Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie 
™
 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS 
135
judicious selection of people—the conductor, Miss Debenham and MacQueen—will also have 
seen her. It was, I think, someone with a sense of humour who thoughtfully placed the scarlet 
kimono on the top of my suitcase whilst I was interviewing people in the dining-car. Where the 
garment came from in the first place, I do not know. I suspect it is the property of Countess 
Andrenyi, since her luggage contained only a chiffon negligee so elaborate as to be rather a tea-
gown than a dressing-gown. 
“When MacQueen first learned that the letter which had been so carefully burnt had in part 
escaped destruction, and that the word Armstrong was exactly the word remaining, he must at 
once have communicated his news, to the others. It was at this minute that the position of 
Countess Andrenyi became acute, and her husband immediately took steps to alter the passport. 
It was their second piece of bad luck! 
“They one and all agreed to deny utterly any connection with the Armstrong family. They 
knew I had no immediate means of finding out the truth, and they did not believe that I should go 
into the matter unless my suspicions were aroused against one particular person. 
“Now there was one further point to consider. Allowing that my theory of the crime was the 
correct one, and I believed that it 
must
be the correct one, then obviously the Wagon Lit 
conductor himself must be privy to the plot. But if so, that gave us thirteen persons, not twelve. 
Instead of the usual formula ‘Of so many people one is guilty,’ I was faced with the problem that 
of thirteen persons one and one only was innocent. Which was that person? 
“I came to a very odd conclusion. I came to the conclusion that the person who had taken no 
part in the crime was the person who would be considered the most likely to do so. I refer to 
Countess Andrenyi. I was impressed by the earnestness of her husband when he swore to me 
solemnly on his honour that his wife never left her compartment that night. I decided that Count 
Andrenyi took, so to speak, his wife’s place. 
“If so, then Pierre Michel was definitely one of the twelve. But how could one explain his 
complicity? He was a decent man who had been many years in the employ of the company—not 
the kind of man who could be bribed to assist in a crime. Then Pierre Michel must be involved in 
the Armstrong case. But that seemed very improbable. Then I remembered that the dead nursery-
maid had been French. Supposing that that unfortunate girl had been Pierre Michel’s daughter. 
That would explain everything—it would also explain the place chosen for the staging of the 
crime. Were there any others whose part in the drama was not clear? Colonel Arbuthnot I put 
down as a friend of the Armstrongs. They had probably been through the War together. The 
maid, Hildegarde Schmidt—I could guess her place in the Armstrong household. I am, perhaps, 
over greedy, but I sense a good cook instinctively. I laid a trap for her—she fell into it. I said I 
knew she was a good cook. She answered: ‘Yes, indeed, all my ladies have said so.’ But if you 
are employed as a 
lady’s-maid 
your employers seldom have a chance of learning whether or not 
you are a good cook. 
“Then there was Hardman. He seemed quite definitely not to belong to the Armstrong 
household. I could only imagine that he had been in love with the French girl. I spoke to him of 
the charm of foreign women—and again I obtained the reaction I was looking for. Sudden tears 
came into his eyes, which he pretended were dazzled by the snow. 
“There remains Mrs. Hubbard. Now Mrs. Hubbard, let me say, played the most important part 
in the drama. By occupying the compartment communicating with that of Ratchett she was more 
open to suspicion than anyone else. In the nature of things she could not have an alibi to fall back 
upon. To play the part she played—the perfectly natural, slightly ridiculous American fond 

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