黑麦奇案47

时间：2025-10-10 08:37:02

（单词翻译:单击）

II
“Mrs. Fortescue,” said Inspector1 Neele, “do you mind telling me your
name before you were married.”
“Oh!” Jennifer gasped2. She looked frightened.
“You needn’t be nervous, madam,” said Inspector Neele, “but it’s much
better to come out with the truth. I’m right, I think, in saying that your
name before you were married was Ruby3 MacKenzie?”
“My—well, oh well—oh dear—well, why shouldn’t it be?” said Mrs. Per-
cival Fortescue.
“No reason at all,” said Inspector Neele gently, and added: “I was talking
to your mother a few days ago at Pinewood Sanatorium.”
“She’s very angry with me,” said Jennifer. “I never go and see her now
because it only upsets her. Poor Mumsy, she was so devoted4 to Dad, you
know.”
“And she brought you up to have very melodramatic ideas of revenge?”
“Yes,” said Jennifer. “She kept making us swear on the Bible that we’d
never forget and that we’d kill him one day. Of course, once I’d gone into
hospital and started my training, I began to realize that her mental bal-
ance wasn’t what it should be.”
“You yourself must have felt revengeful though, Mrs. Fortescue?”
“Well, of course I did. Rex Fortescue practically murdered my father! I
don’t mean he actually shot him, or knifed him or anything like that. But
I’m quite certain that he did leave Father to die. That’s the same thing, isn’t
it?”
“It’s the same thing morally—yes.”
“So I did want to pay him back,” said Jennifer. “When a friend of mine
came to nurse his son I got her to leave and to propose my replacing her. I
don’t know exactly what I meant to do … I didn’t, really I didn’t, Inspector,
I never meant to kill Mr. Fortescue. I had some idea, I think, of nursing his
son so badly that the son would die. But of course, if you are a nurse by
profession you can’t do that sort of thing. Actually I had quite a job pulling
Val through. And then he got fond of me and asked me to marry him and I
thought, ‘Well, really that’s a far more sensible revenge than anything
else.” I mean, to marry Mr. Fortescue’s eldest5 son and get the money he
swindled Father out of back that way. I think it was a far more sensible
way.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Inspector Neele, “far more sensible.” He added, “It
was you, I suppose, who put the blackbirds on the desk and in the pie?”
Mrs. Percival flushed.
“Yes. I suppose it was silly of me really … But Mr. Fortescue had been
talking about suckers one day and boasting of how he’d swindled people—
got the best of them. Oh, in quite a legal way. And I thought I’d just like to
give him—well, a kind of fright. And it did give him a fright! He was aw-
fully6 upset.” She added anxiously, “But I didn’t do anything else! I didn’t
really, Inspector. You don’t—you don’t honestly think I would murder any-
one, do you?”
Inspector Neele smiled.
“No,” he said, “I don’t.” He added: “By the way, have you given Miss
Dove any money lately?”
Jennifer’s jaw7 dropped.
“How did you know?”
“We know a lot of things,” said Inspector Neele and added to himself:
“And guess a good many, too.”
Jennifer continued, speaking rapidly:
“She came to me and said that you’d accused her of being Ruby MacKen-
zie. She said if I’d get hold of five hundred pounds she’d let you go on
thinking so. She said if you knew that I was Ruby MacKenzie, I’d be sus-
pected of murdering Mr. Fortescue and my stepmother. I had an awful job
getting the money, because of course I couldn’t tell Percival. He doesn’t
know about me. I had to sell my diamond engagement ring and a very
beautiful necklace Mr. Fortescue gave me.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Percival,” said Inspector Neele, “I think we can get
your money back for you.”

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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 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要
参考例句：
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3 ruby iXixS     
n.红宝石，红宝石色
参考例句：
  • She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
  • On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。
4 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的
参考例句：
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
5 eldest bqkx6     
adj.最年长的，最年老的
参考例句：
  • The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
  • The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
6 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
7 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训
参考例句：
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

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