Chapter 16 The Birds Fly South

Chapter 16 The Birds Fly South

‘Was that the car?’
Tuppence came out of the front door peering curiously¹ along the curveof the drive, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her daughter Deborah and thethree children.
Albert emerged from the side door.
‘They won’t be here yet. No, that was the grocer, madam. You wouldn’tbelieve it–eggs have gone up, again. Never vote for this Government again,I won’t. I’ll give the Liberals a go.’
‘Shall I come and see to the rhubarb and strawberry fool for tonight?’
‘I’ve seen to that, madam. I’ve watched you often and I know just howyou do it.’
‘You’ll be a cordon² bleu chef by the time you’ve finished, Albert,’ saidTuppence. ‘It’s Janet’s favourite sweet.’
‘Yes, and I made a treacle³ tart⁴–Master Andrew loves treacle tart.’
‘The rooms are all ready?’
‘Yes. Mrs Shacklebury came in good time this morning. I put the Guer-lain Sandalwood Soap in Miss Deborah’s bathroom. It’s her favourite, Iknow.’
Tuppence breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge that all was in or-der for the arrival of her family.
There was the sound of a motor horn and a few minutes later the carcame up the drive with Tommy at the wheel and a moment later theguests were decanted⁵ on the doorstep–daughter Deborah still a very hand-some woman, nearly forty, and Andrew, fifteen, Janet, eleven, and Rosalie,seven.
‘Hullo, Grandma,’ shouted Andrew.
‘Where’s Hannibal?’ called Janet.
‘I want my tea,’ said Rosalie, showing a disposition⁶ to burst into tears.
Greetings were exchanged. Albert dealt with the disembarkation of allthe family treasures including a budgerigar, a bowl of goldfish and a ham-ster in a hutch.
‘So this is the new home,’ said Deborah, embracing her mother. ‘I like it–I like it very much.’
‘Can we go round the garden?’ asked Janet.
‘After tea,’ said Tommy.
‘I want my tea,’ reiterated⁷ Rosalie with an expression on her face of:
First things first.
They went into the dining-room where tea was set out and met withgeneral satisfaction.
‘What’s all this I’ve been hearing about you, Mum?’ demanded Deborah,when they had finished tea and repaired to the open air–the children ra-cing round to explore the possible pleasures of the garden in the jointcompany of Thomas and Hannibal who had rushed out to take part in therejoicings.
Deborah, who always took a stern line with her mother, whom she con-sidered in need of careful guardianship⁸, demanded, ‘What have you beendoing?’
‘Oh. We’ve settled in quite comfortably by now,’ said Tuppence.
Deborah looked unconvinced.
‘You’ve been doing things. She has, hasn’t she, Dad?’
Tommy was returning with Rosalie riding him piggyback, Janet survey-ing the new territory and Andrew looking around with an air of taking afull grownup view.
‘You have been doing things.’ Deborah returned to the attack. ‘You’vebeen playing at being Mrs Blenkinsop all over again. The trouble with youis, there’s no holding you–N or M–all over again. Derek heard somethingand wrote and told me.’ She nodded as she mentioned her brother’s name.
‘Derek–what could he know?’ demanded Tuppence.
‘Derek always gets to know things.’
‘You too, Dad.’ Deborah turned on her father. ‘You’ve been mixing your-self up in things, too. I thought you’d come here, both of you, to retire, andtake life quietly–and enjoy yourselves.’
‘That was the idea,’ said Tommy, ‘but Fate thought otherwise.’
‘Postern of Fate,’ said Tuppence. ‘Disaster’s Cavern⁹, Fort of Fear–’
‘Flecker,’ said Andrew, with conscious erudition. He was addicted¹⁰ to po-etry and hoped one day to be a poet himself. He carried on with a full quo-tation:
‘Four great gates has the City of Damascus…Postern of Fate–the Desert Gate…
Pass not beneath, O Caravan–or pass not singing.
Have you heard that silence where the birds are dead, yetsomething pipeth like a bird?’
With singularly apposite cooperation birds flew suddenly from the roofof the house over their heads.
‘What are all those birds, Grannie?’ asked Janet.
‘Swallows flying south,’ said Tuppence.
‘Won’t they ever come back again?’
‘Yes, they’ll come back next summer.’
‘And pass through the Postern of Fate!’ said Andrew with intense satis-faction.
‘This house was called Swallow’s Nest once,’ said Tuppence.
‘But you aren’t going on living here, are you?’ said Deborah. ‘Dad wroteand said you’re looking out for another house.’
‘Why?’ asked Janet–the Rosa Dartle of the family. ‘I like this one.’
‘I’ll give you a few reasons,’ said Tommy, plucking a sheet of paper fromhis pocket and reading aloud:
‘Black Arrow
Alexander Parkinson
Oxford¹¹ and Cambridge
Victorian china garden stools
Grin-hen-lo
KK
Mathilde’s stomach
Cain and Abel
Gallant¹² Truelove’
‘Shut up, Tommy–that’s my list. It’s nothing to do with you,’ said Tup-pence.
‘But what does it mean?’ asked Janet, continuing her quiz.
‘It sounds like a list of clues from a detective story,’ said Andrew, who inhis less poetical¹³ moments was addicted to that form of literature.
‘It is a list of clues. It’s the reason why we are looking for another house,’
said Tommy.
‘But I like it here,’ said Janet, ‘it’s lovely.’
‘It’s a nice house,’ said Rosalie. ‘Chocolate biscuits,’ she added, withmemories of recently eaten tea.
‘I like it,’ said Andrew, speaking as an autocratic Czar of Russia mightspeak.
‘Why don’t you like it, Grandma?’ asked Janet.
‘I do like it,’ said Tuppence with a sudden unexpected enthusiasm. ‘Iwant to live here–to go on living here.’
‘Postern of Fate,’ said Andrew. ‘It’s an exciting name.’
‘It used to be called Swallow’s Nest,’ said Tuppence. ‘We could call it thatagain–’
‘All those clues,’ said Andrew. ‘You could make a story out of them–evena book–’
‘Too many names, too complicated,’ said Deborah. ‘Who’d read a booklike that?’
‘You’d be surprised,’ said Tommy, ‘what people will read–and enjoy!’
Tommy and Tuppence looked at each other.
‘Couldn’t I get some paint tomorrow?’ asked Andrew. ‘Or Albert couldget some and he’d help me. We’d paint the new name on the gate.’
‘And then the swallows would know they could come back next sum-mer,’ said Janet.
She looked at her mother.
‘Not at all a bad idea,’ said Deborah.
‘La Reine le veult,’ said Tommy and bowed to his daughter, who alwaysconsidered that giving the Royal assent¹⁴ in the family was her perquisite¹⁵.

1 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

2 cordon   

n.警戒线，哨兵线

参考例句：

• Police officers threw a cordon around his car to protect him.警察在他汽车周围设置了防卫圈以保护他。
• There is a tight security cordon around the area.这一地区周围设有严密的安全警戒圈。

3 treacle   

n.糖蜜

参考例句：

• Blend a little milk with two tablespoons of treacle.将少许牛奶和两大汤匙糖浆混合。
• The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweet.啜饮蜜糖的苍蝇在甜蜜中丧生。

4 tart   

adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇

参考例句：

• She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
• She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了，用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。

5 decanted   

v.将（酒等）自瓶中倒入另一容器( decant的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Afterwards the aqueous solution from above the nitroglycerine was decanted. 然后倒出硝化甘油之上的水溶液。 来自辞典例句
• The coated particles are centrifuged and the liquid decanted. 将包覆的颗粒进行离心，除去液体。 来自辞典例句

6 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

7 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

8 guardianship   

n. 监护, 保护, 守护

参考例句：

• They had to employ the English language in face of the jealous guardianship of Britain. 他们不得不在英国疑忌重重的监护下使用英文。
• You want Marion to set aside her legal guardianship and give you Honoria. 你要马丽恩放弃她的法定监护人资格，把霍诺丽娅交给你。

9 cavern   

n.洞穴，大山洞

参考例句：

• The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。
• It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

10 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

13 poetical   

adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的

参考例句：

• This is a poetical picture of the landscape. 这是一幅富有诗意的风景画。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• John is making a periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion. 约翰正在对陈腐的诗风做迂回冗长的研究。 来自辞典例句

14 assent   

v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• I cannot assent to what you ask.我不能应允你的要求。
• The new bill passed by Parliament has received Royal Assent.议会所通过的新方案已获国王批准。

15 perquisite   

n.固定津贴，福利

参考例句：

• Perquisites include the use of the company car.福利包括可以使用公司的汽车。
• Politics in Britain used to be the perquisite of the property-owning classes.英国的政治以往是有产阶级的特权。