H is remarks on the subject of Miss Marple as we left the house were far from complimentary1.
“I really believe that wizened-up old maid thinks she knows everything there is to know. And hardly been out ofthis village all her life. Preposterous2. What can she know of life?”
I said mildly that though doubtless Miss Marple knew next to nothing of Life with a capital L, she knew practicallyeverything that went on in St. Mary Mead3.
Melchett admitted that grudgingly4. She was a valuable witness—particularly valuable from Mrs. Protheroe’s pointof view.
“I suppose there’s no doubt about what she says, eh?”
“If Miss Marple says she had no pistol with her, you can take it for granted that it is so,” I said. “If there was theleast possibility of such a thing, Miss Marple would have been on to it like a knife.”
“That’s true enough. We’d better go and have a look at the studio.”
The so-called studio was a mere5 rough shed with a skylight. There were no windows and the door was the onlymeans of entrance or egress6. Satisfied on this score, Melchett announced his intention of visiting the Vicarage with theInspector.
“I’m going to the police station now.”
As I entered through the front door, a murmur8 of voices caught my ear. I opened the drawing room door.
On the sofa beside Griselda, conversing9 animatedly10, sat Miss Gladys Cram11. Her legs, which were encased inparticularly shiny pink stockings, were crossed, and I had every opportunity of observing that she wore pink stripedsilk knickers.
“Hullo, Len,” said Griselda.
“Good morning, Mr. Clement12,” said Miss Cram. “Isn’t the news about the Colonel really too awful? Poor oldgentleman.”
“Miss Cram,” said my wife, “very kindly13 came in to offer to help us with the Guides. We asked for helpers lastSunday, you remember.”
I did remember, and I was convinced, and so, I knew from her tone, was Griselda, that the idea of enrolling14 herselfamong them would never have occurred to Miss Cram but for the exciting incident which had taken place at theVicarage.
“I was only just saying to Mrs. Clement,” went on Miss Cram, “you could have struck me all of a heap when Iheard the news. A murder? I said. In this quiet one-horse village—for quiet it is, you must admit—not so much as apicture house, and as for Talkies! And then when I heard it was Colonel Protheroe—why, I simply couldn’t believe it.
He didn’t seem the kind, somehow, to get murdered.”
“And so,” said Griselda, “Miss Cram came round to find out all about it.”
I feared this plain speaking might offend the lady, but she merely flung her head back and laughed uproariously,showing every tooth she possessed15.
“That’s too bad. You’re a sharp one, aren’t you, Mrs. Clement? But it’s only natural, isn’t it, to want to hear the insand outs of a case like this? And I’m sure I’m willing enough to help with the Guides in any way you like. Exciting,that’s what it is. I’ve been stagnating16 for a bit of fun. I have, really I have. Not that my job isn’t a very good one, wellpaid, and Dr. Stone quite the gentleman in every way. But a girl wants a bit of life out of office hours, and except foryou, Mrs. Clement, who is there in the place to talk to except a lot of old cats?”
“There’s Lettice Protheroe,” I said.
Gladys Cram tossed her head.
“She’s too high and mighty17 for the likes of me. Fancies herself the country, and wouldn’t demean herself bynoticing a girl who had to work for her living. Not but what I did hear her talking of earning her living herself. Andwho’d employ her, I should like to know? Why, she’d be fired in less than a week. Unless she went as one of thosemannequins, all dressed up and sidling about. She could do that, I expect.”
“She’d make a very good mannequin,” said Griselda. “She’s got such a lovely figure.” There’s nothing of the catabout Griselda. “When was she talking of earning her own living?”
Miss Cram seemed momentarily discomfited18, but recovered herself with her usual archness.
“That would be telling, wouldn’t it?” she said. “But she did say so. Things not very happy at home, I fancy. Catchme living at home with a stepmother. I wouldn’t sit down under it for a minute.”
“Ah! but you’re so high spirited and independent,” said Griselda gravely, and I looked at her with suspicion.
Miss Cram was clearly pleased.
“That’s right. That’s me all over. Can be led, not driven. A palmist told me that not so very long ago. No. I’m notone to sit down and be bullied19. And I’ve made it clear all along to Dr. Stone that I must have my regular times off.
These scientific gentlemen, they think a girl’s a kind of machine—half the time they just don’t notice her or remembershe’s there. Of course, I don’t know much about it,” confessed the girl.
“Do you find Dr. Stone pleasant to work with? It must be an interesting job if you are interested in archaeology20.”
“It still seems to me that digging up people that are dead and have been dead for hundreds of years isn’t—well, itseems a bit nosy21, doesn’t it? And there’s Dr. Stone so wrapped up in it all, that half the time he’d forget his meals if itwasn’t for me.”
“Is he at the barrow this morning?” asked Griselda.
Miss Cram shook her head.
“A bit under the weather this morning,” she explained. “Not up to doing any work. That means a holiday for littleGladys.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Oh! It’s nothing much. There’s not going to be a second death. But do tell me, Mr. Clement, I hear you’ve beenwith the police all morning. What do they think?”
“Well,” I said slowly, “there is still a little—uncertainty.”
“Ah!” cried Miss Cram. “Then they don’t think it is Mr. Lawrence Redding after all. So handsome, isn’t he? Justlike a movie star. And such a nice smile when he says good morning to you. I really couldn’t believe my ears when Iheard the police had arrested him. Still, one has always heard they’re very stupid—the county police.”
“You can hardly blame them in this instance,” I said. “Mr. Redding came in and gave himself up.”
“What?” the girl was clearly dumbfounded. “Well—of all the poor fish! If I’d committed a murder, I wouldn’t gostraight off and give myself up. I should have thought Lawrence Redding would have had more sense. To give in likethat! What did he kill Protheroe for? Did he say? Was it just a quarrel?”
“It’s not absolutely certain that he did kill him,” I said.
“But surely—if he says he has—why really, Mr. Clement, he ought to know.”
“He ought to, certainly,” I agreed. “But the police are not satisfied with his story.”
“But why should he say he’d done it if he hasn’t?”
That was a point on which I had no intention of enlightening Miss Cram. Instead I said rather vaguely22:
“I believe that in all prominent murder cases, the police receive numerous letters from people accusing themselvesof the crime.”
Miss Cram’s reception of this piece of information was:
“They must be chumps!” in a tone of wonder and scorn.
“Well,” she said with a sigh, “I suppose I must be trotting23 along.” She rose. “Mr. Redding accusing himself of themurder will be a bit of news of Dr. Stone.”
“Is he interested?” asked Griselda.
Miss Cram furrowed24 her brows perplexedly.
“He’s a queer one. You never can tell with him. All wrapped up in the past. He’d a hundred times rather look at anasty old bronze knife out of those humps of ground than he would see the knife Crippen cut up his wife with,supposing he had a chance to.”
“Well,” I said, “I must confess I agree with him.”
Miss Cram’s eyes expressed incomprehension and slight contempt. Then, with reiterated25 good-byes, she took herdeparture.
“Not such a bad sort, really,” said Griselda, as the door closed behind her. “Terribly common, of course, but one ofthose big, bouncing, good-humoured girls that you can’t dislike. I wonder what really brought her here?”
“Curiosity.”
“Yes, I suppose so. Now, Len, tell me all about it. I’m simply dying to hear.”
I sat down and recited faithfully all the happenings of the morning, Griselda interpolating the narrative26 with littleexclamations of surprise and interest.
“So it was Anne Lawrence was after all along! Not Lettice. How blind we’ve all been! That must have been whatold Miss Marple was hinting at yesterday. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes,” I said, averting27 my eyes.
Mary entered.
“There’s a couple of men here—come from a newspaper, so they say. Do you want to see them?”
“No,” I said, “certainly not. Refer them to Inspector7 Slack at the police station.”
Mary nodded and turned away.
“And when you’ve got rid of them,” I said, “come back here. There’s something I want to ask you.”
Mary nodded again.
It was some few minutes before she returned.
“Had a job getting rid of them,” she said. “Persistent. You never saw anything like it. Wouldn’t take no for ananswer.”
“I expect we shall be a good deal troubled with them,” I said. “Now, Mary, what I want to ask you is this: Are youquite certain you didn’t hear the shot yesterday evening?”
“The shot what killed him? No, of course I didn’t. If I had of done, I should have gone in to see what hadhappened.”
“Yes, but—” I was remembering Miss Marple’s statement that she had heard a shot “in the woods.” I changed theform of my question. “Did you hear any other shot—one down in the wood, for instance?”
“Oh! That.” The girl paused. “Yes, now I come to think of it, I believe I did. Not a lot of shots, just one. Queer sortof bang it was.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Now what time was that?”
“Time?”
“Yes, time.”
“I couldn’t say, I’m sure. Well after teatime. I do know that.”
“Can’t you get a little nearer than that?”
“No, I can’t. I’ve got my work to do, haven’t I? I can’t go on looking at clocks the whole time—and it wouldn’t bemuch good anyway—the alarm loses a good three-quarters every day, and what with putting it on and one thing andanother, I’m never exactly sure what time it is.”
This perhaps explains why our meals are never punctual. They are sometimes too late and sometimes bewilderinglyearly.
“Was it long before Mr. Redding came?”
“No, it wasn’t long. Ten minutes—a quarter of an hour—not longer than that.”
I nodded my head, satisfied.
“Is that all?” said Mary. “Because what I mean to say is, I’ve got the joint28 in the oven and the pudding boiling overas likely as not.”
“That’s all right. You can go.”
She left the room, and I turned to Griselda.
“Is it quite out of the question to induce Mary to say sir or ma’am?”
“I have told her. She doesn’t remember. She’s just a raw girl, remember?”
“I am perfectly29 aware of that,” I said. “But raw things do not necessarily remain raw for ever. I feel a tinge30 ofcooking might be induced in Mary.”
“Well, I don’t agree with you,” said Griselda. “You know how little we can afford to pay a servant. If once we gother smartened up at all, she’d leave. Naturally. And get higher wages. But as long as Mary can’t cook and has thoseawful manners—well, we’re safe, nobody else would have her.”
I perceived that my wife’s methods of housekeeping were not so entirely31 haphazard32 as I had imagined. A certainamount of reasoning underlay33 them. Whether it was worthwhile having a maid at the price of her not being able tocook, and having a habit of throwing dishes and remarks at one with the same disconcerting abruptness34, was adebatable matter.
“And anyway,” continued Griselda, “you must make allowances for her manners being worse than usual just now.
You can’t expect her to feel exactly sympathetic about Colonel Protheroe’s death when he jailed her young man.”
“Did he jail her young man?”
“Yes, for poaching. You know, that man, Archer35. Mary has been walking out with him for two years.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Darling Len, you never know anything.”
“It’s queer,” I said, “that everyone says the shot came from the woods.”
“I don’t think it’s queer at all,” said Griselda. “You see, one so often hears shots in the wood. So naturally, whenyou do hear a shot, you just assume as a matter of course that it is in the wood. It probably just sounds a bit louder thanusual. Of course, if one were in the next room, you’d realize that it was in the house, but from Mary’s kitchen with thewindow right the other side of the house, I don’t believe you’d ever think of such a thing.”
The door opened again.
“Colonel Melchett’s back,” said Mary. “And that police inspector with him, and they say they’d be glad if you’djoin them. They’re in the study.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
complimentary
|
|
| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
mead
|
|
| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
grudgingly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
egress
|
|
| n.出去；出口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
inspector
|
|
| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
conversing
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
animatedly
|
|
| adv.栩栩如生地，活跃地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
cram
|
|
| v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
clement
|
|
| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
enrolling
|
|
| v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
stagnating
|
|
| v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
discomfited
|
|
| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bullied
|
|
| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
archaeology
|
|
| n.考古学 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
nosy
|
|
| adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
trotting
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
furrowed
|
|
| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
reiterated
|
|
| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
averting
|
|
| 防止，避免( avert的现在分词 )； 转移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tinge
|
|
| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
haphazard
|
|
| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
underlay
|
|
| v.位于或存在于（某物）之下( underlie的过去式 )；构成…的基础（或起因），引起n.衬垫物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
abruptness
|
|
| n. 突然，唐突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
archer
|
|
| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |