Chapter 5 The White Elephant Sale（1）

Chapter 5 The White Elephant Sale

Tuppence was pleasurably surprised to find the brass¹ lamp which she andTommy now regarded with such repulsion welcomed with the utmostwarmth.
‘How very good of you, Mrs Beresford, to bring us something as nice asthat. Most interesting, most interesting. I suppose it must have come fromabroad on your travels once.’
‘Yes. We bought it in Egypt,’ said Tuppence.
She was quite doubtful by this time, a period of eight to ten years havingpassed, as to where she had bought it. It might have been Damascus, shethought, and it might equally well have been Baghdad or possibly Tehran.
But Egypt, she thought, since Egypt was doubtless in the news at this mo-ment, would be far more interesting. Besides, it looked rather Egyptian.
Clearly, if she had got it from any other country, it dated from some periodwhen they had been copying Egyptian work.
‘Really,’ she said, ‘it’s rather big for our house, so I thought–’
‘Oh, I think really we ought to raffle² it,’ said Miss Little.
Miss Little was more or less in charge of things. Her local nickname was‘The Parish Pump’, mainly because she was so well informed about allthings that happened in the parish. Her surname was misleading. She wasa large woman of ample proportions. Her Christian³ name was Dorothy,but she was always called Dotty.
‘I hope you’re coming to the sale, Mrs Beresford?’
Tuppence assured her that she was coming.
‘I can hardly wait to buy,’ she said chattily.
‘Oh, I’m so glad you feel like that.’
‘I think it’s a very good thing,’ said Tuppence. ‘I mean, the White Ele-phant idea, because it’s–well, it is so true, isn’t it? I mean, what’s one per-son’s white elephant is somebody else’s pearl beyond price.’
‘Ah, really we must tell that to the vicar,’ said Miss Price-Ridley, an angu-lar lady with a lot of teeth. ‘Oh yes, I’m sure he would be very muchamused.’
‘That papier-m?ché basin, for instance,’ said Tuppence, raising this par-ticular trophy⁴ up.
‘Oh really, do you think anyone will buy that?’
‘I shall buy it myself if it’s for sale when I come here tomorrow,’ saidTuppence.
‘But nowadays, they have such pretty plastic washing-up bowls.’
‘I’m not very fond of plastic,’ said Tuppence. ‘That’s a really good papier-m?ché bowl that you’ve got there. I mean if you put things down in that,lots of china together, they wouldn’t break. And there’s an old-fashionedtin-opener too. The kind with a bull’s head that one never sees nowadays.’
‘Oh, but it’s such hard work, that. Don’t you think the ones that you puton an electric thing are much better?’
Conversation on these lines went on for a short time and then Tuppenceasked if there were any services that she could render.
‘Ah, dear Mrs Beresford, perhaps you would arrange the curio stall. I’msure you’re very artistic⁵.’
‘Not really artistic at all,’ said Tuppence, ‘but I would love to arrange thestall for you. You must tell me if I’m doing it wrong,’ she added.
‘Oh, it’s so nice to have some extra help. We are so pleased to meet you,too. I suppose you’re nearly settled into your house by now?’
‘I thought we should be settled by now,’ said Tuppence, ‘but it seems asthough there’s a long time to go still. It’s so very hard with electricians andthen carpenters and people. They’re always coming back.’
A slight dispute arose with people near her supporting the claims ofelectricians and the Gas Board.
‘Gas people are the worst,’ said Miss Little, with firmness, ‘because, yousee, they come all the way over from Lower Stamford. The electricitypeople only have to come from Wellbank.’
The arrival of the vicar to say a few words of encouragement and goodcheer to the helpers changed the subject. He also expressed himself verypleased to meet his new parishioner, Mrs Beresford.
‘We know all about you,’ he said. ‘Oh yes indeed. And your husband. Amost interesting talk I had the other day about you both. What an interest-ing life you must have had. I dare say it’s not supposed to be spoken of, soI won’t. I mean, in the last war. A wonderful performance on your andyour husband’s part.’
‘Oh, do tell us, Vicar,’ said one of the ladies, detaching herself from thestall where she was setting up jars of jam.
‘I was told in strict confidence,’ said the vicar. ‘I think I saw you walkinground the churchyard yesterday, Mrs Beresford.’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence. ‘I looked into the church first. I see you have one ortwo very attractive windows.’
‘Yes, yes, they date back to the fourteenth century. That is, the one in thenorth aisle⁶ does. But of course most of them are Victorian.’
‘Walking round the churchyard,’ said Tuppence, ‘it seemed to me therewere a great many Parkinsons buried there.’
‘Yes, yes, indeed. There’ve always been big contingents⁷ of Parkinsons inthis part of the world, though of course I don’t remember any of them my-self, but you do, I think, Mrs Lupton.’
Mrs Lupton, an elderly lady who was supporting herself on two sticks,looked pleased.
‘Yes, yes,’ she said. ‘I remember when Mrs Parkinson was alive– youknow, old Mrs Parkinson, the Mrs Parkinson who lived in the ManorHouse, wonderful old lady she was. Quite wonderful.’
‘And there were some Somers I saw, and the Chattertons.’
‘Ah, I see you’re getting up well with our local geography of the past.’
‘I think I heard something about a Jordan–Annie or Mary Jordan, wasit?’
Tuppence looked round her in an enquiring⁸ fashion. The name ofJordan seemed to cause no particular interest.
‘Somebody had a cook called Jordan. I think, Mrs Blackwell. SusanJordan I think it was. She only stayed six months, I think. Quite unsatis-factory in many ways.’
‘Was that a long time ago?’
‘Oh no. Just about eight or ten years ago I think. Not more than that.’
‘Are there any Parkinsons living here now?’
‘Oh no. They’re all gone long ago. One of them married a first cousinand went to live in Kenya, I believe.’
‘I wonder,’ said Tuppence, managing to attach herself to Mrs Lupton,who she knew had something to do with the local children’s hospital, ‘Iwonder if you want any extra children’s books. They’re all old ones, Imean. I got them in an odd lot when we were bidding for some of the fur-niture that was for sale in our house.’
‘Well, that’s very kind of you, I’m sure, Mrs Beresford. Of course we dohave some very good ones, given to us you know. Special editions for chil-dren nowadays. One does feel it’s a pity they should have to read all thoseold-fashioned books.’
‘Oh, do you think so?’ said Tuppence. ‘I loved the books that I had as achild. Some of them,’ she said, ‘had been my grandmother’s when she wasa child. I believe I liked those best of all. I shall never forget reading Treas-ure Island, Mrs Molesworth’s Four Winds Farm and some of Stanley Wey-man’s.’
She looked round her enquiringly–then, resigning herself, she looked ather wrist-watch, exclaimed at finding how late it was and took her leave.

1 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

2 raffle   

n.废物，垃圾，抽奖售卖；v.以抽彩出售

参考例句：

• The money was raised by the sale of raffle tickets.这笔款子是通过出售购物彩券筹集的。
• He won a car in the raffle.他在兑奖售物活动中赢得了一辆汽车。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

7 contingents   

（志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队

参考例句：

• We were forced to rely on French contingents. 我们势必被迫依恃法国驻军。
• The internal security forces are composed of contingents and mobile divisions. 内卫部队由各总队和机动师组成。

8 enquiring   

a.爱打听的，显得好奇的

参考例句：

• a child with an enquiring mind 有好奇心的孩子
• Paul darted at her sharp enquiring glances. 她的目光敏锐好奇，保罗飞快地朝她瞥了一眼。