W ITHOUT B ENEFIT OF C LERGY
IT he beach was rather empty this morning. Greg was splashing in the water in his usual noisy style, Lucky was lyingon her face on the beach with a sun-tanned back well oiled and her blonde hair splayed over her shoulders. TheHillingdons were not there. Se?ora de Caspearo, with an assorted1 bag of gentlemen in attendance, was lying faceupwards and talking deep-throated, happy Spanish. Some French and Italian children were playing at the water’s edgeand laughing. Canon and Miss Prescott were sitting in beach chairs observing the scene. The Canon had his hat tiltedforward over his eyes and seemed half asleep. There was a convenient chair next to Miss Prescott and Miss Marplemade for it and sat down.
“Oh dear,” she said with a deep sigh.
“I know,” said Miss Prescott.
It was their joint2 tribute to violent death.
“That poor girl,” said Miss Marple.
“Very sad,” said the Canon. “Most deplorable.”
“For a moment or two,” said Miss Prescott, “we really thought of leaving, Jeremy and I. But then we decidedagainst it. It would not really be fair, I felt, on the Kendals. After all, it’s not their fault—It might have happenedanywhere.”
“In the midst of life we are in death,” said the Canon solemnly.
“It’s very important, you know,” said Miss Prescott, “that they should make a go of this place. They have sunk alltheir capital in it.”
“A very sweet girl,” said Miss Marple, “but not looking at all well lately.”
“Very nervy,” agreed Miss Prescott. “Of course her family—” she shook her head.
“I really think, Joan,” said the Canon in mild reproof3, “that there are some things—”
“Everybody knows about it,” said Miss Prescott. “Her family live in our part of the world. A great-aunt—mostpeculiar—and one of her uncles took off all his clothes in one of the tube stations. Green Park, I believe it was.”
“Joan, that is a thing that should not be repeated.”
“Very sad,” said Miss Marple, shaking her head, “though I believe not an uncommon4 form of madness. I knowwhen we were working for the Armenian relief, a most respectable elderly clergyman was afflicted6 the same way.
They telephoned his wife and she came along at once and took him home in a cab, wrapped in a blanket.”
“Of course, Molly’s immediate7 family’s all right,” said Miss Prescott. “She never got on very well with her mother,but then so few girls seem to get on with their mothers nowadays.”
“Such a pity,” said Miss Marple, shaking her head, “because really a young girl needs her mother’s knowledge ofthe world and experience.”
“Exactly,” said Miss Prescott with emphasis. “Molly, you know, took up with some man—quite unsuitable, Iunderstand.”
“It so often happens,” said Miss Marple.
“Her family disapproved8, naturally. She didn’t tell them about it. They heard about it from a complete outsider. Ofcourse her mother said she must bring him along so that they met him properly. This, I understand, the girl refused todo. She said it was humiliating to him. Most insulting to be made to come and meet her family and be looked over.
Just as though you were a horse, she said.”
Miss Marple sighed. “One does need so much tact9 when dealing10 with the young,” she murmured.
“Anyway, there it was! They forbade her to see him.”
“But you can’t do that nowadays,” said Miss Marple. “Girls have jobs and they meet people whether anyoneforbids them or not.”
“But then, very fortunately,” went on Miss Prescott, “she met Tim Kendal, and the other man sort of faded out ofthe picture. I can’t tell you how relieved the family was.”
“I hope they didn’t show it too plainly,” said Miss Marple. “That so often puts girls off from forming suitableattachments.”
“Yes, indeed.”
“One remembers oneself—” murmured Miss Marple, her mind going back to the past. A young man she had met ata croquet party. He had seemed so nice — rather gay, almost Bohemian in his views. And then he had beenunexpectedly warmly welcomed by her father. He had been suitable, eligible11; he had been asked freely to the housemore than once, and Miss Marple had found that, after all, he was dull. Very dull.
The Canon seemed safely comatose12 and Miss Marple advanced tentatively to the subject she was anxious topursue.
“Of course you know so much about this place,” she murmured. “You have been here several years running, haveyou not?”
“Well, last year and two years before that. We like St. Honoré very much. Always such nice people here. Not theflashy, ultra-rich set.”
“So I suppose you know the Hillingdons and the Dysons well?”
“Yes, fairly well.”
Miss Marple coughed and lowered her voice slightly.
“Major Palgrave told me such an interesting story,” she said.
“He had a great repertoire13 of stories, hadn’t he? Of course he had travelled very widely. Africa, India, even China Ibelieve.”
“Yes indeed,” said Miss Marple. “But I didn’t mean one of those stories. This was a story concerned with—well,with one of the people I have just mentioned.”
“Oh!” said Miss Prescott. Her voice held meaning.
“Yes. Now I wonder—” Miss Marple allowed her eyes to travel gently round the beach to where Lucky laysunning her back. “Very beautifully tanned, isn’t she,” remarked Miss Marple. “And her hair. Most attractive.
Practically the same colour as Molly Kendal’s, isn’t it?”
“The only difference,” said Miss Prescott, “is that Molly’s is natural and Lucky’s comes out of a bottle!”
“Really, Joan,” the Canon protested, unexpectedly awake again. “Don’t you think that is rather an uncharitablething to say?”
“It’s not uncharitable,” said Miss Prescott, acidly. “Merely a fact.”
“It looks very nice to me,” said the Canon.
“Of course. That’s why she does it. But I assure you, my dear Jeremy, it wouldn’t deceive any woman for amoment. Would it?” She appealed to Miss Marple.
“Well, I’m afraid—” said Miss Marple, “of course I haven’t the experience that you have—but I’m afraid—yes Ishould say definitely not natural. The appearance at the roots every fifth or sixth day—” She looked at Miss Prescottand they both nodded with quiet female assurance.
The Canon appeared to be dropping off again.
“Major Palgrave told me a really extraordinary story,” murmured Miss Marple, “about—well I couldn’t quite makeout. I am a little deaf sometimes. He appeared to be saying or hinting—” she paused.
“I know what you mean. There was a great deal of talk at the time—”
“You mean at the time that—”
“When the first Mrs. Dyson died. Her death was quite unexpected. In fact, everybody thought she was a maladeimaginaire—a hypochondriac. So when she had the attack and died so unexpectedly, well, of course, people did talk.”
“There wasn’t—any—trouble at the time?”
“The doctor was puzzled. He was quite a young man and he hadn’t had much experience. He was what I call one ofthose antibiotics-for-all men. You know, the kind that doesn’t bother to look at the patient much, or worry what’s thematter with him. They just give them some kind of pill out of a bottle and if they don’t get better, then they try adifferent pill. Yes, I believe he was puzzled, but it seemed she had had gastric14 trouble before. At least her husband saidso, and there seemed no reason for believing anything was wrong.”
“But you yourself think—”
“Well, I always try to keep an open mind, but one does wonder, you know. And what with various things peoplesaid—”
“Joan!” The Canon sat up. He looked belligerent15. “I don’t like—I really don’t like to hear this kind of ill-naturedgossip being repeated. We’ve always set our faces against that kind of thing. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil—and what is more, think no evil! That should be the motto of every Christian16 man and woman.”
The two women sat in silence. They were rebuked17, and in deference18 to their training they deferred19 to the criticismof a man. But inwardly they were frustrated20, irritated and quite unrepentant. Miss Prescott threw a frank glance ofirritation towards her brother. Miss Marple took out her knitting and looked at it. Fortunately for them Chance was ontheir side.
“Mon père,” said a small shrill21 voice. It was one of the French children who had been playing at the water’s edge.
She had come up unnoticed, and was standing22 by Canon Prescott’s chair.
“Mon père,” she fluted23.
“Eh? Yes, my dear? Oui, qu’est-ce qu’il y a, ma petite?”
The child explained. There had been a dispute about who should have the water-wings next and also other mattersof seaside etiquette24. Canon Prescott was extremely fond of children, especially small girls. He was always delighted tobe summoned to act as arbiter25 in their disputes. He rose willingly now and accompanied the child to the water’s edge.
Miss Marple and Miss Prescott breathed deep sighs and turned avidly26 towards each other.
II
“Jeremy, of course rightly, is very against ill-natured gossip,” said Miss Prescott, “but one cannot really ignore whatpeople are saying. And there was, as I say, a great deal of talk at the time.”
“Yes?” Miss Marple’s tone urged her forward.
“This young woman, you see, Miss Greatorex I think her name was then, I can’t remember now, was a kind ofcousin and she looked after Mrs. Dyson. Gave her all her medicines and things like that.” There was a short,meaningless pause. “And of course there had, I understand”—Miss Prescott’s voice was lowered—“been goings-onbetween Mr. Dyson and Miss Greatorex. A lot of people had noticed them. I mean things like that are quicklyobserved in a place like this. Then there was some curious story about some stuff that Edward Hillingdon got for her ata chemist.”
“Oh, Edward Hillingdon came into it?”
“Oh yes, he was very much attracted. People noticed it. And Lucky—Miss Greatorex—played them off againsteach other. Gregory Dyson and Edward Hillingdon. One has to face it, she has always been an attractive woman.”
“Though not as young as she was,” Miss Marple replied.
“Exactly. But she was always very well turned out and made up. Of course not so flamboyant27 when she was justthe poor relation. She always seemed very devoted28 to the invalid29. But, well, you see how it was.”
“What was this story about the chemist—how did that get known?”
“Well, it wasn’t in Jamestown, I think it was when they were in Martinique. The French, I believe, are more laxthan we are in the matter of drugs—This chemist talked to someone, and the story got around—Well, you know howthese things happen.”
Miss Marple did. None better.
“He said something about Colonel Hillingdon asking for something and not seeming to know what it was he wasasking for. Consulting a piece of paper, you know, on which it was written down. Anyway, as I say, there was talk.”
“But I don’t see quite why Colonel Hillingdon—” Miss Marple frowned in perplexity.
“I suppose he was just being used as a cat’s-paw. Anyway, Gregory Dyson married again in an almost indecentlyshort time. Barely a month later, I understand.”
They looked at each other.
“But there was no real suspicion?” Miss Marple asked.
“Oh no, it was just—well, talk. Of course there may have been absolutely nothing in it.”
“Major Palgrave thought there was.”
“Did he say so to you?”
“I wasn’t really listening very closely,” confessed Miss Marple. “I just wondered if—er—well, if he’d said thesame thing to you?”
“He did point her out to me one day,” said Miss Prescott.
“Really? He actually pointed30 her out?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I thought at first it was Mrs. Hillingdon he was pointing out. He wheezed31 and chuckled32 abit and said, ‘Look at that woman over there. In my opinion that’s a woman who’s done murder and got away with it.’
I was very shocked, of course. I said, ‘Surely you’re joking, Major Palgrave,’ and he said, ‘Yes, yes, dear lady, let’scall it joking.’ The Dysons and the Hillingdons were sitting at a table quite near to us, and I was afraid they’doverhear. He chuckled and said ‘Wouldn’t care to go to a drinks party and have a certain person mix me a cocktail33.
Too much like supper with the Borgias.’”
“How very interesting,” said Miss Marple. “Did he mention—a—a photograph?”
“I don’t remember … Was it some newspaper cutting?”
Miss Marple, about to speak, shut her lips. The sun was momentarily obscured by a shadow. Evelyn Hillingdonpaused beside them.
“Good morning,” she said.
“I was wondering where you were,” said Miss Prescott, looking up brightly.
“I’ve been to Jamestown, shopping.”
“Oh, I see.”
Miss Prescott looked round vaguely34 and Evelyn Hillingdon said:
“Oh, I didn’t take Edward with me. Men hate shopping.”
“Did you find anything of interest?”
“It wasn’t that sort of shopping. I just had to go to the chemist.”
With a smile and a slight nod she went on down the beach.
“Such nice people, the Hillingdons,” said Miss Prescott, “though she’s not really very easy to know, is she? I mean,she’s always very pleasant and all that, but one never seems to get to know her any better.”
Miss Marple agreed thoughtfully.
“One never knows what she is thinking,” said Miss Prescott.
“Perhaps that is just as well,” said Miss Marple.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh nothing really, only that I’ve always had the feeling that perhaps her thoughts might be rather disconcerting.”
“Oh,” said Miss Prescott, looking puzzled. “I see what you mean.” She went on with a slight change of subject. “Ibelieve they have a very charming place in Hampshire, and a boy—or is it two boys—who have just gone—or one ofthem—to Winchester.”
“Do you know Hampshire well?”
“No. Hardly at all. I believe their house is somewhere near Alton.”
“I see.” Miss Marple paused and then said, “And where do the Dysons live?”
“California,” said Miss Prescott. “When they are at home, that is. They are great travellers.”
“One really knows so little about the people one meets when one is travelling,” said Miss Marple. “I mean—howshall I put it—one only knows, doesn’t one, what they choose to tell you about themselves. For instance, you don’treally know that the Dysons live in California.”
Miss Prescott looked startled.
“I’m sure Mr. Dyson mentioned it.”
“Yes. Yes, exactly. That’s what I mean. And the same thing perhaps with the Hillingdons. I mean when you saythat they live in Hampshire, you’re really repeating what they told you, aren’t you?”
Miss Prescott looked slightly alarmed. “Do you mean that they don’t live in Hampshire?” she asked.
“No, no, not for one moment,” said Miss Marple, quickly apologetic. “I was only using them as an instance as towhat one knows or doesn’t know about people.” She added, “I have told you that I live at St. Mary Mead35, which is aplace, no doubt, of which you have never heard. But you don’t, if I may say so, know it of your own knowledge, doyou?”
Miss Prescott forbore from saying that she really couldn’t care less where Miss Marple lived. It was somewhere inthe country and in the South of England and that is all she knew. “Oh, I do see what you mean,” she agreed hastily,“and I know that one can’t possibly be too careful when one is abroad.”
“I didn’t exactly mean that,” said Miss Marple.
There were some odd thoughts going through Miss Marple’s mind. Did she really know, she was asking herself,that Canon Prescott and Miss Prescott were really Canon Prescott and Miss Prescott? They said so. There was noevidence to contradict them. It would really be easy, would it not, to put on a dog-collar, to wear the appropriateclothes, to make the appropriate conversation. If there was a motive….
Miss Marple was fairly knowledgeable36 about the clergy5 in her part of the world, but the Prescotts came from thenorth. Durham, wasn’t it? She had no doubt they were the Prescotts, but still, it came back to the same thing—onebelieved what people said to one.
Perhaps one ought to be on one’s guard against that. Perhaps … She shook her head thoughtfully.
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assorted
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joint
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reproof
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uncommon
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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immediate
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disapproved
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tact
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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comatose
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| adj.昏睡的，昏迷不醒的 | |
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repertoire
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| n.(准备好演出的)节目，保留剧目；(计算机的)指令表，指令系统， <美>(某个人的)全部技能；清单，指令表 | |
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gastric
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belligerent
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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shrill
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standing
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fluted
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etiquette
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arbiter
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avidly
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flamboyant
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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invalid
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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wheezed
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| v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chuckled
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cocktail
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vaguely
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mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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knowledgeable
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