{"id":2467,"date":"2026-01-03T22:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/the-murder-on-the-links-christie-agatha\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:31:23","slug":"the-murder-on-the-links-christie-agatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/the-murder-on-the-links-christie-agatha\/","title":{"rendered":"The Murder on the Links – Christie, Agatha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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One<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

A FELLOW<\/span> TRAVELLER<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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I<\/span><\/span> believe that a well-known anecdote exists to the effect that a young writer, determined to make the commencement of his story forcible and original enough to catch and rivet the attention of the most blas\u00e9 of editors, penned the following sentence:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Hell!\u2019 said the Duchess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, this tale of mine opens in much the same fashion. Only the lady who gave utterance to the exclamation was not a duchess.<\/p>\n

It was a day in early June. I had been transacting some business in Paris and was returning by the morning service to London, where I was still sharing rooms with my old friend, the Belgian ex-detective, Hercule Poirot.<\/p>\n

The Calais express was singularly empty\u2014in fact, my own compartment held only one other traveller. I had made a somewhat hurried departure from the hotel and was busy assuring myself that I had duly collected all my traps, when the train started. Up till then I had hardly noticed my companion, but I was now violently recalled to the fact of her existence. Jumping up from her seat, she let down the window and stuck her head out, withdrawing it a moment later with the brief and forcible ejaculation \u201cHell!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now I am old-fashioned. A woman, I consider, should be womanly. I have no patience with the modern neurotic girl who jazzes from morning to night, smokes like a chimney, and uses language which would make a Billingsgate fishwoman blush!<\/p>\n

I looked up, frowning slightly, into a pretty, impudent face, surmounted by a rakish little red hat. A thick cluster of black curls hid each ear. I judged that she was little more than seventeen, but her face was covered with powder, and her lips were quite impossibly scarlet.<\/p>\n

Nothing abashed, she returned my glance, and executed an expressive grimace.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear me, we\u2019ve shocked the kind gentleman!\u201d she observed to an imaginary audience. \u201cI apologize for my language! Most unladylike, and all that, but, oh, Lord, there\u2019s reason enough for it! Do you know I\u2019ve lost my only sister?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d I said politely. \u201cHow unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe disapproves!\u201d remarked the lady. \u201cHe disapproves utterly\u2014of me, and my sister\u2014which last is unfair, because he hasn\u2019t seen her!\u201d<\/p>\n

I opened my mouth, but she forestalled me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay no more! Nobody loves me! I shall go into the garden and eat worms! Boohoo. I am crushed!\u201d<\/p>\n

She buried herself behind a large comic French paper. In a minute or two I saw her eyes stealthily peeping at me over the top. In spite of myself I could not help smiling, and in a minute she had tossed the paper aside, and had burst into a merry peal of laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew you weren\u2019t such a mutt as you looked,\u201d she cried.<\/p>\n

Her laughter was so infectious that I could not help joining in, though I hardly cared for the word \u201cmutt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere! Now we\u2019re friends!\u201d declared the minx. \u201cSay you\u2019re sorry about my sister\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am desolated!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good boy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me finish. I was going to add that, although I am desolated, I can manage to put up with her absence very well.\u201d I made a little bow.<\/p>\n

But this most unaccountable of damsels frowned and shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cCut it out. I prefer the \u2018dignified disapproval\u2019 stunt. Oh, your face! \u2018Not one of us,\u2019 it said. And you were right there\u2014though, mind you, it\u2019s pretty hard to tell nowadays. It\u2019s not everyone who can distinguish between a demi and a duchess. There now, I believe I\u2019ve shocked you again! You\u2019ve been dug out of the backwoods, you have. Not that I mind that. We could do with a few more of your sort. I just hate a fellow who gets fresh. It makes me mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head vigorously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you like when you\u2019re mad?\u201d I inquired with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cA regular little devil! Don\u2019t care what I say, or what I do, either! I nearly did a chap in once. Yes, really. He\u2019d have deserved it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d I begged, \u201cdon\u2019t get mad with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI shan\u2019t. I like you\u2014did the first moment I set eyes on you. But you looked so disapproving that I never thought we should make friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we have. Tell me something about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an actress. No\u2014not the kind you\u2019re thinking of. I\u2019ve been on the boards since I was a kid of six\u2014tumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI beg your pardon,\u201d I said, puzzled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaven\u2019t you ever seen child acrobats?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I understand!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m American born, but I\u2019ve spent most of my life in England. We\u2019ve got a new show now\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister and I. Sort of song and dance, and a bit of patter, and a dash of the old business thrown in. It\u2019s quite a new idea, and it hits them every time. There\u2019s going to be money in it\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

My new acquaintance leaned forward, and discoursed volubly, a great many of her terms being quite unintelligible to me. Yet I found myself evincing an increasing interest in her. She seemed such a curious mixture of child and woman. Though perfectly worldly-wise, and able, as she expressed it, to take care of herself, there was yet something curiously ingenuous in her single-minded attitude towards life, and her wholehearted determination to \u201cmake good.\u201d<\/p>\n

We passed through Amiens. The name awakened many memories. My companion seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of what was in my mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking of the War?\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were through it, I suppose?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty well. I was wounded once, and after the Somme they invalided me out altogether. I\u2019m a sort of private secretary now to an MP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy! That\u2019s brainy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it isn\u2019t. There\u2019s really awfully little to do. Usually a couple of hours every day sees me through. It\u2019s dull work too. In fact, I don\u2019t know what I should do if I hadn\u2019t got something to fall back upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t say you collect bugs!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I share rooms with a very interesting man. He\u2019s a Belgian\u2014an ex-detective. He\u2019s set up as a private detective in London, and he\u2019s doing extraordinarily well. He\u2019s really a very marvellous little man. Time and again he has proved to be right where the official police have failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

My companion listened with widening eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t that interesting now? I just adore crime. I go to all the mysteries on the movies. And when there\u2019s a murder on I just devour the papers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you remember the Styles Case?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me see, was that the old lady who was poisoned? Somewhere down in Essex?\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was Poirot\u2019s first big case. Undoubtedly, but for him the murderer would have escaped scot-free. It was a most wonderful bit of detective work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warming to my subject, I ran over the heads of the affair, working up to the triumphant and unexpected d\u00e9nouement.<\/p>\n

The girl listened spellbound. In fact, we were so absorbed that the train drew into Calais station before we realized it.<\/p>\n

I secured a couple of porters, and we alighted on the platform. My companion held out her hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye, and I\u2019ll mind my language better in future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, but surely you\u2019ll let me look after you on the boat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMayn\u2019t be on the boat. I\u2019ve got to see whether that sister of mine got aboard after all anywhere. But thanks, all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, but we\u2019re going to meet again, surely? Aren\u2019t you even going to tell me your name?\u201d I cried, as she turned away.<\/p>\n

She looked over her shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cCinderella,\u201d she said, and laughed.<\/p>\n

But little did I think when and how I should see Cinderella again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

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Book Preview One A FELLOW TRAVELLER I believe that a well-known anecdote exists to the effect that a young writer, determined to make the commencement of his story forcible and original enough to catch and rivet the attention of the most blas\u00e9 of editors, penned the following sentence: \u201c\u2018Hell!\u2019 said the Duchess.\u201d Strangely enough, this … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-2467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agatha-christie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}