Chapter 7 The Inquest

The medical evidence had been given. Two passers-by not far from thegate had given their evidence. The family had spoken, giving evidence asto the state of his health, any possible people who had had reason forenmity towards him (one or two youngish adolescent boys who had be-fore now been warned off by him) had been asked to assist the police andhad protested their innocence². One or two of his employers had spoken in-cluding his latest employer, Mrs Prudence³ Beresford, and her husband, MrThomas Beresford. All had been said and done and a verdict had beenbrought in: Wilful⁴ Murder by a person or persons unknown.
Tuppence came out from the inquest and Tommy put an arm round heras they passed the little group of people waiting outside.
‘You did very well, Tuppence,’ he said, as they returned through thegarden gate towards the house. ‘Very well indeed. Much better than someof those people. You were very clear and you could be heard. The Coronerseemed to me to be very pleased with you.’
‘I don’t want anyone to be very pleased with me,’ said Tuppence. ‘I don’tlike old Isaac being coshed on the head and killed like that.’
‘I suppose someone might have had it in for him,’ said Tommy.
‘Why should they?’ said Tuppence.
‘I don’t know,’ said Tommy.
‘No,’ said Tuppence, ‘and I don’t know either. But I just wondered if it’sanything to do with us.’
‘Do you mean–what do you mean, Tuppence?’
‘You know what I mean really,’ said Tuppence. ‘It’s this–this place. Ourhouse. Our lovely new house. And garden and everything. It’s as though–isn’t it just the right place for us? We thought it was,’ said Tuppence.
‘Well, I still do,’ said Tommy.
‘Yes,’ said Tuppence, ‘I think you’ve got more hope than I have. I’ve gotan uneasy feeling that there’s something–something wrong with it all here.
Something left over from the past.’
‘Don’t say it again,’ said Tommy.
‘Don’t say what again?’
‘Oh, just those two words.’
Tuppence dropped her voice. She got nearer to Tommy and spoke1

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1 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。

2 innocence
n.无罪；天真；无害
参考例句：
There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。 The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

3 prudence
n.谨慎，精明，节俭
参考例句：
A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。 The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

4 wilful
adj.任性的，故意的
参考例句：
A wilful fault has no excuse and deserves no pardon.不能宽恕故意犯下的错误。 He later accused reporters of wilful distortion and bias.他后来指责记者有意歪曲事实并带有偏见。

5 beads
n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链
参考例句：
a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链 Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

6 partnership
n.合作关系，伙伴关系
参考例句：
The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。 Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 killer
n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者
参考例句：
Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。 The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 rumours
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传
参考例句：
The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。 Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

9 laurels
n.桂冠，荣誉
参考例句：
The path was lined with laurels.小路两旁都种有月桂树。 He reaped the laurels in the finals.他在决赛中荣膺冠军。

10 quotation
n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情
参考例句：
He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。 The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

11 offhand
adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的
参考例句：
I can't answer your request offhand.我不能随便答复你的要求。 I wouldn't want to say what I thought about it offhand.我不愿意随便说我关于这事的想法。

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