THE NEWS OF Laure Richis’s murder spread through the region of Grasse as fast as if the message had been “The king is dead!” or “War’s been declared!” or “Pirates have landed on the coast!”-and the awful sense of terror it triggered was similar as well. All at once the fear that they had so carefully forgotten was back again, as virulent1 as it had been last autumn and with all the accompanying phenomena2: panic, outrage3, anger, hysterical4 suspicions, desperation. People stayed in their houses at night, locked up their daughters, barricaded5 themselves in, mistrusted one another, and slept no more. Everyone assumed it would continue this time as it had before, a murder a week. The calendar seemed to have been set back six months.
The dread6 was more paralyzing, however, than six months earlier, for people felt helpless at the sudden return of a danger that they had thought well behind them. If even the bishop’s anathema7 had proved useless! If even Antoine Richis, the great Richis, the richest man in town, the second consul8, a powerful, prudent9 man who had every kind of assistance available, if even he could not protect his child! If the murderer’s hand was not be deterred10 even by the hallowed beauty of Laure-for indeed she seemed a saint to everyone who had known her, especially now, afterwards, now that she was dead-what hope was there of escaping this murderer? He was more cruel than the plague, for you could flee before the plague, but not before this murderer, as the case of Richis had proved. Apparently12 he possessed13 supernatural powers. He was most certainly in league with the devil, if he was not tue devil himself. And so many people, especially the simpler souls, knew no better course than to go to church and pray, every tradesman to his patron: the locksmiths to St. Aloysius, the weavers14 to St. Crispin, the gardeners to St. Anthony, the perfumers to St. Joseph. And they took their wives and daughters with them, praying together, eating and sleeping in the church; they did not leave during the day themselves now, convinced that the only possible refuge from this monster-if any refuge was to be had-was under the protection of the despairing parish and the gaze of the Madonna.
Seeing that the church had failed once already, other, quicker wits banded together in occult groups. Hiring at great expense a certified15 witch from Gour-don, they crept into one of the many limestone16 grottoes of subterranean17 Grasse and celebrated18 black masses to curry19 the Old Gentleman’s favor. Still others, in particular members of the upper middle class and the educated nobility, put their money on the most modern scientific methods, magnetizing their houses, hypnotizing their daughters, gathering20 in their salons21 for secret fluidal meetings, and employing telepathy to drive off the murderer’s spirit with communal22 thought emissions23. The guilds24 organized a penitential procession from Grasse to La Napoule and back. The monks25 from the town’s five monasteries26 established services of perpetual prayer and ceaseless chants, so that soon unbroken lamentation27 was heard day and night, now on one street comer, now on another. Hardly anyone worked.
Thus, with feverish28 passivity and something very like impatience29, the people of Grasse awaited the murderer’s next blow. No one doubted that it would fall. And secretly everyone yearned30 to hear the horrible news, if only in the hope that it would not be about him, but someone else.
This time, however, the civil, regional, and provincial31 authorities did not allow themselves to be infected by the hysterical mood of the citizenry. For the first time since the murderer of maidens32 had appeared on the scene, well-planned and effective cooperative efforts were instituted among the prefectures of Grasse, Draguignan, and Toulon, among magistrates33, police, commissaries, parliament, and the navy.
This cooperation among the powerful arose partly from fear of a general civil uprising, partly from the fact that only since Laure Richis’s murder did they have clues that made systematic34 pursuit of the murderer possible for the first time. The murderer had been seen. Obviously they were dealing35 with the ominous36 journeyman tanner who had spent the night of the murder in the inn stables and disappeared the next morning without a trace. According to the joint37 testimony38 of the innkeeper, the groom39, and Richis, he was a nondescript, shortish fellow with a brownish coat and a coarse linen40 knapsack. Although in other respects the recollections of the three witnesses remained unusually vague-they had been unable to describe the man’s face, hair color, or manner of speech-the innkeeper did add that, if he was not mistaken, he had noticed something awkward or limping about the stranger’s posture41 and gait, as if he had a wounded leg or a crippled foot.
Armed with these clues, two mounted troops had taken up pursuit of the murderer by noon of the same day, following the Mar6chaussee in the direction of Marseille-one along the coast, the other taking the inland road. The environs of La Napoule were combed by volunteers. Two commissioners42 from the provincial court at Grasse traveled to Nice to make inquiries43 about journeyman tanners. All ships departing from the ports of Frejus, Cannes, and Antibes were checked; the roads leading across the border into Savoy were blocked and travelers required to identify themselves. For those who could read, an arrest warrant and description of the culprit appeared on all the town gates of Grasse, Vence, and Gourdon, and on village church doors. Town criers made three announcements daily. The report of a suspected club-foot, of course, merely confirmed the view that the culprit was none other than the devil himself and tended more to arouse panic among the populace than to bring in useful information.
But only after the presiding judge of the court in Grasse had, on Richis’s behalf, offered a reward of no less than two hundred livres for information leading to the apprehension44 of the murderer did denunciations bring about the arrest of several journeyman tanners in Grasse, Opio, and Gourdon-one of whom indeed had the rotten luck of limping. They were already considering subjecting the man to torture despite a solid alibi45 supported by several witnesses, when, ten days after the murder, a man from the city watch appeared at the magistrate’s office and gave the following deposition46: At noon on the day in question, he, Gabriel Tagliasco, captain of the guard, while engaged in his customary duties at the Porte du Cours, had been approached by an individual, who, as he now realized, fit the description in the warrant almost exactly, and had been questioned repeatedly and insistently47 concerning the road by which the second consul and his caravan48 had departed the city that same morning. He had ascribed no importance to the incident, neither then nor later, and would most certainly have been unable to recall the individual purely49 on the basis of his own memory-so thoroughly50 unremarkable was the man-had he not seen him by chance only yesterday, right here in Grasse, in the rue11 de la Louve, in front of the studio of Maitre Druot and Madame Arnulfi, on which occasion he had noticed that as the man walked back into the workshop he had a definite limp.
Grenouille was arrested an hour later. The innkeeper and his groom from La Napoule, who were in Grasse to identify the other suspects, immediately recognized him as the journeyman tanner who had spent the night with them: it was he, and no other- this must be the wanted murderer.
They searched the workshop, they searched the cabin in the olive grove51 behind the Franciscan cloister52. In one comer, hardly hidden, lay the shredded53 nightgown, the undershirt, and the red hair of Laure Richis. And when they dug up the floor, piece by piece the clothes and hair of the other twenty-four girls came to light. The wooden club used to kill the victims was found, and the linen knapsack. The evidence was overwhelming. The order was given to toll54 the church bells. The presiding judge announced by proclamation and public notice that the infamous55 murderer of young girls, sought now for almost one year, had finally been captured and was in custody56.
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1
virulent
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| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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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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anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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deterred
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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weavers
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| 织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 ) | |
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certified
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| a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的 | |
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limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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curry
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| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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salons
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| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
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communal
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| adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的 | |
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emissions
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| 排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体） | |
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guilds
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| 行会，同业公会，协会( guild的名词复数 ) | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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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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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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46
deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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insistently
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| ad.坚持地 | |
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48
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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51
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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52
cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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53
shredded
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| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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54
toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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55
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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