黑麦奇案15

时间：2025-10-10 08:26:52

（单词翻译:单击）

II
Mary Dove came slowly down the big staircase. She paused a moment at
the window on the half landing, from which she had seen Inspector1 Neele
arrive on the preceding day. Now, as she looked out in the fading light, she
noticed a man’s figure just disappearing round the yew2 hedge. She
wondered if it was Lancelot Fortescue, the prodigal3 son. He had, perhaps,
dismissed his car at the gate and was wandering round the garden recol-
lecting old times there before tackling a possibly hostile family. Mary Dove
felt rather sympathetic towards Lance. A faint smile on her lips, she went
on downstairs. In the hall she encountered Gladys, who jumped nervously5
at the sight of her.
“Was that the telephone I heard just now?” Mary asked. “Who was it?”
“Oh, that was a wrong number. Thought we were the laundry.” Gladys
sounded breathless and rather hurried. “And before that, it was Mr.
Dubois. He wanted to speak to the mistress.”
“I see.”
Mary went on across the hall. Turning her head, she said: “It’s teatime, I
think. Haven’t you brought it in yet?”
Gladys said: “I don’t think it’s half past four yet, is it, miss?”
“It’s twenty minutes to five. Bring it in now, will you?”
Mary Dove went on into the library where Adele Fortescue, sitting on
the sofa, was staring at the fire, picking with her fingers at a small lace
handkerchief. Adele said fretfully:
“Where’s tea?”
Mary Dove said: “It’s just coming in.”
A log had fallen out of the fireplace and Mary Dove knelt down at the
grate and replaced it with the tongs6, adding another piece of wood and a
little coal.
Gladys went out into the kitchen, where Mrs. Crump raised a red and
wrathful face from the kitchen table where she was mixing pastry7 in a
large bowl.
“The library bell’s been ringing and ringing. Time you took in the tea,
my girl.”
“All right, all right, Mrs. Crump.”
“What I’ll say to Crump tonight,” muttered Mrs. Crump. “I’ll tell him
off.”
Gladys went on into the pantry. She had not cut any sandwiches. Well,
she jolly well wasn’t going to cut sandwiches. They’d got plenty to eat
without that, hadn’t they? Two cakes, biscuits and scones8 and honey.
Fresh black-market farm butter. Plenty without her bothering to cut to-
mato or fois gras sandwiches. She’d got other things to think about. Fair
temper Mrs. Crump was in, all because Mr. Crump had gone out this after-
noon. Well, it was his day out, wasn’t it? Quite right of him, Gladys
thought. Mrs. Crump called out from the kitchen:
“The kettle’s boiling its head off. Aren’t you ever going to make that
tea?”
“Coming.”
She jerked some tea without measuring it into the big silver pot, carried
it into the kitchen and poured the boiling water on it. She added the teapot
and the kettle to the big silver tray and carried the whole thing through to
the library where she set it on the small table near the sofa. She went back
hurriedly for the other tray with the eatables on it. She carried the latter
as far as the hall when the sudden jarring noise of the grandfather clock
preparing itself to strike made her jump.
In the library, Adele Fortescue said querulously, to Mary Dove:
“Where is everybody this afternoon?”
“I really don’t know, Mrs. Fortescue. Miss Fortescue came in sometime
ago. I think Mrs. Percival’s writing letters in her room.”
Adele said pettishly9: “Writing letters, writing letters. That woman never
stops writing letters. She’s like all people of her class. She takes an abso-
lute10 delight in death and misfortune. Ghoulish, that’s what I call it. Abso-
lutely ghoulish.”
Mary murmured tactfully: “I’ll tell her that tea is ready.”
Going towards the door she drew back a little in the doorway11 as Elaine
Fortescue came into the room. Elaine said:
“It’s cold,” and dropped down by the fireplace, rubbing her hands be-
fore4 the blaze.
Mary stood for a moment in the hall. A large tray with cakes on it was
standing12 on one of the hall chests. Since it was getting dark in the hall,
Mary switched on the light. As she did so she thought she heard Jennifer
Fortescue walking along the passage upstairs. Nobody, however, came
down the stairs and Mary went up the staircase and along the corridor.
Percival Fortescue and his wife occupied a self-contained suite13 in one
wing of the house. Mary tapped on the sitting room door. Mrs. Percival
liked you to tap on doors, a fact which always roused Crump’s scorn of
her. Her voice said briskly:
“Come in.”
Mary opened the door and murmured:
“Tea is just coming in, Mrs. Percival.”
She was rather surprised to see Jennifer Fortescue with her outdoor
clothes on. She was just divesting14 herself of a long camel-hair coat.
“I didn’t know you’d been out,” said Mary.
Mrs. Percival sounded slightly out of breath.
“Oh, I was just in the garden, that’s all. Just getting a little air. Really,
though, it was too cold. I shall be glad to get down to the fire. The central
heating here isn’t as good as it might be. Somebody must speak to the
gardeners about it, Miss Dove.”
“I’ll do so,” Mary promised.
Jennifer Fortescue dropped her coat on a chair and followed Mary out
of the room. She went down the stairs ahead of Mary, who drew back a
little to give her precedence. In the hall, rather to Mary’s surprise, she no-
ticed the tray of eatables was still there. She was about to go out to the
pantry and call to Gladys when Adele Fortescue appeared in the door of
the library, saying in an irritable15 voice:
“Aren’t we ever going to have anything to eat for tea?”
Quickly Mary picked up the tray and took it into the library, disposing
the various things on low tables near the fireplace. She was carrying the
empty tray out to the hall again when the front-door bell rang. Setting
down the tray, Mary went to the door herself. If this was the prodigal son
at last she was rather curious to see him. “How unlike the rest of the For-
tescues,” Mary thought, as she opened the door and looked up into the
dark lean face and the faint quizzical twist of the mouth. She said quietly:
“Mr. Lancelot Fortescue?”
“Himself.”
Mary peered beyond him.
“Your luggage?”
“I’ve paid off the taxi. This is all I’ve got.”
He picked up a medium-sized zip bag. Some faint feeling of surprise in
her mind, Mary said:
“Oh, you did come in a taxi. I thought perhaps you’d walked up. And
your wife?”
His face set in a rather grim line, Lance said:
“My wife won’t be coming. At least, not just yet.”
“I see. Come this way, will you, Mr. Fortescue. Everyone is in the library,
having tea.”
She took him to the library door and left him there. She thought to her-
self that Lancelot Fortescue was a very attractive person. A second
thought followed the first. Probably a great many other women thought
so, too.

分享到：


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 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。
3 prodigal qtsym     
adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的
参考例句：
  • He has been prodigal of the money left by his parents.他已挥霍掉他父母留下的钱。
  • The country has been prodigal of its forests.这个国家的森林正受过度的采伐。
4 fore ri8xw     
adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部
参考例句：
  • Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
  • I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。
5 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。
6 tongs ugmzMt     
n.钳；夹子
参考例句：
  • She used tongs to put some more coal on the fire.她用火钳再夹一些煤放进炉子里。
  • He picked up the hot metal with a pair of tongs.他用一把钳子夹起这块热金属。
7 pastry Q3ozx     
n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点
参考例句：
  • The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
  • The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。
8 scones 851500ddb2eb42d0ca038d69fbf83f7e     
n.烤饼，烤小圆面包( scone的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • scones and jam with clotted cream 夹有凝脂奶油和果酱的烤饼
  • She makes scones and cakes for the delectation of visitors. 她烘制了烤饼和蛋糕供客人享用。 来自辞典例句
9 pettishly 7ab4060fbb40eff9237e3fd1df204fb1     
参考例句：
  • \"Oh, no,'she said, almost pettishly, \"I just don't feel very good.\" “哦，不是，\"她说，几乎想发火了，\"我只是觉得不大好受。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating. 于是他一气之下扔掉那个弹子，站在那儿沉思。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
10 lute moCzqe     
n.琵琶，鲁特琴
参考例句：
  • He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
  • He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。
11 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径
参考例句：
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
12 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。
13 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。
14 divesting a91752a693d0b7d5e13f68c8a3ba563e     
v.剥夺( divest的现在分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服
参考例句：
  • Methods: The indication, methods and outcome of87 patients undergone laparoscopic ovarian cyst divesting surgery were analyzed. 方法对87例卵巢囊肿进行腹腔镜下剥出手术，严格把握操作要领。 来自互联网
  • Conclusion The patients performed laparoscopic ovarian cyst divesting surgery had less complication and recovered soon. 结论腹腔镜下卵巢囊肿剥出术创伤小，术后恢复快并发症少，集诊断与治疗为一体，临床应用价值比较肯定。 来自互联网
15 irritable LRuzn     
adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的
参考例句：
  • He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
  • Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

©2005-2010英文阅读网