Four THE INQUEST

Four THE INQUEST
The inquest on the body of Alex Pritchard was held on the following day.
Dr. Thomas gave evidence as to the finding of the body.
“Life was not then extinct?” asked the coroner.
“No, deceased was still breathing. There was, however, no hope of re-covery. The—”
Here the doctor became highly technical. The coroner came to the res-cue of the jury:
“In ordinary everyday language, the man’s back was broken?”
“If you like to put it that way,” said Dr. Thomas sadly.
He described how he had gone off to get help, leaving the dying man inBobby’s charge.
“Now as to the cause of this disaster, what is your opinion, Dr. Thomas?”
“I should say that in all probability (failing any evidence as to his stateof mind, that is to say) the deceased stepped inadvertently over the edge ofthe cliff. There was a mist rising from the sea, and at that particular pointthe path turns abruptly¹ inland. Owing to the mist the deceased may nothave noticed the danger and walked straight on—in which case two stepswould take him over the edge.”
“There were no signs of violence? Such as might have been admin-istered by a third party?”
“I can only say that all the injuries present are fully² explained by thebody striking the rocks fifty or sixty feet below.”
“There remains³ the question of suicide?”
“That is, of course, perfectly⁴ possible. Whether the deceased walkedover the edge or threw himself over is a matter on which I can say noth-ing.”
Robert Jones was called next.
Bobby explained that he had been playing golf with the doctor and hadsliced his ball towards the sea. A mist was rising at the time and it was dif-ficult to see. He thought he heard a cry, and for a moment wondered if hisball could have hit anybody coming along the footpath⁵. He had decided,however, that it could not possibly have travelled so far.
“Did you find the ball?”
“Yes, it was about a hundred yards short of the footpath.”
He then described how they had driven from the next tee and how hehimself had driven into the chasm⁶.
Here the coroner stopped him since his evidence would have been a re-petition of the doctor’s. He questioned him closely, however, as to the cryhe had heard or thought he heard.
“It was just a cry.”
“A cry for help?”
“Oh, no. Just a sort of shout, you know. In fact I wasn’t quite sure I heardit.”
“A startled kind of cry?”
“That’s more like it,” said Bobby gratefully. “Sort of noise a fellow mightlet out if a ball hit him unexpectedly.”
“Or if he took a step into nothingness when he thought he was on apath?”
“Yes.”
Then, having explained that the man actually died about five minutesafter the doctor left to get help, Bobby’s ordeal⁷ came to an end.
The coroner was by now anxious to get on with a perfectly straightfor-ward business.
Mrs. Leo Cayman was called.
Bobby gave a gasp⁸ of acute disappointment. Where was the face of thephoto that had tumbled from the dead man’s pocket? Photographers,thought Bobby disgustedly, were the worst kind of liars⁹. The photo obvi-ously must have been taken some years ago, but even then it was hard tobelieve that that charming wide- eyed beauty could have become thisbrazen-looking woman with plucked eyebrows¹⁰ and obviously dyed hair.
Time, thought Bobby suddenly, was a very frightening thing. What wouldFrankie, for instance, look like in twenty years’ time? He gave a littleshiver.
Meanwhile, Amelia Cayman, of 17 St. Leonard’s Gardens, Paddington,was giving evidence.
Deceased was her only brother, Alexander Pritchard. She had last seenher brother the day before the tragedy when he had announced his inten-tion of going for a walking tour in Wales. Her brother had recently re-turned from the East.
“Did he seem in a happy and normal state of mind?”
“Oh, quite. Alex was always cheerful.”
“So far as you know, he had nothing on his mind?”
“Oh! I’m sure he hadn’t. He was looking forward to his trip.”
“There have been no money troubles—or other troubles of any kind inhis life recently?”
“Well, really I couldn’t say as to that,” said Mrs. Cayman. “You see, he’donly just come back, and before that I hadn’t seen him for ten years andhe was never one much for writing. But he took me out to theatres andlunches in London and gave me one or two presents, so I don’t think hecould have been short of money, and he was in such good spirits that Idon’t think there could have been anything else.”
“What was your brother’s profession, Mrs. Cayman?”
The lady seemed slightly embarrassed.
“Well, I can’t say I rightly know. Prospecting—that’s what he called it.
He was very seldom in England.”
“You know of no reason which should cause him to take his own life?”
“Oh, no; and I can’t believe that he did such a thing. It must have beenan accident.”
“How do you explain the fact that your brother had no luggage with him—not even a knapsack?”
“He didn’t like carrying a knapsack. He meant to post parcels alternatedays. He posted one the day before he left with his night things and a pairof socks, only he addressed it to Derbyshire instead of Denbighshire, so itonly got here today.”
“Ah! That clears up a somewhat curious point.”
Mrs. Cayman went on to explain how she had been communicated withthrough the photographers whose name was on the photo her brother hadcarried. She had come down with her husband to Marchbolt and had atonce recognized the body as that of her brother.
As she said the last words she sniffed¹¹ audibly and began to cry.
The coroner said a few soothing¹² words and dismissed her.
Then he address the jury. Their task was to state how this man came byhis death. Fortunately, the matter appeared to be quite simple. There wasno suggestion that Mr. Pritchard had been worried or depressed¹³ or in astate of mind where he would be likely to take his own life. On the con-trary, he had been in good health and spirits and had been looking for-ward to his holiday. It was unfortunately the case that when a sea mistwas rising the path along the cliff was a dangerous one and possibly theymight agree with him that it was time something was done about it.
The jury’s verdict was prompt.
“We find that the deceased came to his death by misadventure and wewish to add a rider that in our opinion the Town Council should immedi-ately take steps to put a fence or rail on the sea side of the path where itskirts the chasm.”
The coroner nodded approval.
The inquest was over.

1 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 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。

5 footpath   

n.小路，人行道

参考例句：

• Owners who allow their dogs to foul the footpath will be fined.主人若放任狗弄脏人行道将受处罚。
• They rambled on the footpath in the woods.他俩漫步在林间蹊径上。

6 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

7 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

8 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

9 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

10 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

11 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

13 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。