诺伍德的建筑师（15）

“Only one little gleam of hope did I get—and yet it amounted to nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been taken out and left on the table. The papers had been made up into sealed envelopes, one or two of which had been opened by the police. They were not, so far as I could judge, of any great value, nor did the bank-book show that Mr. Oldacre was in such very affluent¹ circumstances. But it seemed to me that all the papers were not there. There were allusions² to some deeds—possibly the more valuable—which I could not find. This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would turn Lestrade's argument against himself, for who would steal a thing if he knew that he would shortly inherit it?

“Finally, having drawn³ every other cover and picked up no scent⁴, I tried my luck with the housekeeper⁵. Mrs. Lexington is her name, a little, dark, silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes. She could tell us something if she would—I am convinced of it. But she was as close as wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine. She wished her hand had withered⁶ before she had done so. She had gone to bed at half-past ten. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could hear nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the hall. She had been awakened⁷ by the alarm of fire. Her poor, dear master had certainly been murdered. Had he any enemies? Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself very much to himself, and only met people in the way of business. She had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the clothes which he had worn last night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not rained for a month. It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached the spot nothing could be seen but flames. She and all the firemen smelled the burned flesh from inside it. She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs.

“我看到过一点点希望，不过也落空了。我检查了保险柜里的东西，其中大部分早已取出来在桌上放着。那些字据都封在封套里，有一两件已经给他们拆开了。在我看，那都是些没有很大价值的东西；从银行存折上也看不出奥德克先生的境况有多富裕。但是我觉得并非所有的字据都在那里。有几处提到一些文凭——可能是更值钱的，但是我找不出来。当然，如果咱们能证明这一点，它就会使雷斯垂德的说法自相矛盾。难道会有人偷走他明知自己不久就要继承的东西吗？

“我检查了所有其它的地方，也没找着线索，最后不得不在女管家身上碰碰运气。勒克辛顿太太是个矮个子，皮肤黑黑的，不多说话，有一双多疑、斜着看人的眼睛。我相信只要她肯说话，她能说出点什么来，但她的嘴紧得象个蜡人一样。是的，她在九点半的时候让麦克法兰先生进来了。她后悔不该让他进屋。她是十点半去睡的；她的房间在那一头，听不见这边发生的事情。麦克法兰先生把他的帽子和一根她相信是他的手杖放在门厅里。她给火警惊醒了。她的不幸的好主人肯定是被人谋害的。他有仇人吗？唉，谁都有仇人，不过奥德克先生很少同人往来，只接见找他办事的人。她看了那些钮扣，并且断定就是他昨晚穿的衣服上的。因为一个月没有下雨，木料堆非常干燥，所以烧得很快。她到了贮木场的时候，除一片烈火之处，什么也看不见了。她和所有的救火员都闻到肉烧焦了的气味。她一点不知道有什么字据，也不知道奥德克先生的私事。

1 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

2 allusions   

暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We should not use proverbs and allusions indiscriminately. 不要滥用成语典故。
• The background lent itself to allusions to European scenes. 眼前的情景容易使人联想到欧洲风光。

3 drawn   

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。

4 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

5 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

6 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

7 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》