Having seen Tommy depart for London, Tuppence was wandering vaguelyround the house trying to single out some particular activity which mightyield successful results. However, her brain did not seem to be full ofbright ideas this morning.
With the general feeling of one returning to the beginning, she climbedup to the book-room and walked round it vaguely1, looking at the titles ofvarious volumes. Children’s books, lots of children’s books, but really onecouldn’t go any farther than that, could one? She had gone as far as any-one could already. By now she was almost certain that she had looked atevery single book in this particular room; Alexander Parkinson had not re-vealed any more of his secrets.
She was standing2 there running her fingers through her hair, frowningand kicking at a bottom shelf of theological works whose bindings werenearly all of them scaling away from the books, when Albert came up.
‘Someone as wants to see you downstairs, madam.’
‘What do you mean by someone?’ said Tuppence. ‘Anyone I know?’
‘I dunno. Shouldn’t think so. Boys they are, mainly. Boys and a girl ortwo all in a hump. Spect they want a subscription3 for something or other.’
‘Oh. They didn’t give any names or say anything?’
‘Oh, one of them did. Said he was Clarence and you’d know all abouthim.’
‘Oh,’ said Tuppence. ‘Clarence.’ She considered for a moment.
Was this the fruit from yesterday? Anyway, it could do no harm to fol-low it up.
‘Is the other boy here too? The one I was talking to yesterday in thegarden?’
‘Don’t know. They all look much alike. Dirty, you know, and all the restof it.’
‘Oh well,’ said Tuppence, ‘I’ll come down.’
When she had reached the ground floor she turned enquiringly to herguide.
Albert said, ‘Oh, I didn’t let them come into the house. Wouldn’t be safe,I think. Never know what you might lose, these days. They’re out in thegarden. They said to tell you they was by the gold-mine.’
‘They was by the what?’ asked Tuppence.
‘The gold-mine.’
‘Oh,’ said Tuppence.
‘What way would that be?’
Tuppence pointed4.
‘Past the rose garden, and then right by the dahlia walk. I think I know.
There’s a sort of water thing there. I don’t know if it’s a brook5 or a canal orhas once been a pond that has had goldfish in it. Anyway, give me mygumboots and I’d better take my mackintosh as well in case someonepushes me into it.’
‘I should put it on if I was you, ma’am, it’s going to rain presently.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence. ‘Rain, rain. Always rain.’
She went out and came fairly quickly to what seemed to be a consider-able deputation waiting for her. There were, she thought, about ten ortwelve of assorted6 ages, mainly boys flanked by two long-haired girls, alllooking rather excited. One of them said in a shrill7 voice as Tuppence ap-proached:
‘Here she comes! Here she is. Now then, who’s going to speak? Go on,George, you’d better talk. You’re the one as always talks.’
‘Well, you’re not going to now. I’m going to talk,’ said Clarence.
‘You shut up, Clarrie. You know your voice is weak. It makes you coughif you talk.’
‘Now look here, this is my show. I–’
‘Good morning, all,’ said Tuppence, breaking in. ‘You’ve come to see meabout something, have you? What is it?’
‘Got something for you, we have,’ said Clarence. ‘Information. That’swhat you’re after, isn’t it?’
‘It depends,’ said Tuppence. ‘What kind of information?’
‘Oh, not information about nowadays. All long ago.’
‘Historical information,’ said one of the girls, who appeared to be the in-tellectual chief of the group. ‘Most interesting if you’re doing research intothe past.’
‘I see,’ said Tuppence, concealing8 the fact that she did not see. ‘What’sthis place here?’
‘It’s a gold-mine.’
‘Oh,’ said Tuppence. ‘Any gold in it?’
She looked about her.
‘Well, really, it’s a goldfish pool,’ explained one of the boys. ‘Used to begoldfish in it once, you know. Special ones with lots of tails, from Japan orsomewhere. Oh, wonderful it used to be. That was in old Mrs Forrester’stime. That’s–oh, that’s ten years ago.’
‘Twenty-four years ago,’ said one of the girls.
‘Sixty years ago,’ said a very small voice, ‘every bit of sixty years ago.
Lots of goldfish there were. Ever so many. Said to be valuable, they was.
They used to die sometimes. Sometimes they ate each other, sometimesthey were just lying on top, floating about, you know.’
‘Well,’ said Tuppence, ‘what do you want to tell me about them? Thereare no goldfish to see here now.’
‘No. It’s information,’ said the intellectual girl.
A large outbreak of voices occurred. Tuppence waved her hand.
‘Not all at once,’ she said. ‘One or two speak at a time. What’s all thisabout?’
‘Something perhaps you ought to know about where things was hiddenonce. Hidden once and said to be very important.’
‘And how do you know about them?’ said Tuppence.
This provoked a chorus of replies. It was not very easy to hear everyoneat once.
‘It was Janie.’
‘It was Janie’s Uncle Ben,’ said one voice.
‘No, it wasn’t. It was Harry9, it was…Yes, it was Harry. Harry’s cousinTom…Much younger than that. It was his grandmother told him and hisgrandmother had been told by Josh. Yes. I don’t know who Josh was. Ithink Josh was her husband… No, he wasn’t her husband, he was heruncle.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence.
She looked over the gesticulating crowd and picked out a choice.
‘Clarence,’ she said. ‘You’re Clarence, aren’t you? Your friend told meabout you. You, well what do you know and what’s it all about?’
‘Well, if you want to find out you’ve got to go to the PPC.’
‘Go to the what?’ said Tuppence.
‘The PPC.’
‘What’s the PPC?’
‘Don’t you know? Hasn’t anyone told you? PPC is the Pensioners11’ PalaceClub.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence, ‘that sounds very grand.’
‘It isn’t grand at all,’ said one boy of about nine. ‘It isn’t grand a bit. It’sonly old age pensioners saying things and getting together. Pack of lies,some people say they tell about things they knew. You know, knew in thelast war and knew after it. Oh, all sorts of things they say.’
‘Where is this PPC?’ asked Tuppence.
‘Oh, it’s along at the end of the village. Half-way to Morton Cross, it is. Ifyou’re a pensioner10 you get a ticket for it and you go there and you havebingo and you have all sorts of things there. It’s quite fun, it is. Oh, some ofthem are very old. Some of them are deaf and blind and everything else.
But they all–well, they like getting together, you know.’
‘Well, I should like to pay a visit to it,’ said Tuppence. ‘Certainly. Is thereany particular time one goes there?’
‘Well, any time you like, I suppose, but the afternoon would be a goodtime, you know. Yes. That’s when they can say they’ve got a friend com-ing–if they’ve got a friend coming they get extra things for tea, you know.
Biscuits sometimes, with sugar on. And crisps sometimes. Things like that.
What did you say, Fred?’
Fred took a step forward. He gave a somewhat pompous12 bow to Tup-pence.
‘I shall be very happy,’ he said, ‘to escort you. Shall we say about halfpast three this afternoon?’
‘Ah, be yourself,’ said Clarence. ‘Don’t go talking like that.’
‘I shall be very pleased to come,’ said Tuppence. She looked at the water.
‘I can’t help being rather sorry that there aren’t any goldfish any more.’
‘You ought to have seen the ones with five tails. Wonderful, they was.
Somebody’s dog fell in here once. Mrs Faggett’s, it was.’
He was contradicted. ‘No it wasn’t. It was somebody else, her name wasFollyo, not Fagot–’
‘It was Foliatt and it was spelt with a plain f. Not a capital letter.’
‘Ah, don’t be silly. It was someone quite different. It was that MissFrench, that was. Two small ffs she spelt it with.’
‘Did the dog drown?’ asked Tuppence.
‘No, he didn’t drown. He was only a puppy, you see, and his mother wasupset and she went along and she pulled at Miss French’s dress. Miss Isa-bel was in the orchard13 picking apples and the mother dog pulled at herdress and Miss Isabel she come along and she saw the puppy drowningand she jumped right into this here and pulled it out. Wet through, shewas, and the dress she was wearing was never fit for wearing again.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Tuppence, ‘what a lot of things seem to have gone onhere. All right,’ she said, ‘I’ll be ready this afternoon. Perhaps two or threeof you would come for me and take me to this Pensioners’ Palace Club.’
‘What three? Who’s going to come?’
Uproar14 happened immediately.
‘I’m coming… No, I’m not… No, Betty is… No, Betty shan’t come. Bettywent the other day. I mean, she went to the cinema party the other day.
She can’t go again.’
‘Well, settle it between you,’ said Tuppence, ‘and come here at half pastthree.’
‘I hope you’ll find it interesting,’ said Clarence.
‘It will be of historical interest,’ said the intellectual girl firmly.
‘Oh, shut up, Janet!’ said Clarence. He turned to Tuppence. ‘She’s alwayslike that,’ he said, ‘Janet is. She goes to grammar school, that’s why. Sheboasts about it, see? A comprehensive wasn’t good enough for her and herparents made a fuss and now she’s at grammar school. That’s why shegoes on like this all the time.’
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1
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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2
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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3
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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4
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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5
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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6
assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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7
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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8
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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9
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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10
pensioner
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| n.领养老金的人 | |
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pensioners
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| n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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12
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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13
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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14
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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