清洁女工之死03

时间：2025-01-30 17:36:14

（单词翻译:单击）

Three
At last Poirot roused himself with a sigh.
“Eh bien,” he said. “We have exhausted1 the motive2 of money. Let us pass to other
theories. Had Mrs. McGinty an enemy? Was she afraid of anyone?”
“No evidence of it.”
“What did her neighbours have to say?”
“Not very much. They wouldn’t to the police, perhaps, but I don’t think they were
holding anything back. She kept herself to herself, they said. But that’s regarded as natural
enough. Our villages, you know, M. Poirot, aren’t friendly. Evacuees3 found that during the war.
Mrs. McGinty passed the time of day with the neighbours but they weren’t intimate.”
“How long had she lived there?”
“Matter of eighteen or twenty years, I think.”
“And the forty years before that?”
“There’s no mystery about her. Farmer’s daughter from North Devon. She and her
husband lived near Ilfracombe for a time, and then moved to Kilchester. Had a cottage the other
side of it—but found it damp, so they moved to Broadhinny. Husband seems to have been a quiet,
decent man, delicate—didn’t go to the pub much. All very respectable and above board. No
mysteries anywhere, nothing to hide.”
“And yet she was killed?”
“And yet she was killed.”
“The niece didn’t know of anyone who had a grudge4 against her aunt?”
“She says not.”
Poirot rubbed his nose in an exasperated5 fashion.
“You comprehend, my dear friend, it would be so much easier if Mrs. McGinty was not
Mrs. McGinty, so to speak. If she could be what is called a Mystery Woman—a woman with a
past.”
“Well, she wasn’t,” said Spence stolidly6. “She was just Mrs. McGinty, a more or less
uneducated woman, who let rooms and went out charring. Thousands of them all over England.”
“But they do not all get murdered.”
“No. I grant you that.”
“So why should Mrs. McGinty get murdered? The obvious answer we do not accept. What
remains7? A shadowy and improbable niece. An even more shadowy and improbable stranger.
Facts? Let us stick to facts. What are the facts? An elderly charwoman is murdered. A shy and
uncouth8 young man is arrested and convicted of the murder. Why was James Bentley arrested?”
Spence stared.
“The evidence against him. I’ve told you—”
“Yes. Evidence. But tell me, my Spence, was it real evidence or was it contrived9?”
“Contrived?”
“Yes. Granted the premise10 that James Bentley is innocent, two possibilities remain. The
evidence was manufactured, deliberately11, to throw suspicion upon him. Or else he was just the
unfortunate victim of circumstances.”
Spence considered.
“Yes. I see what you’re driving at.”
“There is nothing to show that the former was the case. But again there is nothing to show
that it was not so. The money was taken and hidden outside the house in a place easily found. To
have actually hidden it in his room would have been a little too much for the police to swallow.
The murder was committed at a time when Bentley was taking a lonely walk, as he often did. Did
the bloodstain come on his sleeve as he said it did at his trial, or was that, too, contrived? Did
someone brush against him in the darkness and smear12 tell-tale evidence on his sleeve?”
“I think that’s going a bit far, M. Poirot.”
“Perhaps, perhaps. But we have got to go far. I think that in this case we have got to go so
far that the imagination cannot as yet see the path clearly .?.?. For, you see, mon cher Spence, if
Mrs. McGinty is just an ordinary charwoman—it is the murderer who must be extraordinary. Yes
—that follows clearly. It is in the murderer and not the murdered that the interest of this case lies.
That is not the case in most crimes. Usually it is in the personality of the murdered person that the
crux13 of the situation lies. It is the silent dead in whom I am usually interested. Their hates, their
loves, their actions. And when you really know the murdered victim, then the victim speaks, and
those dead lips utter a name—the name you want to know.”
Spence looked rather uncomfortable.
“Those foreigners!” he seemed to be saying to himself.
“But here,” continued Poirot, “it is the opposite. Here we guess at a veiled personality—a
figure still hidden in darkness. How did Mrs. McGinty die? Why did she die? The answer is not to
be found in studying the life of Mrs. McGinty. The answer is to be found in the personality of the
murderer. You agree with me there?”
“I suppose so,” said Superintendent14 Spence cautiously.
“Someone who wanted—what? To strike down Mrs. McGinty? Or to strike down James
Bentley?”
The Superintendent gave a doubtful “H’m!”
“Yes—yes, that is one of the first points to be decided15. Who is the real victim? Who was
intended to be the victim?”
Spence said incredulously: “You really think someone would bump off a perfectly16
inoffensive old woman in order to get someone else hanged for murder?”
“One cannot make an omelette, they say, without breaking eggs. Mrs. McGinty, then, may
be the egg, and James Bentley is the omelette. So let me hear, now, what you know of James
Bentley.”
“Nothing much. Father was a doctor—died when Bentley was nine years old. He went to
one of the smaller public schools, unfit for the Army, had a weak chest, was in one of the
Ministries17 during the war and lived with a possessive mother.”
“Well,” said Poirot, “there are certain possibilities there .?.?. More than there are in the
life history of Mrs. McGinty.”
“Do you seriously believe what you are suggesting?”
“No, I do not believe anything as yet. But I say that there are two distinct lines of research,
and that we have to decide, very soon, which is the right one to follow.”
“How are you going to set about things, M. Poirot? Is there anything I can do?”
“First, I should like an interview with James Bentley.”
“That can be arranged. I’ll get on to his solicitors18.”
“After that and subject, of course, to the result, if any—I am not hopeful—of that interview,
I shall go to Broadhinny. There, aided by your notes, I shall, as quickly as possible, go over that
same ground where you have passed before me.”
“In case I’ve missed anything,” said Spence with a wry19 smile.
“In case, I would prefer to say, that some circumstance should strike me in a different light
to the one in which it struck you. Human reactions vary and so does human experience. The
resemblance of a rich financier to a soap boiler20 whom I had known in Liège once brought about a
most satisfactory result. But no need to go into that. What I should like to do is to eliminate one or
other of the trails I indicated just now. And to eliminate the Mrs. McGinty trail—trail No. 1—will
obviously be quicker and easier than to attack trail No. 2. Where, now, can I stay in Broadhinny?
Is there an inn of moderate comfort?”
“There’s the Three Ducks—but it doesn’t put people up. There’s the Lamb in Cullavon
three miles away—or there is a kind of a Guest House in Broadhinny itself. It’s not really a
Guest House, just a rather decrepit21 country house where the young couple who own it take in
paying guests. I don’t think,” said Spence dubiously22, “that it’s very comfortable.”
Hercule Poirot closed his eyes in agony.
“If I suffer, I suffer,” he said. “It has to be.”
“I don’t know what you’ll go there as,” continued Spence doubtfully as he eyed Poirot.
“You might be some kind of an opera singer. Voice broken down. Got to rest. That might do.”
“I shall go,” said Hercule Poirot, speaking with accents of royal blood, “as myself.”
Spence received this pronouncement with pursed lips.
“D’you think that’s advisable?”
“I think it is essential! But yes, essential. Consider, cher ami, it is time we are up against.
What do we know? Nothing. So the hope, the best hope, is to go pretending that I know a great
deal. I am Hercule Poirot. I am the great, the unique Hercule Poirot. And I, Hercule Poirot, am not
satisfied about the verdict in the McGinty case. I, Hercule Poirot, have a very shrewd suspicion of
what really happened. There is a circumstance that I, alone, estimate at its true value. You see?”
“And then?”
“And then, having made my effect, I observe the reactions. For there should be reactions.
Very definitely, there should be reactions.”
Superintendent Spence looked uneasily at the little man.
“Look here, M. Poirot,” he said. “Don’t go sticking out your neck. I don’t want
anything to happen to you.”
“But if it does, you would be proved right beyond the shadow of doubt, is it not so?”
“I don’t want it proved the hard way,” said Superintendent Spence.

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1 exhausted 7taz4r     
adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的
参考例句：
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
2 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。
3 evacuees 68c032ac020acca4ffde7910b32b673f     
n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
  • Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网
4 grudge hedzG     
n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做
参考例句：
  • I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
  • I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。
5 exasperated ltAz6H     
adj.恼怒的
参考例句：
  • We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
  • Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。
6 stolidly 3d5f42d464d711b8c0c9ea4ca88895e6     
adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地
参考例句：
  • Too often people sat stolidly watching the noisy little fiddler. 人们往往不动声色地坐在那里，瞧着这位瘦小的提琴手闹腾一番。 来自辞典例句
  • He dropped into a chair and sat looking stolidly at the floor. 他坐在椅子上，两眼呆呆地望着地板。 来自辞典例句
7 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
8 uncouth DHryn     
adj.无教养的，粗鲁的
参考例句：
  • She may embarrass you with her uncouth behavior.她的粗野行为可能会让你尴尬。
  • His nephew is an uncouth young man.他的侄子是一个粗野的年轻人。
9 contrived ivBzmO     
adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的
参考例句：
  • There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
  • The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。
10 premise JtYyy     
n.前提；v.提论，预述
参考例句：
  • Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
  • We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。
11 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。
12 smear 6EmyX     
v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑
参考例句：
  • He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
  • There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。
13 crux 8ydxw     
adj.十字形；难事，关键，最重要点
参考例句：
  • The crux of the matter is how to comprehensively treat this trend.问题的关键是如何全面地看待这种趋势。
  • The crux of the matter is that attitudes have changed.问题的要害是人们的态度转变了。
14 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。
15 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。
16 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
参考例句：
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
17 ministries 80c65392682fb821af91521513be1259     
（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期
参考例句：
  • Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
  • The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。
18 solicitors 53ed50f93b0d64a6b74a2e21c5841f88     
初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Most solicitors in England and Wales are in private practice . 英格兰和威尔士的大多数律师都是私人执业者。
  • The family has instructed solicitors to sue Thomson for compensation. 那家人已经指示律师起诉汤姆森，要求赔偿。
19 wry hMQzK     
adj.讽刺的；扭曲的
参考例句：
  • He made a wry face and attempted to wash the taste away with coffee.他做了个鬼脸，打算用咖啡把那怪味地冲下去。
  • Bethune released Tung's horse and made a wry mouth.白求恩放开了董的马，噘了噘嘴。
20 boiler OtNzI     
n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)
参考例句：
  • That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
  • This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。
21 decrepit A9lyt     
adj.衰老的，破旧的
参考例句：
  • The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
  • A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。
22 dubiously dubiously     
adv.可疑地，怀疑地
参考例句：
  • "What does he have to do?" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
  • He walked out fast, leaving the head waiter staring dubiously at the flimsy blue paper. 他很快地走出去，撇下侍者头儿半信半疑地瞪着这张薄薄的蓝纸。 来自辞典例句

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