命案目睹记48

时间：2025-10-20 07:32:12

（单词翻译:单击）

II
Lucy Eyelesbarrow came across the hall to meet Inspector1 Craddock. She
looked pale and drawn2.
“You’ve been having a bad time of it,” said Craddock.
“It’s been like one long ghastly nightmare,” said Lucy. “I really thought
last night that they were all dying.”
“About this curry3—”
“It was the curry?”
“Yes, very nicely laced with arsenic4—quite the Borgia touch.”
“If that’s true,” said Lucy. “It must—it’s got to be—one of the family.”
“No other possibility?”
“No, you see I only started making that damned curry quite late—after
six o’clock—because Mr. Crackenthorpe specially5 asked for curry. And I
had to open a new tin of curry powder — so that couldn’t have been
tampered7 with. I suppose curry would disguise the taste?”
“Arsenic hasn’t any taste,” said Craddock absently. “Now, opportunity.
Which of them had the chance to tamper6 with the curry while it was cook-
ing?”
Lucy considered.
“Actually,” she said, “anyone could have sneaked8 into the kitchen whilst
I was laying the table in the dining room.”
“I see. Now, who was here in the house? Old Mr. Crackenthorpe, Emma,
Cedric—”
“Harold and Alfred. They’d come down from London in the afternoon.
Oh, and Bryan—Bryan Eastley. But he left just before dinner. He had to
meet a man in Brackhampton.”
Craddock said thoughtfully, “It ties up with the old man’s illness at
Christmas. Quimper suspected that that was arsenic. Did they all seem
equally ill last night?”
Lucy considered. “I think old Mr. Crackenthorpe seemed the worst. Dr.
Quimper had to work like a maniac9 on him. He’s a jolly good doctor, I will
say. Cedric made by far the most fuss. Of course, strong healthy people al-
ways do.”
“What about Emma?”
“She has been pretty bad.”
“Why Alfred, I wonder?” said Craddock.
“I know,” said Lucy. “I suppose it was meant to be Alfred?”
“Funny— I asked that too!”
“It seems, somehow, so pointless.”
“If I could only get at the motive10 for all this business,” said Craddock. “It
doesn’t seem to tie up. The strangled woman in the sarcophagus was Ed-
mund Crackenthorpe’s widow, Martine. Let’s assume that. It’s pretty well
proved by now. There must be a connection between that and the deliber-
ate poisoning of Alfred. It’s all here, in the family somewhere. Even saying
one of them’s mad doesn’t help.”
“Not really,” Lucy agreed.
“Well, look after yourself,” said Craddock warningly. “There’s a poisoner
in this house, remember, and one of your patients upstairs probably isn’t
as ill as he pretends to be.”
Lucy went upstairs again slowly after Craddock’s departure. An imperi-
ous voice, somewhat weakened by illness, called to her as she passed old
Mr. Crackenthorpe’s room.
“Girl—girl—is that you? Come here.”
Lucy entered the room. Mr. Crackenthorpe was lying in bed well
propped11 up with pillows. For a sick man he was looking Lucy thought, re-
markably cheerful.
“The house is full of damned hospital nurses,” complained Mr. Cracken-
thorpe. “Rustling about, making themselves important, taking my temper-
ature, not giving me what I want to eat—a pretty penny all that must be
costing. Tell Emma to send ’em away. You could look after me quite well.”
“Everybody’s been taken ill, Mr. Crackenthorpe,” said Lucy. “I can’t look
after everybody, you know.”
“Mushrooms,” said Mr. Crackenthorpe. “Damned dangerous things,
mushrooms. It was that soup we had last night. You made it,” he added ac-
cusingly.
“The mushrooms were quite all right, Mr. Crackenthorpe.”
“I’m not blaming you, girl, I’m not blaming you. It’s happened before.
One blasted fungus12 slips in and does it. Nobody can tell. I know you’re a
good girl. You wouldn’t do it on purpose. How’s Emma?”
“Feeling rather better this afternoon.”
“Ah, and Harold?”
“He’s better too.”
“What’s this about Alfred having kicked the bucket?”
“Nobody’s supposed to have told you that, Mr. Crackenthorpe.”
Mr. Crackenthorpe laughed, a high, whinnying laugh of intense amuse-
ment. “I hear things,” he said. “Can’t keep things from the old man. They
try to. So Alfred’s dead, is he? He won’t sponge on me anymore, and he
won’t get any of the money either. They’ve all been waiting for me to die,
you know—Alfred in particular. Now he’s dead. I call that rather a good
joke.”
“That’s not very kind of you, Mr. Crackenthorpe,” said Lucy severely13.
Mr. Crackenthorpe laughed again. “I’ll outlive them all,” he crowed.
“You see if I don’t, my girl. You see if I don’t.”
Lucy went to her room, she took out her dictionary and looked up the
word “tontine.” She closed the book thoughtfully and stared ahead of her.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 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。
3 curry xnozh     
n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革
参考例句：
  • Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
  • Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。
4 arsenic 2vSz4     
n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的
参考例句：
  • His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
  • Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。
5 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。
6 tamper 7g3zom     
v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害
参考例句：
  • Do not tamper with other's business.不要干预别人的事。
  • They had strict orders not to tamper with the customs of the minorities.他们得到命令严禁干涉少数民族的风俗习惯。
7 tampered 07b218b924120d49a725c36b06556000     
v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄
参考例句：
  • The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
  • The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句
8 sneaked fcb2f62c486b1c2ed19664da4b5204be     
v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状
参考例句：
  • I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
  • She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。
9 maniac QBexu     
n.精神癫狂的人；疯子
参考例句：
  • Be careful!That man is driving like a maniac!注意！那个人开车像个疯子一样！
  • You were acting like a maniac,and you threatened her with a bomb!你像一个疯子，你用炸弹恐吓她！
10 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。
11 propped 557c00b5b2517b407d1d2ef6ba321b0e     
支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
  • This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。
12 fungus gzRyI     
n.真菌，真菌类植物
参考例句：
  • Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
  • This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。
13 severely SiCzmk     
adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地
参考例句：
  • He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
  • He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

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