Respected Sir,—On the twenty-seventh of February I was sent, on business connected with the stables at Maison Rouge1, to the city of Metz. On the public promenade2 I met a magnificent woman. Complexion3, blond. Nationality, English. We mutually admired each other; we fell into conversation. (She spoke4 French perfectly—with the English accent.) I offered refreshment5; my proposal was accepted. We had a long and interesting interview—we discovered that we were made for each other. So far, Who is to blame?
Is it my fault that I am a handsome man—universally agreeable as such to the fair sex? Is it a criminal offense6 to be accessible to the amiable7 weakness of love? I ask again, Who is to blame? Clearly, nature. Not the beautiful lady—not my humble8 self.
To resume. The most hard-hearted person living will understand that two beings made for each other could not possibly part without an appointment to meet again.
I made arrangements for the accommodation of the lady in the village near Maison Rouge. She consented to honor me with her company at supper, in my apartment at the stables, on the night of the twenty-ninth. The time fixed9 on was the time when the other servants were accustomed to retire—eleven o'clock.
Among the grooms10 attached to the stables was an Englishman, laid up with a broken leg. His name was Francis. His manners were repulsive11; he was ignorant of the French language. In the kitchen he went by the nickname of the "English Bear." Strange to say, he was a great favorite with my master and my mistress. They even humored certain superstitious12 terrors to which this repulsive person was subject—terrors into the nature of which I, as an advanced freethinker, never thought it worth my while to inquire.
On the evening of the twenty-eighth the Englishman, being a prey13 to the terrors which I have mentioned, requested that one of his fellow servants might sit up with him for that night only. The wish that he expressed was backed by Mr. Fairbank's authority. Having already incurred14 my master's displeasure—in what way, a proper sense of my own dignity forbids me to relate—I volunteered to watch by the bedside of the English Bear. My object was to satisfy Mr. Fairbank that I bore no malice15, on my side, after what had occurred between us. The wretched Englishman passed a night of delirium17. Not understanding his barbarous language, I could only gather from his gesture that he was in deadly fear of some fancied apparition19 at his bedside. From time to time, when this madman disturbed my slumbers20, I quieted him by swearing at him. This is the shortest and best way of dealing21 with persons in his condition.
On the morning of the twenty-ninth, Mr. Fairbank left us on a journey. Later in the day, to my unspeakable disgust, I found that I had not done with the Englishman yet. In Mr. Fairbank's absence, Mrs. Fairbank took an incomprehensible interest in the question of my delirious22 fellow servant's repose23 at night. Again, one or the other of us was to watch at his bedside, and report it, if anything happened. Expecting my fair friend to supper, it was necessary to make sure that the other servants at the stables would be safe in their beds that night. Accordingly, I volunteered once more to be the man who kept watch. Mrs. Fairbank complimented me on my humanity. I possess great command over my feelings. I accepted the compliment without a blush.
Twice, after nightfall, my mistress and the doctor (the last staying in the house in Mr. Fairbank's absence) came to make inquiries24. Once before the arrival of my fair friend—and once after. On the second occasion (my apartment being next door to the Englishman's) I was obliged to hide my charming guest in the harness room. She consented, with angelic resignation, to immolate25 her dignity to the servile necessities of my position. A more amiable woman (so far) I never met with!
After the second visit I was left free. It was then close on midnight. Up to that time there was nothing in the behavior of the mad Englishman to reward Mrs. Fairbank and the doctor for presenting themselves at his bedside. He lay half awake, half asleep, with an odd wondering kind of look in his face. My mistress at parting warned me to be particularly watchful26 of him toward two in the morning. The doctor (in case anything happened) left me a large hand bell to ring, which could easily be heard at the house.
Restored to the society of my fair friend, I spread the supper table. A paté, a sausage, and a few bottles of generous Moselle wine, composed our simple meal. When persons adore each other, the intoxicating27 illusion of Love transforms the simplest meal into a banquet. With immeasurable capacities for enjoyment28, we sat down to table. At the very moment when I placed my fascinating companion in a chair, the infamous29 Englishman in the next room took that occasion, of all others, to become restless and noisy once more. He struck with his stick on the floor; he cried out, in a delirious access of terror, "Rigobert! Rigobert!"
The sound of that lamentable30 voice, suddenly assailing31 our ears, terrified my fair friend. She lost all her charming color in an instant. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed. "Who is that in the next room?"
"A mad Englishman."
"An Englishman?"
"Compose yourself, my angel. I will quiet him."
The lamentable voice called out on me again, "Rigobert! Rigobert!"
My fair friend caught me by the arm. "Who is he?" she cried. "What is his name?"
Something in her face struck me as she put that question. A spasm32 of jealousy33 shook me to the soul. "You know him?" I said.
"His name!" she vehemently34 repeated; "his name!"
"Francis," I answered.
"Francis—what?"
I shrugged35 my shoulders. I could neither remember nor pronounce the barbarous English surname. I could only tell her it began with an "R."
She dropped back into the chair. Was she going to faint? No: she recovered, and more than recovered, her lost color. Her eyes flashed superbly. What did it mean? Profoundly as I understand women in general, I was puzzled by this woman!
"You know him?" I repeated.
She laughed at me. "What nonsense! How should I know him? Go and quiet the wretch16."
My looking-glass was near. One glance at it satisfied me that no woman in her senses could prefer the Englishman to Me. I recovered my self-respect. I hastened to the Englishman's bedside.
The moment I appeared he pointed36 eagerly toward my room. He overwhelmed me with a torrent37 of words in his own language. I made out, from his gestures and his looks, that he had, in some incomprehensible manner, discovered the presence of my guest; and, stranger still, that he was scared by the idea of a person in my room. I endeavored to compose him on the system which I have already mentioned—that is to say, I swore at him in my language. The result not proving satisfactory, I own I shook my fist in his face, and left the bedchamber.
Returning to my fair friend, I found her walking backward and forward in a state of excitement wonderful to behold38. She had not waited for me to fill her glass—she had begun the generous Moselle in my absence. I prevailed on her with difficulty to place herself at the table. Nothing would induce her to eat. "My appetite is gone," she said. "Give me wine."
The generous Moselle deserves its name—delicate on the palate, with prodigious39 "body." The strength of this fine wine produced no stupefying effect on my remarkable40 guest. It appeared to strengthen and exhilarate her—nothing more. She always spoke in the same low tone, and always, turn the conversation as I might, brought it back with the same dexterity41 to the subject of the Englishman in the next room. In any other woman this persistency42 would have offended me. My lovely guest was irresistible43; I answered her questions with the docility44 of a child. She possessed45 all the amusing eccentricity46 of her nation. When I told her of the accident which confined the Englishman to his bed, she sprang to her feet. An extraordinary smile irradiated her countenance47. She said, "Show me the horse who broke the Englishman's leg! I must see that horse!" I took her to the stables. She kissed the horse—on my word of honor, she kissed the horse! That struck me. I said. "You do know the man; and he has wronged you in some way." No! she would not admit it, even then. "I kiss all beautiful animals," she said. "Haven't I kissed you?" With that charming explanation of her conduct, she ran back up the stairs. I only remained behind to lock the stable door again. When I rejoined her, I made a startling discovery. I caught her coming out of the Englishman's room.
"I was just going downstairs again to call you," she said. "The man in there is getting noisy once more."
The mad Englishman's voice assailed48 our ears once again. "Rigobert! Rigobert!"
He was a frightful49 object to look at when I saw him this time. His eyes were staring wildly; the perspiration50 was pouring over his face. In a panic of terror he clasped his hands; he pointed up to heaven. By every sign and gesture that a man can make, he entreated51 me not to leave him again. I really could not help smiling. The idea of my staying with him, and leaving my fair friend by herself in the next room!
I turned to the door. When the mad wretch saw me leaving him he burst out into a screech52 of despair—so shrill53 that I feared it might awaken54 the sleeping servants.
My presence of mind in emergencies is proverbial among those who know me. I tore open the cupboard in which he kept his linen—seized a handful of his handkerchiefs—gagged him with one of them, and secured his hands with the others. There was now no danger of his alarming the servants. After tying the last knot, I looked up.
The door between the Englishman's room and mine was open. My fair friend was standing18 on the threshold—watching him as he lay helpless on the bed; watching me as I tied the last knot.
"What are you doing there?" I asked. "Why did you open the door?"
She stepped up to me, and whispered her answer in my ear, with her eyes all the time upon the man on the bed:
"I heard him scream."
"Well?"
"I thought you had killed him."
I drew back from her in horror. The suspicion of me which her words implied was sufficiently55 detestable in itself. But her manner when she uttered the words was more revolting still. It so powerfully affected56 me that I started back from that beautiful creature as I might have recoiled57 from a reptile58 crawling over my flesh.
Before I had recovered myself sufficiently to reply, my nerves were assailed by another shock. I suddenly heard my mistress's voice calling to me from the stable yard.
There was no time to think—there was only time to act. The one thing needed was to keep Mrs. Fairbank from ascending59 the stairs, and discovering—not my lady guest only—but the Englishman also, gagged and bound on his bed. I instantly hurried to the yard. As I ran down the stairs I heard the stable clock strike the quarter to two in the morning.
My mistress was eager and agitated60. The doctor (in attendance on her) was smiling to himself, like a man amused at his own thoughts.
"Is Francis awake or asleep?" Mrs. Fairbank inquired.
"He has been a little restless, madam. But he is now quiet again. If he is not disturbed" (I added those words to prevent her from ascending the stairs), "he will soon fall off into a quiet sleep."
"Has nothing happened since I was here last?"
"Nothing, madam."
The doctor lifted his eyebrows61 with a comical look of distress62. "Alas63, alas, Mrs. Fairbank!" he said. "Nothing has happened! The days of romance are over!"
"It is not two o'clock yet," my mistress answered, a little irritably64.
The smell of the stables was strong on the morning air. She put her handkerchief to her nose and led the way out of the yard by the north entrance—the entrance communicating with the gardens and the house. I was ordered to follow her, along with the doctor. Once out of the smell of the stables she began to question me again. She was unwilling65 to believe that nothing had occurred in her absence. I invented the best answers I could think of on the spur of the moment; and the doctor stood by laughing. So the minutes passed till the clock struck two. Upon that, Mrs. Fairbank announced her intention of personally visiting the Englishman in his room. To my great relief, the doctor interfered66 to stop her from doing this.
"You have heard that Francis is just falling asleep," he said. "If you enter his room you may disturb him. It is essential to the success of my experiment that he should have a good night's rest, and that he should own it himself, before I tell him the truth. I must request, madam, that you will not disturb the man. Rigobert will ring the alarm bell if anything happens."
My mistress was unwilling to yield. For the next five minutes, at least, there was a warm discussion between the two. In the end Mrs. Fairbank was obliged to give way—for the time. "In half an hour," she said, "Francis will either be sound asleep, or awake again. In half an hour I shall come back." She took the doctor's arm. They returned together to the house.
Left by myself, with half an hour before me, I resolved to take the Englishwoman back to the village—then, returning to the stables, to remove the gag and the bindings from Francis, and to let him screech to his heart's content. What would his alarming the whole establishment matter to me after I had got rid of the compromising presence of my guest?
Returning to the yard I heard a sound like the creaking of an open door on its hinges. The gate of the north entrance I had just closed with my own hand. I went round to the west entrance, at the back of the stables. It opened on a field crossed by two footpaths68 in Mr. Fairbank's grounds. The nearest footpath67 led to the village. The other led to the highroad and the river.
Arriving at the west entrance I found the door open—swinging to and fro slowly in the fresh morning breeze. I had myself locked and bolted that door after admitting my fair friend at eleven o'clock. A vague dread69 of something wrong stole its way into my mind. I hurried back to the stables.
I looked into my own room. It was empty. I went to the harness room. Not a sign of the woman was there. I returned to my room, and approached the door of the Englishman's bedchamber. Was it possible that she had remained there during my absence? An unaccountable reluctance70 to open the door made me hesitate, with my hand on the lock. I listened. There was not a sound inside. I called softly. There was no answer. I drew back a step, still hesitating. I noticed something dark moving slowly in the crevice71 between the bottom of the door and the boarded floor. Snatching up the candle from the table, I held it low, and looked. The dark, slowly moving object was a stream of blood!
That horrid72 sight roused me. I opened the door. The Englishman lay on his bed—alone in the room. He was stabbed in two places—in the throat and in the heart. The weapon was left in the second wound. It was a knife of English manufacture, with a handle of buckhorn as good as new.
I instantly gave the alarm. Witnesses can speak to what followed. It is monstrous73 to suppose that I am guilty of the murder. I admit that I am capable of committing follies74: but I shrink from the bare idea of a crime. Besides, I had no motive75 for killing76 the man. The woman murdered him in my absence. The woman escaped by the west entrance while I was talking to my mistress. I have no more to say. I swear to you what I have here written is a true statement of all that happened on the morning of the first of March.
Accept, sir, the assurance of my sentiments of profound gratitude77 and respect.
JOSEPH RIGOBERT.
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1
rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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4
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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7
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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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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grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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12
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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14
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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15
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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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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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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immolate
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| v.牺牲 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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27
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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assailing
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| v.攻击( assail的现在分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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45
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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46
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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47
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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48
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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49
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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50
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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51
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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54
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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56
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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67
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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footpaths
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| 人行小径，人行道( footpath的名词复数 ) | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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71
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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72
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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73
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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74
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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75
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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76
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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77
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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