The Evidence of Count and Countess Andrenyi
- The fashionable Hungarian couple steps up to the plate. Poirot talks to the husband first. The husband is wearing nice English threads, though he himself is not English:
- The Count claims they were both asleep and heard nothing.
- He claims not to have known that Ratchett was Cassetti, but he did know about the Armstrong case.
- He was in Washington for a year, but does not recall meeting any of the Armstrongs.
- After dinner, the two played piquet (a card game) in one of their two compartments. Then the wife took her sleeping draught (trional), and they went to sleep.
- The Count writes down his name and address.
- When the interview is over, the Count says there is no need to talk to his wife. Of course, Poirot still wants to. "A mere formality" he says (2.7.49). Here's what he gets out of her:
- She has only been married to the Count for a year.
- Her husband does not smoke a pipe.
- Her dressing gown is not scarlet silk, but corn chiffon.
- She also mentions that she didn't know there were detectives on trains when they go through Yugo-Slavia.
- Poirot says he is not Yugo-Slavian. He belongs "to the world" (2.7.81). Oh, Poirot.
- As the Countess leaves, Poirot studies her diplomatic Hungarian passport. There's a grease spot on it.