulphone-dimethyl-methane.

One dilutes the white crystals

with water, it is a strong hypnotic.

He makes it sound like a poison.

As with most sleeping drafts,

if taken in sufficient quantities,

it is a poison.

- You are not accusing...

- You are not accused,

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