借镜杀人14
时间：2025-10-10 07:05:26
（单词翻译:单击）
Nine
Hall when they arrived.
She came forward efficiently3.
“I am Juliet Bellever, companion and secretary to Mrs. Serrocold.”
“It was you who found the body and telephoned to us?”
“Yes. Most of the household are in the library—through that door there.
Mr. Serrocold remained in Mr. Gulbrandsen’s room to see that nothing
very shortly. He had to take a—case over to the other wing. Shall I lead the
way?”
“If you please.”
“Competent woman,” thought the Inspector to himself. “Seems to have
got the whole thing taped.”
He followed her along the corridor.
For the next twenty minutes the routine of police procedure was duly
set in motion. The photographer took the necessary pictures. The police
surgeon arrived and was joined by Dr. Maverick. Half an hour later, the
and Inspector Curry started his official interrogation.
Lewis Serrocold took him into the library and he glanced keenly round
the assembled people making brief notes in his mind. An old lady with
white hair, a middle-aged7 lady, the good-looking girl he’d seen driving her
car round the countryside, that odd-looking American husband of hers. A
and the capable woman, Miss Bellever, who’d phoned him and met him on
arrival.
Inspector Curry had already thought out a little speech and he now de-
livered it as planned.
“I’m afraid this is all very upsetting to you,” he said, “and I hope not to
keep you too long this evening. We can go into things more thoroughly9 to-
morrow. It was Miss Bellever who found Mr. Gulbrandsen dead and I’ll
ask Miss Bellever to give me an outline of the general situation as that will
save too much repetition. Mr. Serrocold, if you want to go up to your wife,
please do and when I have finished with Miss Bellever, I should like to talk
to you. Is that all quite clear? Perhaps there is some small room where—”
Lewis Serrocold said:
“My office, Jolly?”
Miss Bellever nodded, and said, “I was just going to suggest it.”
She led the way across the Great Hall and Inspector Curry and his at-
Miss Bellever arranged them and herself suitably. It might have been
she and not Inspector Curry who was in charge of the investigation11.
The moment had come, however, when the initiative passed to him. In-
spector Curry had a pleasant voice and manner. He looked quiet and seri-
ous and just a little apologetic. Some people made the mistake of underrat-
ing him. Actually he was as competent in his way as Miss Bellever was in
hers. But he preferred not to make a parade of the fact.
He cleared his throat.
“I’ve had the main facts from Mr. Serrocold. Mr. Christian Gulbrandsen
brandsen Trust and Fellowship … and all the rest of it. He was one of the
trustees of this place and he arrived here unexpectedly yesterday. That is
correct?”
“Yes.”
Inspector Curry was pleased by her conciseness14. He went on.
“Mr. Serrocold was away in Liverpool. He returned this evening by the
6:30 train.”
“Yes.”
“After dinner this evening, Mr. Gulbrandsen announced his intention of
working in his own room and left the rest of the party here after coffee
had been served. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“Now, Miss Bellever, please tell me in your own words how you came to
discover him dead.”
“There was a rather unpleasant incident this evening. A young man, a
psychopathic case, became very unbalanced and threatened Mr. Serrocold
with a revolver. They were locked in this room. The young man eventually
fired the revolver—you can see the bullet holes in the wall there. Fortu-
nately Mr. Serrocold was unhurt. After firing the shots, this young man
went completely to pieces. Mr. Serrocold sent me to find Dr. Maverick. I
got through on the house phone, but he was not in his room. I found him
with one of his colleagues and gave him the message and he came here at
once. On my own way back, I went to Mr. Gulbrandsen’s room. I wanted
to ask him if there was anything he would like—hot milk, or whisky be-
opened the door. I saw that Mr. Gulbrandsen was dead. I then rang you
up.”
“What entrances and exits are there to the house? And how are they se-
cured? Could anyone have come in from outside without being heard or
seen?”
“Anyone could have come in by the side door to the terrace. That is not
locked until we all go to bed, as people come in and out that way to go to
the College buildings.”
“And you have, I believe, between two hundred and two hundred and
“Yes. But the College buildings are well secured and patrolled. I should
say it was most unlikely that anyone could leave the College un-
sponsored.”
“We shall have to check up on that, of course. Had Mr. Gulbrandsen
given any cause for—shall we say, rancour? Any unpopular decisions as to
policy?”
Miss Bellever shook her head.
“Oh no, Mr. Gulbrandsen had nothing whatever to do with the running
of the College, or with administrative18 matters.”
“What was the purpose of his visit?”
“I have no idea.”
“But he was annoyed to find Mr. Serrocold absent, and immediately de-
cided to wait until he returned?”
“Yes.”
“So his business here was definitely with Mr. Serrocold?”
“Yes. But it would be—because it would be almost certainly business to
do with the Institute.”
“Yes, presumably that is so. Did he have a conference with Mr. Serro-
cold?”
“No, there was no time. Mr. Serrocold only arrived just before dinner
this evening.”
“But after dinner, Mr. Gulbrandsen said he had important letters to
write and went away to do so. He didn’t suggest a session with Mr. Serro-
cold?”
Miss Bellever hesitated.
“No. No, he didn’t.”
“Surely that was rather odd—if he had waited on at inconvenience to
himself to see Mr. Serrocold?”
“Yes, it was odd.”
The oddness of it seemed to strike Miss Bellever for the first time.
“Mr. Serrocold did not accompany him to his room?”
“No. Mr. Serrocold remained in the Hall.”
“And you have no idea at what time Mr. Gulbrandsen was killed?”
“I think it is possible that we heard the shot. If so, it was at twenty-three
minutes past nine.”
“You heard a shot? And it did not alarm you?”
She explained in rather more detail the scene between Lewis Serrocold
and Edgar Lawson which had been in progress.
“So it occurred to no one that the shot might actually have come from
within the house?”
“No. No, I certainly don’t think so. We were all so relieved, you know,
that the shot didn’t come from in here.”
Miss Bellever added rather grimly:
“You don’t expect murder and attempted murder in the same house on
the same night.”
Inspector Curry acknowledged the truth of that.
“All the same,” said Miss Bellever, suddenly, “you know I believe that’s
what made me go along to Mr. Gulbrandsen’s room later. I did mean to
myself that everything was all right.”
Inspector Curry stared at her for a moment.
“What made you think it mightn’t be all right?”
“I don’t know. I think it was the shot outside. It hadn’t meant anything
at the time. But afterwards it came back into my mind. I told myself that it
was only a backfire from Mr. Restarick’s car—”
“Mr. Restarick’s car?”
“Yes. Alex Restarick. He arrived by car this evening—he arrived just
after all this happened.”
“I see. When you discovered Mr. Gulbrandsen’s body, did you touch
anything in the room?”
“Of course not.” Miss Bellever sounded reproachful. “Naturally I knew
that nothing must be touched or moved.”
“And just now, when you took us into the room, everything was exactly
as it had been when you found the body?”
Miss Bellever considered. She sat back screwing up her eyes. She had,
Inspector Curry thought, one of those photographic memories.
“One thing was different,” she said. “There was nothing in the type-
writer.”
“You mean,” said Inspector Curry, “that when you first went in, Mr. Gul-
brandsen had been writing a letter on the typewriter, and that that letter
had since been removed?”
“Yes, I’m almost sure that I saw the white edge of the paper sticking up.”
“Thank you, Miss Bellever. Who else went into that room before we ar-
rived?”
“Mr. Serrocold, of course. He remained there when I came to meet you.
And Mrs. Serrocold and Miss Marple went there. Mrs. Serrocold insisted.”
“Mrs. Serrocold and Miss Marple,” said Inspector Curry. “Which is Miss
Marple?”
“The old lady with white hair. She was a school friend of Mrs. Serro-
cold’s. She came on a visit about four days ago.”
“Well, thank you, Miss Bellever. All that you have told us is quite clear.
I’ll go into things with Mr. Serrocold now. Ah, but perhaps—Miss Marple’s
an old lady, isn’t she? I’ll just have a word with her first and then she can
go off to bed. Rather cruel to keep an old lady like that up,” said Inspector
Curry virtuously21. “This must have been a shock to her.”
“I’ll tell her, shall I?”
“If you please.”
Miss Bellever went out. Inspector Curry looked at the ceiling.
“Gulbrandsen?” he said. “Why Gulbrandsen? Two hundred odd, malad-
done it. Probably one of them did. But why Gulbrandsen? The stranger
within the gates.”
Sergeant Lake said: “Of course, we don’t know everything yet.”
Inspector Curry said:
“So far, we don’t know anything at all.”
“Now don’t upset yourself, Ma’am.” The old ones like Ma’am, he
thought. To them, police officers were definitely of the lower classes and
should show respect to their betters. “This is all very distressing25, I know.
But we’ve just got to get the facts clear. Get it all clear.”
“Oh yes, I know,” said Miss Marple. “So difficult, isn’t it? To be clear
about anything, I mean. Because if you’re looking at one thing, you can’t
be looking at another. And one so often looks at the wrong thing, though
whether because one happens to do so or because you’re meant to, it’s
very hard to say. Misdirection, the conjurers call it. So clever, aren’t they?
And I never have known how they manage with a bowl of goldfish—be-
cause really that cannot fold up small, can it?”
Inspector Curry blinked a little and said soothingly26:
“Quite so. Now, Ma’am, I’ve had an account of this evening’s events
from Miss Bellever. A most anxious time for all of you, I’m sure.”
“Yes, indeed. It was all so dramatic, you know.”
“First this to-do between Mr. Serrocold and”—he looked down at a note
he had made—“this Edgar Lawson.”
“A very odd young man,” said Miss Marple. “I have felt all along that
there was something wrong about him.”
“I’m sure you have,” said Inspector Curry. “And then, after that excite-
ment was over, there came Mr. Gulbrandsen’s death. I understand that
you went with Mrs. Serrocold to see the—er—the body.”
“Yes, I did. She asked me to come with her. We are very old friends.”
“Quite so. And you went along to Mr. Gulbrandsen’s room. Did you
touch anything while you were in the room, either of you?”
“Oh no. Mr. Serrocold warned us not to.”
“Did you happen to notice, Ma’am, whether there was a letter or a piece
of paper, say, in the typewriter?”
cause it seemed to me odd. Mr. Gulbrandsen was sitting there at the type-
writer, so he must have been typing something. Yes, I thought it very odd.”
Inspector Curry looked at her sharply. He said:
“Did you have much conversation with Mr. Gulbrandsen while he was
here?”
“Very little.”
“There is nothing especial—or significant that you can remember?”
Miss Marple considered.
“He asked me about Mrs. Serrocold’s health. In particular, about her
heart.”
“Her heart? Is there something wrong with her heart?”
“Nothing whatever, I understand.”
Inspector Curry was silent for a moment or two, then he said:
“You heard a shot this evening during the quarrel between Mr. Serro-
cold and Edgar Lawson?”
“I didn’t actually hear it myself. I am a little deaf, you know. But Mrs.
Serrocold mentioned it as being outside in the park.”
“Mr. Gulbrandsen left the party immediately after dinner, I under-
stand?”
“Yes, he said he had letters to write.”
“He didn’t show any wish for a business conference with Mr. Serro-
cold?”
“No.”
Miss Marple added:
“You see, they’d already had one little talk.”
“They had? When? I understood that Mr. Serrocold only returned home
just before dinner.”
“That’s quite true, but he walked up through the park, and Mr. Gul-
brandsen went out to meet him and they walked up and down the terrace
together.”
“Who else knows this?”
“I shouldn’t think anybody else,” said Miss Marple. “Unless, of course,
Mr. Serrocold told Mrs. Serrocold. I just happened to be looking out of my
window—at some birds.”
“Birds?”
“Birds.” Miss Marple added after a moment or two, “I thought, perhaps,
they might be siskins.”
Inspector Curry was uninterested in siskins.
“You didn’t,” he said delicately, “happen to—er—overhear anything of
what they said?”
Innocent, china blue eyes met his.
“Only fragments, I’m afraid,” said Miss Marple gently.
“And those fragments?”
Miss Marple was silent a moment, then she said:
“I do not know the actual subject of their conversation, but their imme-
diate concern was to keep whatever it was from the knowledge of Mrs.
Serrocold. To spare her—that was how Mr. Gulbrandsen put it, and Mr.
Serrocold said, ‘I agree that it is she who must be considered.’ They also
mentioned a ‘big responsibility’ and that they should, perhaps, ‘take out-
side advice.’”
She paused.
“I think, you know, you had better ask Mr. Serrocold himself about all
this.”
“We shall do so, Ma’am. Now there is nothing else that struck you as un-
usual this evening?”
Miss Marple considered.
“It was all so unusual, if you know what I mean—”
“Quite so. Quite so.”
“There was one rather unusual incident. Mr. Serrocold stopped Mrs.
Serrocold from taking her medicine. Miss Bellever was quite put out about
it.”
She smiled in a deprecating fashion.
“But that, of course, is such a little thing….”
“Yes, of course. Well, thank you, Miss Marple.”
As Miss Marple went out of the room, Sergeant Lake said: “She’s old, but
she’s sharp….”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
inspector
|
|
| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
curry
|
|
| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
efficiently
|
|
| adv.高效率地，有能力地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
maverick
|
|
| adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
middle-aged
|
|
| adj.中年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
Founder
|
|
| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
conciseness
|
|
| n.简洁，简短 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
juvenile
|
|
| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
delinquents
|
|
| n.（尤指青少年）有过失的人，违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
administrative
|
|
| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
reassure
|
|
| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
virtuously
|
|
| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
premises
|
|
| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
flustered
|
|
| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
distressing
|
|
| a.使人痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
flickered
|
|
| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
©2005-2010英文阅读网