“I don’t think so. I should be sorry to think myself so weak. I simply credit her story more than I do that of Quimby.”
“But his is supported by several witnesses. Hers has no support at all.”
“That is what strikes me as so significant. This man Quimby understands himself. Who are his witnesses? His wife and his head man. There is nobody else. In the half-hour which has just passed I have searched diligently1 for some disinterested2 testimony3 supporting his assertion, but I have found none. No one knows anything. Of the three persons occupying rooms in the extension last night, two were asleep and the third overcome with drink. The maids won’t talk. They seem uneasy, and I detected a sly look pass from the one to the other at some question I asked, but they won’t talk. There’s a conspiracy4 somewhere. I’m as sure of it as that I am standing5 here.”
“Nonsense! What should there be a conspiracy about? You would make this old woman an important character. Now we know that she wasn’t. Look at the matter as it presents itself to an unprejudiced mind. A young and susceptible6 girl falls in love with a man, who is at once a gentleman and a scamp. She may have tried to resist her feelings, and she may not have. Your judgment7 and mine would probably differ on this point. What she does not do is to let her mother into her confidence. She sees the man — runs upon him, if you will, in places or under circumstances she cannot avoid — till her judgment leaves her and the point of catastrophe8 is reached. Then, possibly, she awakens9, or what is more probable, seeks to protect herself from the penetration10 and opposition11 of his friends by meetings less open than those in which they had lately indulged. She says that she left the house to escape seeing him again last night. But this is not true. On the contrary, she must have given him to understand where she was going, for she had an interview with him in the woods before she came upon her mother. He acknowledges to the interview. I have just had a talk with him over the telephone.”
“Then you know his name?”
“Yes, of course, she had to tell me. It’s young Maxwell. I suspected it from the first.”
“Maxwell!” Mr. Hammersmith’s cheek showed an indignant colour. Or was it a reflection from the setting sun? “You called him a scamp a few minutes ago. A scamp’s word isn’t worth much.”
“No, but it’s evidence when on oath, and I fancy he will swear to the interview.”
“Well, well, say there was an interview.”
“It changes things, Mr. Hammersmith. It changes things. It makes possible a certain theory of mine which accounts for all the facts.”
“It does!”
“Yes. I don’t think this girl is really responsible. I don’t believe she struck her mother or is deliberately12 telling a tissue of lies to cover up some dreadful crime. I consider her the victim of a mental hallucination, the result of some great shock. Now what was the shock? I’ll tell you. This is how I see it, how Mr. Quimby sees it, and such others in the house as have ventured an opinion. She was having this conversation with her lover in the woods below here when her mother came in sight. Surprised, for she had evidently not expected her mother to be so prompt, she hustled13 her lover off and hastened to meet the approaching figure. But it was too late. The mother had seen the man, and in the excitement of the discovery and the altercation14 which undoubtedly15 followed, made such a sudden move, possibly of indignant departure, that her foot was caught by one of the roots protruding16 at this point and she fell her whole length and with such violence as to cause immediate17 death. Now, Mr. Hammersmith, stop a minute and grasp the situation. If, as I believe at this point in the inquiry18, Miss Demarest had encountered a passionate19 opposition to her desires from this upright and thoughtful mother, the spectacle of this mother lying dead before her, with all opposition gone and the way cleared in an instant to her wishes, but cleared in a manner which must haunt her to her own dying day, was enough to turn a brain already heated with contending emotions. Fancies took the place of facts, and by the time she reached this house had so woven themselves into a concrete form that no word she now utters can be relied on. This is how I see it, Mr. Hammersmith, and it is on this basis I shall act.”
Hammersmith made an effort and, nodding slightly, said in a restrained tone:
“Perhaps you are justified20. I have no wish to force my own ideas upon you; they are much too vague at present. I will only suggest that this is not the first time the attention of the police has been drawn21 to this house by some mysterious occurrence. You remember the Stevens case? There must have been notes to the amount of seven thousand dollars in the pile he declared had been taken from him some time during the day and night he lodged22 here.”
“Stevens! I remember something about it. But they couldn’t locate the theft here. The fellow had been to the fair in Chester all day and couldn’t swear that he had seen his notes after leaving the grounds.”
“I know. But he always looked on Quimby as the man. Then there is the adventure of little Miss Thistlewaite.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“It didn’t get into the papers; but it was talked about in the neighbourhood. She is a quaint23 one, full of her crotchets, but clear — clear as a bell where her interests are involved. She took a notion to spend a summer here — in this house, I mean. She had a room in one of the corners overlooking the woods, and professing24 to prefer Nature to everything else, was happy enough till she began to miss things — rings, pins, a bracelet25 and, finally, a really valuable chain. She didn’t complain at first — the objects were trivial, and she herself somewhat to blame for leaving them lying around in her room, often without locking the door. But when the chain went, the matter became serious, and she called Mr. Quimby’s attention to her losses. He advised her to lock her door, which she was careful to do after that, but not with the expected result. She continued to miss things, mostly jewelry26 of which she had a ridiculous store. Various domestics were dismissed, and finally one of the permanent boarders was requested to leave, but still the thefts went on till, her patience being exhausted27, she notified the police and a detective was sent: I have always wished I had been that detective. The case ended in what was always considered a joke. Another object disappeared while he was there, and it having been conclusively28 proved to him that it could not have been taken by way of the door, he turned his attention to the window which it was one of her freaks always to keep wide open. The result was curious. One day he spied from a hiding-place he had made in the bushes a bird flying out from that window, and following the creature till she alighted in her nest he climbed the tree and searched that nest. It was encrusted with jewels. The bird was a magpie29 and had followed its usual habits, but — the chain was not there, nor one or two other articles of decided30 value. Nor were they ever found. The bird bore the blame; the objects missing were all heavy and might have been dropped in its flight, but I have always thought that the bird had an accomplice31, a knowing fellow who understood what’s what and how to pick out his share.”
The coroner smiled. There was little conviction and much sarcasm32 in that smile. Hammersmith turned away. “Have you any instructions for me?” he said.
“Yes, you had better stay here. I will return in the morning with my jury. It won’t take long after that to see this thing through.”
The look he received in reply was happily hidden from him.
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1
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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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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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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7
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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9
awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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10
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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17
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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professing
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| 声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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bracelet
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| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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conclusively
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| adv.令人信服地，确凿地 | |
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29
magpie
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| n.喜欢收藏物品的人，喜鹊，饶舌者 | |
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30
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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31
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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32
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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