不可思议的窃贼01

THE INCREDIBLE THEFT,One,As the butler handed round the soufflé, Lord Mayfield leaned confidentially ¹ towards his neighbouron the right, Lady Julia Carrington. Known as a perfect host, Lord Mayfield took trouble to live upto his reputation. Although unmarried, he was always charming to women.,Lady Julia Carrington was a woman of forty, tall, dark and vivacious ². She was very thin, butstill beautiful. Her hands and feet in particular were exquisite ³. Her manner was abrupt ⁴ and restless,that of a woman who lived on her nerves.,About opposite to her at the round table sat her husband, Air Marshal Sir George Carrington.,His career had begun in the Navy, and he still retained the bluff ⁵ breeziness of the ex-Naval man.,Mrs.?Vanderlyn was an extremely good-looking blonde. Her voice held a soup?on ofAmerican accent, just enough to be pleasant without undue ⁶ exaggeration.,On the other side of Sir George Carrington sat Mrs.?Macatta, M.P. Mrs.?Macatta was a greatauthority on Housing and Infant Welfare. She barked out short sentences rather than spoke ⁷ them,and was generally of somewhat alarming aspect. It was perhaps natural that the Air Marshal wouldfind his right-hand neighbour the pleasanter to talk to.,Mrs.?Macatta, who always talked shop wherever she was, barked out short spates ⁸ ofinformation on her special subjects to her left-hand neighbour, young Reggie Carrington.,Reggie Carrington was twenty-one, and completely uninterested in Housing, Infant Welfare,and indeed any political subject. He said at intervals ⁹, “How frightful ¹⁰! ” and “I absolutely agreewith you,” and his mind was clearly elsewhere. Mr.?Carlile, Lord Mayfield’s private secretary, satbetween young Reggie and his mother. A pale young man with pince-nez and an air of intelligentreserve, he talked little, but was always ready to fling himself into any conversational ¹¹ breach ¹².,Noticing that Reggie Carrington was struggling with a yawn, he leaned forward and adroitly ¹³ askedMrs.?Macatta a question about her “Fitness for Children
” scheme.,Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈 。,She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。