7.AN INVITATION

Seven
AN INVITATION
IM iss Marple decided¹ to miss out on the afternoon’s sightseeing. She admitted to being somewhat tired and wouldperhaps give a miss to an ancient church and its 14th-century glass. She would rest for a while and join them at thetearoom which had been pointed² out to her in the main street. Mrs. Sandbourne agreed that she was being verysensible.
Miss Marple, resting on a comfortable bench outside the tearoom, reflected on what she planned to do next andwhether it would be wise to do it or not.
When the others joined her at teatime it was easy for her to attach herself unobtrusively to Miss Cooke and MissBarrow and sit with them at a table for four. The fourth chair was occupied by Mr. Caspar whom Miss Marpleconsidered as not sufficiently³ conversant⁴ with the English language to matter.
Leaning across the table, as she nibbled⁵ a slice of Swiss roll, Miss Marple said to Miss Cooke,“You know, I am quite sure we have met before. I have been wondering and wondering about it—I’m not as goodas I was at remembering faces, but I’m sure I have met you somewhere.”
Miss Cooke looked kindly⁶ but doubtful. Her eyes went to her friend, Miss Barrow. So did Miss Marple’s. MissBarrow showed no signs of helping⁷ to probe the mystery.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever stayed in my part of the world,” went on Miss Marple, “I live in St. Mary Mead⁸. Quitea small village, you know. At least, not so small nowadays, there is so much building going on everywhere. Not veryfar from Much Benham and only twelve miles from the coast at Loomouth.”
“Oh,” said Miss Cooke, “let me see. Well, I know Loomouth quite well and perhaps—”
Suddenly Miss Marple made a pleased exclamation⁹.
“Why, of course! I was in my garden one day at St. Mary Mead and you spoke¹⁰ to me as you were passing by on thefootpath. You said you were staying down there, I remember, with a friend—”
“Of course,” said Miss Cooke. “How stupid of me. I do remember you now. We spoke of how difficult it wasnowadays to get anyone—to do job gardening, I mean—anyone who was any use.”
“Yes. You were not living there, I think? You were staying with someone.”
“Yes, I was staying with … with …” for a moment Miss Cooke hesitated, with the air of one who hardly knows orremembers a name.
“With a Mrs. Sutherland, was it?” suggested Miss Marple.
“No, no, it was … er … Mrs.—”
“Hastings,” said Miss Barrow firmly as she took a piece of chocolate cake.
“Oh yes, in one of the new houses,” said Miss Marple.
“Hastings,” said Mr. Caspar unexpectedly. He beamed. “I have been to Hastings—I have been to Eastbourne, too.”
He beamed again. “Very nice—by the sea.”
“Such a coincidence,” said Miss Marple, “meeting again so soon—such a small world, isn’t it?”
“Oh, well, we are all so fond of gardens,” said Miss Cooke vaguely¹¹.
“Flowers very pretty,” said Mr. Caspar. “I like very much—” He beamed again.
“So many rare and beautiful shrubs,” said Miss Cooke.
Miss Marple went full speed ahead with a gardening conversation of some technicality—Miss Cooke responded.
Miss Barrow put in an occasional remark.
Mr. Caspar relapsed into smiling silence.
Later, as Miss Marple took her usual rest before dinner, she conned¹² over what she had collected. Miss Cooke hadadmitted being in St. Mary Mead. She had admitted walking past Miss Marple’s house. Had agreed it was quite acoincidence. Coincidence? thought Miss Marple meditatively¹³, turning the word over in her mouth rather as a childmight do to a certain lollipop¹⁴ to decide its flavour. Was it a coincidence? Or had she had some reason to come there?
Had she been sent there? Sent there—for what reason? Was that a ridiculous thing to imagine?
“Any coincidence,” said Miss Marple to herself, “is always worth noticing. You can throw it away later if it is onlya coincidence.”
Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow appeared to be a perfectly¹⁵ normal pair of friends doing the kind of tour which,according to them, they did every year. They had been on an Hellenic cruise last year and a tour of bulbs in Hollandthe year before, and Northern Ireland the year before that. They seemed perfectly pleasant and ordinary people. ButMiss Cooke, she thought, had for a moment looked as though she were about to disclaim¹⁶ her visit to St. Mary Mead.
She had looked at her friend, Miss Barrow, rather as though she were seeking instruction as to what to say. MissBarrow was presumably the senior partner—
“Of course, really, I may have been imagining all these things,” thought Miss Marple. “They may have nosignificance whatever.”
The word danger came unexpectedly into her mind. Used by Mr. Rafiel in his first letter—and there had been somereference to her needing a guardian¹⁷ angel in his second letter. Was she going into danger in this business?—and why?
From whom?
Surely not from Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow. Such an ordinary-looking couple.
All the same Miss Cooke had dyed her hair and altered her style of hairdressing. Disguised her appearance as muchas she could, in fact. Which was odd, to say the least of it! She considered once more her fellow travellers.
Mr. Caspar, now, it would have been much easier to imagine that he might be dangerous. Did he understand moreEnglish than he pretended to do? She began to wonder about Mr. Caspar.
Miss Marple had never quite succeeded in abandoning her Victorian view of foreigners. One never knew withforeigners. Quite absurd, of course, to feel like that—she had many friends from various foreign countries. All thesame …? Miss Cooke, Miss Barrow, Mr. Caspar, that young man with the wild hair — Emlyn Something — arevolutionary—a practising anarchist¹⁸? Mr. and Mrs. Butler—such nice Americans—but perhaps—too good to be true?
“Really,” said Miss Marple, “I must pull myself together.”
She turned her attention to the itinerary¹⁹ of their trip. Tomorrow, she thought, was going to be rather strenuous²⁰. Amorning’s sightseeing drive, starting rather early: a long, rather athletic²¹ walk on a coastal²² path in the afternoon.
Certain interesting marine²³ flowering plants—it would be tiring. A tactful suggestion was appended. Anyone who feltlike a rest could stay behind in their hotel, the Golden Boar, which had a very pleasant garden or could do a shortexcursion which would only take an hour, to a beauty spot nearby. She thought perhaps that she would do that.
But though she did not know it then, her plans were to be suddenly altered.
II
As Miss Marple came down from her room in the Golden Boar the next day after washing her hands before luncheon,a woman in a tweed coat and skirt came forward rather nervously²⁴ and spoke to her.
“Excuse me, are you Miss Marple—Miss Jane Marple?”
“Yes, that is my name,” said Miss Marple, slightly surprised.
“My name is Mrs. Glynne. Lavinia Glynne. I and my two sisters live near here and—well, we heard you werecoming, you see—”
“You heard I was coming?” said Miss Marple with some slight surprise.
“Yes. A very old friend of ours wrote to us—oh, quite some time ago, it must have been three weeks ago, but heasked us to make a note of this date. The date of the Famous Houses and Gardens Tour. He said that a great friend ofhis—or a relation, I’m not quite sure which—would be on that tour.”
Miss Marple continued to look surprised.
“I’m speaking of a Mr. Rafiel,” said Mrs. Glynne.
“Oh! Mr. Rafiel,” said Miss Marple—“you—you know that—”
“That he died? Yes. So sad. Just after his letter came. I think it must have been certainly very soon after he wrote tous. But we felt a special urgency to try to do what he had asked. He suggested, you know, that perhaps you would liketo come and stay with us for a couple of nights. This part of the tour is rather strenuous. I mean, it’s all right for theyoung people, but it is very trying for anyone older. It involves several miles of walking and a certain amount ofclimbing up difficult cliff paths and places. My sisters and I would be so very pleased if you could come and stay inour house here. It is only ten minutes’ walk from the hotel and I’m sure we could show you many interesting thingslocally.”
Miss Marple hesitated a minute. She liked the look of Mrs. Glynne, plump, good-natured, and friendly though alittle shy. Besides—here again must be Mr. Rafiel’s instructions—the next step for her to take? Yes, it must be so.
She wondered why she felt nervous. Perhaps because she was now at home with the people in the tour, felt part ofthe group although as yet she had only known them for three days.
She turned to where Mrs. Glynne was standing²⁵, looking up at her anxiously.
“Thank you—it is most kind of you. I shall be very pleased to come.”

1 decided   

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。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

4 conversant   

adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的

参考例句：

• Mr.Taylor is thoroughly conversant with modern music.泰勒先生对现代音乐很精通。
• We become the most conversant stranger in the world.我们变成了世界上最熟悉的陌生人。

5 nibbled   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• She nibbled daintily at her cake. 她优雅地一点一点地吃着自己的蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several companies have nibbled at our offer. 若干公司表示对我们的出价有兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

9 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

10 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。

11 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

12 conned   

adj.被骗了v.指挥操舵( conn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Lynn felt women had been conned. 林恩觉得女人们受骗了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was so plausible that he conned everybody. 他那么会花言巧语，以至于骗过了所有的人。 来自辞典例句

13 meditatively   

adv.冥想地

参考例句：

• The old man looked meditatively at the darts board. 老头儿沉思不语，看着那投镖板。 来自英汉文学
• "Well,'said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need a stitcher. “这--"工头沉思地搔了搔耳朵。 "我们确实需要一个缝纫工。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 lollipop   

n.棒棒糖

参考例句：

• The child put out his tongue and licked his lollipop.那孩子伸出舌头舔着棒棒糖。
• I ate popcorn,banana and lollipop.我吃了爆米花、香蕉和棒棒糖。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 disclaim   

v.放弃权利，拒绝承认

参考例句：

• Scientists quickly disclaim the possibility.科学家们立刻否认了这种可能性。
• The manufacturers disclaim all responsibility for damage caused by misuse.使用不当而造成的损坏，生产厂家不负任何责任。

17 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

18 anarchist   

n.无政府主义者

参考例句：

• You must be an anarchist at heart.你在心底肯定是个无政府主义者。
• I did my best to comfort them and assure them I was not an anarchist.我尽量安抚他们并让它们明白我并不是一个无政府主义者。

19 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

20 strenuous   

adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的

参考例句：

• He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
• You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。

21 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

22 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

23 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

24 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

25 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。