There was no doubt that Superintendent1 Battle was taken aback. Hefingered his chin thoughtfully.
“Sir Oswald is right, Battle,” said George. “This is the man. Any hope ofcatching him?”
“There may be, sir. It certainly looks—well, suspicious. Of course theman may turn up again—at Chimneys, I mean.”
“Do you think it likely?”
“No, it isn’t,” confessed Battle. “Yes, it certainly looks as though Bauerwere the man. But I can’t quite see how he got in and out of these groundsunobserved.”
“I have already told you my opinion of the men you posted,” saidGeorge. “Hopelessly inefficient—I don’t mean to blame you, Superintend-ent, but—” His pause was eloquent2.
“Ah, well,” said Battle lightly, “my shoulders are broad.”
He shook his head and sighed.
“I must get to the telephone at once. Excuse me, gentlemen. I’m sorry,Mr. Lomax—I feel I’ve rather bungled3 this business, But it’s been puzzling,more puzzling than you know.”
He strode hurriedly from the room.
“Come into the garden,” said Bundle to Jimmy. “I want to talk to you.”
They went out together through the window. Jimmy stared down at thelawn, frowning.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bundle.
Jimmy explained the circumstances of the pistol throwing.
“I’m wondering,” he ended, “what was in old Battle’s mind when he gotCoote to throw the pistol. Something, I’ll swear. Anyhow, it landed upabout ten yards farther than it should have done. You know, Bundle,Battle’s a deep one.”
“He’s an extraordinary man,” said Bundle. “I want to tell you about lastnight.”
She retailed4 her conversation with the Superintendent. Jimmy listenedattentively.
“So the Countess is No 1,” he said thoughtfully. “It all hangs togethervery well. No 2—Bauer—comes over from Chimneys. He climbs up intoO’Rourke’s room, knowing that O’Rourke has had a sleeping draught5 ad-ministered to him—by the Countess somehow or other. The arrangementis that he is to throw the papers to the Countess, who will be waiting be-low. Then she’ll nip back through the library and up to her room. IfBauer’s caught leaving the grounds, they’ll find nothing on him. Yes, it wasa good plan—but it went wrong. No sooner is the Countess in the librarythan she hears me coming and has to jump behind the screen. Jolly awk-ward for her, because she can’t warn her accomplice6. No 2 pinches the pa-pers, looks out of the window, sees, as he thinks, the Countess waiting,pitches the papers down to her and proceeds to climb down the ivy7, wherehe finds a nasty surprise in the shape of me waiting for him. Pretty nervywork for the Countess waiting behind her screen. All things considered,she told a pretty good story. Yes, it all hangs together very well.”
“Too well,” said Bundle decidedly.
“Eh?” said Jimmy surprised.
“What about No 7 — No 7, who never appears, but lives in the back-ground. The Countess and Bauer? No, it’s not so simple as that. Bauer washere last night, yes. But he was only here in case things went wrong—asthey have done. His part is the part of scapegoat8; to draw all attentionfrom No 7—the boss.”
“I say, Bundle,” said Jimmy anxiously, “you haven’t been reading toomuch sensational9 literature, have you?”
Bundle threw him a glance of dignified10 reproach.
“Well,” said Jimmy, “I’m not yet like the Red Queen. I can’t believe siximpossible things before breakfast.”
“It’s after breakfast,” said Bundle.
“Or even after breakfast. We’ve got a perfectly11 good hypothesis whichfits the facts—and you won’t have it at any price, simply because, like theold riddle12, you want to make things more difficult.”
“I’m sorry,” said Bundle, “but I cling passionately13 to a mysterious No 7being a member of the house party.”
“What does Bill think?”
“Bill,” said Bundle coldly, “is impossible.”
“Oh!” said Jimmy. “I suppose you’ve told him about the Countess? Heought to be warned. Heaven knows what he’ll go blabbing about other-wise.”
“He won’t hear a word against her,” said Bundle. “He’s—oh, simply idi-otic. I wish you’d drive it home to him about that mole15.”
“You forget I wasn’t in the cupboard,” said Jimmy. “And anyway I’drather not argue with Bill about his lady friend’s mole. But surely he can’tbe such an ass14 as not to see that everything fits in?”
“He’s every kind of ass,” said Bundle bitterly. “You made the greatestmistake, Jimmy, in ever telling him at all.”
“I’m sorry,” said Jimmy. “I didn’t see it at the time—but I do now. I was afool, but dash it all, old Bill—”
“You know what foreign adventuresses are,” said Bundle. “How they gethold of one.”
“As a matter of fact, I don’t,” said Jimmy. “One has never tried to gethold of me.” And he sighed.
For a moment or two there was silence. Jimmy was turning things overin his mind. The more he thought about them the more unsatisfactorythey seemed.
“You say that Battle wants the Countess left alone,” he said at last.
“Yes.”
“The idea being that through her he will get at someone else?”
Bundle nodded.
Jimmy frowned deeply as he tried to see where this led. Clearly Battlehad some very definite idea in his mind.
“Sir Stanley Digby went up to town early this morning, didn’t he,” hesaid.
“Yes.”
“O’Rourke with him?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“You don’t think—no, that’s impossible.”
“What?”
“That O’Rourke can be mixed up in this in any way.”
“It’s possible,” said Bundle thoughtfully. “He’s got what one calls a veryvivid personality. No, it wouldn’t surprise me if—oh, to tell the truth, noth-ing would surprise me! In fact, there’s only one person I’m really sure isn’tNo 7.”
“Who’s that?”
“Superintendent Battle.”
“Oh! I thought you were going to say George Lomax.”
“Ssh, here he comes.”
George was, indeed, bearing down upon them in an unmistakable man-ner. Jimmy made an excuse and slipped away. George sat down byBundle.
“My dear Eileen, must you really leave us?”
“Well, Father seems to have got the wind up rather badly. I think I’d bet-ter go home and hold his hand.”
“This little hand will indeed be comforting,” said George, taking it andpressing it playfully. “My dear Eileen, I understand your reasons and Ihonour you for them. In these days of changed and unsettled conditions—”
“He’s off,” thought Bundle desperately17.
“—when family life is at a premium—all the old standards falling!—Itbecomes our class to set an example to show that we, at least, are unaffec-ted by modern conditions. They call us the Die Hards—I am proud of theterm—I repeat I am proud of the term! There are things that should diehard—dignity, beauty, modesty18, the sanctity of family life, filial respect—who dies if these shall live? As I was saying, my dear Eileen, I envy you theprivileges of your youth. Youth! What a wonderful thing! What a wonder-ful word! And we do not appreciate it until we grow to—er—matureryears. I confess, my dear child, that I have in the past been disappointedby your levity19. I see now that it was but the careless and charming levityof a child. I perceive now the serious and earnest beauty of your mind.
You will allow me, I hope, to help you with your reading?”
“Oh, thank you,” said Bundle faintly.
“And you must never be afraid of me again. I was shocked when LadyCaterham told me that you stood in awe20 of me. I can assure you that I ama very humdrum21 sort of person.”
The spectacle of George being modest struck Bundle spellbound. Georgecontinued:
“Never be shy with me, dear child. And do not be afraid of boring me. Itwill be a great delight to me to—if I may say so—form your budding mind.
I will be your political mentor22. We have never needed young women oftalent and charm in the Party more than we need them today. You maywell be destined23 to follow in the footsteps of your aunt, Lady Caterham.”
This awful prospect24 knocked Bundle out completely. She could onlystare helplessly at George. This did not discourage him—on the contrary.
His main objection to women was that they talked too much. It was sel-dom that he found what he considered a really good listener. He smiledbenignly at Bundle.
“The butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. A wonderful picture. I havea very interesting work on political economy. I will look it out now, andyou can take it to Chimneys with you. When you have finished it, I will dis-cuss it with you. Do not hesitate to write to me if any point puzzles you. Ihave many public duties but by unsparing work I can always make timefor the affairs of my friends. I will look for the book.”
He strode away. Bundle gazed after him with a dazed expression. Shewas roused by the unexpected advent16 of Bill.
“Look here,” said Bill. “What the hell was Codders holding your handfor?”
“It wasn’t my hand,” said Bundle wildly. “It was my budding mind.”
“Don’t be an ass, Bundle.”
“Sorry, Bill, but I’m a little worried. Do you remember saying that Jimmyran a grave risk down here?”
“So he does,” said Bill. “It’s frightfully hard to escape from Codders oncehe’s got interested in you. Jimmy will be caught in the toils25 before heknows where he is.”
“It’s not Jimmy who’s caught—it’s me,” said Bundle wildly. “I shall haveto meet endless Mrs. Macattas, and read political economy and discuss itwith George, and heaven knows where it will end!”
Bill whistled.
“Poor old Bundle. Been laying it on a bit thick, haven’t you?”
“I must have done. Bill, I feel horribly entangled26.”
“Never mind,” said Bill consolingly. “George doesn’t really believe in wo-men standing27 for Parliament, so you won’t have to stand up on platformsand talk a lot of junk, or kiss dirty babies in Bermondsey. Come and have acocktail. It’s nearly lunch time.”
Bundle got up and walked by his side obediently.
“And I do so hate politics,” she murmured piteously.
“Of course you do. So do all sensible people. It’s only people like Coddersand Pongo who take them seriously and revel28 in them. But all the same,”
said Bill, reverting29 suddenly to a former point, “you oughtn’t to let Coddershold your hand.”
“Why on earth not?” said Bundle. “He’s known me all my life.”
“Well, I don’t like it.”
“Virtuous William—Oh, I say, look at Superintendent Battle.”
They were just passing in through a side door. A cupboard-like roomopened out of the little hallway. In it were kept golf clubs, tennis racquets,bowls and other features of country house life. Superintendent Battle wasconducting a minute examination of various golf clubs. He looked up alittle sheepishly at Bundle’s exclamation30.
“Going to take up golf, Superintendent Battle?”
“I might do worse, Lady Eileen. They say it’s never too late to start. AndI’ve got one good quality that will tell at any game.”
“What’s that?” asked Bill.
“I don’t know when I’m beaten. If everything goes wrong, I turn to andstart again!”
And with a determined31 look on his face, Superintendent Battle came outand joined them, shutting the door behind him.
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收听单词发音
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1
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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bungled
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| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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retailed
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| vt.零售（retail的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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scapegoat
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| n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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13
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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14
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
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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28
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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reverting
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| 恢复( revert的现在分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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