命案目睹记26

时间：2025-10-20 07:24:11

（单词翻译:单击）

Twelve
I
“Girl! You, girl! Come in here.”
Lucy turned her head, surprised. Old Mr. Crackenthorpe was beckoning1
to her fiercely from just inside a door.
“You want me, Mr. Crackenthorpe?”
“Don’t talk so much. Come in here.”
Lucy obeyed the imperative2 finger. Old Mr. Crackenthorpe took hold of
her arm and pulled her inside the door and shut it.
“Want to show you something,” he said.
Lucy looked round her. They were in a small room evidently designed to
be used as a study, but equally evidently not used as such for a very long
time. There were piles of dusty papers on the desk and cobwebs festooned
from the corners of the ceiling. The air smelt3 damp and musty.
“Do you want me to clean this room?” she asked.
Old Mr. Crackenthorpe shook his head fiercely.
“No, you don’t! I keep this room locked up. Emma would like to fiddle4
about in here, but I don’t let her. It’s my room. See these stones? They’re
geological specimens5.”
Lucy looked at a collection of twelve or fourteen lumps of rock, some
polished and some rough.
“Lovely,” she said kindly6. “Most interesting.”
“You’re quite right. They are interesting. You’re an intelligent girl. I
don’t show them to everybody. I’ll show you some more things.”
“It’s very kind of you, but I ought really to get on with what I was doing.
With six people in the house—”
“Eating me out of house and home… That’s all they do when they come
down here! Eat. They don’t offer to pay for what they eat, either. Leeches7!
All waiting for me to die. Well, I’m not going to die just yet—I’m not going
to die to please them. I’m a lot stronger than even Emma knows.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“I’m not so old, either. She makes out I’m an old man, treats me as an
old man. You don’t think I’m old, do you?”
“Of course not,” said Lucy.
“Sensible girl. Take a look at this.”
He indicated a large faded chart which hung on the wall. It was, Lucy
saw, a genealogical tree; some of it done so finely that one would have to
have a magnifying glass to read the names. The remote forebears, how-
ever, were written in large proud capitals with crowns over the names.
“Descended from Kings,” said Mr. Crackenthorpe. “My mother’s family
tree, that is — not my father’s. He was a vulgarian! Common old man!
Didn’t like me. I was a cut above him always. Took after my mother’s side.
Had a natural feeling for art and classical sculpture—he couldn’t see any-
thing in it—silly old fool. Don’t remember my mother—died when I was
two. Last of her family. They were sold up and she married my father. But
you look there—Edward the Confessor—Ethelred the Unready—whole lot
of them. And that was before the Normans came. Before the Normans—
that’s something isn’t it?”
“It is indeed.”
“Now I’ll show you something else.” He guided her across the room to
an enormous piece of dark oak furniture. Lucy was rather uneasily con-
scious of the strength of the fingers clutching her arm. There certainly
seemed nothing feeble about old Mr. Crackenthorpe today. “See this?
Came out of Lushington — that was my mother’s people’s place. Eliza-
bethan, this is. Takes four men to move it. You don’t know what I keep in-
side it, do you? Like me to show you?”
“Do show me,” said Lucy politely.
“Curious, aren’t you? All women are curious.” He took a key from his
pocket and unlocked the door of the lower cupboard. From this he took
out a surprisingly new-looking cash box. This, again, he unlocked.
“Take a look here, my dear. Know what these are?”
He lifted out a small paper-wrapped cylinder8 and pulled away the paper
from one end. Gold coins trickled9 out into his palm.
“Look at these, young lady. Look at ’em, hold ’em, touch ’em. Know what
they are? Bet you don’t! You’re too young. Sovereigns—that’s what they
are. Good golden sovereigns. What we used before all these dirty bits of
paper came into fashion. Worth a lot more than silly pieces of paper. Col-
lected them a long time back. I’ve got other things in this box, too. Lots of
things put away in here. All ready for the future. Emma doesn’t know—
nobody knows. It’s our secret, see, girl? D’you know why I’m telling you
and showing you?”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to think I’m a played-out sick old man. Lots of
life in the old dog yet. My wife’s been dead a long time. Always objecting
to everything, she was. Didn’t like the names I gave the children—good
Saxon names—no interest in that family tree. I never paid any attention to
what she said, though—and she was a poor-spirited creature—always
gave in. Now you’re a spirited filly—a very nice filly indeed. I’ll give you
some advice. Don’t throw yourself away on a young man. Young men are
fools! You want to take care of your future. You wait…” His fingers pressed
into Lucy’s arm. He leaned to her ear. “I don’t say more than that. Wait.
Those silly fools think I’m going to die soon. I’m not. Shouldn’t be sur-
prised if I outlived the lot of them. And then we’ll see! Oh, yes, then we’ll
see. Harold’s got no children. Cedric and Alfred aren’t married. Emma—
Emma will never marry now. She’s a bit sweet on Quimper—but Quimper
will never think of marrying Emma. There’s Alexander, of course. Yes,
there’s Alexander… But, you know, I’m fond of Alexander… Yes, that’s
awkward. I’m fond of Alexander.”
He paused for a moment, frowning, then said:
“Well, girl, what about it? What about it, eh?”
“Miss Eyelesbarrow….”
Emma’s voice came faintly through the closed study door. Lucy seized
gratefully at the opportunity.
“Miss Crackenthorpe’s calling me. I must go. Thank you so much for all
you have shown me….”
“Don’t forget…our secret….”
“I won’t forget,” said Lucy, and hurried out into the hall not quite cer-
tain as to whether she had or had not just received a conditional10 proposal
of marriage.

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1 beckoning fcbc3f0e8d09c5f29e4c5759847d03d6     
adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
  • He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句
2 imperative BcdzC     
n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的
参考例句：
  • He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
  • The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。
3 smelt tiuzKF     
v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼
参考例句：
  • Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
  • Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。
4 fiddle GgYzm     
n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动
参考例句：
  • She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
  • Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。
5 specimens 91fc365099a256001af897127174fcce     
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人
参考例句：
  • Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
  • The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地
参考例句：
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
7 leeches 1719980de08011881ae8f13c90baaa92     
n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生
参考例句：
  • The usurers are leeches;they have drained us dry. 高利贷者是吸血鬼，他们吸干了我们的血汗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Does it run in the genes to live as leeches? 你们家是不是遗传的，都以欺压别人为生？ 来自电影对白
8 cylinder rngza     
n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸
参考例句：
  • What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
  • The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。
9 trickled 636e70f14e72db3fe208736cb0b4e651     
v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动
参考例句：
  • Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 conditional BYvyn     
adj.条件的，带有条件的
参考例句：
  • My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
  • There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

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