Chapter 10 Attack on Tuppence（1）

Chapter 10 Attack on Tuppence

‘Good gracious¹!’ said Tommy, as he returned that evening. ‘You look ter-ribly tired, Tuppence. What have you been doing? You look worn out.’
‘I am worn out,’ said Tuppence. ‘I don’t know that I shall ever recoveragain. Oh dear.’
‘What have you been doing? Not climbing up and finding² more books oranything?’
‘No, no,’ said Tuppence, ‘I don’t want to look at books again. I’m offbooks.’
‘Well, what is it? What have you been doing?’
‘Do you know what a PPC is?’
‘No,’ said Tommy, ‘at least, well, yes. It’s something–’ He paused.
‘Yes, Albert knows,’ said Tuppence, ‘but it’s not that kind of one. Nowthen, I’ll just tell you in a minute, but you’d better have something first. Acocktail or a whisky³ or something. And I’ll have something too.’
She more or less put Tommy wise to the events of the afternoon. Tommysaid ‘good gracious’ again and added: ‘The things you get yourself into,Tuppence. Was any of it interesting?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Tuppence. ‘When six people are talking at once, andmost of them can’t talk properly and they all say different things–you see,you don’t really know what they’re saying. But yes, I think I’ve got a fewideas for dealing⁴ with things.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, there is a lot of legend, I think, going on about something that wasonce hidden here and was a secret connected with the 1914 war, or evenbefore it.’
‘Well, we know that already, don’t we?’ said Tommy. ‘I mean, we’vebeen briefed to know that.’
‘Yes. Well, there are a few old tales still going around the village here.
And everybody has got ideas about it put into their heads by their AuntMarias or their Uncle Bens and it’s been put into their Aunt Marias bytheir Uncle Stephens or Aunty Ruth or Grandmother Something else. It’sbeen handed down for years and years. Well, one of the things might bethe right one, of course.’
‘What, lost among all the others?’
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘like a needle in the haystack?
‘I’m going to select a few what I call likely possibilities. People whomight tell one something that they really did hear. I shall have to isolatethem from everybody else, at any rate for a short period of time, and getthem to tell me exactly what their Aunt Agatha or Aunt Betty or old UncleJames told them. Then I shall have to go on to the next one and possiblyone of them might give me a further inkling. There must be something,you know, somewhere.’
‘Yes,’ said Tommy, ‘I think there’s something, but we don’t know what itis.’
‘Well, that’s what we’re trying to do, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but I mean you’ve got to have some idea what a thing actually is be-fore you go looking for it.’
‘I don’t think it’s gold ingots on a Spanish Armada ship,’ said Tuppence,‘and I don’t think it’s anything hidden in the smugglers’ cave.’
‘Might be some super brandy⁵ from France,’ said Tommy hopefully.
‘It might,’ said Tuppence, ‘but that wouldn’t be really what we’re lookingfor, would it?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Tommy. ‘I think it might be what I’m looking forsooner or later. Anyway, it’s something I should enjoy finding. Of course itmight be a sort of letter or something. A sexy letter that you could black-mail someone about, about sixty years ago. But I don’t think it would cutmuch ice nowadays, do you?’
‘No, I don’t. But we’ve got to get some idea sooner or later. Do you thinkwe’ll ever get anywhere, Tommy?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Tommy. ‘I got a little bit of help today.’
‘Oh. What about?’
‘Oh, about the census⁶.’
‘The what?’
‘The census. There seems to have been a census in one particular year–I’ve got the year written down–and there were a good many people stay-ing in this house with the Parkinsons.’
‘How on earth did you find all that out?’
‘Oh, by various methods of research by my Miss Collodon.’
‘I’m getting jealous⁷ of Miss Collodon.’
‘Well, you needn’t be. She’s very fierce and she ticks⁸ me off a good deal,and she is no ravishing beauty.’
‘Well, that’s just as well,’ said Tuppence. ‘But what has the census got todo with it?’
‘Well, when Alexander said it must be one of us it could have meant, yousee, someone who was in the house at that time and therefore you had toenter up their names on the census register⁹. Anyone who spent the nightunder your roof, and I think probably there are records of these things inthe census files. And if you know the right people–I don’t mean I knowthem now, but I can get to know them through people I do know–then Ithink I could perhaps get a short list.’
‘Well, I admit,’ said Tuppence, ‘you have ideas all right. For goodness’
sake¹⁰ let’s have something to eat and perhaps I shall feel better and not sofaint from trying to listen to sixteen very ugly voices all at once.’

1 gracious   

adj.亲切的，客气的，宽厚的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• She was a very gracious lady.她是一位非常和蔼可亲的女士。
• She was gracious enough to show us round her home.她彬彬有礼地领我们参观了她的家。

2 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

3 whisky   

n.威士忌酒

参考例句：

• I'm sure this whisky has been watered down.我敢肯定这瓶威士忌掺过水了。
• She poured herself a large tot of whisky.她给自己倒了一大杯威士忌。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 brandy   

n.白兰地酒

参考例句：

• I took another drink of brandy and moved forward. 我又喝了一口白兰地，向前走去。
• The barman uses a small silver measure for brandy.酒吧招待员用一个小银制量器量白兰地。

6 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

7 jealous   

adj.妒忌的，猜忌的；精心守护的

参考例句：

• He was jealous when he discovered that she loved someone else.当他发现她爱别人的时候，他吃醋了。
• An honorable Chinese citizen should be jealous of his own rights.一名光荣的中国公民应当珍惜自己的公民权利。

8 ticks   

n.（表示正确无误的）记号( tick的名词复数 )；一会儿；赊账；钟的嘀嗒声

参考例句：

• The clock of thought ticks out its wish and its denial. 思想的时钟滴答滴答地表达着欲望和克制。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• 'sho, there's ticks a plenty. “哼，扁虱多得是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

9 register   

n.登记簿，花名册，注册员；v.登记，注册

参考例句：

• Please list your name in the attendance register.请在点名册上登记你的名字。
• He was looking over a hotel register.他正在仔细检查旅馆住宿登记表。

10 sake   

n.缘故，理由

参考例句：

• He loves poetry for beauty's sake.他因为爱美而喜欢诗歌。
• We can't risk big things for the sake of small ones.我们不能因小失大。