Nine THE MAN IN THE MIST（3）

III
It was the day after the crime. Tommy and Tuppence were still at theGrand Hotel, but Tommy had thought it prudent¹ to discard his clerical dis-guise.
James Reilly had been apprehended², and was in custody³. His solicitor⁴,Mr. Marvell, had just finished a lengthy⁵ conversation with Tommy on thesubject of the crime.
“I never would have believed it of James Reilly,” he said simply. “He’s al-ways been a man of violent speech, but that’s all.”
Tommy nodded.
“If you disperse⁶ energy in speech, it doesn’t leave you too much over foraction. What I realise is that I shall be one of the principal witnessesagainst him. That conversation he had with me just before the crime wasparticularly damning. And, in spite of everything, I like the man, and ifthere was anyone else to suspect, I should believe him to be innocent.
What’s his own story?”
The solicitor pursed up his lips.
“He declares that he found her lying there dead. But that’s impossible, ofcourse. He’s using the first lie that comes into his head.”
“Because, if he happened to be speaking the truth, it would mean thatthe garrulous⁷ Mrs. Honeycott committed the crime—and that is fantastic.
Yes, he must have done it.”
“The maid heard her cry out, remember.”
“The maid—yes—”
Tommy was silent a moment. Then he said thoughtfully.
“What credulous⁸ creatures we are, really. We believe evidence asthough it were gospel truth. And what is it really? Only the impressionconveyed to the mind by the senses—and suppose they’re the wrong im-pressions?”
The lawyer shrugged⁹ his shoulders.
“Oh! we all know that there are unreliable witnesses, witnesses who re-member more and more as time goes on, with no real intention to de-ceive.”
“I don’t mean only that. I mean all of us—we say things that aren’t reallyso, and never know that we’ve done so. For instance, both you and I,without doubt, have said some time or other, ‘There’s the post,’ when whatwe really meant was that we’d heard a double knock and the rattle¹⁰ of theletter-box. Nine times out of ten we’d be right, and it would be the post,but just possibly the tenth time it might be only a little urchin¹¹ playing ajoke on us. See what I mean?”
“Ye-es,” said Mr. Marvell slowly. “But I don’t see what you’re drivingat?”
“Don’t you? I’m not so sure that I do myself. But I’m beginning to see. It’slike the stick, Tuppence. You remember? One end of it pointed¹² one way—but the other end always points the opposite way. It depends whether youget hold of it by the right end. Doors open—but they also shut. People goupstairs, but they also go downstairs. Boxes shut, but they also open.”
“What do you mean?” demanded Tuppence.
“It’s so ridiculously easy, really,” said Tommy. “And yet it’s only justcome to me. How do you know when a person’s come into the house. Youhear the door open and bang to, and if you’re expecting any one to comein, you will be quite sure it is them. But it might just as easily be someonegoing out.”
“But Miss Glen didn’t go out?”
“No, I know she didn’t. But some one else did—the murderer.”
“But how did she get in, then?”
“She came in whilst Mrs. Honeycott was in the kitchen talking to Ellen.
They didn’t hear her. Mrs. Honeycott went back to the drawing room,wondered if her sister had come in and began to put the clock right, andthen, as she thought, she heard her come in and go upstairs.”
“Well, what about that? The footsteps going upstairs?”
“That was Ellen, going up to draw the curtains. You remember, Mrs.
Honeycott said her sister paused before going up. That pause was just thetime needed for Ellen to come out from the kitchen into the hall. She justmissed seeing the murderer.”
“But, Tommy,” cried Tuppence. “The cry she gave?”
“That was James Reilly. Didn’t you notice what a high-pitched voice hehas? In moments of great emotion, men often squeal¹³ just like a woman.”
“But the murderer? We’d have seen him?”
“We did see him. We even stood talking to him. Do you remember thesudden way that policeman appeared? That was because he stepped out ofthe gate, just after the mist cleared from the road. It made us jump, don’tyou remember? After all, though we never think of them as that, police-men are men just like any other men. They love and they hate. Theymarry. .?.?.
“I think Gilda Glen met her husband suddenly just outside that gate, andtook him in with her to thrash the matter out. He hadn’t Reilly’s relief ofviolent words, remember. He just saw red—and he had his truncheonhandy. .?.?.”

1 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

2 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

5 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

6 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

7 garrulous   

adj.唠叨的，多话的

参考例句：

• He became positively garrulous after a few glasses of wine.他几杯葡萄酒下肚之后便唠唠叨叨说个没完。
• My garrulous neighbour had given away the secret.我那爱唠叨的邻居已把秘密泄露了。

8 credulous   

adj.轻信的，易信的

参考例句：

• You must be credulous if she fooled you with that story.连她那种话都能把你骗倒，你一定是太容易相信别人了。
• Credulous attitude will only make you take anything for granted.轻信的态度只会使你想当然。

9 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

11 urchin   

n.顽童；海胆

参考例句：

• You should sheer off the urchin.你应该躲避这顽童。
• He is a most wicked urchin.他是个非常调皮的顽童。

12 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。

13 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。