“Don’t you think that you are making rather a fuss about nothing, M. Poirot
Poirot spread out his hands in an apologetic gesture
betray [bɪˈtreɪ] impatience [ɪmˈpeɪʃ(ǝ)ns] philosophical [ˌfɪlǝˈsɔfɪk(ǝ)l] attitude [ˈætɪtju:d] apologetic [ǝˌpɔlǝˈdʒetɪk]
“And yet, Mademoiselle, this time your manner is quite different. You no longer betray the impatience. You are calm and philosophical.”
Mary Debenham flushed and bit her lip. She no longer felt inclined to smile.
“You do not answer, Mademoiselle?”
“I am sorry. I did not know that there was anything to answer.”
“Your change of attitude, Mademoiselle.”
“Don’t you think that you are making rather a fuss about nothing, M. Poirot?”
Poirot spread out his hands in an apologetic gesture.
“It is perhaps a fault with us detectives
Mary Debenham made no reply
“You know Colonel Arbuthnot well, Mademoiselle
He fancied
“I met him for the first time on this journey
“Have you any reason to suspect that he may have known this man Ratchett
She shook her head decisively
fault [fɔ:lt] behaviour [bɪˈheɪvɪǝ] consistent [kǝnˈsɪst(ǝ)nt] relieve [rɪˈli:v] decisively [dɪˈsaɪsɪvlɪ]
“It is perhaps a fault with us detectives. We expect the behaviour to be always consistent. We do not allow for changes of mood.”
Mary Debenham made no reply.
“You know Colonel Arbuthnot well, Mademoiselle?”
He fancied that she was relieved by the change of subject.
“I met him for the first time on this journey.”
“Have you any reason to suspect that he may have known this man Ratchett?”
She shook her head decisively. “I am quite sure he didn’t.”
“Why are you sure
“By the way he spoke
“And yet, Mademoiselle, we found a pipe-cleaner on the floor of the dead man’s compartment