Five（4）

IV
Tuppence’s plan of campaign had been simple in its outlines. First, ageneral sizing up of probabilities and possibilities. Second, an experimentto determine whether there was or was not an inmate¹ of Sans Souci whowas interested in troop movements and anxious to conceal² the fact. Third—who that person was?
It was concerning that third operation that Tuppence pondered as shelay in bed the following morning. Her train of thought was slightlyhampered by Betty Sprot, who had pranced³ in at an early hour, precedingindeed the cup of somewhat tepid⁴ inky liquid known as Morning Tea.
Betty was both active and voluble. She had taken a great fancy to Tup-pence. She climbed up on the bed and thrust an extremely tattered⁵ picturebook under Tuppence’s nose, commanding with brevity:
“Wead.”
Tuppence read obediently.
“Goosey goosey gander, whither will you wander?
“Upstairs, downstairs, in my lady’s chamber⁶.”
Betty rolled with mirth—repeating in an ecstasy⁷:
“Upstares — upstares — upstares —” and then with a sudden climax,“Down—” and proceeded to roll off the bed with a thump⁸.
This proceeding⁹ was repeated several times until it palled¹⁰. Then Bettycrawled about the floor, playing with Tuppence’s shoes and mutteringbusily to herself in her own particular idiom:
“Ag do—bah pit—soo—soodah—putch—”
Released to fly back to its own perplexities, Tuppence’s mind forgot thechild. The words of the nursery rhyme seemed to mock at her.
“Goosey—goosey, gander, whither shall ye wander?”
Whither indeed? Goosey, that was her, Gander was Tommy. It was, atany rate, what they appeared to be! Tuppence had the heartiest¹¹ contemptfor Mrs. Blenkensop. Mr. Meadowes, the thought, was a little better —stolid, British, unimaginative—quite incredibly stupid. Both of them, shehoped, fitting nicely into the background of Sans Souci. Both such possiblepeople to be there.
All the same, one must not relax—a slip was so easy. She had made onethe other day—nothing that mattered, but just a sufficient indication towarn her to be careful. Such an easy approach to intimacy¹² and good rela-tions—an indifferent knitter asking for guidance. But she had forgottenthat one evening, her fingers had slipped into their own practised effi-ciency, the needles clicking busily with the even note of the experiencedknitter. Mrs. O’Rourke had noticed it. Since then, she had carefully strucka medium course—not so clumsy as she had been at first—but not so rapidas she could be.
“Ag boo bate¹³?” demanded Betty. She reiterated¹⁴ the question: “Ag boobate?”
“Lovely, darling,” said Tuppence absently. “Beautiful.”
Satisfied, Betty relapsed into murmurs¹⁵ again.
Her next step, Tuppence thought, could be managed easily enough. Thatis to say with the connivance¹⁶ of Tommy. She saw exactly how to do it—Lying there planning, time slipped by. Mrs. Sprot came in, breathless, toseek for Betty.
“Oh, here she is. I couldn’t think where she had got to. Oh, Betty, younaughty girl—oh, dear, Mrs. Blenkensop, I am so sorry.”
Tuppence sat up in bed. Betty, with an angelic face, was contemplatingher handiwork.
She had removed all the laces from Tuppence’s shoes and had immersedthem in a toothglass of water. She was prodding¹⁷ them now with a gleefulfinger.
Tuppence laughed and cut short Mrs. Sprot’s apologies.
“How frightfully funny. Don’t worry, Mrs. Sprot, they’ll recover all right.
It’s my fault. I should have noticed what she was doing. She was ratherquiet.”
“I know,” Mrs. Sprot sighed. “Whenever they’re quiet, it’s a bad sign. I’llget you some more laces this morning, Mrs. Blenkensop.”
“Don’t bother,” said Tuppence. “They’ll dry none the worse.”
Mrs. Sprot bore Betty away and Tuppence got up to put her plan into ex-ecution.

1 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

2 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

3 pranced   

v.（马）腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their horses pranced and whinnied. 他们的马奔腾着、嘶鸣着。 来自辞典例句
• The little girl pranced about the room in her new clothes. 小女孩穿着新衣在屋里雀跃。 来自辞典例句

4 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

5 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 ecstasy   

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

参考例句：

• He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
• Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

8 thump   

v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声

参考例句：

• The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
• The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。

9 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

10 palled   

v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They palled up at college. 他们是在大学结识的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The long hot idle summer days palled on me. 我对这漫长、炎热、无所事事的夏天感到腻烦了。 来自辞典例句

11 heartiest   

亲切的( hearty的最高级 )； 热诚的； 健壮的； 精神饱满的

参考例句：

• He was then the heartiest and sturdiest boy in the world. 他那时是世界上最诚恳、最坚强的孩子。
• We parted with them in the heartiest manner. 我们和他们在最热烈的气氛下分别了。

12 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

13 bate   

v.压制；减弱；n.（制革用的）软化剂

参考例句：

• The cruel landlord would bate him no rent.那个狠心的地主不肯给他减租。
• I was unable to bate my enthusiasm.我无法抑制自己的热切的心情。

14 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

15 murmurs   

n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕

参考例句：

• They spoke in low murmurs. 他们低声说着话。 来自辞典例句
• They are more superficial, more distinctly heard than murmurs. 它们听起来比心脏杂音更为浅表而清楚。 来自辞典例句

16 connivance   

n.纵容；默许

参考例句：

• The criminals could not have escaped without your connivance.囚犯没有你的默契配合，是逃不掉的。
• He tried to bribe the police into connivance.他企图收买警察放他一马。

17 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》