Seventeen

Seventeen
E lla put down the telephone receiver, smiled to herself and came out of the public telephone box. She was pleasedwith herself.
“Chief-Inspector God Almighty¹ Craddock!” she said to herself. “I’m twice as good as he is at the job. Variationson the theme of: ‘Fly, all is discovered!’”
She pictured to herself with a good deal of pleasure the reactions recently suffered by the person at the other end ofthe line. That faint menacing whisper coming through the receiver. “I saw you….”
She laughed silently, the corners of her mouth curving up in a feline² cruel line. A student of psychology³ might havewatched her with some interest. Never until the last few days had she had this feeling of power. She was hardly awareherself of how much the heady intoxication⁴ of it affected⁵ her….
“Damn that old woman,” thought Ella. She could feel Mrs. Bantry’s eyes following her as she walked up the drive.
A phrase came into her head for no particular reason.
The pitcher⁶ goes to the well once too often….
Nonsense. Nobody could suspect that it was she who had whispered those menacing words….
She sneezed.
“Damn this hay fever,” said Ella Zielinsky.
When she came into her office, Jason Rudd was standing⁷ by the window.
He wheeled round.
“I couldn’t think where you were.”
“I had to go and speak to the gardener. There were—” she broke off as she caught sight of his face.
She asked sharply: “What is it?”
His eyes seemed set deeper in his face than ever. All the gaiety of the clown was gone. This was a man understrain. She had seen him under strain before but never looking like this.
She said again: “What is it?”
He held a sheet of paper out to her. “It’s the analysis of that coffee. The coffee that Marina complained about andwouldn’t drink.”
“You sent it to be analysed?” She was startled. “But you poured it away down the sink. I saw you.”
His wide mouth curled up in a smile. “I’m pretty good at sleight⁸ of hand, Ella,” he said. “You didn’t know that, didyou? Yes, I poured most of it away but I kept a little and I took it along to be analysed.”
She looked down at the paper in her hand.
“Arsenic⁹.” She sounded incredulous.
“Yes, arsenic.”
“So Marina was right about it tasting bitter?”
“She wasn’t right about that. Arsenic has no taste. But her instinct was quite right.”
“And we thought she was just being hysterical¹⁰!”
“She is hysterical! Who wouldn’t be? She has a woman drop dead at her feet practically. She gets threatening notes—one after another—there’s not been anything today, has there?”
Ella shook her head.
“Who plants the damned things? Oh well, I suppose it’s easy enough—all these open windows. Anyone could slipin.”
“You mean we ought to keep the house barred and locked? But it’s such hot weather. There’s a man posted in thegrounds, after all.”
“Yes, and I don’t want to frighten her more than she’s frightened already. Threatening notes don’t matter twohoots. But arsenic, Ella, arsenic’s different….”
“Nobody could tamper¹¹ with food here in the house.”
“Couldn’t they, Ella? Couldn’t they?”
“Not without being seen. No unauthorized person—”
He interrupted.
“People will do things for money, Ella.”
“Hardly murder!”
“Even that. And they mightn’t realize it was murder… The servants….”
“I’m sure the servants are all right.”
“Giuseppe now. I doubt if I’d trust Giuseppe very far if it came to the question of money… He’s been with us sometime, of course, but—”
“Must you torture yourself like this, Jason?”
He flung himself down in the chair. He leaned forward, his long arms hanging down between his knees.
“What to do?” he said slowly and softly. “My God, what to do?”
Ella did not speak. She sat there watching him.
“She was happy here,” said Jason. He was speaking more to himself than to Ella. He stared down between hisknees at the carpet. If he had looked up, the expression on her face might perhaps have surprised him.
“She was happy,” he said again. “She hoped to be happy and she was happy. She was saying so that day, the dayMrs. What’s-her-name—”
“Bantry?”
“Yes. The day Mrs. Bantry came to tea. She said it was ‘so peaceful.’ She said that at last she’d found a placewhere she could settle down and be happy and feel secure. My goodness, secure!”
“Happy ever after?” Ella’s voice held a slight tone of irony¹². “Yes, put like that, it sounds just like a fairy story.”
“At any rate she believed it.”
“But you didn’t,” said Ella. “You never thought it would be like that?”
Jason Rudd smiled. “No. I didn’t go the whole hog¹³. But I did think for a while, a year—two years—there might bea period of calm and content. It might have made a new woman of her. It might have given her confidence in herself.
She can be happy, you know. When she is happy she’s like a child. Just like a child. And now—this had to happen toher.”
Ella moved restlessly. “Things have to happen to all of us,” she said brusquely. “That’s the way life is. You justhave to take it. Some of us can, some of us can’t. She’s the kind that can’t.”
She sneezed.
“Your hay fever bad again?”
“Yes. By the way, Giuseppe’s gone to London.”
Jason looked faintly surprised.
“To London? Why?”
“Some kind of family trouble. He’s got relations in Soho, and one of them’s desperately¹⁴ ill. He went to Marinaabout it and she said it was all right, so I gave him the day off. He’ll be back sometime tonight. You don’t mind doyou?”
“No,” said Jason, “I don’t mind….”
He got up and walked up and down.
“If I could take her away…now…at once.”
“Scrap the picture? But just think.”
His voice rose.
“I can’t think of anything but Marina. Don’t you understand? She’s in danger. That’s all I can think about.”
She opened her mouth impulsively¹⁵, then closed it.
She gave another muffled¹⁶ sneeze and rose.
“I’d better get my atomizer.”
She left the room and went to her bedroom, a word echoing in her mind.
Marina… Marina… Marina… Always Marina….
Fury rose up in her. She stilled it. She went into the bathroom and picked up the spray she used.
She inserted the nozzle into one nostril¹⁷ and squeezed.
The warning came a second too late… Her brain recognized the unfamiliar¹⁸ odour of bitter almonds…but not intime to paralyse the squeezing fingers.

1 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

2 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

3 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

4 intoxication   

n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning

参考例句：

• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。
• Predator: Intoxication-Damage over time effect will now stack with other allies. Predator:Intoxication,持续性伤害的效果将会与队友相加。

5 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。

6 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

7 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。

8 sleight   

n.技巧，花招

参考例句：

• With a little statistical sleight of hand they could make things look all right.只要在统计上耍些小小的花招，他们就能瞒天过海。
• In the theater of the media there is an economic sleight of hand.传播媒介在经济上耍了一个大花招。

9 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。

10 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

11 tamper   

v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• Do not tamper with other's business.不要干预别人的事。
• They had strict orders not to tamper with the customs of the minorities.他们得到命令严禁干涉少数民族的风俗习惯。

12 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

13 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

14 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

15 impulsively   

adv.冲动地

参考例句：

• She leant forward and kissed him impulsively. 她倾身向前，感情冲动地吻了他。
• Every good, true, vigorous feeling I had gathered came impulsively round him. 我的一切良好、真诚而又强烈的感情都紧紧围绕着他涌现出来。

16 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 nostril   

n.鼻孔

参考例句：

• The Indian princess wore a diamond in her right nostril.印弟安公主在右鼻孔中戴了一颗钻石。
• All South American monkeys have flat noses with widely spaced nostril.所有南美洲的猴子都有平鼻子和宽大的鼻孔。

18 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。