黑麦奇案17

时间：2025-10-10 08:27:36

（单词翻译:单击）

Chapter Twelve
I
“So you’ve turned up again like a bad penny,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
Lance grinned at her. “Just as you say, Aunt Effie.”
“Humph!” Miss Ramsbottom sniffed1 disapprovingly3. “You’ve chosen a
nice time to do it. Your father got himself murdered yesterday, the house
is full of police poking4 about everywhere, grubbing in the dustbins, even.
I’ve seen them out of the window.” She paused, sniffed again, and asked:
“Got your wife with you?”
“No. I left Pat in London.”
“That shows some sense. I shouldn’t bring her here if I were you. You
never know what might happen.”
“To her? To Pat?”
“To anybody,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
Lance Fortescue looked at her thoughtfully.
“Got any ideas about it all, Aunt Effie?” he asked.
Miss Ramsbottom did not reply directly. “I had an inspector5 here yester-
day asking me questions. He didn’t get much change out of me. But he
wasn’t such a fool as he looked, not by a long way.” She added with some
indignation: “What your grandfather would feel if he knew we had the po-
lice in the house—it’s enough to make him turn in his grave. A strict Ply-
mouth Brother he was all his life. The fuss there was when he found out
I’d been attending Church of England services in the evening! And I’m
sure that was harmless enough compared to murder.”
Normally Lance would have smiled at this, but his long, dark face re-
mained serious. He said:
“D’you know, I’m quite in the dark after having been away so long.
What’s been going on here of late?”
Miss Ramsbottom raised her eyes to heaven.
“Godless doings,” she said firmly.
“Yes, yes, Aunt Effie, you would say that anyway. But what gives the po-
lice the idea that Dad was killed here, in this house?”
“Adultery is one thing and murder is another,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “I
shouldn’t like to think it of her, I shouldn’t indeed.”
Lance looked alert. “Adele?” he asked.
“My lips are sealed,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
“Come on, old dear,” said Lance. “It’s a lovely phrase, but it doesn’t
mean a thing. Adele had a boyfriend? Adele and the boyfriend fed him
henbane in the morning tea. Is that the setup?”
“I’ll trouble you not to joke about it.”
“I wasn’t really joking, you know.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Miss Ramsbottom suddenly. “I believe that
girl knows something about it.”
“Which girl?” Lance looked surprised.
“The one that sniffs,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “The one that ought to
have brought me up my tea this afternoon, but didn’t. Gone out without
leave, so they say. I shouldn’t wonder if she had gone to the police. Who
let you in?”
“Someone called Mary Dove, I understand. Very meek6 and mild—but
not really. Is she the one who’s gone to the police?”
“She wouldn’t go to the police,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “No—I mean that
silly little parlourmaid. She’s been twitching7 and jumping like a rabbit all
day. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ I said. ‘Have you got a guilty consci-
ence?’ She said: ‘I never did anything—I wouldn’t do a thing like that.’ ‘I
hope you wouldn’t,’ I said to her, ‘but there’s something worrying you
now, isn’t there?’ Then she began to sniff2 and said she didn’t want to get
anybody into trouble, she was sure it must be all a mistake. I said to her, I
said: ‘Now, my girl, you speak the truth and shame the devil.’ That’s what I
said. ‘You go to the police,’ I said, ‘and tell them anything you know, be-
cause no good ever came,’ I said, ‘of hushing up the truth, however un-
pleasant it is.’ Then she talked a lot of nonsense about she couldn’t go to
the police, they’d never believe her and what on earth should she say? She
ended up by saying anyway she didn’t know anything at all.”
“You don’t think,” Lance hesitated, “that she was just making herself im-
portant?”
“No, I don’t. I think she was scared. I think she saw something or heard
something that’s given her some idea about the whole thing. It may be im-
portant, or it mayn’t be of the least consequence.”
“You don’t think she herself could’ve had a grudge8 against Father and
—” Lance hesitated.
Miss Ramsbottom was shaking her head decidedly.
“She’s not the kind of girl your father would have taken the least notice
of. No man ever will take much notice of her, poor girl. Ah, well, it’s all the
better for her soul, that I dare say.”
Lance took no interest in Glady’s soul. He asked:
“You think she may have run along to the police station?”
Aunt Effie nodded vigorously.
“Yes. I think she mayn’t like to’ve said anything to them in this house in
case somebody overheard her.”
Lance asked: “Do you think she may have seen someone tampering9 with
the food?”
Aunt Effie threw him a sharp glance.
“It’s possible, isn’t it?” she said.
“Yes, I suppose so.” Then he added apologetically: “The whole thing still
seems so wildly improbable. Like a detective story.”
“Percival’s wife is a hospital nurse,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
The remark seemed so unconnected with what had gone before that
Lance looked at her in a puzzled fashion.
“Hospital nurses are used to handling drugs,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
Lance looked doubtful.
“This stuff—taxine—is it ever used in medicine?”
“They get it from yewberries, I gather. Children eat yewberries some-
times,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “Makes them very ill, too. I remember a
case when I was a child. It made a great impression on me. I never forgot
it. Things you remember come in useful sometimes.”
Lance raised his head sharply and stared at her.
“Natural affection is one thing,” said Miss Ramsbottom, “and I hope I’ve
got as much of it as anyone. But I won’t stand for wickedness. Wickedness
has to be destroyed.”

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1 sniffed ccb6bd83c4e9592715e6230a90f76b72     
v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说
参考例句：
  • When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 sniff PF7zs     
vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视
参考例句：
  • The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
  • When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。
3 disapprovingly 6500b8d388ebb4d1b87ab0bd19005179     
adv.不以为然地，不赞成地，非难地
参考例句：
  • When I suggested a drink, she coughed disapprovingly. 我提议喝一杯时，她咳了一下表示反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He shook his head disapprovingly. 他摇了摇头，表示不赞成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 poking poking     
n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢
参考例句：
  • He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
  • He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。
5 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。
6 meek x7qz9     
adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的
参考例句：
  • He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
  • The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。
7 twitching 97f99ba519862a2bc691c280cee4d4cf     
n.颤搐
参考例句：
  • The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 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。
9 tampering b4c81c279f149b738b8941a10e40864a     
v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄
参考例句：
  • Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

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