SEVEN, EIGHT, LAY THEM STRAIGHT 2

II
It was late evening a week later when the summons came. Japp’s voice was brusque over the
telephone.
“That you, Poirot? We’ve found her. You’d better come round. King Leopold Mansions¹.
Battersea Park. Number 45.”
A quarter of an hour later a taxi deposited Poirot outside King Leopold Mansions.
It was a big block of mansion² flats looking out over Battersea Park. Number 45 was on the
second floor. Japp himself opened the door.
His face was set in grim lines.
“Come in,” he said. “It’s not particularly pleasant, but I expect you’ll want to see for yourself.”
Poirot said—but it was hardly a question:
“Dead?”
“What you might describe as very dead!”
Poirot cocked his head at a familiar sound coming from a door on his right.
“That’s the porter,” said Japp. “Being sick in the scullery sink! I had to get him up here to see if
he could identify her.”
He led the way down the passage and Poirot followed him. His nose wrinkled.
“Not nice,” said Japp. “But what can you expect? She’s been dead well over a month.”
The room they went into was a small lumber³ and box room. In the middle of it was a big metal
chest of the kind used for storing furs. The lid was open.
Poirot stepped forward and looked inside.
He saw the foot first, with the shabby shoe on it and the ornate buckle⁴. His first sight of Miss
Sainsbury Seale had been, he remembered, a shoe buckle.
His gaze travelled up, over the green wool coat and skirt till it reached the head.
He made an inarticulate noise.
“I know,” said Japp. “It’s pretty horrible.”
The face had been battered⁵ out of all recognizable shape. Add to that the natural process of
decomposition⁶, and it was no wonder that both men looked a shade pea green as they turned away.
“Oh well,” said Japp. “It’s all in a day’s work—our day’s work. No doubt about it, ours is a
lousy job sometimes. There’s a spot of brandy in the other room. You’d better have some.”
The living room was smartly furnished in an up-to-date style—a good deal of chromium and
some large square-looking easy chairs upholstered in a pale fawn⁷ geometric fabric⁸.
Poirot found the decanter and helped himself to some brandy. As he finished drinking, he said:
“It was not pretty, that! Now tell me, my friend, all about it.”
Japp said:
“This flat belongs to a Mrs. Albert Chapman. Mrs. Chapman is, I gather, a well-upholstered
smart blonde of forty- odd. Pays her bills, fond of an occasional game of bridge with her
neighbours but keeps herself to herself more or less. No children. Mr. Chapman is a commercial
traveller.
“Sainsbury Seale came here on the evening of our interview with her. About seven fifteen. So
she probably came straight here from the Glengowrie Court. She’d been here once before, so the
porter says. You see, all perfectly⁹ clear and aboveboard—nice friendly call. The porter took Miss
Sainsbury Seale up in the lift to this flat. The last he saw of her was standing¹⁰ on the mat pressing
the bell.”
Poirot commented:
“He has taken his time to remember this!”
“He’s had gastric¹¹ trouble, it seems, been away in hospital while another man took on
temporarily for him. It wasn’t until about a week ago that he happened to notice in an old paper
the description of a ‘wanted woman’ and he said to his wife, ‘Sounds quite like that old cup of tea
who came to see Mrs. Chapman on the second floor. She had on a green wool dress and buckles¹² on
her shoes.’ And after about another hour he registered again—‘Believe she had a name, too,
something like that. Blimey, it was—Miss Something or other Seale!’
“After that,” continued Japp, “it took him about four days to overcome his natural distrust of
getting mixed up with the police and come along with his information.
“We didn’t really think it would lead to anything. You’ve no idea how many of these false
alarms we’ve had. However, I sent Sergeant¹³ Beddoes along—he’s a bright young fellow. A bit too
much of this high-class education but he can’t help that. It’s fashionable now.
“Well, Beddoes got a hunch¹⁴ at once that we were on to something at last. For one thing this
Mrs. Chapman hadn’t been seen about for over a month. She’d gone away without leaving any
address. That was a bit odd. In fact everything he could learn about Mr. and Mrs. Chapman
seemed odd.
“He found out the porter hadn’t seen Miss Sainsbury Seale leave again. That in itself wasn’t
unusual. She might easily have come down the stairs and gone out without his seeing her. But then
the porter told him that Mrs. Chapman had gone away rather suddenly. There was just a big
printed notice outside the door the next morning:
NO MILK. TELL NELLIE I AM CALLED AWAY.
“Nellie was the daily maid who did for her. Mrs. Chapman had gone away suddenly once or
twice before, so the girl didn’t think it odd, but what was odd was the fact that she hadn’t rung for
the porter to take her luggage down or get her a taxi.
“Anyway, Beddoes decided¹⁵ to get into the flat. We got a search warrant and a pass key from the
manager. Found nothing of interest except in the bathroom. There had been some hasty clearing
up done there. There was a trace of blood on the linoleum—in the corners where it had been
missed when the floor was washed over. After that, it was just a question of finding the body. Mrs.
Chapman couldn’t have left with any luggage with her or the porter would have known. Therefore
the body must still be in the flat. We soon spotted¹⁶ that fur chest—airtight, you know—just the
place. Keys were in the dressing¹⁷ table drawer.
“We opened it up—and there was the missing lady! Mistletoe Bough¹⁸ up-to-date.”
Poirot asked:
“What about Mrs. Chapman?”
“What indeed? Who is Sylvia (her name’s Sylvia, by the way), what is she? One thing is
certain. Sylvia, or Sylvia’s friends, murdered the lady and put her in the box.”
Poirot nodded.
He asked:
“But why was her face battered in? It is not nice, that.”
“I’ll say it isn’t nice! As to why—well, one can only guess. Sheer vindictiveness¹⁹, perhaps. Or it
may have been with the idea of concealing²¹ the woman’s identity.”
“But it did not conceal²⁰ her identity.”
“No, because not only had we got a pretty good description of what Mabelle Sainsbury Seale
was wearing when she disappeared, but her handbag had been stuffed into the fur box too and
inside the handbag there was actually an old letter addressed to her at her hotel in Russell Square.”
Poirot sat up. He said:
“But that—that does not make the common sense!”
“It certainly doesn’t. I suppose it was a slip.”
“Yes—perhaps—a slip. But—”
He got up.
“You have been over the flat?”
“Pretty well. There’s nothing illuminating²².”
“I should like to see Mrs. Chapman’s bedroom.”
“Come along then.”
The bedroom showed no signs of a hasty departure. It was neat and tidy. The bed had not been
slept in, but was turned down ready for the night. There was a thick coating of dust everywhere.
Japp said:
“No finger-prints, so far as we can see. There are some on the kitchen things, but I expect
they’ll turn out to be the maid’s.”
“That means that the whole place was dusted very carefully after the murder?”
“Yes.”
Poirot’s eyes swept slowly round the room. Like the sitting room it was furnished in the modern
style—and furnished, so he thought, by someone with a moderate income. The articles in it were
expensive but not ultra expensive. They were showy but not first-class. The colour scheme was
rose pink. He looked into the built-in wardrobe and handled the clothes—smart clothes but again
not of first-class quality. His eyes fell to the shoes—they were largely of the sandal variety popular
at the moment, some had exaggerated cork²³ soles. He balanced one in his hand, registered the fact
that Mrs. Chapman had taken a 5 in shoes and put it down again. In another cupboard he found a
pile of furs, shoved in a heap.
Japp said:
“Came out of the fur chest.”
Poirot nodded.
He was handling a grey squirrel coat. He remarked appreciatively: “First-class skins.”
He went into the bathroom.
There was a lavish²⁴ display of cosmetics²⁵. Poirot looked at them with interest. Powder, rouge²⁶,
vanishing cream, skin food, two bottles of hair application.
Japp said:
“Not one of our natural platinum²⁷ blondes, I gather.”
Poirot murmured:
“At forty, mon ami, the hair of most women has begun to go grey but Mrs. Chapman was not
one to yield to nature.”
“She’s probably gone henna red by now for a change.”
“I wonder.”
Japp said:
“There’s something worrying you, Poirot. What is it?”
Poirot said:
“But yes, I am worried. I am very seriously worried. There is here, you see, for me an insoluble
problem.”
Resolutely²⁸, he went once more into the box room….
He took hold of the shoe on the dead woman’s foot. It resisted and came off with difficulty.
He examined the buckle. It had been clumsily sewn on by hand.
Hercule Poirot sighed. He said:
“It is that I am dreaming!”
Japp said curiously²⁹:
“What are you trying to do—make the thing more difficult?”
“Exactly that.”
Japp said:
“One patent leather shoe, complete with buckle. What’s wrong with that?”
Hercule Poirot said:
“Nothing—absolutely nothing. But all the same—I do not understand.”

1 mansions   

n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their mansions. 第五大道上的富翁们已经出去避暑，空出的宅第都已锁好了门窗，钉上了木板。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! 啊，那些高楼大厦、华灯、香水、藏金收银的闺房还有摆满山珍海味的餐桌！ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

3 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

4 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

5 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

6 decomposition   

n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃

参考例句：

• It is said that the magnetite was formed by a chemical process called thermal decomposition. 据说这枚陨星是在热分解的化学过程中形成的。
• The dehydration process leads to fairly extensive decomposition of the product. 脱水过程会导致产物相当程度的分解。

7 fawn   

n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承

参考例句：

• A fawn behind the tree looked at us curiously.树后面一只小鹿好奇地看着我们。
• He said you fawn on the manager in order to get a promotion.他说你为了获得提拔，拍经理的马屁。

8 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

9 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。

10 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。

11 gastric   

adj.胃的

参考例句：

• Miners are a high risk group for certain types of gastric cancer.矿工是极易患某几种胃癌的高风险人群。
• That was how I got my gastric trouble.我的胃病就是这么得的。

12 buckles   

搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
• When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时，就发生横向屈曲。

13 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

14 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

15 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。

16 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

17 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

18 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

19 vindictiveness   

恶毒；怀恨在心

参考例句：

• I was distressed to find so much vindictiveness in so charming a creature. 当我发现这样一个温柔可爱的女性报复心居然这么重时，我感到很丧气。 来自辞典例句
• Contradictory attriButes of unjust justice and loving vindictiveness. 不公正的正义和报复的相矛盾的特点。 来自互联网

20 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

21 concealing   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Despite his outward display of friendliness, I sensed he was concealing something. 尽管他表现得友善，我还是感觉到他有所隐瞒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• SHE WAS BREAKING THE COMPACT, AND CONCEALING IT FROM HIM. 她违反了他们之间的约定，还把他蒙在鼓里。 来自英汉文学 - 三万元遗产

22 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

23 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

24 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

25 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

26 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

27 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

28 resolutely   

adj.坚决地，果断地

参考例句：

• He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. 他坚持他在会上所说的话。
• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。

29 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。