"No, your grace."
Knowles came farther into the room. He had a letter on a salver. When the duke had taken it, Knowles still lingered. The duke glanced at him.
"Is an answer required?"
"No, your grace." Still Knowles lingered. "Something a little singular has happened. The carriage has returned without the duchess, and the men say that they thought her grace was in it."
"What do you mean?"
"I hardly understand myself, your grace. Perhaps you would like to see Barnes."
Barnes was the coachman.
"Send him up." When Knowles had gone, and he was alone, his grace showed signs of being slightly annoyed. He looked at his watch. "I told her she'd better be in by four. She says that she's not feeling well, and yet one would think that she was not aware of the fatigue1 entailed2 in having the prince come to dinner, and a mob of people to follow. I particularly wished her to lie down for a couple of hours."
Knowles ushered3 in not only Barnes, the coachman, but Moysey, the footman, too. Both these persons seemed to be ill at ease. The duke glanced at them sharply. In his voice there was a suggestion of impatience4.
"What is the matter?"
Barnes explained as best he could.
"If you please, your grace, we waited for the duchess outside Cane5 and Wilson's, the drapers. The duchess came out, got into the carriage, and Moysey shut the door, and her grace said, 'Home!' and yet when we got home she wasn't there."
"She wasn't where?"
"Her grace wasn't in the carriage, your grace."
"What on earth do you mean?"
"Her grace did get into the carriage; you shut the door, didn't you?"
Barnes turned to Moysey. Moysey brought his hand up to his brow in a sort of military salute—he had been a soldier in the regiment6 in which, once upon a time, the duke had been a subaltern.
"She did. The duchess came out of the shop. She seemed rather in a hurry, I thought. She got into the carriage, and she said, 'Home, Moysey!' I shut the door, and Barnes drove straight home. We never stopped anywhere, and we never noticed nothing happen on the way; and yet when we got home the carriage was empty."
The duke started.
"Do you mean to tell me that the duchess got out of the carriage while you were driving full pelt7 through the streets without saying anything to you, and without you noticing it?"
"The carriage was empty when we got home, your grace."
"Was either of the doors open?"
"No, your grace."
"You fellows have been up to some infernal mischief8. You have made a mess of it. You never picked up the duchess, and you're trying to palm this tale off on me to save yourselves."
Barnes was moved to adjuration9:
"I'll take my Bible oath, your grace, that the duchess got into the carriage outside Cane and Wilson's."
Moysey seconded his colleague.
"I will swear to that, your grace. She got into that carriage, and I shut the door, and she said, 'Home, Moysey!'"
The duke looked as if he did not know what to make of the story and its tellers10.
"What carriage did you have?"
"Her grace's brougham, your grace."
Knowles interposed:
"The brougham was ordered because I understood that the duchess was not feeling very well, and there's rather a high wind, your grace."
The duke snapped at him:
"What has that to do with it? Are you suggesting that the duchess was more likely to jump out of a brougham while it was dashing through the streets than out of any other kind of vehicle?"
The duke's glance fell on the letter which Knowles had brought him when he first had entered. He had placed it on his writing table. Now he took it up. It was addressed:
"To His Grace the Duke of Datchet.
Private!
VERY PRESSING!!!"
The name was written in a fine, clear, almost feminine hand. The words in the left-hand corner of the envelope were written in a different hand. They were large and bold; almost as though they had been painted with the end of the penholder instead of being written with the pen. The envelope itself was of an unusual size, and bulged11 out as though it contained something else besides a letter.
The duke tore the envelope open. As he did so something fell out of it on to the writing table. It looked as though it was a lock of a woman's hair. As he glanced at it the duke seemed to be a trifle startled. The duke read the letter:
"Your grace will be so good as to bring five hundred pounds in gold to the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade12 within an hour of the receipt of this. The Duchess of Datchet has been kidnaped. An imitation duchess got into the carriage, which was waiting outside Cane and Wilson's, and she alighted on the road. Unless your grace does as you are requested, the Duchess of Datchet's left-hand little finger will be at once cut off, and sent home in time to receive the prince to dinner. Other portions of her grace will follow. A lock of her grace's hair is inclosed with this as an earnest of our good intentions.
"Before 5:30 p.m. your grace is requested to be at the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade with five hundred pounds in gold. You will there be accosted13 by an individual in a white top hat, and with a gardenia14 in his buttonhole. You will be entirely15 at liberty to give him into custody16, or to have him followed by the police, in which case the duchess's left arm, cut off at the shoulder, will be sent home for dinner—not to mention other extremely possible contingencies17. But you are advised to give the individual in question the five hundred pounds in gold, because in that case the duchess herself will be home in time to receive the prince to dinner, and with one of the best stories with which to entertain your distinguished18 guests they ever heard.
"Remember! not later than 5:30, unless you wish to receive her grace's little finger."
The duke stared at this amazing epistle when he had read it as though he found it difficult to believe the evidence of his eyes. He was not a demonstrative person, as a rule, but this little communication astonished even him. He read it again. Then his hands dropped to his sides, and he swore.
He took up the lock of hair which had fallen out of the envelope. Was it possible that it could be his wife's, the duchess? Was it possible that a Duchess of Datchet could be kidnaped, in broad daylight, in the heart of London, and be sent home, as it were, in pieces? Had sacrilegious hands already been playing pranks19 with that great lady's hair? Certainly, that hair was so like her hair that the mere20 resemblance made his grace's blood run cold. He turned on Messrs. Barnes and Moysey as though he would have liked to rend21 them.
"You scoundrels!"
He moved forward as though the intention had entered his ducal heart to knock his servants down. But, if that were so, he did not act quite up to his intention. Instead, he stretched out his arm, pointing at them as if he were an accusing spirit:
"Will you swear that it was the duchess who got into the carriage outside Cane and Wilson's?"
Barnes began to stammer22:
"I'll swear, your grace, that I—I thought—"
The duke stormed an interruption:
"I don't ask what you thought. I ask you, will you swear it was?"
The duke's anger was more than Barnes could face. He was silent. Moysey showed a larger courage.
"I could have sworn that it was at the time, your grace. But now it seems to me that it's a rummy go."
"A rummy go!" The peculiarity23 of the phrase did not seem to strike the duke just then—at least, he echoed it as if it didn't. "You call it a rummy go! Do you know that I am told in this letter that the woman who entered the carriage was not the duchess? What you were thinking about, or what case you will be able to make out for yourselves, you know better than I; but I can tell you this—that in an hour you will leave my service, and you may esteem24 yourselves fortunate if, to-night, you are not both of you sleeping in jail."
One might almost have suspected that the words were spoken in irony26. But before they could answer, another servant entered, who also brought a letter for the duke. When his grace's glance fell on it he uttered an exclamation27. The writing on the envelope was the same writing that had been on the envelope which had contained the very singular communication—like it in all respects, down to the broomstick-end thickness of the "Private!" and "Very pressing!!!" in the corner.
"Who brought this?" stormed the duke.
The servant appeared to be a little startled by the violence of his grace's manner.
"A lady—or, at least, your grace, she seemed to be a lady."
"Where is she?"
"She came in a hansom, your grace. She gave me that letter, and said, 'Give that to the Duke of Datchet at once—without a moment's delay!' Then she got into the hansom again, and drove away."
"Why didn't you stop her?"
"Your grace!"
The man seemed surprised, as though the idea of stopping chance visitors to the ducal mansion28 vi et armis had not, until that moment, entered into his philosophy. The duke continued to regard the man as if he could say a good deal, if he chose. Then he pointed29 to the door. His lips said nothing, but his gesture much. The servant vanished.
"Another hoax30!" the duke said grimly, as he tore the envelope open.
This time the envelope contained a sheet of paper, and in the sheet of paper another envelope. The duke unfolded the sheet of paper. On it some words were written. These:
"The duchess appears so particularly anxious to drop you a line, that one really hasn't the heart to refuse her.
"Her grace's communication—written amidst blinding tears!—you will find inclosed with this."
"Knowles," said the duke, in a voice which actually trembled, "Knowles, hoax or no hoax, I will be even with the gentleman who wrote that."
Handing the sheet of paper to Mr. Knowles, his grace turned his attention to the envelope which had been inclosed. It was a small, square envelope, of the finest quality, and it reeked31 with perfume. The duke's countenance32 assumed an added frown—he had no fondness for envelopes which were scented33. In the center of the envelope were the words, "To the Duke of Datchet," written in the big, bold, sprawling34 hand which he knew so well.
"Mabel's writing," he said, half to himself, as, with shaking fingers, he tore the envelope open.
The sheet of paper which he took out was almost as stiff as cardboard. It, too, emitted what his grace deemed the nauseous odors of the perfumer's shop. On it was written this letter:
"MY DEAR HEREWARD—For Heaven's sake do what these people require! I don't know what has happened or where I am, but I am nearly distracted! They have already cut off some of my hair, and they tell me that, if you don't let them have five hundred pounds in gold by half-past five, they will cut off my little finger too. I would sooner die than lose my little finger—and—I don't know what else besides.
"By the token which I send you, and which has never, until now, been off my breast, I conjure35 you to help me.
"Hereward—help me!"
When he read that letter the duke turned white—very white, as white as the paper on which it was written. He passed the epistle on to Knowles.
"I suppose that also is a hoax?"
Mr. Knowles was silent. He still yielded to his constitutional disrelish to commit himself. At last he asked:
"What is it that your grace proposes to do?"
The duke spoke25 with a bitterness which almost suggested a personal animosity toward the inoffensive Mr. Knowles.
"I propose, with your permission, to release the duchess from the custody of my estimable correspondent. I propose—always with your permission—to comply with his modest request, and to take him his five hundred pounds in gold." He paused, then continued in a tone which, coming from him, meant volumes: "Afterwards, I propose to cry quits with the concocter36 of this pretty little hoax, even if it costs me every penny I possess. He shall pay more for that five hundred pounds than he supposes."
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1
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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2
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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3
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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5
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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6
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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7
pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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8
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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9
adjuration
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| n.祈求，命令 | |
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10
tellers
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| n.（银行）出纳员( teller的名词复数 )；（投票时的）计票员；讲故事等的人；讲述者 | |
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11
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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12
arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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13
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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14
gardenia
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| n.栀子花 | |
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15
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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16
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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17
contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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18
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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19
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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20
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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21
rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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22
stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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23
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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24
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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25
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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26
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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27
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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28
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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29
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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30
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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31
reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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32
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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33
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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34
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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35
conjure
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| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
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36
concocter
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| n.调制者，策划者 | |
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