Nineteen

Nineteen
“Mrs.—Leaman—” said Poirot, writing down the name.
“That’s right. Harriet Leaman. And the other witness seems to have been a James Jenkins. Lastheard of going to Australia. And Miss Olga Seminoff seems to have been last heard of returning toCzechoslovakia, or wherever she came from. Everybody seems to have gone somewhere else.”
“How reliable do you think this Mrs. Leaman is?”
“I don’t think she made it all up, if that’s what you mean. I think she signed something, that shewas curious about it, and that she took the first opportunity she had of finding out what she’dsigned.”
“She can read and write?”
“I suppose so. But I agree that people aren’t very good sometimes, at reading old ladies’
handwriting, which is very spiky¹ and very hard to read. If there were any rumours² flying aboutlater, about this Will or codicil³, she might have thought that that was what she’d read in this ratherundecipherable handwriting.”
“A genuine document,” said Poirot. “But there was also a forged codicil.”
“Who says so?”
“Lawyers.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t forged at all.”
“Lawyers are very particular about these matters. They were prepared to come into court withexpert witnesses.”
“Oh well,” said Mrs. Oliver, “then it’s easy to see what must have happened, isn’t it?”
“What is easy? What happened?”
“Well, of course, the next day or a few days later, or even as much as a week later, Mrs.
Llewellyn-Smythe either had a bit of a tiff⁴ with her devoted⁵ au pair attendant, or she had adelicious reconciliation⁶ with her nephew, Hugo, or her niece Rowena, and she tore up the Will orscratched out the codicil or something like that, or burnt the whole thing.”
“And after that?”
“Well, after that, I suppose, Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe dies, and the girl seizes her chance andwrites a new codicil in roughly the same terms in as near to Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s handwritingas she can, and the two witnessing signatures as near as she can. She probably knows Mrs.
Leaman’s writing quite well. It would be on national health cards or something like that, and sheproduces it, thinking that someone will agree to having witnessed the Will and that all would bewell. But her forgery⁷ isn’t good enough and so trouble starts.”
“Will you permit me, chère Madame, to use your telephone?”
“I will permit you to use Judith Butler’s telephone, yes.”
“Where is your friend?”
“Oh, she’s gone to get her hair done. And Miranda has gone for a walk. Go on, it’s in the roomthrough the window there.”
Poirot went in and returned about ten minutes later.
“Well? What have you been doing?”
“I rang up Mr. Fullerton, the solicitor⁸. I will now tell you something. The codicil, the forgedcodicil that was produced for probate was not witnessed by Harriet Leaman. It was witnessed by aMary Doherty, deceased, who had been in service with Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe but had recentlydied. The other witness was the James Jenkins, who, as your friend Mrs. Leaman has told you,departed for Australia.”
“So there was a forged codicil,” said Mrs. Oliver. “And there seems to have been a real codicilas well. Look here, Poirot, isn’t this all getting a little too complicated?”
“It is getting incredibly complicated,” said Hercule Poirot. “There is, if I may mention it, toomuch forgery about.”
“Perhaps the real one is still in the library at Quarry⁹ House, within the pages of Enquire¹⁰ Withinupon Everything.”
“I understand all the effects of the house were sold up at Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s death, exceptfor a few pieces of family furniture and some family pictures.”
“What we need,” said Mrs. Oliver, “is something like Enquire Within here now. It’s a lovelytitle, isn’t it? I remember my grandmother had one. You could, you know, inquire within abouteverything, too. Legal information and cooking recipes and how to take ink stains out of linen¹¹.
How to make homemade face powder that would not damage the complexion¹². Oh—and lots more.
Yes, wouldn’t you like to have a book like that now?”
“Doubtless,” said Hercule Poirot, “it would give the recipe for treatment of tired feet.”
“Plenty of them, I should think. But why don’t you wear proper country shoes?”
“Madame, I like to look soigné in my appearance.”
“Well, then you’ll have to go on wearing things that are painful, and grin and bear it,” said Mrs.
Oliver. “All the same, I don’t understand anything now. Was that Leaman woman telling me apack of lies just now?”
“It is always possible.”
“Did someone tell her to tell a pack of lies?”
“That too is possible.”
“Did someone pay her to tell me a pack of lies?”
“Continue,” said Poirot, “continue. You are doing very nicely.”
“I suppose,” said Mrs. Oliver thoughtfully, “that Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe, like many anotherrich woman, enjoyed making Wills. I expect she made a good many during her life. You know;benefiting one person and then another. Changing about. The Drakes were well off, anyway. Iexpect she always left them at least a handsome legacy¹³, but I wonder if she ever left anyone else asmuch as she appears, according to Mrs. Leaman and according to the forged Will as well, to thatgirl Olga. I’d like to know a bit more about that girl, I must say. She certainly seems a verysuccessful disappearess.”
“I hope to know more about her shortly,” said Hercule Poirot.
“How?”
“Information that I shall receive shortly.”
“I know you’ve been asking for information down here.”
“Not here only. I have an agent in London who obtains information for me both abroad and inthis country. I should have some news possibly soon from Herzogovinia.”
“Will you find out if she ever arrived back there?”
“That might be one thing I should learn, but it seems more likely that I may get information of adifferent kind—letters perhaps written during her sojourn¹⁴ in this country, mentioning friends shemay have made here, and become intimate with.”
“What about the schoolteacher?” said Mrs. Oliver.
“Which one do you mean?”
“I mean the one who was strangled—the one Elizabeth Whittaker told you about?” She added,“I don’t like Elizabeth Whittaker much. Tiresome¹⁵ sort of woman, but clever, I should think.” Sheadded dreamily, “I wouldn’t put it past her to have thought up a murder.”
“Strangle another teacher, do you mean?”
“One has to exhaust all the possibilities.”
“I shall rely, as so often, on your intuition, Madame.”
Mrs. Oliver ate another date thoughtfully.

1 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

2 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

3 codicil   

n.遗嘱的附录

参考例句：

• She add a codicil to her will just before she die.她临终前在遗嘱上加了附录。
• In that codicil he acknowledges me。在那笔附录里，他承认了我。

4 tiff   

n.小争吵，生气

参考例句：

• They patched up their tiff again.他们平息了争执，又和好如初了。
• There was a new tiff between the two girls.那两个女孩之间有一场新的吵嘴。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

7 forgery   

n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为）

参考例句：

• The painting was a forgery.这张画是赝品。
• He was sent to prison for forgery.他因伪造罪而被关进监狱。

8 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

9 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

10 enquire   

v.打听，询问；调查，查问

参考例句：

• She wrote to enquire the cause of the delay.她只得写信去询问拖延的理由。
• We will enquire into the matter.我们将调查这事。

11 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

12 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

14 sojourn   

v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留

参考例句：

• It would be cruel to begrudge your sojourn among flowers and fields.如果嫉妒你逗留在鲜花与田野之间，那将是太不近人情的。
• I am already feeling better for my sojourn here.我在此逗留期间，觉得体力日渐恢复。

15 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。