“Are you faint?” whispered the young barrister. “Let me take you back to your room.”
“If the gentleman feels queer, sir, he’d better not go on with it,” said the sergeant2, also in a low voice, as if impressed by the place. “He isn’t used to it; we are.”
“Yes,” said the workman. “Not our first case, eh, pardner?”
But even he spoke3 below his breath.
“No, I’ll stay,” said Stratton more firmly. “I have been ill, officer, and it has left me weak.”
“Then don’t try it, sir. You can leave it to us.”
“Go on,” said Stratton, after drawing a long, gasping breath; “I am quite right now.”
“Spoken like an Englishman, sir,” said the sergeant. “Party’s likeness4, gents?” he said, as the light shone full on the oil-painting across the room; the face of the grey, benevolent-looking man seeming to gaze at them reproachfully.
“Yes, my old friend’s portrait,” said Stratton, with a sigh.
“Better let me go first, sir,” said the sergeant, pressing before Stratton, who was about to enter, but he was too late. Stratton took a step forward, caught his foot against something, and nearly fell headlong into the room.
“Mind my tools, please,” growled5 the workman, stooping to pick up his bag, which had lain in the darkness of the opening; and then all stepped cautiously into the well-furnished room, which was, in almost every respect, a repetition of Stratton’s, only reversed, and a good deal encumbered6 with large, open cases full of bulky folios, containing series of pressed and dried plants. These hid a great deal of the panelling and carving7, save on the right, where, on either side of the beautiful old fireplace, were two low doors, formerly8 the entrances to the passages which connected the room with Stratton’s when they were part of a suite9.
Away to the left was another door, matching those by the fireplace—that leading into the botanist’s bed-chamber; and wherever a space was left on the panelling, there was a portrait, in an old tarnished10 gilt11 frame, of some ancestor, each—dimly seen though it was—as the sergeant made the light play round the walls—bearing a striking resemblance to that which faced them.
“Looks as if he was watching us,” said the workman huskily; and he placed a piece of tobacco in his mouth, making Guest start as he closed the brass12 box from which he had extracted it with a loud snap.
“Yes,” said the sergeant, in a whisper, as if to himself, and he made the light of his bull’s-eye play from easy-chair to couch, and then all about the floor; “I always wondered how they managed them eyes.”
Everything looked in order, with one exception. The thick Turkey carpet and heavy rug were exactly as they had been laid; the fireplace showed the coal, wood, and paper neatly13 laid; and the chairs were all duly ranged in their places; but the sergeant’s light rested upon the table—a heavy, oblong affair, with four massive carven legs—a part of whose top was bare, for the thick green cloth cover, with bullion14 braiding at the border, had been half dragged off, and lay in folds from the top to floor, only kept from gliding15 right off by the heavy lamp, and looking as if it had been hastily dragged down to cover something by the table, or caught by someone’s foot when passing hastily to the door.
The sergeant made his light play on the dark folds for a few moments, and then jerked it away.
“Do you gentlemen mean to stop?” he said, speaking now a little more rapidly.
There was no reply and the man stepped forward to the table, raised one corner of the cloth quickly, and then swung it right up and steadily16 lowered it again, while Guest uttered a sigh of relief, for there was nothing visible but the heavy legs of the table.
“Enough to deceive any man,” said the sergeant, who then stopped and listened, walked back, and softly closed both doors.
“May as well be private, gentleman,” he said. “Eh?”
This last to the workman, who had muttered something in a low voice.
“I says I could ha’ swore he was there.”
“So could I, Jemmy,” replied the sergeant, as he made the light play round the room again, and let it rest upon the chamber-door.
“There is nothing, you see,” said Stratton, rather quickly.
“Haven’t done yet, sir,” replied the sergeant. Then, in a low voice to Guest—“I’m pretty well used to this sort o’ thing, sir, but ’pon my soul I feel as if I should like to turn that picture round. It’s just as if it was watching me. There, let’s get it over.”
The man had, in spite of his being accustomed to scenes of horror, seemed as if it were necessary to string himself up. He had gone to the table finally to lift the cover, and that had used up a certain amount of nerve force. He was forced to make a call on nature for a further supply.
He strode across to the chamber-door, threw it open, and walked in, the others following and standing17 just inside, as he made the light play round a well-furnished bedroom where everything was exactly in its place—the bed made, dressing18 table in perfect order, and a couple of cupboards displaying nothing within but sundry19 clothes hanging from pegs20.
“Arn’t in here,” said the sergeant, after a final look round. “Been no struggle—no sign of anyone having been took ill. Don’t like one thing, Jem,” he added.
“Well,” said the man, “if you mean, pardner, that everything looks too tidy, and as if things had been straightened up all but the table-kiver, that’s just what I was a-thinking.”
“Right,” said the sergeant; “that was the one thing forgotten or left in the hurry.”
“Oh, no,” said Guest quickly. “I see we have raised a false alarm.”
“Maybe, sir,” said the sergeant firmly, “but I’m not satisfied yet. Let’s go back in the other room, please. I want to know what that table-cover means. Hallo! What’s this?” he said sharply, as he stooped down and picked up a piece of composition candle, gnawed21 nearly all away. “Where’s the candlestick?”
“Here,” said Guest, pointing to where a little old-fashioned candlestick lay by a stand containing folios of dried plants.
“Well, sir, that was knocked down,” said the sergeant.
“We are wasting time,” said Stratton firmly. “See if that lock is uninjured, my man, so that the door will close.”
“Stop a bit, sir, please,” said the sergeant; “we haven’t done yet.”
He stepped at once to the panelled door on the left of the fireplace, turned the handle, threw it open, and made his light play in the long, deep, narrow closet, one side of which was filled from floor to ceiling by a rack laden22 with books of pressed plants.
“Looks as if it had once been a passage,” said the sergeant, “oak panels right over the ceiling. Well, nobody there,” he continued, as he backed out and closed the door.
“That will do,” said Stratton, speaking more firmly now.
“My friend and I made a mistake. We are much obliged for all you have done, and—”
“Not quite done, sir,” said the sergeant grimly; and he crossed to the other side of the fireplace, took hold of the handle of the closed-up door, left to make both sides match, and tried to turn it, but it was fast.
Stratton turned ghastly, but he was in the shade.
“No cupboard there,” said Guest sharply.
The sergeant turned quickly, and his light flashed across the faces of the two friends. He saw Stratton’s wild look, and he tapped on the panel.
“No cupboard, sir? Sounds hollow, too.”
Guest caught sight of his friend’s face at the same moment, and his pulses leaped; a confused mist of memories flooded his brain, and something made him keep silence, though, had he been asked, he could not have explained why.
“I should say there is a cupboard here,” continued the sergeant, turning back to examine it. “Fastened up, but been a cupboard like the other, of course.”
Guest glanced at Stratton again in the gloom, but he could see nothing now, with the light averted23, only hear his heavy breathing, which was faintly stertorous24, as if from exertion25.
“Let me see, gentlemen, you live in the next chambers26?”
Stratton was silent, while Guest met the officer’s eye, and involuntarily answered: “Yes.”
“Do they back on to there?”
“Yes; part of the old suite,” said Guest, answering, as it were, against his will.
“I’ll trouble you to take me in there for a moment, please,” said the man decisively.
Stratton drew a deep breath, and without a word led the way out into the passage and round to his own door.
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1
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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2
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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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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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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6
encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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10
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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11
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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12
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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13
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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14
bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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15
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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16
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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19
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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20
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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21
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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22
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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23
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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24
stertorous
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| adj.打鼾的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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26
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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