伯特伦旅馆之谜15
时间：2026-01-04 07:42:22
（单词翻译:单击）
Chapter Nine
I
Elvira Blake looked up at the sky, noted that it was a fine morning and
went into a telephone box. She dialled Bridget’s number in Onslow
Square. Satisfied by the response, she said:
“Hallo? Bridget?”
“Oh Elvira, is that you?” Bridget’s voice sounded agitated.
“Yes. Has everything been all right?”
“Oh no. It’s been awful. Your cousin, Mrs. Melford, rang up Mummy yes-
terday afternoon.”
“What, about me?”
“Yes. I thought I’d done it so well when I rang her up at lunchtime. But it
seems she got worried about your teeth. Thought there might be some-
thing really wrong with them. Abscesses or something. So she rang up the
dentist herself and found, of course, that you’d never been there at all. So
then she rang up Mummy and unfortunately Mummy was right there by
the telephone. So I couldn’t get there first. And naturally Mummy said she
didn’t know anything about it, and that you certainly weren’t staying here.
I didn’t know what to do.”
“What did you do?”
“Pretended I knew nothing about it. I did say that I thought you’d said
something about going to see some friends at Wimbledon.”
“Why Wimbledon?”
“It was the first place came into my head.”
Elvira sighed. “Oh well, I suppose I’ll have to cook up something. An old
governess, perhaps, who lives at Wimbledon. All this fussing does make
things so complicated. I hope Cousin Mildred doesn’t make a real fool of
herself and ring up the police or something like that.”
“Are you going down there now?”
“Not till this evening. I’ve got a lot to do first.”
“You got to Ireland. Was it—all right?”
“I found out what I wanted to know.”
“You sound—sort of grim.”
“I’m feeling grim.”
“Can’t I help you, Elvira? Do anything?”
“Nobody can help me really…It’s a thing I have to do myself. I hoped
something wasn’t true, but it is true. I don’t know quite what to do about
it.”
“Are you in danger, Elvira?”
“Don’t be melodramatic, Bridget. I’ll have to be careful, that’s all. I’ll
have to be very careful.”
“Then you are in danger.”
Elvira said after a moment’s pause, “I expect I’m just imagining things,
that’s all.”
“Elvira, what are you going to do about that bracelet?”
“Oh, that’s all right. I’ve arranged to get some money from someone, so I
can go and—what’s the word—redeem it. Then just take it back to Bol-
lards.”
“D’you think they’ll be all right about it?—No, Mummy, it’s just the laun-
dry. They say we never sent that sheet. Yes, Mummy, yes, I’ll tell the man-
ageress. All right then.”
At the other end of the line Elvira grinned and put down the receiver.
She opened her purse, sorted through her money, counted out the coins
she needed and arranged them in front of her and proceeded to put
through a call. When she got the number she wanted she put in the neces-
sary coins, pressed Button A and spoke in a small rather breathless voice.
“Hallo, Cousin Mildred. Yes, it’s me…I’m terribly sorry…Yes, I know…
well I was going to…yes it was dear old Maddy, you know our old Ma-
demoiselle…yes I wrote a postcard, then I forgot to post it. It’s still in my
pocket now…well, you see she was ill and there was no one to look after
her and so I just stopped to see she was all right. Yes, I was going to Brid-
get’s but this changed things…I don’t understand about the message you
got. Someone must have jumbled it up…Yes, I’ll explain it all to you when I
get back…yes, this afternoon. No, I shall just wait and see the nurse who’s
coming to look after old Maddy—well, not really a nurse. You know one of
those—er—practical aid nurses or something like that. No, she would hate
to go to hospital…But I am sorry, Cousin Mildred, I really am very, very
sorry.” She put down the receiver and sighed in an exasperated manner.
“If only,” she murmured to herself, “one didn’t have to tell so many lies to
everybody.”
She came out of the telephone box, noting as she did so the big newspa-
per placards— BIG TRAIN ROBBERY. IRISH MAIL ATTACKED BY BANDITS.
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