The Theft of the Royal Ruby – Agatha Christie

With 55 pages and nearly 16,055 words, “The Theft of the Royal Ruby” by Agatha Christie is roughly a 80-minute read in English. Scroll down for the full breakdown: file details, frequent words, contents and how the book opens.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 7371b8d948f85747
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 995,086 bytes (0.949 MB)
• Title: The Theft of the Royal Ruby
• Author: Agatha Christie
• ISBN: 9780062298263
• Pages: 55
• Language: English (en)
• Digital Edition Created: 2019-09-18T17:05:23+00:00

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 80.28 minutes
• Total Words: 16,055
• Total Characters: 89,597
• Average Words per Page: 291.91
• Average Characters per Page: 1629.04

Most Frequent Words

said (250), poirot (181), mrs (77), christmas (73), lacey (73), one (73), think (62), know (60), sarah (52), bridget (51), hercule (48), well (47), don’t (46), desmond (46), it’s (45), young (45), yes (45), see (39), come (39), colin (39), good (38), pudding (38), sir (36), like (33), really (32), house (31), now (29), course (29), got (28), ruby (27), old (27), much (27), mean (26), michael (26), jesmond (25), thought (25), little (25), day (25), something (25), went (25), snow (24), round (23), made (23), going (22), two (22), thing (21), always (21), rather (20), hand (20), looked (20), man (20), want (20), girl (20), lee-wortley (20), get (20), ross (20), time (19), indeed (19), came (19), dear (18), put (18), say (18), footprints (18), moment (17), tell (17), himself (17), i’m (17), quite (16), make (16), things (16), asked (16), way (16), look (16), perhaps (16), colonel (16), body (16), anything (15), that’s (15), can’t (15), right (15), murder (15), dead (15), english (14), nothing (14), still (14), understand (14), sure (14), room (14), diana (14), david (14), nice (14), didn’t (14), london (13), back (13), police (13), head (13), he’s (13), car (13), bed (13), new (12).

Table of Contents

• Page 4: Contents
• Page 5: The Theft of the Royal Ruby
• Page 41: About the Author
• Page 42: The Agatha Christie Collection
• Page 53: Copyright
• Page 54: About the Publisher

How “The Theft of the Royal Ruby” Begins

I regret exceedingly—” said M. Hercule Poirot. He was interrupted. Not rudely interrupted. The interruption was suave, dexterous, persuasive rather than contradictory. “Please don’t refuse offhand, M. Poirot. There are grave issues of State. Your cooperation will be appreciated in the highest quarters.” “You are too kind,” Hercule Poirot waved a hand, “but I really cannot undertake to do as you ask. At this season of the year—” Again Mr. Jesmond interrupted. “Christmastime,” he said, persuasively. “An old-fashioned Christmas in the English countryside.”

Hercule Poirot shivered. The thought of the English countryside at this season of the year did not attract him. “A good old-fashioned Christmas!” Mr. Jesmond stressed it. “Me—I am not an Englishman,” said Hercule Poirot. “In my country, Christmas, it is for the children. The New Year, that is what we celebrate.” “Ah,” said Mr. Jesmond, “but Christmas in England is a great institution and I assure you at Kings Lacey you would see it at its best.

It’s a wonderful old house, you know. Why, one wing of it dates from the fourteenth century.” Again Poirot shivered. The thought of a fourteenth-century English manor house filled him with apprehension. He had suffered too often in the historic country houses of England. He looked round appreciatively at his comfortable modern flat with its radiators and the latest patent devices for excluding any kind of draught. “In the winter,” he said firmly, “I do not leave London.”

“I don’t think you quite appreciate, M. Poirot, what a very serious matter this is.” Mr. Jesmond glanced at his companion and then back at Poirot. Poirot’s second visitor had up to now said nothing but a polite and formal “How do you do.” He sat now, gazing down at his well-polished shoes, with an air of the utmost dejection on his coffee-coloured face. He was a young man, not more than twenty-three, and he was clearly in a state of complete misery.

“Yes, yes,” said Hercule Poirot. “Of course the matter is serious. I do appreciate that. His Highness has my heartfelt sympathy.” “The position is one of the utmost delicacy,” said Mr. Jesmond. Poirot transferred his gaze from the young man to his older companion.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “The Theft of the Royal Ruby” by Agatha Christie, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.