Luke leaned back in his chair on the other side of the bank manager’stable.
“Well, that seems very satisfactory,” he said. “I’m afraid I’ve been takingup a lot of your time.”
Mr. Jones waved a deprecating hand. His small, dark, plump face wore ahappy expression.
“No, indeed, Mr. Fitzwilliam. This is a quiet spot, you know. We are al-ways glad to see a stranger.”
“It’s a fascinating part of the world,” said Luke. “Full of superstitions1.”
Mr. Jones sighed and said it took a long time for education to eradicatesuperstition. Luke remarked that he thought education was too highlyrated nowadays and Mr. Jones was slightly shocked by the statement.
“Lord Whitfield,” he said, “has been a handsome benefactor2 here. Herealizes the disadvantages under which he himself suffered as a boy andis determined3 that the youth of today shall be better equipped.”
“Early disadvantages haven’t prevented him from making a large for-tune,” said Luke.
“No, he must have had ability—great ability.”
“Or luck,” said Luke.
Mr. Jones looked rather shocked.
“Luck is the one thing that counts,” said Luke. “Take a murderer, for ex-ample. Why does the successful murderer get away with it? Is it ability?
Or is it sheer luck?”
Mr. Jones admitted that it was probably luck.
Luke continued:
“Take a fellow like this man Carter, the landlord of one of your pubs.
The fellow was probably drunk six nights out of seven—yet one night hegoes and pitches himself off the footbridge into the river. Luck again.”
“Good luck for some people,” said the bank manager.
“You mean?”
“For his wife and daughter.”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
A clerk knocked and entered bearing papers. Luke gave two specimensignatures and was given a cheque-book. He rose.
“Well, I’m glad that’s all fixed4 up. Had a bit of luck over the Derby thisyear. Did you?”
Mr. Jones said smilingly that he was not a betting man. He added thatMrs. Jones had very strong views on the subject of horse racing5.
“Then I suppose you didn’t go to the Derby?”
“No indeed.”
“Anybody go to it from here?”
“Major Horton did. He’s quite a keen racing man. And Mr. Abbot usuallytakes the day off. He didn’t back the winner, though.”
“I don’t suppose many people did,” said Luke, and departed after the ex-change of farewells.
He lit a cigarette as he emerged from the bank. Apart from the theory ofthe “least likely person,” he saw no reason for retaining Mr. Jones on hislist of suspects. The bank manager had shown no interesting reactions toLuke’s test questions. It seemed quite impossible to visualize6 him as amurderer. Moreover, he had not been absent on Derby Day. Incidentally,Luke’s visit had not been wasted, he had received two small items of in-formation. Both Major Horton and Mr. Abbot, the solicitor7, had been awayfrom Wychwood on Derby Day. Either of them, therefore, could have beenin London at the time when Miss Pinkerton was run down by a car.
Although Luke did not now suspect Dr. Thomas he felt he would bemore satisfied if he knew for a fact that the latter had been at Wychwoodengaged in his professional duties on that particular day. He made a men-tal note to verify that point.
Then there was Ellsworthy. Had Ellsworthy been in Wychwood onDerby Day? If he had, the presumption8 that he was the killer9 was corres-pondingly weakened. Although, Luke noted10, it was possible that MissPinkerton’s death had been neither more nor less than the accident that itwas supposed to be.
But he rejected that theory. Her death was too opportune11.
Luke got into his own car, which was standing12 by the kerb, and drove init to Pipwell’s Garage, situated13 at the far end of the High Street.
There were various small matters in the car’s running that he wanted todiscuss. A good-looking young mechanic with a freckled14 face listened in-telligently. The two men lifted the bonnet15 and became absorbed in a tech-nical discussion.
A voice called:
“Jim, come here a minute.”
The freckled-faced mechanic obeyed.
Jim Harvey. That was right. Jim Harvey, Amy Gibbs’s young man. He re-turned presently, apologizing, and conversation became technical oncemore. Luke agreed to leave the car there.
As he was about to leave he inquired casually16:
“Do any good on the Derby this year?”
“No, sir. Backed Clarigold.”
“Can’t be many people who backed Jujube the II.?”
“No, indeed, sir. I don’t believe any of the papers even tipped it as anoutside chance.”
Luke shook his head.
“Racing’s an uncertain game. Ever seen the Derby run?”
“No, sir, wish I had. Asked for a day off this year. There was a cheapticket up to town and down to Epsom, but the boss wouldn’t hear of it. Wewere shorthanded, as a matter of fact, and had a lot of work in that day.”
Luke nodded and took his departure.
Jim Harvey was crossed off his list. That pleasant-faced boy was not asecret killer, and it was not he who had run down Lavinia Pinkerton.
He strolled home by way of the riverbank. Here, as once before, he en-countered Major Horton and his dogs. The major was still in the same con-dition of apoplectic17 shouting. “Augustus—Nelly— NELLY, I say. Nero—Nero— NERO. ”
Again the protuberant18 eyes stared at Luke. But this time there was moreto follow. Major Horton said:
“Excuse me. Mr. Fitzwilliam, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Horton here—Major Horton. Believe I’m going to meet you tomorrowup at the Manor19. Tennis party. Miss Conway very kindly20 asked me. Cousinof yours, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Thought so. Soon spot a new face down here, you know.”
Here a diversion occurred, the three bulldogs advancing upon a nondes-cript white mongrel.
“Augustus—Nero. Come here, sir—come here, I say.”
When Augustus and Nero had finally reluctantly obeyed the command,Major Horton returned to the conversation. Luke was patting Nelly, whowas gazing up at him sentimentally21.
“Nice bitch, that, isn’t she?” said the major. “I like bulldogs. I’ve alwayshad ’em. Prefer ’em to any other breed. My place is just near here, come inand have a drink.”
Luke accepted and the two men walked together while Major Hortonheld forth22 on the subject of dogs and the inferiority of all other breeds tothat which he himself preferred.
Luke heard of the prizes Nelly had won, of the infamous23 conduct of ajudge in awarding Augustus merely a Highly Commended, and of the tri-umphs of Nero in the show ring.
By then they had turned in at the major’s gate. He opened the frontdoor, which was not locked, and the two men passed into the house. Lead-ing the way into a small slightly doggy-smelling room lined with book-shelves, Major Horton busied himself with the drinks. Luke looked roundhim. There were photographs of dogs, copies of the Field and Country Lifeand a couple of well-worn armchairs. Silver cups were arranged roundthe bookcases. There was one oil painting over the mantelpiece.
“My wife,” said the major, looking up from the siphon and noting thedirection of Luke’s glance. “Remarkable25 woman. A lot of character in herface, don’t you think?”
“Yes, indeed,” said Luke, looking at the late Mrs. Horton.
She was represented in a pink satin dress and was holding a bunch oflilies of the valley. Her brown hair was parted in the middle and her lipswere pressed grimly together. Her eyes, of a cold grey, looked out ill-temperedly at the beholder26.
“A remarkable woman,” said the major, handing a glass to Luke. “Shedied over a year ago. I haven’t been the same man since.”
“No?” said Luke, a little at a loss to know what to say.
“Sit down,” said the major, waving a hand towards one of the leatherchairs.
He himself took the other one and sipping27 his whisky and soda28, he wenton:
“No, I haven’t been the same man since.”
“You must miss her,” said Luke awkwardly.
Major Horton shook his head darkly.
“Fellow needs a wife to keep him up to scratch,” he said. “Otherwise hegets slack—yes, slack. He lets himself go.”
“But surely—”
“My boy, I know what I’m talking about. Mind you, I’m not saying mar-riage doesn’t come hard on a fellow at first. It does. Fellow says to himself,damn it all, he says, I can’t call my soul my own! But he gets broken in. It’sall discipline.”
Luke thought that Major Horton’s married life must have been more likea military campaign than an idyll of domestic bliss29.
“Women,” soliloquized the major, “are a rum lot. It seems sometimesthat there’s no pleasing them. But by Jove, they keep a man up to themark.”
Luke preserved a respectful silence.
“You married?” inquired the major.
“No.”
“Ah, well, you’ll come to it. And mind you, my boy, there’s nothing likeit.”
“It’s always cheering,” said Luke, “to hear someone speak well of themarriage state. Especially in these days of easy divorce.”
“Pah!” said the major. “Young people make me sick. No stamina—no en-durance. They can’t stand anything. No fortitude30!”
Luke itched31 to ask why such exceptional fortitude should be needed, buthe controlled himself.
“Mind you,” said the major, “Lydia was a woman in a thousand—in athousand! Everyone here respected and looked up to her.”
“Yes?”
“She wouldn’t stand any nonsense. She’d got a way of fixing a personwith her eye—and the person wilted32—just wilted. Some of these half-baked girls who call themselves servants nowadays. They think you’ll putup with any insolence33. Lydia soon showed them! Do you know we had fif-teen cooks and house-parlourmaids in one year. Fifteen!”
Luke felt that this was hardly a tribute to Mrs. Horton’s domestic man-agement, but since it seemed to strike his host differently he merely mur-mured some vague remark.
“Turned ’em out neck and crop, she did, if they didn’t suit.”
“Was it always that way about?” asked Luke.
“Well, of course a lot of them walked out on us. A good riddance—that’swhat Lydia used to say!”
“A fine spirit,” said Luke, “but wasn’t it sometimes rather awkward?”
“Oh! I didn’t mind turning to and putting my hand to things,” said Hor-ton. “I’m a pretty fair cook and I can lay a fire with anyone. I’ve nevercared for washing up but of course it’s got to be done—you can’t get awayfrom that.”
Luke agreed that you couldn’t. He asked whether Mrs. Horton had beengood at domestic work.
“I’m not the sort of fellow to let his wife wait on him,” said Major Hor-ton. “And anyway Lydia was far too delicate to do any housework.”
“She wasn’t strong then?”
Major Horton shook his head.
“She had wonderful spirit. She wouldn’t give in. But what that womansuffered! And no sympathy from the doctors either. Doctors are callousbrutes. They only understand downright physical pain. Anything out ofthe ordinary is beyond most of them. Humbleby, for instance, everyoneseemed to think he was a good doctor.”
“You don’t agree.”
“The man was an absolute ignoramus. Knew nothing of modern discov-eries. Doubt if he’d ever heard of a neurosis! He understood measles34 andmumps and broken bones all right, I suppose. But nothing else. Had a rowwith him in the end. He didn’t understand Lydia’s case at all. I gave it himstraight from the shoulder and he didn’t like it. Got huffed and backedright out. Said I could send for any other doctor I chose. After that, we hadThomas.”
“You liked him better?”
“Altogether a much cleverer man. If anyone could have pulled herthrough her last illness Thomas would have done it. As a matter of fact shewas getting better, but she had a sudden relapse.”
“Was it painful?”
“H’m, yes. Gastritis. Acute pain—sickness—all the rest of it. How thatpoor woman suffered! She was a martyr35 if there ever was one. And acouple of hospital nurses in the house who were about as sympathetic as abrace of grandfather clocks! ‘The patient this’ and ‘the patient that.’” Themajor shook his head and drained his glass. “Can’t stand hospital nurses!
So smug. Lydia insisted they were poisoning her. That wasn’t true, ofcourse—a regular sick fancy—lots of people have it, so Thomas said—butthere was this much truth behind it—those women disliked her. That’s theworst of women—always down on their own sex.”
“I suppose,” said Luke, feeling that he was putting it awkwardly but notseeing how to put it better, “that Mrs. Horton had a lot of devoted36 friendsin Wychwood?”
“People were very kind,” said the major somewhat grudgingly37. “Whit-field sent down grapes and peaches from his hothouse. And the old tab-bies used to come and sit with her. Honoria Waynflete and Lavinia Pinker-ton.”
“Miss Pinkerton came often, did she?”
“Yes. Regular old maid—but a kind creature! Very worried about Lydiashe was. Used to inquire into the diet and the medicines. All kindly meant,you know, but what I call a lot of fuss.”
Luke nodded comprehendingly.
“Can’t stand fuss,” said the major. “Too many women in this place. Diffi-cult to get a decent game of golf.”
“What about the young fellow at the antique shop?” said Luke.
The major snorted:
“He doesn’t play golf. Much too much of a Miss Nancy.”
“Has he been in Wychwood long?”
“About two years. Nasty sort of fellow. Hate those long-haired purringchaps. Funnily enough Lydia liked him. You can’t trust women’s judge-ment about men. They cotton to some amazing bounders. She even insis-ted on taking some patent quack38 nostrum39 of his. Stuff in a purple glass jarwith signs of the Zodiac all over it! Supposed to be certain herbs picked atthe full of the moon. Lot of tomfoolery, but women swallow that stuff—swallow it literally40 too—ha, ha!”
Luke said, feeling that he was changing the subject rather abruptly41, butcorrectly judging that Major Horton would not be aware of the fact:
“What sort of fellow is Abbot, the local solicitor? Pretty sound on thelaw? I’ve got to have some legal advice about something and I thought Imight go to him.”
“They say he’s pretty shrewd,” acknowledged Major Horton. “I don’tknow. Matter of fact I’ve had a row with him. Not seen him since he cameout here to make Lydia’s will for her just before she died. In my opinionthat man’s a cad. But of course,” he added, “that doesn’t affect his abilityas a lawyer.”
“No, of course not,” said Luke. “He seems a quarrelsome sort of man,though. Seems to have fallen out with a good many people from what Ihear.”
“Trouble with him is that he’s so confoundedly touchy,” said Major Hor-ton. “Seems to think he’s God Almighty42 and that anyone who disagreeswith him is committing lèse-majesté. Heard of his row with Humbleby?”
“They had a row, did they?”
“First-class row. Mind you, that doesn’t surprise me. Humbleby was anopinionated ass24! Still, there it is.”
“His death was very sad.”
“Humbleby’s? Yes, I suppose it was. Lack of ordinary care. Blood poison-ing’s a damned dangerous thing. Always put iodine43 on a cut—I do! Simpleprecaution. Humbleby, who’s a doctor, doesn’t do anything of the sort. Itjust shows.”
Luke was not quite sure what it showed, but he let that pass. Glancing athis watch he got up.
Major Horton said:
“Getting on for lunchtime? So it is. Well, glad to have had a chat withyou. Does me good to see a man who’s been about the world a bit. Wemust have a yarn44 some other time. Where was your show? MayangStraits? Never been there. Hear you’re writing a book. Superstitions andall that.”
“Yes—I—”
But Major Horton swept on.
“I can tell you several very interesting things. When I was in India, myboy—”
Luke escaped some ten minutes later after enduring the usual historiesof fakirs, rope and mango tricks, dear to the retired45 Anglo-Indian.
As he stepped out into the open air, and heard the major’s voice bellow-ing to Nero behind him, he marvelled46 at the miracle of married life. MajorHorton seemed genuinely to regret a wife who, by all accounts, not exclud-ing his own, must have been nearly allied47 to a man-eating tiger.
Or was it—Luke asked himself the question suddenly—was it an exceed-ingly clever bluff48?
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收听单词发音
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1
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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5
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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6
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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7
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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8
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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killer
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| n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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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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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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apoplectic
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| adj.中风的；愤怒的；n.中风患者 | |
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protuberant
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| adj.突出的，隆起的 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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sentimentally
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| adv.富情感地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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itched
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| v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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grudgingly
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quack
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| n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子 | |
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nostrum
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| n.秘方；妙策 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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42
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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43
iodine
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| n.碘，碘酒 | |
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44
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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45
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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48
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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