The next morning I swallowed my pride and sought out Durbin. He had superintended the removal of Mrs. Jeffrey's effects from the southwest chamber1, and should know, if any one, where this filigree2 ball was now to be found. Doubtless it had been returned with the other things to Mr. Jeffrey, and yet, who knows? Durbin is sly and some inkling of its value as a clue may have entered his mind. If so, it would be anywhere but in Mr. Jeffrey's or Miss Tuttle's possession.
To test my rival's knowledge of and interest in this seemingly trivial object, I stooped to what I can but consider a pardonable subterfuge3. Greeting him in the offhand4 way least likely to develop his suspicion, I told him that I had a great idea in connection with the Jeffrey case and that the clue to it lay in a little gold ball which Mrs. Jeffrey sometimes wore and upon which she set great store. So far I spoke5 the truth. It had been given her by some one—not Mr. Jeffrey—and I believed, though I did not know, that it contained a miniature portrait which it might be to our advantage to see.
I expected his lip to curl; but for a wonder it maintained its noncommittal aspect, though I was sure that I caught a slight, very slight, gleam of curiosity lighting6 up for a moment his calm, gray eye.
"You are on a fantastic trail," he sneered7, and that was all.
But I had not expected more. I had merely wished to learn what place, if any, this filigree ball held in his own suspicions, and in case he had overlooked it, to jog his curiosity so that he would in some way betray its whereabouts.
That, for all its seeming inconsequence, it did hold some place in his mind was evident enough to those who knew him; but that it was within reach or obtainable by any ordinary means was not so plain. Indeed, I very soon became convinced that he, for one, had no idea where it was, or after the suggestive hint I had given him he would never have wasted a half-hour on me. What was I to do then? Tell my story to the major and depend on him to push the matter to its proper conclusion? "Not yet," whispered pride. "Durbin thinks you a fool. Wait till you can show your whole hand before calling attention to your cards." But it was hard not to betray my excitement and to act the fool they considered me when the boys twitted me about this famous golden charm and asked what great result had followed my night in the Moore house. But remembering that he who laughs last laughs best, and that the cause of mirth was not yet over between Durbin and myself, I was able to preserve an impassive exterior8 even when I came under the major's eye. I found myself amply repaid when one of the boys who had studiously avoided chaffing me dropped the following words in my ear:
"I don't know what your interest is in the small gold charm you were talking about, but you have done some good work in this case and I don't mind telling you what I know about it. That little gold ball has caused the police much trouble. It is on the list of effects found in the room where the candle was seen burning; but when all these petty belongings9 of Mrs. Jeffrey's were gathered up and carried back to her husband, this special one was not to be found amongst them. It was lost in transit10, nor has it ever been seen since. And who do you think it was who called attention to this loss and demanded that the article be found? Not Mr. Jeffrey, who seems to lay little or no stress upon it, but the old man they call Uncle David. He who, to all appearance, possessed11 no interest in his niece's personal property, was on hand the moment these things were carried into her husband's house, with the express intention, it seems, of inquiring for this gold ball, which he declared to be a family heirloom. As such it belonged to him as the present holder12 of the property, and to him only. Attention being thus called to it, it was found to be missing, and as no one but the police seemed to be to blame for its loss the matter was hushed up and would have been regarded as too insignificant13 for comment, the trinket being intrinsically worthless, if Mr. Moore had not continued to make such a fuss about it. This ball, he declared, was worth as much to a Moore as all the rest of his property, which was bosh, you know; and the folly14 of these assertions and the depth of the passions he displayed whenever the subject was mentioned have made some of us question if he is the innocent inheritor he has tried to make himself out. At all events, I know for a certainty that the district attorney holds his name in reserve, if the grand jury fails to bring in an indictment15 against Miss Tuttle."
"The district attorney is wise," I remarked, and fell athinking.
Had this latent suspicion against Mr. Moore any solid foundation? Was he the guilty man? The memorandum17 I had come across in the book which had been lately pulled down from the library shelves showed that, notwithstanding his testimony18 to the contrary, he had been in that house close upon that fatal night, if not on the very night itself. It also showed his extreme interest in the traditions of the family. But did it show anything more? Had he interrupted his writing to finish his query19 in blood, and had one of his motives20 for this crime been the acquisition of this filigree ball? If so, why had he left it on the table upstairs? A candle had been lit in that room—could it have been by him in his search for this object? It would be a great relief to believe so. What was the reason then that my mind refused so emphatically to grasp this possibility and settle upon him as the murderer of Mrs. Jeffrey? I can not tell. I hated the man, and I likewise deeply distrusted him. But I could not, even after this revelation of his duplicity, connect him in my thoughts with absolute crime without a shock to my intuitions. Happily, my scruples21 were not shared by my colleagues. They had listed him. Here I felt my shoulder touched, and a newspaper was thrust into my hand by the man who had just addressed me.
"Look down the lost and found column," said he. "The third advertisement you will see there came from the district attorney's office; the next one was inserted by Mr. Moore himself."
I followed his pointing finer and read two descriptions of the filigree ball. The disproportion in the rewards offered was apparent. That promised by Uncle David was calculated to rouse any man's cupidity22 and should have resulted in the bauble23's immediate24 return.
"He got ahead of the police that time," I laughed. "When did these advertisements appear?"
"During the days you were absent from Washington."
"And how sure are you that he did not get this jewel back?"
"Oh, we are sure. His continued anxiety and still active interest prove this, even if our surveillance had been less perfect."
"And the police have been equally unsuccessful?"
"Equally."
"After every effort?"
"Every."
"Who was the man who collected and carried out those things from the southwest chamber?"
He smiled.
"You see him," said he.
"It was you?"
"Myself."
"And you are sure this small ball was among them?"
"No. I only know that I have seen it somewhere, but that it wasn't among the articles I delivered to Mr. Jeffrey."
"How did you carry them?"
"In a hand-bag which I locked myself."
"Before leaving the southwest chamber?"
"Yes."
"Then it is still in that room?"
"Find it," was his laconic25 reply.
Here most men would have stopped, but I have a bulldog's tenacity26 when once I lay hold. That night I went back to the Moore house and, taking every precaution against being surprised by the sarcastic27 Durbin or some of his many flatterers, I ransacked28 the southwest chamber on my own behalf for what certainly I had little reason to expect to find there.
It seemed a hopeless cause from the first, but I acted as if no one had hunted for this object before. Moving every article, I sought first on the open floor and then in every possible cranny for the missing trinket. But I failed to find it and was about to acknowledge myself defeated when my eye fell on the long brocaded curtains which I had drawn29 across the several windows to hide every gleam of light from the street. They were almost free from folds, but I shook them well, especially the one nearest the table, and naturally with no effect.
"Folly," I muttered, yet did not quite desist. For the great tassels30 still hung at the sides and— Well! you may call it an impossible find or say that if the bauble was there it should have been discovered in the first search for it! I will not say no. I can only tell you what happened. When I took one of those tassels in my band, I thought, as it twirled under my touch, that I saw something gleam in its faded old threads which did not belong there. Startled, and yet not thoroughly32 realizing that I had come upon the object of my search, I picked at this thing and found it to be a morsel33 of gold chain that had become entangled34 in it. When I had pulled it out, it showed a small golden ball at one end, filigreed35 over and astonishingly heavy for its size and apparent delicacy36.
How it came there—whether it rolled from the table, or was swept off inadvertently by the detective's hand, and how it came to be caught by this old tassel31 and held there in spite of the many shakings it must have received, did not concern me at this momentous37 instant. The talisman38 of this old family was found. I had but to discover what it held concealed39 to understand what had baffled Mr. Moore and made the mystery he had endeavored to penetrate40 so insolvable. Rejoicing in my triumph, but not wasting a moment in self-congratulation, I bent41 over the candle with my prize and sought for the clasp or fastening which held its two parts together. I have a knack42 at clasps and curious fastenings and was able at first touch to spring this one open. And what did I find inside? Something so different from what I expected, something so trivial and seemingly harmless, that it was not until I recalled the final words of Uncle David's memorandum that I realized its full import and the possibilities it suggested. In itself it was nothing but a minute magnifying glass; but when used in connection with—what? Ah, that was just what Uncle David failed to say, possibly to know. Yet this was now the important point, the culminating fact which might lead to a full understanding of these many tragedies. Could I hope to guess what presented itself to Mr. Moore as a difficult if not insolvable problem? No; guessing would not answer. I must trust to the inspiration of the moment which suggested with almost irresistible43 conviction:
The picture! That inane44 and seemingly worthless drawing over the fireplace in The Colonel's Own, whose presence in so rich a room has always been a mystery!
Why this object should have suggested itself to me and with such instant conviction, I can not readily say. Whether, from my position near the bed, the sight of this old drawing recalled the restless nights of all who had lain in face of its sickly smile, or whether some recollection of that secret law of the Moores which forbade the removal of any of their pictures from the time-worn walls, or a remembrance of the curiosity which this picture excited in every one who looked at it—Francis Jeffrey among the number—I no sooner asked myself what object in this house might possibly yield counsel or suggest aid when subjected to the influence of a magnifying glass, than the answer, which I have already given, sprang instantly into my mind: The picture!
Greatly excited, I sprang upon a chair, took down the drawing from the wall and laid it face up on the bed. Then I placed the glass over one of the large coils surrounding the insipid45 face, and was startled enough, in spite of all mental preparation, to perceive the crinkly lines which formed it, resolve themselves into script and the script into words, some of which were perfectly46 legible.
The drawing, simple as it looked, was a communication in writing to those who used a magnifying glass to read it. I could hardly contain my triumph, hardly find the self-control necessary to a careful study of its undulating and often conflicting lines and to the slow picking out of the words therein contained.
But when I had done this, and had copied the whole of the wandering scrawl47 on a page of my note book the result was of value.
Read, and judge for yourself.
"Coward that I am, I am willing to throw upon posterity48 the shadow of a crime whose consequences I dare not incur49 in life. Confession50 I must make. To die and leave no record of my deed is impossible. Yet how tell my story so that only my own heirs may read and they when at the crisis of their fate? I believe I have found the way by this drawing and the injunction I have left to the holders51 of the filigree ball.
"No man ever wished his enemy dead more than I did, and no man ever spent more cunning on the deed. Master in my own house, I contrived52 a device by which the man who held my fate in his hands fell on my library hearth53 with no one near and no sign by which to associate me with the act. Does this seem like the assertion of a madman? Go to the old chamber familiarly called "The Colonel's Own." Enter its closet, pull out its two drawers, and in the opening thus made seek for the loophole at the back, through which, if you stoop low enough, you can catch a glimpse of the library hearth and its great settle. With these in view, slip your finger along the wall on your right and when it touches an obstruction—pass it if it is a handle, for that is only used to rewind the apparatus54 and must be turned from you until it can be turned no farther; but if it is a depression you encounter, press, and press hard on the knob concealed within it. But beware when any one you love is seated in that corner of the settle where the cushion invites rest, lest it be your fate to mourn and wail55 as it is mine to curse the hour when I sought to clear my way by murder. For the doom56 of the man of blood is upon me. The hindrance57 is gone from my life, but a horror has entered it beyond the conception of any soul that has not yielded itself to the unimaginable influences emanating58 from an accomplished59 crime. I can not be content with having pressed that spring once. A mania60 is upon me which, after thirty years of useless resistance and superhuman struggle, still draws me from bed and sleep to rehearse in ghastly fashion that deed of my early manhood. I can not resist it. To tear out the deadly mechanism61, unhinge weight and drum and rid the house of every evidence of crime would but drive me to shriek62 my guilt16 aloud and act in open pantomime what I now go through in fearsome silence and secrecy63. When the hour comes, as come it must, that I can not rise and enter that fatal closet, I shall still enact64 the deed in dreams, and shriek aloud in my sleep and wish myself dead and yet fear to die lest my hell be to go through all eternity65, slaying66 over and over my man, in ever growing horror and repulsion.
"Do you wish to share my fate? Try to effect through blood a release from the difficulties menacing you."
![](../../../skin/default/image/4.jpg)
点击
收听单词发音
![收听单词发音](/template/default/tingnovel/images/play.gif)
1
chamber
![]() |
|
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
filigree
![]() |
|
n.金银丝做的工艺品;v.用金银细丝饰品装饰;用华而不实的饰品装饰;adj.金银细丝工艺的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
subterfuge
![]() |
|
n.诡计;藉口 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
offhand
![]() |
|
adj.临时,无准备的;随便,马虎的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
spoke
![]() |
|
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
lighting
![]() |
|
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
sneered
![]() |
|
讥笑,冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
exterior
![]() |
|
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
belongings
![]() |
|
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
transit
![]() |
|
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
possessed
![]() |
|
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
holder
![]() |
|
n.持有者,占有者;(台,架等)支持物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
insignificant
![]() |
|
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
folly
![]() |
|
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
indictment
![]() |
|
n.起诉;诉状 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
guilt
![]() |
|
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
memorandum
![]() |
|
n.备忘录,便笺 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
testimony
![]() |
|
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
query
![]() |
|
n.疑问,问号,质问;vt.询问,表示怀疑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
motives
![]() |
|
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
scruples
![]() |
|
n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 );顾虑,顾忌v.感到于心不安,有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
cupidity
![]() |
|
n.贪心,贪财 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
bauble
![]() |
|
n.美观而无价值的饰物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
immediate
![]() |
|
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
laconic
![]() |
|
adj.简洁的;精练的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
tenacity
![]() |
|
n.坚韧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
sarcastic
![]() |
|
adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
ransacked
![]() |
|
v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 );抢劫,掠夺 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
drawn
![]() |
|
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
tassels
![]() |
|
n.穗( tassel的名词复数 );流苏状物;(植物的)穗;玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 );使抽穗, (为了使作物茁壮生长)摘去穗状雄花;用流苏装饰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
tassel
![]() |
|
n.流苏,穗;v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
thoroughly
![]() |
|
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
morsel
![]() |
|
n.一口,一点点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
entangled
![]() |
|
adj.卷入的;陷入的;被缠住的;缠在一起的v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
filigreed
![]() |
|
adj.饰有金银丝细工的v.(用金丝等制成的)精工制品( filigree的过去式和过去分词 );精致的物品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
delicacy
![]() |
|
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37
momentous
![]() |
|
adj.重要的,重大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38
talisman
![]() |
|
n.避邪物,护身符 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39
concealed
![]() |
|
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40
penetrate
![]() |
|
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41
bent
![]() |
|
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42
knack
![]() |
|
n.诀窍,做事情的灵巧的,便利的方法 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43
irresistible
![]() |
|
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44
inane
![]() |
|
adj.空虚的,愚蠢的,空洞的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45
insipid
![]() |
|
adj.无味的,枯燥乏味的,单调的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46
perfectly
![]() |
|
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47
scrawl
![]() |
|
vt.潦草地书写;n.潦草的笔记,涂写 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48
posterity
![]() |
|
n.后裔,子孙,后代 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49
incur
![]() |
|
vt.招致,蒙受,遭遇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50
confession
![]() |
|
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51
holders
![]() |
|
支持物( holder的名词复数 ); 持有者; (支票等)持有人; 支托(或握持)…之物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52
contrived
![]() |
|
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53
hearth
![]() |
|
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54
apparatus
![]() |
|
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55
wail
![]() |
|
vt./vi.大声哀号,恸哭;呼啸,尖啸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56
doom
![]() |
|
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57
hindrance
![]() |
|
n.妨碍,障碍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58
emanating
![]() |
|
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的现在分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59
accomplished
![]() |
|
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60
mania
![]() |
|
n.疯狂;躁狂症,狂热,癖好 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61
mechanism
![]() |
|
n.机械装置;机构,结构 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62
shriek
![]() |
|
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63
secrecy
![]() |
|
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64
enact
![]() |
|
vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65
eternity
![]() |
|
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66
slaying
![]() |
|
杀戮。 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |