Chapter 8 An Embassy Dinner（2）

II
Grosvenor Square was quietness itself. There were traces of broken glassstill on the pavements. There were even eggs, squashed tomatoes and frag-ments of gleaming metal. But above, the stars were peaceful. Car after cardrove up to the Embassy door to collect the home-going guests. The policewere there in the corners of the square but without ostentation¹.
Everything was under control. One of the political guests leaving spoke² toone of the police officers. He came back and murmured, ‘Not too many ar-rests. Eight. They’ll be up at Bow Street in the morning. More or less theusual lot. Petronella was here, of course, and Stephen and his crowd. Ahwell. One would think they’d get tired of it one of these days.’
‘You live not very far from here, don’t you?’ said a voice in Sir StaffordNye’s ear. A deep contralto voice. ‘I can drop you on my way.’
‘No, no. I can walk perfectly³. It’s only ten minutes or so.’
‘It will be no trouble to me, I assure you,’ said the Countess Zerkowski.
She added, ‘I’m staying at the St James’s Tower.’
The St James’s Tower was one of the newer hotels.
‘You are very kind.’
It was a big, expensive- looking hire car that waited. The chauffeuropened the door, the Countess Renata got in and Sir Stafford Nye followedher. It was she who gave Sir Stafford Nye’s address to the chauffeur⁴. Thecar drove off.
‘So you know where I live?’ he said.
‘Why not?’
He wondered just what that answer meant: Why not?
‘Why not indeed,’ he said. ‘You know so much, don’t you?’ He added, ‘Itwas kind of you to return my passport.’
‘I thought it might save certain inconveniences. It might be simpler ifyou burnt it. You’ve been issued with a new one, I presume–’
‘You presume correctly.’
‘Your bandit’s cloak you will find in the bottom drawer of your tallboy.
It was put there tonight. I believed that perhaps to purchase another onewould not satisfy you, and indeed that to find one similar might not bepossible.’
‘It will mean more to me now that it has been through certain–adven-tures,’ said Stafford Nye. He added, ‘It has served its purpose.’
The car purred through the night.
The Countess Zerkowski said:
‘Yes. It has served its purpose since I am here–alive…’
Sir Stafford Nye said nothing. He was assuming, rightly or not, that shewanted him to ask questions, to press her, to know more of what she hadbeen doing, of what fate she had escaped. She wanted him to display curi-osity, but Sir Stafford Nye was not going to display curiosity. He rather en-joyed not doing so. He heard her laugh very gently. Yet he fancied, rathersurprisingly, that it was a pleased laugh, a laugh of satisfaction, not ofstalemate.
‘Did you enjoy your evening?’ she said.
‘A good party, I think, but Milly Jean always gives good parties.’
‘You know her well then?’
‘I knew her when she was a girl in New York before she married. Apocket Venus.’
She looked at him in faint surprise.
‘Is that your term for her?’
‘Actually, no. It was said to me by an elderly relative of mine.’
‘Yes, it isn’t a description that one hears given often of a womannowadays. It fits her, I think, very well. Only–’
‘Only what?’
‘Venus is seductive, is she not? Is she also ambitious?’
‘You think Milly Jean Cortman is ambitious?’
‘Oh yes. That above all.’
‘And you think to be the wife of the Ambassador to St James’s is insuffi-cient to satisfy ambition?’
‘Oh no,’ said the Countess. ‘That is only the beginning.’
He did not answer. He was looking out through the car window. Hebegan to speak, then stopped himself. He noted⁵ her quick glance at him,but she too was silent. It was not till they were going over a bridge withthe Thames below them that he said:
‘So you are not giving me a lift home and you are not going back to theSt James’s Tower. We are crossing the Thames. We met there once before,crossing a bridge. Where are you taking me?’
‘Do you mind?’
‘I think I do.’
‘Yes, I can see you might.’
‘Well of course you are quite in the mode. Hi- jacking is the fashionnowadays, isn’t it? You have hi-jacked me. Why?’
‘Because, like once before, I have need of you.’ She added, ‘And othershave need of you.’
‘Indeed.’
‘And that does not please you.’
‘It would please me better to be asked.’
‘If I had asked, would you have come?’
‘Perhaps yes, perhaps no.’
‘I am sorry.’
‘I wonder.’
They drove on through the night in silence. It was not a drive throughlonely country, they were on a main road. Now and then the lights pickedup a name or a signpost so that Stafford Nye saw quite clearly where theirroute lay. Through Surrey and through the first residential⁶ portions ofSussex. Occasionally he thought they took a detour⁷ or a side road whichwas not the most direct route, but even of this he could not be sure. He al-most asked his companion whether this was being done because theymight possibly have been followed from London. But he had determinedrather firmly on his policy of silence. It was for her to speak, for her togive information. He found her, even with the additional information hehad been able to get, an enigmatic character.
They were driving to the country after a dinner party in London. Theywere, he was pretty sure, in one of the more expensive types of hire car.
This was something planned beforehand. Reasonable, nothing doubtful orunexpected about it. Soon, he imagined, he would find out where it wasthey were going. Unless, that is, they were going to drive as far as thecoast. That also was possible, he thought. Haslemere, he saw on a signpost.
Now they were skirting Godalming. All very plain and above board. Therich countryside of moneyed suburbia. Agreeable woods, handsome resid-ences. They took a few side turns and then as the car finally slowed, theyseemed to be arriving at their destination. Gates. A small white lodge⁸ bythe gates. Up a drive, well-kept rhododendrons on either side of it. Theyturned round a bend and drew up before a house. ‘Stockbroker Tudor,’
murmured Sir Stafford Nye, under his breath. His companion turned herhead inquiringly.
‘Just a comment,’ said Stafford Nye. ‘Pay no attention. I take it we arenow arriving at the destination of your choice?’
‘And you don’t admire the look of it very much.’
‘The grounds seem well-kept up,’ said Sir Stafford, following the beam ofthe headlights as the car rounded the bend. ‘Takes money to keep theseplaces up and in good order. I should say this was a comfortable house tolive in.’
‘Comfortable but not beautiful. The man who lives in it prefers comfortto beauty, I should say.’
‘Perhaps wisely,’ said Sir Stafford. ‘And yet in some ways he is very ap-preciative of beauty, of some kinds of beauty.’
They drew up before the well-lighted porch. Sir Stafford got out andtendered an arm to help his companion. The chauffeur had mounted thesteps and pressed the bell. He looked inquiringly at the woman as she as-cended the steps.
‘You won’t be requiring me again tonight, m’lady?’
‘No. That’s all for now. We’ll telephone down in the morning.’
‘Good night. Good night, sir.’
There were footsteps inside and the door was flung open. Sir Staffordhad expected some kind of butler, but instead there was a tall grenadier ofa parlour-maid. Grey-haired, tight-lipped, eminently⁹ reliable and compet-ent, he thought. An invaluable¹⁰ asset and hard to find nowadays. Trust-worthy, capable of being fierce.
‘I am afraid we are a little late,’ said Renata.
‘The master is in the library. He asked that you and the gentlemanshould come to him there when you arrived.’

1 ostentation   

n.夸耀，卖弄

参考例句：

• Choose a life of action,not one of ostentation.要选择行动的一生，而不是炫耀的一生。
• I don't like the ostentation of their expensive life - style.他们生活奢侈，爱摆阔，我不敢恭维。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 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。

4 chauffeur   

n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车

参考例句：

• The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
• She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

7 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

8 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

9 eminently   

adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地

参考例句：

• She seems eminently suitable for the job. 她看来非常适合这个工作。
• It was an eminently respectable boarding school. 这是所非常好的寄宿学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。