The news of this killing1, for which the three policemen subsequently received citations2, was
eagerly conveyed to all the relatives of the deceased couple by newspaper reporters, and the next
morning the closest of these relatives, as well as a couple of undertakers, three lawyers, and a
priest, climbed into taxis and set out for the house with the broken window. They assembled in the
living-room, men and women both, and they sat around in a circle on the sofas and armchairs,
smoking cigarettes and sipping3 sherry and debating what on earth should be done now with the
baby upstairs, the orphan4 Lexington.
It soon became apparent that none of the relatives was particularly keen to assume responsibility
for the child, and the discussions and arguments continued all through the day. Everybody
declared an enormous, almost an irresistible5 desire to look after him, and would have done so with
the greatest of pleasure were it not for the fact that their apartment was too small, or that they
already had one baby and couldn’t possibly afford another, or that they wouldn’t know what to do
with the poor little thing when they went abroad in the summer, or that they were getting on in
years, which surely would be most unfair to the boy when he grew up, and so on and so forth6.
They all knew, of course, that the father had been heavily in debt for a long time and that the
house was mortgaged and that consequently there would be no money at all to go with the child.
They were still arguing like mad at six in the evening when suddenly, in the middle of it all, an
old aunt of the deceased father (her name was Glosspan) swept in from Virginia, and without even
removing her hat and coat, not even pausing to sit down, ignoring all offers of a martini, a whisky,
a sherry, she announced firmly to the assembled relatives that she herself intended to take sole
charge of the infant boy from then on. What was more, she said, she would assume full financial
responsibility on all counts, including education, and everyone else could go back home where
they belonged and give their consciences a rest. So saying, she trotted7 upstairs to the nursery and
snatched Lexington from his cradle and swept out of the house with the baby clutched tightly in
her arms, while the relatives simply sat and stared and smiled and looked relieved, and McPottle
the nurse stood stiff with disapproval8 at the head of the stairs, her lips compressed, her arms folded
across her starchy bosom9.
And thus it was that the infant Lexington, when he was thirteen days old, left the City of New
York and travelled southward to live with his Great Aunt Glosspan in the State of Virginia.
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1
killing
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n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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2
citations
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n.引用( citation的名词复数 );引证;引文;表扬 | |
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3
sipping
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v.小口喝,呷,抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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4
orphan
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n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
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5
irresistible
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adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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6
forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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7
trotted
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小跑,急走( trot的过去分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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8
disapproval
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n.反对,不赞成 | |
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9
bosom
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n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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