Twenty-three

Twenty-three
T he streamlined secretary brought Harold Crackenthorpe his usual afternoon cup of tea.
“Thanks, Miss Ellis, I shall be going home early today.”
“I’m sure you ought really not to have come at all, Mr. Crackenthorpe,” said Miss Ellis. “You look quite pulleddown still.”
“I’m all right,” said Harold Crackenthorpe, but he did feel pulled down. No doubt about it, he’d had a very nastyturn. Ah, well, that was over.
Extraordinary, he thought broodingly, that Alfred should have succumbed¹ and the old man should have comethrough. After all, what was he—seventy-three—seventy-four? Been an invalid² for years. If there was one personyou’d have thought would have been taken off, it would have been the old man. But no. It had to be Alfred. Alfredwho, as far as Harold knew, was a healthy wiry sort of chap. Nothing much the matter with him.
He leaned back in his chair sighing. That girl was right. He didn’t feel up to things yet, but he had wanted to comedown to the office. Wanted to get the hang of how affairs were going. Touch and go. All this—he looked round him—the richly appointed office, the pale gleaming wood, the expensive modern chairs, it all looked prosperous enough, anda good thing too! That’s where Alfred had always gone wrong. If you looked prosperous, people thought you wereprosperous. There were no rumours³ going around as yet about his financial stability. All the same, the crash couldn’tbe delayed very long. Now, if only his father had passed out instead of Alfred, as surely, surely he ought to have done.
Practically seemed to thrive on arsenic⁴! Yes, if his father had succumbed—well, there wouldn’t have been anything toworry about.
Still, the great thing was not to seem worried. A prosperous appearance. Not like poor old Alfred who alwayslooked seedy and shiftless, who looked in fact exactly what he was. One of those small-time speculators, never goingall out boldly for the big money. In with a shady crowd here, doing a doubtful deal there, never quite renderinghimself liable to prosecution⁵ but going very near the edge. And where had it got him? Short periods of affluence⁶ andthen back to seediness and shabbiness, once more. No broad outlook about Alfred. Taken all in all, you couldn’t sayAlfred was much loss. He’d never been particularly fond of Alfred and with Alfred out of the way the money that wascoming to him from that old curmudgeon⁷, his grandfather, would be sensibly increased, divided not into five sharesbut into four shares. Very much better.
Harold’s face brightened a little. He rose, took his hat and coat and left the office. Better take it easy for a day ortwo. He wasn’t feeling too strong yet. His car was waiting below and very soon he was weaving through Londontraffic to his house.
Darwin, his manservant, opened the door.
“Her ladyship has just arrived, sir,” he said.
For a moment Harold stared at him. Alice! Good heavens, was it today that Alice was coming home? He’dforgotten all about it. Good thing Darwin had warned him. It wouldn’t have looked so good if he’d gone upstairs andlooked too astonished at seeing her. Not that it really mattered, he supposed. Neither Alice nor he had any illusionsabout the feeling they had for each other. Perhaps Alice was fond of him—he didn’t know.
All in all, Alice was a great disappointment to him. He hadn’t been in love with her, of course, but though a plainwoman she was quite a pleasant one. And her family and connections had undoubtedly⁸ been useful. Not perhaps asuseful as they might have been, because in marrying Alice he had been considering the position of hypotheticalchildren. Nice relations for his boys to have. But there hadn’t been any boys, or girls either, and all that had remainedhad been he and Alice growing older together without much to say to each other and with no particular pleasure ineach other’s company.
She stayed away a good deal with relations and usually went to the Riviera in the winter. It suited her and it didn’tworry him.
He went upstairs now into the drawing room and greeted her punctiliously⁹.
“So you’re back, my dear. Sorry I couldn’t meet you, but I was held up in the City. I got back as early as I could.
How was San Raphael?”
Alice told him how San Raphael was. She was a thin woman with sandy-coloured hair, a well-arched nose andvague, hazel eyes. She talked in a well-bred, monotonous¹⁰ and rather depressing voice. It had been a good journeyback, the Channel a little rough. The Customs, as usual, very trying at Dover.
“You should come by air,” said Harold, as he always did. “So much simpler.”
“I dare say, but I don’t really like air travel. I never have. Makes me nervous.”
“Saves a lot of time,” said Harold.
Lady Alice Crackenthorpe did not answer. It was possible that her problem in life was not to save time but tooccupy it. She inquired politely after her husband’s health.
“Emma’s telegram quite alarmed me,” she said. “You were all taken ill, I understand.”
“Yes, yes,” said Harold.
“I read in the paper the other day,” said Alice, “of forty people in a hotel going down with food poisoning at thesame time. All this refrigeration is dangerous, I think. People keep things too long in them.”
“Possibly,” said Harold. Should he, or should he not mention arsenic? Somehow, looking at Alice, he felt himselfquite unable to do so. In Alice’s world, he felt, there was no place for poisoning by arsenic. It was a thing you readabout in the papers. It didn’t happen to you or your own family. But it had happened in the Crackenthorpe family….
He went up to his room and lay down for an hour or two before dressing¹¹ for dinner. At dinner, tête-à-tête with hiswife, the conversation ran on much the same lines. Desultory¹², polite. The mention of acquaintances and friends at SanRaphael.
“There’s a parcel for you on the hall table, a small one,” Alice said.
“Is there? I didn’t notice it.”
“It’s an extraordinary thing but somebody was telling me about a murdered woman having been found in a barn, orsomething like that. She said it was at Rutherford Hall. I suppose it must be some other Rutherford Hall.”
“No,” said Harold, “no, it isn’t. It was in our barn, as a matter of fact.”
“Really, Harold! A murdered woman in the barn at Rutherford Hall—and you never told me anything about it.”
“Well, there hasn’t been much time, really,” said Harold, “and it was all rather unpleasant. Nothing to do with us,of course. The Press milled around a good deal. Of course we had to deal with the police and all that sort of thing.”
“Very unpleasant,” said Alice. “Did they find out who did it?” she added, with rather perfunctory interest.
“Not yet,” said Harold.
“What sort of woman was she?”
“Nobody knows. French, apparently¹³.”
“Oh, French,” said Alice, and allowing for the difference in class, her tone was not unlike that of Inspector¹⁴ Bacon.
“Very annoying for you all,” she agreed.
They went out from the dining room and crossed into the small study where they usually sat when they were alone.
Harold was feeling quite exhausted¹⁵ by now. “I’ll go up to bed early,” he thought.
He picked up the small parcel from the hall table, about which his wife had spoken to him. It was a small neatlywaxed parcel, done up with meticulous¹⁶ exactness. Harold ripped it open as he came to sit down in his usual chair bythe fire.
Inside was a small tablet box bearing the label, “Two to be taken nightly.” With it was a small piece of paper withthe chemist’s heading in Brackhampton. “Sent by request of Doctor Quimper” was written on it.
Harold Crackenthorpe frowned. He opened the box and looked at the tablets. Yes, they seemed to be the sametablets he had been having. But surely, surely Quimper had said that he needn’t take anymore? “You won’t want them,now.” That’s what Quimper had said.
“What is it, dear?” said Alice. “You look worried.”
“Oh, it’s just—some tablets. I’ve been taking them at night. But I rather thought the doctor said don’t takeanymore.”
His wife said placidly¹⁷: “He probably said don’t forget to take them.”
“He may have done, I suppose,” said Harold doubtfully.
He looked across at her. She was watching him. Just for a moment or two he wondered—he didn’t often wonderabout Alice—exactly what she was thinking. That mild gaze of hers told him nothing. Her eyes were like windows inan empty house. What did Alice think about him, feel about him? Had she been in love with him once? He supposedshe had. Or did she marry him because she thought he was doing well in the City, and she was tired of her ownimpecunious existence? Well, on the whole, she’d done quite well out of it. She’d got a car and a house in London, shecould travel abroad when she felt like it and get herself expensive clothes, though goodness knows they never lookedlike anything on Alice. Yes, on the whole she’d done pretty well. He wondered if she thought so. She wasn’t reallyfond of him, of course, but then he wasn’t really fond of her. They had nothing in common, nothing to talk about, nomemories to share. If there had been children—but there hadn’t been any children—odd that there were no children inthe family except young Edie’s boy. Young Edie. She’d been a silly girl, making that foolish, hasty war- timemarriage. Well, he’d given her good advice.
He’d said: “It’s all very well, these dashing young pilots, glamour¹⁸, courage, all that, but he’ll be no good in peacetime, you know. Probably be barely able to support you.”
And Edie had said, what did it matter? She loved Bryan and Bryan loved her, and he’d probably be killed quitesoon. Why shouldn’t they have some happiness? What was the good of looking to the future when they might well bebombed any minute. And after all, Edie had said, the future doesn’t really matter because some day there’ll be allgrandfather’s money.
Harold squirmed uneasily in his chair. Really, that will of his grandfather’s had been iniquitous¹⁹! Keeping them alldangling on a string. The will hadn’t pleased anybody. It didn’t please the grandchildren and it made their father quitelivid. The old boy was absolutely determined²⁰ not to die. That’s what made him take so much care of himself. But he’dhave to die soon. Surely, surely he’d have to die soon. Otherwise—all Harold’s worries swept over him once moremaking him feel sick and tired and giddy.
Alice was still watching him, he noticed. Those pale, thoughtful eyes, they made him uneasy somehow.
“I think I shall go to bed,” he said. “It’s been my first day out in the City.”
“Yes,” said Alice, “I think that’s a good idea. I’m sure the doctor told you to take things easily at first.”
“Doctors always tell you that,” said Harold.
“And don’t forget to take your tablets, dear,” said Alice. She picked up the box and handed it to him.
He said good night and went upstairs. Yes, he needed the tablets. It would have been a mistake to leave them offtoo soon. He took two of them and swallowed them with a glass of water.

1 succumbed   

不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死

参考例句：

• The town succumbed after a short siege. 该城被围困不久即告失守。
• After an artillery bombardment lasting several days the town finally succumbed. 在持续炮轰数日后，该城终于屈服了。

2 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。

3 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。

4 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

5 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

6 affluence   

n.充裕，富足

参考例句：

• Their affluence is more apparent than real.他们的富有是虚有其表。
• There is a lot of affluence in this part of the state because it has many businesses.这个州的这一部分相当富有，因为它有很多商行。

7 curmudgeon   

n. 脾气暴躁之人，守财奴，吝啬鬼

参考例句：

• The old curmudgeon found a new scapegoat and that let me out.那个老守财奴找到一个新的替罪羊，这样我就脱身了。
• The old curmudgeon was talking about the smothering effects of parental duty on creative lives.那些坏脾气的老人们喋喋不休于父母生儿育女之责任的妨碍性效应。

8 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

9 punctiliously   

参考例句：

• Given the circumstances, his behaviour to Laura had been punctiliously correct. 考虑当时的情况，他对劳拉的举止非常得体。 来自柯林斯例句

10 monotonous   

adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的

参考例句：

• She thought life in the small town was monotonous.她觉得小镇上的生活单调而乏味。
• His articles are fixed in form and monotonous in content.他的文章千篇一律，一个调调儿。

11 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 desultory   

adj.散漫的，无方法的

参考例句：

• Do not let the discussion fragment into a desultory conversation with no clear direction.不要让讨论变得支离破碎，成为没有明确方向的漫谈。
• The constables made a desultory attempt to keep them away from the barn.警察漫不经心地拦着不让他们靠近谷仓。

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 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

15 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

16 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

17 placidly   

adv.平稳地，平静地

参考例句：

• Hurstwood stood placidly by, while the car rolled back into the yard. 当车子开回场地时，赫斯渥沉着地站在一边。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• The water chestnut floated placidly there, where it would grow. 那棵菱角就又安安稳稳浮在水面上生长去了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

18 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

19 iniquitous   

adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的

参考例句：

• Many historians,of course,regard this as iniquitous.当然，许多历史学家认为这是极不公正的。
• Men of feeling may at any moment be killed outright by the iniquitous and the callous.多愁善感的人会立即被罪恶的人和无情的人彻底消灭。

20 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。