Three A FUNERAL

Three A FUNERAL

“Funerals are rather sad, aren’t they?” said Tuppence.
They had just returned from attending Aunt Ada’s funeral, which hadentailed a long and troublesome railway journey since the burial hadtaken place at the country village in Lincolnshire where most of AuntAda’s family and forebears had been buried.
“What do you expect a funeral to be?” said Tommy reasonably. “A sceneof mad gaiety?”
“Well, it could be in some places,” said Tuppence. “I mean the Irish en-joy a wake, don’t they? They have a lot of keening and wailing¹ first andthen plenty of drink and a sort of mad whoopee. Drink?” she added, with alook towards the sideboard.
Tommy went over to it and duly brought back what he considered ap-propriate. In this case a White Lady.
“Ah, that’s more like it,” said Tuppence.
She took off her black hat and threw it across the room and slipped offher long black coat.
“I hate mourning,” she said. “It always smells of moth² balls because it’sbeen laid up somewhere.”
“You don’t need to go on wearing mourning. It’s only to go to the funeralin,” said Tommy.
“Oh no, I know that. In a minute or two I’m going to go up and put on ascarlet jersey³ just to cheer things up. You can make me another WhiteLady.”
“Really, Tuppence, I had no idea that funerals would bring out this partyfeeling.”
“I said funerals were sad,” said Tuppence when she reappeared a mo-ment or two later, wearing a brilliant cherry-red dress with a ruby⁴ anddiamond lizard⁵ pinned to the shoulder of it, “because it’s funerals likeAunt Ada’s that are sad. I mean elderly people and not many flowers. Nota lot of people sobbing⁶ and sniffing⁷ round. Someone old and lonely whowon’t be missed much.”
“I should have thought it would be much easier for you to stand thatthan it would if it were my funeral, for instance.”
“That’s where you’re entirely⁸ wrong,” said Tuppence. “I don’t particu-larly want to think of your funeral because I’d much prefer to die beforeyou do. But I mean, if I were going to your funeral, at any rate it would bean orgy of grief. I should take a lot of handkerchiefs.”
“With black borders?”
“Well, I hadn’t thought of black borders but it’s a nice idea. And besides,the Burial service is rather lovely. Makes you feel uplifted. Real grief isreal. It makes you feel awful but it does something to you. I mean, it worksit out like perspiration⁹.”
“Really, Tuppence, I find your remarks about my decease and the effectit will have upon you in exceedingly bad taste. I don’t like it. Let’s forgetabout funerals.”
“I agree. Let’s forget.”
“The poor old bean’s gone,” said Tommy, “and she went peacefully andwithout suffering. So, let’s leave it at that. I’d better clear up all these, Isuppose.”
He went over to the writing table and ruffled¹⁰ through some papers.
“Now where did I put Mr. Rockbury’s letter?”
“Who’s Mr. Rockbury? Oh, you mean the lawyer who wrote to you.”
“Yes. About winding¹¹ up her affairs. I seem to be the only one of the fam-ily left by now.”
“Pity she hadn’t got a fortune to leave you,” said Tuppence.
“If she had had a fortune she’d have left it to that Cats’ Home,” saidTommy. “The legacy¹² that she’s left to them in her will will pretty well eatup all the spare cash. There won’t be much left to come to me. Not that Ineed it or want it anyway.”
“Was she so fond of cats?”
“I don’t know. I suppose so. I never heard her mention them. I believe,”
said Tommy thoughtfully, “she used to get rather a lot of fun out of sayingto old friends of hers when they came to see her ‘I’ve left you a little some-thing in my will, dear’ or ‘This brooch that you’re so fond of I’ve left you inmy will.’ She didn’t actually leave anything to anyone except the Cats’
Home.”
“I bet she got rather a kick out of that,” said Tuppence. “I can just see hersaying all the things you told me to a lot of her old friends—or so-calledold friends because I don’t suppose they were people she really liked atall. She just enjoyed leading them up the garden path. I must say she wasan old devil, wasn’t she, Tommy? Only, in a funny sort of way one likesher for being an old devil. It’s something to be able to get some fun out oflife when you’re old and stuck away in a Home. Shall we have to go toSunny Ridge¹³?”
“Where’s the other letter, the one from Miss Packard? Oh yes, here it is. Iput it with Rockbury’s. Yes, she says there are certain things there, Igather, which apparently¹⁴ are now my property. She took some furniturewith her, you know, when she went to live there. And of course there areher personal effects. Clothes and things like that. I suppose somebody willhave to go through them. And letters and things. I’m her executor, so Isuppose it’s up to me. I don’t suppose there’s anything we want really, isthere? Except there’s a small desk there that I always liked. Belonged toold Uncle William, I believe.”
“Well, you might take that as a memento,” said Tuppence. “Otherwise, Isuppose, we just send the things to be auctioned¹⁶.”
“So you don’t really need to go there at all,” said Tommy.
“Oh, I think I’d like to go there,” said Tuppence.
“You’d like to? Why? Won’t it be rather a bore to you?”
“What, looking through her things? No, I don’t think so. I think I’ve got acertain amount of curiosity. Old letters and antique jewellery are alwaysinteresting and I think one ought to look at them oneself, not just sendthem to auction¹⁵ or let strangers go through them. No, we’ll go and lookthrough the things and see if there’s anything we would like to keep andotherwise settle up.”
“Why do you really want to go? You’ve got some other reason, haven’tyou?”
“Oh dear,” said Tuppence, “it is awful being married to someone whoknows too much about one.”
“So you have got another reason?”
“Not a real one.”
“Come on, Tuppence. You’re not really so fond of turning over people’sbelongings.”
“That, I think, is my duty,” said Tuppence firmly. “No, the only otherreason is—”
“Come on. Cough it up.”
“I’d rather like to see that—that other old pussy¹⁷ again.”
“What, the one who thought there was a dead child behind the fire-place?”
“Yes,” said Tuppence. “I’d like to talk to her again. I’d like to know whatwas in her mind when she said all those things. Was it something she re-membered or was it something that she’d just imagined? The more I thinkabout it the more extraordinary it seems. Is it a sort of story that she wroteto herself in her mind or is there—was there once something real thathappened about a fireplace or about a dead child. What made her thinkthat the dead child might have been my dead child? Do I look as though Ihad a dead child?”
“I don’t know how you expect anyone to look who has a dead child,”
said Tommy. “I shouldn’t have thought so. Anyway, Tuppence, it is ourduty to go and you can enjoy yourself in your macabre¹⁸ way on the side. Sothat’s settled. We’ll write to Miss Packard and fix a day.”

1 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

2 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

5 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

6 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

7 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 perspiration   

n.汗水；出汗

参考例句：

• It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了，我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
• The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。

10 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

11 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

15 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

16 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 pussy   

n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪

参考例句：

• Why can't they leave my pussy alone?为什么他们就不能离我小猫咪远一点？
• The baby was playing with his pussy.孩子正和他的猫嬉戏。

18 macabre   

adj.骇人的，可怖的

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards.他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• Mr Dahl was well-known for his macabre adult stories called 'Tales of the Unexpected'.达尔先生以成人恐怖小说集《意料之外的故事》闻名于世。