Eleven SUPERINTENDENT GARROWAY AND POIROT COMPARE NOTES

Book Two
LONG SHADOWS
Eleven SUPERINTENDENT¹ GARROWAY AND POIROT COMPARE NOTES
Superintendent Garroway looked across the table at Poirot. His eyes twinkled. At his side Georgedelivered a whisky and soda². Passing on to Poirot, he put down a glass filled with a dark purpleliquid.
“What’s your tipple³?” said Superintendent Garroway, with some interest.
“A syrup⁴ of black currant,” said Poirot.
“Well, well,” said Superintendent Garroway, “everyone to their own taste. What was it Spencetold me? He told me you used to drink something called a tisane, wasn’t it? What’s that, a variantof French piano or something?”
“No,” said Poirot, “it’s useful for reducing fevers.”
“Ah. Invalid⁵ dope of some kind.” He drank from his glass. “Well,” he said, “here’s to suicide!”
“It was suicide?” Poirot asked.
“What else can it be?” said Superintendent Garroway. “The things you wanted to know!” Heshook his head. His smile grew more pronounced.
“I am sorry,” said Poirot, “to have troubled you so much. I am like the animal or the child inone of your stories by Mr. Kipling. I Suffer from Insatiable Curiosity.”
“Insatiable curiosity,” said Superintendent Garroway. “Nice stories he wrote, Kipling. Knew hisstuff, too. They told me once that that man could go for one short tour round a destroyer and knowmore about it than one of the top engineers in the Royal Navy.”
“Alas,” said Hercule Poirot. “I do not know everything. Therefore, you see, I have to askquestions. I am afraid that I sent you rather a long list of questions.”
“What intrigued⁶ me,” said Superintendent Garroway, “is the way you jumped from one thing toanother. Psychiatrists⁷, doctors’ reports, how money was left, who had money, who got money.
Who expected money and didn’t get money, particulars of ladies’ hairdressing, wigs⁸, name of thesupplier of wigs, charming rose-coloured cardboard boxes they came in by the way.”
“You knew all these things,” said Poirot. “That has amazed me, I can assure you.”
“Ah well, it was a puzzling case and of course we made full notes on the subject. None of thiswas any good to us but we kept the files and it was all there if one wanted to look for it.”
He pushed a piece of paper across the table.
“Here you are. Hairdressers. Bond Street. Expensive firm. Eugene and Rosentelle was the nameof it. They moved later. Same firm but went into business in Sloane Street. Here’s the address, butit’s a Pet Shop now. Two of their assistants retired⁹ some years ago now, but they were the topassistants serving people then, and Lady Ravenscroft was on their list. Rosentelle lives inCheltenham now. Still in the same line of business—Calls herself a Hair Stylist—That’s the up-to-date term—and you add Beautician. Same man, different hat, as one used to say in my youngdays.”
“Ah-ha?” said Poirot.
“Why ah-ha?” asked Garroway.
“I am immensely obliged to you,” said Hercule Poirot. “You have presented me with an idea.
How strange it is the way ideas arrive into one’s head.”
“You’ve too many ideas in your head already,” said the Superintendent, “that’s one of yourtroubles—you don’t need anymore. Now then, I’ve checked up as well as I could on the familyhistory — nothing much there. Alistair Ravenscroft was of Scottish extraction. Father was aclergyman—two uncles in the Army—both quite distinguished¹⁰. Married Margaret Preston-Grey—well-born girl—presented at Court and all the rest of it. No family scandals. You were quite rightabout her being one of twin sisters. Don’t know where you picked that up — Dorothea andMargaret Preston-Grey—known colloquially¹¹ as Dolly and Molly. The Preston-Greys lived atHatters Green in Sussex. Identical twins—usual kind of history of that kind of twin. Cut their firsttooth the same day—both got scarlet¹² fever the same month—wore the same kind of clothes—fellin love with the same kind of man—got married about the same time—both husbands in theArmy. Family doctor who attended the family when they were young died some years ago, sothere’s nothing of interest to be got out of him. There was an early tragedy, though, connectedwith one of them.”
“Lady Ravenscroft?”
“No, the other one—she married a Captain Jarrow—had two children; the younger one, a boy offour, was knocked down by a wheelbarrow or some kind of child’s garden toy—or a spade or achild’s hoe. Hit him on his head and he fell into an artificial pond or something and drowned.
Apparently¹³ it was the older child, a girl of nine who did it. They were playing together andquarrelled, as children do. Doesn’t seem much doubt, but there was another story. Someone saidthe mother did it—got angry and hit him—and someone else said it was a woman who lived nextdoor who hit him. Don’t suppose it’s of any interest to you—no bearing on a suicide pact¹⁴ enteredinto by the mother’s sister and her husband years after.”
“No,” said Poirot, “it does not seem to. But one likes to know background.”
“Yes,” said Garroway, “as I told you, one has to look into the past. I can’t say we’d thought oflooking into the past as long ago as this. I mean, as I’ve said, all this was some years before thesuicide.”
“Were there any proceedings¹⁵ at the time?”
“Yes. I managed to look up the case. Accounts of it. Newspaper accounts. Various things. Therewere some doubts about it, you know. The mother was badly affected¹⁶. She broke down completelyand had to go into hospital. They do say she was never the same woman again afterwards.”
“But they thought she had done it?”
“Well, that’s what the doctor thought. There was no direct evidence, you understand. She saidthat she had seen this happen from a window, that she’d seen the older child, the girl, hit the boyand push him in. But her account—well, I don’t think they believed it at the time. She talked sowildly.”
“There was, I suppose, some psychiatric evidence?”
“Yes. She went to a nursing home or hospital of some kind, she was definitely a mental case.
She was a good long time in one or two different establishments having treatment, I believe underthe care of one of the specialists from St. Andrew’s Hospital in London. In the end she waspronounced cured, and released after about three years, and sent home to lead a normal life withher family.”
“And she was then quite normal?”
“She was always neurotic¹⁷, I believe—”
“Where was she at the time of the suicide? Was she staying with the Ravenscrofts?”
“No—she had died nearly three weeks before that. She was staying with them at Overcliffewhen it happened. It seemed again to be an illustration of the identical twin destiny. She walked inher sleep—had suffered from that over a period of years, it seems. She had had one or two minoraccidents that way. Sometimes she took too many tranquillizers and that resulted in her walkinground the house and sometimes out of it during the night. She was following a path along the cliffedge, lost her footing and fell over the cliff. Killed immediately—they didn’t find her until the nextday. Her sister, Lady Ravenscroft, was terribly upset. They were very devoted¹⁸ to each other andshe had to be taken to hospital suffering from shock.”
“Could this tragic¹⁹ accident have led to the Ravenscrofts’ suicide some weeks later?”
“There was never a suggestion of such a thing.”
“Odd things happen with twins as you say — Lady Ravenscroft might have killed herselfbecause of the link between her and her twin sister. Then the husband may have shot himselfbecause possibly he felt guilty in some way—”
Superintendent Garroway said: “You have too many ideas, Poirot. Alistair Ravenscroft couldn’thave had an affair with his sister-in-law without everyone knowing about it. There was nothing ofthat kind—if that’s what you’ve been imagining.”
The telephone rang—Poirot rose and answered it. It was Mrs. Oliver.
“Monsieur Poirot, can you come to tea or sherry tomorrow? I have got Celia coming—and lateron the bossy²⁰ woman. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Poirot said it was just what he wanted.
“I’ve got to dash now,” said Mrs. Oliver. “Going to meet an old War Horse—provided by myelephant No. 1, Julia Carstairs. I think she’s got his name wrong—she always does—but I hopeshe’s got his address right.”

1 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

2 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

3 tipple   

n.常喝的酒；v.不断喝，饮烈酒

参考例句：

• My favourite tipple is a glass of port.我最喜欢喝的酒是波尔图葡萄酒。
• Scotch drinkers around the world tend to associate their favourite tipple with success and achievement.世界各地喝苏格兰威士忌的人，往往把他们最喜欢的这种烈酒，与成功和成就联系在一起。

4 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

5 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

6 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

7 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

8 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

11 colloquially   

adv.用白话，用通俗语

参考例句：

• For some little time the Jurymen hang about the Sol's Ams colloquially. 那些陪审员在太阳徽酒店里呆着，东拉西扯地谈了一会儿。 来自辞典例句
• This building is colloquially referred to as the barn. 这个建筑，用通俗的话来说就是一个谷仓。 来自互联网

12 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

15 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。

18 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。

19 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

20 bossy   

adj.爱发号施令的，作威作福的

参考例句：

• She turned me off with her bossy manner.她态度专橫很讨我嫌。
• She moved out because her mother-in-law is too bossy.她的婆婆爱指使人,所以她搬出去住了。