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The Case of the Admiralty Code I
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Quick on the heels of the case of the Burnt Barn followed the next of the Red Triangle affairs. Indeed, the interval1 was barely two days. Mr. Victor Peytral, it will be remembered, had declined to reveal to Hewitt the addresses of the two houses in London which he had seen Mayes visit, desiring to think the matter over for a few days first; but before any more could be heard from him, news of another sort was brought by Inspector2 Plummer.

It may give some clue to the period whereabout the whole mystery of the Red Triangle began to be cleared up if I say that at the time of Plummer’s visit this country was on the very verge3 of war with a great European State. It is a State with which the present relations of England are of the friendliest description, and, since the dreaded4 collision was happily averted5, there is no need to particularise in the matter now, especially as the name of the country with which we were at variance6 matters nothing as regards the course of events I am to relate. Though most readers will recognise it at once when I say that the war, had it come to that, would have been a naval7 war of great magnitude; and that during the time of tension swift but quiet preparations were going forward at all naval dep?ts, and movements and dispositions8 of our fleet were arranged that extended to the remotest parts of the ocean.

It was at the height of the excitement, and, as I have said, two days after the return of Hewitt and myself from Throckham, when the case of the Burnt Barn had been disposed of, that Detective–Inspector Plummer called. I was in Hewitt’s office at the time, having, in fact, called in on my way to learn if he had heard more from Mr. Victor Peytral, for, as may be imagined, I was as eager to penetrate9 the mystery of the Triangle as Hewitt himself — perhaps more so, since Hewitt was a man inured10 to mysteries. I had hardly had time to learn that Peytral had not yet made up his mind so far as to write, when Plummer pushed hurriedly into the room.

“Excuse my rushing in like this,” he said, “but your lad told me that it was Mr. Brett who was with you, and the matter needs hurry. You’ve heard no more of that fellow — Myatt, Hunt, Mayes, whatever his name is last — since the barn murder, of course? Has Peytral given you the tip he half promised?”

Hewitt shook his head again. “Brett has this moment come to ask the same question,” he said. “I have heard nothing.”

“I must have it,” said Plummer, emphatically. “Do you think he will tell me?”

Hewitt shook his head again. “Scarcely likely,” he said. “He’s an odd fellow, this Mr. Peytral — a foreigner, with revenge in his blood. I have done him and his daughter some little service, and he told me all his private history; but he seemed even then disposed to keep Mayes to himself and let nobody interfere11 with his own vengeance12. But I will wire if you like. What is it?”

“I’ll tell you,” said Plummer, pushing the door close behind him. “I’ll tell you — in confidence, of course — because you’ve seen more of this mysterious rascal13 than I have, and — equally in confidence, of course — Mr. Brett may hear, too, since he’s been in several of the cases already. Well, of course, we all know well enough that we want this creature — Mayes, we may as well call him, I suppose, now — for three murders, at least, to say nothing of other things. That’s all very well, and we might have got him with time. But now we want him for something else; and it’s such a thing that we must have him at once, or else”— and Plummer pursed his lips and snapped his fingers significantly. “We can’t wait over this, Mr. Hewitt; we’ve got to have that man to-day, if it can be done. And there’s more than ordinary depending on it. It’s the country this time. The Admiralty telegraphic code has been stolen!”

“By Mayes?”

Plummer shrugged14 his shoulders. “That’s to be proved,” he said; “but he was seen leaving the office at about the time the loss occurred, and that’s enough to set me after him; and there’s not another clue of any sort. Mr. Hewitt, I wish you were in the official service!”

Hewitt smiled. “You flatter me,” he said, “as you have done before. But why in this case particularly?”

“It’s a case altogether out of the ordinary, and one of a string of such, all of which you have at your fingers’ ends. And I don’t mind confessing that this man Mayes is a little too big a handful for one — for me, at any rate. I wish you could work with me over this; in fact, in the special circumstances I’ve a good mind to ask to have you retained, as an exceptional measure. But the thing’s urgent, and there’s red-tape!”

Hewitt had taken a glance at his desk tablet, which he now flung down.

“I’ll do it for love,” he said, “if necessary. My appointment list is uncommonly15 slack just now, and even if it weren’t, I’d make a considerable sacrifice rather than be out of this. This fellow Mayes is a dangerous man; and I feel it a point of honour that he shall not continue to escape. Moreover, I have begun to form a certain theory as to the Red Triangle, and all there is at the back of it — a theory I would rather keep to myself till I see a little more, since as it stands it may only strike you as fantastic, and if it is wrong it may lead some of us off the track; but it is a theory I wish to test to the end. So I’m with you, Plummer, if you’ll allow it; and you can make your official application for a special retainer or not, just as you please.”

Plummer was plainly delighted.

“Most certainly I will,” he said. “Shall I give you the heads of the case, or will you come to the Admiralty and see for yourself?”

“Both, I think,” said Hewitt. “But first I will send a telegram to Peytral. Then you can give me the heads of the case as we go along, and I will look at the place for myself. I am in this case heart and soul, pay or no pay — and I expect my friend Brett would like to be in it, too. Is there any objection?”

“Well,” Plummer answered, a little doubtfully, “we’re glad of outside help, of course, but I’m not sure, officially ——”

“Of course you are always glad of outside help,” Hewitt interrupted, “and in this case we may possibly find Brett more useful than you think. Consider now. He has seen a good deal of these cases — quite as much as you, in fact — but he is the only one of the three of us whom Mayes does not know by sight. Remember, Mayes saw us both in the affair of Mr. Jacob Mason, and he saw you again in the case of the Lever Key — escaped, in fact, because he instantly recognised you. I’ll answer for Brett’s discretion16, and I’m sure he’ll be glad to help, even if, for official reasons, you may not find it possible to admit him wholly into your counsels.”

Of course I willingly assented17, and the conditions understood, Plummer offered no further objection. Hewitt despatched his telegram, and in a very few minutes we were in a cab on the way to the Admiralty.

“This is the way of it,” Plummer said. “You will remember that when we lost Mayes at the end of the Lever Key case, I was waiting for him in that city office, with an assistant, and that we only saw him for an instant in the lift. Well, that assistant was a very intelligent man of mine, named Corder — a fellow with a wonderful memory for a face. Now Corder is on another case just now, and we’d put him on, dressed like a loafer, to hang about Whitehall and the neighbourhood, watching for some one we want. Well, this morning there came an urgent message to the Yard from the Admiralty, to ask for a responsible official at once, and I was sent. As I came along I saw Corder lounging about, and of course I took no notice — it would not do for us people from the Yard to recognise each other too readily in the street. But Corder came up, and made pretence18 to ask me for a match to light his pipe; and under cover of that he told me that he had seen Mayes not an hour before, coming out of the Admiralty. At this, of course, I pricked19 up my ears. I didn’t know what they wanted me for, but if there was mischief20, and that fellow had been there, it was likely at least that he might have been in it. Corder was quite positive that it was the man, although he had only seen him for a moment in the lift. He hadn’t seen him go into the Admiralty office, but he was passing as he came out, and noted21 the time exactly, so that he might report to me at the first opportunity. The time was 11.32, and Mayes jumped into a hansom and drove off. He walked right out into the middle of the road to stop the hansom — you know how wide the road is there — so that Corder couldn’t hear his direction to the cabman, but he took the number as the cab went off. Corder ought to have collared him then and there, I think, but he was in a difficult position. It would have endangered the case he was on, which is very important; and besides, he didn’t realise how much we wanted him for, having only been brought in as an assistant at the tail of our bond case. Still less did he guess — any more than myself — what I was going to hear at the Admiralty office.”

“At any rate,” interrupted Hewitt, “you’ve got the number of the cab?”

“Here it is,” Plummer answered, “and I’ve already set a man to get hold of the cabman. You’d better note the number — 92,873.”

Hewitt duly noted the number, and advised me to do the same, in case I should chance to meet the cab during the afternoon; and as we neared our destination Plummer gave us the rest of the case in outline.

“In the office,” he said, “I found them in a great state. A copy of the code, or cypher, in which confidential22 orders and other messages are sent to the fleet all over the world, and in which reports and messages are sent back, had disappeared during the morning. It was in charge of a Mr. Robert Telfer, a clerk of responsibility and undoubted integrity. He kept it in a small iron safe, which is let into the wall of his private room. It was safe when he arrived in the morning, and he immediately used it in order to code a telegram, and locked it in the safe again at 10.20. Two hours later, at 12.20, he went to the safe for it again, in order to de-code a message just received, and it was gone! And the lock of the safe is one that would take hours to pick, I should judge. There isn’t a shade of a clue, so far as I can see, except this circumstance of Mayes being seen leaving by Corder — just between Telfer’s two visits to the safe, you perceive. And of course there may be nothing in that, except for the character of the man. And that’s all there is to go on, as far as I can see. I needn’t tell you how important the thing is at a time like this, and how much would be paid for that secret code by a certain foreign Government. We have made hurried arrangements to have certain places watched, and as soon as I have taken you to the office I must rush off and make a few more arrangements still. But here we are.”

Mr. Robert Telfer’s room was at the side of a long and gloomy corridor on the upper floor, and the door was distinguished23 merely by a number and the word “Private” painted thereon. We found Mr. Telfer sitting alone, and plainly in a state of great nervous tension. He was a man of forty or thereabout, thin, alert, and using a single eye-glass. Plummer introduced us by name, and rapidly explained our business.

“I told you the name of the party I am after, Mr. Telfer,” Plummer said, “and I went straight to Mr. Martin Hewitt, as being most likely to have information of him. Mr. Hewitt, whose name you know already, of course, is kind enough, seeing we’re in a bad pinch, and pushed for time, to come in and give us all the help he can. Both he and his friend, Mr. Brett, know a good deal of the doings of the person we’re after, and their assistance is likely to be of the very greatest value. Do you mind giving Mr. Hewitt any information he may ask? I must rush over to the Yard to put some other inquiries24 on foot, and to set an observation or two, but I’ll be back presently.”

“Certainly,” Mr. Telfer answered, “I’m only too anxious to give any information whatever — so long as it is nothing departmentally forbidden — which will help to put this horrible matter right. Please ask me anything, and be patient if my answers are not very clear. I have been much overworked lately, as you may imagine, and have had very little sleep; and now this terrible misfortune has upset me completely; for, of course, I am held responsible for that copy of the code, and if it isn’t recovered, and quickly, I am ruined — to say nothing, of course, of the far more serious consequences in other directions.”

“That is the safe in which it was kept, I presume?” Hewitt said, indicating a small one let into the wall. “May I examine it?”

“Certainly.” Mr. Telfer turned and produced the keys from his pocket. “The code was here, lying on this shelf when I needed it this morning at ten. I took it out, used it, returned it to the same place exactly, and locked the safe door. Then I took the draft of the telegram, together with the copy in cypher, into the Controller’s room, gave it into safe hands, and returned here.”

Hewitt narrowly examined the lock of the safe with his pocket lens. “There are no signs of the lock having been picked,” he said, “even if that were possible. As a matter of fact, this is a lock that would take half a day to pick, even with a heavy bag of tools. No, I don’t think that was the way of it. You have no doubt about locking the safe door at 10.20, I suppose, before you went to the Controller’s room?”

“No possible doubt whatever. You see, I left the whole bunch of keys hanging in the lock while I coded the telegram. It was a short one, and was soon done. Then I returned the code to its place, locked the safe, and then used another key on the bunch to lock a drawer in this desk. I had no occasion to go to the safe again till about 12.20, when the Controller’s secretary came here with a telegram to be de-coded. The safe was still locked then, but when it was opened the code was gone.”

“You had had no occasion to go to the safe in the meantime?”

“None at all. I locked it at 10.20, and I unlocked it two hours later, and that was all.”

“You were not in the room the whole of the time, of course?”

“Oh, no. I have told you that at 10.20 I went to the Controller’s room, and after that I went out two or three times on one occasion or another. But each time I locked the door of the room.”

“Oh, you did? That is important. And you took all your keys with you, I presume?”

“Yes, all. The keys on the bunch I took in my pocket, of course, and the room door key I also took. There are one or two rather important papers on my desk, you see, and anybody from the corridor might come in if the door were left unlocked.”

“The lock of the door would be a good deal easier to pick than that of the safe,” Hewitt observed, after examining it. “But that would be of no great use with the safe locked. Shortly, then, the facts are these. You locked the code safely away at 10.20, you left the room two or three times, but each time the door, as well as the safe, was locked, and the keys in your pocket; and then, at 12.20, or two hours exactly after the code had been put safely away, you opened the safe again in presence of the Controller’s secretary, and the code had vanished. That is the whole matter in brief, I take it?”

“Precisely.” Mr. Telfer was pallid25 and bewildered. “It seems a total impossibility,” he said; “a total, absolute, physical impossibility; but there it is.”

“But as no such thing as a physical impossibility ever happens,” Hewitt replied calmly, “we must look further. Now, are there any other ways into this room than by that door into the corridor? I see another door here. What is that?”

“That door has been locked for ages. The room on the other side is one like this, with a door in the corridor; it is used chiefly to store old documents of no great importance, and I believe that whole stacks of them, in bundles, are piled against the other side of that same door. We will send for the key and see, if you like.”

The key was sent for, and the door from the corridor opened. As Telfer had led us to expect, the place was full of old papers in bundles and parcels, thick with ancient dust, and these things were piled high against the door next his room, and plainly had not been disturbed for months, or even years.

“There remains26 the skylight,” said Hewitt, “for I perceive, Mr. Telfer, that your room is lighted from above, and has no window; while the grate is a register. There seems to be no opening in that skylight but the revolving27 ventilator. Am I right?”

“Quite so. There is no getting in by the skylight without breaking it, and, as you see, it has not been broken. Certainly there are men on the roof repairing the leads, but it is plain enough that nobody has come that way. The thing is wholly inexplicable28.”

“At present, yes,” Hewitt said, musingly29. He stood for a few moments in deep thought.

“Plummer is longer away than I expected,” he said presently. “By the way, what was the external appearance of the missing code?”

“It was nothing but a sort of thin manuscript book, made of a few sheets of foolscap size, sewn in a cover of thickish grey paper. I left it in the safe doubled lengthwise, and tied with tape in the middle.”

“Its loss is a very serious thing, of course?”

“Oh, terribly, terribly serious, Mr. Hewitt,” Telfer replied, despairingly. “I am responsible, and it will put an end to my career, of course. But the consequences to the country are more important, and they may be disastrous30 — enormously so. A great sum would be paid for that code on the Continent, I need hardly say.”

“But now that you know it is taken, surely the code can be changed?”

“It’s not so easy as it seems, Mr. Hewitt,” Telfer answered, shaking his head. “It means time, and I needn’t tell you that with affairs in their present state we can’t afford one moment of time. Some expedients31 are being attempted, of course, but you will understand that any new code would have to be arranged with scattered32 items of the fleet in all parts of the world, and that probably with the present code in the hands of the enemy. Moreover, all our messages already sent will be accessible with very little trouble, and they contain all our strategical coaling and storing dispositions for a great war, Mr. Hewitt; and they can’t, they can’t be altered at a moment’s notice! Oh, it is terrible! . . . But here is Inspector Plummer. No news, I suppose, Mr. Plummer?”

“Well, no,” Plummer answered deliberately33. “I can’t say I’ve any news for you, Mr. Telfer, just yet. But I want to talk about a few things to Mr. Hewitt. Hadn’t we better go and see if your telegram is answered, Mr. Hewitt? Unless you’ve heard.”

“No, I haven’t,” Hewitt replied. “We’ll go on at once. Good-day for the present, Mr. Telfer. I hope to bring good news when next I see you.”

“I hope so, too, Mr. Hewitt, most fervently,” Telfer answered; and his looks confirmed his words.

We walked in silence through the corridor, down the stairs, and out by the gates into the street. Then Plummer turned on his heel and faced Hewitt.

“That man’s a wrong ’un,” he said, abruptly34, jerking his thumb in the direction of the office we had just left. “I’ll tell you about it in the cab.”

As soon as our cab was started on its way back to Hewitt’s office Plummer explained himself.

“He’s been watched,” he said, “has Mr. Telfer, when he didn’t know it; and he’ll be watched again for the rest of to-day, as I’ve arranged. What’s more, he won’t be allowed to leave the office this evening till I have seen him again, or sent a message. No need to frighten him too soon — it mightn’t suit us. But he’s in it, alone or in company!”

“How do you know?”

“I’ll tell you. It seems the lead roofs are being repaired at the Admiralty, and the plumbers36 are walking about where they like. Now I needn’t tell you I’ve had a man or two fishing about among the doorkeepers and so on at the Admiralty, and one of them found a plumber35 he knew slightly, working on the roof. That plumber happens to be no fool — a bit smarter than the detective-constable, it seems to me, in fact. Anyhow, he seems to have got more out of my man than my man got out of him; and soon after I reached the Yard he turned up, asking to see me. He said he’d heard that a valuable paper was missing (he didn’t know what) from the room with the skylight in the top floor, where the gentleman with the single eye-glass was, and where the safe was let in the wall; and he wanted to know what would be the reward for anybody giving information about it. Of course I couldn’t make any promise, and I gave him to understand that he would have to leave the amount of the reward to the authorities, if his information was worth anything; also, that we were getting to work fast, and that if he wished to be first to give information he’d better be quick about it; but I promised to make a special report of his name and what he had to say if it were useful. And it will be, or I’m vastly mistaken! For just you see here. Our friend, Mr. Telfer, says he put that code safely away at 10.20 in the safe, and that he never went to the safe again till 12.20, when the Controller’s secretary was with him; never went to it for anything whatever, observe. Well, the plumber happened to be near the skylight at half-past eleven, and he is prepared to swear that he saw Mr. Telfer —‘the gent with the eye-glass,’ as he calls him — go to the safe, unlock it, take out a grey paper, folded lengthwise, with red tape round it, re-lock the safe, and carry that paper out into the corridor! The plumber was kneeling by a brazier, it seems, which was close by the skylight, and he is so certain of the time because he was regulating his watch by Westminster Hall clock, and compared it when the half-hour struck, which was just while Telfer was absent in the corridor with the paper. He was only gone a second or two, and you will remember that Corder saw Mayes leaving the premises37 within two minutes of that time!”

“Yes!”

“Well, Telfer was back in a second or two, without the paper, and went on with his affairs as before. That’s pretty striking, eh?”

“Yes,” Hewitt answered thoughtfully, “it is.”

“It was a sort of shot in the dark on the part of the plumber, for he knew nothing else — nothing about Telfer legitimately38 having the keys of the safe, nor any of the particulars we have been told. He merely knew that a paper was missing, and having seen a paper taken out of the safe he got it into his head that he had possibly witnessed the theft; and he kept his knowledge to himself till he could see somebody in authority. Mighty39 keen, too, about a reward!”

“And now you are having Telfer supervised?”

“I am. Not that we’re likely to get the code from him; that’s passed out, sure enough, in Mayes’s hands — or else his pockets.”

To this confident expression of opinion Hewitt offered no reply, and presently we alighted at his office, eager to learn if Peytral had given the information Hewitt so much desired. Sure enough a telegram was there, and it ran thus:

“On the night you know of, Mayes went first to 37 Raven40 Street, Blackfriars, then to 8 Norbury Row, Barbican. Message follows.”

“Now we’re at work,” Hewitt said, briskly, “and for a while we part. I shall make a few changes of dress, and go to take a look at 37 Raven Street, Blackfriars. Will you two go on to Norbury Row? You’ll have to be careful, Plummer, and not show yourself. That is where Brett will be useful, since he isn’t known; if anybody is to be seen let it be him. I shall be very careful myself — though I shall have some little disguise; and I fancy I shall not be so likely to be seen as you.”

“What are we to do?” I asked.

“Well, of course, if you see Mayes in the open, grab him instantly. I needn’t tell Plummer that. I think Plummer would naturally seize him on the spot, rush him off to the nearest station and go back with enough men to clear out No. 8 Norbury Row. If you don’t see him you’ll keep an observation, according to Plummer’s discretion. But, unless some exceptional chance occurs, I hope you won’t go rushing in till we communicate with each other — we must work together, and I may have news. My instinct seems to tell me that yours is the right end of the stick, at Barbican. But we must neglect nothing, and that is why I want you to hold on there while I make the necessary examination at the other end. Do you know this Norbury Row, Plummer?”

“I think I know every street and alley41 in the City,” Plummer answered. “There is a very good publican at the corner of Norbury Row, who’s been useful to the police a score of times. He keeps his eyes open, and I shall be surprised if he can’t give us some information about No. 8, anyhow. Moon’s his name, and the house is ‘The Compasses.’ I shall go there first. And if you’ve any message to send, send it through him. I’ll tell him.”

On the stairs Plummer and I encountered another of his assistants. “I’ve got the cab, sir,” he reported. “Waiting outside now. Took up a fare in Whitehall, opposite the Admiralty, and drove him to Charterhouse Street; got down just by the Meat Market. That’s all the man seems to know.”

Plummer questioned the cabman, and found that as a matter of fact that was all he did know. So, telling him to wait to take us our little journey, we returned and reported his information to Hewitt.

“Just as I expected,” he said, quietly. “He stopped the cab a bit short of his destination, of course — just as you will, no doubt. There’s not a great deal in the evidence, but it confirms my idea.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 interval 85kxY     
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息
参考例句:
  • The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
  • There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。
2 inspector q6kxH     
n.检查员,监察员,视察员
参考例句:
  • The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
  • The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
3 verge gUtzQ     
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。
4 dreaded XuNzI3     
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
  • He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》
5 averted 35a87fab0bbc43636fcac41969ed458a     
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移
参考例句:
  • A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
  • Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙,才避免了麻烦。
6 variance MiXwb     
n.矛盾,不同
参考例句:
  • The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance. 妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
  • It is unnatural for brothers to be at variance. 兄弟之间不睦是不近人情的。
7 naval h1lyU     
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
参考例句:
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
8 dispositions eee819c0d17bf04feb01fd4dcaa8fe35     
安排( disposition的名词复数 ); 倾向; (财产、金钱的)处置; 气质
参考例句:
  • We got out some information about the enemy's dispositions from the captured enemy officer. 我们从捕获的敌军官那里问出一些有关敌军部署的情况。
  • Elasticity, solubility, inflammability are paradigm cases of dispositions in natural objects. 伸缩性、可缩性、易燃性是天然物体倾向性的范例。
9 penetrate juSyv     
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解
参考例句:
  • Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
  • The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。
10 inured inured     
adj.坚强的,习惯的
参考例句:
  • The prisoners quickly became inured to the harsh conditions.囚犯们很快就适应了苛刻的条件。
  • He has inured himself to accept misfortune.他锻练了自己,使自己能承受不幸。
11 interfere b5lx0     
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰
参考例句:
  • If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话,可能弊多利少。
  • When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件,棘手的事情就来了。
12 vengeance wL6zs     
n.报复,报仇,复仇
参考例句:
  • He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
  • For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。
13 rascal mAIzd     
n.流氓;不诚实的人
参考例句:
  • If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做,我就认为他是个恶棍。
  • The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。
14 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 uncommonly 9ca651a5ba9c3bff93403147b14d37e2     
adv. 稀罕(极,非常)
参考例句:
  • an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
  • My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。
16 discretion FZQzm     
n.谨慎;随意处理
参考例句:
  • You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
  • Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。
17 assented 4cee1313bb256a1f69bcc83867e78727     
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The judge assented to allow the prisoner to speak. 法官同意允许犯人申辩。
  • "No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women -- they're too noble. “对,”汤姆表示赞同地说,“他们不杀女人——真伟大!
18 pretence pretence     
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰
参考例句:
  • The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
  • He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。
19 pricked 1d0503c50da14dcb6603a2df2c2d4557     
刺,扎,戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 ); 刺伤; 刺痛; 使剧痛
参考例句:
  • The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
  • He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。
20 mischief jDgxH     
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹
参考例句:
  • Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
  • He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。
21 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
22 confidential MOKzA     
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的
参考例句:
  • He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
  • We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。
23 distinguished wu9z3v     
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的
参考例句:
  • Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
  • A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。
24 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释,等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
25 pallid qSFzw     
adj.苍白的,呆板的
参考例句:
  • The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来,照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
  • His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。
26 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
27 revolving 3jbzvd     
adj.旋转的,轮转式的;循环的v.(使)旋转( revolve的现在分词 );细想
参考例句:
  • The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
  • The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。
28 inexplicable tbCzf     
adj.无法解释的,难理解的
参考例句:
  • It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的,现在已经无法说清楚了。
  • There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。
29 musingly ddec53b7ea68b079ee6cb62ac6c95bf9     
adv.沉思地,冥想地
参考例句:
30 disastrous 2ujx0     
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的
参考例句:
  • The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
  • Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨,血本无归。
31 expedients c0523c0c941d2ed10c86887a57ac874f     
n.应急有效的,权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He is full of [fruitful in] expedients. 他办法多。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Perhaps Calonne might return too, with fresh financial expedients. 或许卡洛纳也会回来,带有新的财政机谋。 来自辞典例句
32 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
33 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
参考例句:
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
34 abruptly iINyJ     
adv.突然地,出其不意地
参考例句:
  • He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
  • I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。
35 plumber f2qzM     
n.(装修水管的)管子工
参考例句:
  • Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗?
  • The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。
36 plumbers 74967bded53f9cdf3d49cad38cfca8ba     
n.管子工,水暖工( plumber的名词复数 );[美][口](防止泄密的)堵漏人员
参考例句:
  • Plumbers charge by the hour for their work. 水管工人的工作是以小时收费的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Plumbers, carpenters, and other workmen finished the new house quickly. 管道工、木工及其他工匠很快完成了这幢新房子。 来自辞典例句
37 premises 6l1zWN     
n.建筑物,房屋
参考例句:
  • According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定,场内不准饮酒。
  • All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行,不用送到外面去做。
38 legitimately 7pmzHS     
ad.合法地;正当地,合理地
参考例句:
  • The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
  • She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐,而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
39 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
40 raven jAUz8     
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的
参考例句:
  • We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
  • Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。
41 alley Cx2zK     
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路
参考例句:
  • We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
  • The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。


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