Five

Five
In the first heat of indignation, I found my next step unexpectedly easy totackle. I had had a half-formed plan in my head when I went to ScotlandYard. One to be carried out if my interview there was unsatisfactory (ithad been profoundly unsatisfactory). That is, if I had the nerve to gothrough with it.
Things that one would shrink from attempting normally are easilytackled in a flush of anger. Without giving myself time to reflect, I walkedstraight to the house of Lord Nasby.
Lord Nasby was the millionaire owner of the Daily Budget. He ownedother papers—several of them, but the Daily Budget was his special child.
It was as the owner of the Daily Budget that he was known to every house-holder in the United Kingdom. Owing to the fact that an itinerary¹ of thegreat man’s daily proceedings² had just been published, I knew exactlywhere to find him at this moment. It was his hour for dictating³ to his sec-retary in his own house.
I did not, of course, suppose that any young woman who chose to comeand ask for him would be at once admitted to the august presence. But Ihad attended to that side of the matter. In the card tray in the hall of theFlemmings’ house, I had observed the card of the Marquis of Loamsley,England’s most famous sporting peer. I had removed the card, cleaned itcarefully with bread crumbs⁴, and pencilled upon it the words: “Please giveMiss Beddingfeld a few moments of your time.” Adventuresses must notbe too scrupulous⁵ in their methods.
The thing worked. A powdered footman received the card and bore itaway. Presently a pale secretary appeared. I fenced with him successfully.
He retired⁶ in defeat. He again reappeared and begged me to follow him. Idid so. I entered a large room, a frightened-looking shorthand typist fledpast me like a visitant from the spirit world. Then the door shut and I wasface to face with Lord Nasby.
A big man. Big head. Big face. Big moustache. Big stomach. I pulled my-self together. I had not come here to comment on Lord Nasby’s stomach.
He was already roaring at me.
“Well, what is it? What does Loamsley want? You are his secretary?
What’s it all about?”
“To begin with,” I said with as great an appearance of coolness as I couldmanage, “I don’t know Lord Loamsley, and he certainly knows nothingabout me. I took his card from the tray in the house of the people I’m stay-ing with, and I wrote those words on it myself. It was important that Ishould see you.”
For a moment it appeared to be a toss up as to whether Lord Nasby hadapoplexy or not. In the end he swallowed twice and got over it.
“I admire your coolness, young woman. Well, you see me! If you interestme, you will continue to see me for exactly two minutes longer.”
“That will be ample,” I replied. “And I shall interest you. It’s the MillHouse Mystery.”
“If you’ve found ‘The Man in the Brown Suit,’ write to the editor,” he in-terrupted hastily.
“If you will interrupt, I shall be more than two minutes,” I said sternly.
“I haven’t found ‘The Man in the Brown Suit,’ but I’m quite likely to do so.”
In as few words as possible I put the facts of the Tube accident and theconclusions I had drawn⁷ from them before him. When I had finished hesaid unexpectedly, “What do you know of brachycephalic heads?”
I mentioned Papa.
“The Monkey man? Eh? Well, you seem to have a head of some kindupon your shoulders, young woman. But it’s all pretty thin, you know. Notmuch to go upon. And no use to us—as it stands.”
“I’m perfectly⁸ aware of that.”
“What d’you want, then?”
“I want a job on your paper to investigate this matter.”
“Can’t do that. We’ve got our own special man on it.”
“And I’ve got my own special knowledge.”
“What you’ve just told me, eh?”
“Oh, no, Lord Nasby. I’ve still got something up my sleeve.”
“Oh, you have, have you? You seem a bright sort of girl. Well, what isit?”
“When this so-called doctor got into the lift, he dropped a piece of paper.
I picked it up. It smelt⁹ of moth¹⁰ balls. So did the dead man. The doctordidn’t. So I saw at once that the doctor must have taken it off the body. Ithad two words written on it and some figures.”
“Let’s see it.”
Lord Nasby stretched out a careless hand.
“I think not,” I said, smiling. “It’s my find you see.”
“I’m right. You are a bright girl. Quite right to hang on to it. No scruplesabout not handing it over to the police?”
“I went there to do so this morning. They persisted in regarding thewhole thing as having nothing to do with the Marlow affair, so I thoughtthat in the circumstances I was justified¹¹ in retaining the paper. Besides,the inspector¹² put my back up.”
“Shortsighted man. Well, my dear girl, here’s all I can do for you. Go onworking on this line of yours. If you get anything—anything that’s publish-able—send it along and you shall have your chance. There’s always roomfor real talent on the Daily Budget. But you’ve got to make good first. See?”
I thanked him and apologized for my methods.
“Don’t mention it. I rather like cheek—from a pretty girl. By the way,you said two minutes and you’ve been three, allowing for interruptions.
For a woman, that’s quite remarkable¹³! Must be your scientific training.”
I was in the street again, breathing hard as though I had been running. Ifound Lord Nasby rather wearing as a new acquaintance.

1 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

2 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

3 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

4 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

5 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 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。

9 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

10 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

11 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

12 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。

13 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。