The pearl is worthless, and Blundell's boasting of his riches the previous night was bluff. His fortune has been badly affected in the economic slump. Death on the Nile Parker Pyne is in Egypt, and is about to start a journey on a Nile steamer. The only other passengers on the vessel are Sir George and Lady Grayle, her niece Pamela, her nurse, Elsie MacNaughton and Sir George's young secretary, Basil West. Sir George married Lady Grayle to try to find a way out of his financial difficulties but the price he has paid is in having a difficult, bad-tempered, hypochondriac for a wife. Lady Grayle is annoyed that Pyne is on the boat, having been assured that her party would be the only people on board. Pamela is not sympathetic to her aunt's complaints, telling Sir George that his wife's claims of illness are fraudulent and feeling appreciative of the problems Miss MacNaughton faces in dealing with her. The only person who does not seem to find her too much of a trial is Basil West, who has an easy-going relationship with everyone he meets. Pyne is surprised to receive a note from Lady Grayle. She is asking him not to leave the boat for an excursion to the Temple of Abydos, but to instead meet her for a consultation. He does so and she asks him to find out if her husband is poisoning her. She has been unwell for some time when she is with him. She recovers when he is away. Pyne suspects that there is more to the matter than she is telling him. He voices this suspicion and, in doing so, offends his latest client. Lady Grayle walks off in a huff. Soon afterwards, Miss MacNaughton appears and voices almost the same concern – that Lady Grayle is being poisoned. But she does not want to suspect Sir George, even though she has also spotted the timing of the Lady's recoveries being linked to his absences. That night, Pyne is summoned to Lady Grayle's room where the woman is very ill. She dies, showing the unmistakable symptoms of strychnine poisoning. Remembering when he saw the victim earlier on burning a letter in the lounge cabin, Pyne hurries there and retrieves a scrap of paper which has "...chet of dreams. Burn this!" written on it. The evidence seems insurmountable; packets of strychnine have been found