Mrs. Underwood presided at her own table with the detached air of a casual guest. "Mistress of herself, though china fall," Burton murmured to himself as he looked at her; and he had an intuition that china would quite frequently be exasperated9 into falling by her calm. Henry sat mostly silent, with downcast eyes, though occasionally he would look up, under half-lifted lids, with an expression of scorn or secret derision. If he had shown more animation10 or kindliness11, he would have been a handsome man; but the heavy melancholy12 of his look had drawn13 bitter lines about his mouth, and his very silence seemed half reproachful, half sullen14.
As for Leslie, the only discomposing thing about her was her beauty. Every time that Burton looked at her, it struck him anew as incongruous and distracting that she should hand him the bread or have an eye to his needs. She should have been kept in a case or a frame. She belonged in a palace, where she would have due attendance and ceremony. Well,--Philip had not been such a fool, after all.
"Now I am going to begin my story," said Leslie, "because I want Mr. Burton to understand what lies back of this present persecution15. The story goes back six years."
Henry gave his sister one of his slow, curious looks, but dropped his eyes again without putting his silent comment into words.
"Six years ago we were kept in hot water all one summer by some malicious16 person who played mischievous17 pranks18 on us, and wrote anonymous19 letters to us and about us. For instance, there were letters warning people to be on their guard against papa, saying he had learned from the Indian medicine men how to put spells on people and make them wither20 away and die."
"If I could have done half the wonders they credited with me with," laughed Dr. Underwood, "I would have out-Hermanned Hermann and out-Kellered Keller. Indian fakirs and black magicians wouldn't have been in it with Roger Underwood, M. D. It was like accusing a man who is shoveling dirt for one-twenty-five a day of having money to pay the national debt concealed21 in his hatband."
"Then there were a lot of letters about Henry," Leslie went on. "They would say, for instance: 'Henry Underwood is a liar3.' 'Henry Underwood is a thief.' 'Henry Underwood ought to be in the penitentiary22.' All one summer that kept up."
Henry had dropped his knife and fork and sat silent, without looking at his sister. His face was the face of one who is nerving himself to endure torture.
"Were there any accusations23 of the other members of the family?"
"No. Only Henry and father.
"Who received the letters? Friends of yours? Or enemies?"
"They were sent to the tradesmen and the more prominent people in town. We heard of them here and there, but probably we didn't know about all that were received. I remember more clearly than anything else how angry I was at some of the tricks."
"There was something more than these anonymous letters, then?"
The doctor frowned but Leslie answered readily.
"Yes. The letters continued at odd times all summer, but there were other things happening at the same time. For instance, one day an advertisement appeared in the paper saying that Dr. Underwood offered fifty cents apiece for all the cats and dogs that would be brought him for the purpose of vivisection. Now, papa does not practise vivisection--"
"He does not now," Mrs. Underwood interrupted, with impressive deliberation, "but I am not at all sure that he never did. And as I have said before, if he was ever guilty of that abominable24 wickedness, at any time or under any circumstances, he richly deserved all the annoyance25 that advertisement brought upon him."
Dr. Underwood wrinkled up his face in a grimace26, but made no answer.
"Well, he doesn't now, and he didn't six years ago," Leslie resumed pacifically, "but it was hard to convince people of that. You should have seen the place the next day! Farmers, street boys, tramps, all sorts of rough people kept coming here with cats and dogs of all kinds,--oh, the forlorn creatures! And when papa refused to buy them, the people were angry and threatened to have him arrested for not carrying out his agreement. And all the ministers and the women's societies called on him to remonstrate27 with him for such wickedness, and when he said that he had not had anything to do with the advertisement, they showed plainly that they thought he was trying to crawl out of it because he had been caught. Oh, it was awful."
"Did you make any attempt to find out how the advertisement came to the paper, Doctor?"
Dr. Underwood shrugged28 his shoulders.
"Yes, they showed me the order. It had come by mail, with stamps enclosed to pay for the insertion. The dunderheaded fools hadn't had sense enough to guess that when a physician wants 'material' he doesn't advertise for it in the morning paper."
"Under the circumstances, Roger," said Mrs. Underwood gravely, "your flippancy29 is not becoming."
"It certainly was a neat scheme, if the object was to embarrass you, Doctor. What else, Miss Underwood?"
"One day every grocer in town appeared at the door with a big load of household supplies,--enough to provision a regiment30 for a winter. They had all received the same order,--a very large order, including expensive and unusual things that they had had to send away for. And of course they were angry when we wouldn't take any of the things. They said that after that they would accept no orders unless we paid for them in advance, and that was sometimes embarrassing, also!"
"Were the orders received by mail, as in the other cases?"
"I believe they were."
"Did you get any of the original papers? And have you preserved them?"
"No, I didn't preserve them," said Dr. Underwood. "You see, the disturbance31 was only a sporadic32 one. It stopped, and I dismissed the matter from my mind. I didn't realize that Leslie had stored so many of the details in her memory. I think she attaches too much importance to them."
"I am not at all sure that she does," said Burton promptly33. "They certainly constitute a curious series of incidents. Was there anything more, Miss Underwood?"
"Oh, yes, indeed. One morning we could not get out of the house. During the night, every door and every window had been barred across from the outside. Strips of board had been fastened across all of them with screws so there had been no noise that would waken us. On the front door was a piece of paper, and written on it in big letters was 'This is a prison.' Henry found it when he came home,--he had been spending the night with a friend,--and tore it down, and unscrewed the bars on the front door and let us out of our prison."
"You could have got down all right from the second story by the big oak on the east side," said Henry. It was the first time he had contributed anything to the recital34, and he spoke now in an impatient tone, as though the whole conversation bored him.
"Has it occurred to you," asked Burton thoughtfully, "that all these incidents bear the same marks of freakishness and mischief35 rather than of venomous malice36? They are like the tricks a schoolboy might play to get even with some one he had a grudge37 against. They are not like the revenge a man would take for a real injury or a deep-felt grievance38."
He glanced up at Dr. Underwood as he spoke, and caught the tail end of a scrutinizing39 look which that careless gentleman was just withdrawing from Henry's unconscious face. The furtive40 watchfulness41 of that look was wholly at variance42 with the offhand43 tone in which he answered Burton.
"I have not the slightest doubt you are right about that. It was mere44 foolishness on the part of some ignorant person, who wanted to do something irritating, and probably enjoyed the feeling that he was keeping us all agog45 over his tomfoolery."
"Oh, but it was more than nonsense," cried Leslie. "You forget about the fires. One night, Mr. Burton, Mrs. Bussey left the week's washing hanging on the lines in the back yard, and in the morning we found that it had all been gathered into a heap and burned. That was carrying a joke pretty far. And soon afterwards there was an attempt to burn the house down."
"Come, Leslie, let me tell that incident," interposed her father. "We found, one morning, a heap of half-charred sticks of wood on the front doorstep. It looked sinister46 at first sight, of course, but when I examined it, I was sure that there had been no fire in the sticks when they were piled on the step, or afterwards. It was a menace, if you like, but as Mr. Burton points out about those other matters, it was rather a silly attempt at a scare than a serious attempt at arson47. Don't paint that poor devil any blacker than he is, my girl. He has probably realized long ago that it was all a silly performance, and we don't want to go about harboring malice."
"Of course not. Only,--those things did actually happen to us, Mr. Burton."
"Don't say happen, Leslie," said Mrs. Underwood, with the curious effect she always had of suddenly coming back to consciousness at any word that struck her ethical48 mind. "Things don't happen to people unless they have deserved them. What seems to be accident may be really punishment for sin."
"Well, these things befell us after that fashion," said Leslie patiently, picking her words to avoid pitfalls49 of metaphysics. "Then they stopped. Everything went on quietly until a few weeks ago. Then things began again."
"Let me warn you, Burton," interposed Dr. Underwood again, "that this is where Leslie becomes fantastic. She has too much imagination for her own good. She ought to be writing fairy tales, or society paragraphs for the Sunday papers. Now go ahead, my dear. Do your worst."
"Papa persists in making fun of me because I see a connection between what happened six years ago, and the things that have been coming up lately, but I leave you to judge. There have been no tricks on us, no disturbances50 about the house, but there have been stories circulated, perfectly51 outrageous52 stories,--"
"The highwayman story?"
"That is one of them."
"But surely the best way to treat that is with silent contempt!"
But Leslie shook her head.
"That isn't papa's way. He answers back. And it certainly is annoying to have your neighbors repeating such tales, and humiliating to find that they are ready to go more than halfway53 in believing them."
"It is not only humiliating; it is expensive," murmured Dr. Underwood, letting his head fall back against the cushions of the couch, and closing his eyes a little wearily. "You can't expect people to call in a doctor who is suspected of robbing the public and occasionally poisoning a patient. I have practically nothing left but charity patients now, and pretty soon they will consider that it is a charity to let me prescribe for them."
Burton's eyes were drawn to Leslie's face. She was looking at her father with a passion of pity and sympathy that was more eloquently54 expressed through her silence than by any words. Mrs. Underwood broke the silence with her judicial55 speech.
"I do not think," she said, "that there has ever been anything in your treatment of your patients that would at all justify56 the idea that you poisoned Mr. Means. Therefore, you can rest assured that the story will do you no harm. We really can suffer only from our own acts."
Underwood opened his eyes and looked at Burton with portentous57 gravity.
"We'll consider that matter settled, then. Sometime I should like to lay the details of that affair before you, Mr. Burton, because you would understand the wild absurdity58 of it all. As a matter of fact, strychnine in fatal quantities was found in the bottle of medicine which I made up myself, and I have not the slightest idea who could have tampered59 with it. Some one had. That is one of the mysteries which Leslie wants to fit in with the others of the series. But we haven't time for that now, for my committee is almost due, and I am going to ask you to help me back to the surgery. I will meet them there."
"One moment," said Burton. "You surely must have laid these matters before the police. Did they make no discoveries, have no theories?"
Underwood glanced at his daughter,--plainly and obviously a glance of warning. But he spoke in his habitually60 easy way.
"Oh, Selby has put it before the police," he said. "As I understand it, he has been neglecting his business to labor61 with the police by day and by night, trying to induce them to arrest me. It strike me that he is becoming something of a monomaniac on the subject, but I may be prejudiced."
"I didn't mean the recent hold-up, but those earlier affairs," explained Burton. "Didn't the police investigate them?"
"Our police force has fallible moments, and this proved to be one of them. They chased all over the place, like unbroken dogs crazy over a scent62, ran many theories to earth, and proved nothing," said the doctor in an airy tone, as one dismissing a subject of no moment.
But Mrs. Underwood looked down the table toward Burton and spoke with her disconcerting and inopportune candor63.
"They tried to make out that it was Henry," she said calmly. "I think I may say, without being accused of partiality, that I do not consider their charges as proven, for though Henry has much to answer for--"
"So you see we are very well-known people in the town and have been much in the public eye," interrupted the doctor smoothly64.
"Not so well-known as you might be," said Burton, catching65 wildly at the first conversational66 straw he could think of, in his eagerness to second the doctor's obvious effort to put a stop to his wife's disconcerting admissions. "I asked a man who was talking to Mrs. Bussey at your back gate if this was your house, and he didn't even know your name."
"That is as gratifying as it is surprising," the doctor responded, also marking time. "I wonder who the ignorant individual could be."
At that moment Mrs. Bussey entered the room, with her tray, and to keep the ball going he turned to question her. "Who was it you were talking to at the back gate this afternoon, Mrs. Bussey?"
"Wasn't nobody," said Mrs. Bussey, with startled promptness.
"A man. Didn't know my name. Was he a stranger?"
"Didn't talk to nobody," she repeated doggedly67, without looking up. "Who says I was talking to a strange man?"
"It doesn't matter," said the doctor, with a surprised glance. "He was evidently unknown as well as unknowing, Mr. Burton,--or at any rate we keep peace in the family by assuming that he was non-existent. There are things into which it is not wise to inquire too closely. Now I believe that I'll have to ask for help in getting back into the surgery."
Burton waited just long enough to assure himself that Henry was not going to his father's assistance, then offered his own arm. At the same moment he caught a slight but imperative68 sign from Mrs. Underwood to her son. In silent response to it, Henry came forward to support his father upon the other side. As soon as they got Dr. Underwood again into the surgery, Henry withdrew without a word. Burton felt that there was something wistful in the look which the doctor turned toward his son's retreating form. But he was saved from the embarrassment69 of recognizing the situation, for immediately Mrs. Bussey flung open the door without the formality of tapping and burst into the room.
"There's men a-coming," she exclaimed breathlessly.
"What's that? What d'ye mean?" demanded Dr. Underwood, startled and impatient.
"There's three men a-coming in at the gate. Shall I let loose the dog?"
"Go and let them in, you idiot. You will make Mr. Burton think that we have no visitors. Don't keep them waiting outside. They didn't come to study the architecture of the fa?ade. Bring them here,--here to this room, do you understand?"
Mrs. Bussey departed, muttering something under her breath that evidently expressed her bewildered disapproval70 of this break in the familiar routine of life, and Dr. Underwood looked up at Burton with his peculiar grin, which might mean: amusement or embarrassment or any other emotion that he wanted to conceal7.
"My investigating committee," he said.
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1
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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sporadic
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| adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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offhand
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| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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arson
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| n.纵火，放火 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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49
pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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51
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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53
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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58
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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59
tampered
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| v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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60
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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61
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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66
conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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68
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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