Chapter 8 Reminiscences about an Uncle（2）

II
‘You seem very excited and out of breath, Tuppence,’ said Tommy as hiswife, dressed in her garden clothes, came in through the side door, pant-ing a little as she came.
‘Well,’ said Tuppence, ‘I am in a way.’
‘Not been overdoing¹ it in the garden?’
‘No. Actually I haven’t been doing anything at all. I’ve just been standingby the lettuces² talking, or being talked to–whichever way you put it–’
‘Who’s been talking to you?’
‘A boy,’ said Tuppence. ‘A boy.’
‘Offering to help in the garden?’
‘Not exactly,’ said Tuppence. ‘That would be very nice too, of course. No.
Actually, he was expressing admiration³.’
‘Of the garden?’
‘No,’ said Tuppence, ‘of me.’
‘Of you?’
‘Don’t look surprised,’ said Tuppence, ‘and oh, don’t sound surprisedeither. Still, I admit these bonnes bouches come in sometimes when youleast expect them.’
‘Oh. What is the admiration of–your beauty or your garden overall?’
‘My past,’ said Tuppence.
‘Your past!’
‘Yes. He was fairly thrilled to think I had been the lady, as he put it, whohad unmasked a German spy in the last war. A false naval⁴ commander, re-tired, who was nothing of the kind.’
‘Good gracious,’ said Tommy. ‘N or M again. Dear me, shan’t we ever beable to live that down?’
‘Well, I’m not very sure I want to live it down,’ said Tuppence. ‘I mean,why should we? If we’d been a celebrated⁵ actress or actor we’d quite liketo be reminded of it.’
‘I see the point,’ said Tommy.
‘And I think it might be very useful with what we’re trying to do here.’
‘If he’s a boy, how old did you say he was?’
‘Oh, I should think about ten or twelve. Looks ten but he’s twelve, Ithink. And he has a friend called Clarence.’
‘What’s that got to do with it?’
‘Well, nothing at the moment,’ said Tuppence, ‘but he and Clarence areallies and would like, I think, to attach themselves to our service. To findout things or to tell us things.’
‘If they’re ten or twelve, how can they tell us things or remember thingswe want to know?’ said Tommy. ‘What sort of things did he say?’
‘Most of his sentences were short,’ said Tuppence, ‘and consisted ofmainly “well, you know”, or “you see, it was like this”, or “yes, and thenyou know”. Anyway, “you know” was always a component⁶ part ofeverything he said.’
‘And they were all things you didn’t know.’
‘Well, they were attempts at explaining things he’d heard about.’
‘Heard about from whom?’
‘Well, not first-hand knowledge, as you’d say, and I wouldn’t say second-hand⁷ knowledge. I think it might go up to third-hand, fourth-hand, fifth-hand, sixth-hand knowledge. It consisted also of what Clarence had heardand what Clarence’s friend, Algernon, had heard. What Algernon saidJimmy had heard–’
‘Stop,’ said Tommy, ‘that’s enough. And what had they heard?’
‘That’s more difficult,’ said Tuppence, ‘but I think one can get round toit. They’d heard certain places mentioned or stories told and they werevery, very anxious to partake of the joys of what we had clearly come todo here.’
‘Which is?’
‘To discover something important. Something that’s well known to behidden here.’
‘Ah,’ said Tommy. ‘Hidden. Hidden how, where and when?’
‘Different stories about all those three,’ said Tuppence, ‘but it’s exciting,you must admit, Tommy.’
Tommy said thoughtfully that perhaps it was.
‘It ties in with old Isaac,’ said Tuppence. ‘I think Isaac must have knownquite a lot of things which he could have told us.’
‘And you think that Clarence and–what’s this one’s name again?’
‘I’ll remember it in a minute,’ said Tuppence. ‘I got so confused with allthe other people he’d heard things from. The ones with the grand nameslike Algernon and the ones with the ordinary names like Jimmy andJohnny and Mike.
‘Chuck,’ said Tuppence suddenly.
‘Chuck what?’ asked Tommy.
‘No. I didn’t mean it that way. I think that’s his name. The boy, I mean.
Chuck.’
‘It seems a very odd name.’
‘His real name is Henry but I expect his friends call him Chuck.’
‘Like Chuck goes the weasel.’
‘Pop goes the weasel, you mean.’
‘Well, I know that’s correct. But Chuck goes the weasel sounds much thesame.’
‘Oh Tommy, what I really want to say to you is that we’ve got to go onwith this, specially⁸ now. Do you feel the same?’
‘Yes,’ said Tommy.
‘Well, I thought perhaps you did. Not that you’ve said anything. Butwe’ve got to go on with it and I’ll tell you why. Mainly because of Isaac.
Isaac. Somebody killed him. They killed him because he knew something.
He knew something that might have been dangerous to somebody. Andwe’ve got to find out who the person was it would be dangerous to.’
‘You don’t think,’ said Tommy, ‘that it’s just–oh, one of those things. Youknow, hooliganism or whatever they call it. You know, people go out andwant to do people in and don’t care who the people are, but they preferthem to be elderly and not to be able to put up any kind of a resistance.’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘in a way I do mean that. But–I don’t think it wasthat. I think there is something, I don’t know if hidden is the right word,there’s something here. Something that throws light on something thathappened in the past, something that someone left here or put here orgave to someone to keep here who has since died or put it somewhere. Butsomething that someone doesn’t want discovered. Isaac knew it and theymust have been afraid he’d tell us because word’s evidently going roundnow about us. You know, that we’re famous anti- espionage¹⁰ people orwhatever you call it. We’ve got a reputation for that sort of thing. And it’stied up in a way, you see, with Mary Jordan and all the rest of it.’
‘Mary Jordan,’ said Tommy, ‘did not die a natural death.’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘and old Isaac was killed. We’ve got to find out whokilled him and why. Otherwise–’
‘You’ve got to be careful,’ said Tommy, ‘you’ve got to be careful of your-self, Tuppence. If anyone killed Isaac because he thought he was going totalk about things in the past that he’d heard about, someone may be onlytoo pleased to wait in a dark corner for you one night and do the samething. They wouldn’t think there’d be any worry about it, they’d just thinkpeople would say: “Oh another of those things.”’
‘When old ladies are hit on the head and done in,’ said Tuppence. ‘Yes,quite so. That’s the unfortunate result of having grey hair and walkingwith a slight arthritic¹¹ limp. Of course I must be fair game for anyone. Ishall look after myself. Do you think I ought to carry a small pistol aboutwith me?’
‘No,’ said Tommy, ‘certainly not.’
‘Why? Do you think I’d make some mistake with it?’
‘Well, I think you might trip over the root of a tree. You know you’re al-ways falling down. And then you might shoot yourself instead of just usingthe pistol for protection.’
‘Oh, you don’t really think I’d do anything stupid like that, do you?’ saidTuppence.
‘Yes, I do,’ said Tommy. ‘I’m sure you’re quite capable of it.’
‘I could carry a flick¹² knife,’ said Tuppence.
‘I shouldn’t carry anything at all,’ said Tommy. ‘I should just go aboutlooking innocent and talking about gardening. Say, perhaps, we’re notsure we like the house and we have plans for going to live elsewhere.
That’s what I suggest.’
‘Who’ve I got to say that to?’
‘Oh, almost anyone,’ said Tommy. ‘It’ll get round.’
‘Things always get round,’ said Tuppence. ‘Quite a place here for thingsgetting round. Are you going to say the same things, Tommy?’
‘Well, roughly. Say, perhaps, that we don’t like the house as much as wethought we did.’
‘But you want to go on, too, don’t you?’ said Tuppence.
‘Yes,’ said Tommy. ‘I’m embroiled¹³ all right.’
‘Have you thought how to set about it?’
‘Go on doing what I’m doing at present. What about you, Tuppence?
Have you got any plans?’
‘Not quite yet,’ said Tuppence. ‘I’ve got a few ideas. I can get a bit moreout of–what did I say his name was?’
‘First Henry–then Clarence.’

1 overdoing   

v.做得过分( overdo的现在分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度

参考例句：

• He's been overdoing things recently. 近来他做事过分努力。 来自辞典例句
• You think I've been overdoing it with the work thing? 你认为我对工作的关注太过分了吗？ 来自电影对白

2 lettuces   

n.莴苣，生菜（ lettuce的名词复数 ）；生菜叶

参考例句：

• My lettuces have gone to seed. 我种的莴苣已结子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Are these lettuces home-grown or did you buy them in the market? 这些生菜是自家种的呢，还是你在市场上买的？ 来自辞典例句

3 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

4 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。

5 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

6 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

7 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

8 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

9 anti-   

pref.[前缀]表示反抗，排斥

参考例句：

• The car has many safety features,including anti - skid braking.这车配有许多特别安全装置，包括防滑制动器。
• The anti-aircraft units opened fire and hit two of the enemy planes.防空部队开炮，击中了两架敌机。

10 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

11 arthritic   

adj.关节炎的

参考例句：

• Somehow the geriatric Voyager 2, arthritic and partially deaf, managed to reach Neptune. 得了关节炎而且局部变聋、衰老的“旅行者2号”最后总算抵达海王星。 来自百科语句
• Femoral head ostectomy is a surgery performed on severely arthritic dogs. 股骨断截骨术’都是针对关节炎严重的狗狗的手术。 来自互联网

12 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

13 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》