顺水推舟43

时间：2025-01-30 17:36:04

（单词翻译:单击）

Fourteen
“He won’t admit it,” said Spence. “But I think he knows she did it.” Sitting in his room at
the police station he looked across the table at Poirot. “Funny how it was his alibi1 we were so
careful about checking. We never gave much thought to hers. And yet there’s no corroboration2
at all for her being in the flat in London that night. We’ve only got his word that she was there.
We knew all along that only two people had a motive3 for doing away with Arden—David Hunter
and Rosaleen Cloade. I went bald-headed for him and passed her by. Fact is, she seemed such a
gentle thing—even a bit half-witted—but I dare say that partly explains it. Very likely David
Hunter hustled4 her up to London for just that reason. He may have realized that she’d lose her
head, and he may have known that she’s the kind who gets dangerous when they panic. Another
funny thing: I’ve often seen her going about in an orange linen5 frock—it was a favourite colour
of hers. Orange scarves—a striped orange frock, an orange beret. And yet, even when old Mrs.
Leadbetter described a young woman with her head tied up in an orange scarf I still didn’t
tumble to it that it must have been Mrs. Gordon herself. I still think the girl wasn’t quite all there
—wasn’t wholly responsible. The way you describe her as haunting the R.C. church here sounds
as though she was half off her head with remorse6 and a sense of guilt7.”
“She had a sense of guilt, yes,” said Poirot.
Spence said thoughtfully, “She must have attacked Arden in a kind of frenzy8. I don’t suppose
he had the least idea of what was coming to him. He wouldn’t be on his guard with a slip of a
girl like that.” He ruminated9 for a moment or two in silence, then he remarked, “There’s still
one thing I’m not quite clear about. Who got at Porter? You say it wasn’t Mrs. Jeremy? Bet
you it was all the same!”
“No,” said Poirot. “It was not Mrs. Jeremy. She assured me of that and I believe her. I have
been stupid over that. I should have known who it was. Major Porter himself told me.”
“He told you?”
“Oh, indirectly10, of course. He did not know that he had done so.”
“Well, who was it?”
Poirot put his head a little on one side.
“Is it permitted, first, that I ask you two questions?”
The Superintendent11 looked surprised.
“Ask anything you like.”
“Those sleeping powders in a box by Rosaleen Cloade’s bed. What were they?”
The Superintendent looked more surprised.
“Those? Oh, they were quite harmless. Bromide. Soothing12 to the nerves. She took one every
night. We analysed them, of course. They were quite all right.”
“Who prescribed them?”
“Dr. Cloade.”
“When did he prescribe them?”
“Oh, some time ago.”
“What poison was it that killed her?”
“Well, we haven’t actually got the report yet, but I don’t think there’s much doubt about
it. Morphia and a pretty hefty dose of it.”
“Was any morphia found in her possession?”
Spence looked curiously13 at the other man.
“No. What are you getting at, M. Poirot?”
“I will pass now to my second question,” said Poirot evasively. “David Hunter put through
a call from London to Lynn Marchmont at 11:5 on that Tuesday night. You say you checked up on
calls. That was the only outgoing call from the flat in Shepherd’s Court. Were there any
incoming calls?”
“One. At 10:15. Also from Warmsley Vale. It was put through from a public call box.”
“I see.” Poirot was silent for a moment or two.
“What’s the big idea, M. Poirot?”
“That call was answered? The operator, I mean, got a response from the London number.”
“I see what you mean,” said Spence slowly. “There must have been someone in the flat. It
couldn’t be David Hunter—he was in the train on his way back. It looks, then, as if it must have
been Rosaleen Cloade. And if so, Rosaleen Cloade couldn’t have been at the Stag a few minutes
earlier. What you’re getting at, M. Poirot, is that the woman in the orange scarf, wasn’t
Rosaleen Cloade. And if so, it wasn’t Rosaleen Cloade who killed Arden. But then why did she
commit suicide?”
“The answer to that,” said Poirot, “is very simple. She did not commit suicide. Rosaleen
Cloade was killed!”
“What?”
“She was deliberately14 and cold-bloodedly murdered.”
“But who killed Arden? We’ve eliminated David—”
“It was not David.”
“And now you eliminate Rosaleen? But dash it all, those two were the only ones with a
shadow of a motive!”
“Yes,” said Poirot. “Motive. It was that which has led us astray. If A has a motive for killing15
C and B has a motive for killing D—well, it does not seem to make sense, does it, that A should
kill D and B should kill C?”
Spence groaned16. “Go easy, M. Poirot, go easy. I don’t even begin to understand what you are
talking about with your A’s and B’s and C’s.”
“It is complicated,” said Poirot, “it is very complicated. Because, you see, you have here
two different kinds of crime—and consequently you have, you must have, two different murderers.
Enter First Murderer, and enter Second Murderer.”
“Don’t quote Shakespeare,” groaned Spence. “This isn’t Elizabethan Drama.”
“But yes, it is very Shakespearean—there are here all the emotions—the human emotions—in
which Shakespeare would have revelled—the jealousies17, the hates—the swift passionate18 actions.
And here, too, is successful opportunism. ‘There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at its
flood leads on to fortune…’ Someone acted on that, Superintendent. To seize opportunity and
turn it to one’s own ends—that has been triumphantly19 accomplished—under your nose so to
speak!”
Spence rubbed his nose irritably20.
“Talk sense, M. Poirot,” he pleaded. “If it’s possible, just say what you mean.”
“I will be very clear—clear as crystal. We have here, have we not, three deaths? You agree to
that, do you not? Three people are dead.”
Spence looked at him curiously.
“I should certainly say so…You’re not going to make me believe that one of the three is still
alive?”
“No, no,” said Poirot. “They are dead. But how did they die? How, that is to say, would you
classify their deaths?”
“Well, as to that, M. Poirot, you know my views. One murder, and two suicides. But according
to you the last suicide isn’t a suicide. It’s another murder.”
“According to me,” said Poirot, “there has been one suicide, one accident and one
murder.”
“Accident? Do you mean Mrs. Cloade poisoned herself by accident? Or do you mean Major
Porter’s shooting himself was an accident?”
“No,” said Poirot. “The accident was the death of Charles Trenton — otherwise Enoch
Arden.”
“Accident!” The Superintendent exploded. “Accident? You say that a particularly brutal21
murder, where a man’s head is stove in by repeated blows, is an accident!”
Quite unmoved by the Superintendent’s vigour22, Poirot replied calmly:
“When I say an accident, I mean that there was no intent to kill.”
“No intent to kill—when a man’s head is battered23 in! Do you mean that he was attacked by a
lunatic?”
“I think that that is very near the truth—though not quite in the sense you mean it.”
“Mrs. Gordon was the only batty woman in this case. I’ve seen her looking very queer
sometimes. Of course, Mrs. Lionel Cloade is a bit bats in the belfry—but she’d never be violent.
Mrs. Jeremy has got her head screwed on the right way if any one has. By the way, you say that it
was not Mrs. Jeremy who bribed24 Porter?”
“No. I know who it was. As I say, it was Porter himself who gave it away. One simple little
remark—ah, I could kick myself, as you say, all round the town, for not noticing it at the time.”
“And then your anonymous25 A B C lunatic murdered Rosaleen Cloade?” Spence’s voice
was more and more sceptical.
Poirot shook his head vigorously.
“By no means. This is where the First Murderer exits and Second Murderer enters. Quite a
different type of crime this, no heat, and no passion. Cold deliberate murder and I intend
Superintendent Spence, to see that her murderer is hanged for that murder.”
He got up as he spoke26 and moved towards the door.
“Hi!” cried Spence. “You’ve got to give me a few names. You can’t leave it like this.”
“In a very little while—yes, I will tell you. But there is something for which I wait—to be
exact, a letter from across the sea.”
“Don’t talk like a ruddy fortune-teller! Hi—Poirot.”
But Poirot had slipped away.
He went straight across the square and rang the bell of Dr. Cloade’s house. Mrs. Cloade came
to the door and gave her usual gasp27 at seeing Poirot. He wasted no time.
“Madame, I must speak to you.”
“Oh, of course—do come in—I’m afraid I haven’t had much time to dust, but—”
“I want to ask you something. How long has your husband been a morphia addict28?”
Aunt Kathie immediately burst into tears.
“Oh dear, oh dear—I did so hope nobody would ever know—it began in the war. He was so
dreadfully overtired and had such dreadful neuralgia. And since then he’s been trying to lessen29
the dose—he has indeed. But that’s what makes him so dreadfully irritable30 sometimes—”
“That is one of the reasons why he has needed money, is it not?”
“I suppose so. Oh, dear, M. Poirot. He has promised to go for a cure—”
“Calm yourself, Madame, and answer me one more little question. On the night when you
telephoned to Lynn Marchmont, you went out to the call box outside the post office, did you not?
Did you meet anybody in the square that night?”
“Oh, no, M. Poirot, not a soul.”
“But I understood you had to borrow twopence because you had only halfpennies.”
“Oh, yes. I had to ask a woman who came out of the box. She gave me two pennies for one
halfpenny—”
“What did she look like, this woman?”
“Well, rather actressy, if you know what I mean. An orange scarf round her head. The funny
thing was that I’m almost sure I’d met her somewhere. Her face seemed very familiar. She
must, I think, have been someone who had passed over. And yet, you know, I couldn’t remember
where and how I had known her.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cloade,” said Hercule Poirot.

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1 alibi bVSzb     
n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口
参考例句：
  • Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
  • The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。
2 corroboration vzoxo     
n.进一步的证实，进一步的证据
参考例句：
  • Without corroboration from forensic tests,it will be difficult to prove that the suspect is guilty. 没有法医化验的确证就很难证明嫌疑犯有罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Definitely more independent corroboration is necessary. 有必要更明确地进一步证实。 来自辞典例句
3 motive GFzxz     
n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的
参考例句：
  • The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
  • He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。
4 hustled 463e6eb3bbb1480ba4bfbe23c0484460     
催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式）
参考例句：
  • He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the room. 他抓住她的胳膊把她推出房间。
  • The secret service agents hustled the speaker out of the amphitheater. 特务机关的代理人把演讲者驱逐出竞技场。
5 linen W3LyK     
n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的
参考例句：
  • The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
  • Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。
6 remorse lBrzo     
n.痛恨，悔恨，自责
参考例句：
  • She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
  • He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。
7 guilt 9e6xr     
n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责
参考例句：
  • She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
  • Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。
8 frenzy jQbzs     
n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动
参考例句：
  • He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
  • They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。
9 ruminated d258d9ebf77d222f0216ae185d5a965a     
v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼
参考例句：
  • In the article she ruminated about what recreations she would have. 她在文章里认真考虑了她应做些什么消遣活动。 来自辞典例句
  • He ruminated on his defenses before he should accost her father. 他在与她父亲搭话前，仔细地考虑着他的防范措施。 来自辞典例句
10 indirectly a8UxR     
adv.间接地，不直接了当地
参考例句：
  • I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
  • They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。
11 superintendent vsTwV     
n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长
参考例句：
  • He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
  • He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。
12 soothing soothing     
adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的
参考例句：
  • Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
  • His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。
13 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。
14 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。
15 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财
参考例句：
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
16 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦
参考例句：
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 jealousies 6aa2adf449b3e9d3fef22e0763e022a4     
n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡
参考例句：
  • They were divided by mutual suspicion and jealousies. 他们因为相互猜疑嫉妒而不和。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • I am tired of all these jealousies and quarrels. 我厌恶这些妒忌和吵架的语言。 来自辞典例句
18 passionate rLDxd     
adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的
参考例句：
  • He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
  • He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。
19 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。
20 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
21 brutal bSFyb     
adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的
参考例句：
  • She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
  • They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。
22 vigour lhtwr     
（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力
参考例句：
  • She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
  • At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。
23 battered NyezEM     
adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损
参考例句：
  • He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
  • The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。
24 bribed 1382e59252debbc5bd32a2d1f691bd0f     
v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂
参考例句：
  • They bribed him with costly presents. 他们用贵重的礼物贿赂他。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He bribed himself onto the committee. 他暗通关节，钻营投机挤进了委员会。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
25 anonymous lM2yp     
adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的
参考例句：
  • Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
  • The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。
26 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。
27 gasp UfxzL     
n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说
参考例句：
  • She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
  • The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。
28 addict my4zS     
v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人
参考例句：
  • He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
  • He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。
29 lessen 01gx4     
vt.减少，减轻；缩小
参考例句：
  • Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
  • They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。
30 irritable LRuzn     
adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的
参考例句：
  • He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
  • Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

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