“You look, sir—real lapis. Very good, very cheap….”
“You want ride donkey, sir? This very good donkey. This donkey Whiskey and Soda, sir….”
“You want to go granite quarries, sir? This very good donkey. Other donkey very bad, sir, that donkey fall down….”
“You want postcard—very cheap—very nice….”
“Look, lady…Only ten piastres—very cheap—lapis—this ivory….”
“This very good fly whisk—this all-amber….”
“You go out in boat, sir? I got very good boat, sir….”
“You go back to hotel, lady? This first-class donkey….”
Hercule Poirot made vague gestures to rid himself of this human cluster of flies. Rosalie stalked through them like a sleepwalker.
“It’s best to pretend to be deaf and blind,” she remarked.
The infantile riff-raff ran alongside murmuring plaintively: “Bakshish? Bakshish? Hip hip hurrah—very good, very nice….”
Their gaily coloured rags trailed picturesquely, and the flies lay in clusters on their eyelids. They were the most persistent. The others fell back and launched a fresh attack on the next corner.
Now Poirot and Rosalie only ran the gauntlet of the shops—suave, persuasive accents here….
“You visit my shop today, sir?” “You want that ivory crocodile, sir?” “You not been in my shop yet, sir? I show you very beautiful things.”
They turned into the fifth shop and Rosalie handed over several rolls of film—the object of the walk.
Then they came out again and walked towards the river’s edge.
One of the Nile steamers was just mooring. Poirot and Rosalie looked interestedly at the passengers.
“Quite a lot, aren’t there?” commented Rosalie.
She turned her head as Tim Allerton came up and joined them. He was a little out of breath as though he had been walking fast.
They stood there for a moment or two, and then Tim spoke.
“An awful crowd as usual, I suppose,” he remarked disparagingly, indicating the disembarking passengers.
“They’re usually quite terrible,” agreed Rosalie.
All three wore the air of superiority assumed by people who are already in a place when studying new arrivals.
“Hullo!” exclaimed Tim, his voice suddenly excited. “I’m damned if that isn’t Linnet Ridgeway.”
If the information left Poirot unmoved, it stirred Rosalie’s interest. She leaned forward and her sulkiness quite dropped from her as she asked: “Where? That one in white?”
“Yes, there with the tall man. They’re coming ashore now. He’s the new husband, I suppose. Can’t remember his name now.”
“Doyle,” said Rosalie. “Simon Doyle. It was in all the newspapers. She’s simply rolling, isn’t she?”
“Only about the richest girl in England,” replied Tim cheerfully.
The three lookers-on were silent watching the passengers come ashore. Poirot gazed with interest at the subject of the remarks of his companions. He murmured: “She is beautiful.”
“Some people have got everything,” said Rosalie bitterly.