Eighteen II

II
Miss Waterhouse was also at home. She was also true to type, opening the door with a suddennesswhich displayed a desire to trap someone doing what they should not do.
“Oh, it’s you!” she said. “Really, I’ve told your people all I know.”
“I’m sure you’ve replied to all the questions that were asked you,” said Hardcastle, “but theycan’t all be asked at once, you know. We have to go into a few more details.”
“I don’t see why. The whole thing was a most terrible shock,” said Miss Waterhouse, looking athim in a censorious way as though it had been all his doing. “Come in, come in. You can’t standon the mat all day. Come in and sit down and ask me any questions you want to, though reallywhat questions there can be, I cannot see. As I told you, I went out to make a telephone call. Iopened the door of the box and there was the girl. Never had such a shock in my life. I hurrieddown and got the police constable¹. And after that, in case you want to know, I came back here andI gave myself a medicinal dose of brandy. Medicinal,” said Miss Waterhouse fiercely.
“Very wise of you, madam,” said Inspector² Hardcastle.
“And that’s that,” said Miss Waterhouse with finality.
“I wanted to ask you if you were quite sure you had never seen this girl before?”
“May have seen her a dozen times,” said Miss Waterhouse, “but not to remember. I mean, shemay have served me in Woolworth’s, or sat next to me in a bus, or sold me tickets in a cinema.”
“She was a shorthand³ typist at the Cavendish Bureau.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had occasion to use a shorthand typist. Perhaps she worked in mybrother’s office at Gainsford and Swettenham. Is that what you’re driving at?”
“Oh, no,” said Inspector Hardcastle, “there appears to be no connection of that kind. But I justwondered if she’d come to see you this morning before being killed.”
“Come to see me? No, of course not. Why should she?”
“Well, that we wouldn’t know,” said Inspector Hardcastle, “but you would say, would you, thatanyone who saw her coming in at your gate this morning was mistaken?” He looked at her withinnocent eyes.
“Somebody saw her coming in at my gate? Nonsense,” said Miss Waterhouse. She hesitated.
“At least—”
“Yes?” said Hardcastle, alert⁴ though he did not show it.
“Well, I suppose she may have pushed a leaflet⁵ or something through the door … There was aleaflet there at lunchtime. Something about a meeting for nuclear disarmament, I think. There’salways something every day. I suppose conceivably she might have come and pushed somethingthrough the letter box; but you can’t blame me for that, can you?”
“Of course not. Now as to your telephone call—you say your own telephone was out of order.
According to the exchange, that was not so.”
“Exchanges will say anything! I dialled and got a most peculiar⁶ noise, not the engaged signal, soI went out to the call box.”
Hardcastle got up.
“I’m sorry, Miss Waterhouse, for bothering you in this way, but there is some idea that this girldid come to call on someone in the crescent and that she went to a house not very far from here.”
“And so you have to inquire all along the crescent,” said Miss Waterhouse. “I should think themost likely thing is that she went to the house next door—Miss Pebmarsh’s, I mean.”
“Why should you consider that the most likely?”
“You said she was a shorthand typist and came from the Cavendish Bureau. Surely, if Iremember rightly, it was said that Miss Pebmarsh asked for a shorthand typist to come to herhouse the other day when that man was killed.”
“It was said so, yes, but she denied it.”
“Well, if you ask me,” said Miss Waterhouse, “not that anyone ever listens to what I say untilit’s too late, I should say that she’d gone a little batty. Miss Pebmarsh, I mean. I think, perhaps,that she does ring up bureaux and ask for shorthand typists to come. Then, perhaps, she forgets allabout it.”
“But you don’t think that she would do murder?”
“I never suggested murder or anything of that kind. I know a man was killed in her house, butI’m not for a moment suggesting that Miss Pebmarsh had anything to do with it. No. I just thoughtthat she might have one of those curious fixations like people do. I knew a woman once who wasalways ringing up a confectioner’s and ordering a dozen meringues. She didn’t want them, andwhen they came she said she hadn’t ordered them. That sort of thing.”
“Of course, anything is possible,” said Hardcastle. He said good-bye to Miss Waterhouse andleft.
He thought she’d hardly done herself justice by her last suggestion. On the other hand, if shebelieved that the girl had been seen entering her house, and that that had in fact been the case, thenthe suggestion that the girl had gone to No. 19 was quite an adroit⁷ one under the circumstances.
Hardcastle glanced at his watch and decided⁸ that he had still time to tackle⁹ the CavendishSecretarial Bureau. It had, he knew, been reopened at two o’clock this afternoon. He might getsome help from the girls there. And he would find Sheila Webb there too.

1 constable   

n.(英国)警察，警官

参考例句：

• The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
• The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。

2 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。

3 shorthand   

n.速记，速记法

参考例句：

• The reporters took down the speech in shorthand.记者们迅速记下讲话的内容。
• Instead of writing her shorthand by hand,she could use a machine.她可以不用手，而使用一种带键盘的机器进行速记。

4 alert   

adj.机警的，活泼的，机灵的；vt.使...警觉

参考例句：

• Drivers must be on the alert for traffic signals.驾驶员必须密切注意交通信号。
• The rabbIt'seems to be very alert all its life.兔子似乎一生都小心翼翼，十分警觉。

5 leaflet   

n.传单，活页，广告

参考例句：

• He picked up a leaflet about care of the teeth.他拾起一张宣传保护牙齿的传单。
• This leaflet contains your operating instructions.这份活页包含你应知道的操作说明。

6 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

7 adroit   

adj.熟练的，灵巧的

参考例句：

• Jamie was adroit at flattering others.杰米很会拍马屁。
• His adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers.他对质问者的机敏应答使他赢得了很多追随者。

8 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。

9 tackle   

n.工具，复滑车，扭倒；v.处理，抓住

参考例句：

• Don't forget to bring your sports tackle with you tomorrow.别忘了明天带上你的体育用具。
• We have gained sufficient experience to tackle this problem.我们已经有了足够的经验来处理这个问题。