借镜杀人24

时间：2025-10-10 07:08:47

（单词翻译:单击）

2
It was very difficult, Inspector1 Curry2 thought, to get a true estimate of
someone from what other people said.
Edgar Lawson had been described by a good many different people that
morning, but looking at him now, Curry’s own impressions were almost
ludicrously different.
Edgar did not impress him as “queer” or “dangerous” or “arrogant” or
even as “abnormal.” He seemed a very ordinary young man, very much
cast down and in a state of humility3 approaching that of Uriah Heep’s. He
looked young and slightly common and rather pathetic.
He was only too anxious to talk and to apologize.
“I know I’ve done very wrong. I don’t know what came over me—really
I don’t. Making that scene and kicking up such a row. And actually shoot-
ing off a pistol. At Mr. Serrocold, too, who’s been so good to me and so pa-
tient, too.”
He twisted his hands nervously4. They were rather pathetic hands, with
bony wrists.
“If I’ve got to be had up for it, I’ll come with you at once. I deserve it. I’ll
plead guilty.”
“No charge has been made against you,” said Inspector Curry crisply.
“So we’ve no evidence on which to act. According to Mr. Serrocold, letting
off the pistol was an accident.”
“That’s because he’s so good. There never was a man as good as Mr. Ser-
rocold! He’s done everything for me. And I go and repay him by acting5 like
this.”
“What made you act as you did?”
Edgar looked embarrassed.
“I made a fool of myself.”
Inspector Curry said drily:
“So it seems. You told Mr. Serrocold in the presence of witnesses that
you had discovered that he was your father. Was that true?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“What put that idea into your head? Did someone suggest it to you?”
“Well, it’s a bit hard to explain.”
Inspector Curry looked at him thoughtfully, then said in a kindly6 voice:
“Suppose you try. We don’t want to make things hard for you.”
“Well, you see, I had rather a hard time of it as a kid. The other boys
jeered7 at me. Because I hadn’t got a father. Said I was a little bastard8—
which I was, of course. Mum was usually drunk and she had men coming
in all the time. My father was a foreign seaman9, I believe. The house was
always filthy10 and it was all pretty fair hell. And then I got to thinking sup-
pose my Dad had been not just some foreign sailor, but someone import-
ant—and I used to make up a thing or two. Kid stuff first—changed at
birth—really the rightful heir—that sort of thing. And then I went to a new
school and I tried it on once or twice hinting things. Said my father was
really an Admiral in the navy. I got to believing it myself. I didn’t feel so
bad then.”
He paused and then went on.
“And then—later—I thought up some other ideas. I used to stay at hotels
and told a lot of silly stories about being a fighter pilot—or about being in
military intelligence. I got all sort of mixed up. I didn’t seem able to stop
telling lies.
“Only I didn’t really try to get money by it. It was just swank so as to
make people think a bit more of me. I didn’t want to be dishonest. Mr. Ser-
rocold will tell you—and Dr. Maverick—they’ve got all the stuff about it.”
Inspector Curry nodded. He had already studied Edgar’s case history
and his police record.
“Mr. Serrocold got me clear in the end and brought me down here. He
said he needed a secretary to help him—and I did help him! I really did.
Only the others laughed at me. They were always laughing at me.”
“What others? Mrs. Serrocold?”
“No, not Mrs. Serrocold. She’s a lady—she’s always gentle and kind. No,
but Gina treated me like dirt. And Stephen Restarick. And Mrs. Strete
looked down on me for not being a gentleman. So did Miss Bellever—and
what’s she? She’s a paid companion, isn’t she?”
Curry noted11 the signs of rising excitement.
“So you didn’t find them very sympathetic?”
Edgar said passionately12:
“It was because of me being a bastard. If I’d had a proper father they
wouldn’t have gone on like that.”
“So you appropriated a couple of famous fathers?”
Edgar blushed.
“I always seem to get to telling lies,” he muttered.
“And finally, you said Mr. Serrocold was your father. Why?”
“Because that would stop them once for all, wouldn’t it? If he was my
father they couldn’t do anything to me!”
“Yes. But you accused him of being your enemy—of persecuting13 you.”
“I know—” He rubbed his forehead. “I got things all wrong. There are
times when I don’t—when I don’t get things quite right. I get muddled14.”
“And you took the revolver from Mr. Walter Hudd’s room?”
Edgar looked puzzled.
“Did I? Is that where I got it?”
“Don’t you remember where you got it?”
Edgar said:
“I meant to threaten Mr. Serrocold with it. I meant to frighten him. It
was kid stuff all over again.”
Inspector Curry said patiently, “How did you get the revolver?”
“You just said—out of Walter’s room.”
“You remember doing that now?”
“I must have got it from his room. I couldn’t have got hold of it any other
way, could I?”
“I don’t know,” said Inspector Curry. “Somebody—might have given it to
you?”
Edgar was silent—his face a blank.
“Is that how it happened?”
Edgar said passionately:
“I don’t remember. I was so worked up. I walked about the garden in a
red mist of rage. I thought people were spying on me, watching me, trying
to hound me down. Even that nice white-haired old lady … I can’t under-
stand it all now. I feel I must have been mad. I don’t remember where I
was and what I was doing half of the time!”
“Surely you remember who told you Mr. Serrocold was your father?”
Edgar gave the same blank stare.
“Nobody told me,” he said sullenly15. “It just came to me.”
Inspector Curry sighed. He was not satisfied. But he judged he could
make no further progress at present.
“Well, watch your step in future,” he said.
“Yes, sir. Yes, indeed, I will.”
As Edgar went Inspector Curry slowly shook his head.
“These pathological cases are the devil!”
“D’you think he’s mad, sir?”
“Much less mad than I’d imagined. Weak-headed, boastful, a liar—yet a
certain pleasant simplicity16 about him. Highly suggestible I should ima-
gine….”
“You think someone did suggest things to him?”
“Oh yes, old Miss Marple was right there. She’s a shrewd old bird. But I
wish I knew who it was. He won’t tell. If we only knew that … Come on,
Lake, let’s have a thorough reconstruction17 of the scene in the Hall.”

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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 curry xnozh     
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：
  • Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
  • Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。
3 humility 8d6zX     
n.谦逊，谦恭
参考例句：
  • Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
  • His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。
4 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地，不安地
参考例句：
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
5 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的
参考例句：
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。
6 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地
参考例句：
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
7 jeered c6b854b3d0a6d00c4c5a3e1372813b7d     
v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。
  • The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 bastard MuSzK     
n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子
参考例句：
  • He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
  • There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。
9 seaman vDGzA     
n.海员，水手，水兵
参考例句：
  • That young man is a experienced seaman.那个年轻人是一个经验丰富的水手。
  • The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。
10 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的
参考例句：
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。
11 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的，知名的
参考例句：
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
12 passionately YmDzQ4     
ad.热烈地，激烈地
参考例句：
  • She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
  • He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。
13 persecuting 668e268d522d47306d7adbfe4e26738d     
（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人
参考例句：
  • This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时，这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
  • He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。
14 muddled cb3d0169d47a84e95c0dfa5c4d744221     
adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子
参考例句：
  • He gets muddled when the teacher starts shouting. 老师一喊叫他就心烦意乱。
  • I got muddled up and took the wrong turning. 我稀里糊涂地拐错了弯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 sullenly f65ccb557a7ca62164b31df638a88a71     
不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地
参考例句：
  • 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
  • Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。
16 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯
参考例句：
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
17 reconstruction 3U6xb     
n.重建，再现，复原
参考例句：
  • The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
  • In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

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