ABC谋杀案 15

Fourteen,THE THIRD LETTER,I well remember the arrival of A B C’s third letter.,I may say that all precautions had been taken so that when A B C resumed his campaign thereshould be no unnecessary delays. A young sergeant ¹ from Scotland Yard was attached to the houseand if Poirot and I were out it was his duty to open anything that came so as to be able tocommunicate with headquarters without loss of time.,As the days succeeded each other we had all grown more and more on edge. Inspector ² Crome’saloof and superior manner grew more and more aloof ³ and superior as one by one his more hopefulclues petered out. The vague descriptions of men said to have been seen with Betty Barnardproved useless. Various cars noticed in the vicinity of Bexhill and Cooden were either accountedfor or could not be traced. The investigation ⁴ of purchases of A B C railway guides causedinconvenience and trouble to heaps of innocent people.,As for ourselves, each time the postman’s familiar rat-tat sounded on the door, our hearts beatfaster with apprehension ⁵. At least that was true for me, and I cannot but believe that Poirotexperienced the same sensation.,It was on a Friday that A B C’s third letter came. The evening post arrived about ten o’clock.,When we heard the familiar step and the brisk rat-tat, I rose and went along to the box. Therewere four or five letters, I remember. The last one I looked at was addressed in printed characters.,“Poirot, ” I cried…My voice died away.,“It has come? Open it, Hastings. Quickly. Every moment may be needed. We must make ourplans.
”,I tore open the letter (Poirot for once did not reproach me with untidiness) and extracted theprinted sheet.,How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？,The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。