own, perfect, nervous, simple, sweet, guilty, old-fashioned, excellent, personal, unpleasant, calm, silent (12);
absent-minded, enthusiastic, definite, astonished, annoyed, ridiculous (6).
Agatha Christie. Philomel Cottage (in English, for intermediate, 4)
- on reflection –после размышлений
- feel ill at ease — чувствовать себя не по себе
- confusion — смятение
- seemed taken aback for a moment — казалось, его застали врасплох (от take aback – застать врасплох )
- a reminder — напоминание
- at nine o’clock sharp — ровно в 9 часов
- sincerity — искренность (от sincere – искренний )
- to comfort — успокоить
- properly — как следует
- on mortgage — по закладной
- very likely — вероятно
- change one’s mind — передумать
She smiled to herself as she realized that she might find the name of another woman. She turned over the pages. There were dates, appointments, references to business deals, but only one woman’s name — her own. As she put the book into her pocket and went on to the house, she felt worried.
She remembered those words of Dick Windyford’s : «The man’s a perfect stranger to you. You know nothing about him.» It was true. What did she know about him? After all, Gerald was forty. In forty years there must have been women in his life…
Alix said to herself that she must not give way to these thoughts. And what about Dick? Should she, or should she not, tell her husband that Dick Windyford had rung her up? On reflection Alix decided to say nothing. It was the first secret she had ever kept from her husband, and it made her feel ill at ease.
When she heard Gerald returning from the village shortly before lunch, she hurried into the kitchen and pretended to be busy with the cooking so as to hide her feelings. For the rest of the day she was nervous and absent-minded, starting at every sound, but her husband seemed to notice nothing. He himself seemed to have his thoughts far away, and once or twice she had to speak a second time before he answered her questions.
After their simple evening meal, when they were sitting in the living room with the windows open to let in the sweet night air that Alix remembered the pocket diary: «Here’s something you’ve dropped in the border and I know all your secrets now.»
«Not guilty,» said Gerald, shaking his head.
«What about nine o’clock tonight?»
«Oh, that! -» he seemed taken aback for a moment, then he smiled. «It’s a meeting with a particularly nice girl, Alix. She’s got brown hair and blue eyes and she is like you.»
«I don’t understand,» said Alix seriously. «You haven’t answered.»
«As a matter of fact, that’s a reminder that I’m going to do some photography tonight, and I want you to help me.»
Gerald Martin was an enthusiastic photographer. He had an old-fashioned camera, but with an excellent lens, and he developed his own photos in a small cellar which he had fitted up as a dark room.
«And it must be done at nine o’clock sharp,» said Alix, smiling.
Gerald looked a little annoyed. «My dear girl,» he said, «one should always plan a thing for a definite time.»
Alix sat for a minute or two in silence watching her husband and suddenly a wave of panic surged over her, so that she cried out before she could stop herself.
«Oh! Gerald, I wish I knew more about you.» Her husband turned an astonished face upon her.
«But, my dear Alix, you do know all about me. I’ve told you of my childhood in Northumberland, of my life in South Africa, and these last ten years in Canada which have brought me success.» «Oh!» Gerald laughed suddenly. «I know what you mean — love affairs. You women are all the same. Nothing interests you but the personal element.»
Alix muttered, «Well, but there must have been women… I mean …..»
There was silence again for a minute or two. Gerald Martin was frowning.
Then he said gravely: «Do you think it wise, Alix, this Bluebeard’s chamber business?» There have been women in my life, yes. I don’t deny it. But I can swear to you that not one of them meant anything to me.» There was a sincerity in his voice which comforted her.
«Satisfied, Alix?» he asked, with a smile. Then he looked at her with a curiosity. «What has turned your mind onto these unpleasant thoughts tonight? You never mentioned them before.»
Alix got up and began to walk about the room. «Oh! I don’t know,» she said. «I’ve been nervy all day.»
«That’s strange,» said Gerald, in a low voice, as though speaking to himself. «That’s very strange.»
«Why is it strange?» «Oh, my dear girl, don’t look at me so. I only said it was strange because as a rule you’re so sweet and calm.»
Alix forced a smile. «Everything’s made me annoyed today,» she confessed. «Even old George had got some ridiculous idea into his head that we were going away to London. He said you had told him so.»
«Where did you see him?» asked Gerald sharply. «He came to work today instead of Friday.
«The old fool,» said Gerald angrily. Alix stared in surprise. Her husband’s face was convulsed with rage. She had never seen him so angry. Seeing her astonishment, Gerald tried to regain control of himself.
«Well, he is a stupid old fool,» he protested. «I made some joke about being off to London in the morning and I suppose he took it seriously. Or else he didn’t hear properly. What did you tell him?» He waited anxiously for her reply. «Of course, but he’s the sort of old man who if once he gets an idea in his head — well, it isn’t so easy to get it out again.» Then she told him of the gardener’s insistence on the sum asked for the cottage.
Gerald was silent for a minute or two, аnd then he said slowly: «Ames wanted to take two thousand in cash and the remaining thousand on mortgage. That’s the origin of that mistake, I think.»
«Very likely,» agreed Alix. Then she looked up at the clock and said, smiling, «What about the photos, Gerald? It’s already five minutes past nine.»
A very strange smile came over Gerald Martin’s face. «I’ve changed my mind,» he said quietly. «I shall not do any photography tonight.