19. Uses of a Shoe

Nineteen
U SES OF A S HOE
C anon Prescott came back from the water’s edge slightly short of breath (playing with children is always exhausting).
Presently he and his sister went back to the hotel, finding the beach a little too hot.
“But,” said Se?ora de Caspearo scornfully as they walked away—“how can a beach be too hot? It is nonsense that—And look what she wears—her arms and her neck are all covered up. Perhaps it is as well, that. Her skin it ishideous, like a plucked chicken!”
Miss Marple drew a deep breath. Now or never was the time for conversation with Se?ora de Caspearo.
Unfortunately she did not know what to say. There seemed to be no common ground on which they could meet.
“You have children, Se?ora?” she inquired.
“I have three angels,” said Se?ora de Caspearo, kissing her fingertips.
Miss Marple was rather uncertain as to whether this meant that Se?ora de Caspearo’s offspring were in Heaven orwhether it merely referred to their characters.
One of the gentlemen in attendance made a remark in Spanish and Se?ora de Caspearo flung back her headappreciatively and laughed loudly and melodiously¹.
“You understand what he said?” she inquired of Miss Marple.
“I’m afraid not,” said Miss Marple apologetically.
“It is just as well. He is a wicked man.”
A rapid and spirited interchange of Spanish badinage² followed.
“It is infamous—infamous,” said Se?ora de Caspearo, reverting³ to English with sudden gravity, “that the police donot let us go from this island. I storm, I scream, I stamp my foot—but all they say is No—No. You know how it willend—we shall all be killed.”
Her bodyguard⁴ attempted to reassure⁵ her.
“But yes—I tell you it is unlucky here. I knew it from the first—That old Major, the ugly one—he had the Evil Eye—you remember? His eyes they crossed—It is bad, that! I make the Sign of the Horns every time when he looks myway.” She made it in illustration. “Though since he is cross-eyed I am not always sure when he does look my way—”
“He had a glass eye,” said Miss Marple in an explanatory voice. “An accident, I understand, when he was quiteyoung. It was not his fault.”
“I tell you he brought bad luck—I say it is the Evil Eye he had.”
Her hand shot out again in the well-known Latin gesture—the first finger and the little finger sticking out, the twomiddle ones doubled in. “Anyway,” she said cheerfully, “he is dead—I do not have to look at him any more. I do notlike to look at things that are ugly.”
It was, Miss Marple thought, a somewhat cruel epitaph on Major Palgrave.
Farther down the beach Gregory Dyson had come out of the sea. Lucky had turned herself over on the sand. EvelynHillingdon was looking at Lucky, and her expression, for some reason, made Miss Marple shiver.
“Surely I can’t be cold—in this hot sun,” she thought.
What was the old phrase—“A goose walking over your grave—”
She got up and went slowly back to her bungalow⁶.
On the way she passed Mr. Rafiel and Esther Walters coming down the beach. Mr. Rafiel winked⁸ at her. MissMarple did not wink⁷ back. She looked disapproving⁹.
She went into her bungalow and lay down on her bed. She felt old and tired and worried.
She was quite certain that there was no time to be lost—no time—to—be lost … It was getting late … The sun wasgoing to set—the sun—one must always look at the sun through smoked glass—Where was that piece of smoked glassthat someone had given her?…
No, she wouldn’t need it after all. A shadow had come over the sun blotting¹⁰ it out. A shadow. Evelyn Hillingdon’sshadow—No, not Evelyn Hillingdon—The Shadow (what were the words?) the Shadow of the Valley of Death. Thatwas it. She must—what was it? Make the Sign of the Horns—to avert¹¹ the Evil Eye—Major Palgrave’s Evil Eye.
Her eyelids¹² flickered¹³ open—she had been asleep. But there was a shadow—someone peering in at her window.
The shadow moved away—and Miss Marple saw who it was—It was Jackson.
“Impertinence—peering in like that,” she thought—and added parenthetically, “Just like Jonas Parry.”
The comparison reflected no credit on Jackson.
Then she wondered why Jackson had been peering into her bedroom. To see if she was there? Or to note that shewas there, but was asleep.
She got up, went into the bathroom and peered cautiously through the window.
Arthur Jackson was standing¹⁴ by the door of the bungalow next door. Mr. Rafiel’s bungalow. She saw him give arapid glance round and then slip quickly inside. Interesting, thought Miss Marple. Why did he have to look round inthat furtive¹⁵ manner? Nothing in the world could have been more natural than his going into Mr. Rafiel’s bungalowsince he himself had a room at the back of it. He was always going in and out of it on some errand or other. So whythat quick, guilty glance round? “Only one reason,” said Miss Marple answering her own question, “he wanted to besure that nobody was observing him enter at this particular moment because of something he was going to do inthere.”
Everybody, of course, was on the beach at this moment except those who had gone for expeditions. In about twentyminutes or so, Jackson himself would arrive on the beach in the course of his duties to aid Mr. Rafiel to take his seadip. If he wanted to do anything in the bungalow unobserved, now was a very good time. He had satisfied himself thatMiss Marple was asleep on her bed, he had satisfied himself that there was nobody near at hand to observe hismovements. Well, she must do her best to do exactly that.
Sitting down on her bed, Miss Marple removed her neat sandal shoes and replaced them with a pair of plimsolls.
Then she shook her head, removed the plimsolls, burrowed¹⁶ in her suitcase and took out a pair of shoes the heel of oneof which she had recently caught on a hook by the door. It was now in a slightly precarious¹⁷ state and Miss Marpleadroitly rendered it even more precarious by attention with a nail file. Then she emerged with due precaution from herdoor walking in stockinged feet. With all the care of a Big Game Hunter approaching up-wind of a herd¹⁸ of antelope,Miss Marple gently circumnavigated Mr. Rafiel’s bungalow. Cautiously she manoeuvred her way around the corner ofthe house. She put on one of the shoes she was carrying, gave a final wrench¹⁹ to the heel of the other, sank gently to herknees and lay prone²⁰ under the window. If Jackson heard anything, if he came to the window to look out, an old ladywould have had a fall owing to the heel coming off her shoe. But evidently Jackson had heard nothing.
Very, very gently Miss Marple raised her head. The windows of the bungalow were low. Shielding herself slightlywith a festoon of creeper she peered inside….
Jackson was on his knees before a suitcase. The lid of the suitcase was up and Miss Marple could see that it was aspecially fitted affair containing compartments²¹ filled with various kinds of papers. Jackson was looking through thepapers, occasionally drawing documents out of long envelopes. Miss Marple did not remain at her observation post forlong. All she wanted was to know what Jackson was doing. She knew now. Jackson was snooping. Whether he waslooking for something in particular, or whether he was just indulging his natural instincts, she had no means ofjudging. But it confirmed her in her belief that Arthur Jackson and Jonas Parry had strong affinities²² in other things thanfacial resemblance.
Her problem was now to withdraw. Very carefully she dropped down again and crept along the flowerbed until shewas clear of the window. She returned to her bungalow and carefully put away the shoe and the heel that she haddetached from it. She looked at them with affection. A good device which she could use on another day if necessary.
She resumed her own sandal shoes, and went thoughtfully down to the beach again.
Choosing a moment when Esther Walters was in the water, Miss Marple moved into the chair Esther had vacated.
Greg and Lucky were laughing and talking with Se?ora de Caspearo and making a good deal of noise.
Miss Marple spoke²³ very quietly, almost under her breath, without looking at Mr. Rafiel.
“Do you know that Jackson snoops?”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” said Mr. Rafiel. “Caught him at it, did you?”
“I managed to observe him through a window. He had one of your suitcases open and was looking through yourpapers.”
“Must have managed to get hold of a key to it. Resourceful fellow. He’ll be disappointed though. Nothing he getshold of in that way will do him a mite²⁴ of good.”
“He’s coming down now,” said Miss Marple, glancing up towards the hotel.
“Time for that idiotic²⁵ sea dip of mine.”
He spoke again—very quietly.
“As for you—don’t be too enterprising. We don’t want to be attending your funeral next. Remember your age, andbe careful. There’s somebody about who isn’t too scrupulous²⁶, remember.”

1 melodiously   

参考例句：

2 badinage   

n.开玩笑，打趣

参考例句：

• When he reached the gate,there was the usual badinage with Charlie.当他来到公园大门时, 还是与往常一样和查理开玩笑。
• For all the forced badinag,it was an awkward meal.大家尽管勉强地说说笑笑，这顿饭依旧吃得很别扭。

3 reverting   

恢复( revert的现在分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• The boss came back from holiday all relaxed and smiling, but now he's reverting to type. 老板刚度假回来时十分随和，满面笑容，现在又恢复原样了。
• The conversation kept reverting to the subject of money. 谈话的内容总是离不开钱的事。

4 bodyguard   

n.护卫，保镖

参考例句：

• She has to have an armed bodyguard wherever she goes.她不管到哪儿都得有带武器的保镖跟从。
• The big guy standing at his side may be his bodyguard.站在他身旁的那个大个子可能是他的保镖。

5 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

6 bungalow   

n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房

参考例句：

• A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
• The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

7 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

8 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 disapproving   

adj.不满的，反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 blotting   

吸墨水纸

参考例句：

• Water will permeate blotting paper. 水能渗透吸水纸。
• One dab with blotting-paper and the ink was dry. 用吸墨纸轻轻按了一下，墨水就乾了。

11 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

12 eyelids   

n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色

参考例句：

• She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

14 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。

15 furtive   

adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的

参考例句：

• The teacher was suspicious of the student's furtive behaviour during the exam.老师怀疑这个学生在考试时有偷偷摸摸的行为。
• His furtive behaviour aroused our suspicion.他鬼鬼祟祟的行为引起了我们的怀疑。

16 burrowed   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The rabbits burrowed into the hillside. 兔子在山腰上打洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She burrowed her head into my shoulder. 她把头紧靠在我的肩膀上。 来自辞典例句

17 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

18 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

19 wrench   

v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受

参考例句：

• He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
• It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。

20 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

21 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 affinities   

n.密切关系( affinity的名词复数 )；亲近；（生性）喜爱；类同

参考例句：

• Cubism had affinities with the new European interest in Jazz. 主体派和欧洲新近的爵士音乐热有密切关系。 来自辞典例句
• The different isozymes bind calcium ions with different affinities. 不同的同功酶以不同的亲和力与钙离子相结合。 来自辞典例句

23 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。

24 mite   

n.极小的东西；小铜币

参考例句：

• The poor mite was so ill.可怜的孩子病得这么重。
• He is a mite taller than I.他比我高一点点。

25 idiotic   

adj.白痴的

参考例句：

• It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
• The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

26 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。