What he could see in her—but that begs the question. Of course he saw no more than I did, but to annoy me, or perhaps to punish me for my long defection, he must turn his back on me and devote himself to this chit from Southampton to the Mediterranean6. They were always together. It was too absurd. After breakfast they would begin, and go on until eleven or twelve at night; there was no intervening hour at which you might not hear her nasal laugh, or his quiet voice talking soft nonsense into her ear. Of course it was nonsense! Is it conceivable that a man like Raffles, with his knowledge of the world, and his experience of women (a side of his character upon which I have purposely never touched, for it deserves another volume); is it credible7, I ask, that such a man could find anything but nonsense to talk by the day together to a giddy young schoolgirl? I would not be unfair for the world.
I think I have admitted that the young person had points. Her eyes, I suppose, were really fine, and certainly the shape of the little brown face was charming, so far as mere8 contour can charm.
I admit also more audacity9 than I cared about, with enviable health, mettle10, and vitality11. I may not have occasion to report any of this young lady's speeches (they would scarcely bear it), and am therefore the more anxious to describe her without injustice13. I confess to some little prejudice against her. I resented her success with Raffles, of whom, in consequence, I saw less and less each day. It is a mean thing to have to confess, but there must have been something not unlike jealousy14 rankling15 within me.
Jealousy there was in another quarter—crude, rampant16, undignified jealousy. Captain von Heumann would twirl his mustaches into twin spires17, shoot his white cuffs18 over his rings, and stare at me insolently19 through his rimless20 eyeglasses; we ought to have consoled each other, but we never exchanged a syllable21. The captain had a murderous scar across one of his cheeks, a present from Heidelberg, and I used to think how he must long to have Raffles there to serve the same. It was not as though von Heumann never had his innings. Raffles let him go in several times a day, for the malicious22 pleasure of bowling23 him out as he was "getting set"; those were his words when I taxed him disingenuously24 with obnoxious25 conduct towards a German on a German boat.
"You'll make yourself disliked on board!"
"By von Heumann merely."
"But is that wise when he's the man we've got to diddle?"
"The wisest thing I ever did. To have chummed up with him would have been fatal—the common dodge26."
I was consoled, encouraged, almost content. I had feared Raffles was neglecting things, and I told him so in a burst. Here we were near Gibraltar, and not a word since the Solent. He shook his head with a smile.
"Plenty of time, Bunny, plenty of time. We can do nothing before we get to Genoa, and that won't be till Sunday night. The voyage is still young, and so are we; let's make the most of things while we can."
It was after dinner on the promenade27 deck, and as Raffles spoke28 he glanced sharply fore12 and aft, leaving me next moment with a step full of purpose. I retired29 to the smoking-room, to smoke and read in a corner, and to watch von Heumann, who very soon came to drink beer and to sulk in another.
Few travellers tempt30 the Red Sea at midsummer; the Uhlan was very empty indeed. She had, however, but a limited supply of cabins on the promenade deck, and there was just that excuse for my sharing Raffles's room. I could have had one to myself downstairs, but I must be up above. Raffles had insisted that I should insist on the point. So we were together, I think, without suspicion, though also without any object that I could see.
On the Sunday afternoon I was asleep in my berth31, the lower one, when the curtains were shaken by Raffles, who was in his shirt-sleeves on the settee.
"What else is there to do?" I asked him as I stretched and yawned. I noted33, however, the good-humor of his tone, and did my best to catch it.
"I have found something else, Bunny."
"I daresay!"
"You misunderstand me. The whipper-snapper's making his century this afternoon. I've had other fish to fry."
I swung my legs over the side of my berth and sat forward, as he was sitting, all attention. The inner door, a grating, was shut and bolted, and curtained like the open porthole.
"We shall be at Genoa before sunset," continued Raffles. "It's the place where the deed's got to be done."
"So you still mean to do it?"
"Did I ever say I didn't?"
"You have said so little either way."
"Advisedly so, my dear Bunny; why spoil a pleasure trip by talking unnecessary shop? But now the time has come. It must be done at Genoa or not at all."
"On land?"
"No, on board, to-morrow night. To-night would do, but to-morrow is better, in case of mishap34. If we were forced to use violence we could get away by the earliest train, and nothing be known till the ship was sailing and von Heumann found dead or drugged—"
"Not dead!" I exclaimed.
"Of course not," assented35 Raffles, "or there would be no need for us to bolt; but if we should have to bolt, Tuesday morning is our time, when this ship has got to sail, whatever happens. But I don't anticipate any violence. Violence is a confession36 of terrible incompetence37. In all these years how many blows have you known me to strike? Not one, I believe; but I have been quite ready to kill my man every time, if the worst came to the worst."
I asked him how he proposed to enter von Heumann's state-room unobserved, and even through the curtained gloom of ours his face lighted up.
"Climb into my bunk, Bunny, and you shall see."
I did so, but could see nothing. Raffles reached across me and tapped the ventilator, a sort of trapdoor in the wall above his bed, some eighteen inches long and half that height. It opened outwards38 into the ventilating shaft39.
"That," said he, "is our door to fortune. Open it if you like; you won't see much, because it doesn't open far; but loosening a couple of screws will set that all right. The shaft, as you may see, is more or less bottomless; you pass under it whenever you go to your bath, and the top is a skylight on the bridge. That's why this thing has to be done while we're at Genoa, because they keep no watch on the bridge in port. The ventilator opposite ours is von Heumann's. It again will only mean a couple of screws, and there's a beam to stand on while you work."
"But if anybody should look up from below?"
"It's extremely unlikely that anybody will be astir below, so unlikely that we can afford to chance it. No, I can't have you there to make sure. The great point is that neither of us should be seen from the time we turn in. A couple of ship's boys do sentry-go on these decks, and they shall be our witnesses; by Jove, it'll be the biggest mystery that ever was made!"
"If von Heumann doesn't resist."
"Resist! He won't get the chance. He drinks too much beer to sleep light, and nothing is so easy as to chloroform a heavy sleeper40; you've even done it yourself on an occasion of which it's perhaps unfair to remind you. Von Heumann will be past sensation almost as soon as I get my hand through his ventilator. I shall crawl in over his body, Bunny, my boy!"
"And I?"
"You will hand me what I want and hold the fort in case of accidents, and generally lend me the moral support you've made me require. It's a luxury, Bunny, but I found it devilish difficult to do without it after you turned pi!"
He said that Von Heumann was certain to sleep with a bolted door, which he, of course, would leave unbolted, and spoke of other ways of laying a false scent41 while rifling the cabin. Not that Raffles anticipated a tiresome42 search. The pearl would be about von Heumann's person; in fact, Raffles knew exactly where and in what he kept it. Naturally I asked how he could have come by such knowledge, and his answer led up to a momentary43 unpleasantness.
"It's a very old story, Bunny. I really forget in what Book it comes; I'm only sure of the Testament44. But Samson was the unlucky hero, and one Delilah the heroine."
And he looked so knowing that I could not be in a moment's doubt as to his meaning.
"So the fair Australian has been playing Delilah?" said I.
"In a very harmless, innocent sort of way."
"She got his mission out of him?"
"Yes, I've forced him to score all the points he could, and that was his great stroke, as I hoped it would be. He has even shown Amy the pearl."
"Nothing of the kind. What makes you think so? I had the greatest trouble in getting it out of her."
His tone should have been a sufficient warning to me. I had not the tact46 to take it as such. At last I knew the meaning of his furious flirtation47, and stood wagging my head and shaking my finger, blinded to his frowns by my own enlightenment.
"Sure you're not still?"
"No; now I understand what has beaten me all the week. I simply couldn't fathom49 what you saw in that little girl. I never dreamt it was part of the game."
"So you think it was that and nothing more?"
"You deep old dog—of course I do!"
"There are wealthy women by the dozen who would marry you to-morrow."
"It doesn't occur to you that I might like to draw stumps51, start clean, and live happily ever after—in the bush?"
"With that voice? It certainly does not!"
But no more followed.
"Do you think you would live happily?" I made bold to ask him.
"God knows!" he answered. And with that he left me, to marvel53 at his look and tone, and, more than ever, at the insufficiently54 exciting cause.
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1
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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3
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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4
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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raffles
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| n.抽彩售物( raffle的名词复数 )v.以抽彩方式售（物）( raffle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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7
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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8
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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9
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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10
mettle
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| n.勇气，精神 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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12
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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13
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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14
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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rankling
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 ) | |
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rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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17
spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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18
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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insolently
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| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
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rimless
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| adj.无边的 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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22
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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disingenuously
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| adv.不诚实地，不坦白地 | |
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obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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28
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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29
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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30
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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31
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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32
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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33
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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35
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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37
incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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38
outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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40
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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41
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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42
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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43
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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45
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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46
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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47
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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48
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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49
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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50
squatter
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| n.擅自占地者 | |
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51
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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52
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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53
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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54
insufficiently
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| adv.不够地，不能胜任地 | |
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