PART FIVE DECEMBER 26TH II

PART FIVE DECEMBER 26TH II

George Lee came into the room, accompanied by his wife.

Colonel Johnson said:

“Good morning. Sit down, will you? There are a few questions I want to ask both of you.

Something I’m not quite clear about.”

“I shall be glad to give you any assistance I can,” said George, somewhat pompously¹.

Magdalene said faintly:

“Of course!”

The chief constable² gave a slight nod to Sugden. The latter said:

“About those telephone calls on the night of the crime. You put through a call to

Westeringham, I think you said, Mr. Lee?”

George said coldly:

“Yes, I did. To my agent in the constituency. I can refer you to him and—”

Superintendent³ Sugden held up his hand to stem the flow.

“Quite so—quite so, Mr. Lee. We’re not disputing that point. Your call went through at 8:59

exactly.”

“Well—I—er—couldn’t say as to the exact time.”

“Ah,” said Sugden. “But we can! We always check up on these things very carefully. Very

carefully indeed. The call was put through at 8:59 and it was terminated at 9:4. Your father, Mr.

Lee, was killed about 9:15. I must ask you once more for an account of your movements.”

“I’ve told you—I was telephoning!”

“No, Mr. Lee, you weren’t.”

“Nonsense — you must have made a mistake! Well, I may, perhaps, have just finished

telephoning—I think I debated making another call—was just considering whether it was—er—

worth—the expense—when I heard the noise upstairs.”

“You would hardly debate whether or not to make a telephone call for ten minutes.”

George went purple. He began to splutter.

“What do you mean? What the devil do you mean? Damned impudence⁴! Are you doubting

my word? Doubting the word of a man of my position? I—er—why should I have to account for

every minute of my time?”

Superintendent Sugden said with a stolidness⁵ that Poirot admired:

“It’s usual.”

George turned angrily on the chief constable.

“Colonel Johnson. Do you countenance⁶ this—this unprecedented⁷ attitude?”

The chief constable said crisply: “In a murder case, Mr. Lee, then questions must be asked—

and answered.”

“I have answered them! I had finished telephoning and was—er—debating a further call.”

“You were in this room when the alarm was raised upstairs?”

“I was—yes, I was.”

Johnson turned to Magdalene.

“I think, Mrs. Lee,” he said, “that you stated that you were telephoning when the alarm broke

out, and that at the time you were alone in this room?”

Magdalene was flustered⁸. She caught her breath, looked sideways at George—at Sugden,

then appealingly at Colonel Johnson. She said:

“Oh, really—I don’t know—I don’t remember what I said . . . I was so upset. . . .”

Sugden said:

“We’ve got it all written down, you know.”

She turned her batteries on him—wide appealing eyes—quivering mouth. But she met in

return the rigid⁹ aloofness¹⁰ of a man of stern respectability who didn’t approve of her type.

She said uncertainly:

“I—I—of course I telephoned. I can’t be quite sure just when—”

She stopped.

George said:

“What’s all this? Where did you telephone from? Not in here.”

Superintendent Sugden said:

“I suggest, Mrs. Lee, that you didn’t telephone at all. In that case, where were you and what

were you doing?”

Magdalene glanced distractedly about her and burst into tears. She sobbed¹¹:

“George, don’t let them bully¹² me! You know that if anyone frightens me and thunders

questions at me, I can’t remember anything at all! I—I don’t know what I was saying that night—

it was all so horrible—and I was so upset—and they’re being so beastly to me. . . .”

She jumped up and ran sobbing¹³ out of the room.

Springing up, George Lee blustered¹⁴:

“What d’you mean? I won’t have my wife bullied¹⁵ and frightened out of her life! She’s very

sensitive. It’s disgraceful! I shall have a question asked in the House about the disgraceful bullying¹⁶

methods of the police. It’s absolutely disgraceful!”

He strode out of the room and banged the door.

Superintendent Sugden threw his head back and laughed.

He said:

“We’ve got them going properly! Now we’ll see!”

Johnson said frowning:

“Extraordinary business! Looks fishy¹⁷. We must get a further statement out of her.”

Sugden said easily:

“Oh! She’ll be back in a minute or two. When she’s decided¹⁸ what to say. Eh, Mr. Poirot?”

Poirot, who had been sitting in a dream, gave a start.

“Pardon!”

“I said she’ll be back.”

“Probably—yes, possibly—oh, yes!”

Sugden said, staring at him:

“What’s the matter, Mr. Poirot? Seen a ghost?”

Poirot said slowly:

“You know—I am not sure that I have not done just exactly that.”

Colonel Johnson said impatiently:

“Well, Sugden, anything else?”

Sugden said:

“I’ve been trying to check up on the order in which everyone arrived on the scene of the

murder. It’s quite clear what must have happened. After the murder when the victim’s dying cry

had given the alarm, the murderer slipped out, locked the door with pliers, or something of that

kind, and a moment or two later became one of the people hurrying to the scene of the crime.

Unfortunately it’s not easy to check exactly whom everyone has seen because people’s memories

aren’t very accurate on a point like that. Tressilian says he saw Harry¹⁹ and Alfred Lee cross the hall

from the dining room and race upstairs. That lets them out, but we don’t suspect them anyway. As

far as I can make out, Miss Estravados got there late—one of the last. The general idea seems to

be that Farr, Mrs. George, and Mrs. David were the first. Each of those three says one of the others

was just ahead of them. That’s what’s so difficult, you can’t distinguish between a deliberate lie

and a genuine haziness²⁰ of recollection. Everybody ran there—that’s agreed, but in what order they

ran isn’t so easy to get at.”

Poirot said slowly:

“You think that important?”

Sugden said:

“It’s the time element. The time, remember, was incredibly short.”

Poirot said:

“I agree with you that the time element is very important in this case.”

Sugden went on:

“What makes it more difficult is that there are two staircases. There’s the main one in the hall

here about equidistant from the dining room and the drawing room doors. Then there’s one the

other end of the house. Stephen Farr came up by the latter. Miss Estravados came along the upper

landing from that end of the house (her room is right the other end). The others say they went up

by this one.”

Poirot said:

“It is a confusion, yes.”

The door opened and Magdalene came quickly in. She was breathing fast and had a bright

spot of colour in each cheek. She came up to the table and said quietly:

“My husband thinks I’m lying down. I slipped out of my room quietly. Colonel Johnson,” she

appealed to him with wide, distressed²¹ eyes, “if I tell you the truth you will keep quiet about it,

won’t you? I mean you don’t have to make everything public?”

Colonel Johnson said:

“You mean, I take it, Mrs. Lee, something that has no connection with the crime?”

“Yes, no connection at all. Just something in my—my private life.”

The chief constable said:

“You’d better make a clean breast of it, Mrs. Lee, and leave us to judge.”

Magdalene said, her eyes swimming:

“Yes, I will trust you. I know I can. You look so kind. You see, it’s like this. There’s

somebody—” She stopped.

“Yes, Mrs. Lee?”

“I wanted to telephone to somebody last night—a man—a friend of mine, and I didn’t want

George to know about it. I know it was very wrong of me—but well, it was like that. So I went to

telephone after dinner when I thought George would be safely in the dining room. But when I got

here I heard him telephoning, so I waited.”

“Where did you wait, madame?” asked Poirot.

“There’s a place for coats and things behind the stairs. It’s dark there. I slipped back there,

where I could see George come out from this room. But he didn’t come out, and then all the noise

happened and Mr. Lee screamed, and I ran upstairs.”

“So your husband did not leave this room until the moment of the murder?”

“No.”

The chief constable said:

“And you yourself from nine o’clock to nine fifteen were waiting in the recess²² behind the

stairs?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t say so, you see! They’d want to know what I was doing there. It’s been

very, very awkward for me, you do see that, don’t you?”

Johnson said dryly:

“It was certainly awkward.”

She smiled at him sweetly.

“I’m so relieved to have told you the truth. And you won’t tell my husband, will you? No,

I’m sure you won’t! I can trust you, all of you.”

She included them all in her final pleading look, then she slipped quickly out of the room.

Colonel Johnson drew a deep breath.

“Well,” he said. “It might be like that! It’s a perfectly²³ plausible²⁴ story. On the other hand—”

“It might not,” finished Sugden. “That’s just it. We don’t know.”

1 pompously   

adv.傲慢地，盛大壮观地；大模大样

参考例句：

• He pompously described his achievements. 他很夸耀地描述了自己所取得的成绩。 来自互联网

2 constable   

n.(英国)警察，警官

参考例句：

• The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
• The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。

3 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

4 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。

5 stolidness   

参考例句：

6 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 flustered   

adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The honking of horns flustered the boy. 汽车喇叭的叫声使男孩感到慌乱。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She was so flustered that she forgot her reply. 她太紧张了，都忘记了该如何作答。 来自辞典例句

9 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

10 aloofness   

超然态度

参考例句：

• Why should I have treated him with such sharp aloofness? 但我为什么要给人一些严厉，一些端庄呢？ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
• He had an air of haughty aloofness. 他有一种高傲的神情。 来自辞典例句

11 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

12 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

13 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。

14 blustered   

v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹

参考例句：

• He blustered his way through the crowd. 他吆喝着挤出人群。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind blustered around the house. 狂风呼啸着吹过房屋周围。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 fishy   

adj. 值得怀疑的

参考例句：

• It all sounds very fishy to me.所有这些在我听起来都很可疑。
• There was definitely something fishy going on.肯定当时有可疑的事情在进行中。

18 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

19 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

20 haziness   

有薄雾，模糊； 朦胧之性质或状态； 零能见度

参考例句：

• It is going to take clearing of this haziness for investors to back this stock. 要让投资者支持新浪的股票，就需要厘清这种不确定的状态。
• A pronounced haziness may signify spoilage, while brilliant, clear or dull wines are generally sound. 显著的模糊状态可能意味着葡萄酒变坏了，而闪耀，清晰或阴暗的葡萄酒通常都是健康的。

21 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

22 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

23 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

24 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。