Thirty-three SENSATION IN THE ORIENT CAF?

Thirty-three SENSATION IN THE ORIENT CAF?
How Bobby and Frankie got out of the post office without disgracing them-selves neither of them ever knew.
Outside, with one accord, they looked at each other and shook withlaugher.
“At the Vicarage—all the time!” gasped¹ Bobby.
“And I looked through four hundred and eighty Evans,” lamentedFrankie.
“Now I see why Bassington-ffrench was so amused when he realized wedidn’t know in the least who Evans was!”
“And of course it was dangerous from their point of view. You andEvans were actually under the same roof.”
“Come on,” said Bobby. “Marchbolt’s the next place.”
“Like where the rainbow ends,” said Frankie. “Back to the dear oldhome.”
“Dash it all,” said Bobby, “we must do something about Badger². Haveyou any money, Frankie?”
Frankie opened her bag and took out a handful of notes.
“Give these to him and tell him to make some arrangement with hiscreditors and that Father will buy the garage and put him in as manager.”
“All right,” said Bobby. “The great thing is to get off quickly.”
“Why this frightful³ haste?”
“I don’t know—but I’ve a feeling something might happen.”
“How awful. Let’s go ever so quickly.”
“I’ll settle Badger. You go and start the car.”
“I shall never buy that toothbrush,” said Frankie.
Five minutes saw them speeding out of Chipping Somerton. Bobby hadno occasion to complain of lack of speed.
Nevertheless, Frankie suddenly said:
“Look here, Bobby, this isn’t quick enough.”
Bobby glanced at the speedometer needle, which was, at the moment,registering eighty, and remarked dryly:
“I don’t see what more we can do.”
“We can take an air taxi,” said Frankie. “We’re only about seven milesfrom Medeshot Aerodrome.”
“My dear girl!” said Bobby.
“If we do that we’ll be home in a couple of hours.”
“Good,” said Bobby. “Let’s take an air taxi.”
The whole proceedings⁴ were beginning to take on the fantastic charac-ter of a dream. Why this wild hurry to get to Marchbolt? Bobby didn’tknow. He suspected that Frankie didn’t know either. It was just a feeling.
At Medeshot Frankie asked for Mr. Donald King and an untidy-lookingyoung man was produced who appeared languidly surprised at the sightof her.
“Hullo, Frankie,” he said. “I haven’t seen you for an age. What do youwant?”
“I want an air taxi,” said Frankie. “You do that sort of thing, don’t you?”
“Oh! yes. Where do you want to go?”
“I want to get home quickly,” said Frankie.
Mr. Donald King raised his eyebrows⁵.
“Is that all?” he asked.
“Not quite,” said Frankie. “But it’s the main idea.”
“Oh! well, we can soon fix you up.”
“I’ll give you a cheque,” said Frankie.
Five minutes later they were off.
“Frankie,” said Bobby. “Why are we doing this?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” said Frankie. “But I feel we must. Don’tyou?”
“Curiously enough, I do. But I don’t know why. After all our Mrs.
Roberts won’t fly away on a broomstick.”
“She might. Remember, we don’t know what Bassington-ffrench is upto.”
“That’s true,” said Bobby thoughtfully.
It was growing late when they reached their destination. The planelanded them in the Park and five minutes later Bobby and Frankie weredriving into Marchbolt in Lord Marchington’s Chrysler.
They pulled up outside the Vicarage gate, the Vicarage drive not lendingitself to the turning of expensive cars.
Then jumping out they ran up the drive.
“I shall wake up soon,” thought Bobby. “What are we doing and why?”
A slender figure was standing⁶ on the doorstep. Frankie and Bobby re-cognized her at the same minute.
“Moira!” cried Frankie.
Moira turned. She was swaying slightly.
“Oh! I’m so glad to see you. I don’t know what to do.”
“But what on earth brings you here?”
“The same thing that has brought you, I expect.”
“You have found out who Evans is?” asked Bobby.
Moira nodded.
“Yes, it’s a long story—”
“Come inside,” said Bobby.
But Moira shrank back.
“No, no,” she said hurriedly. “Let’s go somewhere and talk. There’ssomething I must tell you—before we go into the house. Isn’t there a caféor some place like that in the town? Somewhere where we could go?”
“All right,” said Bobby, moving unwillingly⁷ away from the door. “Butwhy—”
Moira stamped her foot.
“You’ll see when I tell you. Oh! do come. There’s not a minute to lose.”
They yielded to her urgency. About halfway⁸ down the main street wasthe Orient Café—a somewhat grand name not borne out by the interiordecoration. The three of them filed in. It was a slack moment—half pastsix.
They sat down at a small table in the corner and Bobby ordered threecoffees.
“Now then?” he said.
“Wait till she’s brought the coffee,” said Moira.
The waitress returned and listlessly deposited three cups of tepid⁹ coffeein front of them.
“Now then,” said Bobby.
“I hardly know where to begin,” said Moira. “It was in the train going toLondon. Really, the most amazing coincidence. I went along the corridorand—”
She broke off. Her seat faced the door and she leant forward, staring.
“He must have followed me,” she said.
“Who?” cried Frankie and Bobby together.
“Bassington-ffrench,” whispered Moira.
“You’ve seen him?”
“He’s outside. I saw him with a woman with red hair.”
“Mrs. Cayman,” cried Frankie.
She and Bobby jumped and ran to the door. A protest came from Moirabut neither of them heeded¹⁰ it. They looked up and down the street butBassington-ffrench was nowhere in sight.
Moira joined them.
“Has he gone?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Oh! do be careful. He’sdangerous—horribly dangerous.”
“He can’t do anything so long as we’re all together,” said Bobby.
“Brace up, Moira,” said Frankie. “Don’t be such a rabbit.”
“Well, we can’t do anything for the moment,” said Bobby, leading theway back to the table. “Go on with what you were telling us, Moira.”
He picked up his cup of coffee. Frankie lost her balance and fell againsthim and the coffee poured over the table.
“Sorry,” said Frankie.
She stretched over the adjoining table which was laid for possiblediners. There was a cruet on it with two glass stoppered bottles containingoil and vinegar.
The oddity of Frankie’s proceedings riveted¹¹ Bobby’s attention. She tookthe vinegar bottle, emptied out the vinegar into the slop bowl and began topour coffee into it from her cup.
“Have you gone batty, Frankie?” asked Bobby. “What the devil are youdoing?”
“Taking a sample of this coffee for George Arbuthnot to analyse,” saidFrankie.
She turned to Moira.
“The game’s up, Moira! The whole thing came to me in a flash as westood at the door just now! When I jogged Bobby’s elbow and made himspill his coffee I saw your face. You put something in our cups when yousent us running to the door to look for Bassington-ffrench. The game’s up,Mrs. Nicholson or Templeton or whatever you like to call yourself.”
“Templeton?” cried Bobby.
“Look at her face,” cried Frankie. “If she denies it ask her to come to theVicarage and see if Mrs. Roberts doesn’t identify her.”
Bobby did look at her. He saw that face, that haunting, wistful facetransformed by a demoniac rage. That beautiful mouth opened and astream of foul¹² and hideous¹³ curses poured out.
She fumbled¹⁴ in her handbag.
Bobby was still dazed but he acted in the nick of time.
It was his hand that struck the pistol up.
The bullet passed over Frankie’s head and buried itself in the wall of theOrient Café.
For the first time in its history one of the waitresses hurried.
With a wild scream she shot out into the street calling: “Help! Murder!
Police!”

1 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 badger   

v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠

参考例句：

• Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
• If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他，我相信他会同意。

3 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

4 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

5 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。

6 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。

7 unwillingly   

adv.不情愿地

参考例句：

• He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
• Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访，他也是很不情愿地接待我。

8 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

9 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

10 heeded   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告，把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 riveted   

铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意

参考例句：

• I was absolutely riveted by her story. 我完全被她的故事吸引住了。
• My attention was riveted by a slight movement in the bushes. 我的注意力被灌木丛中的轻微晃动吸引住了。

12 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

13 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

14 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。