Murder on the Orient Express: Part Two: Chapters 11-15

by Agatha Christie
When a passenger is murdered on a stalled train, detective Hercule Poirot must investigate which of the other passengers committed the crime.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One: Chapters 1-3, Part One: Chapters 4-8, Part Two: Chapters 1-10, Part Two: Chapters 11-15, Part Three: Chapters 1-9

Here is a link to our lists for And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. contemptuous
    expressing extreme scorn
    “You are, I think, a little bit contemptuous of the way I prosecute my inquiries,” he said with a twinkle.
  2. perverse
    marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
    And because, Mademoiselle, human nature is perverse, I ask of you quite different questions. I ask what you feel, what you thought. It does not please you this method?
  3. impertinent
    improperly forward or bold
    The glance said plainly, “You are impertinent.”
  4. indiscretion
    the trait of lacking good judgment or tact
    “Ah! I may mention without indiscretion, I hope, that I noticed the colour of your dressing gown on the way from Aleppo to Stamboul. A pale mauve, I believe.”
  5. placid
    not easily irritated
    She did so, folding her hands and waiting placidly till he questioned her. She seemed a placid creature altogether—eminently respectable—perhaps not over intelligent.
  6. genial
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    He was at his kindest and most genial, setting the woman at her ease.
  7. nuance
    a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
    Of the three listening, only Poirot caught the nuance of hesitation in the reply.
  8. unperturbed
    free from emotional agitation or nervous tension
    Poirot went on calmly, unperturbed by the interruption.
  9. ingenuity
    the property of showing inventiveness and skill
    Either he is still hidden on the train in a place of such extraordinary ingenuity that we cannot even think of it, or else he is, as one might say, two persons.
  10. supposition
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    “The height of the man. It is that you would say? With the exception of M. Ratchett’s valet, all the passengers are big men—the Italian, Colonel Arbuthnot, Hector MacQueen, Count Andrenyi. Well, that leaves us the valet—not a very likely supposition. But there is another possibility. Remember the ‘womanish’ voice.
  11. spurious
    intended to deceive
    She, too, has vanished. Was she one and the same with the spurious Wagon Lit attendant?
  12. incidentally
    by the way (used to introduce a new topic)
    Where are they, these two? And, incidentally, where is the Wagon Lit uniform and the scarlet kimono?
  13. rotundity
    the roundness of a 3-dimensional object
    Squeezing his rotundity past the obstructing passengers, he entered the compartment, Poirot close behind him.
  14. unwitting
    not aware or knowing
    “The man passes through this carriage. As he shuts the communicating door behind him he feels the sponge bag. A thought comes to him and he quickly slips the bloodstained knife inside. Then, all unwitting that he has awakened Mrs. Hubbard, he slips out through the other door into the corridor.”
  15. quay
    wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline
    That’s so, and he saw me on board a French Messagerie boat for Smyrna, and my daughter’s husband was waiting right on the quay.
  16. undue
    beyond normal limits
    They contained perhaps an undue proportion of spirituous liquor.
  17. quaint
    strange in an interesting or pleasing way
    “Your American terms are so quaint, so expressive,” he said.
  18. coquettish
    like a flirtatious woman
    “There is much that I admire about Americans. Only—I am perhaps old-fashioned—but me, I find the American woman less charming than my own countrywomen. The French or Belgian girl, coquettish, charming—I think there is no one to touch her.”
  19. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    The Princess listened to him in silence, her small toad-like face quite impassive.
  20. implicitly
    without doubting or questioning
    “You trust her, then, implicitly, Madame?”
  21. homely
    plain and unpretentious
    “Trust is indeed something in these days. It is, perhaps, better to have a homely woman whom one can trust than a more chic maid—for example, some smart Parisienne.”
  22. truculent
    defiantly aggressive
    These two are also of the same position, but the Count impressed me as a man of somewhat truculent disposition. He was not pleased when you insisted on questioning his wife.
  23. disposition
    your usual mood
    These two are also of the same position, but the Count impressed me as a man of somewhat truculent disposition. He was not pleased when you insisted on questioning his wife.
  24. perfunctory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
    A rapid and somewhat perfunctory search followed.
  25. pretext
    a fictitious reason that conceals the real reason
    “An excellent pretext—but a pretext all the same.”
  26. sordid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
    For some reason or other you have got it into your head that I know something about this sordid business—this murder of a man I never saw before.
  27. portmanteau
    a large travelling bag made of stiff leather
    “Ah, yes, the portmanteau call, as you say in England.”
  28. philosophical
    meeting trouble with level-headed detachment
    “And yet, mademoiselle, this time your manner is quite different. You no longer betray the impatience. You are calm and philosophical.”
  29. rueful
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    “I’d just as soon you did,” he said with a rueful smile.
  30. bequest
    a gift of personal property by will
    “Nothing,” he said. “Not even a compromising bequest!”
Created on Mon May 14 15:36:40 EDT 2018 (updated Tue May 15 13:14:14 EDT 2018)

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