Ten BUNDLE VISITS SCOTLAND YARD

Ten BUNDLE VISITS SCOTLAND YARD

Now it may be said at once that in the foregoing conversation each one ofthe three participants had, as it were, held something in reserve. That“Nobody tells everything” is a very true motto.
It may be questioned, for instance, if Loraine Wade¹ was perfectly² sin-cere in her account of the motives³ which had led her to seek out JimmyThesiger.
In the same way, Jimmy Thesiger himself had various ideas and plansconnected with the forthcoming party at George Lomax’s which he had nointention of revealing to—say, Bundle.
And Bundle herself had a fully-fledged plan which she proposed to putinto immediate⁴ execution and which she had said nothing whateverabout.
On leaving Jimmy Thesiger’s rooms, she drove to Scotland Yard, whereshe asked for Superintendent⁵ Battle.
Superintendent Battle was rather a big man. He worked almost entirelyon cases of a delicate political nature. On such a case he had come toChimneys four years ago, and Bundle was frankly⁶ trading on his remem-bering this fact.
After a short delay, she was taken along several corridors and into theSuperintendent’s private room. Battle was a stolid- looking man with awooden face. He looked supremely⁷ unintelligent and more like a commis-sionaire than a detective.
He was standing⁸ by the window when she entered, gazing in an expres-sionless manner at some sparrows.
“Good afternoon, Lady Eileen,” he said. “Sit down, won’t you?”
“Thank you,” said Bundle. “I was afraid you mightn’t remember me.”
“Always remember people,” said Battle. He added: “Got to in my job.”
“Oh!” said Bundle, rather damped.
“And what can I do for you?” inquired the Superintendent.
Bundle came straight to the point.
“I’ve always heard that you people at Scotland Yard have lists of allsecret societies and things like that that are formed in London.”
“We try to keep up to date,” said Superintendent Battle cautiously.
“I suppose a great many of them aren’t really dangerous.”
“We’ve got a very good rule to go by,” said Battle. “The more they talk,the less they’ll do. You’d be surprised how well that works out.”
“And I’ve heard that very often you let them go on?”
Battle nodded.
“That’s so. Why shouldn’t a man call himself a Brother of Liberty andmeet twice a week in a cellar and talk about rivers of blood—it won’t hurteither him or us. And if there is trouble any time, we know where to layour hands on him.”
“But sometimes, I suppose,” said Bundle slowly, “a society may be moredangerous than anyone imagines?”
“Very unlikely,” said Battle.
“But it might happen,” persisted Bundle.
“Oh, it might,” admitted the Superintendent.
There was a moment or two’s silence. Then Bundle said quietly:
“Superintendent Battle, could you give me a list of secret societies thathave their headquarters in Seven Dials?”
It was Superintendent Battle’s boast that he had never been seen to dis-play emotion. But Bundle could have sworn that just for a moment hiseyelids flickered⁹ and he looked taken back. Only for a moment, however.
He was his usual wooden self as he said:
“Strictly speaking, Lady Eileen, there’s no such place as Seven Dialsnowadays.”
“No?”
“No. Most of it is pulled down and rebuilt. It was rather a low quarteronce, but it’s very respectable and high class nowadays. Not at all a ro-mantic spot to poke¹⁰ about in for mysterious secret societies.”
“Oh!” said Bundle, rather nonplussed¹¹.
“But all the same I should very much like to know what put that neigh-bourhood into your head, Lady Eileen.”
“Have I got to tell you?”
“Well, it saves trouble, doesn’t it? We know where we are, so to speak.”
Bundle hesitated for a minute.
“There was a man shot yesterday,” she said slowly. “I thought I had runover him—”
“Mr. Ronald Devereux?”
“You know about it, of course. Why has there been nothing in the pa-pers?”
“Do you really want to know that, Lady Eileen?”
“Yes, please.”
“Well, we just thought we should like to have a clear twenty-four hours—see? It will be in the papers tomorrow.”
“Oh!” Bundle studied him, puzzled.
What was hidden behind that immovable face? Did he regard the shoot-ing of Ronald Devereux as an ordinary crime or as an extraordinary one?
“He mentioned Seven Dials when he was dying,” said Bundle slowly.
“Thank you,” said Battle. “I’ll make a note of that.”
He wrote a few words on the blotting¹² pad in front of him.
Bundle started on another tack¹³.
“Mr. Lomax, I understand, came to see you yesterday about a threaten-ing letter he had had.”
“He did.”
“And that was written from Seven Dials.”
“It had Seven Dials written at the top if it, I believe.”
Bundle felt as though she was battering¹⁴ hopelessly on a locked door.
“If you’ll let me advise you, Lady Eileen—”
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“I should go home and—well, think no more about these matters.”
“Leave it to you, in fact?”
“Well,” said Superintendent Battle, “after all, we are the professionals.”
“And I’m only an amateur? Yes, but you forget one thing—I mayn’t haveyour knowledge and skill—but I have one advantage over you. I can workin the dark.”
She thought that the Superintendent seemed a little taken aback, asthough the force of her words struck home.
“Of course,” said Bundle, “if you won’t give me a list of secret societies—”
“Oh! I never said that. You shall have a list of the whole lot.”
He went to the door, put his head through and called out something,then came back to his chair. Bundle, rather unreasonably¹⁵, felt baffled. Theease with which he acceded¹⁶ to her request seemed to her suspicious. Hewas looking at her now in a placid¹⁷ fashion.
“Do you remember the death of Mr. Gerald Wade?” she asked abruptly¹⁸.
“Down at your place, wasn’t it? Took an overdraught of sleeping mix-ture.”
“His sister says he never took things to make him sleep.”
“Ah!” said the Superintendent. “You’d be surprised what a lot of thingsthere are that sisters don’t know.”
Bundle again felt baffled. She sat in silence till a man came in with atypewritten sheet of paper, which he handed to the Superintendent.
“Here you are,” said the latter when the other had left the room. “TheBlood Brothers of St. Sebastian. The Wolf Hounds. The Comrades of Peace.
The Comrades Club. The Friends of Oppression. The Children of Moscow.
The Red Standard Bearers. The Herrings. The Comrades of the Fallen—and half a dozen more.”
He handed it to her with a distinct twinkle in his eye.
“You give it to me,” said Bundle, “because you know it’s not going to bethe slightest use to me. Do you want me to leave the whole thing alone?”
“I should prefer it,” said Battle. “You see—if you go messing around allthese places—well, it’s going to give us a lot of trouble.”
“Looking after me, you mean?”
“Looking after you, Lady Eileen.”
Bundle had risen to her feet. Now she stood undecided. So far the hon-ours lay with Superintendent Battle. Then she remembered one slight in-cident, and she based her last appeal upon it.
“I said just now that an amateur could do some things which a profes-sional couldn’t. You didn’t contradict me. That’s because you’re an honestman, Superintendent Battle. You knew I was right.”
“Go on,” said Battle quickly.
“At Chimneys you let me help. Won’t you let me help now?”
Battle seemed to be turning the thing over in his mind. Emboldened¹⁹ byhis silence, Bundle continued.
“You know pretty well what I’m like, Superintendent Battle. I butt²⁰ intothings. I’m a Nosy²¹ Parker. I don’t want to get in your way or to try and dothings that you’re doing and can do a great deal better. But if there’s achance for an amateur, let me have it.”
Again there was a pause, and then Superintendent Battle said quietly:
“You couldn’t have spoken fairer than you have done, Lady Eileen. ButI’m just going to say this to you. What you propose is dangerous. Andwhen I say dangerous, I mean dangerous.”
“I’ve grasped that,” said Bundle. “I’m not a fool.”
“No,” said Superintendent Battle. “Never knew a young lady who wasless so. What I’ll do for you, Lady Eileen, is this. I’ll just give you one littlehint. And I’m doing it because I never have thought much of the motto‘Safety First.’ In my opinion all the people who spend their lives avoidingbeing run over by buses had much better be run over and put safely out ofthe way. They’re no good.”
This remarkable²² utterance²³ issuing from the conventional lips of Super-intendent Battle quite took Bundle’s breath away.
“What was that hint you were going to give me?” she asked at last.
“You know Mr. Eversleigh, don’t you?”
“Know Bill? Why, of course, But what—?”
“I think Mr. Bill Eversleigh will be able to tell you all you want to knowabout Seven Dials.”
“Bill knows about it? Bill?”
“I didn’t say that. Not at all. But I think, being a quick-witted young lady,you’ll get what you want from him.
“And now,” said Superintendent Battle firmly, “I’m not going to say an-other word.”

1 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

6 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

7 supremely   

adv.无上地，崇高地

参考例句：

• They managed it all supremely well. 这件事他们干得极其出色。
• I consider a supremely beautiful gesture. 我觉得这是非常优雅的姿态。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

10 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

11 nonplussed   

adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The speaker was completely nonplussed by the question. 演讲者被这个问题完全难倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was completely nonplussed by his sudden appearance. 他突然出现使我大吃一惊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 blotting   

吸墨水纸

参考例句：

• Water will permeate blotting paper. 水能渗透吸水纸。
• One dab with blotting-paper and the ink was dry. 用吸墨纸轻轻按了一下，墨水就乾了。

13 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

14 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 unreasonably   

adv. 不合理地

参考例句：

• He was also petty, unreasonably querulous, and mean. 他还是个气量狭窄，无事生非，平庸刻薄的人。
• Food in that restaurant is unreasonably priced. 那家饭店价格不公道。

16 acceded   

v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职

参考例句：

• He acceded to demands for his resignation. 他同意要他辞职的要求。
• They have acceded to the treaty. 他们已经加入了那个条约。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

18 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

19 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

21 nosy   

adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者

参考例句：

• Our nosy neighbours are always looking in through our windows.好管闲事的邻居总是从我们的窗口望进来。
• My landlord is so nosy.He comes by twice a month to inspect my apartment.我的房东很烦人，他每个月都要到我公寓视察两次。

22 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

23 utterance   

n.用言语表达，话语，言语

参考例句：

• This utterance of his was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter.他的讲话引起阵阵哄然大笑。
• My voice cleaves to my throat,and sob chokes my utterance.我的噪子哽咽，泣不成声。