Datasets:

realdanielbyrne
/

AgathaChristieText

text stringlengths 1 4.95k
If, however, Léonie felt she ought to go to the police, she must do so, but it would be very unpleasant for her—and so on. "Léonie took immediate fright at the mention of the police. She adored you and had implicit faith in what M. le docteur thought best. Kennedy paid her a handsome sum of money and hustled her back ...
And I know who put the jewel box in my room. I know everything…Do not lie to me, Kameni. I tell you I know." Kameni made no protest. He stood looking at her steadily and his gaze did not falter. When he spoke, his voice was grave and for once there was no smile on his face. "I shall not lie to you, Renisenb." He wai...
He was a quite good-looking man of about forty with a rather expressionless face, wearing horn-rimmed spectacles and carrying a briefcase. "Hello, darling," Henry greeted his wife, as he switched on the wall-bracket lights and put his briefcase on the armchair. "Hello, Henry," Clarissa replied. "Hasn’t it been an abs...
" Miss Lingard said fiercely: "Gervase Chevenix-Gore was a bully, a snob and a windbag! I wasn’t going to have him ruin Ruth’s happiness." Poirot said gently: "Ruth is your daughter?" "Yes—she is my daughter—I’ve often—thought about her. When I heard Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore wanted someone to help him with a fami...
That is to say I’ve known him for a period of, well, sixteen years I should say. Mind you, we are not the only firm of solicitors he employed, not by a long way." Inspector Neele nodded. He knew that. Billingsley, Horsethorpe & Walters were what one might describe as Rex Fortescue’s reputable solicitors. For his less ...
"Our other guests are late," said Mr. Shaitana. "My fault, perhaps. I believe I told them 8:15." But at that moment the door opened and the butler announced: "Dr. Roberts." The man who came in did so with a kind of parody of a brisk bedside manner. He was a cheerful, highly-coloured individual of middle age. Small t...
Immediately after supper, Mrs Inglethorp retired to her boudoir again. "Send my coffee in here, Mary," she called. "I’ve just five minutes to catch the post." Cynthia and I went and sat by the open window in the drawing-room. Mary Cavendish brought our coffee to us. She seemed excited. "Do you young people want ligh...
"Supposing someone wants to kill me . . . Could they do it this way? Could they make me dream that dream night after night?" "Hypnotism, you mean?" "Yes." Hercule Poirot considered the question. "It would be possible, I suppose," he said at last. "It is more a question for a doctor." "You don’t know of such a case...
"You take very good care of me, Cherry," said Miss Marple. "Got to," said Cherry, in her usual idiom. "Good people are scarce." "Well, thank you for the compliment," said Miss Marple, arriving safely with her last foot on the ground floor. "Nothing the matter, is there?" asked Cherry. "You look a bit rattled like, i...
Weak rather than vicious." "May be mental," said Melchett hopefully. Superintendent Harper nodded. He said: "Has it struck you, sir—that that may be the explanation of the whole case?" "Criminal lunatic, you mean?" "Yes, sir. One of those fellows who go about strangling young girls. Doctors have a long name for it...
Motive and opportunity—why, she was alone in the house! Old Mrs. Archer could easily have got the pistol from Mr. Redding’s house for either of those two. And then, of course, there was Lettice—wanting freedom and money to do as she liked. I’ve known many cases where the most beautiful and ethereal girls have shown nex...
"Yes, it must have been about a quarter past seven when Mr Hailsham-Brown got in." "That would have been shortly after Mr Costello left," the Inspector observed. He moved to the centre of the room, and his manner changed almost imperceptibly as he continued, "He and Mr Hailsham-Brown probably passed each other." "You...
They’re both equally good—or bad. I should think you’d get a room all right." The question made him look more attentively at his interlocutor. Nowadays people usually booked a room beforehand at any place they were going to…. The man was tall, with a bronzed face, a beard, and very blue eyes. He was about forty and n...
Thoroughly well organised. She went abroad under her own and under different names, but never too often, and the actual smuggling was always done, unknowingly, by someone else. She had agents abroad who saw to the exchange of rucksacks at the right moment. Yes, it was a clever idea. And we’ve got M. Poirot here to than...
I was still in the lounge at a quarter to seven when Mr Sanders came in. There were two gentlemen with him and all three of them were inclined to be a little on the lively side. Mr Sanders left his two friends and came right over to where I was sitting with Miss Trollope. He explained that he wanted our advice about a ...
Leonides" instructions. He approved the draft, returned it to me, and in due course I sent him the will for signature. After a lapse of a week, I ventured to remind him that I had not yet received the will duly signed and attested, and asking him if here was anything he wished altered. He replied that he was perfectly ...
Once arrived there, Poirot ordered a most delectable lunch, and then turned to his guest. "And for wine, mademoiselle? What do you say to champagne?" Miss Monro said nothing—or everything. The meal started pleasantly. Poirot replenished the lady’s glass with thoughtful assiduity, and gradually slid on to the topic n...
I found Miss de Bellefort in a very excited, hysterical condition." "Did she utter any threats against Madame Doyle?" "No, nothing of that kind. She was in a condition of morbid self-reproach. She’d taken a good deal of alcohol, I should say, and she was suffering from reaction. I didn’t think she ought to be left. I...
"No," said the lawyer, "no, perhaps not." His voice was as usual dry and unemotional, yet something in it encouraged Arthur Calgary to continue. "I thought, you see," went on Calgary, "that that would be the end of it. I was prepared for a certain amount of—what shall I say—natural resentment on their part. Although c...
"You made her pay instead." "You are saying very offensive things, Alan. Be careful." "Aren’t they true? Why did you find it so easy to get money out of Jane?" "Not for love of me, certainly. It must have been for love of you." "That’s just what it was," said Alan simply. "She paid for my freedom—freedom to work in...
If I am right I shall know in another half hour. Then there’s the lady’s husband, Mr. Dering." "You’ve seen him?" asked Emily curiously. Inspector Narracott looked at her vivid face, and felt tempted to relax official caution. Leaning back in his chair he recounted his interview with Mr. Dering, then from a file at h...
She was very fair, and Celia was never quite sure what she looked like, and her character was variable. Vera de Vete, Sue’s half sister, was the romantic personality of "the school’. She was fourteen. She had straw-coloured hair and deep forget-me-not blue eyes. There was mystery about her past – and in the end Celia k...
"But—oh, I see—no, I don’t. Or do I begin to see what you are hinting at…?" "I doubt it!" said Poirot. "But if you do, you realize, I hope, the supreme importance of that statement." He fixed me with a fierce eye. "Of course. Of course," I said hurriedly. "And then," continued Poirot, "various other things happen. ...
AGATHA CHRISTIE writing as MARY WESTMACOTT Unfinished Portrait Foreword My Dear Mary: I send you this because I don’t know what to do with it. I suppose, really, I want it to see the light of day. One does. I suppose the complete genius keeps his pictures stacked in the studio and never shows them to anybody. I...
Thirdly, your sneak thief is rarely a murderer. Fourthly, as he has been in prison since Saturday, it would be too much of a coincidence that he is able to give so accurate a description of Lowen." Japp nodded. "I don’t say you’re not right. But all the same, you won’t get a jury to take much note of a jailbird’s evid...
This way of describing events almost caused me to smile, but I stuck to my guns. "So, having—pardon the expression—rather made a mess of things, don’t you think it would be more graceful to leave immediately?" "And the dinner, the without doubt excellent dinner, that the chef of Lord Yardly has prepared?" "Oh, what’...
Cornelia shook her head. "I tried to go once or twice, but she made me stay, and I was getting very, very uncomfortable. And then Mr. Fanthorp got up and went out—" "It was a little embarrassing," said Fanthorp. "I thought I’d make an unobtrusive exit. Miss de Bellefort was clearly working up for a scene." "And then...
He touched his hat and, still grinning, departed. "Such a day as I’ve had," said Grannie, untying her bonnet strings. She displayed no signs of fatigue and had obviously enjoyed herself. "The Stores were packed, my dear." Apparently with other old ladies, all carrying off hams in four-wheeled cabs. 9 Celia never t...
Tuppence smiled, gratified at the success of her efforts. "We haven’t exactly proved it yet. But we’re after her. And"—she produced a long drawn-out wink—"I guess she won’t get away with the goods this time." Albert uttered another ejaculation indicative of delight. "Mind you, sonny, not a word of this," said Tuppen...
"That remains to be seen," said Sir James gravely. The other hesitated. "You do not think I ought to go to the police?" "No, no. In all probability the young lady is with other relations." The doctor was not completely satisfied, but he saw that Sir James was determined to say no more, and realized that to try to e...
"It’s the best thing I’ve done," Everard declared aggressively. "We’re getting on," said Isobel. "Lady Charmington wants you to paint her." "Oh, Lord!" He frowned. "I’m not a fashionable portrait painter, you know." "You will be. You’ll get to the top of the tree." "That’s not the tree I want to get to the top of."...
I suggested she should look at properties in England. Then I said when she was twenty-one she could buy one of her own and say good-bye to all that New York lot." "Greta always has wonderful ideas," said Ellie. "She thinks of things I’d probably never have thought of myself." What were those words Mr. Lippincott had ...
I never saw any. I was shown into Richard Symmington’s inner office which had the agreeable mustiness of a long-established legal firm. Vast numbers of deed boxes, labelled Lady Hope, Sir Everard Carr, William Yatesby-Hoares, Esq., Deceased, etc., gave the required atmosphere of decorous county families and legitimate...
"Are you quite mad, Ariadne?" "Probably," said Mrs. Oliver, "raving mad. Come on. Miranda will enjoy being in London. You needn’t worry. She’s not going to have any operation. That’s what’s called "cover" in spy stories. We’ll take her to a theatre, or an opera or the ballet, whichever way her tastes lie. On the whole...
"But the packet of stropanthin was found in Douglas Gold’s pocket!" "A very simple matter to slip it there when we were all crowding round the dying woman." It was quite two minutes before Pamela got her breath. "But I don’t understand a word! The triangle—you said yourself—" Hercule Poirot nodded his head vigorous...
Tried not to admit it to myself. She was damned fond of him. Fond of a murderer! Well, he’ll hang as well as the woman. I’m glad he went to pieces and gave the show away." Miss Marple said: "She was always the strong character. It was her plan throughout. The irony of it is that she got the girl down here herself, ne...
Very nice of Doctor to be so optimistic, Nurse would think, but surely Doctor was wrong. Doctor very often wasn’t wrong. He knew that people who were in pain, helpless, crippled, even unhappy, still liked living and wanting to live. They would take one of Doctor’s pills to help them pass the night, but they had no inte...
It was an escape. When he was painting he didn’t care, he shook off Caroline and her nagging and all the ceaseless rows and quarrels. They were endless, you know. Not a week passed without a thundering row over one thing or another. She enjoyed it. Having rows stimulated her, I believe. It was an outlet. She could say ...
But I, Hercule Poirot, say that Madame Renauld lied. The crime took place at least two hours earlier." "But the doctors—" "They declared, after examination of the body, that death had taken place between ten and seven hours previously. Mon ami, for some reason it was imperative that the crime should seem to have take...
This will be terrible for him—" She paused. "Or do you think not?" "There are a lot of other girls in America," said Hercule Poirot. "And but for you his mother would be in prison—in prison—with her hair cut off—sitting in a cell—and smelling of disinfectant! Ah, but you are wonderful—wonderful." Surging forward she...
Although unable to see how Poirot had deduced Mr. Ventnor’s existence and personal appearance, I was keenly excited. "Tell me," I cried, "was this gentleman one of the first to land when you got to New York?" The steward shook his head. "No, indeed, sir, he was one of the last off the boat." I retired crestfallen, ...
"No," said Mrs. Oliver firmly. "I’d like to meet her. Good yarns she writes." He lowered his voice. "But they say she drinks like a fish." He hurried off and Mrs. Oliver said indignantly, "Really! That’s most unfair when I only like lemonade!" "And have you not just perpetrated the greatest unfairness in helping tha...
Mr Mayherne looked at him for a moment or two in silence. Though he had no intention of saying so, his belief in Leonard Vole's innocence was at that moment strengthened. He knew something of the mentality of elderly ladies. He saw Miss French, infatuated with the good-looking young man, hunting about for pretexts that...
"And the story was put about, very cleverly, that he had frequently mentioned to people that he had high blood pressure. But you know, it’s very easy to put about a story. Very easy. I’ve seen a lot of it in my time." "I bet you have," said Mr. Rafiel. "It only needs a murmur here and there," said Miss Marple. "You d...
The lawyer laid down his knife and fork sharply. "Has anything happened to Miss Tuppence?" His voice was keen-edged. "She’s disappeared," said Julius. "When?" "A week ago." "How?" Sir James’s questions fairly shot out. Between them Tommy and Julius gave the history of the last week and their futile search. Sir J...
Bollard, and you won’t forget which the four things are, will you?" In another minute, she was out of the door. Turning rapidly to the left and then to the left again, she stopped in the arcade of a shoe shop until Bridget, rather breathless, rejoined her. "Oh," said Bridget, "I was terrified. I thought I was going t...
"What time was that?" "About ten minutes past six, sir." "Yes—well?" "I sent word to Jennings, sir. And it wasn’t till I came in here to shut the windows and draw the curtains at seven o’clock that I saw—" Melrose cut him short. "Yes, yes, you needn’t go into all that. You didn’t touch the body, or disturb anything...
"Not entirely conjecture, Dr. Calgary. The knife was in his pocket." "The actual knife?" "Yes. It had blood on it. We’re going to test it, but it’ll be her blood all right. Her blood and the blood of Philip Durrant!" "But—it couldn’t have been." "Who says it couldn’t have been?" "Hester. I rang her up and she told...

End of preview. Expand in Data Studio

Dataset Card for AgathaChristieText

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves, 
Or lose our ventures.

Dataset Summary

The agatha_christie dataset contains the complete works of Agatha Christie, including the novels, short stories, and plays. The dataset is in English and contains 110 works in total. The dataset is intended for text generation tasks, such as language modeling, and can be used to train models to generate text in the style of Agatha Christie.

Supported Tasks and Leaderboards

The dataset can be used for text generation tasks, such as language modeling. The dataset can be used to train models to generate text in the style of Agatha Christie.

Languages

The text in the dataset is in English.

Dataset Structure

Dataset instances

The following is an example sample from the dataset.

{"text":"Mrs. McGillicuddy was short and stout, the porter was tall and free-striding. In addition, Mrs. McGillicuddy was burdened with a large quantity of parcels; the result of a day’s Christmas shopping. The race was, therefore, an uneven one, and the porter turned the corner at the end of the platform whilst Mrs. McGillicuddy was still coming up the straight.", "source": "4-50 from paddington - agatha christie.epub" }