Chapter Sixteen

Sixteen
I“I ’m home, Arthur!” declared Mrs. Bantry, announcing the fact like a Royal Proclamation as she flung open thestudy door.
Colonel Bantry immediately jumped up, kissed his wife, and declared heartily¹: “Well, well, that’s splendid!”
The words were unimpeachable², the manner very well done, but an affectionate wife of as many years’ standing³ asMrs. Bantry was not deceived. She said immediately:
“Is anything the matter?”
“No, of course not, Dolly. What should be the matter?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mrs. Bantry vaguely⁴. “Things are so queer, aren’t they?”
She threw off her coat as she spoke⁵ and Colonel Bantry picked it up as carefully and laid it across the back of thesofa.
All exactly as usual—yet not as usual. Her husband, Mrs. Bantry thought, seemed to have shrunk. He lookedthinner, stooped more; they were pouches⁶ under his eyes and those eyes were not ready to meet hers.
He went on to say, still with that affectation of cheerfulness:
“Well, how did you enjoy your time at Danemouth?”
“Oh! it was great fun. You ought to have come, Arthur.”
“Couldn’t get away, my dear. Lot of things to attend to here.”
“Still, I think the change would have done you good. And you like the Jeffersons?”
“Yes, yes, poor fellow. Nice chap. All very sad.”
“What have you been doing with yourself since I’ve been away?”
“Oh, nothing much. Been over the farms, you know. Agreed that Anderson shall have a new roof—can’t patch itup any longer.”
“How did the Radfordshire Council meeting go?”
“I—well—as a matter of fact I didn’t go.”
“Didn’t go? But you were taking the chair?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, Dolly—seems there was some mistake about that. Asked me if I’d mind if Thompsontook it instead.”
“I see,” said Mrs. Bantry.
She peeled off a glove and threw it deliberately⁷ into the wastepaper basket. Her husband went to retrieve⁸ it, and shestopped him, saying sharply:
“Leave it. I hate gloves.”
Colonel Bantry glanced at her uneasily.
Mrs. Bantry said sternly:
“Did you go to dinner with the Duffs on Thursday?”
“Oh, that! It was put off. Their cook was ill.”
“Stupid people,” said Mrs. Bantry. She went on: “Did you go to the Naylors’ yesterday?”
“I rang up and said I didn’t feel up to it, hoped they’d excuse me. They quite understood.”
“They did, did they?” said Mrs. Bantry grimly.
She sat down by the desk and absentmindedly picked up a pair of gardening scissors. With them she cut off thefingers, one by one, of her second glove.
“What are you doing, Dolly?”
“Feeling destructive,” said Mrs. Bantry.
She got up. “Where shall we sit after dinner, Arthur? In the library?”
“Well—er—I don’t think so—eh? Very nice in here—or the drawing room.”
“I think,” said Mrs. Bantry, “that we’ll sit in the library!”
Her steady eye met his. Colonel Bantry drew himself up to his full height. A sparkle came into his eye.
He said:
“You’re right, my dear. We’ll sit in the library!”
II
Mrs. Bantry put down the telephone receiver with a sigh of annoyance⁹. She had rung up twice, and each time theanswer had been the same: Miss Marple was out.
Of a naturally impatient nature, Mrs. Bantry was never one to acquiesce¹⁰ in defeat. She rang up in rapid successionthe vicarage, Mrs. Price Ridley, Miss Hartnell, Miss Wetherby, and, as a last resource, the fishmonger who, by reasonof his advantageous¹¹ geographical¹² position, usually knew where everybody was in the village.
The fishmonger was sorry, but he had not seen Miss Marple at all in the village that morning. She had not been herusual round.
“Where can the woman be?” demanded Mrs. Bantry impatiently aloud.
There was a deferential¹³ cough behind her. The discreet¹⁴ Lorrimer murmured:
“You were requiring Miss Marple, madam? I have just observed her approaching the house.”
Mrs. Bantry rushed to the front door, flung it open, and greeted Miss Marple breathlessly:
“I’ve been trying to get you everywhere. Where have you been?” She glanced over her shoulder. Lorrimer haddiscreetly vanished. “Everything’s too awful! People are beginning to cold-shoulder Arthur. He looks years older. Wemust do something, Jane. You must do something!”
Miss Marple said:
“You needn’t worry, Dolly,” in a rather peculiar¹⁵ voice.
Colonel Bantry appeared from the study door.
“Ah, Miss Marple. Good morning. Glad you’ve come. My wife’s been ringing you up like a lunatic.”
“I thought I’d better bring you the news,” said Miss Marple, as she followed Mrs. Bantry into the study.
“News?”
“Basil Blake has just been arrested for the murder of Ruby¹⁶ Keene.”
“Basil Blake?” cried the Colonel.
“But he didn’t do it,” said Miss Marple.
Colonel Bantry took no notice of this statement. It is doubtful if he even heard it.
“Do you mean to say he strangled that girl and then brought her along and put her in my library?”
“He put her in your library,” said Miss Marple. “But he didn’t kill her.”
“Nonsense! If he put her in my library, of course he killed her! The two things go together.”
“Not necessarily. He found her dead in his own cottage.”
“A likely story,” said the Colonel derisively¹⁷. “If you find a body, why, you ring up the police—naturally—if you’rean honest man.”
“Ah,” said Miss Marple, “but we haven’t all got such iron nerves as you have, Colonel Bantry. You belong to theold school. This younger generation is different.”
“Got no stamina,” said the Colonel, repeating a well-worn opinion of his.
“Some of them,” said Miss Marple, “have been through a bad time. I’ve heard a good deal about Basil. He didA.R.P. work, you know, when he was only eighteen. He went into a burning house and brought out four children, oneafter another. He went back for a dog, although they told him it wasn’t safe. The building fell in on him. They got himout, but his chest was badly crushed and he had to lie in plaster for nearly a year and was ill for a long time after that.
That’s when he got interested in designing.”
“Oh!” The Colonel coughed and blew his nose. “I—er—never knew that.”
“He doesn’t talk about it,” said Miss Marple.
“Er—quite right. Proper spirit. Must be more in the young chap than I thought. Always thought he’d shirked thewar, you know. Shows you ought to be careful in jumping to conclusions.”
Colonel Bantry looked ashamed.
“But, all the same”—his indignation revived—“what did he mean trying to fasten a murder on me?”
“I don’t think he saw it like that,” said Miss Marple. “He thought of it more as a—as a joke. You see, he was ratherunder the influence of alcohol at the time.”
“Bottled, was he?” said Colonel Bantry, with an Englishman’s sympathy for alcoholic¹⁸ excess. “Oh, well, can’tjudge a fellow by what he does when he’s drunk. When I was at Cambridge, I remember I put a certain utensil—well,well, never mind. Deuce of a row there was about it.”
He chuckled¹⁹, then checked himself sternly. He looked piercingly at Miss Marple with eyes that were shrewd andappraising. He said: “You don’t think he did the murder, eh?”
“I’m sure he didn’t.”
“And you think you know who did?”
Miss Marple nodded.
Mrs. Bantry, like an ecstatic Greek chorus, said: “Isn’t she wonderful?” to an unhearing world.
“Well, who was it?”
Miss Marple said:
“I was going to ask you to help me. I think, if we went up to Somerset House we should have a very good idea.”

1 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

2 unimpeachable   

adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地

参考例句：

• He said all five were men of unimpeachable character.他说这五个都是品格完美无缺的人。
• It is the revenge that nature takes on persons of unimpeachable character.这是自然对人品无瑕的人的报复。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 pouches   

n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋

参考例句：

• Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

8 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

9 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

10 acquiesce   

vi.默许，顺从，同意

参考例句：

• Her parents will never acquiesce in such an unsuitable marriage.她的父母决不会答应这门不相宜的婚事。
• He is so independent that he will never acquiesce.他很有主见，所以绝不会顺从。

11 advantageous   

adj.有利的；有帮助的

参考例句：

• Injections of vitamin C are obviously advantageous.注射维生素C显然是有利的。
• You're in a very advantageous position.你处于非常有利的地位。

12 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

13 deferential   

adj. 敬意的，恭敬的

参考例句：

• They like five-star hotels and deferential treatment.他们喜欢五星级的宾馆和毕恭毕敬的接待。
• I am deferential and respectful in the presence of artists.我一向恭敬、尊重艺术家。

14 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

15 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。

16 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

17 derisively   

adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地

参考例句：

• This answer came derisively from several places at the same instant. 好几个人都不约而同地以讥讽的口吻作出回答。
• The others laughed derisively. 其余的人不以为然地笑了起来。

18 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

19 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。