赫尔克里·波洛的丰功伟绩60

时间：2024-12-31 11:29:43

（单词翻译:单击）

III
“I wish to speak to you with the utmost seriousness,” said Poirot.
The hour was early, the Club as yet nearly empty. The Countess and Poirot sat at a small
table near the doorway1.
“But I do not feel serious,” she protested. “La petite Alice, she is always serious and, entre
nous, I find it very boring. My poor Niki, what fun will he have? None.”
“I entertain for you much affection,” continued Poirot steadily2. “And I do not want to see you
in what is called the jam.”
“But it is absurd what you say there! I am on top of the world, the money it rolls in!”
“You own this place?”
The Countess’s eye became slightly evasive.
“Certainly,” she replied.
“But you have a partner?”
“Who told you that?” asked the Countess sharply.
“Is your partner Paul Varesco?”
“Oh! Paul Varesco! What an idea!”
“He has a bad—a criminal record. Do you realize that you have criminals frequenting this
place?”
The Countess burst out laughing.
“There speaks the bon bourgeois3! Naturally I realize! Do you not see that that is half the
attraction of this place? These young people from Mayfair—they get tired of seeing their own kind
round them in the West End. They come here, they see the criminals; the thief, the blackmailer4,
the confidence trickster—perhaps, even, the murderer—the man who will be in the Sunday papers
next week! It is exciting, that—they think they are seeing life! So does the prosperous man who all
the week sells the knickers, the stockings, the corsets! What a change from his respectable life and
his respectable friends! And then, a further thrill—there at a table, stroking his moustache, is the
Inspector5 from Scotland Yard—an Inspector in tails!”
“So you knew that?” said Poirot softly.
Her eyes met his and she smiled.
“Mon cher ami, I am not so simple as you seem to suppose!”
“Do you also deal in drugs here?”
“Ah, ça no!” The Countess spoke6 sharply. “That would be an abomination!”
Poirot looked at her for a moment or two, then he sighed.
“I believe you,” he said. “But in that case it is all the more necessary that you tell me who
really owns this place.”
“I own it,” she snapped.
“On paper, yes. But there is someone behind you.”
“Do you know, mon ami, I find you altogether too curious? Is he not much too curious, Dou
dou?”
Her voice dropped to a coo as she spoke the last words and she threw the duck bone from her
plate to the big black hound who caught it with a ferocious7 snap of the jaws8.
“What is it that you call that animal,” asked Poirot, diverted.
“C’est mon petit Dou dou!”
“But it is ridiculous, a name like that!”
“But he is adorable! He is a police dog! He can do anything—
anything—Wait!”
She rose, looked round her, and suddenly snatched up a plate with a large succulent steak
which had just been deposited before a diner at a nearby table. She crossed to the marble niche9 and
put the plate down in front of the dog, at the same time uttering a few words in Russian.
Cerberus gazed in front of him. The steak might not have existed.
“You see? And it is not just a matter of minutes! No, he will remain like that for hours if need
be!”
Then she murmured a word and like lightning Cerberus bent10 his long neck and the steak
disappeared as though by magic.
Vera Rossakoff flung her arms round the dog’s neck and embraced him passionately11, rising
on tiptoe to do so.
“See how gentle he can be!” she cried. “For me, for Alice, for his friends—they can do what
they like! But one has but to give him the word and Presto12! I can assure you he would tear a—
police inspector, for instance—into little pieces! Yes, into little pieces!”
She burst out laughing.
“I would have but to say the word—”
Poirot interrupted hastily. He mistrusted the Countess’s sense of humour. Inspector Stevens
might be in real danger.
“Professor Liskeard wants to speak to you.”
The professor was standing13 reproachfully at her elbow.
“You took my steak,” he complained. “Why did you take my steak? It was a good steak!”
IV
“Thursday night, old man,” said Japp. “That’s when the balloon goes up. It’s Andrews’ pigeon, of
course—Narcotic Squad—but he’ll be delighted to have you horn in. No, thanks, I won’t have any
of your fancy sirops. I have to take care of my stomach. Is that whisky I see over there? That’s
more the ticket!”
Setting his glass down, he went on:
“We’ve solved the problem, I think. There’s another way out at the Club—and we’ve found
it!”
“Where?”
“Behind the grill14. Part of it swings round.”
“But surely you would see—”
“No, old boy. When the raid started, the lights went out—switched off at the main—and it
took us a minute or two to get them turned on again. Nobody got out the front way because it was
being watched, but it’s clear now that somebody could have nipped out by the secret way with the
doings. We’ve been examining the house behind the Club—and that’s how we tumbled to the
trick.”
“And you propose to do—what?”
Japp winked15.
“Let it go according to plan—the police appear, the lights go out—and somebody’s waiting
on the other side of that secret door to see who comes through. This time we’ve got ’em!”
“Why Thursday?”
Again Japp winked.
“We’ve got the Golconda pretty well taped now. There will be stuff going out of there on
Thursday. Lady Carrington’s emeralds.”
“You permit,” said Poirot, “that I too make one or two little arrangements?”

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1 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径
参考例句：
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
2 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地
参考例句：
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
3 bourgeois ERoyR     
adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子
参考例句：
  • He's accusing them of having a bourgeois and limited vision.他指责他们像中产阶级一样目光狭隘。
  • The French Revolution was inspired by the bourgeois.法国革命受到中产阶级的鼓励。
4 blackmailer a031d47c9f342af0f87215f069fefc4d     
敲诈者，勒索者
参考例句：
  • The blackmailer had a hold over him. 勒索他的人控制着他。
  • The blackmailer will have to be bought off,or he'll ruin your good name. 得花些钱疏通那个敲诈者，否则他会毁坏你的声誉。
5 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。
6 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。
7 ferocious ZkNxc     
adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的
参考例句：
  • The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
  • The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。
8 jaws cq9zZq     
n.口部；嘴
参考例句：
  • The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
  • The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。
9 niche XGjxH     
n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)
参考例句：
  • Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
  • The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。
10 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的
参考例句：
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
11 passionately YmDzQ4     
ad.热烈地，激烈地
参考例句：
  • She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
  • He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。
12 presto ZByy0     
adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的
参考例句：
  • With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
  • I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。
13 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。
14 grill wQ8zb     
n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问
参考例句：
  • Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
  • I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。
15 winked af6ada503978fa80fce7e5d109333278     
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮
参考例句：
  • He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
  • He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

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