Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile

by

Agatha Christie

Louise Bourget Character Analysis

As the maid to Linnet and Simon Doyle, Louise initially appears to be a minor character, until suddenly she takes center stage when she becomes the second murder victim. As is revealed in time after her death, Louise is another character in the novel who is undone by greed—she dies in the act of trying to commit blackmail.

Louise Bourget Quotes in Death on the Nile

The Death on the Nile quotes below are all either spoken by Louise Bourget or refer to Louise Bourget. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice Theme Icon
).
Chapter Twenty-Three  Quotes

The body of the dead woman, who in life had been Louise Bourget, lay on the floor of her cabin. The two men bent over it.

Race straightened himself first.

“Been dead close on an hour, I should say. We’ll get Bessner on to it. Stabbed to the heart. Death pretty well instantaneous, I should imagine. She doesn’t look pretty, does she?”

“No.”

Poirot shook his head with a slight shudder.

The dark feline face was convulsed, as though with surprise and fury, the lips drawn back from the teeth.

Poirot bent again gently and picked up the right hand. Something just showed within the fingers. He detached it and held it out to Race, a little sliver of flimsy paper coloured a pale mauvish pink.

“You see what it is?”

“Money,” said Race.

“The corner of a thousand-franc note, I fancy.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Colonel Race (speaker), Linnet Doyle, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Mrs. Salome Otterbourne, Rosalie Otterbourne, Tim Allerton, Louise Bourget, Dr. Bessner
Related Symbols: Pearls
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Four  Quotes

Mrs. Otterbourne continued: “The arrangement was that I should go round to the stern on the deck below this, and there I should find the man waiting for me. As I went along the deck a cabin door opened and somebody looked out. It was this girl-Louise Bourget, or whatever her name is. She seemed to be expecting someone. When she saw it was me, she looked disappointed and went abruptly inside again. I didn’t think anything of it, of course. I went along just as I had said I would and got the-the stuff from the man. I paid him and-er-just had a word with him. Then I started back. Just as I came around the corner I saw someone knock on the maid’s door and go into the cabin.”

Race said, “And that person was—?"

Bang!

The noise of the explosion filled the cabin. There was an acrid sour smell of smoke. Mrs. Otterbourne turned slowly sideways, as though in supreme inquiry, then her body slumped forward and she fell to the ground with a crash. From just behind her ear the blood flowed from a round neat hole.

Related Characters: Colonel Race (speaker), Mrs. Salome Otterbourne (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Louise Bourget, Dr. Bessner
Page Number: 263
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty  Quotes

“Yes,” she said “it’s rather horrible isn’t it? I can’t believe that I—did that! I know now what you meant by opening your heart to evil . . . You know pretty well how it happened. Louise made it clear to Simon that she knew. Simon got you to bring me to him. As soon as we were alone together he told me what had happened. He told me what I’d got to do. I wasn’t even horrified. I was so afraid—so deadly afraid . . . That’s what murder does to you. Simon and I were safe—quite safe—except for this miserable blackmailing French girl. I took her all the money we could get hold of. I pretended to grovel. And then, when she was counting the money, I—did it! It was quite easy. That’s what’s so horribly, horribly frightening about it . . . It’s so terribly easy. . . .”

Related Characters: Jacqueline De Bellefort (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Linnet Doyle, Simon Doyle , Mrs. Allerton, Louise Bourget
Page Number: 327
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-One  Quotes

Lastly the body of Linnet Doyle was brought ashore, and all over the world wires began to hum, telling the public that Linnet Doyle, who had been Linnet Ridgeway, the famous, the beautiful, the wealthy Linnet Doyle was dead.

Sir George Wode read about it in his London club, and Sterndale Rockford in New York, and Joanna Southwood in Switzerland, and it was discussed in the bar of the Three Crowns in Malton-under-Wode.

And Mr. Burnaby said acutely: “Well, it doesn’t seem to have done her much good, poor lass.”

But after a while they stopped talking about her and discussed instead who was going to win the Grand National. For, as Mr. Ferguson was saying at that minute in Luxor, it is not the past that matters but the future.

Related Characters: Mr. Burnaby (speaker), Linnet Doyle, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Andrew Pennington, Tim Allerton, Mr. Ferguson (Lord Dawlish), Louise Bourget, James Fanthorp, Joanna Southwood , Sir George Wode, Sterndale Rockford
Page Number: 333
Explanation and Analysis:
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Louise Bourget Quotes in Death on the Nile

The Death on the Nile quotes below are all either spoken by Louise Bourget or refer to Louise Bourget. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice Theme Icon
).
Chapter Twenty-Three  Quotes

The body of the dead woman, who in life had been Louise Bourget, lay on the floor of her cabin. The two men bent over it.

Race straightened himself first.

“Been dead close on an hour, I should say. We’ll get Bessner on to it. Stabbed to the heart. Death pretty well instantaneous, I should imagine. She doesn’t look pretty, does she?”

“No.”

Poirot shook his head with a slight shudder.

The dark feline face was convulsed, as though with surprise and fury, the lips drawn back from the teeth.

Poirot bent again gently and picked up the right hand. Something just showed within the fingers. He detached it and held it out to Race, a little sliver of flimsy paper coloured a pale mauvish pink.

“You see what it is?”

“Money,” said Race.

“The corner of a thousand-franc note, I fancy.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Colonel Race (speaker), Linnet Doyle, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Mrs. Salome Otterbourne, Rosalie Otterbourne, Tim Allerton, Louise Bourget, Dr. Bessner
Related Symbols: Pearls
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Four  Quotes

Mrs. Otterbourne continued: “The arrangement was that I should go round to the stern on the deck below this, and there I should find the man waiting for me. As I went along the deck a cabin door opened and somebody looked out. It was this girl-Louise Bourget, or whatever her name is. She seemed to be expecting someone. When she saw it was me, she looked disappointed and went abruptly inside again. I didn’t think anything of it, of course. I went along just as I had said I would and got the-the stuff from the man. I paid him and-er-just had a word with him. Then I started back. Just as I came around the corner I saw someone knock on the maid’s door and go into the cabin.”

Race said, “And that person was—?"

Bang!

The noise of the explosion filled the cabin. There was an acrid sour smell of smoke. Mrs. Otterbourne turned slowly sideways, as though in supreme inquiry, then her body slumped forward and she fell to the ground with a crash. From just behind her ear the blood flowed from a round neat hole.

Related Characters: Colonel Race (speaker), Mrs. Salome Otterbourne (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Louise Bourget, Dr. Bessner
Page Number: 263
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty  Quotes

“Yes,” she said “it’s rather horrible isn’t it? I can’t believe that I—did that! I know now what you meant by opening your heart to evil . . . You know pretty well how it happened. Louise made it clear to Simon that she knew. Simon got you to bring me to him. As soon as we were alone together he told me what had happened. He told me what I’d got to do. I wasn’t even horrified. I was so afraid—so deadly afraid . . . That’s what murder does to you. Simon and I were safe—quite safe—except for this miserable blackmailing French girl. I took her all the money we could get hold of. I pretended to grovel. And then, when she was counting the money, I—did it! It was quite easy. That’s what’s so horribly, horribly frightening about it . . . It’s so terribly easy. . . .”

Related Characters: Jacqueline De Bellefort (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Linnet Doyle, Simon Doyle , Mrs. Allerton, Louise Bourget
Page Number: 327
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-One  Quotes

Lastly the body of Linnet Doyle was brought ashore, and all over the world wires began to hum, telling the public that Linnet Doyle, who had been Linnet Ridgeway, the famous, the beautiful, the wealthy Linnet Doyle was dead.

Sir George Wode read about it in his London club, and Sterndale Rockford in New York, and Joanna Southwood in Switzerland, and it was discussed in the bar of the Three Crowns in Malton-under-Wode.

And Mr. Burnaby said acutely: “Well, it doesn’t seem to have done her much good, poor lass.”

But after a while they stopped talking about her and discussed instead who was going to win the Grand National. For, as Mr. Ferguson was saying at that minute in Luxor, it is not the past that matters but the future.

Related Characters: Mr. Burnaby (speaker), Linnet Doyle, Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon Doyle , Andrew Pennington, Tim Allerton, Mr. Ferguson (Lord Dawlish), Louise Bourget, James Fanthorp, Joanna Southwood , Sir George Wode, Sterndale Rockford
Page Number: 333
Explanation and Analysis: