The next morning Mr. Slocum did not make his appearance in the marble yard. His half-simulated indisposition of the previous night had turned into a genuine headache, of which he perhaps willingly availed himself to remain in his room, for he had no desire to see Richard Shackford that day.
It was an hour before noon. Up to that moment Richard had been engaged in reading and replying to the letters received by the morning's mail, a duty which usually fell to Mr. Slocum. As Richard stepped from the office into the yard a small boy thrust a note into his hand, and then stood off a short distance tranquilly1 boring with one toe in the loose gravel2, and apparently3 waiting for an answer. Shackford hastily ran his eye over the paper, and turning towards the boy said, a little impatiently:
"Tell him I will come at once."
There was another person in Stillwater that forenoon whose agitation4 was scarcely less than Mr. Slocum's, though it greatly differed from it in quality. Mr. Slocum was alive to his finger-tips with dismay; Lawyer Perkins was boiling over with indignation. It was a complex indignation, in which astonishment5 and incredulity were nicely blended with a cordial detestation of Mr. Taggett and vague promptings to inflict6 some physical injury on Justice Beemis. That he, Melanchthon Perkins, the confidential7 legal adviser8 and personal friend of the late Lemuel Shackford, should have been kept for two weeks in profound ignorance of proceedings9 so nearly touching10 his lamented11 client! The explosion of the old lawyer's wrath12 was so unexpected that Justice Beemis, who had dropped in to make the disclosures and talk the matter over informally, clutched at his broad-brimmed Panama hat and precipitately13 retreated from the office. Mr. Perkins walked up and down the worn green drugget of his private room for half an hour afterwards, collecting himself, and then dispatched a hurried note to Richard Shackford, requesting an instant interview with him at his, Lawyer Perkins's, chambers14.
When, some ten minutes subsequently, Richard entered the low-studded square room, darkened with faded moreen curtains and filled with a stale odor of law-calf, Mr. Perkins was seated at his desk and engaged in transferring certain imposing16 red-sealed documents to a green baize satchel17 which he held between his knees. He had regained18 his equanimity19; his features wore their usual expression of judicial20 severity; nothing denoted his recent discomposure, except perhaps an additional wantonness in the stringy black hair falling over the high forehead,--that pallid21 high forehead which always wore the look of being covered with cold perspiration22.
"Mr. Shackford," said Lawyer Perkins, suspending his operations a second, as he saluted23 the young man, "I suppose I have done an irregular thing in sending for you, but I did not see any other course open to me. I have been your cousin's attorney for over twenty-five years, and I've a great regard for you personally. That must justify24 the step I am taking."
"The regard is mutual25, I am sure," returned Richard, rather surprised by this friendly overture26, for his acquaintance with the lawyer had been of the slightest, though it had extended over many years. "My cousin had very few friends, and I earnestly desire to have them mine. If I were in any trouble, there is no one to whom I would come as unhesitatingly as to you."
"But you are in trouble."
"Yes, my cousin's death was very distressing27."
"I do not mean that." Mr. Perkins paused a full moment. "The district attorney has suddenly taken a deep interest in the case, and there is to be a rigorous overhauling28 of the facts. I am afraid it is going to be very unpleasant for you, Mr. Shackford."
"How could it be otherwise?" asked Richard, tranquilly.
Lawyer Perkins fixed29 his black eyes on him. "Then you fully30 understand the situation, and can explain everything?"
"I wish I could. Unfortunately, I can explain nothing. I don't clearly see why I have been summoned to attend as a witness at the investigation31 to be held to-day in Justice Beemis's office."
"I cannot conceive why it should be required. I gave my evidence at the time of the inquest, and have nothing to add to it. Strictly33 speaking, I have had of late years no relations with my cousin. During the last eighteen months we have spoken together but once."
"Have you had any conversation on this subject with Mr. Slocum since your return from New York?"
"No, I have had no opportunity. I was busy all day yesterday; he was ill in the evening, and is still confined to his room."
Mr. Perkins was manifestly embarrassed.
"That is unfortunate," he said, laying the bag on the desk. "I wish you had talked with Mr. Slocum. Of course you were taken into the secret of Taggett's presence in the marble yard?"
"Oh, yes; that was all arranged before I left home."
"There were no results."
"On the contrary, Taggett claims to have made very important discoveries."
"Indeed! Why was I not told!"
"I can't quite comprehend Mr. Slocum's silence."
"What has Taggett discovered?"
"Several things, upon which he builds the gravest suspicions."
"Against whom?"
"Against you."
"Against me!" cried Richard, recoiling35. The action was one altogether of natural amazement36, and convinced Mr. Perkins, who had keenly watched the effect of his announcement, that young Shackford was being very hardly used.
Justice Beemis had given Mr. Perkins only a brief outline of the facts, and had barely touched on details when the old lawyer's anger had put an end to the conversation. His disgust at having been left out in the cold, though he was in no professional way concerned in the task of discovering the murderer of Lemuel Shackford, had caused Lawyer Perkins instantly to repudiate37 Mr. Taggett's action. "Taggett is a low, intriguing38 fellow," he had said to Justice Beemis; "Taggett is a fraud." Young Shackford's ingenuous39 manner now confirmed Mr. Perkins in that belief.
Richard recovered himself in a second or two. "Why did not Mr. Slocum mention these suspicions to me?" he demanded.
"Perhaps he found it difficult to do so."
"Why should he find it difficult?"
"Suppose he believed them."
"But he could not believe them, whatever they are."
"Well, then, suppose he was not at liberty to speak."
"It seems that you are, Mr. Perkins, and you owe it to me to be explicit40. What does Taggett suspect?"
Lawyer Perkins brooded a while before replying. His practice was of a miscellaneous sort, confined in the main to what is technically41 termed office practice. Though he was frequently engaged in small cases of assault and battery,--he could scarcely escape that in Stillwater,--he had never conducted an important criminal case; but when Lawyer Perkins looked up from his brief reverie, he had fully resolved to undertake the defense42 of Richard Shackford.
"I will tell you what Taggett suspects," he said slowly, "if you will allow me to tell you in my own way. I must ask a number of questions."
"Where were you on the night of the murder?" inquired Lawyer Perkins, after a slight pause.
"I spent the evening at the Slocums', until ten o'clock; then I went home,--but not directly. It was moonlight, and I walked about, perhaps for an hour."
"Did you meet any one?"
"When you returned to your boarding-house, did you meet any one?"
"Then you saw him?"
"No, but I heard him; he was playing on the flute46 at his chamber15 window, or near it. He always plays on the flute when he can't sleep."
"What o'clock was that?"
"It must have been after eleven."
"Your stroll was confined to the end of the town most remote from Welch's Court?"
"I wish you had spoken with somebody that night."
"However, some one may have seen you without your knowing it?"
"Yes," said Richard curtly49. He was growing restive50 under these interrogations, the drift of which was plain enough to be disagreeable. Moreover, Mr. Perkins had insensibly assumed the tone and air of a counsel cross-examining a witness on the other side. This nocturnal cruise, whose direction and duration were known only to young Shackford, struck Lawyer Perkins unpleasantly. He meditated51 a moment before putting the next question.
"Were you on good terms--I mean fairly good terms--with your cousin?"
"No," said Richard; "but the fault was not mine. He never liked me. As a child I annoyed him, I suppose, and when I grew up I offended him by running away to sea. My mortal offense52, however, was accepting a situation in Slocum's Yard. I have been in my cousin's house only twice in three years."
"When was the last time?"
"A day or two previous to the strike."
"As you were not in the habit of visiting the house, you must have had some purpose in going there. What was the occasion?"
Richard hung his head thoughtfully. "I went there to talk over family matters,--to inform him of my intended marriage to Margaret Slocum. I wanted his good-will and support. Mr. Slocum had offered to take me into the business. I thought perhaps my cousin Lemuel, seeing how prosperous I was, would be more friendly to me."
"Did you wish him to lend you capital?"
"I didn't expect or wish him to; but there was some question of that."
"And he refused?"
"Was there a quarrel?"
Richard hesitated.
"Of course I don't press you," said Mr. Perkins, with some stiffness. "You are not on the witness stand."
"I began to think I was--in the prisoner's dock," answered Richard, smiling ruefully. "However, I have nothing to conceal54. I hesitated to reply to you because it was painful for me to reflect that the last time I saw my cousin we parted in anger. He charge me with attempting to overreach him, and I left the house in indignation."
"That was the last time you saw him?"
"The last time I saw him alive."
"Was there any communication between you two after that?"
"No."
"None whatever?"
"None."
"Are you quite positive?"
"As positive as I can be that I live and have my senses."
Lawyer Perkins pulled a black strand55 of hair over his forehead, and remained silent for nearly a minute.
"Mr. Shackford, are you sure that your cousin did not write a note to you on the Monday preceding the night of his death?"
"He may have written a dozen, for all I know. I only know that I never received a note or a letter from him in the whole course of my life."
"Then how do you account for the letter which has been found in your rooms in Lime Street,--a letter addressed to you by Lemuel Shackford, and requesting you to call at his house on that fatal Tuesday night?"
"It was in this office less than one hour ago," said Lawyer Perkins sternly. "It was brought here for me to identify Lemuel Shackford's handwriting. Justice Beemis has that paper!"
"Justice Beemis has it!" exclaimed Richard.
"I have nothing more to say," observed Lawyer Perkins, reaching out his hand towards the green bag, as a sign that the interview was ended. "There were other points I wished to have some light thrown on; but I have gone far enough to see that it is useless."
"What more is there?" demanded Richard in a voice that seemed to come through a fog. "I insist on knowing! You suspect me of my cousin's murder?"
"Mr. Taggett does."
"And you?"
"I am speaking of Mr. Taggett."
"Well, go on, speak of him," said Richard desperately57. "What else has he discovered?"
Mr. Perkins wheeled his chair round until he faced the young man.
"He has discovered in your workshop a chisel58 with a peculiar59 break in the edge,--a deep notch60 in the middle of the bevel. With that chisel Lemuel Shackford was killed."
Richard gave a perceptible start, and put his hand to his head, as if a sudden confused memory had set the temples throbbing61.
"A full box of safety matches," continued Mr. Perkins, in a cold, measured voice, as though he were demonstrating a mathematical problem, "contains one hundred matches. Mr. Taggett has discovered a box that contains only ninety-nine. The missing match was used that night in Welch's Court."
"Say nothing to me," returned Lawyer Perkins, hastily thrusting a handful of loose papers into the open throat of the green bag, which he garroted an instant afterwards with a thick black cord. Then he rose flurriedly from the chair. "I shall have to leave you," he said; "I've an appointment at the surrogate's."
And Lawyer Perkins passed stiffly from the apartment.
Richard lingered a moment alone in the room with his chin resting on his breast.
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1
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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3
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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4
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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5
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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6
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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7
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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8
adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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9
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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10
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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11
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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13
precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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14
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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15
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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16
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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17
satchel
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| n.(皮或帆布的)书包 | |
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18
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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19
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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20
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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21
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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22
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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23
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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24
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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25
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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26
overture
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| n.前奏曲、序曲，提议，提案，初步交涉 | |
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27
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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28
overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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29
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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30
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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31
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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32
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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33
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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34
manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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35
recoiling
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| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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36
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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37
repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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38
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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39
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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40
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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41
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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42
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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43
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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44
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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45
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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46
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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47
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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48
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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49
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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50
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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51
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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52
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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53
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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54
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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55
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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56
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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58
chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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59
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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60
notch
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| n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级 | |
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61
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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62
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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