小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 双语小说 » At Bertram’s Hotel 伯特伦旅馆 » Chapter Fourteen
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
Chapter Fourteen
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
Chapter Fourteen
“Y ou know,” said Chief-Inspector Davy thoughtfully, “I don’t much like that chap Humfries.”
“Think there’s something wrong with him?” asked Campbell.
“Well—” Father sounded apologetic, “you know the sort of feeling one gets. Smarmy1 sort of chap. I wonder if he’sthe owner or only the manager.”
“I could ask him.” Campbell took a step back towards the desk.
“No, don’t ask him,” said Father. “Just find out—quietly.”
Campbell looked at him curiously2.
“What’s on your mind, sir?”
“Nothing in particular,” said Father. “I just think I’d like to have a good deal more information about this place. I’dlike to know who is behind it, what its financial status is. All that sort of thing.”
Campbell shook his head.
“I should have said if there was one place in London that was absolutely above suspicion—”
“I know, I know,” said Father. “And what a useful thing it is to have that reputation!”
Campbell shook his head and left. Father went down the passage to the smoking room. General Radley was justwaking up. The Times had slipped from his knees and disintegrated3 slightly. Father picked it up and reassembled thesheets and handed it to him.
“Thank ye, sir. Very kind,” said General Radley gruffly.
“General Radley?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll excuse me,” said Father, raising his voice, “but I want to speak to you about Canon Pennyfather.”
“Eh—what’s that?” The General approached a hand to his ear.
“Canon Pennyfather,” bellowed4 Father.
“My father? Dead years ago.”
“Canon Pennyfather.”
“Oh. What about him? Saw him the other day. He was staying here.”
“There was an address he was going to give me. Said he’d leave it with you.”
That was rather more difficult to get over but he succeeded in the end.
“Never gave me any address. Must have mixed me up with somebody else. Muddle-headed old fool. Always was.
Scholarly sort of chap, you know. They’re always absentminded.”
Father persevered5 for a little longer but soon decided6 that conversation with General Radley was practicallyimpossible and almost certainly unprofitable. He went and sat down in the lounge at a table adjacent to that of MissJane Marple.
“Tea, sir?”
Father looked up. He was impressed, as everyone was impressed, by Henry’s personality. Though such a large andportly man he had appeared, as it were, like some vast travesty7 of Ariel who could materialize and vanish at will.
Father ordered tea.
“Did I see you’ve got muffins here?” he asked.
Henry smiled benignly8.
“Yes, sir. Very good indeed our muffins are, if I may say so. Everyone enjoys them. Shall I order you muffins, sir?
Indian or China tea?”
“Indian,” said Father. “Or Ceylon if you’ve got it.”
“Certainly we have Ceylon, sir.”
Henry made the faintest gesture with a finger and the pale young man who was his minion9 departed in search ofCeylon tea and muffins. Henry moved graciously elsewhere.
“You’re Someone, you are,” thought Father. “I wonder where they got hold of you and what they pay you. Apacket, I bet, and you’d be worth it.” He watched Henry bending in a fatherly manner over an elderly lady. Hewondered what Henry thought, if he thought anything, about Father. Father considered that he fitted into Bertram’sHotel reasonably well. He might have been a prosperous gentleman farmer or he might have been a peer of the realmwith a resemblance to a bookmaker. Father knew two peers who were very like that. On the whole, he thought, hepassed muster10, but he also thought it possible that he had not deceived Henry. “Yes, you’re Someone you are,” Fatherthought again.
Tea came and the muffins. Father bit deeply. Butter ran down his chin. He wiped it off with a large handkerchief.
He drank two cups of tea with plenty of sugar. Then he leaned forward and spoke11 to the lady sitting in the chair next tohim.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but aren’t you Miss Jane Marple?”
Miss Marple transferred her gaze from her knitting to Chief Detective-Inspector Davy.
“Yes,” she said, “I am Miss Marple.”
“I hope you don’t mind my speaking to you. As a matter of fact I am a police officer.”
“Indeed? Nothing seriously wrong here, I hope?”
Father hastened to reassure12 her in his best paternal13 fashion.
“Now, don’t you worry, Miss Marple,” he said. “It’s not the sort of thing you mean at all. No burglary or anythinglike that. Just a little difficulty about an absentminded clergyman, that’s all. I think he’s a friend of yours. CanonPennyfather.”
“Oh, Canon Pennyfather. He was here only the other day. Yes, I’ve known him slightly for many years. As yousay, he is very absentminded.” She added, with some interest, “What has he done now?”
“Well, as you might say in a manner of speaking, he’s lost himself.”
“Oh dear,” said Miss Marple. “Where ought he to be?”
“Back at home in his Cathedral Close,” said Father, “but he isn’t.”
“He told me,” said Miss Marple, “he was going to a conference at Lucerne. Something to do with the Dead SeaScrolls, I believe. He’s a great Hebrew and Aramaic scholar, you know.”
“Yes,” said Father. “You’re quite right. That’s where he—well, that’s where he was supposed to be going.”
“Do you mean he didn’t turn up there?”
“No,” said Father, “he didn’t turn up.”
“Oh, well,” said Miss Marple, “I expect he got his dates wrong.”
“Very likely, very likely.”
“I’m afraid,” said Miss Marple, “that that’s not the first time that that’s happened. I went to have tea with him inChadminster once. He was actually absent from home. His housekeeper14 told me then how very absentminded he was.”
“He didn’t say anything to you when he was staying here that might give us a clue, I suppose?” asked Father,speaking in an easy and confidential15 way. “You know the sort of thing I mean, any old friend he’d met or any planshe’d made apart from this Lucerne Conference?”
“Oh no. He just mentioned the Lucerne Conference. I think he said it was on the 19th. Is that right?”
“That was the date of the Lucerne Conference, yes.”
“I didn’t notice the date particularly. I mean—” like most old ladies, Miss Marple here became slightly involved—“I thought he said the 19th and he might have said the 19th, but at the same time he might have meant the 19th andit might really have been the 20th. I mean, he may have thought the 20th was the 19th or he may have thought the 19thwas the 20th.”
“Well—” said Father, slightly dazed.
“I’m putting it badly,” said Miss Marple, “but I mean people like Canon Pennyfather, if they say they’re goingsomewhere on a Thursday, one is quite prepared to find that they didn’t mean Thursday, it may be Wednesday orFriday they really mean. Usually they find out in time but sometimes they just don’t. I thought at the time thatsomething like that must have happened.”
Father looked slightly puzzled.
“You speak as though you knew already, Miss Marple, that Canon Pennyfather hadn’t gone to Lucerne.”
“I knew he wasn’t in Lucerne on Thursday,” said Miss Marple. “He was here all day—or most of the day. That’swhy I thought, of course, that though he may have said Thursday to me, it was really Friday he meant. He certainlyleft here on Thursday evening carrying his BEA bag.”
“Quite so.”
“I took it he was going off to the airport then,” said Miss Marple. “That’s why I was so surprised to see he wasback again.”
“I beg your pardon, what do you mean by ‘back again’?”
“Well, that he was back here again, I mean.”
“Now, let’s get this quite clear,” said Father, careful to speak in an agreeable and reminiscent voice, and not asthough it was really important. “You saw the old idio—you saw the Canon, that is to say, leave as you thought for theairport with his overnight bag, fairly early in the evening. Is that right?”
“Yes. About half past six, I would say, or quarter to seven.”
“But you say he came back.”
“Perhaps he missed the plane. That would account for it.”
“When did he come back?”
“Well, I don’t really know. I didn’t see him come back.”
“Oh,” said Father, taken aback. “I thought you said you did see him.”
“Oh, I did see him later,” said Miss Marple. “I meant I didn’t see him actually come into the hotel.”
“You saw him later? When?”
Miss Marple thought.
“Let me see. It was about 3 a.m. I couldn’t sleep very well. Something woke me. Some sound. There are so manyqueer noises in London. I looked at my little clock, it was ten minutes past three. For some reason—I’m not quite surewhat—I felt uneasy. Footsteps, perhaps, outside my door. Living in the country, if one hears footsteps in the middle ofthe night it makes one nervous. So I just opened my door and looked out. There was Canon Pennyfather leaving hisroom—it’s next door to mine—and going off down the stairs wearing his overcoat.”
“He came out of his room wearing his overcoat and went down the stairs at 3 a.m. in the morning?”
“Yes,” said Miss Marple and added: “I thought it odd at the time.”
Father looked at her for some moments.
“Miss Marple,” he said, “why haven’t you told anyone this before?”
“Nobody asked me,” said Miss Marple simply.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 smarmy ixLwI     
adj.爱说奉承话的
参考例句:
  • I hate his smarmy compliments.我痛恨他拍马屁的恭维。
  • Rick is slightly smarmy and eager to impress.里克有些好奉承,急着要给人留下好印象。
2 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
3 disintegrated e36fb4ffadd6df797ee64cbd05a02790     
v.(使)破裂[分裂,粉碎],(使)崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
  • The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了,我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 bellowed fa9ba2065b18298fa17a6311db3246fc     
v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的过去式和过去分词 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫
参考例句:
  • They bellowed at her to stop. 他们吼叫着让她停下。
  • He bellowed with pain when the tooth was pulled out. 当牙齿被拔掉时,他痛得大叫。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5 persevered b3246393c709e55e93de64dc63360d37     
v.坚忍,坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She persevered with her violin lessons. 她孜孜不倦地学习小提琴。
  • Hard as the conditions were, he persevered in his studies. 虽然条件艰苦,但他仍坚持学习。 来自辞典例句
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 travesty gJqzN     
n.歪曲,嘲弄,滑稽化
参考例句:
  • The trial was a travesty of justice.这次审判嘲弄了法律的公正性。
  • The play was,in their view,a travesty of the truth.这个剧本在他们看来是对事实的歪曲。
8 benignly a1839cef72990a695d769f9b3d61ae60     
adv.仁慈地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Everyone has to benignly help people in distress. 每一个人应让该亲切地帮助有困难的人。 来自互联网
  • This drug is benignly soporific. 这种药物具有良好的催眠效果。 来自互联网
9 minion 1wgyC     
n.宠仆;宠爱之人
参考例句:
  • At worst some egregious minion had conducted a childish private enterprise.这最多也不过是一批低能的小人物自己干的无聊把戏而已。
  • She delegated the job to one of her minions.她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。
10 muster i6czT     
v.集合,收集,鼓起,激起;n.集合,检阅,集合人员,点名册
参考例句:
  • Go and muster all the men you can find.去集合所有你能找到的人。
  • I had to muster my courage up to ask him that question.我必须鼓起勇气向他问那个问题。
11 spoke XryyC     
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。
12 reassure 9TgxW     
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。
13 paternal l33zv     
adj.父亲的,像父亲的,父系的,父方的
参考例句:
  • I was brought up by my paternal aunt.我是姑姑扶养大的。
  • My father wrote me a letter full of his paternal love for me.我父亲给我写了一封充满父爱的信。
14 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
15 confidential MOKzA     
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的
参考例句:
  • He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
  • We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533