- •I waited for four hours, getting to know intimately the pattern of the curtains and the cracks in the brown linoleum. Mostly, I thought about wire.
- •Chapter two
- •It was Sunday. I drove to the racecourse, but the gates were locked. Back in the town the Clerk of the Course's office was shut and empty. I telephoned his home, but there was no answer.
- •I told him about my search at the fence, and what I had found there.
- •I put my head quietly round Scilla's door. Her room was dark, but I could hear her even breathing. She was still sound asleep.
- •I sat up straight, surprised.
- •Chapter three
- •I told her as gradually, as gently as I could, that Bill's fall had not been an ordinary accident. I told her about the wire and about Lodge's investigations.
- •I had just decided to ask him to explain his attitude, and to tell him what had really happened, when he began to speak.
- •I was lost before she spoke a word. The first thing I said was, 'I'll be glad to ride your horse.'
- •Chapter four
- •I unsaddled, went back to the weighing-room, changed into Kate's brand new colours, and went out to see what had become of Miss Ellery-Penn.
- •Chapter five
- •I was just giving Joe up when he came out of the gate and hailed me with no apology for his lateness. But I was not the only person to notice his arrival.
- •I was puzzled. 'Is Sandy the only person who has harmed you?' 'It wasn't Sandy, surely, who was paying you not to win?'
- •Chapter six
- •I had driven the better part of three hundred miles besides riding in two races, and I was tired. We went to our beds early, Scilla promising to take her sleeping pills.
- •I drove up to London to spend some long overdue hours in the office, arranging the details of insurance and customs duty on a series of shipments of copper.
- •I already knew I wanted to marry Kate. The thought that she might not have me was a bitter one.
- •I parked the car in the lay-by behind the horse-box. The door at the back of the horse-box opened and a hand, the stable lad's, I supposed, reached out to help me up. He took me by the wrist.
- •I sat on the ground and looked after the speeding horse-box. The number plate was mostly obscured by thick dust, but I had time to see the registration letters. They were apx.
- •I said, 'Have you got any further with the Major Davidson business since the day before yesterday?'
- •I grinned.
- •I played poker with the children and lost to Henry because half my mind was occupied with his father's affairs.
- •Chapter seven
- •I felt a warm glow inside. The Cheltenham Festival meeting suddenly seemed not a bad place to be, after all.
- •I felt a great impulse to assure him it was none of mine either. But he turned back to me and said, 'What shall I do?' in a voice full of whining self-pity.
- •I pointed out the reasons for supposing that murder had not been intended. Sandy 's brown eyes stared at me unwinkingly until I had finished.
- •I drank a sip of champagne and said, 'Well done yourself, you old son-of-a-gun. And here's to the Gold Cup.'
- •I walked purposefully up to Pete, and he made me his excuse for breaking away. We went towards the gates.
- •Chapter eight
- •Inside, the house was charming, with just a saving touch of shabbiness about the furnishings, as if, though rich, the inhabitants saw no need to be either ostentatious or extravagant.
- •I laughed. 'Then why did you give a racehorse to your niece?'
- •I couldn't help a look of distaste, and she laughed and said, 'That's what I think too, but I'd never let him suspect it. He's so devoted to them all.'
- •It was ten miles to Washington. We went into the village and stopped, and I asked some children on their way home from Sunday school where farmer Lawson lived.
- •I thanked him all the same for his trouble, and he asked me to let him know, if I found out, who had taken his box.
- •I laughed. 'If I'd thought he could have possibly been the leader of the gang I wouldn't have taken you there.'
- •Chapter nine
- •I said, 'I suppose if they can't get money from their old victims, the gang try protecting people who don't know about your systems and your dogs -'
- •I looked at Uncle George to see how he liked being deprived of the end of the story, and saw him push his half-filled plate away with a gesture of revulsion, as if he were suddenly about to vomit.
- •Chapter ten
- •Chapter eleven
- •It was still raining an hour later when I went out to ride Palindrome. Pete was waiting for me in the parade ring, the water dripping off the brim of his hat in a steady stream.
- •I knew him.
- •Chapter twelve
- •Chapter thirteen
- •I scowled at him.
- •I leaned my head back against the window and waited for these details to mean something significant, but all that happened was that my inability to think increased.
- •Chapter fourteen
- •I went outside. I stood near the weighing-room door, waiting for Joe and catching up with the latest gossip.
- •Chapter fifteen
- •I pulled Admiral up. Looking carefully I could see the posts and the high wire fence which formed the boundary between the little trees and the road beyond.
- •I began to get the glimmerings of an idea of how to use the manhunt I had caused.
- •I came back to the present with a jerk. I picked up the microphone, clicked over the switch, and said 'No' in as bored and nasal a tone as I could muster.
- •Chapter sixteen
- •Chapter seventeen
- •I stared at the page until the words faded into a blur.
- •Chapter eighteen
- •I swallowed and said, 'Do you remember the children who had to be driven to school by a judo expert to keep them safe?'
- •It drove off. I stared after it, numbly.
- •Chapter nineteen
- •I was watching Sandy instead of concentrating wholly on Forlorn Hope, so that what happened was entirely my own fault.
- •I mentally reviewed the rest of the gang.
- •Illogically, this made me very angry.
- •Chapter nine
- •Chapter fourteen
- •Chapter fifteen
Chapter fifteen
-
assorted knuckledusters – разнообразной формы кастеты
-
I was still not unduly dismayed. – Я еще пока не сильно отчаивался.
-
The arable land gave way to bracken. – Пашня сменилась зарослями папоротника.
-
as cock pheasant on a snow field. – (ср. русск.) как на ладони
-
a conifer forest – хвойный лес
-
A horse can dare just so much and no more. – Лошадь способна на риск до определенного предела, но не больше.
-
But first things first. – Но сначала самое важное.
-
slow trot – медленная рысь
-
a four- fingured signpost – дорожный столб с четырьмя указателями
-
hindquarters – задние ноги (лошади)
-
a spiked metal knuckleduster – металлический кастет с шипами
-
before I could pin it down – прежде чем я сообразил, что именно
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
-
to shoot on sight – стрелять на поражение
-
The sight of his car … gave me a chance to square things with my conscience. – Машина, которую я увидел, позволила мне успокоить свою совесть.
-
an inch of mahogany – дверь из красного дерева дюймовой толщины
-
His mind was very nearly unhinged. – Он абсолютно сумасшедший
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
-
He had urged a bloodthirsty mob to tear me to bits. – Он подстрекал кровожадную банду разорвать меня на куски
-
He was the sort of man who liked to contemplate atrocities he could never inflict himself – Он был такой человек, который любил пристально изучать зверства, которые никогда не мог совершить сам.
-
I gave him no time to screw himself up. – Я не дал ему времени собраться с духом.
-
I flung him back hard into his chair, knocking the wind out of him. – Я отшвырнул его на стул так, что у него перехватило дыхание.
-
quarry – преследуемый зверь, жертва
-
the heathland – вересковая пустошь
-
the enemy is routed – (воен.) враг разбит, обезврежен
-
Meet me down at the main pier, then, at the double, and I’ll gen you up. – Встречаемся у главного причала, да поживее, и я вас проинформирую.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
-
There are no niggers left in the woodpile. – Больше нет подозрительных обстоятельств, скрытых причин.
-
He was a dead loss on the subject. – Он никогда не разбирался в этих вопросах.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
-
I thought you’d be rather toffee-nosed and cool. – Я думала ты задерешь нос и будешь холоден со мной.
-
without much ado – без дальнейших разговоров
-
to tighten girths – подтянуть подпруги
-
My green young hurdler took fright, reared up like a circus horse, twisted sideways, and threw me off. – Мой молодой скакун испугался, встал на дыбы, как цирковой, дернулся в сторону и сбросил меня на землю.
-
taking the bull by the horns – (посл.) взять быка за рога; переходя прямо к делу
-
He doesn’t know me from Adam. – Никогда меня не узнает.
-
I got off by the skin of my bloody teeth. – Я с трудом выкрутился.
-
It was ton to a tanner – (слег.) можно было побиться об заклад