黑麦奇案22

时间：2025-10-10 08:29:50

（单词翻译:单击）

Chapter Fourteen
I
For about ten seconds Inspector1 Neele stared at Miss Marple with the ut-
most bewilderment. His first idea was that the old lady had gone off her
head.
“Blackbirds?” he repeated.
Miss Marple nodded her head vigorously.
“Yes,” she said, and forthwith recited:
“ ‘Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing.
Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?
“ ‘The king was in his counting house, counting out his
money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey,
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When there came a little dickey bird and nipped off her
nose.’ ”
“Good Lord,” Inspector Neele said.
“I mean, it does fit,” said Miss Marple. “It was rye in his pocket, wasn’t it?
One newspaper said so. The others just said cereal, which might mean
anything. Farmer’s Glory or Cornflakes—or even maize—but it was rye?”
Inspector Neele nodded.
“There you are,” said Miss Marple, triumphantly3. “Rex Fortescue. Rex
means King. In his Counting House. And Mrs. Fortescue the Queen in the
parlour, eating bread and honey. And so, of course, the murderer had to
put that clothes-peg on poor Gladys’s nose.”
Inspector Neele said:
“You mean the whole setup is crazy?”
“Well, one mustn’t jump to conclusions—but it is certainly very odd. But
you really must make inquiries4 about blackbirds. Because there must be
blackbirds!”
It was at this point that Sergeant5 Hay came into the room saying ur-
gently, “Sir.”
He broke off at sight of Miss Marple. Inspector Neele, recovering him-
self, said:
“Thank you, Miss Marple. I’ll look into the matter. Since you are interes-
ted2 in the girl, perhaps you would care to look over the things from her
room. Sergeant Hay will show you them presently.”
Miss Marple, accepting her dismissal, twittered her way out.
“Blackbirds!” murmured Inspector Neele to himself.
Sergeant Hay stared.
“Yes, Hay, what is it?”
“Sir,” said Sergeant Hay, urgently again. “Look at this.”
He produced an article wrapped in a somewhat grubby handkerchief.
“Found it in the shrubbery,” said Sergeant Hay. “Could have been
chucked there from one of the back windows.”
He tipped the object down on the desk in front of the inspector, who
leaned forward and inspected it with rising excitement. The exhibit was a
nearly full pot of marmalade.
The inspector stared at it without speech. His face assumed a peculiarly
wooden and stupid appearance. In actual fact this meant that Inspector
Neele’s mind was racing6 once more round an imaginary track. A moving
picture was enacting7 itself before the eyes of his mind. He saw a new pot
of marmalade, he saw hands carefully removing its cover, he saw a small
quantity of marmalade removed, mixed with a preparation of taxine and
replaced in the pot, the top smoothed over and the lid carefully replaced.
He broke off at this point to ask Sergeant Hay:
“They don’t take marmalade out of the pot and put it into fancy pots?”
“No, sir. Got into the way of serving it in its own pot during the war
when things were scarce, and it’s gone on like that ever since.”
Neele murmured:
“That made it easier, of course.”
“What’s more,” said Sergeant Hay, “Mr. Fortescue was the only one that
took marmalade for breakfast (and Mr. Percival when he was at home).
The others had jam or honey.”
Neele nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “That made it very simple, didn’t it?”
After a slight gap the moving picture went on in his mind. It was the
breakfast table now. Rex Fortescue stretching out his hand for the
marmalade pot, taking out a spoonful of marmalade and spreading it on
his toast and butter. Easier, far easier that way than the risk and difficulty
of insinuating8 it into his coffee cup. A foolproof method of administering
the poison! And afterwards? Another gap and a picture that was not quite
so clear. The replacing of that pot of marmalade by another with exactly
the same amount taken from it. And then an open window. A hand and an
arm flinging out that pot into the shrubbery. Whose hand and arm?
Inspector Neele said in a businesslike voice:
“Well, we’ll have of course to get this analysed. See if there are any
traces of taxine. We can’t jump to conclusions.”
“No, sir. There may be fingerprints9 too.”
“Probably not the ones we want,” said Inspector Neele gloomily.
“There’ll be Gladys’s, of course, and Crump’s and Fortescue’s own. Then
probably Mrs. Crump’s, the grocer’s assistant and a few others! If anyone
put taxine in here they’d take care not to go playing about with their own
fingers all over the pot. Anyway, as I say, we mustn’t jump to conclusions.
How do they order marmalade and where is it kept?”
The industrious10 Sergeant Hay had his answer pat for all these questions.
“Marmalade and jams comes in in batches11 of six at a time. A new pot
would be taken into the pantry when the old one was getting low.”
“That means,” said Neele, “that it could have been tampered12 with sev-
eral days before it was actually brought onto the breakfast table. And any-
one who was in the house or had access to the house could have tampered
with it.”
The term “access to the house” puzzled Sergeant Hay slightly. He did not
see in what way his superior’s mind was working.
But Neele was postulating13 what seemed to him a logical assumption.
If the marmalade had been tampered with beforehand—then surely that
ruled out those persons who were actually at the breakfast table on the fatal
morning.
Which opened up some interesting new possibilities.
He planned in his mind interviews with various people—this time with
rather a different angle of approach.
He’d keep an open mind… .
He’d even consider seriously that old Miss Whatshername’s suggestions
about the nursery rhyme. Because there was no doubt that that nursery
rhyme fitted in a rather startling way. It fitted with a point that had wor-
ried him from the beginning. The pocketful of rye.
“Blackbirds?” murmured Inspector Neele to himself.
Sergeant Hay stared.
“It’s not blackberry jelly, sir,” he said. “It’s marmalade.”

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 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。
3 triumphantly 9fhzuv     
ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地
参考例句：
  • The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
  • Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。
4 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听
参考例句：
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5 sergeant REQzz     
n.警官，中士
参考例句：
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？
6 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的
参考例句：
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
7 enacting 0485a44fcd2183e9aa15d495a9b31147     
制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
  • In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。
8 insinuating insinuating     
adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入
参考例句：
  • Are you insinuating that I' m telling a lie ? 你这是意味着我是在说谎吗？ 来自辞典例句
  • He is extremely insinuating, but it's a vulgar nature. 他好奉承拍马，那是种庸俗的品格。 来自辞典例句
9 fingerprints 9b456c81cc868e5bdf3958245615450b     
n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
  • Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
  • They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 industrious a7Axr     
adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的
参考例句：
  • If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
  • She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。
11 batches f8c77c3bee0bd5d27b9ca0e20c216d1a     
一批( batch的名词复数 )； 一炉； （食物、药物等的）一批生产的量； 成批作业
参考例句：
  • The prisoners were led out in batches and shot. 这些囚犯被分批带出去枪毙了。
  • The stainless drum may be used to make larger batches. 不锈钢转数设备可用来加工批量大的料。
12 tampered 07b218b924120d49a725c36b06556000     
v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄
参考例句：
  • The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
  • The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句
13 postulating f43bc63b6632cb59f1c279f5bd109a10     
v.假定，假设( postulate的现在分词 )
参考例句：

©2005-2010英文阅读网