These meditations1 had occupied Hercule Poirot on his homeward way until reaching Regent’s
Park. He decided2 to traverse a part of the Park before taking a taxi on. By experience, he knew to a
nicety the moment when his smart patent leather shoes began to press painfully on his feet.
It was a lovely summer’s day and Poirot looked indulgently on courting nursemaids and their
swains, laughing and giggling3 while their chubby4 charges profited by nurse’s inattention.
Dogs barked and romped5.
Little boys sailed boats.
And under nearly every tree was a couple sitting close together….
“Ah! Jeunesse, Jeunesse,” murmured Hercule Poirot, pleasurably affected6 by the sight.
They were chic7, these little London girls. They wore their tawdry clothes with an air.
Their figures, however, he considered lamentably8 deficient9. Where were the rich curves, the
voluptuous10 lines that had formerly11 delighted the eye of an admirer?
He, Hercule Poirot, remembered women … One woman, in particular—what a sumptuous12
creature—Bird of Paradise—a Venus …
What woman was there amongst these pretty chits nowadays, who could hold a candle to
Countess Vera Rossakoff? A genuine Russian aristocrat13, an aristocrat to her fingertips! And also,
he remembered, a most accomplished14 thief … One of those natural geniuses …
With a sigh, Poirot wrenched15 his thoughts away from the flamboyant16 creature of his dreams.
It was not only, he noted17, the little nursemaids and their like who were being wooed under the
trees of Regent’s Park.
That was a Schiaparelli creation there, under that lime tree, with the young man who bent18 his
head so close to hers, who was pleading so earnestly.
One must not yield too soon! He hoped the girl understood that. The pleasure of the chase must
be extended as long as possible….
His beneficent eye still on them, he became suddenly aware of a familiarity in those two figures.
So Jane Olivera had come to Regent’s Park to meet her young American revolutionary?
His face grew suddenly sad and rather stern.
After only a brief hesitation19 he crossed the grass to them. Sweeping20 off his hat with a flourish,
he said:
“Bonjour, Mademoiselle.”
Jane Olivera, he thought, was not entirely21 displeased22 to see him.
Howard Raikes, on the other hand, was a good deal annoyed at the interruption.
He growled23: “Oh, so it’s you again!”
“Good afternoon, M. Poirot,” said Jane. “How unexpectedly you always pop up, don’t you?”
“Kind of a Jack24 in the Box,” said Raikes, still eyeing Poirot with a considerable coldness.
“I do not intrude25?” Poirot asked anxiously.
Jane Olivera said kindly26:
“Not at all.”
Howard Raikes said nothing.
“It is a pleasant spot you have found here,” said Poirot.
“It was,” said Mr. Raikes.
Jane said:
“Be quiet, Howard. You need to learn manners!”
Howard Raikes snorted and asked:
“What’s the good of manners?”
“You’ll find they kind of help you along,” said Jane. “I haven’t got any myself, but that doesn’t
matter so much. To begin with I’m rich, and I’m moderately good-looking, and I’ve got a lot of
influential27 friends—and none of those unfortunate disabilities they talk about so freely in the
advertisements nowadays. I can get along all right without manners.”
Raikes said:
“I’m not in the mood for small talk, Jane. I guess I’ll take myself off.”
He got up, nodded curtly28 to Poirot and strode away.
Jane Olivera stared after him, her chin cupped in her palm.
Poirot said with a sigh:
“Alas, the proverb is true. When you are courting, two is company, is it not, three is none?”
Jane said:
“Courting? What a word!”
“But yes, it is the right word, is it not? For a young man who pays attention to a young lady
before asking her hand in marriage? They say, do they not, a courting couple?”
“Your friends seem to say some very funny things.”
Hercule Poirot chanted softly:
“Thirteen, fourteen, maids are courting. See, all around us they are doing it.”
Jane said sharply:
“Yes—I’m just one of the crowd, I suppose….”
She turned suddenly to Poirot.
“I want to apologize to you. I made a mistake the other day. I thought you had wormed your
way in and come down to Exsham just to spy on Howard. But afterwards Uncle Alistair told me
that he had definitely asked you because he wanted you to clear up this business of that missing
woman—Sainsbury Seale. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely.”
“So I’m sorry for what I said to you that evening. But it did look like it, you know. I mean—as
though you were just following Howard and spying on us both.”
“Even if it were true, Mademoiselle—I was an excellent witness to the fact that Mr. Raikes
bravely saved your uncle’s life by springing on his assailant and preventing him from firing
another shot.”
“You’ve got a funny way of saying things, M. Poirot. I never know whether you’re serious or
not.”
Poirot said gravely:
“At the moment I am very serious, Miss Olivera.”
Jane said with a slight break in her voice:
“Why do you look at me like that? As though—as though you were sorry for me?”
“Perhaps because I am sorry, Mademoiselle, for the things that I shall have to do so soon….”
“Well, then—don’t do them!”
“Alas, Mademoiselle, but I must….”
She stared at him for a minute or two, then she said:
“Have you—found that woman?”
Poirot said:
“Let us say—that I know where she is.”
“Is she dead?”
“I have not said so.”
“She’s alive, then?”
“I have not said that either.”
Jane looked at him with irritation29. She exclaimed:
“Well, she’s got to be one or the other, hasn’t she?”
“Actually, it’s not quite so simple.”
“I believe you just like making things difficult!”
“It has been said of me,” admitted Hercule Poirot.
Jane shivered. She said:
“Isn’t it funny? It’s a lovely warm day—and yet I suddenly feel cold….”
“Perhaps you had better walk on, Mademoiselle.”
Jane rose to her feet. She stood a minute irresolute30. She said abruptly31:
“Howard wants me to marry him. At once. Without letting anyone know. He says—he says it’s
the only way I’ll ever do it—that I’m weak—” She broke off, then with one hand she gripped
Poirot’s arm with surprising strength. “What shall I do about it, M. Poirot?”
“Why ask me to advise you? There are those who are nearer!”
“Mother? She’d scream the house down at the bare idea! Uncle Alistair? He’d be cautious and
prosy. Plenty of time, my dear. Got to make quite sure, you know. Bit of an odd fish—this young
man of yours. No sense in rushing things—”
“Your friends?” suggested Poirot.
“I haven’t got any friends. Only a silly crowd I drink and dance and talk inane32 catchwords with!
Howard’s the only real person I’ve ever come up against.”
“Still—why ask me, Miss Olivera?”
Jane said:
“Because you’ve got a queer look on your face—as though you were sorry about something—
as though you knew something that—that—was—coming. …”
She stopped.
“Well?” she demanded. “What do you say?”
Hercule Poirot slowly shook his head.
![](../../../skin/default/image/4.jpg)
点击
收听单词发音
![收听单词发音](/template/default/tingnovel/images/play.gif)
1
meditations
![]() |
|
默想( meditation的名词复数 ); 默念; 沉思; 冥想 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
decided
![]() |
|
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
giggling
![]() |
|
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
chubby
![]() |
|
adj.丰满的,圆胖的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
romped
![]() |
|
v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指在赛跑或竞选等中)轻易获胜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
affected
![]() |
|
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
chic
![]() |
|
n./adj.别致(的),时髦(的),讲究的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
lamentably
![]() |
|
adv.哀伤地,拙劣地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
deficient
![]() |
|
adj.不足的,不充份的,有缺陷的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
voluptuous
![]() |
|
adj.肉欲的,骄奢淫逸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
formerly
![]() |
|
adv.从前,以前 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
sumptuous
![]() |
|
adj.豪华的,奢侈的,华丽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
aristocrat
![]() |
|
n.贵族,有贵族气派的人,上层人物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
accomplished
![]() |
|
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
wrenched
![]() |
|
v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
flamboyant
![]() |
|
adj.火焰般的,华丽的,炫耀的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
noted
![]() |
|
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
bent
![]() |
|
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
hesitation
![]() |
|
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
sweeping
![]() |
|
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
entirely
![]() |
|
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
displeased
![]() |
|
a.不快的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
growled
![]() |
|
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
jack
![]() |
|
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
intrude
![]() |
|
vi.闯入;侵入;打扰,侵扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
kindly
![]() |
|
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
influential
![]() |
|
adj.有影响的,有权势的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
curtly
![]() |
|
adv.简短地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
irritation
![]() |
|
n.激怒,恼怒,生气 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
irresolute
![]() |
|
adj.无决断的,优柔寡断的,踌躇不定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
abruptly
![]() |
|
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
inane
![]() |
|
adj.空虚的,愚蠢的,空洞的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |