首相绑架案 2

Two,THE TRAGEDY AT MARSDON MANOR ¹,I had been called away from town for a few days, and on my return found Poirot in the act ofstrapping up his small valise.,“A la bonne heure, Hastings, I feared you would not have returned in time to accompanyme.
”,“You are called away on a case, then?”,“Yes, though I am bound to admit that, on the face of it, the affair does not seem promising ².,“Yes? ” I said, much interested.,“There was, of course, the usual suicide clause in the policy. In the event of his committingsuicide within a year the premiums ³ would be forfeited ⁴. Mr.?Maltravers was duly examined by theCompany’s own doctor, and although he was a man slightly past the prime of life was passed asbeing in quite sound health. However, on Wednesday last—the day before yesterday—the body ofMr.?Maltravers was found in the grounds of his house in Essex, Marsdon Manor, and the cause ofhis death is described as some kind of internal haemorrhage. That in itself would be nothingremarkable, but sinister ⁶ rumours ⁷ as to Mr.?Maltravers’ financial position have been in the air oflate, and the Northern Union have ascertained ⁸ beyond any possible doubt that the deceasedgentleman stood upon the verge ⁹ of bankruptcy ¹⁰. Now that alters matters considerably ¹¹. Maltravershad a beautiful young wife, and it is suggested that he got together all the ready money he couldfor the purpose of paying the premiums on a life insurance for his wife’s benefit, and thencommitted suicide. Such a thing is not uncommon ¹². In any case, my friend Alfred Wright, who is adirector of the Northern Union, has asked me to investigate the facts of the case, but, as I told him,I am not very hopeful of success. If the cause of the death had been heart failure, I should havebeen more sanguine ¹³. Heart failure may always be translated as the inability of the local GP todiscover what his patient really did die of, but a haemorrhage seems fairly definite. Still, we canbut make some necessary inquiries ¹⁴. Five minutes to pack your bag, Hastings, and we will take ataxi to Liverpool Street.
”,About an hour later, we alighted from a Great Eastern train at the little station of MarsdonLeigh. Inquiries at the station yielded the information that Marsdon Manor was about a miledistant. Poirot decided ¹⁵ to walk, and we betook ourselves along the main street.,“What is our plan of campaign?” I asked.,“First I will call upon the doctor. I have ascertained that there is only one doctor in MarsdonLeigh, Dr.?Ralph Bernard. Ah, here we are at his house. ”,I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主，而是这儿的女主人。,The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望 。