Chapter 16

　　We lose money over Lupin's advice as to investment, so doesCummings. Murray Posh engaged to Daisy Mutlar.

　　February 18. - Carrie has several times recently called attention to thethinness of my hair at the top of my head, and recommended me to get itseen to. I was this morning trying to look at it by the aid of a small hand-glass, when somehow my elbow caught against the edge of the chest ofdrawers and knocked the glass out of my hand and smashed it. Carriewas in an awful way about it, as she is rather absurdly superstitious¹. Tomake matters worse, my large photograph in the drawing-room fell duringthe night, and the glass cracked.

　　Carrie said: "Mark my words, Charles, some misfortune is about tohappen."I said: "Nonsense, dear."In the evening Lupin arrived home early, and seemed a little agitated².

　　I said: "What's up, my boy?" He hesitated a good deal, and then said:

　　"You know those Parachikka Chlorates I advised you to invest 20 poundsin? I replied: "Yes, they are all right, I trust?" He replied: "Well, no!

　　To the surprise of everybody, they have utterly³ collapsed⁴."My breath was so completely taken away, I could say nothing. Carrielooked at me, and said: "What did I tell you?" Lupin, after a while,said: "However, you are specially⁵ fortunate. I received an early tip, andsold out yours immediately, and was fortunate to get 2 pounds for them.

　　So you get something after all."I gave a sigh of relief. I said: "I was not so sanguine⁶ as to suppose,as you predicted, that I should get six or eight times the amount of myinvestment; still a profit of 2 pounds is a good percentage for such a shorttime." Lupin said, quite irritably⁷: "You don't understand. I sold your 20pounds shares for 2 pounds; you therefore lose 18 pounds on thetransaction, whereby Cummings and Gowing will lose the whole oftheirs." February 19. -Lupin, before going to town, said: "I am very sorryabout those Parachikka Chlorates; it would not have happened if the boss,Job Cleanands, had been in town. Between ourselves, you must not besurprised if something goes wrong at our office. Job Cleanands has notbeen seen the last few days, and it strikes me several people DO want tosee him very particularly."In the evening Lupin was just on the point of going out to avoid acollision with Gowing and Cummings, when the former entered the room,without knocking, but with his usual trick of saying, "May I come in?"He entered, and to the surprise of Lupin and myself, seemed to be inthe very best of spirits. Neither Lupin nor I broached⁸ the subject to him,but he did so of his own accord. He said: "I say, those ParachikkaChlorates have gone an awful smash! You're a nice one, Master Lupin.

　　How much do you lose?" Lupin, to my utter astonishment⁹, said: "Oh!

　　I had nothing in them. There was some informality in my application - Iforgot to enclose the cheque or something, and I didn't get any. The Guv.

　　loses 18 pounds." I said: "I quite understood you were in it, or nothingwould have induced me to speculate." Lupin replied: "Well, it can't behelped; you must go double on the next tip." Before I could reply,Gowing said: "Well, I lose nothing, fortunately. From what I heard, Idid not quite believe in them, so I persuaded Cummings to take my 15pounds worth, as he had more faith in them than I had."Lupin burst out laughing, and, in the most unseemly manner, said:

　　"Alas, poor Cummings. He'll lose 35 pounds." At that moment therewas a ring at the bell. Lupin said: "I don't want to meet Cummings."If he had gone out of the door he would have met him in the passage, so asquickly as possible Lupin opened the parlour window and got out.

　　Gowing jumped up suddenly, exclaiming: "I don't want to see himeither!" and, before I could say a word, he followed Lupin out of thewindow.

　　For my own part, I was horrified¹⁰ to think my own son and one of mymost intimate friends should depart from the house like a couple ofinterrupted burglars. Poor Cummings was very upset, and of course wasnaturally very angry both with Lupin and Gowing. I pressed him to have a little whisky, and he replied that he had given up whisky; but would likea little "Unsweetened," as he was advised it was the most healthy spirit.

　　had none in the house, but sent Sarah round to Lockwood's for some.

　　February 20. -The first thing that caught my eye on opening theSTANDARD was - "Great Failure of Stock and Share Dealers¹¹! Mr. JobCleanands absconded¹²!" I handed it to Carrie, and she replied: "Oh!

　　perhaps it's for Lupin's good. I never did think it a suitable situation forhim." I thought the whole affair very shocking.

　　Lupin came down to breakfast, and seeing he looked painfullydistressed, I said: "We know the news, my dear boy, and feel very sorryfor you." Lupin said: "How did you know? who told you?" I handedhim the STANDARD. He threw the paper down, and said: "Oh I don'tcare a button for that! I expected that, but I did not expect this." Hethen read a letter from Frank Mutlar, announcing, in a cool manner, thatDaisy Mutlar is to be married next month to Murray Posh. I exclaimed,"Murray Posh! Is not that the very man Frank had the impudence¹³ tobring here last Tuesday week?" Lupin said: "Yes; the 'POSH'STHREE-SHILLING-HATS' chap."We all then ate our breakfast in dead silence.

　　In fact, I could eat nothing. I was not only too worried, but I cannotand will not eat cushion of bacon. If I cannot get streaky bacon, I will dowithout anything.

　　When Lupin rose to go I noticed a malicious¹⁴ smile creep over his face.

　　I asked him what it meant. He replied: "Oh! only a little consolationstill it is a consolation¹⁵. I have just remembered that, by MY advice, Mr.

　　Murray Posh has invested 600 pounds in Parachikka Chlorates!"

1 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

2 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

3 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

6 sanguine   

adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的

参考例句：

• He has a sanguine attitude to life.他对于人生有乐观的看法。
• He is not very sanguine about our chances of success.他对我们成功的机会不太乐观。

7 irritably   

ad.易生气地

参考例句：

• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。
• On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

8 broached   

v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体

参考例句：

• She broached the subject of a picnic to her mother. 她向母亲提起野餐的问题。 来自辞典例句
• He broached the subject to the stranger. 他对陌生人提起那话题。 来自辞典例句

9 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

10 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

11 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

12 absconded   

v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He absconded with the company funds. 他卷走公司的资金潜逃了。
• She absconded from every children's home they placed her in. 她被安置在哪家儿童收容所里，就从哪儿偷偷逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 impudence   

n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼

参考例句：

• His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。
• What knocks me is his impudence.他的厚颜无耻使我感到吃惊。

14 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

15 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。