Hercule Poirot looked with interest at Mrs. Goodbody’s face. It was indeed perfect as a model fora witch. The fact that it almost undoubtedly1 went with extreme amiability2 of character did notdispel the illusion. She talked with relish3 and pleasure.
“Yes, I was up there right enough, I was. I always does the witches round here. Vicar hecomplimented me last year and he said as I’d done such a good job in the pageant4 as he’d give mea new steeple hat. A witch’s hat wears out just like anything else does. Yes, I was right up therethat day. I does the rhymes, you know. I mean the rhymes for the girls, using their own Christianname. One for Beatrice, one for Ann and all the rest of it. And I gives them to whoever is doingthe spirit voice and they recite it out to the girl in the mirror, and the boys, Master Nicholas andyoung Desmond, they send the phoney photographs floating down. Make me die of laughing,some of it does. See those boys sticking hair all over their faces and photographing each other.
And what they dress up in! I saw Master Desmond the other day, and what he was wearing you’dhardly believe. Rose-coloured coat and fawn5 breeches. Beat the girls hollow, they do. All the girlscan think of is to push their skirts higher and higher, and that’s not much good to them becausethey’ve got to put on more underneath6. I mean what with the things they call body stockings andtights, which used to be for chorus girls in my day and none other—they spend all their money onthat. But the boys—my word, they look like kingfishers and peacocks or birds of paradise. Well, Ilike to see a bit of colour and I always think it must have been fun in those old historical days asyou see on the pictures. You know, everybody with lace and curls and cavalier hats and all the restof it. Gave the girls something to look at, they did. And doublet and hose. All the girls could thinkof in historical times, as far as I can see, was to put great balloon skirts on, crinolines they calledthem later, and great ruffles7 around their necks! My grandmother, she used to tell me that heryoung ladies—she was in service, you know, in a good Victorian family—and her young ladies(before the time of Victoria I think it was)—it was the time the King what had a head like a pearwas on the throne—Silly Billy, wasn’t it, William IVth—well then, her young ladies, I mean mygrandmother’s young ladies, they used to have muslin gowns very long down to their ankles, veryprim but they used to damp their muslins with water so they stuck to them. You know, stuck tothem so it showed everything there was to show. Went about looking ever so modest, but it tickledup the gentlemen, all right, it did.
“I lent Mrs. Drake my witch ball for the party. Bought that witch ball at a jumble8 salesomewhere. There it is hanging up there now by the chimney, you see? Nice bright dark blue. Ikeep it over my door.”
“Do you tell fortunes?”
“Mustn’t say I do, must I?” she chuckled9. “The police don’t like that. Not that they mind thekind of fortunes I tell. Nothing to it, as you might say. Place like this you always know who’sgoing with who, and so that makes it easy.”
“Can you look in your witch ball, look in there, see who killed that little girl, Joyce?”
“You got mixed up, you have,” said Mrs. Goodbody. “It’s a crystal ball you look in to seethings, not a witch ball. If I told you who I thought it was did it, you wouldn’t like it. Say it wasagainst nature, you would. But lots of things go on that are against nature.”
“You may have something there.”
“This is a good place to live, on the whole. I mean, people are decent, most of them, butwherever you go, the devil’s always got some of his own. Born and bred to it.”
“You mean—black magic?”
“No, I don’t mean that.” Mrs. Goodbody was scornful. “That’s nonsense, that is. That’s forpeople who like to dress up and do a lot of tomfoolery. Sex and all that. No, I mean those that thedevil has touched with his hand. They’re born that way. The sons of Lucifer. They’re born so thatkilling don’t mean nothing to them, not if they profit by it. When they want a thing, they want it.
And they’re ruthless to get it. Beautiful as angels, they can look like. Knew a little girl once. Sevenyears old. Killed her little brother and sister. Twins they were. Five or six months old, no more.
Stifled10 them in their prams11.”
“That took place here in Woodleigh Common?”
“No, no, it wasn’t in Woodleigh Common. I came across that up in Yorkshire, far as Iremember. Nasty case. Beautiful little creature she was, too. You could have fastened a pair ofwings on her, let her go on a platform and sing Christmas hymns12, and she’d have looked right forthe part. But she wasn’t. She was rotten inside. You’ll know what I mean. You’re not a youngman. You know what wickedness there is about in the world.”
“Alas!” said Poirot. “You are right. I do know only too well. If Joyce really saw a murdercommitted—”
“Who says she did?” said Mrs. Goodbody.
“She said so herself.”
“That’s no reason for believing. She’s always been a little liar13.” She gave him a sharp glance.
“You won’t believe that, I suppose?”
“Yes,” said Poirot, “I do believe it. Too many people have told me so, for me to continuedisbelieving it.”
“Odd things crop up in families,” said Mrs. Goodbody. “You take the Reynolds, for example.
There’s Mr. Reynolds. In the estate business he is. Never cut much ice at it and never will. Nevergot on much, as you’d say. And Mrs. Reynolds, always getting worried and upset about things.
None of their three children take after their parents. There’s Ann, now, she’s got brains. She’sgoing to do well with her schooling14, she is. She’ll go to college, I shouldn’t wonder, maybe getherself trained as a teacher. Mind you, she’s pleased with herself. She’s so pleased with herselfthat nobody can stick her. None of the boys look at her twice. And then there was Joyce. Shewasn’t clever like Ann, nor as clever as her little brother Leopold, either, but she wanted to be. Shewanted always to know more than other people and to have done better than other people andshe’d say anything to make people sit up and take notice. But don’t you believe any single wordshe ever said was true. Because nine times out of ten it wasn’t.”
“And the boy?”
“Leopold? Well, he’s only nine or ten, I think, but he’s clever all right. Clever with his fingersand other ways, too. He wants to study things like physics. He’s good at mathematics, too. Quitesurprised about it they were, in school. Yes, he’s clever. He’ll be one of these scientists, I expect.
If you ask me, the things he does when he’s a scientist and the things he’ll think of—they’ll benasty, like atom bombs! He’s one of the kind that studies and are ever so clever and think upsomething that’ll destroy half the globe, and all us poor folk with it. You beware of Leopold. Heplays tricks on people, you know, and eavesdrops15. Finds out all their secrets. Where he gets all hispocket money from I’d like to know. It isn’t from his mother or his father. They can’t afford togive him much. He’s got lots of money always. Keeps it in a drawer under his socks. He buysthings. Quite a lot of expensive gadgets16. Where does he get the money from? That’s what I’d liketo know. Finds people’s secrets out, I’d say, and makes them pay him for holding his tongue.”
She paused for breath.
“Well, I can’t help you, I’m afraid, in any way.”
“You have helped me a great deal,” said Poirot. “What happened to the foreign girl who is saidto have run away?”
“Didn’t go far, in my opinion. ‘Ding dong dell, pussy’s in the well.’ That’s what I’ve alwaysthought, anyway.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
amiability
|
|
| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
relish
|
|
| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pageant
|
|
| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fawn
|
|
| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
ruffles
|
|
| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
jumble
|
|
| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
stifled
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
prams
|
|
| n.（手推的）婴儿车( pram的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
hymns
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
schooling
|
|
| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
eavesdrops
|
|
| 偷听（别人的谈话）( eavesdrop的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
16
gadgets
|
|
| n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |