Three（2）

II
There was nothing to be learnt from the other three lodgers¹ in thehouse. Two of them, a bank clerk and an elderly man who worked in ashoe shop, had been there for some years. The third was a girl of twenty-two who had come there recently and had a job in a nearby departmentstore. All three of them barely knew Mrs. Davis by sight.
The woman who had reported having seen Father Gorman in the streetthat evening had no useful information to give. She was a Catholic who at-tended St. Dominic’s and she knew Father Gorman by sight. She had seenhim turn out of Benthall Street and go into Tony’s Place about ten minutesto eight. That was all.
Mr. Osborne, the proprietor² of the chemist’s shop on the corner of Bar-ton Street, had a better contribution to make.
He was a small, middle-aged³ man, with a bald domed⁴ head, a round in-genuous face, and glasses.
“Good evening, Chief Inspector⁵. Come behind, will you?” He held up theflap of an old-fashioned counter. Lejeune passed behind and through adispensing alcove⁶ where a young man in a white overall was making upbottles of medicine with the swiftness of a professional conjurer, and sothrough an archway into a tiny room with a couple of easy chairs, a tableand a desk. Mr. Osborne pulled the curtain of the archway behind him ina secretive manner and sat down in one chair, motioning to Lejeune totake the other. He leaned forward, his eyes glinting in pleasurable excite-ment.
“It just happens that I may be able to assist you. It wasn’t a busy evening—nothing much to do, the weather being unfavourable. My young ladywas behind the counter. We keep open until eight on Thursdays always.
The fog was coming on and there weren’t many people about. I’d gone tothe door to look at the weather, thinking to myself that the fog was comingup fast. The weather forecast had said it would. I stood there for a bit—nothing going on inside that my young lady couldn’t deal with — facecreams and bath salts and all that. Then I saw Father Gorman comingalong on the other side of the street. I know him quite well by sight, ofcourse. A shocking thing, this murder, attacking a man so well thought ofas he is. ‘There’s Father Gorman,’ I said to myself. He was going in the dir-ection of West Street, it’s the next turn on the left before the railway, asyou know. A little way behind him there was another man. It wouldn’thave entered my head to notice or think anything of that, but quite sud-denly this second man came to a stop—quite abruptly⁷, just when he waslevel with my door. I wondered why he’d stopped—and then I noticed thatFather Gorman, a little way ahead, was slowing down. He didn’t quitestop. It was as though he was thinking of something so hard that he almostforgot he was walking. Then he started on again, and this other man star-ted to walk, too—rather fast. I thought—inasmuch as I thought at all, thatperhaps it was someone who knew Father Gorman and wanted to catchhim up and speak to him.”
“But in actual fact he could simply have been following him?”
“That’s what I’m sure he was doing now—not that I thought anything ofit at the time. What with the fog coming up, I lost sight of them both al-most at once.”
“Can you describe this man at all?”
Lejeune’s voice was not confident. He was prepared for the usual non-descript characteristics. But Mr. Osborne was made of different mettle⁸ toTony of Tony’s Place.
“Well, yes, I think so,” he said with complacency. “He was a tall man—”
“Tall? How tall?”
“Well—five eleven to six feet, at least, I’d say. Though he might haveseemed taller than he was because he was very thin. Sloping shoulders hehad, and a definite Adam’s apple. Grew his hair rather long under hisHomburg. A great beak⁹ of a nose. Very noticeable. Naturally I couldn’t sayas to the colour of his eyes. I saw him in profile as you’ll appreciate. Per-haps fifty as to age. I’m going by the walk. A youngish man moves quitedifferently.”
Lejeune made a mental survey of the distance across the street, thenback again to Mr. Osborne, and wondered. He wondered very much….
A description such as that given by the chemist could mean one of twothings. It could spring from an unusually vivid imagination — he hadknown many examples of that kind, mostly from women. They built up afancy portrait of what they thought a murderer ought to look like. Suchfancy portraits, however, usually contained some decidedly spurious de-tails—such as rolling eyes, beetle¹⁰ brows, apelike jaws¹¹, snarling¹² ferocity.
The description given by Mr. Osborne sounded like the description of areal person. In that case it was possible that here was the witness in a mil-lion—a man who observed accurately¹³ and in detail—and who would bequite unshakable as to what he had seen.
Again Lejeune considered the distance across the street. His eyes restedthoughtfully on the chemist.
He asked: “Do you think you would recognise this man if you saw himagain?”
“Oh, yes.” Mr. Osborne was supremely¹⁴ confident. “I never forget a face.
It’s one of my hobbies. I’ve always said that if one of these wife murdererscame into my place and bought a nice little package of arsenic¹⁵, I’d be ableto swear to him at the trial. I’ve always had my hopes that something likethat would happen one day.”
“But it hasn’t happened yet?”
Mr. Osborne admitted sadly that it hadn’t.
“And not likely to now,” he added wistfully. “I’m selling this business.
Getting a very nice price for it, and retiring to Bournemouth.”
“It looks a nice place you’ve got here.”
“It’s got class,” said Mr. Osborne, a note of pride in his voice. “Nearly ahundred years we’ve been established here. My grandfather and myfather before me. A good old-fashioned family business. Not that I saw itthat way as a boy. Stuffy¹⁶, I thought it. Like many a lad, I was bitten by thestage. Felt sure I could act. My father didn’t try to stop me. ‘See what youcan make of it, my boy,’ he said. ‘You’ll find you’re no Sir Henry Irving.’
And how right he was! Very wise man, my father. Eighteen months or soin repertory and back I came into the business. Took a pride in it, I did.
We’ve always kept good solid stuff. Old- fashioned. But quality. Butnowadays”—he shook his head sadly—“disappointing for a pharmaceutist.
All this toilet stuff. You’ve got to keep it. Half the profits come from all thatmuck. Powder and lipstick¹⁷ and face creams; and hair shampoos and fancysponge bags. I don’t touch the stuff myself. I have a young lady behind thecounter who attends to all that. No, it’s not what it used to be, having achemist’s establishment. However, I’ve a good sum put by, and I’m gettinga very good price, and I’ve made a down payment on a very nice littlebungalow near Bournemouth.”
He added:
“Retire whilst you can still enjoy life. That’s my motto. I’ve got plenty ofhobbies. Butterflies, for instance. And a bit of bird watching now andthen. And gardening—plenty of good books on how to start a garden. Andthere’s travel. I might go on one of these cruises—see foreign parts beforeit’s too late.”
Lejeune rose.
“Well, I wish you the best of luck,” he said. “And if, before you actuallyleave these parts, you should catch sight of that man—”
“I’ll let you know at once, Mr. Lejeune. Naturally. You can count on me.
It will be a pleasure. As I’ve told you, I’ve a very good eye for a face. I shallbe on the lookout¹⁸. On the qui vive, as they say. Oh yes. You can rely on me.
It will be a pleasure.”

1 lodgers   

n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He takes in lodgers. 他招收房客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A good proportion of my lodgers is connected with the theaters. 住客里面有不少人是跟戏院子有往来的。 来自辞典例句

2 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。

3 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

4 domed   

adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• I gazed up at the domed ceiling arching overhead. 我抬头凝望着上方弧形的穹顶。
• His forehead domed out in a curve. 他的前额呈弯曲的半球形。

5 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

6 alcove   

n.凹室

参考例句：

• The bookcase fits neatly into the alcove.书架正好放得进壁凹。
• In the alcoves on either side of the fire were bookshelves.火炉两边的凹室里是书架。

7 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。

8 mettle   

n.勇气，精神

参考例句：

• When the seas are in turmoil,heroes are on their mettle.沧海横流，方显出英雄本色。
• Each and every one of these soldiers has proved his mettle.这些战士个个都是好样的。

9 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

10 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

11 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

12 snarling   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• "I didn't marry you," he said, in a snarling tone. “我没有娶你，"他咆哮着说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• So he got into the shoes snarling. 于是，汤姆一边大喊大叫，一边穿上了那双鞋。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

13 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

14 supremely   

adv.无上地，崇高地

参考例句：

• They managed it all supremely well. 这件事他们干得极其出色。
• I consider a supremely beautiful gesture. 我觉得这是非常优雅的姿态。

15 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

16 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

17 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

18 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。