NINE, TEN, A GOOD FAT HEN 2

II
The following day, Japp rang up. His voice held a curious note.
He said:
“Poirot, do you want to hear a piece of news? It’s napoo, my lad. Napoo!”
“Pardon?—the line is perhaps not very clear. I did not quite catch—”
“It’s off, my boy. O.F.F. Call it a day! Sit down and twiddle our thumbs!”
There was no mistaking the bitterness now. Poirot was startled.
“What is off?”
“The whole ruddy blinking thing! The hue¹ and cry! The publicity²! The whole bag of tricks!”
“But I still do not understand.”
“Well, listen. Listen carefully, because I can’t mention names very well. You know our inquiry³?
You know we’re combing the country for a performing fish?”
“Yes, yes, perfectly⁴. I comprehend now.”
“Well, that’s been called off. Hushed up—kept mum. Now do you understand?”
“Yes, yes. But why?”
“Orders from the ruddy Foreign Office.”
“Is not that very extraordinary?”
“Well, it does happen now and again.”
“Why should they be so forbearing to Miss—to the performing fish?”
“They’re not. They don’t care tuppence about her. It’s the publicity—if she’s brought to trial
too much might come out about Mrs. A. C. The corpse⁵. That’s the hush-hush side! I can only
suppose that the ruddy husband—Mr. A. C.—Get me?”
“Yes, yes.”
“That he’s somewhere abroad in a ticklish⁶ spot and they don’t want to queer his pitch.”
“Tchah!”
“What did you say?”
“I made, mon ami, an exclamation⁷ of annoyance⁸!”
“Oh! that was it. I thought you’d caught cold. Annoyance is right! I could use a stronger word.
Letting that dame⁹ get away with it makes me see red.”
Poirot said very softly:
“She will not get away with it.”
“Our hands are tied, I tell you!”
“Yours may be—mine are not!”
“Good old Poirot! Then you are going on with it?”
“Mais oui—to the death.”
“Well, don’t let it be your death, old boy! If this business goes on as it has begun someone will
probably send you a poisoned tarantula by post!”
As he replaced the receiver, Poirot said to himself:
“Now, why did I use that melodramatic phrase—‘to the death?’ Vraiment, it is absurd!”

1 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

2 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

3 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

4 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。

5 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

6 ticklish   

adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理

参考例句：

• This massage method is not recommended for anyone who is very ticklish.这种按摩法不推荐给怕痒的人使用。
• The news is quite ticklish to the ear,这消息听起来使人觉得有些难办。

7 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

8 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

9 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。