Chapter 8 Mrs Griffin

Chapter 8 Mrs Griffin

‘I am so very pleased that you and your husband have come here to live,Mrs Beresford,’ said Mrs Griffin, as she poured out tea. ‘Sugar? Milk?’
She pressed forward a dish of sandwiches, and Tuppence helped her-self.
‘It makes so much difference, you know, in the country where one hasnice neighbours with whom one has something in common. Did you knowthis part of the world before?’
‘No,’ said Tuppence, ‘not at all. We had, you know, a good many differ-ent houses to go and view–particulars of them were sent to us by the es-tate agents. Of course, most of them were very often quite frightful¹. Onewas called Full of Old World Charm².’
‘I know,’ said Mrs Griffin, ‘I know exactly. Old world charm usuallymeans that you have to put a new roof on and that the damp is very bad.
And “thoroughly modernized”–well, one knows what that means. Lots ofgadgets one doesn’t want and usually a very bad view from the windowsof really hideous³ houses. But The Laurels⁴ is a charming house. I expect,though, you have had a good deal to do to it. Everyone has in turn.’
‘I suppose a lot of different people have lived there,’ said Tuppence.
‘Oh yes. Nobody seems to stay very long anywhere nowadays, do they?
The Cuthbertsons were here and the Redlands, and before that the Sey-mours. And after them the Joneses.’
‘We wondered a little why it was called The Laurels,’ said Tuppence.
‘Oh well, that was the kind of name people liked to give a house. Ofcourse, if you go back far enough, probably to the time of the Parkinsons, Ithink there were laurels. Probably a drive, you know, curling round and alot of laurels, including those speckled ones. I never liked speckledlaurels.’
‘No.’ said Tuppence, ‘I do agree with you. I don’t like them either. Thereseem to have been a lot of Parkinsons here,’ she added.
‘Oh yes. I think they occupied it longer than anyone else.’
‘Nobody seems able to tell one much about them.’
‘Well, it was a long time ago, you see, dear. And after the–well, I thinkafter the–the trouble you know, and there was some feeling about it and ofcourse one doesn’t wonder they sold the place.’
‘It had a bad reputation, did it?’ said Tuppence, taking a chance. ‘Do youmean the house was supposed to be insanitary, or something?’
‘Oh no, not the house. No, really, the people you see. Well of course,there was the–the disgrace⁵, in a way–it was during the first war. Nobodycould believe it. My grandmother used to talk about it and say that it wassomething to do with naval⁶ secrets–about a new submarine. There was agirl living with the Parkinsons who was said to have been mixed up with itall.’
‘Was that Mary Jordan?’ said Tuppence.
‘Yes. Yes, you’re quite right. Afterwards they suspected that it wasn’t herreal name. I think somebody had suspected her for some time. The boyhad, Alexander. Nice boy. Quite sharp too.’

1 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

2 charm   

vt.使着迷，使陶醉；n.招人喜欢之处，魅力

参考例句：

• With all imperfections the short play has a real charm.尽管有不少缺欠，这出小戏仍颇具魅力。
• He could resist her charm no longer.他再也抗拒不住她的魅力。

3 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

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 disgrace   

n.耻辱，不光彩，丢脸的人（或事）；vt.使丢脸

参考例句：

• You will bring disgrace on yourself by doing this.你这样做会给自己带来耻辱。
• He is a disgrace to our school.他是我们学校的耻辱。

6 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。