A Fine Italian Hand（16）

　　XVI
　　It was really only about five minutes before Battle returned to the drawing-room, but to those there it seemed much longer.
　　Kay had suddenly lost control of herself. She had cried out to Audrey: "I knew it was you. I always knew it was you. I knew you were up to something -"Mary Aldin said quickly: "Please, Kay." Nevile said sharply: "Shut up, Kay, for God's sake." Ted¹ Latimer came over to Kay, who had begun to cry. "Get a grip on yourself," he said kindly².
　　He said to Nevile angrily: "You don't seem to realise that Kay has been under a lot of strain! Why don't you look after her a bit. Strange?""I'm all right," said Kay.
　　"For two pins," said Ted, "I'd take you away from the lot of them!"Inspector³ Leach⁴ cleared his throat. A lot of injudicious things were said at times like these, as he well knew. The unfortunate part was that they were usually remembered most inconveniently⁵ afterwards.
　　Battle came back into the room. His face was expressionless.
　　He said: "Will you put one or two things together, Mrs. Strange? I'm afraid Inspector Leach must come upstairs with you."Mary Aldin said: "I'll come, too."
　　When the two women had left the room with the Inspector, Nevile said anxiously: "Well, what did that chap want?"Battle said slowly: "Mr. MacWhirter tells a very odd story." "Does it help Audrey? Are you still determined⁶ to arrest her?" "I've told you, Mr. Strange. I've got to do my duty." Nevile turned away, the eagerness dying out of his face. He said: "I'd better telephone Trelawny, I suppose.""There's no immediate⁷ hurry for that, Mr. Strange. There's a certain experiment I want to make first as a result of Mr. MacWhirter's statement. I'll just see that Mrs. Strange gets off first."Audrey was coming down the stairs, Inspector Leach beside her. Her face still had that remote, detached composure.
　　Nevile came towards her, his hands outstretched. "Audrey -"Her colourless glance swept over him. She said: "It's all right, Nevile. I don't mind. I don't mind anything."Thomas Royde stood by the front door, almost as though he would bar the way out.
　　A very faint smile came to her lips. "‘True Thomas,'" she murmured. He mumbled⁸: "If there's anything I can do -" "No one can do anything," said Audrey.
　　She went out with her head high. A police car was waiting outside with Sergeant⁹ Jones in it. Audrey and Leach got in.
　　Ted Latimer murmured appreciatively: "Lovely exit!"Nevile turned on him furiously. Superintendent¹⁰ Battle dexterously¹¹ interposed his bulk and raised a soothing¹² voice: "As I said, I've got an experiment to make. Mr. MacWhirter is waiting down at the ferry. We're to join him there in ten minutes' time. We shall be going out in a motor-launch, so the ladies had better wrap up warmly. In ten minutes, please."He might have been a stage manager ordering a company on to the stage. He took no notice at all of their puzzled faces.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

3 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

4 leach   

v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器

参考例句：

• Liquid water can leach soluble materials from the interface.液态水能够从界面溶解出可溶性物质。
• They believe that the humic materials are leached from decaying plant materials.他们认为腐植物料是从腐烂的植物体浸沥而来。

5 inconveniently   

ad.不方便地

参考例句：

• Hardware encrypting resists decryption intensely, but it use inconveniently for user. 硬件加密方法有较强的抗解密性，但用户使用不方便。
• Even implementing the interest-deferral scheme for homeowners has proved inconveniently tricky. 甚至是对房主实行的推迟利息的方案，结果证明也是极不方便的。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 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。

8 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

9 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

10 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。

11 dexterously   

adv.巧妙地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He operates the machine dexterously. 他操纵机器动作非常轻巧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• How dexterously he handled the mite. 他伺候小家伙，有多么熟练。 来自辞典例句

12 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。