空幻之屋29

时间：2024-12-31 10:09:44

（单词翻译:单击）

III
Hercule Poirot stared at the inspector1 in the utmost surprise. He repeated incredulously:
“The revolver that Gerda Christow was holding and which was subsequently dropped into the
pool was not the revolver that fired the fatal shot? But that is extraordinary.”
“Exactly, M. Poirot. Put bluntly, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Poirot murmured softly:
“No, it does not make sense. But all the same, Inspector, it has got to make sense, eh?”
The inspector sighed heavily: “That’s just it, M. Poirot. We’ve got to find some way that it does
make sense—but at the moment I can’t see it. The truth is that we shan’t get much further until
we’ve found the gun that was used. It came from Sir Henry’s collection all right—at least, there’s
one missing—and that means that the whole thing is still tied up with The Hollow.”
“Yes,” murmured Poirot. “It is still tied up with The Hollow.”
“It seemed a simple, straightforward2 business,” went on the inspector. “Well, it isn’t so simple
or so straightforward.”
“No,” said Poirot, “it is not simple.”
“We’ve got to admit the possibility that the thing was a frame-up—that’s to say that it was all
set to implicate3 Gerda Christow. But if that was so, why not leave the right revolver lying by the
body for her to pick up?”
“She might not have picked it up.”
“That’s true, but even if she didn’t, so long as nobody else’s fingerprints4 were on the gun—
that’s to say if it was wiped after use—she would probably have been suspected all right. And
that’s what the murderer wanted, wasn’t it?”
“Was it?”
Grange stared.
“Well, if you’d done a murder, you’d want to plant it good and quick on someone else,
wouldn’t you? That would be a murderer’s normal reaction.”
“Ye-es,” said Poirot. “But then perhaps we have here a rather unusual type of murderer. It is
possible that that is the solution of our problem.”
“What is the solution?”
Poirot said thoughtfully:
“An unusual type of murderer.”
Inspector Grange stared at him curiously5. He said:
“But then—what was the murderer’s idea? What was he or she getting at?”
Poirot spread out his hands with a sigh.
“I have no idea—I have no idea at all. But it seems to me—dimly—”
“Yes?”
“That the murderer is someone who wanted to kill John Christow but who did not want to
implicate Gerda Christow.”
“H’h! Actually, we suspected her right away.”
“Ah, yes, but it was only a matter of time before the facts about the gun came to light, and that
was bound to give a new angle. In the interval6 the murderer has had time—” Poirot came to a full
stop.
“Time to do what?”
“Ah, mom ami, there you have me. Again I have to say I do not know.”
Inspector Grange took a turn or two up and down the room. Then he stopped and came to a
stand in front of Poirot.
“I’ve come to you this afternoon, M. Poirot, for two reasons. One is because I know—it’s pretty
well known in the Force—that you’re a man of wide experience who’s done some very tricky7
work on this type of problem. That’s reason number one. But there’s another reason. You were
there. You were an eyewitness8. You saw what happened.”
Poirot nodded.
“Yes, I saw what happened—but the eyes, Inspector Grange, are very unreliable witnesses.”
“What do you mean, M. Poirot?”
“The eyes see, sometimes, what they are meant to see.”
“You think that it was planned out beforehand?”
“I suspect it. It was exactly, you understand, like a stage scene. What I saw was clear enough. A
man who had just been shot and the woman who had shot him holding in her hand the gun she had
just used. That is what I saw, and already we know that in one particular the picture is wrong. That
gun had not been used to shoot John Christow.”
“Hm!” The inspector pulled his drooping9 moustache firmly downwards10. “What you are getting
at is that some of the other particulars of the picture may be wrong too?”
Poirot nodded. He said:
“There were three other people present—three people who had apparently11 just arrived on the
scene. But that may not be true either. The pool is surrounded by a thick grove12 of young chestnuts13.
From the pool five paths lead away, one to the house, one up to the woods, one up to the flower
walk, one down from the pool to the farm and one to the lane here.
“Of those three people, each one came along a different path, Edward Angkatell from the woods
above, Lady Angkatell up from the farm, and Henrietta Savernake from the flower border above
the house. Those three arrived upon the scene of the crime almost simultaneously14, and a few
minutes after Gerda Christow.
“But one of those three, Inspector, could have been at the pool before Gerda Christow arrived,
could have shot John Christow, and could have retreated up or down one of the paths and then,
turning around, could have arrived at the same time as the others.”
Inspector Grange said:
“Yes, it’s possible.”
“And another possibility, not envisaged15 at the time. Someone could have come along the path
from the lane, could have shot John Christow, and could have gone back the same way, unseen.”
Grange said: “You’re dead right. There are two other possible suspects besides Gerda Christow.
We’ve got the same motive—jealousy. It’s definitely a crime passionel. There were two other
women mixed up with John Christow.”
He paused and said:
“Christow went over to see Veronica Cray that morning. They had a row. She told him that
she’d make him sorry for what he’d done, and she said she hated him more than she believed she
could hate anyone.”
“Interesting,” murmured Poirot.
“She’s straight from Hollywood—and by what I read in the papers they do a bit of shooting
each other out there sometimes. She could have come along to get her furs, which she’d left in the
pavilion the night before. They could have met—the whole thing could have flared16 up—she fired
at him—and then, hearing someone coming, she could have dodged17 back the way she came.”
He paused a moment and added irritably18:
“And now we come to the part where it all goes haywire. That damned gun! Unless,” his eyes
brightened, “she shot him with her own gun and dropped one that she’d pinched from Sir Henry’s
study so as to throw suspicion on the crowd at The Hollow. She mightn’t know about our being
able to identify the gun used from the marks on the rifling.”
“How many people do know that, I wonder?”
“I put the point to Sir Henry. He said he thought quite a lot of people would know—on account
of all the detective stories that are written. Quoted a new one, The Clue of the Dripping Fountain,
which he said John Christow himself had been reading on Saturday and which emphasized that
particular point.”
“But Veronica Cray would have had to have got the gun somehow from Sir Henry’s study.”
“Yes, it would mean premeditation.” The inspector took another tug19 at his moustache, then he
looked at Poirot. “But you’ve hinted yourself at another possibility, M. Poirot. There’s Miss
Savernake. And here’s where your eyewitness stuff, or rather I should say, earwitness stuff, comes
in again. Dr. Christow said: ‘Henrietta’ when he was dying. You heard him—they all heard him,
though Mr. Angkatell doesn’t seem to have caught what he said.”
“Edward Angkatell did not hear? That is interesting.”
“But the others did. Miss Savernake herself says he tried to speak to her. Lady Angkatell says
he opened his eyes, saw Miss Savernake, and said: ‘Henrietta.’ She doesn’t, I think, attach any
importance to it.”
Poirot smiled. “No—she would not attach importance to it.”
“Now, M. Poirot, what about you? You were there—you saw—you heard. Was Dr. Christow
trying to tell you all that it was Henrietta who had shot him? In short, was that word an
accusation20?”
Poirot said slowly:
“I did not think so at the time.”
“But now, M. Poirot? What do you think now?”
Poirot sighed. Then he said slowly:
“It may have been so. I cannot say more than that. It is an impression only for which you are
asking me, and when the moment is past there is a temptation to read into things a meaning which
was not there at the time.”
Grange said hastily:
“Of course, this is all off the record. What M. Poirot thought isn’t evidence—I know that. It’s
only a pointer I’m trying to get.”
“Oh, I understand you very well—and an impression from an eyewitness can be a very useful
thing. But I am humiliated21 to have to say that my impressions are valueless. I was under the
misconception, induced by the visual evidence, that Mrs. Christow had just shot her husband; so
that when Dr. Christow opened his eyes and said ‘Henrietta’ I never thought of it as being an
accusation. It is tempting22 now, looking back, to read into that scene something that was not there.”
“I know what you mean,” said Grange. “But it seems to me that since ‘Henrietta’ was the last
word Christow spoke23, it must have meant one of two things. It was either an accusation of murder
or else it was—well, purely24 emotional. She’s the woman he’s in love with and he’s dying. Now,
bearing everything in mind, which of the two did it sound like to you?”
Poirot sighed, stirred, closed his eyes, opened them again, stretched out his hands in acute
vexation. He said:
“His voice was urgent—that is all I can say—urgent. It seemed to me neither accusing nor
emotional—but urgent, yes! And of one thing I am sure. He was in full possession of his faculties25.
He spoke—yes, he spoke like a doctor—a doctor who has, say, a sudden surgical26 emergency on
his hands—a patient who is bleeding to death, perhaps.” Poirot shrugged27 his shoulders. “That is
the best I can do for you.”
“Medical, eh?” said the inspector. “Well, yes, that is a third way of looking at it. He was shot,
he suspected he was dying, he wanted something done for him quickly. And if, as Lady Angkatell
says, Miss Savernake was the first person he saw when his eyes opened, then he would appeal to
her. It’s not very satisfactory, though.”
“Nothing about this case is satisfactory,” said Poirot with some bitterness.
A murder scene, set and staged to deceive Hercule Poirot—and which had deceived him! No, it
was not satisfactory.
Inspector Grange was looking out of the window.
“Hallo,” he said, “here’s Clark, my sergeant28. Looks as though he’s got something. He’s been
working on the servants—the friendly touch. He’s a nice looking chap, got a way with women.”
Sergeant Clark came in a little breathlessly. He was clearly pleased with himself, though
subduing29 the fact under a respectful official manner.
“Thought I’d better come and report, sir, since I knew where you’d gone.”
He hesitated, shooting a doubtful glance at Poirot, whose exotic foreign appearance did not
commend itself to his sense of official reticence30.
“Out with it, my lad,” said Grange. “Never mind M. Poirot here. He’s forgotten more about this
game than you’ll know for many years to come.”
“Yes, sir. It’s this way, sir. I got something out of the kitchen maid—”
Grange interrupted. He turned to Poirot triumphantly31.
“What did I tell you? There’s always hope where there’s a kitchen maid. Heaven help us when
domestic staffs are so reduced that nobody keeps a kitchen maid any more. Kitchen maids talk,
kitchen maids babble32. They’re so kept down and in their place by the cook and the upper servants
that it’s only human nature to talk about what they know to someone who wants to hear it. Go on,
Clark.”
“This is what the girl says, sir. That on Sunday afternoon she saw Gudgeon, the butler, walking
across the hall with a revolver in his hand.”
“Gudgeon?”
“Yes, sir.” Clark referred to a notebook. “These are her own words. ‘I don’t know what to do,
but I think I ought to say what I saw that day. I saw Mr. Gudgeon, he was standing33 in the hall with
a revolver in his hand. Mr. Gudgeon looked very peculiar34 indeed.’
“I don’t suppose,” said Clark, breaking off, “that the part about looking peculiar means
anything. She probably put that in out of her head. But I thought you ought to know about it at
once, sir.”
Inspector Grange rose, with the satisfaction of a man who sees a task ahead of him which he is
well-fitted to perform.
“Gudgeon?” he said. “I’ll have a word with Mr. Gudgeon right away.”

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1 inspector q6kxH     
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 straightforward fFfyA     
adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的
参考例句：
  • A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
  • I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。
3 implicate JkPyo     
vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌
参考例句：
  • He didn't find anything in the notebooks to implicate Stu.他在笔记本中没发现任何涉及斯图的东西。
  • I do not want to implicate you in my problem of the job.我工作上的问题不想把你也牵扯进来。
4 fingerprints 9b456c81cc868e5bdf3958245615450b     
n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
  • Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
  • They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地
参考例句：
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
6 interval 85kxY     
n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息
参考例句：
  • The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
  • There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。
7 tricky 9fCzyd     
adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的
参考例句：
  • I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
  • He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。
8 eyewitness VlVxj     
n.目击者，见证人
参考例句：
  • The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
  • He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。
9 drooping drooping     
adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词
参考例句：
  • The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
  • The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。
10 downwards MsDxU     
adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）
参考例句：
  • He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
  • As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。
11 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
参考例句：
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
12 grove v5wyy     
n.林子，小树林，园林
参考例句：
  • On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
  • The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。
13 chestnuts 113df5be30e3a4f5c5526c2a218b352f     
n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马
参考例句：
  • A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
14 simultaneously 4iBz1o     
adv.同时发生地，同时进行地
参考例句：
  • The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
  • The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。
15 envisaged 40d5ad82152f6e596b8f8c766f0778db     
想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He envisaged an old age of loneliness and poverty. 他面对着一个孤独而贫困的晚年。
  • Henry Ford envisaged an important future for the motor car. 亨利·福特为汽车设想了一个远大前程。
16 Flared Flared     
adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词
参考例句：
  • The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
  • The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。
17 dodged ae7efa6756c9d8f3b24f8e00db5e28ee     
v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避
参考例句：
  • He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 irritably e3uxw     
ad.易生气地
参考例句：
  • He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。
  • On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
19 tug 5KBzo     
v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船
参考例句：
  • We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
  • The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
20 accusation GJpyf     
n.控告，指责，谴责
参考例句：
  • I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
  • She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。
21 humiliated 97211aab9c3dcd4f7c74e1101d555362     
感到羞愧的
参考例句：
  • Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
  • He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。
22 tempting wgAzd4     
a.诱人的, 吸引人的
参考例句：
  • It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
  • It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。
23 spoke XryyC     
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。
24 purely 8Sqxf     
adv.纯粹地，完全地
参考例句：
  • I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
  • This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。
25 faculties 066198190456ba4e2b0a2bda2034dfc5     
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院
参考例句：
  • Although he's ninety, his mental faculties remain unimpaired. 他虽年届九旬，但头脑仍然清晰。
  • All your faculties have come into play in your work. 在你的工作中，你的全部才能已起到了作用。 来自《简明英汉词典》
26 surgical 0hXzV3     
adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的
参考例句：
  • He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
  • All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。
27 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）
参考例句：
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
28 sergeant REQzz     
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？
29 subduing be06c745969bb7007c5b30305d167a6d     
征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗
参考例句：
  • They are the probation subduing the heart to human joys. 它们不过是抑制情欲的一种考验。
  • Some believe that: is spiritual, mysterious and a very subduing colour. 有的认为：是精神，神秘色彩十分慑。
30 reticence QWixF     
n.沉默，含蓄
参考例句：
  • He breaks out of his normal reticence and tells me the whole story.他打破了平时一贯沈默寡言的习惯，把事情原原本本都告诉了我。
  • He always displays a certain reticence in discussing personal matters.他在谈论个人问题时总显得有些保留。
31 triumphantly 9fhzuv     
ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地
参考例句：
  • The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
  • Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。
32 babble 9osyJ     
v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语
参考例句：
  • No one could understand the little baby's babble. 没人能听懂这个小婴孩的话。
  • The babble of voices in the next compartment annoyed all of us.隔壁的车厢隔间里不间歇的嘈杂谈话声让我们都很气恼。
33 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
参考例句：
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
34 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的
参考例句：
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

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