Death on the Nile: Chapter Six  Summary & Analysis

Early the next day, as Poirot begins a walk from the hotel down into town, Simon Doyle joins him. Simon brings up the conversation that Linnet and Poirot had the previous evening. He says he’s glad at least that Poirot helped Linnet realize there isn’t any legal action they can take against Jacqueline. Simon notes that because of her wealthy upbringing, Linnet believes everything can be solved by simply calling the police. But Simon adds that it’s outrageous that Linnet should have to suffer Jacqueline following her around everywhere. He asks if Poirot has also talked to Jacqueline and if he got her to be reasonable. Poirot says he talked to her but couldn’t make her give upon her revenge.

Simon vents to Poirot about how “indecent” Jacqueline’s stalking behavior has been. He says he’d understand her revenge better if she took real action, like attempting to shoot him. Poirot asks if this sort of violence would be in character for her, and he says yes, Jacqueline is “hot-blooded.” Simon says that Jacqueline’s stalking is making Linnet anxious and that he himself would like to strangle Jacqueline. Poirot asks if that means he no longer loves Jacqueline, and Simon explains his current love for Linnet by comparing her to the sun and Jacqueline to the moon—Linnet is so bright like the sun that he can’t even see a moon like Jacqueline.

Looking embarrassed, Simon asks Poirot if Jacqueline told him that he married Linnet solely to get his hands on her fortune. He stridently denies this was the case—he says, “It—it—sounds a caddish thing to say, but Jackie was too fond of me!” He says a man doesn’t want to feel like a woman owns him. Poirot asks if that’s how he felt about Jacqueline and Simon admits it was, even though Jacqueline didn’t realize how possessive she was being.

Simon asks Poirot why Jacqueline can’t just take his rejection of her “like a man.” Poirot smiles and notes that she is not, in fact, a man. Simon insists that he’d be insane to marry Jacqueline if he didn’t love her, especially after seeing “the lengths she is likely to go to.” Poirot probes to see what Simon means by this. He asks if Simon knows that Jacqueline carries a pistol in her bag. Simon shakes his head, but he asserts that Jacqueline wouldn’t actually kill anyone—perhaps she might’ve earlier, but now she wants a different type of revenge.

Simon tells Poirot that his real concern is how Linnet will cope with Jacqueline’s stalking. He talks about an elaborate plan they have to skip town using fake names to book a Nile steamer boat called the Karnak that goes to Wadi Halfa, and from there, they’ll move on to exotic new locations. Poirot notes that eventually, Jacqueline will run out of money and be unable to keep following them. Simon admits this is a clever observation, since Jacqueline is indeed poor. Poirot asks how she made it so far already, and Simon suggests she must have sold off most of her assets to do what she’s doing, meaning she’ll soon run out of money.

Poirot notices that the thought of Jacqueline being penniless seems to make Simon uncomfortable. Aloud, Poirot admits that Simon’s plan to escape may be successful, even though it is ultimately “a retreat.” Simon says seriously that someday they may indeed have to stand and fight Jacqueline. “There’s no reason why women shouldn’t behave like rational beings,” he says. Poirot quips that sometimes it’s worse when women are rational.

Poirot mentions that he himself was also already scheduled to be on the Karnak (the same Nile steamer that Linnet and Simon will be using to hopefully escape Jacqueline). Poirot insists, however, that this coincidence has nothing to do with Simon, Linnet, or Jacqueline—that his trip was booked well in advance in London. Poirot says that he is a meticulous planner. Simon jokingly responds that a murderer would probably be just as meticulous as Poirot. While Poirot agrees, he then adds that one of his most challenging cases involved a crime committed impulsively. Simon says he’d like to hear more, but Poirot says he doesn’t like to engage in shop talk.

Simon mentions to Poirot that he’d be thrilled to hear a detective’s shop talk and that Mrs. Allerton (who will also be sailing the Nile in the Karnak with her son, Tim) has been waiting for a chance to talk with the famous detective. Poirot asks if Mrs. Allerton knows about Simon’s troubles, to which Simon replies that nobody does, saying, “I’ve gone on the principle that it's better not to trust anybody.”

Poirot asks Simon about a third person who’s been traveling with him and Linnet: Andrew Pennington (Linnet’s American trustee). Simon says they met Pennington by chance meeting in Cairo. Poirot delicately asks if Linnet is “of age.” An amused Simon confirms that she isn’t yet 21 but that she doesn’t need anyone else’s permission to marry. He talks about how Pennington left New York on a boat called the Carmanic two days before Linnet’s letter about her marriage to Simon arrived (and thus how Pennington was surprised to learn in Cairo that Linnet was married).

Simon tells Poirot that he learned in Cairo that Pennington was taking the same Nile trip as Simon and Linnet. It’s been a relief, since Pennington helps Linnet keep her mind off Jacqueline by talking about unrelated things. Poirot asks if Linnet has confided anything in Pennington, and Simon says no, he’d hoped the whole Jacqueline problem would be finished before their Nile trip. “You have not seen the end of it yet,” says Poirot. “No—the end is not yet at hand. I am very sure of that.”

When Simon says he doesn’t find Poirot’s prediction particularly comforting, Poirot thinks to himself that “the Anglo-Saxon, he takes nothing seriously but playing games! He does not grow up.” Poirot believes that Linnet and Jacqueline are taking this matter seriously, but that Simon is acting with “nothing but male impatience and annoyance.”

Poirot then asks what he describes as an “impertinent” question: if it was Simon’s idea to honeymoon in Egypt. Simon admits that he’d prefer literally anywhere else, but that Linnet’s mind was made up. Poirot notes that once Linnet sets her mind on something, she usually gets it. He has now heard three separate accounts of the events (from Linnet, from Jacqueline, and from Simon) and muses to himself, “Which of them is nearest to the truth?”