黑麦奇案10

时间：2025-10-10 08:13:06

（单词翻译:单击）

II
Ellen proved to be grim but unafraid. Her sour old face looked tri-
umphantly at the inspector1.
“It’s a shocking business, sir. And I never thought I’d live to find myself
in a house where that sort of thing has been going on. But in a way I can’t
say that it surprises me. I ought to have given my notice in long ago and
that’s a fact. I don’t like the language that’s used in this house, and I don’t
like the amount of drink that’s taken, and I don’t approve of the goings on
there’ve been. I’ve nothing against Mrs. Crump, but Crump and that girl
Gladys just don’t know what proper service is. But it’s the goings on that I
mind about most.”
“What goings on do you mean exactly?”
“You’ll soon hear about them if you don’t know already. It’s common
talk all over the place. They’ve been seen here, there and everywhere. All
this pretending to play golf—or tennis—And I’ve seen things—with my
own eyes—in this house. The library door was open and there they were,
kissing and canoodling.”
The venom2 of the spinster was deadly. Neele really felt it unnecessary to
say “Whom do you mean?” but he said it nevertheless.
“Who should I mean? The mistress—and that man. No shame about it,
they hadn’t. But if you ask me, the master had got wise to it. Put someone
on to watch them, he had. Divorce, that’s what it would have come to. In-
stead, it’s come to this.”
“When you say this, you mean—”
“You’ve been asking questions, sir, about what the master ate and drank
and who gave it to him. They’re in it together, sir, that’s what I’d say. He
got the stuff from somewhere and she gave it to the master, that was the
way of it, I’ve no doubt.”
“Have you ever seen any yew3 berries in the house—or thrown away
anywhere?”
The small eyes glinted curiously5.
“Yew? Nasty poisonous stuff. Never you touch those berries, my mother
said to me when I was a child. Was that what was used, sir?”
“We don’t know yet what was used.”
“I’ve never seen her fiddling6 about with yew.” Ellen sounded disappoin-
ted4. “No, I can’t say I’ve seen anything of that kind.”
Neele questioned her about the grain found in Fortescue’s pocket but
here again he drew a blank.
“No, sir. I know nothing about that.”
He went on to further questions, but with no gainful result. Finally he
asked if he could see Miss Ramsbottom.
Ellen looked doubtful.
“I could ask her, but it’s not everyone she’ll see. She’s a very old lady,
you know, and she’s a bit odd.”
The inspector pressed his demand, and rather unwillingly7 Ellen led him
along a passage and up a short flight of stairs to what he thought had
probably been designed as a nursery suite8.
He glanced out of a passage window as he followed her and saw Ser-
geant Hay standing9 by the yew tree talking to a man who was evidently a
gardener.
Ellen tapped on a door, and when she received an answer, opened it and
said:
“There’s a police gentleman here who would like to speak to you, miss.”
The answer was apparently10 in the affirmative for she drew back and
motioned Neele to go in.
The room he entered was almost fantastically overfurnished. The in-
spector felt rather as though he had taken a step backward into not
merely Edwardian but Victorian times. At a table drawn11 up to a gas fire an
old lady was sitting laying out a patience. She wore a maroon-coloured
dress and her sparse12 grey hair was slicked down each side of her face.
Without looking up or discontinuing her game she said impatiently:
“Well, come in, come in. Sit down if you like.”
The invitation was not easy to accept as every chair appeared to be
covered with tracts13 or publications of a religious nature.
As he moved them slightly aside on the sofa Miss Ramsbottom asked
sharply:
“Interested in mission work?”
“Well, I’m afraid I’m not very, ma’am.”
“Wrong. You should be. That’s where the Christian14 spirit is nowadays.
Darkest Africa. Had a young clergyman here last week. Black as your hat.
But a true Christian.”
Inspector Neele found it a little difficult to know what to say.
The old lady further disconcerted him by snapping:
“I haven’t got a wireless15.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, I thought perhaps you came about a wireless licence. Or one of
these silly forms. Well, man, what is it?”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you, Miss Ramsbottom, that your brother-in-
law, Mr. Fortescue, was taken suddenly ill and died this morning.”
Miss Ramsbottom continued with her patience without any sign of per-
turbation, merely remarking in a conversational16 way:
“Struck down at last in his arrogance17 and sinful pride. Well, it had to
come.”
“I hope it’s not a shock to you?”
It obviously wasn’t but the inspector wanted to hear what she would
say.
Miss Ramsbottom gave him a sharp glance over the top of her spectacles
and said:
“If you mean I am not distressed18, that is quite right. Rex Fortescue was
always a sinful man and I never liked him.”
“His death was very sudden—”
“As befits the ungodly,” said the old lady with satisfaction.
“It seems possible that he may have been poisoned—”
The inspector paused to observe the effect he had made.
He did not seem to have made any. Miss Ramsbottom merely mur-
mured: “Red seven on black eight. Now I can move up the King.”
Struck apparently by the inspector’s silence, she stopped with a card
poised19 in her hand and said sharply:
“Well, what did you expect me to say? I didn’t poison him if that’s what
you want to know.”
“Have you any idea who might have done so?”
“That’s a very improper20 question,” said the old lady sharply. “Living in
this house are two of my dead sister’s children. I decline to believe that
anybody with Ramsbottom blood in them could be guilty of murder. Be-
cause it’s murder you’re meaning, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t say so, madam.”
“Of course it’s murder. Plenty of people have wanted to murder Rex in
their time. A very unscrupulous man. And old sins have long shadows, as
the saying goes.”
“Have you anyone in particular in mind?”
Miss Ramsbottom swept up the cards and rose to her feet. She was a tall
woman.
“I think you’d better go now,” she said.
She spoke21 without anger but with a kind of cold finality.
“If you want my opinion,” she went on, “it was probably one of the ser-
vants. The butler looks to me a bit of a rascal22, and that parlourmaid is def-
initely subnormal. Good evening.”
Inspector Neele found himself meekly23 walking out. Certainly a remark-
able old lady. Nothing to be got out of her.
He came down the stairs into the square hall to find himself suddenly
face to face with a tall dark girl. She was wearing a damp mackintosh and
she stared into his face with a curious blankness.
“I’ve just come back,” she said. “And they told me—about Father—that
he’s dead.”
“I’m afraid that’s true.”
She pushed out a hand behind her as though blindly seeking for sup-
port. She touched an oak chest and slowly, stiffly, she sat down on it.
“Oh no,” she said. “No… .”
Slowly two tears ran down her cheeks.
“It’s awful,” she said. “I didn’t think that I even liked him … I thought I
hated him … But that can’t be so, or I wouldn’t mind. I do mind.”
She sat there, staring in front of her, and again tears forced themselves
from her eyes and down her cheeks.
Presently she spoke again, rather breathlessly:
“The awful thing is that it makes everything come right. I mean, Gerald
and I can get married now. I can do everything that I want to do. But I
hate it happening this way. I don’t want Father to be dead … Oh I don’t. Oh
Daddy—Daddy… .”
For the first time since he had come to Yewtree Lodge24, Inspector Neele
was startled by what seemed to be genuine grief for the dead man.

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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 venom qLqzr     
n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨
参考例句：
  • The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
  • In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。
3 yew yew     
n.紫杉属树木
参考例句：
  • The leaves of yew trees are poisonous to cattle.紫杉树叶会令牛中毒。
  • All parts of the yew tree are poisonous,including the berries.紫杉的各个部分都有毒，包括浆果。
4 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒，撒，撒开
参考例句：
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
5 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地
参考例句：
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
6 fiddling XtWzRz     
微小的
参考例句：
  • He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
  • All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦
7 unwillingly wjjwC     
adv.不情愿地
参考例句：
  • He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
  • Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访，他也是很不情愿地接待我。
8 suite MsMwB     
n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员
参考例句：
  • She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
  • That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。
9 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
参考例句：
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
10 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
参考例句：
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
11 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的
参考例句：
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
12 sparse SFjzG     
adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的
参考例句：
  • The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
  • The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。
13 tracts fcea36d422dccf9d9420a7dd83bea091     
大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文
参考例句：
  • vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
  • There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。
14 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。
15 wireless Rfwww     
adj.无线的；n.无线电
参考例句：
  • There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
  • Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。
16 conversational SZ2yH     
adj.对话的，会话的
参考例句：
  • The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
  • She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。
17 arrogance pNpyD     
n.傲慢，自大
参考例句：
  • His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
  • Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。
18 distressed du1z3y     
痛苦的
参考例句：
  • He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
  • The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。
19 poised SlhzBU     
a.摆好姿势不动的
参考例句：
  • The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
  • Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。
20 improper b9txi     
adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的
参考例句：
  • Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
  • Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。
21 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句：
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
22 rascal mAIzd     
n.流氓；不诚实的人
参考例句：
  • If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
  • The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。
23 meekly meekly     
adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地
参考例句：
  • He stood aside meekly when the new policy was proposed. 当有人提出新政策时，他唯唯诺诺地站 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He meekly accepted the rebuke. 他顺从地接受了批评。 来自《简明英汉词典》
24 lodge q8nzj     
v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆
参考例句：
  • Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
  • I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

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