破镜谋杀案27

时间：2025-11-25 09:20:29

（单词翻译:单击）

III
There was a neatly1 docketed pile of papers on Craddock’s desk at New
Scotland Yard. He gave a perfunctory glance through them, then threw a
question over his shoulder.
“Where’s Lola Brewster staying?”
“At the Savoy, sir. Suite2 1800. She’s expecting you.”
“And Ardwyck Fenn?”
“He’s at the Dorchester. First floor, 190.”
“Good.”
He picked up some cablegrams and read through them again before
shoving them into his pocket. He smiled a moment to himself over the last
one. “Don’t say I don’t do my stuff, Aunt Jane,” he murmured under his
breath.
He went out and made his way to the Savoy.
In Lola Brewster’s suite Lola went out of her way to welcome him effus-
ively. With the report he had just read in his mind, he studied her care-
fully3. Quite a beauty still, he thought, in a lush kind of way, what you
might call a trifie overblown, perhaps, but they still liked them that way. A
completely different type, of course, from Marina Gregg. The amenities4
over, Lola pushed back her Fiji Islander hair, drew her generous lipsticked
mouth into a provocative5 pout6, and flickering7 blue eyelids8 over wide
brown eyes, said:
“Have you come to ask me a lot more horrible questions? Like that local
inspector9 did.”
“I hope they won’t be too horrible, Miss Brewster.”
“Oh, but I’m sure they will be, and I’m sure the whole thing must have
been some terrible mistake.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes. It’s all such nonsense. Do you really mean that someone tried to
poison Marina? Who on earth would poison Marina? She’s an absolute
sweetie, you know. Everybody loves her.”
“Including you?”
“I’ve always been devoted10 to Marina.”
“Oh come now, Miss Brewster, wasn’t there a little trouble about eleven
or twelve years ago?”
“Oh that.” Lola waved it away. “I was terribly nervy and distraught, and
Rob and I had been having the most frightful11 quarrels. We were neither of
us normal at the moment. Marina just fell wildly in love with him and
rushed him off his feet, the poor pet.”
“And you minded very much?”
“Well, I thought I did, Inspector. Of course I see now it was one of the
best things that ever happened for me. I was really worried about the chil-
dren, you know. Breaking up our home. I’m afraid I’d already realized
that Rob and I were incompatible12. I expect you know I got married to Ed-
die Groves13 as soon as the divorce went through? I think really I’d been in
love with him for a long time, but of course I didn’t want to break up my
marriage, because of the children. It’s so important, isn’t it, that children
should have a home?”
“Yet people say that actually you were terribly upset.”
“Oh, people always say things,” said Lola vaguely14.
“You said quite a lot, didn’t you, Miss Brewster? You went about threat-
ening to shoot Marina Gregg, or so I understand.”
“I’ve told you one says things. One’s supposed to say things like that. Of
course I wouldn’t really shoot anyone.”
“In spite of taking a pot-shot at Eddie Groves some few years later?”
“Oh, that was because we’d had an argument,” said Lola. “I lost my tem-
per.”
“I have it on very good authority, Miss Brewster, that you said—and
these are your exact words or so I’m told,” (he read from a notebook)
—‘That bitch needn’t think she’ll get away with it. If I don’t shoot her now
I’ll wait and get her in some other way. I don’t care how long I wait, years
if need be, but I’ll get even with her in the end.’”
“Oh, I’m sure I never said anything of the kind,” Lola laughed.
“I’m sure, Miss Brewster, that you did.”
“People exaggerate so.” A charming smile broke over her face. “I was
just mad at the moment, you know,” she murmured confidentially15. “One
says all sorts of things when one’s mad with people. But you don’t really
think I’d wait fourteen years and come across to England, and look up
Marina and drop some deadly poison into her cocktail16 glass within three
minutes of seeing her again?”
Dermot Craddock didn’t really think so. It seemed to him wildly improb-
able. He merely said:
“I’m only pointing out to you, Miss Brewster, that there had been threats
in the past and that Marina Gregg was certainly startled and frightened to
see someone who came up the stairs that day. Naturally one feels that that
someone must have been you.”
“But darling Marina was delighted to see me! She kissed me and ex-
claimed how wonderful it was. Oh really, Inspector, I do think you’re be-
ing very, very silly.”
“In fact, you were all one big happy family?”
“Well, that’s really much more true than all the things you’ve been
thinking.”
“And you’ve no ideas that could help us in anyway? No ideas who might
have killed her?”
“I tell you nobody would have wanted to kill Marina. She’s a very silly
woman anyway. Always making terrible fusses about her health, and
changing her mind and wanting this, that and the other, and when she’s
got it being dissatisfied with it! I can’t think why people are as fond of her
as they are. Jason’s always been absolutely mad about her. What that man
has to put up with! But there it is. Everybody puts up with Marina, puts
themselves out for her. Then she gives them a sad, sweet smile and thanks
them! And apparently17 that makes them feel that all the trouble is worth-
while. I really don’t know how she does it. You’d better put the idea that
somebody wanted to kill her right out of your head.”
“I should like to,” said Dermot Craddock. “Unfortunately I can’t put it
out of my head because, you see, it happened.”
“What do you mean, it happened, nobody has killed Marina, have they?”
“No. But the attempt was made.”
“I don’t believe it for a moment! I expect whoever it was meant to kill
the other woman all the time—the one who was killed. I expect someone
comes into money when she dies.”
“She hadn’t any money, Miss Brewster.”
“Oh well, there was some other reason. Anyway, I shouldn’t worry
about Marina if I were you. Marina is always all right!”
“Is she? She doesn’t look a very happy woman to me.”
“Oh, that’s because she makes such a song and dance about everything.
Unhappy love affairs. Not being able to have any children.”
“She adopted some children, didn’t she?” said Dermot with a lively re-
membrance of Miss Marple’s urgent voice.
“I believe she did once. It wasn’t a great success I believe. She does these
impulsive18 things and then wishes she hadn’t.”
“What happened to the children she adopted?”
“I’ve no idea. They just sort of vanished after a bit. She got tired of them,
I suppose, like everything else.”
“I see,” said Dermot Craddock.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 neatly ynZzBp     
adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地
参考例句：
  • Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
  • The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。
2 suite MsMwB     
n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员
参考例句：
  • She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
  • That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。
3 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。
4 amenities Bz5zCt     
n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快
参考例句：
  • The campsite is close to all local amenities. 营地紧靠当地所有的便利设施。
  • Parks and a theatre are just some of the town's local amenities. 公园和戏院只是市镇娱乐设施的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 provocative e0Jzj     
adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的
参考例句：
  • She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
  • His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。
6 pout YP8xg     
v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴
参考例句：
  • She looked at her lover with a pretentious pout.她看着恋人，故作不悦地撅着嘴。
  • He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted.他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。
7 flickering wjLxa     
adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的
参考例句：
  • The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
  • The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。
8 eyelids 86ece0ca18a95664f58bda5de252f4e7     
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色
参考例句：
  • She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
  • Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 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。
10 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。
11 frightful Ghmxw     
adj.可怕的；讨厌的
参考例句：
  • How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
  • We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。
12 incompatible y8oxu     
adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的
参考例句：
  • His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
  • Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。
13 groves eb036e9192d7e49b8aa52d7b1729f605     
树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
  • The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。
14 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地，暖昧地
参考例句：
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。
15 confidentially 0vDzuc     
ad.秘密地，悄悄地
参考例句：
  • She was leaning confidentially across the table. 她神神秘秘地从桌子上靠过来。
  • Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈。
16 cocktail Jw8zNt     
n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物
参考例句：
  • We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
  • At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。
17 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
参考例句：
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
18 impulsive M9zxc     
adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的
参考例句：
  • She is impulsive in her actions.她的行为常出于冲动。
  • He was neither an impulsive nor an emotional man,but a very honest and sincere one.他不是个一冲动就鲁莽行事的人，也不多愁善感.他为人十分正直、诚恳。

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