About a week or ten days after Miss Verinder had left us, one of my clerks entered the private room at my office, with a card in his hand, and informed me that a gentleman was below, who wanted to speak to me.
I looked at the card. There was a foreign name written on it, which has escaped my memory. It was followed by a line written in English at the bottom of the card, which I remember perfectly2 well:
“Recommended by Mr. Septimus Luker.”
The audacity3 of a person in Mr. Luker’s position presuming to recommend anybody to me, took me so completely by surprise, that I sat silent for the moment, wondering whether my own eyes had not deceived me. The clerk, observing my bewilderment, favoured me with the result of his own observation of the stranger who was waiting downstairs.
“Here’s rather a remarkable-looking man, sir. So dark in the complexion4 that we all set him down in the office for an Indian, or something of that sort.”
Associating the clerk’s idea with the line inscribed5 on the card in my hand, I thought it possible that the Moonstone might be at the bottom of Mr. Luker’s recommendation, and of the stranger’s visit at my office. To the astonishment6 of my clerk, I at once decided7 on granting an interview to the gentleman below.
In justification8 of the highly unprofessional sacrifice to mere9 curiosity which I thus made, permit me to remind anybody who may read these lines, that no living person (in England, at any rate) can claim to have had such an intimate connexion with the romance of the Indian Diamond as mine has been. I was trusted with the secret of Colonel Herncastle’s plan for escaping assassination10. I received the Colonel’s letters, periodically reporting himself a living man. I drew his Will, leaving the Moonstone to Miss Verinder. I persuaded his executor to act, on the chance that the jewel might prove to be a valuable acquisition to the family. And, lastly, I combated Mr. Franklin Blake’s scruples11, and induced him to be the means of transporting the Diamond to Lady Verinder’s house. If anyone can claim a prescriptive right of interest in the Moonstone, and in everything connected with it, I think it is hardly to be denied that I am the man.
The moment my mysterious client was shown in, I felt an inner conviction that I was in the presence of one of the three Indians—probably of the chief. He was carefully dressed in European costume. But his swarthy complexion, his long lithe12 figure, and his grave and graceful13 politeness of manner were enough to betray his Oriental origin to any intelligent eyes that looked at him.
I pointed14 to a chair, and begged to be informed of the nature of his business with me.
After first apologising—in an excellent selection of English words—for the liberty which he had taken in disturbing me, the Indian produced a small parcel the outer covering of which was of cloth of gold. Removing this and a second wrapping of some silken fabric15, he placed a little box, or casket, on my table, most beautifully and richly inlaid in jewels, on an ebony ground.
“I have come, sir,” he said, “to ask you to lend me some money. And I leave this as an assurance to you that my debt will be paid back.”
I pointed to his card. “And you apply to me,” I rejoined, “at Mr. Luker’s recommendation?”
The Indian bowed.
“May I ask how it is that Mr. Luker himself did not advance the money that you require?”
“Mr. Luker informed me, sir, that he had no money to lend.”
“And so he recommended you to come to me?”
The Indian, in his turn, pointed to the card. “It is written there,” he said.
Briefly16 answered, and thoroughly17 to the purpose! If the Moonstone had been in my possession, this Oriental gentleman would have murdered me, I am well aware, without a moment’s hesitation18. At the same time, and barring that slight drawback, I am bound to testify that he was the perfect model of a client. He might not have respected my life. But he did what none of my own countrymen had ever done, in all my experience of them—he respected my time.
“I am sorry,” I said, “that you should have had the trouble of coming to me. Mr. Luker is quite mistaken in sending you here. I am trusted, like other men in my profession, with money to lend. But I never lend it to strangers, and I never lend it on such a security as you have produced.”
Far from attempting, as other people would have done, to induce me to relax my own rules, the Indian only made me another bow, and wrapped up his box in its two coverings without a word of protest. He rose—this admirable assassin rose to go, the moment I had answered him!
“Will your condescension19 towards a stranger, excuse my asking one question,” he said, “before I take my leave?”
I bowed on my side. Only one question at parting! The average in my experience was fifty.
“Supposing, sir, it had been possible (and customary) for you to lend me the money,” he said, “in what space of time would it have been possible (and customary) for me to pay it back?”
“According to the usual course pursued in this country,” I answered, “you would have been entitled to pay the money back (if you liked) in one year’s time from the date at which it was first advanced to you.”
The Indian made me a last bow, the lowest of all—and suddenly and softly walked out of the room.
It was done in a moment, in a noiseless, supple20, cat-like way, which a little startled me, I own. As soon as I was composed enough to think, I arrived at one distinct conclusion in reference to the otherwise incomprehensible visitor who had favoured me with a call.
His face, voice, and manner—while I was in his company—were under such perfect control that they set all scrutiny21 at defiance22. But he had given me one chance of looking under the smooth outer surface of him, for all that. He had not shown the slightest sign of attempting to fix anything that I had said to him in his mind, until I mentioned the time at which it was customary to permit the earliest repayment23, on the part of a debtor24, of money that had been advanced as a loan. When I gave him that piece of information, he looked me straight in the face, while I was speaking, for the first time. The inference I drew from this was—that he had a special purpose in asking me his last question, and a special interest in hearing my answer to it. The more carefully I reflected on what had passed between us, the more shrewdly I suspected the production of the casket, and the application for the loan, of having been mere formalities, designed to pave the way for the parting inquiry25 addressed to me.
I had satisfied myself of the correctness of this conclusion—and was trying to get on a step further, and penetrate26 the Indian’s motives27 next—when a letter was brought to me, which proved to be from no less a person that Mr. Septimus Luker himself. He asked my pardon in terms of sickening servility, and assured me that he could explain matters to my satisfaction, if I would honour him by consenting to a personal interview.
I made another unprofessional sacrifice to mere curiosity. I honoured him by making an appointment at my office, for the next day.
Mr. Luker was, in every respect, such an inferior creature to the Indian—he was so vulgar, so ugly, so cringing28, and so prosy—that he is quite unworthy of being reported, at any length, in these pages. The substance of what he had to tell me may be fairly stated as follows:
The day before I had received the visit of the Indian, Mr. Luker had been favoured with a call from that accomplished29 gentleman. In spite of his European disguise, Mr. Luker had instantly identified his visitor with the chief of the three Indians, who had formerly30 annoyed him by loitering about his house, and who had left him no alternative but to consult a magistrate31. From this startling discovery he had rushed to the conclusion (naturally enough I own) that he must certainly be in the company of one of the three men, who had blindfolded32 him, gagged him, and robbed him of his banker’s receipt. The result was that he became quite paralysed with terror, and that he firmly believed his last hour had come.
On his side, the Indian preserved the character of a perfect stranger. He produced the little casket, and made exactly the same application which he had afterwards made to me. As the speediest way of getting rid of him, Mr. Luker had at once declared that he had no money. The Indian had thereupon asked to be informed of the best and safest person to apply to for the loan he wanted. Mr. Luker had answered that the best and safest person, in such cases, was usually a respectable solicitor33. Asked to name some individual of that character and profession, Mr. Luker had mentioned me—for the one simple reason that, in the extremity34 of his terror, mine was the first name which occurred to him. “The perspiration35 was pouring off me like rain, sir,” the wretched creature concluded. “I didn’t know what I was talking about. And I hope you’ll look over it, Mr. Bruff, sir, in consideration of my having been really and truly frightened out of my wits.”
I excused the fellow graciously enough. It was the readiest way of releasing myself from the sight of him. Before he left me, I detained him to make one inquiry.
Had the Indian said anything noticeable, at the moment of quitting Mr. Luker’s house?
Yes! The Indian had put precisely36 the same question to Mr. Luker, at parting, which he had put to me; receiving of course, the same answer as the answer which I had given him.
What did it mean? Mr. Luker’s explanation gave me no assistance towards solving the problem. My own unaided ingenuity37, consulted next, proved quite unequal to grapple with the difficulty. I had a dinner engagement that evening; and I went upstairs, in no very genial38 frame of mind, little suspecting that the way to my dressing-room and the way to discovery, meant, on this particular occasion, one and the same thing.
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1
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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6
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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9
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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11
scruples
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| 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 ) | |
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12
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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15
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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16
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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32
blindfolded
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| v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗 | |
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33
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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34
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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35
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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36
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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37
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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