BOOK 3 Eight

Eight
Chief Inspector¹ Kemp was not in a very good humour.
For the last half hour he had been interviewing a frightened white rab-
bit of sixteen who, by virtue² of his uncle Charles’s great position, was as-
piring to be a waiter of the class required by the Luxembourg. In the
meantime, he was one of six harried³ underlings who ran about with ap-
rons round their waists to distinguish them from the superior article, and
whose duty it was to bear the blame for everything, fetch and carry,
provide rolls and pats of butter and be occasionally and unceasingly
hissed⁴ at in French, Italian and occasionally English. Charles, as befitted a
great man, so far from showing favour to a blood relation, hissed, cursed
and swore at him even more than he did at the others. Nevertheless Pierre
aspired⁵ in his heart to be no less than the headwaiter of a chic⁶ restaurant
himself one day in the far future.
At the moment, however, his career had received a check, and he
gathered that he was suspected of no less than murder.
Kemp turned the lad inside out and disgustedly convinced himself that
the boy had done no less and no more than what he had said—namely,
picked up a lady’s bag from the floor and replaced it by her plate.
“It is as I am hurrying with sauce to M. Robert and already he is impa-
tient, and the young lady sweeps her bag off the table as she goes to dance,
so I pick it up and put it on the table, and then I hurry on, for already M.
Robert he is making the signs frantically⁷ to me. That is all, monsieur.”
And that was all. Kemp disgustedly let him go, feeling strongly tempted⁸
to add, “But don’t let me catch you doing that sort of thing again.”
Sergeant⁹ Pollock made a distraction¹⁰ by announcing that they had tele-
phoned up to say that a young lady was asking for him or rather for the of-
ficer in charge of the Luxembourg case.
“Who is she?”
“Her name is Miss Chloe West.”
“Let’s have her up,” said Kemp resignedly. “I can give her ten minutes.
Mr. Farraday’s due after that. Oh, well, won’t do any harm to keep him
waiting a few minutes. Makes them jittery¹¹, that does.”
When Miss Chloe West walked into the room, Kemp was at once assailed¹²
by the impression that he recognized her. But a minute later he aban-
doned that impression. No, he had never seen this girl before, he was sure
of that. Nevertheless the vague haunting sense of familiarity remained to
plague him.
Miss West was about twenty-five, tall, brown-haired and very pretty.
Her voice was rather conscious of its diction and she seemed decidedly
nervous.
“Well, Miss West, what can I do for you?”
Kemp spoke¹⁴ briskly.
“I read in the paper about the Luxembourg—the man who died there.”
“Mr. George Barton? Yes? Did you know him?”
“Well, no, not exactly. I mean I didn’t really know him.”
Kemp looked at her carefully and discarded his first deduction¹⁵.
Chloe West was looking extremely refined and virtuous—severely so. He
said pleasantly:
“Can I have your exact name and address first, please, so that we know
where we are?”
“Chloe Elizabeth West. 15 Merryvale Court, Maida Vale. I’m an actress.”
Kemp looked at her again out of the corner of his eye, and decided¹³ that
that was what she really was. Repertory, he fancied—in spite of her looks
she was the earnest kind.
“Yes, Miss West?”
“When I read about Mr. Barton’s death and that the—the police were in-
quiring into it, I thought perhaps I ought to come and tell you something. I
spoke to my friend about it and she seemed to think so. I don’t suppose it’s
really anything to do with it, but—” Miss West paused.
“We’ll be the judge of that,” said Kemp pleasantly. “Just tell me about it.”
“I’m not acting¹⁶ just at the moment,” explained Miss West.
Inspector Kemp nearly said “Resting” to show that he knew the proper
terms, but restrained himself.
“But my name is down at the agencies and my picture in Spotlight¹⁷ . . .
That, I understand, is where Mr. Barton saw it. He got into touch with me
and explained what he wanted me to do.”
“Yes?”
“He told me he was having a dinner party at the Luxembourg and that
he wanted to spring a surprise on his guests. He showed me a photograph
and told me that he wanted me to make up as the original. I was very
much the same colouring, he said.”
Illumination flashed across Kemp’s mind. The photograph of Rosemary
he had seen on the desk in George’s room in Elvaston Square. That was
who the girl reminded him of. She was like Rosemary Barton—not perhaps
startlingly so—but the general type and cast of features was the same.
“He also brought me a dress to wear—I’ve brought it with me. A greyish
green silk. I was to do my hair like the photograph (it was a coloured one)
and accentuate¹⁸ the resemblance with makeup¹⁹. Then I was to come to the
Luxembourg and go into the restaurant during the first cabaret show and
sit down at Mr. Barton’s table where there would be a vacant place. He
took me to lunch there and showed me where the table would be.”
“And why didn’t you keep the appointment, Miss West?”
“Because about eight o’clock that night—someone—Mr. Barton—rang
up and said the whole thing had been put off. He said he’d let me know
next day when it was coming off. Then, the next morning, I saw his death
in the papers.”
“And very sensibly you came along to us,” said Kemp pleasantly. “Well,
thank you very much, Miss West. You’ve cleared up one mystery—the
mystery of the vacant place. By the way, you said just now—‘someone’—
and then, ‘Mr. Barton.’ Why is that?”
“Because at first I didn’t think it was Mr. Barton. His voice sounded dif-
ferent.”
“It was a man’s voice?”
“Oh, yes, I think so—at least—it was rather husky as though he had a
cold.”
“And that’s all he said?”
“That’s all.”
Kemp questioned her a little longer, but got no further.
When she had gone, he said to the sergeant:
“So that was George Barton’s famous ‘plan.’ I see now why they all said
he stared at the empty chair after the cabaret and looked queer and ab-
sentminded. His precious plan had gone wrong.”
“You don’t think it was he who put her off?”
“Not on your life. And I’m not so sure it was a man’s voice, either. Huski-
ness is a good disguise through the telephone. Oh, well, we’re getting on.
Send in Mr. Farraday if he’s here.”

1 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。

2 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

3 harried   

v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰

参考例句：

• She has been harried by the press all week. 整个星期她都受到新闻界的不断烦扰。
• The soldiers harried the enemy out of the country. 士兵们不断作骚扰性的攻击直至把敌人赶出国境为止。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

5 aspired   

v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She aspired to a scientific career. 她有志于科学事业。
• Britain,France,the United States and Japan all aspired to hegemony after the end of World War I. 第一次世界大战后，英、法、美、日都想争夺霸权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

7 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

8 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

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 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

11 jittery   

adj. 神经过敏的, 战战兢兢的

参考例句：

• However, nothing happened though he continued to feel jittery. 可是，自从拉上这辆车，并没有出什么错儿，虽然他心中嘀嘀咕咕的不安。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The thirty-six Enterprise divebombers were being squandered in a jittery shot from the hip. 这三十六架“企业号”上的俯冲轰炸机正被孤注一掷。

12 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

18 accentuate   

v.着重，强调

参考例句：

• She has beautiful eyes, so we should accentuate them in the makeup.她眼睛很美丽，我们在化妆时应该突出她的眼睛。
• Mrs Obamas speeches rarely accentuate the positive.奥巴马夫人的演讲很少强调美国积极的一面。

19 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？