借镜杀人15
时间：2025-10-10 07:05:34
（单词翻译:单击）
Ten
Lewis Serrocold came into the office and immediately the whole focus of
the room shifted. He turned to close the door behind him, and in doing so
he created an atmosphere of privacy. He walked over and sat down, not in
the chair Miss Marple had just vacated but in his own chair behind the
side of the desk, as though unconsciously she had reserved Lewis Serro-
cold’s chair against his coming.
When he had sat down, Lewis Serrocold looked at the two police officers
thoughtfully. His face looked drawn and tired. It was the face of a man
have been a shock to Lewis Serrocold, yet Gulbrandsen had not been a
close friend or relation, only a rather remote connection by marriage.
In an odd way, the tables seemed to have been turned. It did not seem as
though Lewis Serrocold had come into the room to answer police ques-
tioning. It seemed rather that Lewis Serrocold had arrived to preside over
He said briskly: “Now, Mr. Serrocold—”
Lewis Serrocold still seemed lost in thought. He said with a sigh, “How
difficult it is to know the right thing to do.”
Inspector Curry said:
“I think we will be the judges as to that, Mr. Serrocold. Now about Mr.
Gulbrandsen, he arrived unexpectedly, I understand?”
“Quite unexpectedly.”
“You did not know he was coming?”
“I had not the least idea of it.”
“And you have no idea of why he came?”
Lewis Serrocold said quietly,
“Oh yes, I know why he came. He told me.”
“When?”
“I walked up from the station. He was watching from the house and
came out to meet me. It was then that he explained what had brought him
here.”
“Business connected with the Gulbrandsen Institute, I suppose?”
“Oh no, it was nothing to do with the Gulbrandsen Institute.”
“Miss Bellever seemed to think it was.”
“Naturally. That would be the assumption. Gulbrandsen did nothing to
correct that impression. Neither did I.”
“Why, Mr. Serrocold?”
Lewis Serrocold said slowly:
“Because it seemed to both of us important that no hint should arise as
to the real purpose of his visit.”
“What was the real purpose?”
Lewis Serrocold was silent for a minute or two. He sighed.
“Gulbrandsen came over here regularly twice a year for meetings of the
trustees. The last meeting was only a month ago. Consequently he was not
due to come over again for another five months. I think, therefore, that
anyone might realise that the business that brought him must definitely
be urgent business, but I still think that the normal assumption would be
that it was a business visit, and that the matter—however urgent—would
be a Trust matter. As far as I know, Gulbrandsen did nothing to contradict
that impression — or thought he didn’t. Yes, perhaps that is nearer the
truth—he thought he didn’t.”
“I’m afraid, Mr. Serrocold, that I don’t quite follow you.”
Lewis Serrocold did not answer at once. Then he said gravely:
am concerned for my wife’s happiness and peace of mind. It is not for me
things from her as far as possible, I shall be grateful. You see, Inspector
Curry, Christian Gulbrandsen came here expressly to tell me that he be-
lieved my wife was being slowly and cold-bloodedly poisoned.”
“What?”
Curry leaned forward incredulously.
Serrocold nodded.
“Yes, it was, as you can imagine, a tremendous shock to me. I had had
no suspicion of such a thing myself, but as soon as Christian told me, I
realised that certain symptoms my wife had complained of lately, were
quite compatible with that belief. What she took to be rheumatism11, leg
“Miss Marple told us that Christian Gulbrandsen asked her about the
condition of Mrs. Serrocold’s heart?”
“Did he now? That is interesting. I suppose he thought that a heart
poison would be used since it paved the way to a sudden death without
“You definitely think, then, that Christian Gulbrandsen’s suspicions
were well founded?”
“Oh yes, I think so. For one thing, Gulbrandsen would hardly come to
me with such a suggestion unless he was fairly sure of his facts. He was a
cautious and hardheaded man, difficult to convince, but very shrewd.”
“What was his evidence?”
“We had no time to go into that. Our interview was a hurried one. It
that nothing whatever should be said to my wife about the matter until we
were sure of our facts.”
“And whom did he suspect of administering poison?”
“He did not say, and actually I don’t think he knew. He may have suspec-
be killed?”
“But he mentioned no name to you?”
“He mentioned no name. We agreed that we must investigate the matter
Gulbrandsens and is one of the trustees of the Institute. He is a man of
great wisdom and experience and would be of great help and comfort to
my wife if—if it was necessary to tell her of our suspicions. We meant to
rely on his advice as to whether or not to consult the police.”
“Quite extraordinary,” said Curry.
“Gulbrandsen left us after dinner to write to Dr. Galbraith. He was actu-
ally in the act of typing a letter to him when he was shot.”
“How do you know?”
Lewis said calmly,
“Because I took the letter out of the typewriter. I have it here.”
From his breast pocket, he drew out a folded typewritten sheet of paper
and handed it to Curry.
The latter said sharply.
“You shouldn’t have taken this, or touched anything in the room.”
“I touched nothing else. I know that I committed an unpardonable of-
fence in your eyes in moving this, but I had a very strong reason. I felt cer-
tain that my wife would insist on coming into the room and I was afraid
that she might read something of what is written here. I admit myself in
the wrong, but I am afraid I would do the same again. I would do anything
—anything—to save my wife unhappiness.”
Inspector Curry said no more for the moment. He read the typewritten
sheet.
Dear Dr. Galbraith. If it is at all possible, I beg that you
will come to Stonygates as soon as you receive this. A
crisis of extraordinary gravity has arisen and I am at a
loss how to deal with it. I know how deep your affection
is for our dear Carrie Louise, and how grave your con-
cern will be for anything that affects her. How much
has she got to know? How much can we keep from her?
Those are the questions that I find so difficult to an-
swer.
Not to beat about the bush, I have reason to believe that
that sweet and innocent lady is being slowly poisoned. I
first suspected this when—
Curry said:
“And when he had reached this point, Christian Gulbrandsen was shot?”
“Yes.”
“But why on earth was this letter left in the typewriter?”
“I can only conceive of two reasons—one that the murderer had no idea
to whom Gulbrandsen was writing and what was the subject of the letter.
Secondly—he may not have had time. He may have heard someone com-
ing and only had just time to escape unobserved.”
“And Gulbrandsen gave you no hint as to who he suspected—if he did
suspect anyone?”
There was, perhaps, a very slight pause before Lewis answered. “None
whatever.”
He added, rather obscurely:
“Christian was a very fair man.”
“How do you think this poison, arsenic or whatever it may be—was or is
being administered?”
“I thought over that whilst I was changing for dinner, and it seemed to
was taking. As regards food we all partook of the same dishes and my wife
the medicine bottle.”
“We must take the medicine and have it analysed.”
Lewis said quietly:
“I already have a sample of it. I took it this evening before dinner.”
fluid in it.
Inspector Curry said with a curious glance:
“You think of everything, Mr. Serrocold.”
her usual dose. It is still in a glass on the oak dresser in the Hall—the
bottle of tonic itself is in the drawing room.”
confidentially26 and without officialdom.
“You’ll excuse me, Mr. Serrocold, but just why are you so anxious to keep
this from your wife? Are you afraid she’d panic? Surely, for her own sake,
it would be as well if she were warned.”
“Yes—yes, that may well be so. But I don’t think you quite understand.
Without knowing my wife, Caroline, it would be difficult. My wife, In-
spector Curry, is an idealist, a completely trustful person. Of her it may
truly be said that she sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil. It
would be inconceivable to her that anyone could wish to kill her. But we
have to go farther than that. It is not just ‘anyone.’ It is a case—surely you
see that—of somebody possibly very near and dear to her….”
“So that’s what you think?”
“We have got to face facts. Close at hand we have a couple of hundred
enough by crude and senseless violence. But by the very nature of things,
none of them can be suspect in this case. A slow poisoner is someone living
house; her husband, her daughter, her granddaughter, her granddaugh-
ter’s husband, her stepson whom she regards as her own son, Miss Bel-
dear to her—and yet the suspicion must arise—is it one of them?”
Curry answered slowly,
“There are outsiders—”
they have?”
Inspector Curry said,
“And there’s young—what is his name again—Edgar Lawson?”
“Yes. But he has only been down here as a casual visitor just lately. He
has no possible motive. Besides, he is deeply attached to Caroline—just as
everyone is.”
“But he’s unbalanced. What about this attack on you tonight?”
Serrocold waved it aside impatiently.
“Sheer childishness. He had no intention of harming me.”
“Not with these two bullet holes in the wall? He shot at you, didn’t he?”
“He didn’t mean to hit me. It was playacting, no more.”
“Rather a dangerous form of playacting, Mr. Serrocold.”
“You don’t understand. You must talk to our psychiatrist34, Dr. Maverick.
Edgar is an illegitimate child. He has consoled himself for his lack of a
celebrated36 man. It’s a well-known phenomenon, I assure you. He was im-
He identified me as his ‘father’ and made a melodramatic attack, waving a
revolver and uttering threats. I was not in the least alarmed. When he had
morrow morning.”
“You don’t wish to bring a charge against him?”
“That would be the worst thing possible—for him, I mean.”
“Frankly, Mr. Serrocold, it seems to me he ought to be under restraint.
has to think of the community, you know.”
“Talk to Dr. Maverick on the subject,” urged Lewis. “He’ll give you the
professional point of view. In any case,” he added, “poor Edgar certainly
did not shoot Gulbrandsen. He was in here threatening to shoot me.”
“That’s the point I was coming to, Mr. Serrocold. We’ve covered the out-
side. Anyone, it seems, could have come in from outside, and shot Mr. Gul-
brandsen, since the terrace door was unlocked. But there is a narrower
field inside the house, and in view of what you have been telling me, it
seems to me that very close attention must be paid to that. It seems pos-
sible that, with the exception of old Miss—er—yes, Marple who happened
to be looking out of her bedroom window, no one was aware that you and
Christian Gulbrandsen had already had a private interview. If so, Gul-
brandsen may have been shot to prevent him communicating his suspi-
exist. Mr. Gulbrandsen was a wealthy man, I presume?”
“Yes, he was a very wealthy man. He has sons and daughters and grand-
children—all of whom will probably benefit by his death. But I do not
think that any of his family are in this country, and they are all solid and
highly respectable people. As far as I know, there are no black sheep
amongst them.”
“Had he any enemies?”
“I should think it most unlikely. He was—really, he was not that type of
man.”
“So it boils down, doesn’t it, to this house and the people in it? Who from
inside the house could have killed him?”
Lewis Serrocold said slowly,
“That is difficult for me to say. There are the servants and the members
of my household and our guests. They are, from your point of view, all
possibilities, I suppose. I can only tell you that, as far as I know, everyone
except the servants was in the Great Hall when Christian left it and whilst
I was there, nobody left it.”
“Nobody at all?”
“I think”—Lewis frowned in an effort of remembrance—“oh yes. Some
of the lights fused—Mr. Walter Hudd went to see to it.”
“That’s the young American gentleman?”
“Yes—of course, I don’t know what took place after Edgar and I came in
here.”
“And you can’t give me anything nearer than that, Mr. Serrocold?”
Lewis Serrocold shook his head.
“No, I’m afraid I can’t help you. It’s—it’s all quite inconceivable.”
Inspector Curry sighed. He said:
“You can tell the party that they can all go to bed. I’ll talk to them tomor-
row.”
When Serrocold had left the room, Inspector Curry said to Lake:
“Well—what do you think?”
“Knows—or thinks he knows, who did it,” said Lake.
“Yes. I agree with you. And he doesn’t like it a bit….”
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1
ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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3
curry
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| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
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4
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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8
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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9
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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10
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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11
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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12
cramps
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| n. 抽筋, 腹部绞痛, 铁箍 adj. 狭窄的, 难解的 v. 使...抽筋, 以铁箍扣紧, 束缚 | |
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13
arsenic
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| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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14
undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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15
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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16
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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17
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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18
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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19
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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20
tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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21
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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22
corked
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| adj.带木塞气味的，塞着瓶塞的v.用瓶塞塞住( cork的过去式 ) | |
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23
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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25
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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29
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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maverick
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| adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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psychiatrist
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| n.精神病专家；精神病医师 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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setback
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| n.退步，挫折，挫败 | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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bolster
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| n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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