Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade

Author:Jared Cade [Cade, Jared]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days: The Revised and Expanded 2011 Edition
Publisher: eBook Versions
Published: 2011-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

Part Three

While the Light Lasts

Chapter Twenty

Partners in Crime

After her divorce Agatha had to accept the fact that her love for Archie had been no safeguard against his defection. Nor was his passion for Nancy short-lived, as the couple were to live together happily for many years. Agatha soon came to realize that Archie would for ever remain the grand passion of her life – ‘the Man from the Sea’ for whom she had left safe shores and swum into uncharted waters. She never took communion in church again, fearing she would be refused because of her divorced status. Although a number of changes she made in her life were to enrich her creatively, culturally, socially and financially, she was unable to put the past behind her completely, no matter how hard she tried. ‘Agatha never got over Archie,’ recalls Nan’s daughter Judith.

Agatha’s plans to have a holiday in the West Indies underwent a radical alteration in the autumn of 1928 when she met a married couple at a dinner party just two days before her anticipated departure. They had recently returned from Baghdad and spoke so glowingly about their stay that Agatha, on learning that it was possible to travel there on the fabled Orient Express, cancelled her trip to the West Indies and booked herself a ticket to the Middle East.

Rosalind was at school and Agatha decided to travel alone. Her secretary wondered if it was prudent for Agatha to do this, but she found ‘safety at all costs’ a repulsive creed. It was an important decision. She could cling to a life that was familiar and predictable or she could develop her independence.

The journey began badly. On the train Agatha met an experienced and overbearing woman traveller who attempted to take her under her wing. Unfortunately the woman was going all the way to Baghdad and promised to introduce Agatha to the social life of the English community. Agatha was anxious to avoid this. The two parted company, to Agatha’s relief, when the woman left the train at Trieste to continue her journey by boat.

Agatha remained on the train, which passed through Yugoslavia and the Balkans. She found the mountains and gorges awesome and took little interest in her fellow passengers. After the train entered Asia the frantic pace of modern civilization seemed to recede and time became less significant. The train stopped briefly and the passengers disembarked to admire the sight of the Cilician Gates by sunset. In her memoirs Agatha recorded that she was glad she had come, as a feeling of ‘thankfulness and joy’ overcame her.

Her journey continued through Turkey and into Syria. She became feverish after being bitten by bedbugs on the train but soon recovered and was well enough to be shown around Damascus by a Thomas Cook guide and enjoyed visiting the bazaars at Baalbek in the Lebanon.

She then travelled across the desert to Baghdad accompanied once again by the well-intentioned but suffocating female companion from whom she had earlier parted at Trieste.

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