空幻之屋35

时间：2024-12-31 10:11:44

（单词翻译:单击）

Twenty-five
“But, darling, I am so delighted!”
Lady Angkatell stretched out a fragile hand to Edward and touched Midge softly with the other.
“You did quite right, Edward, to make her leave that horrid1 shop and bring her right down here.
She’ll stay here, of course, and be married from here. St. George’s, you know, three miles by the
road, though only a mile through the woods, but then one doesn’t go to a wedding through woods.
And I suppose it will have to be the vicar—poor man, he has such dreadful colds in the head every
autumn. The curate, now, has one of those high Anglican voices, and the whole thing would be far
more impressive—and more religious, too, if you know what I mean. It is so hard to keep one’s
mind reverent2 when somebody is saying things through their noses.”
It was, Midge decided3, a very Lucyish reception. It made her want to both laugh and cry.
“I’d love to be married from here, Lucy,” she said.
“Then that’s settled, darling. Off-white satin, I think, and an ivory prayer book—not a bouquet4.
Bridesmaids?”
“No. I don’t want a fuss. Just a very quiet wedding.”
“I know what you mean, darling, and I think perhaps you are right. With an autumn wedding
it’s nearly always chrysanthemums—such an uninspiring flower, I always think. And unless one
takes a lot of time to choose them carefully bridesmaids never match properly, and there’s nearly
always one terribly plain one who ruins the whole effect—but one has to have her because she’s
usually the bridegroom’s sister. But of course—” Lady Angkatell beamed, “Edward hasn’t got any
sisters.”
“That seems to be one point in my favour,” said Edward, smiling.
“But children are really the worst at weddings,” went on Lady Angkatell, happily pursuing her
own train of thought. “Everyone says: ‘How sweet!’ but, my dear, the anxiety! They step on the
train, or else they howl for Nannie, and quite often they’re sick. I always wonder how a girl can go
up the aisle6 in a proper frame of mind, while she’s so uncertain about what is happening behind
her.”
“There needn’t be anything behind me,” said Midge cheerfully. “Not even a train. I can be
married in a coat and skirt.”
“Oh, no, Midge, that’s so like a widow. No, off-white satin and not from Madame Alfrege’s.”
“Certainly not from Madame Alfrege’s,” said Edward.
“I shall take you to Mireille,” said Lady Angkatell.
“My dear Lucy, I can’t possibly afford Mireille.”
“Nonsense, Midge. Henry and I are going to give you your trousseau. And Henry, of course,
will give you away. I do hope the band of his trousers won’t be too tight. It’s nearly two years
since he last went to a wedding. And I shall wear—”
Lady Angkatell paused and closed her eyes.
“Yes, Lucy?”
“Hydrangea blue,” announced Lady Angkatell in a rapt voice. “I suppose, Edward, you will
have one of your own friends for best man, otherwise, of course, there is David. I cannot help
feeling it would be frightfully good for David. It would give him poise7, you know, and he would
feel we all liked him. That, I am sure, is very important with David. It must be disheartening, you
know, to feel you are clever and intellectual and yet nobody likes you any the better for it! But of
course it would be rather a risk. He would probably lose the ring, or drop it at the last minute. I
expect it would worry Edward too much. But it would be nice in a way to keep it to the same
people we’ve had here for the murder.”
Lady Angkatell uttered the last few words in the most conversational8 of tones.
“Lady Angkatell has been entertaining a few friends for a murder this autumn,” Midge could
not help saying.
“Yes,” said Lucy meditatively9. “I suppose it did sound like that. A party for the shooting. You
know, when you come to think of it, that’s just what it has been!”
Midge gave a faint shiver and said:
“Well, at any rate, it’s over now.”
“It’s not exactly over—the inquest was only adjourned10. And that nice Inspector11 Grange has got
men all over the place simply crashing through the chestnut12 woods and startling all the pheasants,
and springing up like jacks13 in the box in the most unlikely places.”
“What are they looking for?” asked Edward. “The revolver that Christow was shot with?”
“I imagine that must be it. They even came to the house with a search warrant. The inspector
was most apologetic about it, quite shy, but of course I told him we should be delighted. It was
really most interesting. They looked absolutely everywhere. I followed them round, you know, and
I suggested one or two places which even they hadn’t thought of. But they didn’t find anything. It
was most disappointing. Poor Inspector Grange, he is growing quite thin and he pulls and pulls at
that moustache of his. His wife ought to give him specially14 nourishing meals with all this worry he
is having—but I have a vague idea that she must be one of those women who care more about
having the linoleum15 really well polished than in cooking a tasty little meal. Which reminds me, I
must go and see Mrs. Medway. Funny how servants cannot bear the police. Her cheese soufflé last
night was quite uneatable. Soufflés and pastry16 always show if one is off balance. If it weren’t for
Gudgeon keeping them all together I really believe half the servants would leave. Why don’t you
two go and have a nice walk and help the police look for the revolver?”
Hercule Poirot sat on the bench overlooking the chestnut groves17 above the pool. He had no
sense of trespassing18 since Lady Angkatell had very sweetly begged him to wander where he would
at any time. It was Lady Angkatell’s sweetness which Hercule Poirot was considering at this
moment.
From time to time he heard the cracking of twigs19 in the woods above or caught sight of a figure
moving through the chestnut groves below him.
Presently Henrietta came along the path from the direction of the lane. She stopped for a
moment when she saw Poirot, then she came and sat down by him.
“Good morning, M. Poirot. I have just been to call upon you. But you were out. You look very
Olympian. Are you presiding over the hunt? The inspector seems very active. What are they
looking for, the revolver?”
“Yes, Miss Savernake.”
“Will they find it, do you think?”
“I think so. Quite soon now, I should say.”
She looked at him inquiringly.
“Have you an idea, then, where it is?”
“No. But I think it will be found soon. It is time for it to be found.”
“You do say odd things, M. Poirot!”
“Odd things happen here. You have come back very soon from London, Mademoiselle.”
Her face hardened. She gave a short, bitter laugh.
“The murderer returns to the scene of the crime? That is the old superstition20, isn’t it? So you do
think that I—did it! You don’t believe me when I tell you that I wouldn’t—that I couldn’t kill
anybody?”
Poirot did not answer at once. At last he said thoughtfully:
“It has seemed to me from the beginning that either this crime was very simple—so simple that
it was difficult to believe its simplicity21 (and simplicity, Mademoiselle, can be strangely baffling) or
else it was extremely complex. That is to say, we were contending against a mind capable of
intricate and ingenious inventions, so that every time we seemed to be heading for the truth, we
were actually being led on a trail that twisted away from the truth and led us to a point which—
ended in nothingness. This apparent futility22, this continual barrenness, is not real—it is artificial, it
is planned. A very subtle and ingenious mind is plotting against us the whole time — and
succeeding.”
“Well?” said Henrietta. “What has that to do with me?”
“The mind that is plotting against us is a creative mind, Mademoiselle.”
“I see—that’s where I come in?”
She was silent, her lips set together bitterly. From her jacket pocket she had taken a pencil and
now she was idly drawing the outline of a fantastic tree on the white painted wood of the bench,
frowning as she did so.
Poirot watched her. Something stirred in his mind—standing23 in Lady Angkatell’s drawing room
on the afternoon of the crime, looking down at a pile of bridge markers, standing by a painted iron
table in the pavilion the next morning, and a question that he had put to Gudgeon.
He said:
“That is what you drew on your bridge marker—a tree.”
“Yes.” Henrietta seemed suddenly aware of what she was doing. “Ygdrasil, M. Poirot.” She
laughed.
“Why do you call it Ygdrasil?”
She explained the origin of Ygdrasil.
“And so, when you ‘doodle’ (that is the word, is it not?) it is always Ygdrasil you draw?”
“Yes. Doodling is a funny thing, isn’t it?”
“Here on the seat—on the bridge marker on Saturday evening—in the pavilion on Sunday
morning….”
The hand that held the pencil stiffened24 and stopped. She said in a tone of careless amusement:
“In the pavilion?”
“Yes, on the round iron table there.”
“Oh, that must have been on—on Saturday afternoon.”
“It was not on Saturday afternoon. When Gudgeon brought the glasses out to the pavilion about
twelve o’clock on Sunday morning, there was nothing drawn25 on the table. I asked him and he is
quite definite about that.”
“Then it must have been”—she hesitated for just a moment—“of course, on Sunday afternoon.”
But still smiling pleasantly, Hercule Poirot shook his head.
“I think not. Grange’s men were at the pool all Sunday afternoon, photographing the body,
getting the revolver out of the water. They did not leave until dusk. They would have seen anyone
go into the pavilion.”
Henrietta said slowly:
“I remember now. I went along there quite late in the evening—after dinner.”
Poirot’s voice came sharply:
“People do not ‘doodle’ in the dark, Miss Savernake. Are you telling me that you went into the
pavilion at night and stood by a table and drew a tree without being able to see what you were
drawing?”
Henrietta said calmly: “I am telling you the truth. Naturally you don’t believe it. You have your
own ideas. What is your idea, by the way?”
“I am suggesting that you were in the pavilion on Sunday morning after twelve o’clock when
Gudgeon brought the glasses out. That you stood by that table watching someone, or waiting for
someone, and unconsciously took out a pencil and drew Ygdrasil without being fully5 aware of
what you were doing.”
“I was not in the pavilion on Sunday morning. I sat out on the terrace for a while, then I got the
gardening basket and went up to the dahlia border and cut off heads and tied up some of the
Michaelmas daisies that were untidy. Then just on one o’clock I went along to the pool. I’ve been
through it all with Inspector Grange. I never came near the pool until one o’clock, just after John
had been shot.”
“That,” said Hercule Poirot, “is your story. But Ygdrasil, Mademoiselle, testifies against you.”
“I was in the pavilion and I shot John, that’s what you mean?”
“You were there and you shot Dr. Christow, or you were there and you saw who shot Dr.
Christow—or someone else was there who knew about Ygdrasil and deliberately26 drew it on the
table to put suspicion on you.”
Henrietta got up. She turned on him with her chin lifted.
“You still think that I shot John Christow. You think that you can prove I shot him. Well, I will
tell you this. You will never prove it. Never!”
“You think that you are cleverer than I am?”
“You will never prove it,” said Henrietta, and, turning, she walked away down the winding27 path
that led to the swimming pool.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 horrid arozZj     
adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的
参考例句：
  • I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
  • The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。
2 reverent IWNxP     
adj.恭敬的，虔诚的
参考例句：
  • He gave reverent attention to the teacher.他恭敬地听老师讲课。
  • She said the word artist with a gentle,understanding,reverent smile.她说作家一词时面带高雅，理解和虔诚的微笑。
3 decided lvqzZd     
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。
4 bouquet pWEzA     
n.花束，酒香
参考例句：
  • This wine has a rich bouquet.这种葡萄酒有浓郁的香气。
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
5 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
6 aisle qxPz3     
n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道
参考例句：
  • The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
  • The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。
7 poise ySTz9     
vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信
参考例句：
  • She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
  • Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。
8 conversational SZ2yH     
adj.对话的，会话的
参考例句：
  • The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
  • She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。
9 meditatively 1840c96c2541871bf074763dc24f786a     
adv.冥想地
参考例句：
  • The old man looked meditatively at the darts board. 老头儿沉思不语，看着那投镖板。 来自英汉文学
  • "Well,'said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need a stitcher. “这--"工头沉思地搔了搔耳朵。 "我们确实需要一个缝纫工。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
10 adjourned 1e5a5e61da11d317191a820abad1664d     
（使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • The court adjourned for lunch. 午餐时间法庭休庭。
  • The trial was adjourned following the presentation of new evidence to the court. 新证据呈到庭上后，审讯就宣告暂停。
11 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。
12 chestnut XnJy8     
n.栗树，栗子
参考例句：
  • We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
  • In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。
13 jacks 2b0facb0ce94beb5f627e3c22cc18d34     
n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃
参考例句：
  • Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句
14 specially Hviwq     
adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地
参考例句：
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
15 linoleum w0cxk     
n.油布，油毯
参考例句：
  • They mislaid the linoleum.他们把油毡放错了地方。
  • Who will lay the linoleum?谁将铺设地板油毡？
16 pastry Q3ozx     
n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点
参考例句：
  • The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
  • The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。
17 groves eb036e9192d7e49b8aa52d7b1729f605     
树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
  • The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。
18 trespassing a72d55f5288c3d37c1e7833e78593f83     
[法]非法入侵
参考例句：
  • He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
  • Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。
19 twigs 17ff1ed5da672aa443a4f6befce8e2cb     
细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
  • Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。
20 superstition VHbzg     
n.迷信，迷信行为
参考例句：
  • It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
  • Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。
21 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯
参考例句：
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
22 futility IznyJ     
n.无用
参考例句：
  • She could see the utter futility of trying to protest. 她明白抗议是完全无用的。
  • The sheer futility of it all exasperates her. 它毫无用处，这让她很生气。
23 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。
24 stiffened de9de455736b69d3f33bb134bba74f63     
加强的
参考例句：
  • He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
  • She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。
25 drawn MuXzIi     
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。
26 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地
参考例句：
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
27 winding Ue7z09     
n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈
参考例句：
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

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