Chapter 20

    The room was a big one and most of the furniture had been clearedout to admit the guests who had come from the ends of the earth tolearn the story of the twisted candles, and to test John Lexman'stheory by their own.

　　They sat around chatting cheerfully of men and crimes, of greatcoups planned and frustrated¹, of strange deeds committed andundetected. Scraps² of their conversation came to Belinda Mary asshe stood in the chintz-draped doorway³ which led from thedrawing-room to the room she used as a study.

　　". . . do you remember, Sir George, the Bolbrook case! I took theman at Odessa . . . ."". . . the curious thing was that I found no money on the body,only a small gold charm set with a single emerald, so I knew itwas the girl with the fur bonnet⁴ who had . . ."". . . Pinot got away after putting three bullets into me, but Idragged myself to the window and shot him dead - it was a realgood shot . . . !"They rose to meet her and T. X. introduced her to the men. It wasat that moment that John Lexman was announced.

　　He looked tired, but returned the Commissioner's greeting with acheerful mien⁵. He knew all the men present by name, as they knewhim. He had a few sheets of notes, which he laid on the littletable which had been placed for him, and when the introductionswere finished he went to this and with scarcely any preliminarybegan.

1 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

3 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

4 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

5 mien   

n.风采；态度

参考例句：

• He was a Vietnam veteran with a haunted mien.他是个越战老兵，举止总有些惶然。
• It was impossible to tell from his mien whether he was offended.从他的神态中难以看出他是否生气了。