I“E lvira.”
“Hallo, Bridget.”
The Hon. Elvira Blake pushed her way through the front door of 180 Onslow Square, which her friend Bridget hadrushed down to open for her, having been watching through the window.
“Let’s go upstairs,” said Elvira.
“Yes, we’d better. Otherwise we’ll get entangled1 by Mummy.”
The two girls rushed up the stairs, thereby2 circumventing3 Bridget’s mother, who came out onto the landing fromher own bedroom just too late.
“You really are lucky not to have a mother,” said Bridget, rather breathlessly as she took her friend into herbedroom and shut the door firmly. “I mean, Mummy’s quite a pet and all that, but the questions she asks! Morning,noon and night. Where are you going, and who have you met? And are they cousins of somebody else of the samename in Yorkshire? I mean, the futility4 of it all.”
“I suppose they have nothing else to think about,” said Elvira vaguely5. “Look here, Bridget, there’s somethingterribly important I’ve got to do, and you’ve got to help me.”
“Well, I will if I can. What is it—a man?”
“No, it isn’t, as a matter of fact.” Bridget looked disappointed. “I’ve got to get away to Ireland for twenty-fourhours or perhaps longer, and you’ve got to cover up for me.”
“To Ireland? Why?”
“I can’t tell you all about it now. There’s no time. I’ve got to meet my guardian6, Colonel Luscombe, at Prunier’sfor lunch at half past one.”
“What have you done with the Carpenter?”
“Gave her the slip in Debenham’s.”
Bridget giggled7.
“And after lunch they’re taking me down to the Melfords. I’m going to live with them until I’m twenty-one.”
“How ghastly!”
“I expect I shall manage. Cousin Mildred is fearfully easy to deceive. It’s arranged I’m to come up for classes andthings. There’s a place called World of Today. They take you to lectures and to Museums and to Picture Galleries andthe House of Lords, and all that. The whole point is that nobody will know whether you’re where you ought to be ornot! We’ll manage lots of things.”
“I expect we will.” Bridget giggled. “We managed in Italy, didn’t we? Old Macaroni thought she was so strict.
Little did she know what we got up to when we tried.”
Both girls laughed in the pleasant consciousness of successful wickedness.
“Still, it did need a lot of planning,” said Elvira.
“And some splendid lying,” said Bridget. “Have you heard from Guido?”
“Oh yes, he wrote me a long letter signed Ginevra as though he was a girlfriend. But I do wish you’d stop talkingso much, Bridget. We’ve got a lot to do and only about an hour and a half to do it in. Now first of all just listen. I’mcoming up tomorrow for an appointment with the dentist. That’s easy, I can put it off by telephone—or you can fromhere. Then, about midday, you can ring up the Melfords pretending to be your mother and explain that the dentistwants to see me again the next day and so I’m staying over with you here.”
“That ought to go down all right. They’ll say how very kind and gush9. But supposing you’re not back the nextday?”
“Then you’ll have to do some more ringing up.”
Bridget looked doubtful.
“We’ll have lots of time to think up something before then,” said Elvira impatiently. “What’s worrying me now ismoney. You haven’t got any, I suppose?” Elvira spoke10 without much hope.
“Only about two pounds.”
“That’s no good. I’ve got to buy my air ticket. I’ve looked up the flights. It only takes about two hours. A lotdepends upon how long it takes me when I get there.”
“Can’t you tell me what you’re going to do?”
“No, I can’t. But it’s terribly, terribly important.”
Elvira’s voice was so different that Bridget looked at her in some surprise.
“Is anything really the matter, Elvira?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Is it something nobody’s got to know about?”
“Yes, that’s the sort of thing. It’s frightfully, frightfully secret. I’ve got to find out if something is really true or not.
It’s a bore about the money. What’s maddening is that I’m really quite rich. My guardian told me so. But all they giveme is a measly dress allowance. And that seems to go as soon as I get it.”
“Wouldn’t your guardian—Colonel Thingummybob—lend you some money?”
“That wouldn’t do at all. He’d ask a lot of questions and want to know what I wanted it for.”
“Oh, dear, I suppose he would. I can’t think why everybody wants to ask so many questions. Do you know that ifsomebody rings me up, Mummy has to ask who it is? When it really is no business of hers!”
Elvira agreed, but her mind was on another tack12.
“Have you ever pawned13 anything, Bridget?”
“Never. I don’t think I’d know how to.”
“It’s quite easy, I believe,” said Elvira. “You go to the sort of jeweller who has three balls over the door, isn’t thatright?”
“I don’t think I’ve got anything that would be any good taking to a pawnbroker,” said Bridget.
“Hasn’t your mother got some jewellery somewhere?”
“I don’t think we’d better ask her to help.”
“No, perhaps not—But we could pinch something perhaps.”
“Oh, I don’t think we could do that,” said Bridget, shocked.
“No? Well, perhaps you’re right. But I bet she wouldn’t notice. We could get it back before she missed it. I know.
We’ll go to Mr. Bollard.”
“Who’s Mr. Bollard?”
“Oh, he’s a sort of family jeweller. I take my watch there always to have it mended. He’s known me ever since Iwas six. Come on, Bridget, we’ll go there right away. We’ll just have time.”
“We’d better go out the back way,” said Bridget, “and then Mummy won’t ask us where we’re going.”
Outside the old established business of Bollard and Whitley in Bond Street the two girls made their finalarrangements.
“Are you sure you understand, Bridget?”
“I think so,” said Bridget in a far from happy voice.
“First,” said Elvira, “we synchronize14 our watches.”
Bridget brightened up a little. This familiar literary phrase had a heartening effect. They solemnly synchronizedtheir watches, Bridget adjusting hers by one minute.
“Zero hour will be twenty-five past exactly,” said Elvira.
“That will give me plenty of time. Perhaps even more than I need, but it’s better that way about.”
“But supposing—” began Bridget.
“Supposing what?” asked Elvira.
“Well, I mean, supposing I really got run over?”
“Of course you won’t get run over,” said Elvira. “You know how nippy you are on your feet, and all London trafficis used to pulling up suddenly. It’ll be all right.”
Bridget looked far from convinced.
“You won’t let me down, Bridget, will you?”
“All right,” said Bridget, “I won’t let you down.”
“Good,” said Elvira.
Bridget crossed to the other side of Bond Street and Elvira pushed open the doors of Messrs. Bollard and Whitley,old established jewellers and watchmakers. Inside there was a beautiful and hushed atmosphere. A frock-coatednobleman came forward and asked Elvira what he could do for her.
“Could I see Mr. Bollard?”
“Mr. Bollard. What name shall I say?”
“Miss Elvira Blake.”
The nobleman disappeared and Elvira drifted to a counter where, below plate glass, brooches, rings and braceletsshowed off their jewelled proportions against suitable shades of velvet18. In a very few moments Mr. Bollard made hisappearance. He was the senior partner of the firm, an elderly man of sixty odd. He greeted Elvira with warmfriendliness.
“Ah, Miss Blake, so you are in London. It’s a great pleasure to see you. Now what can I do for you?”
Elvira produced a dainty little evening wristwatch.
“This watch doesn’t go properly,” said Elvira. “Could you do something to it?”
“Oh yes, of course. There’s no difficulty about that.” Mr. Bollard took it from her. “What address shall I send itto?”
Elvira gave the address.
“And there’s another thing,” she said. “My guardian—Colonel Luscombe you know—”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
“He asked me what I’d like for a Christmas present,” said Elvira. “He suggested I should come in here and look atsome different things. He said would I like him to come with me, and I said I’d rather come along first—because Ialways think it’s rather embarrassing, don’t you? I mean, prices and all that.”
“Well, that’s certainly one aspect,” said Mr. Bollard, beaming in an avuncular19 manner. “Now what had you inmind, Miss Blake? A brooch, bracelet17—a ring?”
“I think really brooches are more useful,” said Elvira. “But I wonder—could I look at a lot of things?” She lookedup at him appealingly. He smiled sympathetically.
“Of course, of course. No pleasure at all if one has to make up one’s mind too quickly, is it?”
The next five minutes were spent very agreeably. Nothing was too much trouble for Mr. Bollard. He fetched thingsfrom one case and another, brooches and bracelets16 piled up on the piece of velvet spread in front of Elvira.
Occasionally she turned aside to look at herself in a mirror, trying the effect of a brooch or a pendant. Finally, ratheruncertainly, a pretty little bangle, a small diamond wristwatch and two brooches were laid aside.
“We’ll make a note of these,” said Mr. Bollard, “and then when Colonel Luscombe is in London next, perhaps he’llcome in and see what he decides himself he’d like to give you.”
“I think that way will be very nice,” said Elvira. “Then he’ll feel more that he’s chosen my present himself, won’the?” Her limpid20 blue gaze was raised to the jeweller’s face. That same blue gaze had registered a moment earlier thatthe time was now exactly twenty-five minutes past the hour.
Outside there was the squealing21 of brakes and a girl’s loud scream. Inevitably22 the eyes of everyone in the shopturned towards the windows of the shop giving on Bond Street. The movement of Elvira’s hand on the counter in frontof her and then to the pocket of her neat tailor-made coat and skirt was so rapid and unobtrusive as to be almostunnoticeable, even if anybody had been looking.
“Tcha, tcha,” said Mr. Bollard, turning back from where he had been peering out into the street. “Very nearly anaccident. Silly girl! Rushing across the road like that.”
Elvira was already moving towards the door. She looked at her wristwatch and uttered an exclamation23.
“Oh dear, I’ve been far too long in here. I shall miss my train back to the country. Thank you so much, Mr. Bollard,and you won’t forget which the four things are, will you?”
In another minute, she was out of the door. Turning rapidly to the left and then to the left again, she stopped in thearcade of a shoe shop until Bridget, rather breathless, rejoined her.
“Oh,” said Bridget, “I was terrified. I thought I was going to be killed. And I’ve torn a hole in my stocking, too.”
“Never mind,” said Elvira and walked her friend rapidly along the street and round yet another corner to the right.
“Come on.”
“Is it—was it—all right?”
Elvira’s hand slipped into her pocket and out again showing the diamond and sapphire24 bracelet in her palm.
“Oh, Elvira, how you dared!”
“Now, Bridget, you’ve got to get along to that pawnshop we marked down. Go in and see how much you can getfor this. Ask for a hundred.”
“Do you think—supposing they say—I mean—I mean, it might be on a list of stolen things—”
“Don’t be silly. How could it be on a list so soon? They haven’t even noticed it’s gone yet.”
“But Elvira, when they do notice it’s gone, they’ll think—perhaps they’ll know—that you must have taken it.”
“They might think so—if they discover it soon.”
“Well, then they’ll go to the police and—”
She stopped as Elvira shook her head slowly, her pale yellow hair swinging to and fro and a faint enigmatic smilecurving up the corners of her mouth.
“They won’t go to the police, Bridget. Certainly not if they think I took it.”
“Why—you mean—?”
“As I told you, I’m going to have a lot of money when I’m twenty-one. I shall be able to buy lots of jewels fromthem. They won’t make a scandal. Go on and get the money quick. Then go to Aer Lingus and book the ticket—I musttake a taxi to Prunier’s. I’m already ten minutes late. I’ll be with you tomorrow morning by half past ten.”
“Oh, Elvira, I wish you wouldn’t take such frightful11 risks,” moaned Bridget.
But Elvira had hailed a taxi.
II
Miss Marple had a very enjoyable time at Robinson & Cleaver’s. Besides purchasing expensive but delicious sheets—she loved linen25 sheets with their texture26 and their coolness—she also indulged in a purchase of good quality red-bordered glass cloths. Really the difficulty in getting proper glass cloths nowadays! Instead, you were offered thingsthat might as well have been ornamental27 tablecloths28, decorated with radishes or lobsters29 or the Tour Eiffel or TrafalgarSquare, or else littered with lemons and oranges. Having given her address in St. Mary Mead30, Miss Marple found aconvenient bus which took her to the Army & Navy Stores.
The Army & Navy Stores had been a haunt of Miss Marple’s aunt in days long gone. It was not, of course, quitethe same nowadays. Miss Marple cast her thoughts back to Aunt Helen seeking out her own special man in the grocerydepartment, settling herself comfortably in a chair, wearing a bonnet31 and what she always called her “black poplin”
mantle32. Then there would ensue a long hour with nobody in a hurry and Aunt Helen thinking of every conceivablegrocery that could be purchased and stored up for future use. Christmas was provided for, and there was even a far-offlook towards Easter. The young Jane had fidgeted somewhat, and had been told to go and look at the glass departmentby way of amusement.
Having finished her purchases, Aunt Helen would then proceed to lengthy33 inquiries34 about her chosen shop-assistant’s mother, wife, second boy and crippled sister-in-law. Having had a thoroughly35 pleasant morning, AuntHelen would say in the playful manner of those times, “And how would a little girl feel about some luncheon36?”
Whereupon they went up in the lift to the fourth floor and had luncheon which always finished with a strawberry ice.
After that, they bought half a pound of coffee chocolate creams and went to a matinée in a four wheeler.
Of course, the Army & Navy Stores had had a good many face lifts since those days. In fact, it was now quiteunrecognizable from the old times. It was gayer and much brighter. Miss Marple, though throwing a kindly37 andindulgent smile at the past, did not object to the amenities38 of the present. There was still a restaurant, and there sherepaired to order her lunch.
As she was looking carefully down the menu and deciding what to have, she looked across the room and hereyebrows went up a little. How extraordinary coincidence was! Here was a woman she had never seen till the daybefore, though she had seen plenty of newspaper photographs of her—at race meetings, in Bermuda, or standing39 byher own plane or car. Yesterday, for the first time, she had seen her in the flesh. And now, as was so often the case,there was the coincidence of running into her again in a most unlikely place. For somehow she did not connect lunchat the Army & Navy Stores with Bess Sedgwick. She would not have been surprised to see Bess Sedgwick emergingfrom a den8 in Soho, or stepping out of Covent Garden Opera House in evening dress with a diamond tiara on her head.
But somehow, not in the Army & Navy Stores which in Miss Marple’s mind was, and always would be, connectedwith the armed forces, their wives, daughters, aunts and grandmothers. Still, there Bess Sedgwick was, looking asusual very smart, in her dark suit and her emerald shirt, lunching at a table with a man. A young man with a leanhawklike face, wearing a black leather jacket. They were leaning forward talking earnestly together, forking inmouthfuls of food as though they were quite unaware40 what they were eating.
An assignation, perhaps? Yes, probably an assignation. The man must be fifteen or twenty years younger than shewas—but Bess Sedgwick was a magnetically attractive woman.
Miss Marple looked at the young man consideringly and decided41 that he was what she called a “handsome fellow.”
She also decided that she didn’t like him very much. “Just like Harry42 Russell,” said Miss Marple to herself, dredgingup a prototype as usual from the past. “Never up to any good. Never did any woman who had anything to do with himany good either.
“She wouldn’t take advice from me,” thought Miss Marple, “but I could give her some.” However, other people’slove affairs were no concern of hers, and Bess Sedgwick, by all accounts, could take care of herself very well when itcame to love affairs.
Miss Marple sighed, ate her lunch, and meditated43 a visit to the stationery44 department.
Curiosity, or what she preferred herself to call “taking an interest” in other people’s affairs, was undoubtedly45 one ofMiss Marple’s characteristics.
Deliberately46 leaving her gloves on the table, she rose and crossed the floor to the cash desk, taking a route thatpassed close to Lady Sedgwick’s table. Having paid her bill she “discovered” the absence of her gloves and returnedto get them—unfortunately dropping her handbag on the return route. It came open and spilled various oddments. Awaitress rushed to assist her in picking them up, and Miss Marple was forced to show a great shakiness and droppedcoppers and keys a second time.
She did not get very much by these subterfuges47 but they were not entirely48 in vain—and it was interesting thatneither of the two objects of her curiosity spared as much as a glance for the dithery old lady who kept droppingthings.
As Miss Marple waited for the lift down she memorized such scraps49 as she had heard.
“What about the weather forecast?”
“OK. No fog.”
“All set for Lucerne?”
“Yes. Plane leaves 9:40.”
That was all she had got the first time. On the way back it had lasted a little longer.
Bess Sedgwick had been speaking angrily.
“What possessed50 you to come to Bertram’s yesterday—you shouldn’t have come near the place.”
“It’s all right. I asked if you were staying there and everyone knows we’re close friends—”
“That’s not the point. Bertram’s is all right for me—Not for you. You stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone staresat you.”
“Let them!”
“You really are an idiot. Why—why? What reasons did you have? You had a reason—I know you….”
“Calm down, Bess.”
“You’re such a liar15!”
That was all she had been able to hear. She found it interesting.
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1
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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circumventing
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| v.设法克服或避免（某事物），回避( circumvent的现在分词 )；绕过，绕行，绕道旅行 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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pawned
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| v.典当，抵押( pawn的过去式和过去分词 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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synchronize
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| v.使同步 [=synchronise] | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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bracelet
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| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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avuncular
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| adj.叔伯般的，慈祥的 | |
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limpid
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| adj.清澈的，透明的 | |
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squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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tablecloths
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| n.桌布，台布( tablecloth的名词复数 ) | |
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lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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44
stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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46
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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subterfuges
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| n.（用说谎或欺骗以逃脱责备、困难等的）花招，遁词( subterfuge的名词复数 ) | |
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48
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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50
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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