He was a glib-tongued man, who spoke5 in a confident, matter-of-fact way. When he saw us he rubbed his hands as one who had brought affairs to a successful issue, and now meant to reap praise and other rewards. His whole bearing told me he had made an important discovery; so I begged him to be seated, and give us his news.
Carriston gave him a careless glance, and stood at some little distance from us. He looked as if he thought the impending6 communication scarcely worth the trouble of listening to. He might, indeed, from his looks, have been the most disinterested7 person of the three. He even left me to do the questioning.
“Now, then, Mr. Sharpe,” I said, “let us hear if you have earned your money.”
“I think so, sir,” replied Sharpe, looking curiously8 at Carriston, who, strange to say, heard this answer with supreme9 indifference10.
“I think I may say I have, sir,” continued the detective—“that is if the gentlemen can identify these articles as being the young lady’s property.”
Thereupon he produced from a thick letter-case a ribbon in which was stuck a silver pin, mounted with Scotch11 pebbles12, an ornament13 that I remembered having seen Madeline wear. Mr. Sharpe handed them to Carriston. He examined them, and I saw his cheeks flush and his eyes grow bright.
“How did you come by this?” he cried, pointing to the silver ornament.
“I’ll tell you presently, sir. Do you recognize it?”
“I gave it to Miss Rowan myself.”
“Yes, gentlemen, we are certainly on the right track; but after all, it isn’t my fault if the track don’t lead exactly[256] where you wish. You see, when I heard of this mysterious disappearance15 of the lady, I began to concoct16 my own theory. I said to myself, when a young and beautiful—”
“Confound your theories!” cried Carriston fiercely. “Go on with your tale.”
The man gave his interrupter a spiteful glance. “Well, sir,” he said, “as you gave me strict instructions to watch a certain gentleman closely, I obeyed those instructions, of course, although I knew I was on a fool’s errand.”
“Will you go on?” cried Carriston. “If you know where Miss Rowan is, say so; your money will be paid you the moment I find her.”
“I don’t say I exactly know where to find the lady, but I can soon know if you wish me to.”
“Tell your tale your own way, but as shortly as possible,” I said, seeing that my excitable friend was preparing for another outburst.
“I found there was nothing to be gained by keeping watch on the gentleman you mentioned, sir, so I went to Scotland and tried back from there. As soon as I worked on my own lay I found out all about it. The lady went from Callendar to Edinburgh, from Edinburgh to London, from London to Folkestone, and from Folkestone to Boulong.”
I glanced at Carriston. All his calmness seemed to have returned. He was leaning against the mantelpiece, and appeared quite unmoved by Mr. Sharpe’s clear statement as to the route Madeline had taken.
“Of course,” continued Mr. Sharpe, “I was not quite certain I was tracking the right person, although her description corresponded with the likeness17 you[257] gave me. But as you are sure this article of jewelry18 belonged to the lady you want, the matter is beyond a doubt.”
“Of course,” I said, seeing that Carriston had no intention of speaking. “Where did you find it?”
“It was left behind, in a bedroom of one of the principal hotels in Folkestone. I did go over to Boulong, but after that I thought I had learned all you would care to know.”
There was something in the man’s manner which made me dread19 what was coming. Again I looked at Carriston. His lips were curved with contempt, but he still kept silence.
“For this reason, sir. I had learned enough. The theory I had concocted21 was the right one after all. The lady went to Edinburgh alone, right enough: but she didn’t leave Edinburgh alone, nor she didn’t leave London alone, nor she didn’t stay at Folkestone—where I found the pin—alone, nor she didn’t go to Boulong alone. She was accompanied by a young gentleman who called himself Mr. Smith; and what’s more, she called herself Mrs. Smith. Perhaps she was; as they lived like man and wife.”
Whether the fellow was right or mistaken, this explanation of Madeline’s disappearance seemed to give me what I can only compare to a smack22 in the face. I stared at the speaker in speechless astonishment23. If the tale he told so glibly24 and circumstantially was true, farewell, so far as I was concerned, to belief in the love or purity of women. Madeline Rowan, that creature of a poet’s dream, on the eve of her marriage with[258] Charles Carriston to fly, whether wed25 or unwed mattered little, with another man! And yet, she was but a woman. Carriston—or Carr, as she only knew him—was in her eyes poor. The companion of her flight might have won her with gold. Such things have been. Still—
My rapid and wrongful meditations26 were cut short in an unexpected way. Suddenly I saw Mr. Sharpe dragged bodily out of his chair and thrown on the floor, while Carriston, standing27 over him, thrashed the man vigorously with his own ash stick—a convenient weapon, so convenient that I felt Mr. Sharpe could not have selected a stick more appropriate for his own chastisement28. So Carriston seemed to think, for he laid on cheerfully some eight or ten good cutting strokes.
Nevertheless, being a respectable doctor and a man of peace, I was compelled to interfere29. I held Carriston’s arm while Mr. Sharpe struggled to his feet, and after collecting his hat and his pocket-book, stood glaring vengefully at his assailant, and rubbing the while such of the weals on his back as he could reach. Annoyed as I felt at the unprofessional fracas30, I could scarcely help laughing at the man’s appearance. I doubt the possibility of any one looking heroic after such a thrashing.
“You’re paid to do my work, not another’s,” said Carriston. “Go to the man who has over-bribed you and sent you to tell me your lies. Go to him, tell him that once more he has failed. Out of my sight.”
As Carriston showed signs of recommencing hostile[259] operations, the man flew as far as the door-way. There, being in comparative safety, he turned with a malignant32 look.
“You’ll smart for this,” he said; “when they lock you up as a raving33 lunatic I’ll try and get a post as keeper.”
I was glad to see that Carriston paid no attention to this parting shaft34. He turned his back scornfully, and the fellow left the room and the house.
“Now are you convinced?” asked Carriston, turning to me.
“Convinced of what? That his tale is untrue, or that he has been misled, I am quite certain.”
“Tush! That is not worth consideration. Don’t you see that Ralph has done all this? I set that man to watch him; he found out the espionage35; suborned my agent, or your agent, I should say; sent him here with a trumped-up tale. Oh, yes; I was to believe that Madeline had deserted36 me—that was to drive me out of my senses. My cousin is a fool after all!”
“Without further proof I cannot believe that your suspicions are correct,” I said; but I must own I spoke with some hesitation37.
“Proof! A clever man like you ought to see ample proof in the fact of that wretch38 having twice called me a madman. I have seen him but once before—you know if I then gave him any grounds for making such an assertion. Tell me, from whom could he have learned the word except from Ralph Carriston?”
I was bound, if only to save my own reputation for sagacity, to confess that the point noted39 by Carriston had raised certain doubts in my mind. But if Ralph Carriston really was trying by some finely-wrought scheme to bring about what he desired, there was all the more reason for great caution to be exercised.
“I am sorry you beat him,” I said. “He will now swear right and left that you are not in your senses.”
“Of course he will. What do I care?”
“It is not so very easy for a sane41 man like myself to be put in, especially when he is on his guard. I have looked up the law. There must be a certificate signed by two doctors, surgeons—or, I believe, apothecaries42 will do—who have seen the supposed lunatic alone and together. I’ll take very good care I speak to no doctor save yourself, and keep out of the way of surgeons and apothecaries.”
It quite cheered me to hear him speaking so sensibly and collectedly about himself, but I again impressed upon him the need of great caution. Although I could not believe that his cousin had taken Madeline away, I was inclined to think, after the affair with the spy, that, as Carriston averred43, he aimed at getting him, sane or insane, into a mad-house.
But after all these days we were not a step nearer to the discovery of Madeline’s whereabouts. Carriston made no sign of doing anything to facilitate that discovery. Again I urged him to intrust the whole affair to the police. Again he refused to do so, adding that he was not quite ready. Ready for what, I wondered!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
seizure
|
|
| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
professed
|
|
| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
impending
|
|
| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
disinterested
|
|
| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pebbles
|
|
| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
joyfully
|
|
| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
disappearance
|
|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
concoct
|
|
| v.调合，制造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
likeness
|
|
| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
jewelry
|
|
| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
concocted
|
|
| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
smack
|
|
| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
glibly
|
|
| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
wed
|
|
| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
meditations
|
|
| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
chastisement
|
|
| n.惩罚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
fracas
|
|
| n.打架；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
malignant
|
|
| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
raving
|
|
| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
shaft
|
|
| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
espionage
|
|
| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sane
|
|
| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
apothecaries
|
|
| n.药剂师，药店( apothecary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
averred
|
|
| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |