Chapter 7 More Problems

Chapter 7 More Problems

‘Can I speak to you a moment, ma’am?’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence. ‘Not more problems?’
She was descending¹ the stairs from the book-room, brushing dust offherself because she was dressed in her best coat and skirt, to which shewas thinking of adding a feather hat and then proceeding² out to a tea shehad been asked to attend by a new friend she had met at the White Ele-phant Sale. It was no moment, she felt, to listen to the further difficultiesof Beatrice.
‘Well, no, no, it’s not exactly a problem. It’s just something I thought youmight like to know about.’
‘Oh,’ said Tuppence, still feeling that this might be another problem indisguise. She came down carefully. ‘I’m in rather a hurry because I haveto go out to tea.’
‘Well, it’s just about someone as you asked about, it seems. Name ofMary Jordan, that was right? Only they thought perhaps it was Mary John-son. You know, there was a Belinda Johnson as worked at the post office,but a good long time ago.’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘and there was a policeman called Johnson, too, sosomeone told me.’
‘Yes, well, anyway, this friend of mine–Gwenda, her name is–you knowthe shop, the post office is one side and envelopes and dirty cards andthings the other side, and some china things too, before Christmas, yousee, and–’
‘I know,’ said Tuppence, ‘it’s called Mrs Garrison³’s or something likethat.’
‘Yes, but it isn’t really Garrison nowadays as keep it. Quite a differentname. But anyway, this friend of mine, Gwenda, she thought you might beinterested to know because she says as she had heard of a Mary Jordanwhat lived here a long time ago. A very long time ago. Lived here, in thishouse I mean.’
‘Oh, lived in The Laurels⁴?’
‘Well, it wasn’t called that then. And she’d heard something about her,she said. And so she thought you might be interested. There was somerather sad story about her, she had an accident or something. Anyway shedied.’
‘You mean that she was living in this house when she died? Was she oneof the family?’
‘No. I think the family was called Parker, a name of that kind. A lot ofParkers there were, Parkers or Parkinsons–something like that. I think shewas just staying here. I believe Mrs Griffin knows about it. Do you knowMrs Griffin?’
‘Oh, very slightly,’ said Tuppence. ‘Matter of fact, that’s where I’m goingto tea this afternoon. I talked to her the other day at the Sale. I hadn’t mether before.’
‘She’s a very old lady. She’s older than she looks, but I think she’s got avery good memory. I believe one of the Parkinson boys was her godson.’
‘What was his Christian⁵ name?’
‘Oh, it was Alec, I think. Some name like that. Alec or Alex.’
‘What happened to him? Did he grow up–go away–become a soldier orsailor or something like that?’
‘Oh no. He died. Oh yes, I think he’s buried right here. It’s one of thosethings, I think, as people usedn’t to know much about. It’s one of thosethings with a name like a Christian name.’
‘You mean somebody’s disease⁶?’
‘Hodgkin’s Disease, or something. No, it was a Christian name of somekind. I don’t know, but they say as your blood grows the wrong colour orsomething. Nowadays I believe they take blood away from you and giveyou some good blood again, or something like that. But even then you usu-ally die, they say. Mrs Billings–the cake shop, you know–she had a littlegirl died of that and she was only seven. They say it takes them veryyoung.’
‘Leukaemia?’
‘Oh now, fancy⁷ you knowing. Yes, it was that name, I’m sure. But theysay now as one day there’ll maybe be a cure for it, you know. Just likenowadays they give you inoculations and things to cure you from typhoid,or whatever it is.’
‘Well,’ said Tuppence, ‘that’s very interesting. Poor little boy.’
‘Oh, he wasn’t very young. He was at school somewhere, I think. Musthave been about thirteen or fourteen.’
‘Well,’ said Tuppence, ‘it’s all very sad.’ She paused⁸, then said, ‘Oh dear,I’m very late now. I must hurry off.’
‘I dare⁹ say Mrs Griffin could tell you a few things. I don’t mean things asshe’d remember herself, but she was brought up here as a child and sheheard a lot of things, and she tells people a lot sometimes about the famil-ies that were here before. Some of the things are real scandalous, too. Youknow, goings-on and all that. That was, of course, in what they call Edwar-dian times or Victorian times. I don’t know which. You know. I shouldthink it was Victorian because she was still alive, the old Queen. So that’sVictorian, really. They talk about it as Edwardian and something called“the Marlborough House set”. Sort of high society, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘yes. High society.’
‘And goings-on,’ said Beatrice, with some fervour.
‘A good many goings-on,’ said Tuppence.
‘Young girls doing what they shouldn’t do,’ said Beatrice, loath¹⁰ to partwith her mistress¹¹ just when something interesting might be said.
‘No,’ said Tuppence, ‘I believe the girls led very–well, pure and austerelives and they married young, though often into the peerage.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Beatrice, ‘how nice for them. Lots of fine clothes, I sup-pose, race meetings and going to dances and ballrooms¹².’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘lots of ballrooms.’
‘Well, I knew someone once, and her grandmother had been a house-maid in one of those smart houses, you know, as they all came to, and thePrince of Wales¹³–the Prince of Wales as was then, you know, he was Ed-ward VII afterwards, that one, the early one–well he was there and he wasever so nice. Ever so nice to all the servants and everything else. Andwhen she left she took away the cake of soap that he’d used for his hands,and she kept it always. She used to show it to some of us children once.’
‘Very thrilling¹⁴ for you,’ said Tuppence. ‘It must have been very excitingtimes. Perhaps he stayed here in The Laurels.’
‘No, I don’t think as I ever heard that, and I would have heard it. No, itwas only Parkinsons here. No countesses and marchionesses and lordsand ladies. The Parkinsons, I think, were mostly in trade. Very rich, youknow, and all that, but still there’s nothing exciting in trade, is there?’
‘It depends,’ said Tuppence. She added¹⁵, ‘I think I ought–’
‘Yes, you’d best be going along, ma’am.’
‘Yes. Well, thank you very much, I don’t think I’d better put on a hat. I’vegot my hair awfully¹⁶ mussed now.’
‘Well, you put your head in that corner where the cobwebs is. I’ll dust itoff in case you do it again.’
Tuppence ran down the stairs.
‘Alexander ran down there,’ she said. ‘Many times, I expect. And heknew it was “one of them”. I wonder. I wonder more than ever now.’

1 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

2 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。

3 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

4 laurels   

n.桂冠，荣誉

参考例句：

• The path was lined with laurels.小路两旁都种有月桂树。
• He reaped the laurels in the finals.他在决赛中荣膺冠军。

5 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。

6 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

7 fancy   

n.想像力，幻想；喜好，爱；adj.想像的，时髦的，华丽装饰的，奢侈的；技巧的；vt.想象，自认为，喜好

参考例句：

• He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to her.他似乎相当喜欢她。
• I have a fancy that it's going to rain.我想大概要下雨。

8 paused   

v.停顿( pause的过去式和过去分词 )；暂停；（按暂停键）暂停放音；暂停放像

参考例句：

• We paused for the red light at State College Street. 我们在州立大学大街上因遇到红灯而停了一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The joggers paused to catch their breath. 慢跑者们暂停下来以便喘口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dare   

n.敢，挑战；aux.敢；vi.敢；vt.敢于，勇于面对

参考例句：

• He didn't dare to look at her in the face.他不敢正眼看她。
• How dare you?Take your hand off me at once.放肆！马上把你的手挪开。

10 loath   

adj.不愿意的；勉强的

参考例句：

• The little girl was loath to leave her mother.那小女孩不愿离开她的母亲。
• They react on this one problem very slow and very loath.他们在这一问题上反应很慢，很不情愿。

11 mistress   

n.（文学用语）使男子为之倾倒的女人，女主人

参考例句：

• Does his wife know he has a mistress?他的妻子知道他有一个情妇吗？
• Is your mistress at home?你家女主人在家吗？

12 ballrooms   

n.舞厅( ballroom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It was performed in fashionable Casino ballrooms. 人们在时髦的娱乐舞厅里跳这种舞蹈。 来自互联网
• Some settled into ballrooms or theaters or hotels for weeks or months at a time. 有的乐队在舞厅、剧院或旅馆作数月甚至数月的逗留。 来自互联网

13 Wales   

n.威尔士(在大不列颠岛西南部)

参考例句：

• The company are opening up a new factory in Wales.公司将在威尔士开一家新工厂。
• She teaches English at the University of Wales.她在威尔士大学教英语。

14 thrilling   

adj.令人兴奋的；毛骨悚然的；颤动的；震颤的v.“thrill”的现在分词

参考例句：

• Her voice had a strange and thrilling resonance. 她的声音洪亮，有一种奇特的震撼人心的效果。
• It's a thrilling movie even though it lacks subtlety. 这部电影虽说不算精巧，但还是扣人心弦的。

15 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

16 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。