Blackmail
讹诈
Arthur Hailey
阿瑟·黑利
The chief house officer, Ogilvie, who had declared he would appear at the Croydons suite an hour after his cryptic telephone call actually took twice that time. As a result the nerves of both the Duke and Duchess were excessively frayed when the muted buzzer of the outer door eventually sounded.
负责饭店保安工作的欧吉维探长打了那个神秘的电话，本来说好一个小时后光临克罗伊敦夫妇所住的套房的，可实际上却过了两个小时才到。结果，当外间门上的电铃终于发出沉闷的嗡嗡声时，公爵夫妇的神经都紧张到了极点。
The Duchess went to the door herself. Earlier she had dispatched her maid on an invented errand and, cruelly, instructed the moon-faced male secretary-who was terrified of dogs-to exercise the Bedlington terriersn. . Her own tension was not lessened by the knowledge that both might return at any moment.
公爵夫人亲自去开门。此前她早已借故把女仆支开，并且狠心地给那位脸儿圆圆的、见到狗就怕得要死的男秘书派了一个要命的差事，让他牵着贝德林顿狼犬出去散步。想到这两个人随时都会回来，她自己的紧张情绪怎么也松弛不下来。
A wave of cigar smoke accompanied Ogilvie in. When he had followed her to the living room, the Duchess looked pointedly at the half-burned cigar in the fat man's mouth. “My husband and I find strong smoke offensive. Would you kindly put that out."
随着欧吉维进屋的是一团雪茄烟雾。当他随着她走进起居室时，公爵夫人目光直射着这个大肥佬嘴里叼着的那烧了半截的雪茄。"我丈夫和我都讨厌浓烈的烟味，您行行好把它灭了吧!"
The house detective's piggy eyes surveyed her sardonically from his gross jowled face. His gaze moved on to sweep the spacious, well-appointed room, encompassingthe Duke who faced them uncertainly, his back to a window.
探长那双夹在面部隆起的肉堆中的猪眼睛轻蔑地将她上下打量了一番。接着，他便移动目光，对这个宽敞豪华、设备齐全的房间扫视了一周，看到了那位正背朝窗户、神色茫然地望着他们的公爵夫人。
"Pretty neat set-up you folks got.” Taking his time, Ogilvie removed the offending cigar, knocked off the ash and flipped the butt toward an ornamental fireplace on his right. He missed, and the butt fell upon the carpet where he ignored it.
"你们这套房间布置得倒挺讲究的呢。"欧吉维慢条斯理地从口中拿下雪茄，敲掉烟灰，然后将烟蒂扔向靠右边的一个装饰性壁炉，但他失了准头，烟蒂掉到地毯上，他也不去管它。