After her first glare she sits in the chair by the window and directs her glance at Hewitt’s small gas grill7 and kettle in the fireplace—a glance which Hewitt, with all expedition, translates into tea. Slightly mollified by the tea, Mrs. Mallett condescends8 to remark, in tones of tragic10 truculence11, on passing matters of conventional interest—the weather, the influenza12, her own health, Hewitt’s health, and so forth13, any reply of Hewitt’s being commonly received with either disregard or contempt. In half an hour’s time or so she leaves the office with a stern command to Hewitt to attend at her house and drink tea on a day and at a time named—a command which Hewitt obediently fulfils, when he passes through a similarly exhilarating experience in Mrs. Mallett’s back drawing-room at her little freehold house in Fulham. Altogether Mrs. Mallett, to a stranger, is a singularly uninviting personality, and indeed, except Hewitt, who has learnt to appreciate her hidden good qualities, I doubt if she has a friend in the world. Her studiously concealed14 charities are a matter of as much amusement as gratification to Hewitt, who naturally, in the course of his peculiar15 profession, comes across many sad examples of poverty and suffering, commonly among the decent sort, who hide their troubles from strangers’ eyes, and suffer in secret. When such a case is in his mind it is Hewitt’s practice to inform Mrs. Mallett of it at one of the tea ceremonies. Mrs. Mallett receives the story with snorts of incredulity and scorn, but takes care, while expressing the most callous16 disregard and contempt of the troubles of the sufferers, to ascertain17 casually18 their names and addresses; twenty-four hours after which Hewitt need only make a visit to find their difficulties in some mysterious way alleviated19.
6-1
“SLIGHTLY MOLLIFIED BY THE TEA.”
Mrs. Mallett never had any children, and was early left a widow. Her appearance, for some reason or another, commonly leads strangers to believe her an old maid. She lives in her little detached house with its square piece of ground, attended by a housekeeper20, older than herself, and one maid-servant. She lost her only sister by death soon after the events I am about to set down, and now has, I believe, no relations in the world. It was also soon after these events that her present housekeeper first came to her, in place of an older and very deaf woman, quite useless, who had been with her before. I believe she is moderately rich, and that one or two charities will benefit considerably21 at her death; also I should be far from astonished to find Hewitt’s own name in her will, though this is no more than idle conjecture22. The one possession to which she clings with all her soul—her one pride and treasure—is her great-uncle Joseph’s snuff-box, the lid of which she steadfastly23 believes to be made of a piece of Noah’s original ark, discovered on the top of Mount Ararat by some intrepid25 explorer of vague identity about a hundred years ago. This is her one weakness, and woe26 to the unhappy creature who dares hint a suggestion that possibly the wood of the ark rotted away to nothing a few thousand years before her great-uncle Joseph ever took snuff. I believe he would be bodily assaulted. The box is brought out for Hewitt’s admiration27 at every tea ceremony at Fulham, when Hewitt handles it reverently28, and expresses as much astonishment29 and interest as if he had never seen or heard of it before. It is on these occasions only that Mrs. Mallett’s customary stiffness relaxes. The sides of the box are of cedar30 of Lebanon, she explains (which very possibly they are), and the gold mountings were worked up from spade guineas (which one can believe without undue31 strain on the reason). And it is usually these times, when the old lady softens32 under the combined influence of tea and Uncle Joseph’s snuff-box, that Hewitt seizes to lead up to his hint of some starving governess or distressed33 clerk, with the full confidence that the more savagely34 the story is received the better will the poor people be treated as soon as he turns his back.
It was her jealous care of Uncle Joseph’s snuff-box that first brought Mrs. Mallett into contact with Martin Hewitt, and the occasion, though not perhaps testing his acuteness to the extent that some did, was nevertheless one of the most curious and fantastic on which he has ever been engaged. She was then some ten or twelve years younger than she is now, but Hewitt assures me she looked exactly the same; that is to say, she was harsh, angular, and seemed little more than fifty years of age. It was before the time of Kerrett, and another youth occupied the outer office. Hewitt sat late one afternoon with his door ajar when he heard a stranger enter the outer office, and a voice, which he afterwards knew well as Mrs. Mallett’s, ask “Is Mr. Martin Hewitt in?”
“Yes, ma’am, I think so. If you will write your name and——”
“Is he in there?” And with three strides Mrs. Mallett was at the inner door and stood before Hewitt himself, while the routed office-lad stared helplessly in the rear.
“Mr. Hewitt,” Mrs. Mallet1 said, “I have come to put an affair into your hands, which I shall require to be attended to at once.”
Hewitt was surprised, but he bowed politely, and said, with some suspicion of a hint in his tone, “Yes—I rather supposed you were in a hurry.”
She glanced quickly in Hewitt’s face and went on: “I am not accustomed to needless ceremony, Mr. Hewitt. My name is Mallett—Mrs. Mallett—and here is my card. I have come to consult you on a matter of great annoyance35 and some danger to myself. The fact is I am being watched and followed by a number of persons.”
Hewitt’s gaze was steadfast24, but he reflected that possibly this curious woman was a lunatic, the delusion36 of being watched and followed by unknown people being perhaps the most common of all; also it was no unusual thing to have a lunatic visit the office with just such a complaint. So he only said soothingly37, “Indeed? That must be very annoying.”
“Yes, yes; the annoyance is bad enough, perhaps,” she answered shortly; “but I am chiefly concerned about my great-uncle Joseph’s snuff-box.”
This utterance38 sounded a trifle more insane than the other, so Hewitt answered, a little more soothingly still: “Ah, of course. A very important thing, the snuff-box, no doubt.”
“It is, Mr. Hewitt—it is important, as I think you will admit when you have seen it. Here it is,” and she produced from a small handbag the article that Hewitt was destined39 so often again to see and affect an interest in. “You may be incredulous, Mr. Hewitt, but it is, nevertheless, a fact that the lid of this snuff-box is made of the wood of the original ark that rested on Mount Ararat.”
She handed the box to Hewitt, who murmured, “Indeed! Very interesting—very wonderful, really,” and returned it to the lady immediately.
“That, Mr. Hewitt, was the property of my great-uncle, Joseph Simpson, who once had the honour of shaking hands with his late Majesty40 King George the Fourth. The box was presented to my uncle by——,” and then Mrs. Mallett plunged41 into the whole history and adventures of the box, in the formula wherewith Hewitt subsequently became so well acquainted, and which need not be here set out in detail. When the box had been properly honoured Mrs. Mallett proceeded with her business.
“I am convinced, Mr. Hewitt,” she said, “that systematic42 attempts are being made to rob me of this snuff-box. I am not a nervous or weak-minded woman, or perhaps I might have sought your assistance before. The watching and following of myself I might have disregarded, but when it comes to burglary I think it is time to do something.”
“Certainly,” Hewitt agreed.
“Well, I have been pestered43 with demands for the box for some time past. I have here some of the letters which I have received, and I am sure I know at whose instigation they were sent.” She placed on the table a handful of papers of various sizes, which Hewitt examined one after another. They were mostly in the same handwriting, and all were unsigned. Every one was couched in a fanatically-toned imitation of scriptural diction, and all sorts of threats were expressed with many emphatic44 underlinings. The spelling was not of the best, the writing was mostly uncouth45, and the grammar was in ill shape in many places, the “thous” and “thees” and their accompanying verbs falling over each other disastrously46. The purport47 of the messages was rather vaguely48 expressed, but all seemed to make a demand for the restoration of some article held in extreme veneration49. This was alluded51 to in many figurative ways as the “token of life,” the “seal of the woman,” and so forth, and sometimes Mrs. Mallett was requested to restore it to the “ark of the covenant52.” One of the least vague of these singular documents ran thus:—
“Thou of no faith put the bond of the woman clothed with the sun on the stoan sete in thy back garden this night or thy blood beest on your own hed. Give it back to us the five righteous only in this citty, give us that what saves the faithful when the erth is swalloed up.”
Hewitt read over these fantastic missives one by one till he began to suspect that his client, mad or not, certainly corresponded with mad Quakers. Then he said, “Yes, Mrs. Mallett, these are most extraordinary letters. Are there any more of them?”
“Bless the man, yes, there were a lot that I burnt. All the same crack-brained sort of thing.”
“They are mostly in one handwriting,” Hewitt said, “though some are in another. But I confess I don’t see any very direct reference to the snuff-box.”
“Oh, but it’s the only thing they can mean,” Mrs. Mallett replied with great positiveness. “Why, he wanted me to sell it him; and last night my house was broken into in my absence and everything ransacked53 and turned over, but not a thing was taken. Why? Because I had the box with me at my sister’s. And this is the only sacred relic54 in my possession. And what saved the faithful when the world was swallowed up? Why, the ark, of course.”
The old lady’s manner was odd, but notwithstanding the bizarre and disjointed character of her complaint, Hewitt had now had time to observe that she had none of the unmistakable signs of the lunatic. Her eye was steady and clear, and she had none of the restless habits of the mentally deranged56. Even at that time Hewitt had met with curious adventures enough to teach him not to be astonished at a new one, and now he set himself seriously to get at his client’s case in full order and completeness.
“Come, Mrs. Mallett,” he said, “I am a stranger, and I can never understand your case till I have it, not as it presents itself to your mind, in the order of importance of events, but in the exact order in which they happened. You had a great-uncle, I understand, living in the early part of the century, who left you at his death the snuff-box which you value so highly. Now you suspect that somebody is attempting to extort57 or steal it from you. Tell me as clearly and simply as you can whom you suspect, and the whole story of the attempts.”
“That’s just what I’m coming to,” the old lady answered, rather pettishly58. “My uncle Joseph had an old housekeeper, who, of course, knew all about the snuff-box, and it is her son Reuben Penner who is trying to get it from me. The old woman was half crazy with one extraordinary religious superstition59 and another, and her son seems to be just the same. My great-uncle was a man of strong common sense and a Churchman (though he did think he could write plays), and if it hadn’t been for his restraint I believe—that is, I have been told—Mrs. Penner would have gone clean demented with religious mania60. Well, she died in course of time, and my great-uncle died some time after, leaving me the most important thing in his possession (I allude50 to the snuff-box of course), a good bit of property, and a tin box full of his worthless manuscripts. I became a widow at twenty-six, and since then I have lived very quietly in my present house in Fulham.
“A couple of years ago I received a visit from Reuben Penner. I didn’t recognise him, which wasn’t wonderful, since I hadn’t seen him for thirty years or more. He is well over fifty now, a large, heavy-faced man with uncommonly61 wild eyes for a greengrocer—which is what he is, though he dresses very well, considering. He was quite respectful at first, and very awkward in his manner. He took a little time to get his courage, and then he began questioning me about my religious feelings. Well, Mr. Hewitt, I am not the sort of person to stand a lecture from a junior and an inferior, whatever my religious opinions may be, and I pretty soon made him realise it. But somehow he persevered62. He wanted to know if I would go to some place of worship that he called his ‘Tabernacle.’ I asked him who was the pastor63. He said himself. I asked him how many members of the congregation there were, and (the man was as solemn as an owl64. I assure you, Mr. Hewitt) he actually said five! I kept my countenance65 and asked why such a small number couldn’t attend church, or, at any rate, attach itself to some decent Dissenting66 chapel67. And then the man burst out; mad—mad as a hatter. He was as incoherent as such people usually are, but as far as I could make out he talked, among a lot of other things, of some imaginary woman—a woman standing55 on the moon and driven into a wilderness68 on the wings of an eagle. The man was so madly possessed69 of his fancies that I assure you for a while he almost ceased to look ridiculous. He was so earnest in his rant70. But I soon cut him short. It’s best to be severe with these people—it’s the only chance of bringing them to their senses. ‘Reuben Penner,’ I said, ‘shut up. Your mother was a very decent person in her way, I believe, but she was half a lunatic with her superstitious71 notions, and you’re a bigger fool than she was. Imagine a grown man, and of your age, coming and asking me, of all people in the world, to leave my church and make another fool in a congregation of five, with you to rave72 at me about women in the moon! Go away and look after your greengrocery, and go to church or chapel like a sensible man. Go away and don’t play the fool any longer; I won’t hear another word!’
6-2
“‘REUBEN PENNER,’ I SAID, ‘SHUT UP!’”
“When I talk like this I am usually attended to, and in this case Penner went away with scarcely another word. I saw nothing of him for about a month or six weeks, and then he came and spoke73 to me as I was cutting roses in my front garden. This time he talked—to begin with, at least—more sensibly. ‘Mrs. Mallett,’ he said, ‘you have in your keeping a very sacred relic.’
“‘I have,’ I said, ‘left me by my great-uncle Joseph. And what then?’
“‘Well’—he hummed and hawed a little—‘I wanted to ask if you might be disposed to part with it.’
“‘What?’ I said, dropping my scissors—‘sell it?’
“‘Well, yes,’ he answered, putting on as bold a face as he could.
“The notion of selling my uncle Joseph’s snuff-box in any possible circumstances almost made me speechless. ‘What!’ I repeated. ‘Sell it?—sell it? It would be a sinful sacrilege!’
“His face quite brightened when I said this, and he replied, ‘Yes, of course it would; I think so myself, ma’am; but I fancied you thought otherwise. In that case, ma’am, not being a believer yourself, I’m sure you would consider it a graceful74 and a pious75 act to present it to my little Tabernacle, where it would be properly valued. And it having been my mother’s property——’
“He got no further. I am not a woman to be trifled with, Mr. Hewitt, and I believe I beat him out of the garden with my basket. I was so infuriated I can scarcely remember what I did. The suggestion that I should sell my uncle Joseph’s snuff-box to a greengrocer was bad enough; the request that I should actually give it to his ‘Tabernacle’ was infinitely76 worse. But to claim that it had belonged to his mother—well I don’t know how it strikes you, Mr. Hewitt, but to me it seemed the last insult possible.”
6-3
“‘I AM NOT A WOMAN TO BE TRIFLED WITH.’”
“Shocking! shocking! of course,” Hewitt said, since she seemed to expect a reply. “And he called you an unbeliever, too. But what happened after that?”
“After that he took care not to bother me personally again; but these wretched anonymous77 demands came in, with all sorts of darkly hinted threats as to the sin I was committing in keeping my own property. They didn’t trouble me much. I put ’em in the fire as fast as they came, until I began to find I was being watched and followed, and then I kept them.”
“Very sensible,” Hewitt observed, “very sensible indeed to do that. But tell me as to these papers. Those you have here are nearly all in one handwriting, but some, as I have already said, are in another. Now before all this business did you ever see Reuben Penner’s handwriting?”
“No, never.”
“Then you are not by any means sure that he has written any of these things?”
“But then who else could?”
“That, of course, is a thing to be found out. At present, at any rate, we know this: that if Penner has anything to do with these letters he is not alone, because of the second handwriting. Also we must not bind78 ourselves past other conviction that he wrote any one of them. By the way, I am assuming that they all arrived by post?”
“Yes, they did.”
“But the envelopes are not here. Have you kept any of them?”
“I hardly know; there may be some at home. Is it important?”
“It may be; but those I can see at another time. Please go on.”
“These things continued to arrive, as I have said, and I continued to burn them till I began to find myself watched and followed, and then I kept them. That was two or three months ago. It is a most unpleasant sensation, that of feeling that some unknown person is dogging your footsteps from corner to corner and observing all your movements for a purpose you are doubtful of. Once or twice I turned suddenly back, but I never could catch the creatures, of whom I am sure Penner was one.”
“You saw these people, of course?”
“Well, yes, in a way—with the corner of my eye, you know. But it was mostly in the evening. It was a woman once, but several times I feel certain it was Penner. And once I saw a man come into my garden at the back in the night, and I feel quite sure that was Penner.”
“Was that after you had this request to put the article demanded on the stone seat in the garden?”
“The same night. I sat up and watched from the bath-room window, expecting someone would come. It was a dark night, and the trees made it darker, but I could plainly see someone come quietly over the wall and go up to the seat.”
“Could you distinguish his face?”
“No; it was too dark. But I feel sure it was Penner.”
“No; he’s just a big, common sort of man. But I tell you I feel certain it was Penner.”
“For any particular reason?”
“No, perhaps not. But who else could it have been? No, I’m very sure it must have been Penner.”
Hewitt repressed a smile and went on. “Just so,” he said. “And what happened then?”
“He went up to the seat, as I said, and looked at it, passing his hand over the top. Then I called out to him. I said if I found him on my premises81 again by day or night I’d give him in charge of the police. I assure you he got over the wall the second time a good deal quicker than the first. And then I went to bed, though I got a shocking cold in the head sitting at that open bath-room window. Nobody came about the place after that till last night. A few days ago my only sister was taken ill. I saw her each day, and she got worse. Yesterday she was so bad that I wouldn’t leave her. I sent home for some things and stopped in her house for the night. To-day I got an urgent message to come home, and when I went I found that an entrance had been made by a kitchen window, and the whole house had been ransacked, but not a thing was missing.”
“Were drawers and boxes opened?”
“Everywhere. Most seemed to have been opened with keys, but some were broken. The place was turned upside down, but, as I said before, not a thing was missing. A very old woman, very deaf, who used to be my housekeeper, but who does nothing now, was in the house, and so was my general servant. They slept in rooms at the top, and were not disturbed. Of course the old woman is too deaf to have heard anything, and the maid is a very heavy sleeper82. The girl was very frightened, but I pacified83 her before I came away. As it happened, I took the snuff-box with me. I had got very suspicious of late, of course, and something seemed to suggest that I had better make sure of it, so I took it. It’s pretty strong evidence that they have been watching me closely, isn’t it, that they should break in the very first night I left the place?”
“And are you quite sure that nothing has been taken?”
“Quite certain. I have spent a long time in a very careful search.”
“And you want me, I presume, to find out definitely who these people are, and get such evidence as may ensure their being punished?”
“That is the case. Of course I know Reuben Penner is the moving spirit—I’m quite certain of that. But still I can see plainly enough that as yet there’s no legal evidence of it. Mind, I’m not afraid of him—not a bit. That is not my character. I’m not afraid of all the madmen in England; but I’m not going to have them steal my property—this snuff-box especially.”
“Precisely. I hope you have left the disturbance84 in your house exactly as you found it?”
“Oh, of course, and I have given strict orders that nothing is to be touched. To-morrow morning I should like you to come and look at it.”
“I must look at it, certainly,” Hewitt said, “but I would rather go at once.”
“Pooh—nonsense!” Mrs. Mallett answered, with the airy obstinacy85 that Hewitt afterwards knew so well. “I’m not going home again now to spend an hour or two more. My sister will want to know what has become of me, and she mustn’t suspect that anything is wrong, or it may do all sorts of harm. The place will keep till the morning, and I have the snuff-box safe with me. You have my card, Mr. Hewitt, haven’t you? Very well. Can you be at my house to-morrow morning at half-past ten? I will be there, and you can see all you want by daylight. We’ll consider that settled. Good-day.”
Hewitt saw her to his office door, and waited till she had half descended86 the stairs. Then he made for a staircase window which gave a view of the street. The evening was coming on murky87 and foggy, and the street lights were blotchy88 and vague. Outside a four-wheeled cab stood, and the driver eagerly watched the front door. When Mrs. Mallett emerged he instantly began to descend9 from the box with the quick invitation, “Cab, mum, cab?” He seemed very eager for his fare, and though Mrs. Mallett hesitated a second she eventually entered the cab. He drove off, and Hewitt tried in vain to catch a glimpse of the number of the cab behind. It was always a habit of his to note all such identifying marks throughout a case, whether they seemed important at the time or not, and he has often had occasion to be pleased with the outcome. Now, however, the light was too bad. No sooner had the cab started than a man emerged from a narrow passage opposite, and followed. He was a large, rather awkward, heavy-faced man of middle age, and had the appearance of a respectable artisan or small tradesman in his best clothes. Hewitt hurried downstairs and followed the direction the cab and the man had taken, toward the Strand89. But the cab by this time was swallowed up in the Strand traffic, and the heavy-faced man had also disappeared. Hewitt returned to his office a little disappointed, for the man seemed rather closely to answer Mrs. Mallett’s description of Reuben Penner.
6-4
“‘CAB, MUM?’”
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mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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robust
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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appall
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| vt.使惊骇，使大吃一惊 | |
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amiably
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grill
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| n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问 | |
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condescends
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descend
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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truculence
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influenza
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forth
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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peculiar
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callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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ascertain
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casually
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alleviated
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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considerably
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conjecture
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steadfastly
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steadfast
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intrepid
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woe
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admiration
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reverently
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astonishment
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cedar
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undue
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softens
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distressed
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savagely
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annoyance
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delusion
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soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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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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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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pestered
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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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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deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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extort
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| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
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pettishly
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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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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dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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rant
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| v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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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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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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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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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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85
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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86
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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87
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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blotchy
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| adj.有斑点的，有污渍的；斑污 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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