He turned to Roper.
“You come with me, Roper. I may want you.”
Sir Charles Considine coughed—then, very quietly but nevertheless very determinedly—interposed. “That seems to me a trifle one-sided as a proposition, Inspector1. You have support, physical, moral, and also no doubt intellectual,” he smiled somewhat whimsically at Roper—“and we, all of us, are, to an extent, shaken by the terrible event that has befallen my house, and, therefore, as a consequence are neither so self-controlled nor so mentally alert as normally. We appear before you to be questioned and cross-examined. I don’t think I should be asking an unwarranted favor if I suggested that you allow, say, two members of my circle to be present while you conduct your examination. H’m? What do you say, Inspector?”
57
Baddeley met his gaze for a moment, as though making an attempt to fathom2 his real intentions. Then with a laugh and a shrug3 of his eminently4 business-like shoulders, gestured his consent.
“Choose your men. On the condition that I see the three of you first.”
“Thank you, Inspector. Believe me, I appreciate your courtesy. I should like Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Bathurst to—er—um—assist you in your intended investigations5.”
“As you wish, sir, and thank you. Now, with your permission, you three gentlemen will do me the goodness to accompany me to the library, and we will do our united best to see if we can’t, by hook or by crook7, throw some light on this unfortunate affair. And you, Roper! I’ve been lucky enough to unravel8 some pretty ticklish9 problems in my time, some by good luck, some, if I may say so, gentlemen, with pardonable pride, by intelligent application to the matter in hand. And I hope,” he turned on us all decisively, “to hunt the truth out, here.”
We entered the library. Our host motioned us to our seats. Baddeley took the armchair at the head of the table investing himself as far as he could with an atmosphere of the inquisitorial. Roper took the chair on his left. Sir Charles placed himself in front of the fireplace, while Anthony and I took chairs at the side of the table.
The Inspector was soon in his stride.
“Now, Sir Charles, this Mr. Prescott, whose death we all deplore10, was a guest of yours?”
58
“Yes. For my cricket week.”
“Known him long?”
“No. It would help you materially, if I informed you of the circumstances of the acquaintanceship. Prescott was at Oxford11 with my son and Mr. Cunningham here, and we met him at Lords’ during the last ’Varsity Match—just a month ago. We invited him here for our annual week.”
The Inspector was impressed. “Is he G. O. L. Prescott then—that played for Oxford against Cambridge?”
“He is, Inspector! And there’s one more fact that I had omitted to mention, he had met my daughter, Mary, some months previously12.”
“Where?” Baddeley’s face betrayed keen interest.
“At Twickenham, in December.”
“You have no reason to suspect, Sir Charles, that any developments had transpired13 from these meetings?”
“None whatever. As far as my knowledge goes, Mr. Prescott and my daughter entertained no feelings for each other, beyond those of mere14 friendship.”
“I see.” Baddeley fingered his chin. “You’ve seen nothing during his stay here, that you consider might have any bearing upon his death? Nothing—however seemingly unimportant? Think, Sir Charles!”
59
The old man shook his head. “No, Inspector. I’ve noticed nothing at all unusual, nothing that could possibly touch his death. The scene this morning came as a terrible shock to me. And as terrible by reason of its utter unexpectedness as by reason of its horror.”
“How much money did Prescott lose last night, Sir Charles?”
“Really, I’ve no idea! But nothing worth worrying about—you can set your mind easy on that point. I shouldn’t allow it—in Considine Manor15.”
The Inspector raised his eyebrows16.
“Then, in light of your answer, you may be surprised to know that there was some pretty high playing at Considine Manor last night.”
The eyes of our host flashed with his reply. “Very surprised and exceedingly annoyed. Had I known, had I had the slightest inkling—you are certain of what you are stating—pardon me?”
“I make that statement, Sir Charles, on unimpeachable17 authority.”
“Dear, dear! This news disturbs me profoundly.”
The old man’s appearance confirmed the truth of this last statement. This unexpected revelation, following upon the shock of the murder, had made its mark upon his countenance18. He huddled19 himself into a chair. Then braced20 himself to ask another question.
“Was Prescott playing high?”
“He was, Sir Charles.” Baddeley’s features relaxed for a fleeting21 moment into a smile—“and incidentally, he won a considerable sum of money.”
“Whom from?”
60
“That you shall hear, sir, during the course of this morning’s inquiry22.”
Sir Charles subsided23 again, by no means so sure of himself as he had been. I could not help whispering to Anthony as he lounged in his chair with his long legs extended—“First blood to the Inspector.”
He grinned, and as he did so Baddeley’s next question came.
“Now you, Mr. Bathurst. A guest here, also?”
“Yes.”
“Like Mr. Prescott?”
“Didn’t know him sufficiently24 to express an opinion.”
Baddeley evinced his annoyance25. “I didn’t mean did you like him, Mr. Bathurst, what I meant to say was, were you a guest of Sir Charles under similar circumstances?”
“Sorry! I misunderstood you. No—not exactly. My invitation is only a day or two old.”
“Did you know the murdered man?”
“No, I did not. That is to say at all well. I’ve run against him at Oxford.”
“Did you see anything while you were here, or did you hear anything during the night that you think worthy26 of mentioning to me?”
“Nothing at all, Inspector.”
“You were not playing cards, last evening?”
61
“No, after dinner when the cards started I strolled into the garden with Mr. Jack27 Considine. We were there about twenty minutes. Then we went to bed—and like everybody else were awakened28 by the maid’s discovery in the billiard room. Which she celebrated29 in the usual manner.”
“H’m—any theory in regard to the crime, Mr. Bathurst?”
“Yes, Inspector.”
“Based on?”
“What I’ve seen this morning.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“You shall. All in good time. After all—it’s merely a theory.”
Baddeley was obviously disconcerted by the reply. I don’t think he knew quite what to make of Anthony.
So he turned his battery on to me.
“Mr. Cunningham? Sir Charles tells me you’re an old friend of the family.”
I bowed. “Of many years’ standing30. And a regular guest for the Considine Cricket Week as you may guess.”
“Know Prescott?”
“Moderately. Played cricket with him at Oxford—not much beyond that.”
“Know anything about his private affairs?”
“Nothing.”
“And last night, Mr. Cunningham. What can you tell us about that?”
“I was in the drawing-room after dinner with the others, and as I have previously told you, I was a watcher of the card-playing party. I went up to bed about a quarter to twelve.”
“Where was Prescott then?”
62
“I left him in conversation with Lieutenant31 Barker.”
“And of course you heard nothing during the night?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Bill,” interjected Anthony. “Tell me this. When Jack and I went into the garden for a smoke, was everybody in the drawing-room? Think carefully.”
I considered for a moment—then replied with decision—“Yes—everybody.”
“You didn’t see anybody leave it?” he reiterated32.
“To the best of my belief,” I asserted, “everybody save you and Jack was in the drawing-room.”
“Right.”
Baddeley pushed across a letter.
“Have a good look at that, Mr. Cunningham.”
“Yes?” I queried33.
“That’s a letter addressed to Mr. Prescott. I think you may know the handwriting?”
I took the letter. It seemed an ordinary enough letter, touching34 upon the fact that Prescott was shortly visiting Considine Manor, but the portion where the signature would have normally appeared, had been torn off.
“Sorry, Inspector,” I replied, “I don’t. I can’t help you.”
I handed it back to him. His glance searched my features for a brief space then——
“Try Mr. Bathurst; does he find the writing familiar?”
63
Anthony smiled and held out his hand. He read the writing with interest and turned the letter over with apparent curiosity.
“Where did you find this, Inspector?”
“Sorry, Mr. Bathurst, but you mustn’t expect me to give away all my secrets. Tricks in every trade, you know.” He laughed lightly. “As you were good enough to remark just now—all in good time. Let’s come to the point, the handwriting—recognize it?”
“I’ve never seen it before, so I can’t. But I think, before the case is over, that I shall probably see it again.”
Baddeley flung him a challenging glance. But Anthony’s eyes met his and never for an instant wavered. Then they both smiled.
“Try Sir Charles Considine,” countered Anthony. “He might know it, though I don’t fancy so.”
Sir Charles straightened himself in his chair. He extended his hand. “Let me look, Baddeley, though why Mr. Bathurst is so confident that—no, no,” shaking his head in dissent35, “to the best of my knowledge and belief, this writing is new and therefore strange to me. What’s the date—my eyes aren’t as good as they were?”
“July 22nd,” responded Anthony, with the utmost readiness, from the other side of the table.
64
I fancied that the Inspector threw him an approving glance, but I remembered his uncanny memory for dates, and their associations. He had seen the letter and had mastered its detail—that was all. Baddeley gave the letter to Roper. “Keep that handy,” he muttered, “we haven’t exhausted36 all the possibilities.” Then to Sir Charles: “I should like to see Mr. Considine junior next, Mr. Jack Considine, is it?”
Our host bowed—“As you wish.”
“Just tell him, Roper, will you?” from Baddeley quietly.
“And as most of us have had very hasty breakfasts, gentlemen, I’ll get Fitch to bring us a little light refreshment,” chimed in Sir Charles. “We seem destined37 to be here some little time.” He rang the bell, as Roper entered with Jack Considine. Fitch followed them.
Sir Charles delivered his instructions, which were promptly38 carried out.
“Mr. Considine,” said the Inspector, “sorry to trouble you—but—can you throw any light on this business?”
He proceeded to question him on similar lines to those he had just employed with us.
Jack told him all he knew, and I was just beginning to think that it was all a business of ploughing the sands when I was startled out of my convictions.
I had vaguely39 heard the question repeated for the fourth time—“did you hear anything during the night?” and was just as vaguely prepared for the denial when Jack Considine gave an answer that made us all sit up and take notice.
65
“Well, Inspector,” he said, a little diffidently perhaps, “now I come to think over things very carefully, I have rather a hazy40 recollection that I heard something that I may describe as unusual.”
“What was it?”
“I am pretty certain that I was half awakened during the night by the sound of a door shutting. It might have been something different, but I don’t think so. No,” he continued reflectively, “the more I try to reproduce in my ears the sound that I heard, the more convinced I am that it was a door shutting.”
“Ah!” rejoined Baddeley. “Near you? Or distant?”
“That’s awkward to answer. As I stated, my awakening41 was only partial, it is difficult to measure sound when one is half asleep ... but I should say pretty near.”
“Any idea of the time?”
“None! I didn’t trouble. I wondered at it in a sleepy sort of way ... and went to sleep again.”
Baddeley pondered for a moment.
“I understand, Mr. Bathurst, that you have been sharing Mr. Considine’s bedroom. Did you hear anything of this?”
“No,” came the reply. “I heard nothing—I was tired and slept very soundly, as is usual with me.”
The Inspector nodded.
66
“We may take it then,” he proceeded, emphasizing his points by a succession of curious little fingertaps on the table, “that Mr. Considine heard this door shutting more because of his half-awake condition than through any particular—er—nearness or proximity42 to the place where it occurred—eh? You grasp my point?”—turning to Sir Charles.
“You mean,” interposed Anthony, “that had this door shut very near to our bedroom, the chances are that I should have heard it, too?”
“Exactly,” answered Baddeley. “Don’t you agree with me?”
Anthony meditated43 for a moment. “Perhaps. It’s certainly possible—but on the other hand—perhaps not. I might and I mightn’t.”
Our interrogator44 then came back to Considine.
“Did you hear anything after you heard this door shut, Mr. Considine?”
“No! I simply turned over and went to sleep again.”
“Think very carefully, sir. Pardon my insistence45, but very often things come to us out of our sleeping moments if we only concentrate sufficiently.” His eyes fixed46 Jack, and held him and once again I caught a glance of the man’s efficiency. There was no brilliance47 there, no subtlety48 beyond ordinary astuteness49, no flashing intuition bringing in its wake an inspired moment, but merely a species of machine-like efficiency. I have repeated the word, I am aware, but I can think of no other, at the moment, that so adequately expresses the quality that I perceived. I contrasted him with Anthony Bathurst. One of the product of “the Force,” hard-bitten in the school of personal industry, bringing a well-ordered brain to bear on the problem that confronted us, the other, public school and ’Varsity all over, with a brilliant intellect nursed by the terminology50 of these institutions, treating the affair as an adventure after his own heart. What would Baddeley have done, I found myself wondering, with the other’s opportunities? Where would Anthony have cleared a passage, had he been born Baddeley? My musings were short-lived.
67
“Let me have that letter again, Roper?” demanded the Inspector. And once again was the letter produced and inspected. And once again was the writing unrecognized; it conveyed no more to Considine than it had done to us.
Then Anthony surprised me. “Do you mind if I take another glance at it?” he asked. “Something has just come to my mind.”
Baddeley looked at him shrewdly and curiously51 for a moment.
“Certainly,” he agreed, and passed the letter over.
But one look proved satisfactory.
“I’m sorry—I’m wrong,” muttered Anthony, “I can’t help you.”
The Inspector smiled at his apparent discomfiture52. He seemed agreeably relieved to discover that A. L. Bathurst was human after all; and followed on to the next stage of his investigation6.
68
“I think that will do for the time being then, Mr. Considine,” he said. “And ask if I can see—in order, if you please”—he referred to some notes that he took from the pocket of his lounge jacket, “first Mr. Robertson, then Mr. Daventry, and then Mr. Tennant?”
Robertson entered. He hadn’t bargained for this when he accepted the invitation to Considine Manor.
He could tell the Inspector nothing, except what he knew concerning the cards. He could not identify the writing of the letter.
He had known Prescott at Oxford—just casually—that was all. He had slept soundly, only to be awakened by Marshall’s scream, as we had all been.
Daventry and Tennant, in turn followed him, only to be similarly ignorant and similarly dismissed.
Baddeley sipped53 a glass of port and munched54 a biscuit. Sir Charles followed suit approvingly.
“Well, what now, Inspector?” he remarked. “We appear to have reached an impasse55. What is your opinion now?”
“Plenty of time yet, sir,” came the reply. “I’ve by no means exhausted my possibilities of information yet.” He referred again to his list, then looked up—“There are three gentlemen to be seen yet, Major Hornby, Captain Arkwright and Lieutenant Barker, then there are three ladies, and finally some of the servants. I’m sorry, Sir Charles,”—he swung round in his chair and confronted him—“but somebody in this house knows something about last night’s job—and I’m stopping on till I lay my hands on him—or her. So ask Lieutenant Barker to step this way.”
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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ticklish
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| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
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deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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transpired
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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14
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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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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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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interrogator
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| n.讯问者；审问者；质问者；询问器 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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astuteness
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| n.敏锐；精明；机敏 | |
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terminology
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| n.术语；专有名词 | |
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51
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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52
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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53
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impasse
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| n.僵局；死路 | |
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