Chapter 17. — Six Years After

Note by Colonel John Meadows, D.S.O., Chief Commissioner¹ . . . .of the Adelaide Police . . . .

THE foregoing MS. came into my hands under circumstances that were quite accidental and that are unnecessary in the public interest to disclose.

Peter Wacks is dead. He died heroically on the occasion of the landing at Suvla Bay and the manner of his death is known to all the world.

Mrs. Wacks left the Commonwealth² with her two sons over four years ago, and we are given to understand she has married again. A prominent resident of this city, when in the United States the year before last, recognised her when on holiday in the Rocky Mountains. He does not remember her new name, but he brought back the news that she was very happily married to a wealthy South American rancher, and that there was another child now of this second marriage. She was always a very charming woman.

I have very carefully gone into this so-called confession³ of the dead man, and I admit at once that I find it very difficult to know exactly what to say.

To begin with — anything at all written by Wacks must be received with a certain amount of suspicion and reserve.

In his confession Wacks does not tell us — indeed, perhaps he himself was not aware of the fact — that for six months he was an inmate⁴ of a Mental Asylum⁵. His was an extreme case of religious mania⁶, and his detention⁷ followed immediately upon his two years’ crusade, as, so he called himself, a travelling evangelist.

His mind completely broke down, and at first it was believed his condition of mania would be permanent.

It is true, as he says, that he was a great preacher. His oratory⁸ was at all times of a very high order, and the command that he had of his audiences was marvellous. Wherever he went he was received by great crowds of admirers — and, towards the end, there were no buildings large enough to accommodate all who desired to hear him. His preaching, however, was of a most frenzied⁹ and emotional nature, and in the course of his two years’ ministry¹⁰, he was undoubtedly¹¹ responsible for dispatching a good many down the path he ultimately went himself. He played on the fears and terrors of his listeners in a most unhealthy way.

In regard to the crimes that he lays so unsparingly at his own door — the authorities have for a long time been aware of all that he credited himself with.

During his detention at the Mental Asylum he repeatedly declared himself the author of the crimes enumerated¹² in his MS. and of many other crimes as well.

It is most difficult to separate the false from the true. To some extent one is inclined at first to dismiss at once any idea of Wacks’ complicity in the perpetration of those dreadful murders that shook this city just over eleven years ago.

But, on the other hand, his confession discloses at times so intimate and accurate a knowledge of all the details of the bloody¹³ happenings of those days, that I am reluctantly compelled to believe there must be at least some truth in what he writes.

For myself, I had always a suspicion at the time that the second half of the murders were of quite a different order to those of the first, and that they were, moreover, carried out by quite a different kind of assassin.

Also, I was always quite certain that the caretaker of Mr. Silas Magrath could not have been the man who made off with the policeman’s bicycle at Government House, and subsequently disposed of it in the gravel¹⁴ pit off the Torrens Road. His legs were quite three inches too short.

Then, too, much which Wacks tells us of other happenings that can be checked and verified are perfectly¹⁵ true.

For example, there is no doubt he broke into my room and went through my diary. I have looked up some of the entries and they are exactly as he says. Then again — he admits burning his suit because of the blood-stains down the front. I knew at the time he had done it, and informed my superiors. Again, he solves clearly the puzzle of Boulter’s rabbits and explains the quietness of his dog, Nell.

Everything dovetails in the most accurately¹⁶, and time after time Wacks shows himself the possessor of inside knowledge. How, for instance, could he have known of the theft of the policeman’s cap and cape¹⁷, unless, indeed, he had taken them himself? Their loss was never reported, and was known only to Policeman Hogan, the Chief Commissioner, and myself.

Then there is that reference to the iron bar that we seized and that he affirms he had used with such deadly effect on his poor victims. He says it was part of the handle of an old-fashioned linen¹⁸ press. Here he is quite right. I have had inquiries¹⁹ made recently and the handle of an old Lissom²⁰ press was brought to me. It is the very facsimile of the weapon the would-be murderer threw away that Saturday night at Prospect²¹.

Altogether there are many things that point almost with certainty to the truth of at least some portion of what he writes.

I have shown the MS. to Mr. Frederick Waller, the new Chairman of the Stipendiary Stewards²³. He knew Wacks personally for several years and distinctly remembers the affair of ‘The Boss.’ He says everything happened exactly as Wacks describes, and that there is no exaggeration.

Sir Bartle Elkin also, has read the MS. He altogether discredits²⁴ the idea that Wacks could in any way have been the perpetrator of the murders he describes. He believes his confession to be, as he says, only the pathological fantasy of a very imaginative mind. He informs me that he is well acquainted with the Malayan preparation so constantly referred to by Wacks, and he admits, curiously²⁶, that it is generally exhibited in the form of a red paste, but he denies positively²⁷ that it could have preserved its properties for twenty years. He says in three months, at longest, it would have been harmless. He refuses to admit also the possibility that Wacks could by any chance have been under the influence of the drug upon the many occasions when he had conversations with him. He says he was always most interested in Wacks, and took particular note of everything about him. He is sure there were no signs then of any mental aberration²⁸, and his pupils were always quite normal.

In conclusion, he believes the entire motive²⁹ of Wacks’ confession to be the desire, so often exhibited in cases of like mania, vicariously to take upon himself the burden of other people’s crimes. It was Wacks’ obsession³⁰, he says, that he was ordained³¹ to offer himself as sacrifice for the sins and shortcomings of the world.

The report Sir Bartle furnished me with was most interesting, but I shall always disagree with him on a great many points. I think he regards the whole matter from the too-narrow standpoint of purely³² medical knowledge. He brushes aside all the many damning facts that to my mind indisputably link Peter Wacks in some ways with the murderer.

But there I must leave it now.

Whether Wacks was really the murderer or not, it will be always impossible to decide absolutely.

The pros²² and cons²⁵ will no doubt always be emphatically discussed, for in an age when all the world is striving feverishly³³ after ideals, it is a sad commentary on the frailty³⁴ of our nature that the contemplation of things evil should be of far more interest to us than the contemplation of things good.

Crime may indeed repel³⁵, but — it fascinates, always.

The End

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

3 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

4 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

5 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

6 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 oratory   

n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞

参考例句：

• I admire the oratory of some politicians.我佩服某些政治家的辩才。
• He dazzled the crowd with his oratory.他的雄辩口才使听众赞叹不已。

9 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

12 enumerated   

v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A spokesperson enumerated the strikers' demands. 发言人列数罢工者的要求。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enumerated the capitals of the 50 states. 他列举了50个州的首府。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

14 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

17 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

18 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

19 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 lissom   

adj.柔软的，轻快而优雅的

参考例句：

• Look at the air floating your lissom dance.看那空中漂浮着你轻盈的舞姿。
• Finally I resided in warm,and your lissom in this season.最后我栖居在温暖里，与你轻盈在这个时节。

21 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

22 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 stewards   

（轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家

参考例句：

• The stewards all wore armbands. 乘务员都戴了臂章。
• The stewards will inspect the course to see if racing is possible. 那些干事将检视赛马场看是否适宜比赛。

24 discredits   

使不相信( discredit的第三人称单数 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信

参考例句：

• His theories met with general discredits. 他的理论遭到普遍怀疑。
• The man who discredits the supreme certainty of mathematics is feeding on confusion. 一个人如怀疑数学的极端可靠性就是陷入混乱。

25 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

27 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

28 aberration   

n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差

参考例句：

• The removal of the chromatic aberration is then of primary importance.这时消除色差具有头等重要性。
• Owing to a strange mental aberration he forgot his own name.由于一种莫名的精神错乱，他把自己的名字忘了。

29 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

30 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

31 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

32 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

33 feverishly   

adv. 兴奋地

参考例句：

• Feverishly he collected his data. 他拼命收集资料。
• The company is having to cast around feverishly for ways to cut its costs. 公司迫切须要想出各种降低成本的办法。

34 frailty   

n.脆弱；意志薄弱

参考例句：

• Despite increasing physical frailty,he continued to write stories.尽管身体越来越虛弱，他仍然继续写小说。
• He paused and suddenly all the frailty and fatigue showed.他顿住了，虚弱与疲惫一下子显露出来。

35 repel   

v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥

参考例句：

• A country must have the will to repel any invader.一个国家得有决心击退任何入侵者。
• Particles with similar electric charges repel each other.电荷同性的分子互相排斥。