Смерть на Ниле / Death on the Nile

He looked furious. His hands clenched themselves in spite of his effort at self-control.

The two of them moved a little away. Without turning his head Poirot caught scraps of disjointed words.

‘… turn back… impossible… we could…’ and then, slightly louder, Doyle’s voice, despairing but grim. ‘We can’t run away for ever, Lin. We’ve got to go through with it now …’

It was some hours later. Daylight was just fading. Poirot stood in the glass-enclosed saloon looking straight ahead. The Karnak was going through a narrow gorge.

The rocks came down with a kind of sheer ferocity to the river flowing deep and swift between them. They were in Nubia now.

He heard a movement and Linnet Doyle stood by his side. Her fingers twisted and untwisted themselves; she looked as he had never yet seen her look. There was about her the air of a bewildered child. She said:

‘Monsieur Poirot, I’m afraid – I’m afraid of everything. I’ve never felt like this before. All these wild rocks and the awful grimness and starkness.

Where are we going? What’s going to happen? I’m afraid, I tell you. Everyone hates me. I’ve never felt like that before. I’ve always been nice to people – I’ve done things for them – and they hate me – lots of people hate me. Except for Simon, I’m surrounded by enemies… It’s terrible to feel – that there are people who hate you…’

‘But what is all this, Madame?’

She shook her head.

‘I suppose – it’s nerves… I just feel that – everything’s unsafe all round me.’

She cast a quick nervous glance over his shoulder.

Then she said abruptly: ‘How will all this end? We’re caught here. Trapped. There’s no way out. We’ve got to go on. I–I don’t know where I am.’

She slipped down on to a seat. Poirot looked down on her gravely; his glance was not untinged with compassion.

She said:

‘How did she know we were coming on this boat? How could she have known?’

Poirot shook his head as he answered:

‘She has brains, you know.’

‘I feel as though I shall never escape from her.

’

Poirot said: ‘There is one plan you might have adopted. In fact I am surprised that it did not occur to you. After all, with you, Madame, money is no object. Why did you not engage in your own private dahabeeyah?’

Linnet shook her head rather helplessly.

‘If we’d known about all this – but you see we didn’t – then. And it was difficult…’ She flashed out with sudden impatience: ‘Oh! you don’t understand half my difficulties.