黑麦奇案27

时间：2025-10-10 08:31:32

（单词翻译:单击）

II
Percival Fortescue was in London, but Inspector1 Neele found Lancelot
sitting with his wife in the library. They were playing chess together.
“I don’t want to interrupt you,” said Neele, apologetically.
“We’re only killing2 time, Inspector, aren’t we, Pat?”
Pat nodded.
“I expect you’ll think it’s rather a foolish question I’m asking you,” said
Neele. “Do you know anything about blackbirds, Mr. Fortescue?”
“Blackbirds?” Lance looked amused. “What kind of blackbirds? Do you
mean genuine birds, or the slave trade?”
Inspector Neele said with a sudden, disarming3 smile:
“I’m not sure what I mean, Mr. Fortescue. It’s just that a mention of
blackbirds has turned up.”
“Good Lord.” Lancelot looked suddenly alert. “Not the old Blackbird
Mine, I suppose?”
Inspector Neele said sharply:
“The Blackbird Mine? What was that?”
Lance frowned in a puzzled fashion.
“The trouble is, Inspector, that I can’t really remember much myself. I
just have a vague idea about some shady transaction in my papa’s past.
Something on the West Coast of Africa. Aunt Effie, I believe, once threw it
in his teeth, but I can’t remember anything definite about it.”
“Aunt Effie? That will be Miss Ramsbottom, won’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go and ask her about it,” said Inspector Neele. He added ruefully:
“She’s rather a formidable old lady, Mr. Fortescue. Always makes me feel
quite nervous.”
Lance laughed.
“Yes. Aunt Effie is certainly a character, but she may be helpful to you,
Inspector, if you get on the right side of her. Especially if you’re delving4
into the past. She’s got an excellent memory, she takes a positive pleasure
in remembering anything that’s detrimental5 in any way.” He added
thoughtfully: “There’s something else. I went up to see her, you know,
soon after I got back here. Immediately after tea that day, as a matter of
fact. And she was talking about Gladys. The maid who got killed. Not that
we knew she was dead then, of course. But Aunt Effie was saying she was
quite convinced that Gladys knew something that she hadn’t told the po-
lice.”
“That seems fairly certain,” said Inspector Neele. “She’ll never tell it
now, poor girl.”
“No. It seems Aunt Effie had given her good advice as to spilling any-
thing she knew. Pity the girl didn’t take it.”
Inspector Neele nodded. Bracing6 himself for the encounter he penet-
rated to Miss Ramsbottom’s fortress7. Rather to his surprise, he found Miss
Marple there. The two ladies appeared to be discussing foreign missions.
“I’ll go away, Inspector.” Miss Marple rose hurriedly to her feet.
“No need, madam,” said Inspector Neele.
“I’ve asked Miss Marple to come and stay in the house,” said Miss Rams-
bottom. “No sense in spending money in that ridiculous Golf Hotel. A
wicked nest of profiteers, that is. Drinking and card playing all the even-
ing. She’d better come and stay in a decent Christian8 household. There’s a
room next door to mine. Dr. Mary Peters, the missionary9, had it last.”
“It’s very, very kind of you,” said Miss Marple, “but I really think I
mustn’t intrude10 in a house of mourning.”
“Mourning? Fiddlesticks,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “Who’ll weep for Rex
in this house? Or Adele either? Or is it the police you’re worried about?
Any objections, Inspector?”
“None from me, madam.”
“There you are,” said Miss Ramsbottom.
“It’s very kind of you,” said Miss Marple gratefully. “I’ll go and telephone
to the hotel to cancel my booking.” She left the room and Miss Ramsbot-
tom said sharply to the inspector:
“Well, and what do you want?”
“I wondered if you could tell me anything about the Blackbird Mine,
ma’am.”
Miss Ramsbottom uttered a sudden, shrill11 cackle of laughter.
“Ha. You’ve got on to that, have you! Took the hint I gave you the other
day. Well, what do you want to know about it?”
“Anything you can tell me, madam.”
“I can’t tell you much. It’s a long time ago now—oh, twenty to twenty-
five years maybe. Some concession12 or other in East Africa. My brother-in-
law went into it with a man called MacKenzie. They went out there to in-
vestigate the mine together and MacKenzie died out there of fever. Rex
came home and said the claim or the concession or whatever you call it
was worthless. That’s all I know.”
“I think you know a little more than that, ma’am,” said Neele persuas-
ively.
“Anything else is hearsay13. You don’t like hearsay in the law, so I’ve been
told.”
“We’re not in court yet, ma’am.”
“Well, I can’t tell you anything. The MacKenzies kicked up a fuss. That’s
all I know. They insisted that Rex had swindled MacKenzie. I daresay he
did. He was a clever, unscrupulous fellow, but I’ve no doubt whatever he
did it was all legal. They couldn’t prove anything. Mrs. MacKenzie was an
unbalanced sort of woman. She came here and made a lot of threats of re-
venge. Said Rex had murdered her husband. Silly, melodramatic fuss! I
think she was a bit off her head—in fact, I believe she went into an asylum14
not long after. Came here dragging along a couple of young children who
looked scared to death. Said she’d bring up her children to have revenge.
Something like that. Tomfoolery, all of it. Well, that’s all I can tell you. And
mind you, the Blackbird Mine wasn’t the only swindle that Rex put over in
his lifetime. You’ll find a good many more if you look for them. What put
you on to the Blackbird? Did you come across some trail leading to the
MacKenzies?”
“You don’t know what became of the family, ma’am?”
“No idea,” said Miss Ramsbottom. “Mind you, I don’t think Rex would
have actually murdered MacKenzie, but he might have left him to die. The
same thing before the Lord, but not the same thing before the law. If he
did, retribution’s caught up with him. The mills of God grind slowly, but
they grind exceeding small—you’d better go away now, I can’t tell you
anymore and it’s no good your asking.”
“Thank you very much for what you have told me,” said Inspector
Neele.
“Send that Marple woman back,” Miss Ramsbottom called after him.
“She’s frivolous15, like all Church of England people, but she knows how to
run a charity in a sensible way.”
Inspector Neele made a couple of telephone calls, the first to Ansell and
Worrall and the second to the Golf Hotel, then he summoned Sergeant16 Hay
and told him that he was leaving the house for a short period.
“I’ve a call to pay at a solicitor’s office—after that, you can get me at the
Golf Hotel if anything urgent turns up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And find out anything you can about blackbirds,” added Neele over his
shoulder.
“Blackbirds, sir?” Sergeant Hay repeated, thoroughly17 mystified.
“That’s what I said—not blackberry jelly—blackbirds.”
“Very good, sir,” said Sergeant Hay bewilderedly.

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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 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财
参考例句：
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
3 disarming Muizaq     
adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒
参考例句：
  • He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句
4 delving 7f5fe1bc16f1484be9c408717ad35cd1     
v.深入探究，钻研( delve的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • He has been delving into the American literature of 20th century. 他一直在潜心研究美国20世纪文学。 来自互联网
  • In some ways studying Beckett is like delving into Shakespeare's words. 在某些方面，研究Beckett的戯好像是深入研究莎士比亚的语句。 来自互联网
5 detrimental 1l2zx     
adj.损害的，造成伤害的
参考例句：
  • We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
  • He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。
6 bracing oxQzcw     
adj.令人振奋的
参考例句：
  • The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
  • The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。
7 fortress Mf2zz     
n.堡垒，防御工事
参考例句：
  • They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
  • The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。
8 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒
参考例句：
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
9 missionary ID8xX     
adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士
参考例句：
  • She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
  • I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。
10 intrude Lakzv     
vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰
参考例句：
  • I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
  • I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。
11 shrill EEize     
adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫
参考例句：
  • Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
  • The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。
12 concession LXryY     
n.让步，妥协；特许(权)
参考例句：
  • We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
  • That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。
13 hearsay 4QTzB     
n.谣传，风闻
参考例句：
  • They started to piece the story together from hearsay.他们开始根据传闻把事情的经过一点点拼湊起来。
  • You are only supposing this on hearsay.You have no proof.你只是根据传闻想像而已，并没有证据。
14 asylum DobyD     
n.避难所，庇护所，避难
参考例句：
  • The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
  • Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。
15 frivolous YfWzi     
adj.轻薄的；轻率的
参考例句：
  • This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
  • He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。
16 sergeant REQzz     
n.警官，中士
参考例句：
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？
17 thoroughly sgmz0J     
adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地
参考例句：
  • The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
  • The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

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