But unremarkable though Monsieur Beroldy might be, his wife was plentifully6 gilded7 with the brush of Romance. Young and good looking, and gifted withal with a singular charm of manner, Madame Beroldy at once created a stir in the quarter, especially when it began to be whispered that some interesting mystery surrounded her birth. It was rumoured8 that she was the illegitimate daughter of a Russian Grand Duke. Others asserted that it was an Austrian Archduke, and that the union was legal, though morganatic. But all stories agreed upon one point, that Jeanne Beroldy was the centre of an interesting mystery. Questioned by the curious, Madame Beroldy did not deny these rumours9. On the other hand she let it be clearly understood that, though her “lips” were “sealed,” all these stories had a foundation in fact. To intimate friends she unburdened herself further, spoke10 of political intrigues11, of “papers,” of obscure dangers that threatened her. There was also much talk of Crown jewels that were to be sold secretly, with herself acting12 as the go-between.
Amongst the friends and acquaintances of the Beroldys was a young lawyer, Georges Conneau. It was soon evident that the fascinating Jeanne had completely enslaved his heart. Madame Beroldy encouraged the young man in a discreet13 fashion, but being always careful to affirm her complete devotion to her middle-aged husband. Nevertheless, many spiteful persons did not hesitate to declare that young Conneau was her lover—and not the only one!
When the Beroldys had been in Paris about three months, another personage came upon the scene. This was Mr. Hiram P. Trapp, a native of the United States, and extremely wealthy. Introduced to the charming and mysterious Madame Beroldy, he fell a prompt victim to her fascinations14. His admiration15 was obvious, though strictly16 respectful.
About this time, Madame Beroldy became more outspoken17 in her confidences. To several friends, she declared herself greatly worried on her husband’s behalf. She explained that he had been drawn18 into several schemes of a political nature, and also referred to some important papers that had been entrusted19 to him for safekeeping and which concerned a “secret” of far reaching European importance. They had been entrusted to his custody20 to throw pursuers off the track, but Madame Beroldy was nervous, having recognized several important members of the Revolutionary Circle in Paris.
On the 28th day of November, the blow fell. The woman who came daily to clean and cook for the Beroldys was surprised to find the door of the apartment standing21 wide open. Hearing faint moans issuing from the bedroom, she went in. A terrible sight met her eyes. Madame Beroldy lay on the floor, bound hand and foot, uttering feeble moans, having managed to free her mouth from a gag. On the bed was Monsieur Beroldy, lying in a pool of blood, with a knife driven through his heart.
Madame Beroldy’s story was clear enough. Suddenly awakened22 from sleep, she had discerned two masked men bending over her. Stifling23 her cries, they had bound and gagged her. They had then demanded of Monsieur Beroldy the famous “secret.”
But the intrepid24 wine merchant refused point-blank to accede25 to their request. Angered by his refusal, one of the men incontinently stabbed him through the heart. With the dead man’s keys, they had opened the safe in the corner, and had carried away with them a mass of papers. Both men were heavily bearded, and had worn masks, but Madame Beroldy declared positively26 that they were Russians.
The affair created an immense sensation. It was referred to variously as “the Nihilist Atrocity,” “Revolutionaries in Paris,” and the “Russian Mystery.” Time went on, and the mysterious bearded men were never traced. And then, just as public interest was beginning to die down, a startling development occurred. Madame Beroldy was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband.
The trial, when it came on, aroused widespread interest. The youth and beauty of the accused, and her mysterious history, were sufficient to make of it a cause célèbre. People ranged themselves wildly for or against the prisoner. But her partisans27 received several severe checks to their enthusiasm. The romantic past of Madame Beroldy, her royal blood, and the mysterious intrigues in which she had her being were shown to be mere fantasies of the imagination.
It was proved beyond doubt that Jeanne Beroldy’s parents were a highly respectable and prosaic28 couple, fruit merchants, who lived on the outskirts29 of Lyons. The Russian Grand Duke, the court intrigues, and the political schemes—all the stories current were traced back to—the lady herself! From her brain had emanated30 these ingenious myths, and she was proved to have raised a considerable sum of money from various credulous31 persons by her fiction of the “Crown jewels”—the jewels in question being found to be mere paste imitations. Remorselessly the whole story of her life was laid bare. The motive32 for the murder was found in Mr. Hiram P. Trapp. Mr. Trapp did his best, but relentlessly33 and agilely34 cross-questioned he was forced to admit that he loved the lady, and that, had she been free, he would have asked her to be his wife. The fact that the relations between them were admittedly platonic35 strengthened the case against the accused. Debarred from becoming his mistress by the simple honourable36 nature of the man, Jeanne Beroldy had conceived the monstrous37 project of ridding herself of her elderly undistinguished husband, and becoming the wife of the rich American.
Throughout, Madame Beroldy confronted her accusers with complete sang froid and self possession. Her story never varied38. She continued to declare strenuously39 that she was of royal birth, and that she had been substituted for the daughter of the fruit seller at an early age. Absurd and completely unsubstantiated as these statements were, a great number of people believed implicitly40 in their truth.
But the prosecution41 was implacable. It denounced the masked “Russians” as a myth, and asserted that the crime had been committed by Madame Beroldy and her lover, Georges Conneau. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the latter, but he had wisely disappeared. Evidence showed that the bonds which secured Madame Beroldy were so loose that she could easily have freed herself.
And then, towards the close of the trial, a letter, posted in Paris, was sent to the Public Prosecutor42. It was from Georges Conneau and, without revealing his whereabouts, it contained a full confession43 of the crime. He declared that he had indeed struck the fatal blow at Madame Beroldy’s instigation. The crime had been planned between them. Believing that her husband ill-treated her, and maddened by his own passion for her, a passion which he believed her to return, he had planned the crime and struck the fatal blow that should free the woman he loved from a hateful bondage44. Now, for the first time, he learnt of Mr. Hiram P. Trapp, and realized that the woman he loved had betrayed him! Not for his sake did she wish to be free—but in order to marry the wealthy American. She had used him as a cat’s-paw, and now, in his jealous rage, he turned and denounced her, declaring that throughout he had acted at her instigation.
And then Madame Beroldy proved herself the remarkable5 woman she undoubtedly45 was. Without hesitation46, she dropped her previous defence, and admitted that the “Russians” were a pure invention on her part. The real murderer was Georges Conneau. Maddened by passion, he had committed the crime, vowing47 that if she did not keep silence he would enact48 a terrible vengeance49 from her. Terrified by his threats, she had consented—also fearing it likely that if she told the truth she might be accused of conniving50 at the crime. But she had steadfastly51 refused to have anything more to do with her husband’s murderer, and it was in revenge for this attitude on her part that he had written this letter accusing her. She swore solemnly that she had had nothing to do with the planning of the crime, that she had awoke on that memorable52 night to find Georges Conneau standing over her, the blood-stained knife in his hand.
It was a touch and go affair. Madame Beroldy’s story was hardly credible53. But this woman, whose fairy tales of royal intrigues had been so easily accepted, had the supreme54 art of making herself believed. Her address to the jury was a masterpiece. The tears streaming down her face, she spoke of her child, of her woman’s honour—of her desire to keep her reputation untarnished for the child’s sake. She admitted that, Georges Conneau having been her lover, she might perhaps be held morally responsible for the crime—but, before God, nothing more! She knew that she had committed a grave fault in not denouncing Conneau to the law, but she declared in a broken voice that that was a thing no woman could have done. … She had loved him! Could she let her hand be the one to send him to the Guillotine? She had been guilty of much, but she was innocent of the terrible crime imputed55 to her.
However that may have been, her eloquence56 and personality won the day. Madame Beroldy, amidst a scene of unparalleled excitement, was acquitted57. Despite the utmost endeavours of the police, Georges Conneau was never traced. As for Madame Beroldy, nothing more was heard of her. Taking the child with her, she left Paris to begin a new life.
作者的其它作品
斯泰尔斯庄园奇案 The Mysterious Affair at Styles
作者的其它作品
斯泰尔斯庄园奇案 The Mysterious Affair at Styles
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1
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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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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intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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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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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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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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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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accede
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| v.应允，同意 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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agilely
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| adv.敏捷地 | |
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platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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prosecutor
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| n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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enact
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| vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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50
conniving
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| v.密谋 ( connive的现在分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
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51
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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53
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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54
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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55
imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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57
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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