Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame1 of that France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above the dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez dressed as I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes on him, in tropical riding kit5, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his hand. A strikingly handsome, arrogant6 figure he made, uncannily like the Velasquez in the library.
At the face of Madame de Stämer I looked long and searchingly. She had not neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight which flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge7, Madame had been pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle way the night had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and something come into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought, that it was thus Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her how the drums had rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning of the twenty-first of January.
“Oh, M. Knox,” she said, sadly, “you are there, I see. Come and sit here beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector8 Aylesbury who wishes to speak to me?”
The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world, seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so little impressed by the dignity of his office.
She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
“Sit down, Monsieur l’inspecteur,” she commanded, for it was rather a command than an invitation.
Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
“Ah, M. Knox!” exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid movements, “is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that he has failed? Does he think that I condemn9 him?”
“He knows that he has failed, Madame de Stämer,” I replied, “but his absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of the assassin.”
“What!” she exclaimed, “what!”—and bending forward touched my arm. “Tell me again! Tell me again!”
“He is following a clue, Madame de Stämer, which he hopes will lead to the truth.”
“Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth,” she said. “If I dared to believe this.”
“Why should it not?”
She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted10 my gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the opposite side of the bed.
“If you knew—if you knew.”
I looked again into the tragic11 face, and realized that this was an older woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged12, and:
“Tell me, M. Knox,” she continued, “it was swift and merciful, eh?”
“Instantaneous,” I replied, in a low voice.
“A good shot?” she asked, strangely.
“A wonderful shot,” I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary torture upon herself.
“They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have seen him.”
“Madame,” began Val Beverley, gently.
“Ah, my dear!” Madame de Stämer, without looking at the speaker, extended one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically curled. “You do not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man, Mr. Knox, and men, especially men who write, know more of women than they know of themselves, is it not so? You will understand that I must see him again?”
“Madame de Stämer,” I said, “your courage is almost terrible.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?”
“None, Madame de Stämer.”
“So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he was awake, eh?”
“Most certainly he was not awake.”
“It is the best way to die,” she said, simply. “Yet he, who was brave and had faced death many times, would have counted it”——she snapped her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector Aylesbury, very subdued13, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap between his hands. “And now, Inspector Aylesbury,” she asked, “what is it you wish me to tell you?”
“Well, Madame,” began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
“Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated,” cried Madame. “I will not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I should shriek14.”
“Very well, Madame,” he continued, “I have come to you particularly for information respecting a certain Mr. Camber.”
“Oh, yes,” said Madame.
“You know him, no doubt?”
“I have never met him.”
“What?” exclaimed the Inspector.
Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently17.
“Well,” he continued, “this gets more and more funny. I am told by Pedro, the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an enemy, and Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although he was an enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears that he had never spoken to Colonel Menendez.”
“Yes?” said Madame, listlessly, “is that so?”
“It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him.”
“I did tell you so, yes.”
“His wife, then?”
“I never met his wife,” said Madame, rapidly.
“But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?”
“It is a fact-yes.”
“Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Do you mean that you don’t know?”
“I mean that I cannot tell you.”
“No, it is no help,” said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
“There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination19?” he asked.
Madame nodded.
“Several.”
“Did you witness any of these?”
“None of them.”
“But you know that they took place?”
“Juan—Colonel Menendez—had told me so.”
“Yes.”
“Also, someone broke in?”
“There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance21, so I suppose someone must have done so.”
I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he had evidently decided22 that this clue was without importance, nor did he once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He possessed23 a sort of mulish obstinacy24, and was evidently determined25 to use no scrap26 of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
“Now, Madame,” said he, “you heard the shot fired last night?”
“I did.”
“It woke you up?”
“I was already awake.”
“Oh, I see: you were awake?”
“I was awake.”
“Where did you think the sound came from?”
“From back yonder, beyond the east wing.”
“Beyond the east wing?” muttered Inspector Aylesbury. “Now, let me see.” He turned ponderously27 in his chair, gazing out of the windows. “We look out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the east?”
“So it seemed to me.”
“Oh.” This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. “And what then?”
“I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I could not walk.”
She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my arm in an oddly caressing28 way, as if to say, “He is so stupid; I should not have expressed myself in that way.”
Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
“I don’t follow what you mean, Madame,” he declared. “You say you forgot that you could not walk?”
“No, no, I expressed myself wrongly,” Madame replied in a weary voice. “The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and there I fell and swooned.”
“Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the sound of the shot?”
“For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril,” explained Madame. “He went in dread29 of assassination, you understand? Very well, he caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something told me, something told me that—” she paused, and suddenly placing her hands before her face, added in a whisper—“that it had come.”
Val Beverley was watching Madame de Stämer anxiously, and the fact that she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any other than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn30. The latter, however, seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
“Oh, I see,” he said; “and now there’s another point: Have you any idea what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?”
Madame de Stämer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
“What is that, Monsieur l’inspecteur?”
“Well, you don’t think he might have gone out to talk to someone?”
“To someone? To what one?” demanded Madame, scornfully.
“Well, it isn’t natural for a man to go walking about the garden at midnight, when he’s unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in the case he might go.”
“A lady?” said Madame, softly. “Yes—continue.”
“Well,” resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, “the young lady sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I arrived here last night. I found that out, although she didn’t give me a chance to see her.”
His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
Madame de Stämer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so closely to her side that the girl’s curly brown head was pressed against Madame’s shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly31 upright, her strange, still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury. Her whole pose was instinct with challenge, with defiance32, and in that moment I identified the illusive33 memory which the eyes of Madame so often had conjured34 up in my mind.
Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing35 over her cubs36, a beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon those who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme37 to the last; for as she fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the cowering38 cubs. It was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and in their stillness, that the eyes of Madame de Stämer resembled the eyes of the tigress.
“Oh, Madame, Madame,” moaned the girl, “how dare he!”
“Ah!” Madame de Stämer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited39 Inspector Aylesbury. “Leave my apartment.” Her left hand shot out dramatically in the direction of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled. “Stupid, gross fool!”
Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
“I am only doing my duty, Madame,” he said.
“Go, go!” commanded Madame, “I insist that you go!”
Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not see the girl’s face, I knew that she was weeping.
Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of the Inspector right to the doorway40, for he essayed no further speech, but retired41.
I, also, rose, and:
“Madame de Stämer,” I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally42, “I love your spirit.”
She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that look, nor shall I attempt to portray43 all which it conveyed—for I know I should fail.
“My friend!” she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
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收听单词发音
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1
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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2
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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enamel
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| n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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8
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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9
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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10
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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12
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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15
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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vibrant
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| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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18
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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19
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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20
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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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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22
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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23
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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ponderously
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28
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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29
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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30
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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31
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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32
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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33
illusive
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| adj.迷惑人的，错觉的 | |
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34
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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35
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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cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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38
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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39
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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40
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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41
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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42
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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43
portray
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| v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等) | |
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