PART SIX DECEMBER 27TH VII

PART SIX DECEMBER 27TH VII

Superintendent¹ Sugden drew a deep breath. He said:

“Either I’m going mad or everybody else is! What you’ve said, Mrs. Lee, is just plumb²

impossible. It’s crazy!”

Hilda Lee cried:

“I tell you I heard them fighting in there, and I heard the old man scream when his throat was

cut—and no one came out and no one was in the room!”

Hercule Poirot said:

“And all this time you have said nothing.”

Hilda Lee’s face was white, but she said steadily³:

“No, because if I told you what had happened, there’s only one thing you could say or think

—that it was I who killed him. . . .”

Poirot shook his head.

“No,” he said. “You did not kill him. His son killed him.”

Stephen Farr said:

“I swear before God I never touched him!”

“Not you,” said Poirot. “He had other sons!”

Harry⁴ said:

“What the hell—”

George stared. David drew his hand across his eyes. Alfred blinked twice.

Poirot said:

“The very first night I was here—the night of the murder—I saw a ghost. It was the ghost of

the dead man. When I first saw Harry Lee I was puzzled. I felt I had seen him before. Then I noted⁵

his features carefully and I realized how like his father he was, and I told myself that that was what

caused the feeling of familiarity.

“But yesterday a man sitting opposite me threw back his head and laughed—and I knew who

it was Harry Lee reminded me of. And I traced again, in another face, the features of the dead

man.

“No wonder poor old Tressilian felt confused when he had answered the door not to two, but

to three men who resembled each other closely. No wonder he confessed to getting muddled⁶ about

people when there were three men in the house who, at a little distance, could pass for each other!

The same build, the same gestures (one in particular, a trick of stroking the jaw), the same habit of

laughing with the head thrown back, the same distinctive⁷ high-bridged nose. Yet the similarity was

not always easy to see—for the third man had a moustache.”

He leaned forward.

“One forgets sometimes that police officers are men, that they have wives and children,

mothers”—he paused—“and fathers . . . Remember Simeon Lee’s local reputation: a man who

broke his wife’s heart because of his affairs with women. A son born the wrong side of the blanket

may inherit many things. He may inherit his father’s features and even his gestures. He may

inherit his pride and his patience and his revengeful spirit!”

His voice rose.

“All your life, Sugden, you’ve resented the wrong your father did you. I think you

determined⁸ long ago to kill him. You come from the next county, not very far away. Doubtless

your mother, with the money Simeon Lee so generously gave her, was able to find a husband who

would stand father to her child. Easy for you to enter the Middleshire Police Force and wait your

opportunity. A police superintendent has a grand opportunity of committing a murder and getting

away with it.”

Sugden’s face had gone white as paper.

He said:

“You’re mad! I was outside the house when he was killed.”

Poirot shook his head.

“No, you killed him before you left the house the first time. No one saw him alive after you

left. It was all so easy for you. Simeon Lee expected you, yes, but he never sent for you. It was you

who rang him up and spoke⁹ vaguely¹⁰ about an attempt at robbery. You said you would call upon

him just before eight that night and would pretend to be collecting for a police charity. Simeon Lee

had no suspicions. He did not know you were his son. You came and told him a tale of substituted

diamonds. He opened the safe to show you that the real diamonds were safe in his possession. You

apologized, came back to the hearth¹¹ with him and, catching¹² him unawares, you cut his throat,

holding your hand over his mouth so that he shouldn’t cry out. Child’s play to a man of your

powerful physique.

“Then you set the scene. You took the diamonds. You piled up tables and chairs, lamps and

glasses, and twined a very thin rope or cord which you had brought in coiled round your body, in

and out between them. You had with you a bottle of some freshly killed animal’s blood to which

you had added a quantity of sodium¹³ citrate. You sprinkled this about freely and added more

sodium citrate to the pool of blood which flowed from Simeon Lee’s wound. You made up up the

fire so that the body should keep its warmth. Then you passed the two ends of the cord out through

the narrow slit¹⁴ at the bottom of the window and let them hang down the wall. You left the room

and turned the key from the outside. That was vital, since no one must, by any chance, enter that

room.

“Then you went out and hid the diamonds in the stone sink garden. If, sooner or later, they

were discovered there, they would only focus suspicion more strongly where you wanted it: on the

members of Simeon Lee’s legitimate¹⁵ family. A little before nine fifteen you returned and, going up

to the wall underneath¹⁶ the window, you pulled on the cord. That dislodged the carefully piled-up

structure you had arranged. Furniture and china fell with a crash. You pulled on one end of the

cord and rewound it round your body under your coat and waistcoat.

“You had one further device!”

He turned to the others.

“Do you remember, all of you, how each of you described the dying scream of Mr. Lee in a

different way? You, Mr. Lee, described it as the cry of a man in mortal agony. Your wife and

David Lee both used the expression: a soul in hell. Mrs. David Lee, on the contrary, said it was the

cry of someone who had no soul. She said it was inhuman¹⁷, like a beast. It was Harry Lee who

came nearest to the truth. He said it sounded like killing¹⁸ a pig.

“Do you know those long pink bladders that are sold at fairs with faces painted on them

called ‘Dying Pigs?’ As the air rushes out they give forth¹⁹ an inhuman wail²⁰. That, Sugden, was

your final touch. You arranged one of those in the room. The mouth of it was stopped up with a

peg²¹, but that peg was connected to the cord. When you pulled on the cord the peg came out and

the pig began to deflate. On top of the falling furniture came the scream of the ‘Dying Pig.’ ”

He turned once more to the others.

“You see now what it was that Pilar Estravados picked up? The superintendent had hoped to

get there in time to retrieve²² that little wisp of rubber before anyone noticed it. However, he took it

from Pilar quickly enough in his most official manner. But remember he never mentioned that

incident to anyone. In itself, that was a singularly suspicious fact. I heard of it from Magdalene

Lee and tackled him about it. He was prepared for that eventuality. He had snipped²³ a piece from

Mr. Lee’s rubber spongebag and produced that, together with a wooden peg. Superficially it

answered to the same description—a fragment of rubber and a piece of wood. It meant, as I

realized at the time, absolutely nothing! But, fool that I was, I did not at once say; ‘This means

nothing, so it cannot have been there, and Superintendent Sugden is lying . . .’ No, I foolishly

went on trying to find an explanation for it. It was not until Mademoiselle Estravados was playing

with a balloon that burst, and she cried out that it must have been a burst balloon she picked up in

Simeon Lee’s room, that I saw the truth.

“You see now how everything fits in? The improbable struggle, which is necessary to

establish a false time of death; the locked door—so that nobody shall find the body too soon; the

dying man’s scream. The crime is now logical and reasonable.

“But from the moment that Pilar Estravados cried aloud her discovery about the balloon, she

was a source of danger to the murderer. And if that remark had been heard by him from the house

(which it well might, for her voice was high and clear and the windows were open), she herself

was in considerable danger. Already she had given the murderer one very nasty moment. She had

said, speaking of old Mr. Lee, ‘He must have been very good-looking when he was young.’ And

had added, speaking directly to Sugden: ‘Like you.’ She meant that literally²⁴, and Sugden knew it.

No wonder Sugden went purple in the face and nearly choked. It was so unexpected and so deadly

dangerous. He hoped, after that, to fix the guilt²⁵ on her, but it proved unexpectedly difficult, since,

as the old man’s portionless granddaughter, she had obviously no motive²⁶ for the crime. Later,

when he overheard from the house her clear, high voice calling out its remark about the balloon,

he decided²⁷ on desperate measures. He set that booby trap when we were at lunch. Luckily, almost

by a miracle, it failed. . . .”

There was dead silence. Then Sugden said quietly:

“When were you sure?”

Poirot said:

“I was not quite sure till I brought home a false moustache and tried it on Simeon Lee’s

picture. Then—the face that looked at me was yours.”

Sugden said:

“God rot his soul in hell! I’m glad I did it!”

1 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。

2 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

3 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

4 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。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 muddled   

adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子

参考例句：

• He gets muddled when the teacher starts shouting. 老师一喊叫他就心烦意乱。
• I got muddled up and took the wrong turning. 我稀里糊涂地拐错了弯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

11 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

12 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

13 sodium   

n.（化）钠

参考例句：

• Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面，全城的钠光灯都亮了。
• Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。

14 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

15 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

16 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

17 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

18 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

19 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

20 wail   

vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸

参考例句：

• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
• One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。

21 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

22 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

23 snipped   

v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He snipped off the corner of the packet. 他将包的一角剪了下来。 来自辞典例句
• The police officer snipped the tape and untied the hostage. 警方把胶带剪断，松绑了人质。 来自互联网

24 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

25 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

26 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

27 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。