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12 THE EVIDENCE OF THE GERMAN LADY’S-MAID
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12 THE EVIDENCE OF THE GERMAN LADY’S-MAID
M. Bouc was looking at his friend curiously1.
“I do not quite understand you, mon vieux. You were trying to do—what?”
“I was searching for a flaw, my friend.”
“A flaw?”
“Yes—in the armour2 of a young lady’s self-possession. I wished to shake her sang-froid. Did I succeed? I do not know. But I know this: she did not expect me to tackle the matter as I did.”
“You suspect her,” said M. Bow slowly. “But why? She seems a very charming young lady—the last person in the world to be mixed up in a crime of this kind.”
“I agree,” said Constantine. “She is cold. She has not emotions. She would not stab a man—she would sue him in the law courts.”
Poirot sighed.
“You must, both of you, get rid of your obsession3 that this is an unpremeditated and sudden crime. As for the reasons why I suspect Miss Debenham, there are two. One is because of something that I overheard, and that you do not as yet know.”
He retailed4 to them the curious interchange of phrases he had overheard on the journey from Aleppo.
“That is curious, certainly,” said M. Bouc when he had finished. “It needs explaining. If it means what you suspect it means, then they are both of them in it together—she and the stiff Englishman.”
Poirot nodded.
“And that is just what is not borne out by the facts,” he said. “See you, if they were both in this together, what should we expect to find? That each of them would provide an alibi5 for the other. Is not that so? But no—that does not happen. Miss Debenham’s alibi is provided by a Swedish woman whom she has never seen before, and Colonel Arbuthnot’s alibi is vouched6 for by MacQueen, the dead mans secretary. No, that solution of the puzzle is too easy.”
“You said there was another reason for your suspicions of her,” M. Bouc, reminded him.
Poirot smiled.
“Ah! but that is only psychological. I ask myself, is it possible for Miss Debenham to have planned this crime? Behind this business, I am convinced, there is a cool, intelligent, resourceful brain. Miss Debenham answers to that description.”
点击收听单词发音
1 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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2 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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3 obsession | |
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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4 retailed | |
vt.零售(retail的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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5 alibi | |
n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明;借口 | |
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6 vouched | |
v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 );担保;确定;确定地说 | |
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7 placidly | |
adv.平稳地,平静地 | |
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8 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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9 genial | |
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
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10 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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11 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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12 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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13 massage | |
n.按摩,揉;vt.按摩,揉,美化,奉承,篡改数据 | |
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14 compartment | |
n.卧车包房,隔间;分隔的空间 | |
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15 bulged | |
凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 ); 充满; 塞满(某物) | |
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16 compartments | |
n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 );(列车车厢的)隔间;(家具或设备等的)分隔间;隔层 | |
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17 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 | |
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18 reassuringly | |
ad.安心,可靠 | |
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19 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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20 scrap | |
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废 | |
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21 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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22 nuance | |
n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别 | |
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23 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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第十一章 德贝汉小姐的证词
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第十二章 德国女佣人的证词
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