THREE, FOUR, SHUT THE DOOR 4

IV
Gladys Nevill was a tall, fair, somewhat anemic girl of about twenty-eight. Though obviously very
upset, she at once showed that she was capable and intelligent.
Under the pretext¹ of looking through Mr. Morley’s papers, Japp got her away from Miss Morley
down to the little office next door to the surgery.
She repeated more than once:
“I simply cannot believe it! It seems quite incredible that Mr. Morley should do such a thing!”
She was emphatic² that he had not seemed troubled or worried in any way.
Then Japp began:
“You were called away today, Miss Nevill—”
She interrupted him.
“Yes, and the whole thing was a wicked practical joke! I do think it’s awful of people to do
things like that. I really do.”
“What do you mean, Miss Nevill?”
“Why, there wasn’t anything the matter with Aunt at all. She’d never been better. She couldn’t
understand it when I suddenly turned up. Of course I was ever so glad—but it did make me mad.
Sending a telegram like that and upsetting me and everything.”
“Have you got that telegram, Miss Nevill?”
“I threw it away, I think, at the station. It just said, Your aunt had a stroke last night. Please
come at once.”
“You are quite sure—well—” Japp coughed delicately—“that it wasn’t your friend, Mr. Carter,
who sent that telegram?”
“Frank? Whatever for? Oh! I see, you mean—a put-up job between us? No, indeed, Inspector³—
neither of us would do such a thing.”
Her indignation seemed genuine enough and Japp had a little trouble in soothing⁴ her down. But
a question as to the patients on this particular morning restored her to her competent self.
“They are all here in the book. I daresay you have seen it already. I know about most of them.
Ten o’clock, Mrs. Soames—that was about her new plate. Ten thirty, Lady Grant—she’s an
elderly lady—lives in Lowndes Square. Eleven o’clock, M. Hercule Poirot, he comes regularly—
oh, of course this is him—sorry, M. Poirot, but I really am so upset! Eleven thirty, Mr. Alistair
Blunt—that’s the banker, you know—a short appointment, because Mr. Morley had prepared the
filling last time. Then Miss Sainsbury Seale—she rang up specially—had toothache and so Mr.
Morley fitted her in. A terrible talker, she is, never stops—the fussy⁵ kind, too. Then twelve
o’clock, Mr. Amberiotis—he was a new patient—made an appointment from the Savoy Hotel. Mr.
Morley gets quite a lot of foreigners and Americans. Then twelve thirty, Miss Kirby. She comes
up from Worthing.”
Poirot asked:
“There was here when I arrived a tall military gentleman. Who would he be?”
“One of Mr. Reilly’s patients, I expect. I’ll just get his list for you, shall I?”
“Thank you, Miss Nevill.”
She was absent only a few minutes. She returned with a similar book to that of Mr. Morley.
She read out:
“Ten o’clock, Betty Heath (that’s a little girl of nine). Eleven o’clock, Colonel Abercrombie.”
“Abercrombie!” murmured Poirot. “C’etait ça!”
“Eleven thirty, Mr. Howard Raikes. Twelve o’clock, Mr. Barnes. That was all the patients this
morning. Mr. Reilly isn’t so booked up as Mr. Morley, of course.”
“Can you tell us anything about any of these patients of Mr. Reilly’s?”
“Colonel Abercrombie has been a patient for a long time, and all Mrs. Heath’s children come to
Mr. Reilly. I can’t tell you anything about Mr. Raikes or Mr. Barnes, though I fancy I have heard
their names. I take all the telephone calls, you see—”
Japp said:
“We can ask Mr. Reilly ourselves. I should like to see him as soon as possible.”
Miss Nevill went out. Japp said to Poirot:
“All old patients of Mr. Morley’s except Amberiotis. I’m going to have an interesting talk with
Mr. Amberiotis presently. He’s the last person, as it stands, to see Morley alive, and we’ve got to
make quite sure that when he last saw him, Morley was alive.”
Poirot said slowly, shaking his head:
“You have still to prove motive⁶.”
“I know. That’s what is going to be the teaser. But we may have something about Amberiotis at
the Yard.” He added sharply: “You’re very thoughtful, Poirot!”
“I was wondering about something.”
“What was it?”
Poirot said with a faint smile:
“Why Chief Inspector Japp?”
“Eh?”
“I said, ‘Why Chief Inspector Japp?’ An officer of your eminence—is he usually called in to a
case of suicide?”
“As a matter of fact, I happened to be nearby at the time. At Lavenham’s—in Wigmore Street.
Rather an ingenious system of frauds they’ve had there. They telephoned me there to come on
here.”
“But why did they telephone you?”
“Oh, that—that’s simple enough. Alistair Blunt. As soon as the Divisional Inspector heard he’d
been here this morning, he got on to the Yard. Mr. Blunt is the kind of person we take care of in
this country.”
“You mean that there are people who would like him—out of the way?”
“You bet there are. The Reds, to begin with—and our Black-shirted friends, too. It’s Blunt and
his group who are standing⁷ solid behind the present Government. Good sound Conservative
finance. That’s why, if there were the least chance that there was any funny stuff intended against
him this morning, they wanted a thorough investigation⁸.”
Poirot nodded.
“That is what I more or less guessed. And that is the feeling I have”—he waved his hands
expressively—“that there was, perhaps—a hitch⁹ of some kind. The proper victim was—should
have been—Alistair Blunt. Or is this only a beginning—the beginning of a campaign of some
kind? I smell—I smell—” he sniffed¹⁰ the air, “—big money in this business!”
Japp said:
“You’re assuming a lot, you know.”
“I am suggesting that ce pauvre Morley was only a pawn¹¹ in the game. Perhaps he knew
something—perhaps he told Blunt something—or they feared he would tell Blunt something—”
He stopped as Gladys Nevill entered the room.
“Mr. Reilly is busy on an extraction case,” she said. “He will be free in about ten minutes if that
will be all right?”
Japp said that it would. In the meantime, he said, he would have another talk to the boy Alfred.

1 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

2 emphatic   

adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的

参考例句：

• Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决，不容有任何人怀疑。
• He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。

3 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

4 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

5 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

6 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。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

10 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；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：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。