小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » The Cask » CHAPTER XI MM. DUPIERRE ET CIE.
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
CHAPTER XI MM. DUPIERRE ET CIE.
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
 The hands of the large clock at the Gare du Nord were pointing to three minutes before eight next morning as Inspector1 Burnley walked up the steps of the entrance. Lefarge was there before him and the two men greeted each other warmly.
‘I have a police box cart here,’ said Lefarge. ‘Give me your papers and we’ll have the cask out in a brace2 of shakes.’
Burnley handed them over and they went to the luggage bureau. Lefarge’s card had a magical effect, and in a very few minutes the sacking-covered barrel had been found and loaded on to the cart. Lefarge instructed the driver.
‘I want that taken to a street off the rue3 de la Convention at Grenelle. You might start now and stop at the Grenelle end of the Pont Mirabeau. Wait there until I come for you. I suppose it will take you an hour or more?’
‘It’ll take more than an hour and a half, monsieur,’ replied the man. ‘It is a long way and this cart is very heavy.’
‘Very well, just do the best you can.’
The man touched his cap and moved off with his load.
‘Are we in any hurry?’ asked Burnley.
‘No, we have to kill time until he gets there. Why do you ask?’
‘Nothing, except that if we have time enough, let’s go down directly to the river and take a boat. I always enjoy the Seine boats.’
‘As a matter of fact so do I,’ replied Lefarge. ‘You get the air and the motion is pleasanter and more silent than a bus. They are not so slow either when you consider the stops.’
They took a bus which brought them southwards through the Louvre, and, alighting at the Pont des Arts, caught a steamer going to Suresnes. The morning was fresh and exquisitely4 clear. The sun, immediately behind them at first, crept slowly round to the left as they followed the curve of the river. Burnley sat admiring perhaps for the fiftieth time the graceful5 architecture of the bridges, justly celebrated6 as the finest of any city in the world. He gazed with fresh interest and pleasure also on the buildings they were carried past, from the huge pile of the Louvre on the right bank to the great terrace of the Quai d’Orsay on the left, and from the Trocadero and the palaces of the Champs élysées back to the thin tapering7 shaft8 of the Eiffel Tower. How well he remembered a visit that he and Lefarge had paid to the restaurant on the lower stage of this latter when they lunched at the next table to Madame Marcelle, the young and attractive looking woman who had murdered her English husband by repeated doses of a slow and irritant poison. He had just turned to remind his companion of the circumstance when the latter’s voice broke in on his thoughts.
‘I went back to the S?reté after we parted last night. I thought it better to make sure of the cart this morning, and I also looked up our records about this firm of monumental sculptors9. It seems that it is not a very large concern, and all the power is vested in the hands of M. Paul Thévenet, the managing director. It is an old establishment and apparently10 eminently11 respectable, and has a perfectly12 clean record so far as we are concerned.’
‘Well, that’s so much to the good.’
They disembarked at the Pont Mirabeau and, crossing to the south side and finding a tolerably decent looking café, sat down at one of the little tables on the pavement behind a screen of shrubs13 in pots.
‘We can see the end of the bridge from here, so we may wait comfortably until the cart appears,’ said Lefarge, when he had ordered a couple of bocks.
They sat on in the pleasant sun, smoking and reading the morning papers. Nearly an hour passed before the cart came into view slowly crossing the bridge. Then they left their places at the café and, signing to the driver to follow, walked down the rue de la Convention, and turned into the rue Provence. Nearly opposite, a little way down the street, was the place of which they were in search.
Its frontage ran the whole length of the second block, and consisted partly of a rather ancient looking four-story factory or warehouse14 and partly of a high wall, evidently surrounding a yard. At the end of the building this wall was pierced by a gateway15 leading into the yard, and just inside was a door in the end wall of the building, labelled ‘Bureau.’
Having instructed the driver to wait outside the gate, they pushed open the small door and asked to see M. Thévenet on private business. After a delay of a few minutes a clerk ushered16 them into his room.
The managing director was an elderly man, small and rather wizened17, with a white moustache, and a dry but courteous18 manner. He rose as the detectives entered, wished them good-morning, and asked what he could do for them.
‘I must apologise for not sending in my card, M. Thévenet,’ began Lefarge, presenting it, ‘but, as the matter in question is somewhat delicate, I preferred that your staff should not know my profession.’
M. Thévenet bowed.
‘This, sir,’ went on Lefarge, ‘is my colleague, Mr. Burnley of the London police, and he is anxious for some information, if you would be so kind as to let him have it.’
‘I will be pleased to answer any questions I can. I speak English if Mr. Burnley would prefer it.’
‘I thank you,’ said Burnley. ‘The matter is rather a serious one. It is briefly19 this. On Monday last—four days ago—a cask arrived in London from Paris. Some circumstances with which I need not trouble you aroused the suspicions of the police, with the result that the cask was seized and opened. In it were found, packed in sawdust, two things, firstly, £52 10s. in English gold, and secondly20 the body of a youngish woman, evidently of good position, and evidently murdered by being throttled21 by a pair of human hands.’
‘Horrible!’ ejaculated the little man.
‘The cask was of very peculiar22 construction, the woodwork being at least twice as heavy as that of an ordinary wine cask and secured by strong iron bands. And, sir, the point that has brought us to you is that your firm’s name was stencilled23 on it after the words “Return to,” and it was addressed on one of your firm’s labels.’
The little man sprang to his feet.
‘Our cask? Our label?’ he cried, in evident astonishment24. ‘Do I understand you to say, sir, that the cask containing this body was sent out by us?’
‘No, sir,’ returned Burnley, ‘I did not say that. I simply say that it arrived bearing your name and label. I am in total ignorance of how or when the body was put in. That is what I am over from London to investigate.’
‘But the thing is utterly25 incredible,’ said M. Thévenet, pacing up and down the room. ‘No, no,’ he added, with a wave of his hand as Burnley would have spoken, ‘I don’t mean that I doubt your word. But I cannot but feel that there must be a terrible mistake.’
‘It is only right to add, sir,’ continued Burnley, ‘that I did not myself see the label. But it was seen by the men of the carrying company, and especially by one of their clerks who examined it carefully after suspicion had been aroused. The label was afterwards destroyed by Felix, to whom the cask was addressed.’
‘Felix, Felix, the name seems familiar. What was the full name and address?’
‘M. Léon Felix, 141 West Judd Street, Tottenham Court Road, London, W.C.’
‘Ah, of course,’ rejoined M. Thévenet. ‘There is, then, really such a man? I rather doubted it at the time, you know, for our advice card of the despatch27 of the cask was returned marked, “Not known,” and I then looked him up in the London directory and could not find him. Of course, as far as we were concerned, we had the money and it did not matter to us.’
Burnley and his colleague sat up sharply.
‘I beg your pardon, M. Thévenet,’ said Burnley. ‘What’s that you say? At the time? At what time, if you please?’
‘Why, when we sent out the cask. When else?’ returned the director, looking keenly at his questioner.
‘But, I don’t understand. You did send out a cask then, addressed to Felix at Tottenham Court Road?’
‘Of course we did. We had the money, and why should we not do so?’
‘Look here, M. Thévenet,’ continued Burnley, ‘we are evidently talking at cross purposes. Let me first explain more fully26 about the label. According to our information, which we have no reason to doubt, the address space had been neatly28 cut out and another piece of paper pasted behind, bearing the address in question. It seemed to us therefore, that some person had received the cask from you and, having altered the label, packed the body in it and sent it on. Now we are to understand that the cask was sent out by you. Why then should the label have been altered?’
‘I’m sure I cannot tell.’
‘May I ask what was in the cask when it left here?’
‘Certainly. It was a small group of statuary by a good man and rather valuable.’
‘I’m afraid, M. Thévenet, I haven’t got the matter clear yet. It would oblige us both very much if you would be kind enough to tell us all you know about the sending out of that cask.’
‘With pleasure.’ He touched a bell and a clerk entered.
‘Bring me,’ he said, ‘all the papers about the sale of that group of Le Mareschal’s to M. Felix of London.’ He turned again to his visitors.
‘Perhaps I had better begin by explaining our business to you. It is in reality three businesses carried on simultaneously29 by one firm. First, we make plaster casts of well-known pieces. They are not valuable and sell for very little. Secondly, we make monuments, tombstones, decorative30 stone panels and the like for buildings, rough work, but fairly good. Lastly we trade in really fine sculpture, acting31 as agents between the artists and the public. We have usually a considerable number of such good pieces in our showroom. It was one of these latter, a 1400 franc group, that was ordered by M. Felix.’
‘Felix ordered it?’ burst in Burnley, ‘but there, pardon me. I must not interrupt.’
The clerk returned at this moment and laid some papers on his principal’s desk. The latter turned them over, selected one, and handed it to Burnley.
‘Here is his letter, you see, received by us on the morning of the 30th of March, and enclosing notes for 1500 francs. The envelope bore the London postmark.’
The letter was written by hand on one side of a single sheet of paper and was as follows:—
‘141 West Jubb Street,                                
‘Tottenham Court Road,                    
‘London, W.C.,                             
                                  29th March, 1912.
‘Messrs Dupierre et Cie.,
     ‘Rue Provence,
         ‘Rue de la Convention,
             ‘Grenelle, Paris.
‘Gentlemen.—I am anxious to purchase the group of statuary in the left-hand corner back of your Boulevard des Capucines showroom, looking from the street. The group is of three female figures, two seated and one standing32. There can be no doubt about the one I mean, as it is the only such in the left of the window.
‘Please forward immediately to the above address.
‘I do not know the exact price, but understand it is about 1500 francs. I therefore enclose notes for that sum, and if a balance remains33 on either side it can be adjusted by letter.
‘I may say that an unexpected call to England prevented me ordering this in person.
‘Yours, etc.                                 
‘Léon Felix.’                   
 
Inspector Burnley examined the letter.
‘You will allow us to keep this in the meantime, I presume?’ he asked.
‘Certainly.’
‘You said the money was in notes. You mean, I take it, ordinary State paper money whose source could not be traced; not any kind of cheque or draft payable34 through a bank?’
‘Precisely.’
‘Well, sir, pardon my interruption.’
‘There is little more to add. The group was packed and despatched on the day we received the letter. Its price was, as a matter of fact, only 1400 francs, and the balance of 100 francs was therefore enclosed with it. This was considered as safe as any other way of sending it, as the cask was insured for its full value.’
‘The cask? You packed it then in a cask?’
‘Yes. We make a special kind of cask in two sizes, very heavy and strong, for sending out such pieces. It is our own idea, and we are rather proud of it. We find it simpler and safer than a crate35.’
‘We have the cask in a cart outside. Perhaps, if we brought it in, you would be good enough to see if it could be identified, firstly if it is yours, and secondly, if so, if it is the particular one you sent to Felix.’
‘Well, you see, unfortunately it was sent from our showrooms in the Boulevard des Capucines. If you have time to take it there I will instruct the manager to assist you in every way in his power. Indeed, I will go with you myself. I shall not be able to rest until the matter is cleared up.’
The detectives thanked him and, while Lefarge was instructing the carter, M. Thévenet procured36 a taxi and they drove to the Boulevard des Capucines.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 inspector q6kxH     
n.检查员,监察员,视察员
参考例句:
  • The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
  • The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
2 brace 0WzzE     
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备
参考例句:
  • My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
  • You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。
3 rue 8DGy6     
n.懊悔,芸香,后悔;v.后悔,悲伤,懊悔
参考例句:
  • You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
  • You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。
4 exquisitely Btwz1r     
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地
参考例句:
  • He found her exquisitely beautiful. 他觉得她异常美丽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He wore an exquisitely tailored gray silk and accessories to match. 他穿的是做工非常考究的灰色绸缎衣服,还有各种配得很协调的装饰。 来自教父部分
5 graceful deHza     
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的
参考例句:
  • His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
  • The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。
6 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
参考例句:
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
7 tapering pq5wC     
adj.尖端细的
参考例句:
  • Interest in the scandal seems to be tapering off. 人们对那件丑闻的兴趣似乎越来越小了。
  • Nonproductive expenditures keep tapering down. 非生产性开支一直在下降。
8 shaft YEtzp     
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物
参考例句:
  • He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
  • This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。
9 sculptors 55fe6a2a17f97fa90175d8545e7fd3e2     
雕刻家,雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 ); [天]玉夫座
参考例句:
  • He is one of Britain's best-known sculptors. 他是英国最有名的雕塑家之一。
  • Painters and sculptors are indexed separately. 画家和雕刻家被分开,分别做了索引。
10 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
11 eminently c442c1e3a4b0ad4160feece6feb0aabf     
adv.突出地;显著地;不寻常地
参考例句:
  • She seems eminently suitable for the job. 她看来非常适合这个工作。
  • It was an eminently respectable boarding school. 这是所非常好的寄宿学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
13 shrubs b480276f8eea44e011d42320b17c3619     
灌木( shrub的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
  • These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。
14 warehouse 6h7wZ     
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库
参考例句:
  • We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
  • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。
15 gateway GhFxY     
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法
参考例句:
  • Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
  • A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。
16 ushered d337b3442ea0cc4312a5950ae8911282     
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
  • A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 wizened TeszDu     
adj.凋谢的;枯槁的
参考例句:
  • That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
  • Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人,头发鬈曲灰白。
18 courteous tooz2     
adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的
参考例句:
  • Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一,但她总是很谦恭有礼。
  • He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善,而且彬彬有礼。
19 briefly 9Styo     
adv.简单地,简短地
参考例句:
  • I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
  • He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
20 secondly cjazXx     
adv.第二,其次
参考例句:
  • Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二,动脑筋提出自己的见解。
  • Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次,需要确定所作用的载荷。
21 throttled 1be2c244a7b85bf921df7bf52074492b     
v.扼杀( throttle的过去式和过去分词 );勒死;使窒息;压制
参考例句:
  • He throttled the guard with his bare hands. 他徒手掐死了卫兵。
  • The pilot got very low before he throttled back. 飞行员减速之前下降得很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
22 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
23 stencilled b7e000efba0e148f7d8ded1c406c42f5     
v.用模板印(文字或图案)( stencil的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He then stencilled the ceiling with a moon and stars motif. 他随后用模版在天花板上印上了月亮和繁星图案。 来自辞典例句
  • Each cage was stencilled with the name and the brand of the bull-breeder. 每只笼子上都印有公牛饲养人的姓名和商标。 来自辞典例句
24 astonishment VvjzR     
n.惊奇,惊异
参考例句:
  • They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
  • I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。
25 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。
26 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
27 despatch duyzn1     
n./v.(dispatch)派遣;发送;n.急件;新闻报道
参考例句:
  • The despatch of the task force is purely a contingency measure.派出特遣部队纯粹是应急之举。
  • He rushed the despatch through to headquarters.他把急件赶送到总部。
28 neatly ynZzBp     
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地
参考例句:
  • Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
  • The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。
29 simultaneously 4iBz1o     
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地
参考例句:
  • The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
  • The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。
30 decorative bxtxc     
adj.装饰的,可作装饰的
参考例句:
  • This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
  • The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽,而且装饰效果很好。
31 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
32 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
33 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
34 payable EmdzUR     
adj.可付的,应付的,有利益的
参考例句:
  • This check is payable on demand.这是一张见票即付的支票。
  • No tax is payable on these earnings.这些收入不须交税。
35 crate 6o1zH     
vt.(up)把…装入箱中;n.板条箱,装货箱
参考例句:
  • We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
  • The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。
36 procured 493ee52a2e975a52c94933bb12ecc52b     
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条
参考例句:
  • These cars are to be procured through open tender. 这些汽车要用公开招标的办法购买。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • A friend procured a position in the bank for my big brother. 一位朋友为我哥哥谋得了一个银行的职位。 来自《用法词典》


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533