MR . KIMBLE SPEAKS

Nineteen
MR . KIMBLE SPEAKS
“I dunno, I’m sure,” said Mrs. Kimble.
Her husband, driven into speech by what was neither more nor less than an outrage¹, became vocal².
He shoved his cup forward.
“What you thinking of, Lily?” he demanded. “No sugar!”
Mrs. Kimble hastily remedied the outrage, and then proceeded to elaborate on her own theme.
“Thinking about this advert³, I am,” she said. “Lily Abbott, it says, plain as plain. And “formerly house-parlourmaidat St. Catherine’s Dillmouth.” That’s me, all right.”
“Ar,” agreed Mr. Kimble.
“After all these years—you must agree it’s odd, Jim.”
“Ar,” said Mr. Kimble.
“Well, what am I going to do, Jim?”
“Leave it be.”
“Suppose there’s money in it?”
There was a gurgling sound as Mr. Kimble drained his teacup to fortify⁴ himself for the mental effort of embarkingon a long speech. He pushed his cup along and prefaced his remarks with a laconic⁵: “More.” Then he got under way.
“You went on a lot at one time about what ’appened at St. Catherine’s. I didn’t take much account of it—reckonedas it was mostly foolishness—women’s chatter⁶. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe something did ’appen. If so it’s policebusiness and you don’t want to be mixed up in it. All over and done with, ain’t it? You leave well alone, my girl.”
“All very well to say that. It may be money as has been left me in a will. Maybe Mrs. Halliday’s alive all the timeand now she’s dead and left me something in ’er will.”
“Left you something in ’er will? What for? Ar!” said Mr. Kimble, reverting⁷ to his favourite monosyllable toexpress scorn.
“Even if it’s police … You know, Jim, there’s a big reward sometimes for anyone as can give information to catcha murderer.”
“And what could you give? All you know you made up yourself in your head!”
“That’s what you say. But I’ve been thinking—”
“Ar,” said Mr. Kimble disgustedly.
“Well, I have. Ever since I saw that first piece in the paper. Maybe I got things a bit wrong. That Layonee, she wasa bit stupid like all foreigners, couldn’t understand proper what you said to her—and her English was somethingawful. If she didn’t mean what I thought she meant … I’ve been trying to remember the name of that man … Now if itwas him she saw … Remember that picture I told you about? Secret Lover. Ever so exciting. They tracked him downin the end through his car. Fifty thousand dollars he paid the garage man to forget he filled up with petrol that night.
Dunno what that is in pounds … And the other one was there, too, and the husband crazy with jealousy⁸. All mad abouther, they were. And in the end—”
Mr. Kimble pushed back his chair with a grating sound. He rose to his feet with slow and ponderous⁹ authority.
Preparatory to leaving the kitchen, he delivered an ultimatum¹⁰ — the ultimatum of a man who, though usuallyinarticulate, had a certain shrewdness.
“You leave the whole thing alone, my girl,” he said. “Or else, likely as not, you’ll be sorry.”
He went into the scullery, put on his boots (Lily was particular about her kitchen floor) and went out.
Lily sat on at the table, her sharp foolish little brain working things out. Of course she couldn’t exactly go againstwhat her husband said, but all the same … Jim was so hidebound, so stick-in-the-mud. She wished there wassomebody else she could ask. Someone who would know all about rewards and the police and what it all meant. Pityto turn up a chance of good money.
That wireless¹¹ set … the home perm … that cherry-coloured coat in Russell’s (ever so smart)… even, maybe, awhole Jacobean suite¹² for the sitting room….
Eager, greedy, shortsighted, she went on dreaming … What exactly had Layonee said all those years ago?
Then an idea came to her. She got up and fetched the bottle of ink, the pen, and a pad of writing paper.
“Know what I’ll do,” she said to herself. “I’ll write to the doctor, Mrs. Halliday’s brother. He’ll tell me what Iought to do—if he’s alive still, that is. Anyway, it’s on my conscience I never told him about Layonee—or about thatcar.”
There was silence for some time apart from the laborious¹³ scratching of Lily’s pen. It was very seldom that shewrote a letter and she found the composition of it a considerable effort.
However it was done at last and she put it into an envelope and sealed it up.
But she felt less satisfied than she had expected. Ten to one the doctor was dead or had gone away from Dillmouth.
Was there anyone else?
What was the name, now, of that fellow?
If she could only remember that….

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

3 advert   

vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告

参考例句：

• The advert featured a dolphin swimming around a goldfish bowl.该广告的內容为一条在金鱼缸里游动的海豚。
• Please advert to the contents below.I believe you won't be disappointed.敬请留意后面的内容。相信您一定不会失望的。

4 fortify   

v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化

参考例句：

• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
• This treaty forbade the United States to fortify the canal.此条约禁止美国对运河设防。

5 laconic   

adj.简洁的；精练的

参考例句：

• He sent me a laconic private message.他给我一封简要的私人函件。
• This response was typical of the writer's laconic wit.这个回答反映了这位作家精练简明的特点。

6 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

7 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。

8 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

9 ponderous   

adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的

参考例句：

• His steps were heavy and ponderous.他的步伐沉重缓慢。
• It was easy to underestimate him because of his occasionally ponderous manner.由于他偶尔现出的沉闷的姿态，很容易使人小看了他。

10 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

11 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

12 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

13 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。