The immediate2 result of this set-back was to effect a rapprochement between Julius Hersheimmer and the Young Adventurers. All barriers went down with a crash, and Tommy and Tuppence felt they had known the young American all their lives. They abandoned the discreet3 reticence4 of “private inquiry5 agents,” and revealed to him the whole history of the joint6 venture, whereat the young man declared himself “tickled to death.”
“I’ve always had a kind of idea that English girls were just a mite8 moss-grown. Old-fashioned and sweet, you know, but scared to move round without a footman or a maiden9 aunt. I guess I’m a bit behind the times!”
The upshot of these confidential10 relations was that Tommy and Tuppence took up their abode11 forthwith at the Ritz, in order, as Tuppence put it, to keep in touch with Jane Finn’s only living relation. “And put like that,” she added confidentially12 to Tommy, “nobody could boggle at the expense!”
Nobody did, which was the great thing.
“And now,” said the young lady on the morning after their installation, “to work!”
Mr. Beresford put down the Daily Mail, which he was reading, and applauded with somewhat unnecessary vigour13. He was politely requested by his colleague not to be an ass14.
“Dash it all, Tommy, we’ve got to do something for our money.”
Tommy sighed.
“Yes, I fear even the dear old Government will not support us at the Ritz in idleness for ever.”
“Therefore, as I said before, we must do something.”
“Well,” said Tommy, picking up the Daily Mail again, “do it. I shan’t stop you.”
“You see,” continued Tuppence. “I’ve been thinking——”
“It’s all very well for you to sit there being funny, Tommy. It would do you no harm to do a little brain work too.”
“My union, Tuppence, my union! It does not permit me to work before 11 a.m.”
“Tommy, do you want something thrown at you? It is absolutely essential that we should without delay map out a plan of campaign.”
“Hear, hear!”
“Well, let’s do it.”
Tommy laid his paper finally aside. “There’s something of the simplicity16 of the truly great mind about you, Tuppence. Fire ahead. I’m listening.”
“To begin with,” said Tuppence, “what have we to go upon?”
“Absolutely nothing,” said Tommy cheerily.
“Wrong!” Tuppence wagged an energetic finger. “We have two distinct clues.”
“What are they?”
“First clue, we know one of the gang.”
“Whittington?”
“Yes. I’d recognize him anywhere.”
“Hum,” said Tommy doubtfully, “I don’t call that much of a clue. You don’t know where to look for him, and it’s about a thousand to one against your running against him by accident.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” replied Tuppence thoughtfully. “I’ve often noticed that once coincidences start happening they go on happening in the most extraordinary way. I dare say it’s some natural law that we haven’t found out. Still, as you say, we can’t rely on that. But there are places in London where simply every one is bound to turn up sooner or later. Piccadilly Circus, for instance. One of my ideas was to take up my stand there every day with a tray of flags.”
“What about meals?” inquired the practical Tommy.
“That’s all very well. You’ve just had a thundering good breakfast. No one’s got a better appetite than you have, Tuppence, and by tea-time you’d be eating the flags, pins and all. But, honestly, I don’t think much of the idea. Whittington mayn’t be in London at all.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I am not. I propose to reason in a logical manner. That man, Danvers, was shadowed on the way over, wasn’t he? And it’s more likely to have been a woman than a man——”
“I don’t see that at all.”
“I am absolutely certain that it would be a woman, and a good-looking one,” replied Tuppence calmly.
“On these technical points I bow to your decision,” murmured Mr. Beresford.
“Now, obviously this woman, whoever she was, was saved.”
“How do you make that out?”
“If she wasn’t, how would they have known Jane Finn had got the papers?”
“Correct. Proceed, O Sherlock!”
“Now there’s just a chance, I admit it’s only a chance, that this woman may have been ‘Rita.’”
“And if so?”
“Then the first thing is to get a list of the survivors.”
“I’ve got it. I wrote a long list of things I wanted to know, and sent it to Mr. Carter. I got his reply this morning, and among other things it encloses the official statement of those saved from the Lusitania. How’s that for clever little Tuppence?”
“Full marks for industry, zero for modesty22. But the great point is, is there a ‘Rita’ on the list?”
“That’s just what I don’t know,” confessed Tuppence.
“Don’t know?”
“Yes. Look here.” Together they bent23 over the list. “You see, very few Christian names are given. They’re nearly all Mrs. or Miss.”
Tommy nodded.
“That complicates24 matters,” he murmured thoughtfully.
Tuppence gave her characteristic “terrier” shake.
“Well, we’ve just got to get down to it, that’s all. We’ll start with the London area. Just note down the addresses of any of the females who live in London or roundabout, while I put on my hat.”
Five minutes later the young couple emerged into Piccadilly, and a few seconds later a taxi was bearing them to The Laurels25, Glendower Road, N.7, the residence of Mrs. Edgar Keith, whose name figured first in a list of seven reposing26 in Tommy’s pocket-book.
The Laurels was a dilapidated house, standing27 back from the road with a few grimy bushes to support the fiction of a front garden. Tommy paid off the taxi, and accompanied Tuppence to the front door bell. As she was about to ring it, he arrested her hand.
“What are you going to say?”
“What am I going to say? Why, I shall say—Oh dear, I don’t know. It’s very awkward.”
“I thought as much,” said Tommy with satisfaction. “How like a woman! No foresight28! Now just stand aside, and see how easily the mere male deals with the situation.” He pressed the bell. Tuppence withdrew to a suitable spot.
A slatternly looking servant, with an extremely dirty face and a pair of eyes that did not match, answered the door.
Tommy had produced a notebook and pencil.
“Good morning,” he said briskly and cheerfully. “From the Hampstead Borough29 Council. The new Voting Register. Mrs. Edgar Keith lives here, does she not?”
“Yaas,” said the servant.
“Missus’s? Eleanor Jane.”
“Eleanor,” spelt Tommy. “Any sons or daughters over twenty-one?”
“Naow.”
“Thank you.” Tommy closed the notebook with a brisk snap. “Good morning.”
The servant volunteered her first remark:
“I thought perhaps as you’d come about the gas,” she observed cryptically31, and shut the door.
Tommy rejoined his accomplice32.
“You see, Tuppence,” he observed. “Child’s play to the masculine mind.”
“I don’t mind admitting that for once you’ve scored handsomely. I should never have thought of that.”
Lunch-time found the young couple attacking a steak and chips in an obscure hostelry with avidity. They had collected a Gladys Mary and a Marjorie, been baffled by one change of address, and had been forced to listen to a long lecture on universal suffrage34 from a vivacious35 American lady whose Christian name had proved to be Sadie.
The notebook lay on the table between them. Tuppence picked it up.
“Mrs. Vandemeyer,” she read, “20 South Audley Mansions38. Miss Wheeler, 43 Clapington Road, Battersea. She’s a lady’s maid, as far as I remember, so probably won’t be there, and, anyway, she’s not likely.”
“Then the Mayfair lady is clearly indicated as the first port of call.”
“Tommy, I’m getting discouraged.”
“Buck up, old bean. We always knew it was an outside chance. And, anyway, we’re only starting. If we draw a blank in London, there’s a fine tour of England, Ireland and Scotland before us.”
“True,” said Tuppence, her flagging spirits reviving. “And all expenses paid! But, oh, Tommy, I do like things to happen quickly. So far, adventure has succeeded adventure, but this morning has been dull as dull.”
“You must stifle39 this longing40 for vulgar sensation, Tuppence. Remember that if Mr. Brown is all he is reported to be, it’s a wonder that he has not ere now done us to death. That’s a good sentence, quite a literary flavour about it.”
“You’re really more conceited41 than I am—with less excuse! Ahem! But it certainly is queer that Mr. Brown has not yet wreaked42 vengeance43 upon us. (You see, I can do it too.) We pass on our way unscathed.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t think us worth bothering about,” suggested the young man simply.
Tuppence received the remark with great disfavour.
“Sorry, Tuppence. What I meant was that we work like moles45 in the dark, and that he has no suspicion of our nefarious46 schemes. Ha ha!”
“Ha ha!” echoed Tuppence approvingly, as she rose.
South Audley Mansions was an imposing-looking block of flats just off Park Lane. No. 20 was on the second floor.
Tommy had by this time the glibness47 born of practice. He rattled48 off the formula to the elderly woman, looking more like a housekeeper49 than a servant, who opened the door to him.
“Christian name?”
“Margaret.”
Tommy spelt it, but the other interrupted him.
“No, g u e.”
“Oh, Marguerite; French way, I see.” He paused, then plunged50 boldly. “We had her down as Rita Vandemeyer, but I suppose that’s incorrect?”
“She’s mostly called that, sir, but Marguerite’s her name.”
“Thank you. That’s all. Good morning.”
Hardly able to contain his excitement, Tommy hurried down the stairs. Tuppence was waiting at the angle of the turn.
“You heard?”
“Yes. Oh, Tommy!”
Tommy squeezed her arm sympathetically.
“I know, old thing. I feel the same.”
“It’s—it’s so lovely to think of things—and then for them really to happen!” cried Tuppence enthusiastically.
Her hand was still in Tommy’s. They had reached the entrance hall. There were footsteps on the stairs above them, and voices.
Suddenly, to Tommy’s complete surprise, Tuppence dragged him into the little space by the side of the lift where the shadow was deepest.
“What the——”
“Hush!”
Two men came down the stairs and passed out through the entrance. Tuppence’s hand closed tighter on Tommy’s arm.
“Quick—follow them. I daren’t. He might recognize me. I don’t know who the other man is, but the bigger of the two was Whittington.”
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收听单词发音
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1
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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3
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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4
reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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5
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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6
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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7
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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8
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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9
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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10
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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15
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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16
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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21
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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22
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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complicates
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| 使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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reposing
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的现在分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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30
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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cryptically
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32
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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33
wheeze
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| n.喘息声，气喘声；v.喘息着说 | |
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34
suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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35
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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36
imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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37
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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38
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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39
stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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40
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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41
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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42
wreaked
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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44
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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45
moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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46
nefarious
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| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
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47
glibness
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| n.花言巧语；口若悬河 | |
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48
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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49
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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50
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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