“When the sun sets, the moon rises”

When the sun sets, the moon rises is a recurring expression that makes succession sound like a natural change in the sky. In Poirot’s first use it remains indirect; when he later repeats the image to Jacqueline, its suggestion of one woman taking another’s place becomes pointed and personal.

Image and Meaning

The expression depends on contrast: while the sun shines, the moon cannot be seen, but its disappearance does not mean the moon is absent. Poirot’s wording distinguishes being unseen from being gone, and turns the end of one presence into the condition for another to become visible. In its later context, the image evokes the contrast between Linnet’s prominence and Jacqueline’s obscured but continuing attachment to Simon.

First Use with Cornelia

On a lovely day that nevertheless feels awful to Cornelia, Poirot looks up at the sky and says, “When the sun shines you cannot see the moon,” then adds, “when the sun has gone down, we shall see the moon.” Cornelia looks doubtful and asks what he means; Poirot laughs gently. The exchange presents the image as a veiled observation rather than an explanation, leaving its personal application unstated in the conversation.

Return to Jacqueline

Poirot makes the image explicit while speaking with Jacqueline after Simon has been shot. She says Simon will go to hospital and recover; Poirot challenges the comforting expectation of a happy ending, then tells her, “The sun has gone and the moon rises.” Jacqueline protests that Simon is only sorry for her because she has hurt him. Poirot calls pity a lofty sentiment, but his half-mocking manner and the image itself make the prospect of renewed intimacy difficult to dismiss. Her sudden blush and insistence that she never meant anything signal the tension between what she says and what Poirot suggests.

Narrative Function

The repeated image connects an earlier oblique exchange to Poirot’s later confrontation with Jacqueline. Its movement from a general observation about the sky to a pointed remark about Simon and Jacqueline gives the metaphor sharper force without turning it into a literal prediction. The moon’s emergence is both consolation and threat: what was hidden may appear, but only because the sun has gone.