AN ADDRESS

Fifteen
AN ADDRESS
T he Royal Clarence was the oldest hotel in the town. It had a mellow¹ bowfronted fa?ade and an old- worldatmosphere. It still catered² for the type of family who came for a month to the seaside.
Miss Narracott who presided behind the reception desk was a full-bosomed lady of forty-seven with an old-fashioned style of hairdressing.
She unbent to Giles whom her accurate eye summed up as “one of our nice people.” And Giles, who had a readytongue and a persuasive³ way with him when he liked, spun⁴ a very good tale. He had a bet on with his wife—about hergodmother—and whether she had stayed at the Royal Clarence eighteen years ago. His wife had said that they couldnever settle the dispute because of course all the old registers would be thrown away by this time, but he had saidNonsense. An establishment like the Royal Clarence would keep its registers. They must go back for a hundred years.
“Well, not quite that, Mr. Reed. But we do keep all our old Visitors’ Books as we prefer to call them. Veryinteresting names in them, too. Why, the King stayed here once when he was Prince of Wales, and Princess Adlemarof Holstein-Rotz used to come every winter with her lady-in-waiting. And we’ve had some very famous novelists, too,and Mr. Dovey, the portrait-painter.”
Giles responded in suitable fashion with interest and respect and in due course the sacred volume for the year inquestion was brought out and exhibited to him.
Having first had various illustrious names pointed⁵ out to him, he turned the pages to the month of August.
Yes, here surely was the entry he was seeking.
Major and Mrs. Setoun Erskine, Anstell Manor⁶, Daith, Northumberland, July 27th—August 17th.
“If I may copy this out?”
“Of course, Mr. Reed. Paper and ink—Oh, you have your pen. Excuse me, I must just go back to the outer office.”
She left him with the open book, and Giles set to work.
On his return to Hillside he found Gwenda in the garden, bending over the herbaceous border.
She straightened herself and gave him a quick glance of interrogation.
“Any luck?”
“Yes, I think this must be it.”
Gwenda said softly, reading the words: “Anstell Manor, Daith, Northumberland. Yes, Edith Pagett saidNorthumberland. I wonder if they’re still living there—”
“We’ll have to go and see.”
“Yes—yes, it would be better to go—when?”
“As soon as possible. Tomorrow? We’ll take the car and drive up. It will show you a little more of England.”
“Suppose they’re dead—or gone away and somebody else is living there?”
Giles shrugged⁷ his shoulders.
“Then we come back and go on with our other leads. I’ve written to Kennedy, by the way, and asked him if he’llsend me those letters Helen wrote after she went away—if he’s still got them—and a specimen⁸ of her handwriting.”
“I wish,” said Gwenda, “that we could get in touch with the other servant—with Lily—the one who put the bow onThomas—”
“Funny your suddenly remembering that, Gwenda.”
“Yes, wasn’t it? I remember Tommy, too. He was black with white patches and he had three lovely kittens.”
“What? Thomas?”
“Well, he was called Thomas—but actually he turned out to be Thomasina. You know what cats are. But aboutLily—I wonder what’s become of her? Edith Pagett seems to have lost sight of her entirely⁹. She didn’t come fromround here—and after the breakup at St. Catherine’s she took a place in Torquay. She wrote once or twice but that wasall. Edith said she’d heard she’d got married but she didn’t know who to. If we could get hold of her we might learn alot more.”
“And from Léonie, the Swiss girl.”
“Perhaps—but she was a foreigner and wouldn’t catch on to much of what went on. You know, I don’t rememberher at all. No, it’s Lily I feel would be useful. Lily was the sharp one … I know, Giles, let’s put in anotheradvertisement—an advertisement for her—Lily Abbott, her name was.”
“Yes,” said Giles. “We might try that. And we’ll definitely go north tomorrow and see what we can find out aboutthe Erskines.”

1 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

2 catered   

提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• We catered for forty but only twenty came. 我们准备了40客饭菜，但只来了20个人。
• They catered for everyone regardless of social rank. 他们为所有人服务而不计较其社会地位。

3 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

4 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

5 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。

6 manor   

n.庄园，领地

参考例句：

• The builder of the manor house is a direct ancestor of the present owner.建造这幢庄园的人就是它现在主人的一个直系祖先。
• I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主，而是这儿的女主人。

7 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。