命案目睹记54

时间：2025-10-20 07:32:14

（单词翻译:单击）

Twenty-five
“I looked up tontine in the dictionary,” said Lucy.
The first greetings were over and now Lucy was wandering rather aim-
lessly round the room, touching1 a china dog here, an antimacassar there,
the plastic work-box in the window.
“I thought you probably would,” said Miss Marple equably.
Lucy spoke2 slowly, quoting the words. “Lorenzo Tonti, Italian banker,
originator, 1653, of a form of annuity3 in which the shares of subscribers
who die are added to the profit shares of the survivors5.” She paused.
“That’s it, isn’t it? That fits well enough, and you were thinking of it even
then before the last two deaths.”
She took up once more her restless, almost aimless prowl round the
room. Miss Marple sat watching her. This was a very different Lucy Eye-
lesbarrow from the one she knew.
“I suppose it was asking for it really,” said Lucy. “A will of that kind,
ending so that if there was only one survivor4 left he’d get the lot. And yet
—there was quite a lot of money, wasn’t there? You’d think it would be
enough shared out…” She paused, the words trailing off.
“The trouble is,” said Miss Marple, “that people are greedy. Some people.
That’s so often, you know, how things start. You don’t start with murder,
with wanting to do murder, or even thinking of it. You just start by being
greedy, by wanting more than you’re going to have.” She laid her knitting
down on her knee and stared ahead of her into space. “That’s how I came
across Inspector6 Craddock first, you know. A case in the country. Near
Medenham Spa. That began the same way, just a weak amiable7 character
who wanted a great deal of money. Money that that person wasn’t entitled
to, but there seemed an easy way to get it. Not murder then. Just some-
thing so easy and simple that it hadn’t seemed wrong. That’s how things
begin… But it ended with three murders.”
“Just like this,” said Lucy. “We’ve had three murders now. The woman
who impersonated Martine and who would have been able to claim a
share for her son, and then Alfred, and then Harold. And now it only
leaves two, doesn’t it?”
“You mean,” said Miss Marple, “there are only Cedric and Emma left?”
“Not Emma. Emma isn’t a tall dark man. No. I mean Cedric and Bryan
Eastley. I never thought of Bryan because he’s fair. He’s got a fair mous-
tache and blue eyes, but you see—the other day…” She paused.
“Yes, go on,” said Miss Marple. “Tell me. Something has upset you very
badly, hasn’t it?”
“It was when Lady Stoddart-West was going away. She had said good-
bye and then suddenly turned to me just as she was getting into the car
and asked: ‘Who was that tall dark man who was standing8 on the terrace
as I came in?’
“I couldn’t imagine who she meant at first, because Cedric was still laid
up. So I said, rather puzzled, ‘You don’t mean Bryan Eastley?’ and she said,
‘Of course, that’s who it was, Squadron Leader Eastley. He was hidden in
our loft9 once in France during the Resistance. I remembered the way he
stood, and the set of his shoulders,’ and she said, ‘I should like to meet him
again,’ but we couldn’t find him.”
Miss Marple said nothing, just waited.
“And then,” said Lucy, “later I looked at him… He was standing with his
back to me and I saw what I ought to have seen before. That even when a
man’s fair his hair looks dark because he plasters it down with stuff.
Bryan’s hair is a sort of medium brown, I suppose, but it can look dark. So
you see, it might have been Bryan that your friend saw in the train. It
might….”
“Yes,” said Miss Marple. “I had thought of that.”
“I suppose you think of everything!” said Lucy bitterly.
“Well, dear, one has to really.”
“But I can’t see what Bryan would get out of it. I mean the money would
come to Alexander, not to him. I suppose it would make an easier life, they
could have a bit more luxury, but he wouldn’t be able to tap the capital for
his schemes, or anything like that.”
“But if anything happened to Alexander before he was twenty-one, then
Bryan would get the money as his father and next of kin,” Miss Marple
pointed10 out.
Lucy cast a look of horror at her.
“He’d never do that. No father would ever do that just—just to get the
money.”
Miss Marple sighed. “People do, my dear. It’s very sad and very terrible,
but they do.
“People do very terrible things,” went on Miss Marple. “I know a woman
who poisoned three of her children just for a little bit of insurance money.
And then there was an old woman, quite a nice old woman apparently11,
who poisoned her son when he came home on leave. Then there was that
old Mrs. Stanwich. That case was in the papers. I dare say you read about
it. Her daughter died and her son, and then she said she was poisoned her-
self. There was poison in the gruel12, but it came out, you know, that she’d
put it there herself. She was just planning to poison the last daughter. That
wasn’t exactly for money. She was jealous of them for being younger than
she was and alive, and she was afraid—it’s a terrible thing to say but it’s
true—they would enjoy themselves after she was gone. She’d always kept
a very tight hold on the purse strings13. Yes, of course she was a little pecu-
liar14, as they say, but I never see myself that that’s any real excuse. I mean
you can be a little peculiar15 in so many different ways. Sometimes you just
go about giving all your possessions away and writing cheques on bank
accounts that don’t exist, just so as to benefit people. It shows, you see,
that behind being peculiar you have quite a nice disposition16. But of course
if you’re peculiar and behind it you have a bad disposition—well, there
you are. Now, does that help you at all, my dear Lucy?”
“Does what help me?” asked Lucy, bewildered.
“What I’ve been telling you,” said Miss Marple. She added gently, “You
mustn’t worry, you know. You really mustn’t worry. Elspeth McGillicuddy
will be here any day now.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with it.”
“No, dear, perhaps not. But I think it’s important myself.”
“I can’t help worrying,” said Lucy. “You see, I’ve got interested in the
family.”
“I know, dear, it’s very difficult for you because you are quite strongly
attracted to both of them, aren’t you, in very different ways.”
“What do you mean?” said Lucy. Her tone was sharp.
“I was talking about the two sons of the house,” said Miss Marple. “Or
rather the son and the son-in-law. It’s unfortunate that the two more un-
pleasant members of the family have died and the two more attractive
ones are left. I can see that Cedric Crackenthorpe is very attractive. He is
inclined to make himself out worse than he is and has a provocative17 way
with him.”
“He makes me fighting mad sometimes,” said Lucy.
“Yes,” said Miss Marple, “and you enjoy that, don’t you? You’re a girl
with a lot of spirit and you enjoy a battle. Yes, I can see where that attrac-
tion lies. And then Mr. Eastley is a rather plaintive18 type, rather like an un-
happy little boy. That, of course, is attractive, too.”
“And one of them’s a murderer,” said Lucy bitterly, “and it may be
either of them. There’s nothing to choose between them really. There’s
Cedric, not caring a bit about his brother Alfred’s death or about Harold’s.
He just sits back looking thoroughly19 pleased making plans for what he’ll
do with Rutherford Hall, and he keeps saying that it’ll need a lot of money
to develop it in the way he wants to do. Of course I know he’s the sort of
person who exaggerates his own callousness20 and all that. But that could be
a cover, too. I mean everyone says that you’re more callous21 than you
really are. But you mightn’t be. You might be even more callous than you
seem!”
“Dear, dear Lucy, I’m so sorry about all this.”
“And then Bryan,” went on Lucy. “It’s extraordinary, but Bryan really
seems to want to live there. He thinks he and Alexander could find it aw-
fully22 jolly and he’s full of schemes.”
“He’s always full of schemes of one kind or another, isn’t he?”
“Yes, I think he is. They all sound rather wonderful—but I’ve got an un-
easy feeling that they’d never really work. I mean, they’re not practical.
The idea sounds all right—but I don’t think he ever considers the actual
working difficulties.”
“They are up in the air, so to speak?”
“Yes, in more ways than one. I mean they are usually literally23 up in the
air. They are all air schemes. Perhaps a really good fighter pilot never
does quite come down to earth again….”
She added: “And he likes Rutherford Hall so much because it reminds
him of the big rambling24 Victorian house he lived in when he was a child.”
“I see,” said Miss Marple thoughtfully. “Yes, I see….”
Then, with a quick sideways glance at Lucy, she said with a kind of
verbal pounce25, “But that isn’t all of it, is it, dear? There’s something else.”
“Oh, yes, there’s something else. Just something that I didn’t realize until
just a couple of days ago. Bryan could actually have been on that train.”
“On the 4:33 from Paddington?”
“Yes. You see Emma thought she was required to account for her move-
ments on 20th December and she went over it all very carefully—a com-
mittee meeting in the morning, and then shopping in the afternoon and
tea at the Green Shamrock, and then, she said, she went to meet Bryan at the
station. The train she met was the 4:50 from Paddington, but he could
have been on the earlier train and pretended to come by the later one. He
told me quite casually26 that his car had had a biff and was being repaired
and so he had to come down by train—an awful bore, he said, he hates
trains. He seemed quite natural about it all… It may be quite all right—but
I wish, somehow, he hadn’t come down by train.”
“Actually on the train,” said Miss Marple thoughtfully.
“It doesn’t really prove anything. The awful thing is all this suspicion.
Not to know. And perhaps we never shall know!”
“Of course we shall know, dear,” said Miss Marple briskly. “I mean—all
this isn’t going to stop just at this point. The one thing I do know about
murderers is that they can never let well alone. Or perhaps one should say
—ill alone. At any rate,” said Miss Marple with finality, “they can’t once
they’ve done a second murder. Now don’t get too upset, Lucy. The police
are doing all they can, and looking after everybody—and the great thing is
that Elspeth McGillicuddy will be here very soon now!”

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 touching sg6zQ9     
adj.动人的，使人感伤的
参考例句：
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
2 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。
3 annuity Kw2zF     
n.年金；养老金
参考例句：
  • The personal contribution ratio is voluntary in the annuity program.企业年金中个人缴费比例是自愿的。
  • He lives on his annuity after retirement.他退休后靠退休金维生。
4 survivor hrIw8     
n.生存者，残存者，幸存者
参考例句：
  • The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
  • There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。
5 survivors 02ddbdca4c6dba0b46d9d823ed2b4b62     
幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
  • survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
6 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。
7 amiable hxAzZ     
adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的
参考例句：
  • She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
  • We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。
8 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。
9 loft VkhyQ     
n.阁楼，顶楼
参考例句：
  • We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
  • By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下，他们就可以多出两间卧室。
10 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的，直截了当的
参考例句：
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
11 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。
12 gruel GeuzG     
n.稀饭，粥
参考例句：
  • We had gruel for the breakfast.我们早餐吃的是粥。
  • He sat down before the fireplace to eat his gruel.他坐到壁炉前吃稀饭。
13 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句：
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
14 liar V1ixD     
n.说谎的人
参考例句：
  • I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
  • She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。
15 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的
参考例句：
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
16 disposition GljzO     
n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署
参考例句：
  • He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
  • He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。
17 provocative e0Jzj     
adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的
参考例句：
  • She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
  • His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。
18 plaintive z2Xz1     
adj.可怜的，伤心的
参考例句：
  • Her voice was small and plaintive.她的声音微弱而哀伤。
  • Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
19 thoroughly sgmz0J     
adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地
参考例句：
  • The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
  • The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
20 callousness callousness     
参考例句：
  • He remembered with what callousness he had watched her. 他记得自己以何等无情的态度瞧着她。 来自辞典例句
  • She also lacks the callousness required of a truly great leader. 她还缺乏一个真正伟大领袖所应具备的铁石心肠。 来自辞典例句
21 callous Yn9yl     
adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的
参考例句：
  • He is callous about the safety of his workers.他对他工人的安全毫不关心。
  • She was selfish,arrogant and often callous.她自私傲慢，而且往往冷酷无情。
22 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
23 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实
参考例句：
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。
24 rambling MTfxg     
adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的
参考例句：
  • We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
  • It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。
25 pounce 4uAyU     
n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意
参考例句：
  • Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
  • We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。
26 casually UwBzvw     
adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地
参考例句：
  • She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
  • I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

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