Grimm's Hotel is in reality a block of flats, with a restaurant attached. The restaurant is little more than a kitchen from whence meals are served to residents in their rooms. Frank's suite1 was on the third floor, and Mr. Mann, paying his cabman, hurried into the hall, stepped into the automatic lift, pressed the button, and was deposited at Frank's door. He knocked with a sickening sense of apprehension2 that there would be no answer. To his delight and amazement3, he heard Frank's firm step in the tiny hall of his flat, and the door was opened. Frank was in the act of dressing4 for dinner.
"Come in, S. A. M.," he said cheerily, "and tell me all the news."
He led the way back to his room and resumed the delicate task of tying his dress bow.
"How long have you been here?" asked Mr. Mann.
Frank looked at him inquiringly.
"How long have I been here?" he repeated. "I cannot tell you the exact time, but I have been here since a short while after lunch."
Mr. Mann was bewildered and still unconvinced.
"What clothes did you take off?"
It was Frank's turn to look amazed and bewildered.
"Clothes?" he repeated. "What are you driving at, my dear chap?"
"What suit were you wearing to-day?" persisted Saul Arthur Mann.
Frank disappeared into his dressing room and came out with a tumbled bundle which he dropped on a chair. It was the blue suit which he usually affected5.
"Now what is the joke?"
"It is no joke," said the other. "I could have sworn that I saw you less than half an hour ago in Camden Town."
"I won't pretend that I don't know where Camden Town is," smiled Frank, "but I have not visited that interesting locality for many years."
Saul Arthur Mann was silent. It was obvious to him that whoever was the occupant of 69 Flowerton Road, it was not Frank Merrill. Frank listened to the narrative6 with interest.
"You were probably mistaken; the light played you a trick, I expect," he said.
"I could have taken an oath in a court that it was you," he said.
Frank stared out of the window.
"How very curious!" he mused8. "I suppose I cannot very well prosecute9 a man for looking like me--poor girl!"
"Of whom are you thinking?" asked the other.
"I was thinking of the unfortunate woman," answered Frank. "What brutes10 there are in the world!"
"You gave me a terrible fright," admitted his friend.
Frank's laugh was loud and hearty11.
"I suppose you saw me figuring in a court, charged with common assault," he said.
"I saw more than that," said the other gravely, "and I see more than that now. Suppose you have a double, and suppose that double is working in collusion with your enemies."
Frank shook his head wearily.
"My dear friend," he said, with a little smile, "I am tired of supposing things. Come and dine with me."
But Mr. Mann had another engagement. Moreover, he wanted to think things out.
Thinking things out was a process which brought little reward in this instance, and he went to bed that night a vexed12 and puzzled man. He always had his breakfast in bed at ten o'clock in the morning, for he had reached the age of habits and had fixed13 ten o'clock, since it gave his clerks time to bring down his personal mail from the office to his private residence.
It was a profitable mail, it was an exciting mail, and it contained an element of rich promise, for it included a letter from Constable14 Wiseman:
DEAR SIR: Re our previous conversation, I have just come across one of the photographs of the young lady--Sergeant Smith's daughter. It was given to the private detective who was searching for her. It was given to my wife by her cousin, and I send it to you hoping it may be of some use.
Yours respectfully,
PETER JOHN WISEMAN.
The photograph was wrapped in a piece of tissue paper, and Saul Arthur Mann opened it eagerly. He looked at the oblong card and gasped15, for the girl who was depicted16 there was the girl he had seen on the steps of 69 Flowerton Road.
A telephone message prepared Frank for the news, and an hour later the two men were together in the office of the bureau.
"I am going along to that house to see the girl," said Saul Arthur Mann. "Will you come?"
"With all the pleasure in life," said Frank. "Curiously17 enough, I am as eager to find her as you. I remember her very well, and one of the quarrels I had with my uncle was due to her. She had come up to the house on behalf of her father, and I thought uncle treated her rather brutally18."
"Point number one cleared up," thought Saul Arthur Mann.
"Then she disappeared," Frank went on, "and Jasper came on the scene. There was some association between this girl and Jasper, which I have never been able to fathom19. All I know is that he took a tremendous interest in her and tried to find her, and, so far as I remember, he never succeeded."
Mr. Mann's car was at the door, and in a few minutes they were deposited before the prim20 exterior21 of Number 69.
The door was opened by a girl servant, who stared from Saul Arthur Mann to his companion.
"There is a lady living here," said Mr. Mann.
He produced the photograph.
"This is the lady?"
The girl nodded, still staring at Frank.
"I want to see her."
"She's gone," said the girl.
"You are looking at me very intently," said Frank. "Have you ever seen me before?"
"Yes, sir," said the girl; "you used to come here, or a gentleman very much like you. You are Mr. Merrill."
"That is my name," smiled Frank, "but I do not think I have ever been here before."
"Where has the lady gone?" asked Saul Arthur.
"She went last night. Took all her boxes and went off in a cab."
"Is anybody living in the house?"
"No, sir," said the girl.
"How long have you been in service here?"
"About a week, sir," replied the girl.
"We are friends of hers," said Saul Arthur shamelessly, "and we have been asked to call to see if everything is all right."
The girl hesitated, but Saul Arthur Mann, with that air of authority which he so readily assumed, swept past her and began an inspection22 of the house.
It was plainly furnished, but the furniture was good.
"Apparently23 the spurious Mr. Merrill had plenty of money," said Saul Arthur Mann.
There were no photographs or papers visible until they came to the bedroom, where, in the grate, was a torn sheet of paper bearing a few lines of fine writing, which Mr. Mann immediately annexed24. Before they left, Frank again asked the girl:
"Was the gentleman who lived here really like me?"
"Yes, sir," said the little slavey.
"Have a good look at me," said Frank humorously, and the girl stared again.
"Something like you," she admitted.
"Did he talk like me?"
"I never heard him talk, sir," said the girl.
"Tell me," said Saul Arthur Mann, "was he kind to his wife?"
A faint grin appeared on the face of the little servant.
"They was always rowing," she admitted. "A bullying25 fellow he was, and she was frightened of him. Are you the police?" she asked with sudden interest.
Frank shook his head.
"No, we are not the police."
He gave the girl half a crown, and walked down the steps ahead of his companion.
"It is rather awkward if I have a double who bullies26 his wife and lives in Camden Town," he said as the car hummed back to the city office.
Saul Arthur Mann was silent during the journey, and only answered in monosyllables.
Again in the privacy of his office, he took the torn letter and carefully pieced it together on his desk. It bore no address, and there were no affectionate preliminaries:
You must get out of London. Saul Arthur Mann saw you both to-day. Go to the old place and await instructions.
There was no signature, but across the table the two men looked at one another, for the writing was the writing of Jasper Cole.
收听单词发音 |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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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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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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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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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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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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depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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