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Twenty-seven,THE EYEWITNESS ¹,Suddenly Poirot laughed. He could not help it. His head went back, and his high Gallic laugh filledthe room.,“Pardon, madame,” he said, wiping his eyes. “I could not help it. Here we argue and we reason!,We ask questions! We invoke ² the psychology—and all the time there was an eyewitness of thecrime. Tell me, I pray of you. ”,“It was fairly late in the evening. Anne Meredith was dummy ³. She got up and looked over herpartner’s hand, and then she moved about the room. The hand wasn’t very interesting — theconclusion was inevitable ⁴. I didn’t need to concentrate on the cards. Just as we got to the last threetricks I looked over towards the fireplace. Anne Meredith was bent ⁵ over Mr. Shaitana. As Iwatched, she straightened herself—her hand had been actually on his breast—a gesture whichawakened my surprise. She straightened herself, and I saw her face and her quick look overtowards us. Guilt ⁶ and fear—that is what I saw on her face. Of course, I didn’t know what hadhappened then. I only wondered what on earth the girl could have been doing. Later—I knew.”,“But she did not know that you knew. She did not know that you had seen her?
”,“Poor child,” said Mrs. Lorrimer. “Young, frightened—her way to make in the world. Do youwonder that I—well, held my tongue? ”,“No, no, I do not wonder.
”,“Especially knowing that I—that I myself—” She finished the sentence with a shrug ⁷. “It wascertainly not my place to stand accuser. It was up to the police. ”,“Quite so—but today you have gone further than that.
”,He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。,Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福 。