“I did not stand out,” Von Lindheim said afterwards, “as it will be a good opportunity of giving the Count a hint about this wretched duel2. He is a sort of confidential3 aide of the Chancellor’s.”
“Not quite as easy-going as he looks,” I suggested.
“No; Furello is not exactly a man to trifle with. He would be the last man for Rallenstein’s purpose if he were. But I have always got on very well with him.”
Some other men came into the box and we left; the Baroness making us renew our promise to sup with her. “I shall slip out after the Trial Scene,” Von Lindheim said, as we returned to our stalls, “and report progress to Szalay. Poor fellow! I expect he is having an uncomfortable time. But I have hope yet of stopping this absurd affair. If I cannot get back here by the end of the play, we will meet at the Baroness’s, Wiener Platz, No. 1, the large house at the corner.”
We met there later on, for he did not return to the theatre.
There were about a dozen of us at supper, a merry party enough when the champagne4 had gone round once or twice.
[Pg 41]
“What an awful thing this is about poor Von Orsova,” some one remarked.
“Ah, poor man!” the hostess said, “I dare not think of it. It is too horrible; to think that I was waltzing with him an hour before. To be dancing with an already half dead man,”—she gave a little affected5 shudder6.
“He was to have been one of your guests to-night, was he not?” Furello asked.
“Oh, yes, indeed. Who could have suspected when he accepted my invitation that he knew he would be dead long before.”
“Does any one know the reason he had for suicide?” a lady next him asked Furello.
The Count gave a shrug7. “Nothing has yet transpired8. But the motives9 for such an act are often impossible to ascertain11. There is nothing so irresponsible and eccentric as the mind of a man who has a tendency to self-murder. A sudden impulse is enough to bring about the catastrophe12. Who knows? I for one should be very sorry to insist on an adequate motive10.”
I looked at the man and wondered at his coolness. He spoke13 easily, without a trace of effort to suppress the truth. It was hard to recognize the grim executioner in the glib14, urbane15 society man.
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, let us change the subject!” the Baroness cried. “Life is quite miserable16 enough without dwelling17 on these horrors. The poor man is dead; what does it matter now? It is all shockingly sad; but what can we do? After all, life is for the living. Do all of you fill your glasses, and banish18 melancholy19 for an hour at least.”
“I hope, Baroness,” I said, for, as a foreigner, I occupied the place of honour, “you do not expect so soon a return?”
“Of wretchedness? My dear Mr. Tyrrell, it is a [Pg 42]trite saying, but if we could only see inside each other’s hearts what a revelation some of them would be.”
When supper was over, the ladies rose, and we were invited to smoke in an adjoining room. Now an infamous20 thing happened, which, by the greatest good luck, I chanced to see. When the ladies were gone, Von Lindheim went over and began to talk to Count Furello, with the object, as I was sure, of giving him a hint about poor Szalay’s duel. I, of course, kept aloof21, and was happy in finding myself next to a talkative young fellow, who had seen something of English life, and was very interested in our ideas of sport. We chatted away on this congenial topic, and I took no further notice of my friend. My young neighbour and I got on so well, that presently he insisted that we should drink a bumper23 of champagne together to our better acquaintance. Accordingly we rose and went towards a sideboard at one end of the smoking-room, where the wine and glasses stood in array. Von Lindheim and Count Furello were standing24 by talking quietly. In order not to interrupt them, we kept a certain distance away as we poured out our wine. We clinked glasses with true German fervour, drank with no less, and filled again. A morsel25 of foil from the neck of the bottle was floating in my wine. I turned to the light and fished it out with a spoon. In so doing, I faced a mirror, which, set at an angle, and combined with another at my back, enabled me not only to see over my shoulder, but showed me what was going on in front of the man whose back was turned to me.
And this is what I saw.
A peculiar26, furtive27 action on the part of the Count caught my eye. He was leaning his left arm on the sideboard, presumably to screen from Von Lindheim what he did with his right. This hand moved quickly to an empty glass close by, and, resting over it, [Pg 43]tilted, as though pouring something into it. What the hand held I could not see. Had not my mind been full of murder and sudden death, or had the act been done less stealthily I should perhaps have thought little of it; many a man doctors his drink against gout or some other chronic28 ailment29. Even here a doubt was in my mind; although I could not help an almost sickening feeling of something very like horror, and I determined30 to keep a strict watch. Taking a sip31 of my wine, I turned again to the sideboard, still talking and laughing with my new acquaintance, but keeping my eye carelessly on the Count. He took up a bottle, the cork32 was not drawn33, and with a show of polite alacrity34 I handed him ours, which was but half empty. He placed another glass in a line with the first and filled them. As I expected and feared, he then pushed them forward in such a manner that the doctored glass came naturally nearest to Von Lindheim. My previous night’s experience was enough to tell me of the fearful danger in which my friend stood. I was determined that he should not touch that glass, yet what was I to do on the spur of the moment? A happy thought struck me. “Let us all drink together,” I cried, feigning35 a slightly elevated manner, at the same time slapping my young friend on the shoulder, then going quickly round to the other side of Von Lindheim. “We will drink together all four,” I laughed.
Von Lindheim’s glance indicated his opinion that I had taken as much champagne as was good for me; the Count showed his teeth in a tolerant smile. I leaned forward to the young fellow who was now separated from me by the other two men. “Prosit!” I cried.
Exactly what I had calculated upon happened. The Count was obliged to turn slightly in order to touch the other’s glass with his own. At that instant [Pg 44]I struck Von Lindheim a sharp blow. He turned to me half startled. “Poison!” I dared only form the word with my lips, throwing all the horror I could into my expression as I nodded towards his glass.
“Don’t drink for your life!” The words were not even whispered; happily Von Lindheim was sharp enough to comprehend the situation. He faced round to me, so that his back was turned upon the Count, and next moment our glasses had been changed. I leaned forward and touched with the other two men; Von Lindheim did the same, and at a nod from me he drank some of his wine at which he at first hesitated. I raised the glass to my lips and pretended to drink, then I contrived36 unseen to spill a portion of its contents over my pocket handkerchief, so that I could return to my former place, a little unsteadily, with my glass half empty. All the time my brain was raging as I realized the hideousness37 of the business. The intense pity I felt for my friend comes back to me as the sensation uppermost in my mind then. But in that desperate situation action was imperative38, sentiment useless. I kept up my talk with the young sportsman, watching all the while for an opportunity of saying a word to Von Lindheim. Presently he left the Count and came to me. My companion turned at the moment to relight his cigar, which in his chattering39 he had allowed to go out.
“You had better smoke a cigarette,” I said to Von Lindheim under my voice, “and then make an excuse to go. Say you feel unwell.”
Then I laughed and brought the other man into the conversation. He and Von Lindheim began to chat, as the Count, throwing himself into a chair near us, opened a conversation with me.
We exchanged some commonplaces, the usual small talk between a visitor and a native. I could [Pg 45]tell he was a man of great tact40, natural and acquired. He invariably said the right thing, passing from topic to topic with a pleasant, well-rounded comment upon each, such cut and dried talk as avoids all pitfalls41 of argument or contradiction.
He gave an occasional glance at Von Lindheim, but quite naturally, his manner never showing the least preoccupation. To all appearances he was a genial22, sociable42 man of the world, a state official merely by accident. In his careless way, however, he put a good many leading questions to me, principally as to my friendship with Von Lindheim, which I, affecting the part of a simple-minded sportsman, answered with a great show of frankness. Presently my friend laid his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let me hurry you,” he said, “but I think of going homewards.”
“Already? It is not so late for you, Herr von Lindheim,” Furello remarked almost chaffingly.
“I’m tired and feel out of sorts,” he replied as naturally as one could wish. “Good-night, Herr Count. Many thanks for the good offices you have promised me.”
“I’m a bird that goes to perch43 early. I’ll come too,” I said, bowing to the Count, who, to my disgust, held out his hand—the hand—which I was fain to take.
So we made our adieux and next minute were in the street.
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1
baroness
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| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
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2
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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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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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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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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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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glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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urbane
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| adj.温文尔雅的，懂礼的 | |
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16
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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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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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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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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bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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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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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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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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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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ailment
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| n.疾病，小病 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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32
cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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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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34
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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35
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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36
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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hideousness
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38
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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39
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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40
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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41
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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42
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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43
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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