地下墓穴（6）

 

“What you are driving at I cannot imagine,” said the Englishman, “but if you mean that you will answer my question about the catacomb if I answer any question which you may put to me I can assure you that I will certainly do so.”

“Well, then,” said Burger, leaning luxuriously¹ back in his settee, and puffing² a blue tree of cigar-smoke into the air, “tell me all about your relations with Miss Mary Saunderson.”

Kennedy sprang up in his chair and glared angrily at his impassive companion.

“What the devil do you mean?” he cried. “What sort of a question is this? You may mean it as a joke, but you never made a worse one.”

“No, I don’t mean it as a joke,” said Burger, simply. “I am really rather interested in the details of the matter. I don’t know much about the world and women and social life and that sort of thing, and such an incident has the fascination³ of the for me. I know you, and I knew her by sight—I had even spoken to her once or twice. I should very much like to hear from your own lips exactly what it was which occurred between you.”

“I won’t tell you a word.”

“That’s all right. It was only my whim⁴ to see if you would give up a secret as easily as you expected me to give up my secret of the new catacomb. You wouldn’t, and I didn’t expect you to. But why should you expect otherwise of me? There’s Saint John’s clock striking ten. It is quite time that I was going home.”

“你究竟想得到什么回报，我无法想象，"英国人说，“如果你的意思是，假如我回答你所提出的任何问题，你就告诉我有关墓穴的事，那么我可以向你保证，我将乐意这样做。

很好，"伯格说，然后舒适地靠在沙发背上，向空中喷出一口蓝色的烟雾，“那么，告诉我有关你和玛丽桑德森小姐的全部事情吧。”

肯尼迪从椅子上跳起来，愤怒地瞪着冷漠的同伴。

“你究竟是什么意思？"他嚷道。“这算什么问题？也许你是在开玩笑，不过这是你开的最糟糕的玩笑了，”

“不，我没开玩笑，伯格冷冷地说。“我真的对这件事的细节很感兴趣。关于世事，女人，社交一类事情，我一概不了解，这样一桩事件对我来说就像一个未解之谜一样神秘。我认识你，也见过她，而且还跟她搭过话，我非常渴望听你亲口说说你们俩之间发生的事。”

“我一个字也不会告诉你。”

“那好吧。我只是想看看你会不会轻易吐露一个秘密，因为刚才你想让我轻易吐露关于墓穴的秘密。看来你不会那样做，我也没指望你会那样做。可是为什么你却指望我那样做呢？圣约翰大钟敲十点了。我真的应该回家了。”

1 luxuriously   

adv.奢侈地，豪华地

参考例句：

• She put her nose luxuriously buried in heliotrope and tea roses. 她把自己的鼻子惬意地埋在天芥菜和庚申蔷薇花簇中。 来自辞典例句
• To be well dressed doesn't mean to be luxuriously dressed. 穿得好不一定衣着豪华。 来自辞典例句

2 puffing   

v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

4 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。