Twenty-one TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY

Twenty-one TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY

For a moment or two they stood staring at each other stupidly, dazed withthe shock. Somehow, inexplicably¹, Mr. Brown had forestalled² them.
Tommy accepted defeat quietly. Not so Julius.
“How in tarnation did he get ahead of us? That’s what beats me!” heended up.
Tommy shook his head, and said dully:
“It accounts for the stitches being new. We might have guessed. .?.?.”
“Never mind the darned stitches. How did he get ahead of us? Wehustled all we knew. It’s downright impossible for anyone to get herequicker than we did. And, anyway, how did he know? Do you reckon therewas a dictaphone in Jane’s room? I guess there must have been.”
But Tommy’s common sense pointed³ out objections.
“No one could have known beforehand that she was going to be in thathouse—much less that particular room.”
“That’s so,” admitted Julius. “Then one of the nurses was a crook⁴ andlistened at the door. How’s that?”
“I don’t see that it matters anyway,” said Tommy wearily. “He may havefound out some months ago, and removed the papers, then—No, by Jove,that won’t wash! They’d have been published at once.”
“Sure thing they would! No, someone’s got ahead of us today by an houror so. But how they did it gets my goat.”
“I wish that chap Peel Edgerton had been with us,” said Tommy thought-fully.
“Why?” Julius stared. “The mischief⁵ was done when we came.”
“Yes—” Tommy hesitated. He could not explain his own feeling—the il-logical idea that the K.C.’s presence would somehow have averted⁶ thecatastrophe. He reverted⁷ to his former point of view. “It’s no good arguingabout how it was done. The game’s up. We’ve failed. There’s only onething for me to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Get back to London as soon as possible. Mr. Carter must be warned. It’sonly a matter of hours now before the blow falls. But, at any rate, he oughtto know the worst.”
The duty was an unpleasant one, but Tommy had no intention of shirk-ing it. He must report his failure to Mr. Carter. After that his work wasdone. He took the midnight mail to London. Julius elected to stay the nightat Holyhead.
Half an hour after arrival, haggard and pale, Tommy stood before hischief.
“I’ve come to report, sir. I’ve failed—failed badly.”
Mr. Carter eyed him sharply.
“You mean that the treaty—”
“Is in the hands of Mr. Brown, sir.”
“Ah!” said Mr. Carter quietly. The expression on his face did not change,but Tommy caught the flicker⁸ of despair in his eyes. It convinced him asnothing else had done that the outlook was hopeless.
“Well,” said Mr. Carter after a minute or two, “we mustn’t sag⁹ at theknees, I suppose. I’m glad to know definitely. We must do what we can.”
Through Tommy’s mind flashed the assurance: “It’s hopeless, and heknows it’s hopeless!”
The other looked up at him.
“Don’t take it to heart, lad,” he said kindly¹⁰. “You did your best. You wereup against one of the biggest brains of the century. And you came verynear success. Remember that.”
“Thank you, sir. It’s awfully¹¹ decent of you.”
“I blame myself. I have been blaming myself ever since I heard thisother news.”
Something in his tone attracted Tommy’s attention. A new fear grippedat his heart.
“Is there—something more, sir?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Mr. Carter gravely. He stretched out his hand to asheet on the table.
“Tuppence—?” faltered¹² Tommy.
“Read for yourself.”
The typewritten words danced before his eyes. The description of agreen toque, a coat with a handkerchief in the pocket marked P.L.C. Helooked an agonized¹³ question at Mr. Carter. The latter replied to it:
“Washed up on the Yorkshire coast—near Ebury. I’m afraid—it looksvery much like foul¹⁴ play.”
“My God!” gasped¹⁵ Tommy. “Tuppence! Those devils—I’ll never rest tillI’ve got even with them! I’ll hunt them down! I’ll—”
The pity on Mr. Carter’s face stopped him.
“I know what you feel like, my poor boy. But it’s no good. You’ll wasteyour strength uselessly. It may sound harsh, but my advice to you is: Cutyour losses. Time’s merciful. You’ll forget.”
“Forget Tuppence? Never!”
Mr. Carter shook his head.
“So you think now. Well, it won’t bear thinking of—that brave little girl!
I’m sorry about the whole business—confoundedly sorry.”
Tommy came to himself with a start.
“I’m taking up your time, sir,” he said with an effort. “There’s no needfor you to blame yourself. I daresay we were a couple of young fools totake on such a job. You warned us all right. But I wish to God I’d been theone to get it in the neck. Good-bye, sir.”
Back at the Ritz, Tommy packed up his few belongings¹⁶ mechanically, histhoughts far away. He was still bewildered by the introduction of tragedyinto his cheerful commonplace existence. What fun they had had together,he and Tuppence! And now—oh, he couldn’t believe it—it couldn’t be true!
Tuppence — dead! Little Tuppence, brimming over with life! It was adream, a horrible dream. Nothing more.
They brought him a note, a few kind words of sympathy from PeelEdgerton, who had read the news in the paper. (There had been a largeheadline: EX-V.A.D. FEARED DROWNED.) The letter ended with the offerof a post on a ranch¹⁷ in Argentine, where Sir James had considerable in-terests.
“Kind old beggar,” muttered Tommy, as he flung it aside.
The door opened, and Julius burst in with his usual violence. He held anopen newspaper in his hand.
“Say, what’s all this? They seem to have got some fool idea about Tup-pence.”
“It’s true,” said Tommy quietly.
“You mean they’ve done her in?”
Tommy nodded.
“I suppose when they got the treaty she—wasn’t any good to them anylonger, and they were afraid to let her go.”
“Well, I’m darned!” said Julius. “Little Tuppence. She sure was the pluck-iest little girl—”
But suddenly something seemed to crackin Tommy’s brain. He rose tohis feet.
“Oh, get out! You don’t really care, damn you! You asked her to marryyou in your rotten cold-blooded way, but I loved her. I’d have given thesoul out of my body to save her from harm. I’d have stood by without aword and let her marry you, because you could have given her the sort oftime she ought to have had, and I was only a poor devil without a penny tobless himself with. But it wouldn’t have been because I didn’t care!”
“See here,” began Julius temperately¹⁸.
“Oh, go to the devil! I can’t stand your coming here and talking about‘little Tuppence.’ Go and look after your cousin. Tuppence is my girl! I’vealways loved her, from the time we played together as kids. We grew upand it was just the same. I shall never forget when I was in hospital, andshe came in in that ridiculous cap and apron¹⁹! It was like a miracle to seethe²⁰ girl I loved turn up in a nurse’s kit²¹—”
But Julius interrupted him.
“A nurse’s kit! Gee²² whiz! I must be going to Coney Hatch! I could swearI’ve seen Jane in a nurse’s cap too. And that’s plumb²³ impossible! No, bygum, I’ve got it! It was her I saw talking to Whittington at that nursinghome in Bournemouth. She wasn’t a patient there! She was a nurse!”
“I daresay,” said Tommy angrily, “she’s probably been in with themfrom the start. I shouldn’t wonder if she stole those papers from Danversto begin with.”
“I’m darned if she did!” shouted Julius. “She’s my cousin, and as patri-otic a girl as ever stepped.”
“I don’t care a damn who she is, but get out of here!” retorted Tommyalso at the top of his voice.
The young men were on the point of coming to blows. But suddenly,with an almost magical abruptness²⁴, Julius’s anger abated²⁵.
“All right, son,” he said quietly, “I’m going. I don’t blame you any forwhat you’ve been saying. It’s mighty²⁶ lucky you did say it. I’ve been themost almighty²⁷ blithering darned idiot that it’s possible to imagine. Calmdown,”—Tommy had made an impatient gesture—“I’m going right awaynow—going to the London and North Western Railway depot²⁸, if you wantto know.”
“I don’t care a damn where you’re going,” growled²⁹ Tommy.
As the door closed behind Julius, he returned to his suitcase.
“That’s the lot,” he murmured, and rang the bell.
“Take my luggage down.”
“Yes, sir. Going away, sir?”
“I’m going to the devil,” said Tommy, regardless of the menial’s feelings.
That functionary³⁰, however, merely replied respectfully:
“Yes, sir. Shall I call a taxi?”
Tommy nodded.
Where was he going? He hadn’t the faintest idea. Beyond a fixed³¹ de-termination to get even with Mr. Brown he had no plans. He had re-readSir James’s letter, and shook his head. Tuppence must be avenged³². Still, itwas kind of the old fellow.
“Better answer it, I suppose.” He went across to the writing table. Withthe usual perversity³³ of bedroom stationery³⁴, there were innumerable en-velopes and no paper. He rang. No one came. Tommy fumed³⁵ at the delay.
Then he remembered that there was a good supply in Julius’s sitting room.
The American had announced his immediate³⁶ departure. There would beno fear of running up against him. Besides, he wouldn’t mind if he did. Hewas beginning to be rather ashamed of the things he had said. Old Juliushad taken them jolly well. He’d apologize if he found him there.
But the room was deserted³⁷. Tommy walked across to the writing table,and opened the middle drawer. A photograph, carelessly thrust in face up-wards, caught his eye. For a moment he stood rooted to the ground. Thenhe took it out, shut the drawer, walked slowly over to an armchair, and satdown still staring at the photograph in his hand.
What on earth was a photograph of the French girl Annette doing in Ju-lius Hersheimmer’s writing table?

1 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

2 forestalled   

v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She forestalled their attempt. 她先发制人，阻止了他们的企图。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had my objection all prepared, but Stephens forestalled me. 我已做好准备要提出反对意见，不料斯蒂芬斯却抢先了一步。 来自辞典例句

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

5 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

6 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

7 reverted   

恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• After the settlers left, the area reverted to desert. 早期移民离开之后，这个地区又变成了一片沙漠。
• After his death the house reverted to its original owner. 他死后房子归还给了原先的主人。

8 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

9 sag   

v.下垂，下跌，消沉；n.下垂，下跌，凹陷，[航海]随风漂流

参考例句：

• The shelf was beginning to sag beneath the weight of the books upon it.书架在书的重压下渐渐下弯。
• We need to do something about the sag.我们须把下沉的地方修整一下。

10 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

11 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

12 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

13 agonized   

v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦

参考例句：

• All the time they agonized and prayed. 他们一直在忍受痛苦并且祈祷。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She agonized herself with the thought of her loss. 她念念不忘自己的损失，深深陷入痛苦之中。 来自辞典例句

14 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！

15 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》

16 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

17 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

18 temperately   

adv.节制地，适度地

参考例句：

• We are not spending extravagantly, but spending reasonably and temperately. 他们不是在挥霍无度的消费，而是合理的有节制的花费。 来自互联网
• He used the privileges of his office temperately. 他有节制地使用了自己的职务特权。 来自互联网

19 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

20 seethe   

vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动

参考例句：

• Many Indians continue to seethe and some are calling for military action against their riotous neighbour.很多印度人都处于热血沸腾的状态，很多都呼吁针对印度这个恶邻采取军事行动。
• She seethed with indignation.她由于愤怒而不能平静。

21 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

22 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

23 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

24 abruptness   

n. 突然，唐突

参考例句：

• He hid his feelings behind a gruff abruptness. 他把自己的感情隐藏在生硬鲁莽之中。
• Suddenly Vanamee returned to himself with the abruptness of a blow. 伐那米猛地清醒过来，象挨到了当头一拳似的。

25 abated   

减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The worker's concern about cuts in the welfare funding has not abated. 工人们对削减福利基金的关心并没有减少。
• The heat has abated. 温度降低了。

26 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

27 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

28 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

29 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 functionary   

n.官员；公职人员

参考例句：

• No functionary may support or cover up unfair competition acts.国家官员不得支持、包庇不正当竞争行为。
• " Emigrant," said the functionary,"I am going to send you on to Paris,under an escort."“ 外逃分子，”那官员说，“我要把你送到巴黎去，还派人护送。”

31 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

32 avenged   

v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复

参考例句：

• She avenged her mother's death upon the Nazi soldiers. 她惩处了纳粹士兵以报杀母之仇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Indians avenged the burning of their village on〔upon〕 the settlers. 印第安人因为村庄被焚毁向拓居者们进行报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

33 perversity   

n.任性；刚愎自用

参考例句：

• She's marrying him out of sheer perversity.她嫁给他纯粹是任性。
• The best of us have a spice of perversity in us.在我们最出色的人身上都有任性的一面。

34 stationery   

n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封

参考例句：

• She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
• There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多，心里自会觉得踏实。

35 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

36 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

37 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。