Deception 5 steps
Abducting Miss Froy, Hiding Her as a Bandaged Patient, and Seating a Lookalike in Her Place
The conspirators make Miss Froy disappear from the compartment while Iris sleeps, back the disappearance with denials from passengers and staff, conceal the abducted woman as Dr Hartz's bandaged patient guarded by a seemingly deaf-mute nun, and introduce Madame Kummer dressed exactly like Miss Froy to claim she was Iris's helper. The combined effect leaves Iris briefly doubting her own memory of Miss Froy.
Read the 5 steps as text
- 1
Miss Froy disappears while Iris sleeps
Miss Froy · Iris Henderson
After taking tea with Iris in the dining car, Miss Froy returns to the compartment with Iris, who falls asleep; when Iris wakes, Miss Froy has vanished.
- 2
Passengers and staff deny Miss Froy existed
Train passengers and staff · Mr Todhunter
What it looked like: The denials present Miss Froy as never having been on the train at all.
The other passengers in the compartment, several other passengers and train staff deny ever seeing Miss Froy, and Mr Todhunter pretends not to remember her to avoid drawing attention to his affair.
- 3
Miss Froy concealed as the bandaged patient
Dr Hartz · Miss Froy · Seemingly deaf-mute nun
What it looked like: The stretcher appears to carry a genuine patient of Dr Hartz rather than the missing Miss Froy.
At the first stop, Dr Hartz's patient, whose head is completely bandaged, is brought aboard on a stretcher accompanied by a seemingly deaf-mute nun; Dr Hartz later admits the patient is actually Miss Froy.
- 4
Madame Kummer appears in Miss Froy's place
Madame Kummer · Iris Henderson
What it looked like: Madame Kummer presents herself as the woman who helped Iris, implying Iris misremembers Miss Froy.
A woman dressed exactly like Miss Froy, Madame Kummer, appears in her place and claims to have helped Iris after she was struck on the head, and Todhunter's mistress identifies Kummer as the woman she saw.
- 5
Iris briefly doubts her memory
Iris Henderson
Facing the denials and the lookalike's account, Iris briefly doubts her own memory of Miss Froy, though she later recalls having tea with her and the name written on the dining-car window.
