“So you see, Tuppence, it would all fit in.”
Tuppence nodded thoughtfully. The beach around them was empty. Sheherself leaned against a breakwater, Tommy sat above her and the break-water itself, from which post he could see anyone who approached alongthe esplanade. Not that he expected to see anyone, having ascertainedwith a fair amount of accuracy where people would be this morning. Inany case his rendezvous1 with Tuppence had borne all the signs of a casualmeeting, pleasurable to the lady and slightly alarming to himself.
Tuppence said:
“Mrs. Perenna?”
“Yes. M not N. She satisfies the requirements.”
Tuppence nodded thoughtfully again.
“Yes. She’s Irish—as spotted2 by Mrs. O’Rourke—won’t admit the fact.
Has done a good deal of coming and going on the Continent. Changed hername to Perenna, came here and started this boardinghouse. A splendidbit of camouflage3, full of innocuous bores. Her husband was shot as atraitor—she’s got every incentive4 for running a Fifth Column show in thiscountry. Yes, it fits. Is the girl in it too, do you think?”
Tommy said finally:
“Definitely not. She’d never have told me all this otherwise. I—I feel abit of a cad, you know.”
Tuppence nodded with complete understanding.
“Yes, one does. In a way it’s a foul5 job, this.”
“But very necessary.”
“Oh, of course.”
Tommy said, flushing slightly:
“I don’t like lying any better than you do—”
Tuppence interrupted him.
“I don’t mind lying in the least. To be quite honest I get a lot of artisticpleasure out of my lies. What gets me down is those moments when oneforgets to lie—the times when one is just oneself—and gets results thatway that you couldn’t have got any other.” She paused and went on:
“That’s what happened to you last night—with the girl. She responded tothe real you—that’s why you feel badly about it.”
“I believe you’re right, Tuppence.”
“I know. Because I did the same thing myself—with the German boy.”
Tommy said:
“What do you think about him?”
Tuppence said quickly:
“If you ask me, I don’t think he’s got anything to do with it.”
“Grant thinks he has.”
“Your Mr. Grant!” Tuppence’s mood changed. She chuckled6. “How I’dlike to have seen his face when you told him about me.”
“At any rate, he’s made the amende honorable. You’re definitely on thejob.”
Tuppence nodded, but she looked a trifle abstracted.
She said:
“Do you remember after the last war—when we were hunting down Mr.
Brown? Do you remember what fun it was? How excited we were?”
Tommy agreed, his face lighting7 up.
“Rather!”
“Tommy—why isn’t it the same now?”
He considered the question, his quiet ugly face grave. Then he said:
“I suppose it’s really—a question of age.”
Tuppence said sharply:
“You don’t think—we’re too old?”
“No, I’m sure we’re not. It’s only that—this time—it won’t be fun. It’s thesame in other ways. This is the second war we’ve been in—and we feelquite different about this one.”
“I know—we see the pity of it and the waste—and the horror. All thethings we were too young to think about before.”
“That’s it. In the last war I was scared every now and then—and hadsome pretty close shaves, and went through hell once or twice, but therewere good times too.”
Tuppence said:
“I suppose Derek feels like that?”
“Better not think about him, old thing,” Tommy advised.
“You’re right.” Tuppence set her teeth. “We’ve got a job. We’re going todo that job. Let’s get on with it. Have we found what we’re looking for inMrs. Perenna?”
“We can at least say that she’s strongly indicated. There’s no one else, isthere, Tuppence, that you’ve got your eye on?”
Tuppence considered.
“No, there isn’t. The first thing I did when I arrived, of course, was tosize them all up and assess, as it were, possibilities. Some of them seemquite impossible.”
“Such as?”
“Well, Miss Minton for instance, the ‘compleat’ British spinster, and Mrs.
Sprot and her Betty, and the vacuous8 Mrs. Cayley.”
“Yes, but nitwittishness can be assumed.”
“Oh, quite, but the fussy9 spinster and the absorbed young mother areparts that would be fatally easy to overdo10—and these people are quite nat-ural. Then, where Mrs. Sprot is concerned, there’s the child.”
“I suppose,” said Tommy, “that even a secret agent might have a child.”
“Not with her on the job,” said Tuppence. “It’s not the kind of thingyou’d bring a child into. I’m quite sure about that, Tommy. I know. You’dkeep a child out of it.”
“I withdraw,” said Tommy. “I’ll give you Mrs. Sprot and Miss Minton,but I’m not so sure about Mrs. Cayley.”
“No, she might be a possibility. Because she really does overdo it. I meanthere can’t be many women quite as idiotic11 as she seems.”
“I have often noticed that being a devoted12 wife saps the intellect,” mur-mured Tommy.
“And where have you noticed that?” demanded Tuppence.
“Not from you, Tuppence. Your devotion has never reached thoselengths.”
“For a man,” said Tuppence kindly13, “you don’t really make an unduefuss when you are ill.”
Tommy reverted14 to a survey of possibilities.
“Cayley,” said Tommy thoughtfully. “There might be something fishyabout Cayley.”
“Yes, there might. Then there’s Mrs. O’Rourke?”
“What do you feel about her?”
“I don’t quite know. She’s disturbing. Rather fee fo fum if you know whatI mean.”
“Yes, I think I know. But I rather fancy that’s just the predatory note.
She’s that kind of woman.”
Tuppence said slowly:
“She—notices things.”
She was remembering the remark about knitting.
“Then there’s Bletchley,” said Tommy.
“I’ve hardly spoken to him. He’s definitely your chicken.”
“I think he’s just the ordinary pukka old school tie. I think so.”
“That’s just it,” said Tuppence, answering a stress rather than actualwords. “The worst of this sort of show is that you look at quite ordinaryeveryday people and twist them to suit your morbid15 requirements.”
“I’ve tried a few experiments on Bletchley,” said Tommy.
“What sort of thing? I’ve got some experiments in mind myself.”
“Well—just gentle ordinary little traps—about dates and places—all thatsort of thing.”
“Could you condescend16 from the general to the particular?”
“Well, say we’re talking of duck shooting. He mentions the Fayum —good sport there such and such a year, such and such a month. Some othertime I mention Egypt in quite a different connection. Mummies,Tutankhamen, something like that—has he seen that stuff? When was hethere? Check up on the answers. Or P & O boats—I mention the names ofone or two, say so and so was a comfortable boat. He mentions some tripor other, later I check that. Nothing important, or anything that puts himon his guard—just a check up on accuracy.”
“And so far he hasn’t slipped up in any way?”
“Not once. And that’s a pretty good test, let me tell you, Tuppence.”
“Yes, but I suppose if he was N he would have his story quite pat.”
“Oh yes—the main outlines of it. But it’s not so easy not to trip up on un-important details. And then occasionally you remember too much—more,that is, than a bona fide person would do. An ordinary person doesn’t usu-ally remember offhand17 whether they took a certain shooting trip in 1926or 1927. They have to think a bit and search their memory.”
“But so far you haven’t caught Bletchley out?”
“So far he’s responded in a perfectly18 normal manner.”
“Result—negative.”
“Exactly.”
“Now,” said Tuppence. “I’ll tell you some of my ideas.”
And she proceeded to do so.
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收听单词发音
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1
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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2
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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3
camouflage
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| n./v.掩饰，伪装 | |
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4
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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5
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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6
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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8
vacuous
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| adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的 | |
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9
fussy
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| adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的 | |
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10
overdo
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| vt.把...做得过头，演得过火 | |
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11
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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12
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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13
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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14
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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15
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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16
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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17
offhand
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| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
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18
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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