III. Answer the questions. 1. What did Edwards tell Sir Henry about Conway Jefferson?

1. What did Edwards tell Sir Henry about Conway Jefferson?

2. Why did Miss Marple choose Florence Small of the five girls?

3. What did Florence tell Miss Marple about Pamela?

4. Why did Miss Marple pay a visit to the vicar?

5. What did Miss Marple do in Basil Blake's house?

IV. Correct the false statements.

1. Edwards did not want to listen to Sir Henry.

2. Edwards spoke of Ruby very well, he respected her greatly.

3. Mr. Jefferson did not love his daughter.

4. The girls interviewed at the police station were of different ages.

5. When Miss Marple came to the vicar's house she was met by the vicar but his wife was out.

6. Miss Lee was happy to see Miss Marple.

V. a) Find the following adverbs, copy them out into your vocabulary books.

Почтительно (р. 111), откровенно (р. 112), довольно хорошо (p.112), прямо/грубо (р.113), решительно (р.115), послушно/покорно (p. 116), странно/необычайно/с любопытством (р. 119), убедительно (p.119), оживленно (p.120), вызывающе (p.122).

B) Translate into English in writing.

Почтительно слушать, почтительно поклониться, говорить откровенно, знать довольно хорошо, видеть довольно хорошо, сказать прямо, покорно сесть, покорно слушать кого-либо, посмотреть на кого-либо с любопытством, объяснить что-либо убедительно, говорить более убедительно, оживленно улыбнуться, оживленно сказать что-то, ее голос вызывающе зазвенел, вести себя вызывающе, говорить решительно, решительный ответ.

VI. Find synonyms for each of the following phrases and words:

a person who is most dear to smb (p. 113)

a person who plots (p.l 14)

photo, picture (p. 114)

to confess (p. 116)

child (p. 119)

to look nice (p. 120)

VII. Read and translate into Russian in writing.

(pp. 112-113) "Edwards was silent... was deceit."

Chapter 19

P. 123

For an interval Dinah stared at Miss Marple. Then she said incredulously, "Basil? Murder? Are you joking?"

"No, indeed. Haven't you seen the papers?"

Dinah caught her breath. "You mean that girl at the Majestic Hotel. Do you mean they suspect Basil of killing her?"

"Yes."

"But it's nonsense!"

There was the whir of a car outside, the bang of a gate. Basil Blake flung open the door and came in, carrying some bottles. He said, "Got the gin and the vermouth. Did you -" He stopped and turned incredulous eyes on the prim, erect visitor.

Dinah burst out breathlessly, "Is she mad? She says you're going to be arrested for the murder of that girl Ruby Keene."

"Oh, God!" said Basil Blake. The bottles dropped from his arms onto the sofa. He reeled to a chair and dropped down in it and buried his face in his hands. He repeated, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

P. 124

Dinah darted over to him. She caught his shoulders. "Basil, look at me! It isn't true! I know it isn't true! I don't believe it for a moment!"

His hand went up and gripped hers. "Bless you, darling."

"But why should they think - You didn't even know her, did you?"

"Oh, yes, he knew her," said Miss Marple.

Basil said fiercely, "Be quiet, you old hag!... Listen, Dinah, darling. I hardly knew her at all. Just ran across her once or twice at the Majestic. That's all, I swear that's all!"

Dinah said, bewildered, "I don't understand. Why should anyone suspect you, then?"

Basil groaned. He put his hands over his eyes and rocked to and fro.

Miss Marple said, "What did you do with the hearth rug?"

His reply came mechanically. "I put it in the dustbin."

Miss Marple clucked her tongue vexedly. "That was stupid, very stupid. People don't put good hearth rugs in dustbins. It had spangles in it from her dress, I suppose?"

"Yes, I couldn't get them out."

Dinah cried, "What are you talking about?"

Basil said sullenly, "Ask her. She seems to know all about it."

"I'll tell you what I think happened, if you like," said Miss Marple. "You can correct me, Mr Blake, if I go wrong. I think that after having had a violent quarrel with your wife at a party and after having had, perhaps, rather too much... er... to drink, you drove down here. I don't know what time you arrived."

Basil Blake said sullenly, "About two in the morning. I meant to go up to town first; then, when I got to the suburbs, I changed my mind. I thought Dinah might come down here after me. So I drove down here. The place was all dark. I opened the door and turned on the light and I saw - and I saw -" He gulped and stopped.

Miss Marple went on, "You saw a girl lying on the hearth rug. A girl in a white evening dress, strangled. I don't know whether you recognized her then −"

Basil Blake shook his head violently. "I couldn't look at her after the first glance; her face

P. 125

was all blue, swollen; she'd been dead some time and she was there in my living room!" He shuddered.

Miss Marple said gently, "You weren't, of course, quite yourself. You were in a fuddled state and your nerves are not good. You were, I think, panic-stricken. You didn't know what to do."

"I thought, Dinah might turn up any minute. And she'd find me there with a dead body, a girl's dead body, and she'd think I'd killed her. Then I got an idea. It seemed, I don't know why, a

good idea at the time. I thought: 'I'll put her in old Bantry's library. Damned pompous old stick, always looking down his nose; sneering at me as artistic and effeminate. Serve the pompous old brute right,' I thought. 'He'll look a fool when a dead lovely is found on his hearth rug.'" He added with a pathetic eagerness to explain, "I was a bit drunk, you know, at the time. It really seemed positively amusing to me. Old Bantry with a dead blonde."

"Yes, yes," said Miss Marple. "Little Tommy Bond had very much the same idea. Rather a sensitive boy, with an inferiority complex, he said teacher was always picking on him. He put a

frog in the clock and it jumped out at her. You were just the same," went on Miss Marple, "only, of course, bodies are more serious matters than frogs."

Basil groaned again. "By the morning I'd sobered up. I realized what I'd done. I was scared stiff. And then the police came here. Another damned pompous ass of a chief constable. I was scared of him, and the only way I could hide it was by being abominably rude. In the middle of it all, Dinah drove up."

Dinah looked out of the window. She said, "There's a car driving up now. There are men in it."

"The police, I think," said Miss Marple.

Basil Blake got up. Suddenly he became quite calm and resolute. He even smiled. He said, "So I'm in for it, am I? All right, Dinah, sweet, keep your head. Get onto old Sims, he's the

family lawyer, and go to mother and tell her about our marriage. She won't bite. And don't worry. I didn't do it. So it's bound to be all right, see, sweetheart?"

There was a tap on the cottage door. Basil called, "Come in."

P. 126

Inspector Slack entered with another man. He said, "Mr Basil Blake?"

"Yes."

"I have a warrant here for your arrest on the charge of murdering Ruby Keene on the night of September twentieth last. I warn you that anything you say may be used at your trial. You will please accompany me now. Full facilities will be given you for communicating with your solicitor."

Basil nodded. He looked at Dinah, but did not touch her. He said, "So long, Dinah."

Cool customer, thought Inspector Slack. He acknowledged the presence of Miss Marple with a half bow and a "Good morning," and thought to himself, smart old pussy; she's on to it. Good job we've got that hearth rug. That and finding out from the car-park man at the studio that he left that party at eleven instead of midnight. Don't think those friends of his meant to commit perjury. They were bottled, and Blake told 'em firmly the next day it was twelve o'clock when he left, and they believed him. Well, his goose is cooked good and proper. Mental, I expect. Broadmoor, not hanging. First the Reeves kid, probably strangled her, drove her out to the quarry, walked back into Danemouth, picked up his own car in some side lane, drove to this party, then back to Danemouth, brought Ruby Keene out here, strangled her, put her in old Bantry's library, then probably got the wind up about the car in the quarry, drove there, set it on fire and got back here. Mad sex and blood lust, lucky this girl's escaped. What they call recurring mania, I expect.

Alone with Miss Marple, Dinah Blake turned to her. She said, "I don't know who you are, but you've got to understand this: Basil didn't do it."

Miss Marple said, "I know he didn't. I know who did do it. But it's not going to be easy to prove. I've an idea that something you said just now may help. It gave me an idea the connection I'd been trying to find. Now, what was it?"

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