Twenty-five

Twenty-five
I“What bothers me,” said Victoria, “is that poor Danish woman who gotkilled by mistake in Damascus.”
“Oh! she’s all right,” said Mr. Dakin cheerfully. “As soon as your planehad taken off, we arrested the French woman and took Grete Harden tohospital. She came round all right. They were going to keep her druggedfor a bit until they were sure the Baghdad business went off all right. Shewas one of our people of course.”
“Was she?”
“Yes, when Anna Scheele disappeared, we thought it might be as well togive the other side something to think about. So we booked a passage forGrete Harden and carefully didn’t give her a background. They fell for it—jumped to the conclusion that Grete Harden must be Anna Scheele. Wegave her a nice little set of faked papers to prove it.”
“Whilst the real Anna Scheele remained quietly in the nursing home tillit was time for Mrs. Pauncefoot Jones to join her husband out here.”
“Yes. Simple—but effective. Acting² on the assumption that in times ofstress the only people you can really trust are your own family. She’s anexceedingly clever young woman.”
“I really thought I was for it,” said Victoria. “Were your people reallykeeping tabs on me?”
“All the time. Your Edward wasn’t really quite so clever as he thoughthimself, you know. Actually we’d been investigating the activities of youngEdward Goring³ for some time. When you told me your story, the nightCarmichael was killed, I was frankly⁴ very worried about you.”
“The best thing I could think of was to send you deliberately⁵ into thesetup as a spy. If your Edward knew that you were in touch with me,you’d be reasonably safe, because he’d learn through you what we wereup to. You’d be too valuable to kill. And he could also pass on false inform-ation to us through you. You were a link. But then you spotted⁶ the RupertCrofton Lee impersonation, and Edward decided⁷ you’d better be kept outof it until you were needed (if you should be needed) for the impersona-tion of Anna Scheele. Yes, Victoria, you’re very very lucky to be sittingwhere you are now, eating all those pistachio nuts.”
“I know I am.”
Mr. Dakin said:
“How much do you mind—about Edward?”
Victoria looked at him steadily⁸.
“Not at all. I was just a silly little fool. I let Edward pick me up and do hisglamour act. I just had a thoroughly¹⁰ school-girl crush on him—fancyingmyself Juliet and all sorts of silly things.”
“You needn’t blame yourself too much. Edward had a wonderful naturalgift for attracting women.”
“Yes, and he used it.”
“He certainly used it.”
“Next time I fall in love,” said Victoria, “it won’t be looks that attract me,or glamour⁹. I’d like a real man—not one who says pretty things to you. Ishan’t mind if he’s bald or wears spectacles or anything like that. I’d likehim to be interesting—and know about interesting things.”
“About thirty-five or fifty-five?” asked Mr. Dakin.
Victoria stared.
“Oh thirty-five,” she said.
“I am relieved. I thought for a moment you were proposing to me.”
Victoria laughed.
“And—I know I mustn’t ask questions—but was there really a messageknitted into the scarf?”
“There was a name. The tricoteuses of whom Madam Defarge was one,knitted a register of names. The scarf and the ‘chit’ were the two halves ofthe clue. One gave us the name of Sheikh Hussein el Ziyara of Kerbela. Theother when treated with iodine¹¹ vapour gave us the words to induce theSheikh to part with his trust. There couldn’t have been a safer place tohide the thing, you know, than in the sacred city of Kerbela.”
“And it was carried through the country by those two wanderingcinema men—the ones we actually met?”
“Yes. Simple well-known figures. Nothing political about them. Just Car-michael’s personal friends. He had a lot of friends.”
“He must have been very nice. I’m sorry he’s dead.”
“We’ve all got to die sometime,” said Mr. Dakin. “And if there’s anotherlife after this which I myself fully¹ believe, he’ll have the satisfaction ofknowing that his faith and his courage have done more to save this sorryold world from a fresh attack of blood-letting and misery¹² than almost any-one that one can think of.”
“It’s odd, isn’t it,” said Victoria meditatively¹³, “that Richard should havehad one half of the secret and I should have had the other. It almost seemsas though—”
“As though it were meant to be,” finished Mr. Dakin with a twinkle.
“And what are you going to do next, may I ask?”
“I shall have to find a job,” said Victoria. “I must start looking about.”
“Don’t look too hard,” said Mr. Dakin. “I rather think a job is coming to-wards you.”
He ambled¹⁴ gently away to give place to Richard Baker¹⁵.
“Look here, Victoria,” said Richard. “Venetia Savile can’t come out afterall. Apparently¹⁶ she’s got mumps¹⁷. You were quite useful on the Dig. Wouldyou like to come back? Only your keep, I’m afraid. And probably your pas-sage back to En gland—but we’ll talk about that later. Mrs. PauncefootJones is coming out next week. Well, what do you say?”
“Oh, do you really want me?” cried Victoria.
For some reason Richard Baker became very pink in the face. Hecoughed and polished his pince-nez.
“I think,” he said, “we could find you—er—quite useful.”
“I’d love it,” said Victoria.
“In that case,” said Richard, “you’d better collect your luggage and comealong back to the Dig now. You don’t want to hang about Baghdad, doyou?”
“Not in the least,” said Victoria.
II
“So there you are, my dear Veronica,” said Dr. Pauncefoot Jones.
“Richard went off in a great state about you. Well, well—I hope you’ll bothbe very happy.”
“What does he mean?” asked Victoria bewildered, as Dr. PauncefootJones pottered away.
“Nothing,” said Richard. “You know what he’s like. He’s being—just alittle—premature.”

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 goring   

v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• General Goring spoke for about two hours. 戈林将军的发言持续了大约两个小时。 来自英汉非文学 - 新闻报道
• Always do they talk that way with their arrogance before a goring. 他们挨牛角之前，总是这样吹大牛。 来自辞典例句

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

6 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

7 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。

8 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

9 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

10 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

11 iodine   

n.碘，碘酒

参考例句：

• The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
• Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。

12 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

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 ambled   

v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步

参考例句：

• We ambled down to the beach. 我们漫步向海滩走去。
• The old man ambled home through the garden every evening. 那位老人每天晚上经过花园漫步回家。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

16 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

17 mumps   

n.腮腺炎

参考例句：

• Sarah got mumps from her brother.萨拉的弟弟患腮腺炎，传染给她了。
• I was told not go near Charles. He is sickening for mumps.别人告诉我不要走近查尔斯， 他染上了流行性腮腺炎。