Inspector1 Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall, but Pedro was standing2 there to remind me of the fact that I had not breakfasted. I realized that despite all tragic3 happenings, I was ravenously4 hungry, and accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I should take breakfast on the south veranda5, as on the previous morning.
To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors. The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I did not open any of them.
Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was pathetically anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me a fresh supply of hot rolls:
“This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?” I said.
“Dreadful, sir,” he returned; “fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose my place, and I am far, far from home.”
“You are from Cuba?”
“Yes, yes. I was with Señor the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba.”
“And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made upon his life, Pedro?”
“Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.”
“But the bat wing, Pedro?”
He looked at me in a startled way.
“Yes, sir,” he replied. “I found it pinned to the door here.”
“And what did you think it meant?”
“I thought it was a joke, sir—not a nice joke—by someone who knew Cuba.”
“You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?”
“It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it.”
“And what did you think?” said I, proceeding6 with my breakfast.
“I thought it was meant to frighten.”
“But who did you think had done it?”
“I had heard Señor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought perhaps he had sent someone to do it.”
“But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?”
“I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell.”
“Was your master popular in the West Indies?” I asked.
“Well, sir—” Pedro hesitated—“perhaps not so well liked.”
“No,” I said. “I had gathered as much.”
The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary7 meal, listening to the song of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence, compared with any other form of life beneath the sun.
How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common delicacy8 dictated9 an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury’s gross insinuations, and I was curiously10 disinclined to become involved in the gloomy formalities which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to remain within call, realizing that there might be unpleasant duties which Pedro could not perform, and which must therefore devolve upon Val Beverley.
I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener was at work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had appeared in one corner of the velvet11 turf. He looked up in a sort of startled way as I passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his task. I thought that this man’s activities were symbolic12 of the way of the world, in whose eternal progression one poor human life counts as nothing.
Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the rhododendron shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out to meet his death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my way through the closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had thought to be impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower and glanced back and upward. I could see the windows of the little smoke-room in which we had held our last interview with Menendez; and I thought of the shadow which Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable to disguise from myself the fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should learn of this occurrence, as presently he must do, it would give new vigour13 to his ridiculous and unpleasant suspicions.
I passed on, and considering the matter impartially14, found myself faced by the questions—Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at midnight?
Somnambulism might solve the second riddle15, but to the first I could find no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless way, I presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could obtain a glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber’s workroom. The window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed16 sliding panes17. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon the glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the top of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly through the trees. I could see a constable18 moving about in the garden. Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic19.
By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a woman friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old housekeeper20, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as possible, but pending21 the arrival of someone to whom she could confide22 all her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate23 the loneliness of the tragic little figure.
Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion24, when suddenly, like a lurid25 light, an inspiration came to me.
I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the direction of the sentinel yews26 when this idea, dreadfully complete, leapt to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable barrier. Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a ghastly, consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with all the cold logic27 of truth.
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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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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3
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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8
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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9
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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10
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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12
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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14
impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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15
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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16
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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17
panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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18
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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19
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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23
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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24
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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26
yews
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| n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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27
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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28
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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