"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
As he spoke1 the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She was plainly but neatly2 dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled3 like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had her own way to make in the world.
"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me what I should do."
"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that I can to serve you."
I could see that Holmes was favorably impressed by the manner and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping4 and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success. At last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.
"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was the name of the founder5 of the Business, but it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers6 and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.
"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously7 stout8 man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.
1 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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2 neatly | |
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地 | |
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3 freckled | |
adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 drooping | |
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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5 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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6 ledgers | |
n.分类账( ledger的名词复数 ) | |
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7 prodigiously | |
adv.异常地,惊人地,巨大地 | |
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