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A character in Murder on the Orient Express

Mary Debenham

The cool English governess Poirot first notices on the Taurus Express, saying something to Colonel Arbuthnot that a stranger would not say.

What they want

To finish something she has promised to see through, and to protect the man who is helping her do it.

The book

Murder on the Orient ExpressAgatha Christie, 1934

A snowbound train, a dead American with twelve stab wounds, and a carriage full of strangers who all have an alibi.

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At a glance

In the book
English passenger, sharing a compartment with Greta Ohlsson
Where she appears
Part One from the first chapter; Part Two, chapter 11; Part Three

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Mary Debenham is the first passenger the reader meets, before Ratchett and before the snow. On the platform at Konya Poirot overhears her tell Colonel Arbuthnot that it must wait until it is all over. She is composed, capable and plainly worried about time, and when the train is delayed in Part One she is the only passenger who minds.

Under questioning she is the most controlled witness in the coach and the one Poirot presses hardest. He does not believe she is a stranger to the Colonel, and he is right. What she wants is to get through the journey without being asked the one question she cannot answer.

How Mary Debenham Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The overheard lineNot now, not now — when it's all over. Said to Arbuthnot on a station platform, and remembered by Poirot for three hundred pages.
  • The composureShe answers every question without moving, and Poirot notes that she is the sort of woman who could plan a murder.
  • The hurryOn the Taurus Express she is anxious not to miss the connection, and the anxiety is out of proportion for a governess going home.
  • The workGoverness, once in America, a fact she gives up only when the Countess's passport has already been explained.
  • The ColonelArbuthnot rises to her defence in the dining car, and the defence tells Poirot what she would not.
  • The lookDark hair, grey eyes, neat travelling clothes; the sort of Englishwoman, Poirot thinks, who is efficient and unlucky.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Mary Debenham was Daisy Armstrong's governess. She and Arbuthnot were the two who wanted least to be there and did it anyway. Their overheard conversation on the platform meant exactly what it seemed to mean.

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