‘If what the boy says is correct it sounds as if the person whom you are seeking may have had a finger in the pie.’
I was of the same opinion, as, apparently3, were Lessingham and Sydney. Atherton collared the youth by the shoulder which Mr Pleesman had left disengaged.
‘What sort of looking bloke is it who’s been murdered?’
‘I dunno! I ’aven’t seen ’im! Mrs ’Enderson, she says to me! “’Gustus Barley,” she says, “a bloke’s been murdered. That there Harab what I chucked out ’alf a hour ago been and murdered ’im, and left ’im behind up in my back room. You run as ’ard as you can tear and tell them there dratted pleese what’s so fond of shovin’ their dirty noses into respectable people’s ’ouses.” So I comes and tells yer. That’s all I knows about it.’
We went four in the hansom which had been waiting in the street to Mrs Henderson’s in Paradise Place,—the Inspector and we three. ‘Mr Pleesman’ and ‘’Gustus Barley’ followed on foot. The Inspector was explanatory.
‘Mrs Henderson keeps a sort of lodging-house,—a “Sailors’ Home” she calls it, but no one could call it sweet. It doesn’t bear the best of characters, and if you asked me what I thought of it, I should say in plain English that it was a disorderly house.’
Paradise Place proved to be within three or four hundred yards of the Station House. So far as could be seen in the dark it consisted of a row of houses of considerable dimensions,—and also of considerable antiquity4. They opened on to two or three stone steps which led directly into the street. At one of the doors stood an old lady with a shawl drawn5 over her head. This was Mrs Henderson. She greeted us with garrulous6 volubility.
‘So you ’ave come, ’ave you? I thought you never was a-comin’ that I did.’ She recognised the Inspector. ‘It’s you, Mr Phillips, is it?’ Perceiving us, she drew a little back. ‘Who’s them ’ere parties? They ain’t coppers7?’
‘Never you mind who they are. What’s this about someone being murdered.’
‘Ssh!’ The old lady glanced round. ‘Don’t you speak so loud, Mr Phillips. No one don’t know nothing about it as yet. The parties what’s in my ’ouse is most respectable,—most! and they couldn’t abide10 the notion of there being police about the place.’
‘We quite believe that, Mrs Henderson.’
The Inspector’s tone was grim.
Mrs Henderson led the way up a staircase which would have been distinctly the better for repairs. It was necessary to pick one’s way as one went, and as the light was defective11 stumbles were not infrequent.
Our guide paused outside a door on the topmost landing. From some mysterious recess12 in her apparel she produced a key.
‘It’s in ’ere. I locked the door so that nothing mightn’t be disturbed. I knows ’ow particular you pleesmen is.’
She turned the key. We all went in—we, this time, in front, and she behind.
A candle was guttering13 on a broken and dilapidated single washhand stand. A small iron bedstead stood by its side, the clothes on which were all tumbled and tossed. There was a rush-seated chair with a hole in the seat,—and that, with the exception of one or two chipped pieces of stoneware, and a small round mirror which was hung on a nail against the wall, seemed to be all that the room contained. I could see nothing in the shape of a murdered man. Nor, it appeared, could the Inspector either.
‘What’s the meaning of this, Mrs Henderson? I don’t see anything here.’
‘It’s be’ind the bed, Mr Phillips. I left ’im just where I found ’im, I wouldn’t ’ave touched ’im not for nothing, nor yet ’ave let nobody else ’ave touched ’im neither, because, as I say, I know ’ow particular you pleesmen is.’
We all four went hastily forward. Atherton and I went to the head of the bed, Lessingham and the Inspector, leaning right across the bed, peeped over the side. There, on the floor in the space which was between the bed and the wall, lay the murdered man.
At sight of him an exclamation14 burst from Sydney’s lips.
‘It’s Holt!’
‘Thank God!’ cried Lessingham. ‘It isn’t Marjorie!’
The relief in his tone was unmistakable. That the one was gone was plainly nothing to him in comparison with the fact that the other was left.
Thrusting the bed more into the centre of the room I knelt down beside the man on the floor. A more deplorable spectacle than he presented I have seldom witnessed. He was decently clad in a grey tweed suit, white hat, collar and necktie, and it was perhaps that fact which made his extreme attenuation15 the more conspicuous16. I doubt if there was an ounce of flesh on the whole of his body. His cheeks and the sockets17 of his eyes were hollow. The skin was drawn tightly over his cheek bones,—the bones themselves were staring through. Even his nose was wasted, so that nothing but a ridge18 of cartilage remained. I put my arm beneath his shoulder and raised him from the floor; no resistance was offered by the body’s gravity,—he was as light as a little child.
‘I doubt,’ I said, ‘if this man has been murdered. It looks to me like a case of starvation, or exhaustion,—possibly a combination of both.’
‘What’s that on his neck?’ asked the Inspector,—he was kneeling at my side.
‘They look to me like scratches. They seem pretty deep, but I don’t think they’re sufficient in themselves to cause death.’
‘They might be, joined to an already weakened constitution. Is there anything in his pockets?—let’s lift him on to the bed.’
We lifted him on to the bed,—a featherweight he was to lift. While the Inspector was examining his pockets—to find them empty—a tall man with a big black beard came bustling20 in. He proved to be Dr Glossop, the local police surgeon, who had been sent for before our quitting the Station House.
His first pronouncement, made as soon as he commenced his examination, was, under the circumstances, sufficiently21 startling.
‘I don’t believe the man’s dead. Why didn’t you send for me directly you found him?’
The question was put to Mrs Henderson.
‘Well, Dr Glossop, I wouldn’t touch ’im myself, and I wouldn’t ’ave ’im touched by no one else, because, as I’ve said afore, I know ’ow particular them pleesmen is.’
‘Then in that case, if he does die you’ll have had a hand in murdering him,—that’s all.’
The lady sniggered. ‘Of course Dr Glossop, we all knows that you’ll always ’ave your joke.’
‘You’ll find it a joke if you have to hang, as you ought to, you—’ The doctor said what he did say to himself, under his breath. I doubt if it was flattering to Mrs Henderson. ‘Have you got any brandy in the house?’
‘We’ve got everythink in the ’ouse for them as likes to pay for it,—everythink.’ Then, suddenly remembering that the police were present, and that hers were not exactly licensed22 premises23, ‘Leastways we can send out for it for them parties as gives us the money, being, as is well known, always willing to oblige.’
‘Then send for some,—to the tap downstairs, if that’s the nearest! If this man dies before you’ve brought it I’ll have you locked up as sure as you’re a living woman.’
The arrival of the brandy was not long delayed,—but the man on the bed had regained24 consciousness before it came. Opening his eyes he looked up at the doctor bending over him.
‘Hollo, my man! that’s more like the time of day! How are you feeling?’
The patient stared hazily25 up at the doctor, as if his sense of perception was not yet completely restored,—as if this big bearded man was something altogether strange. Atherton bent26 down beside the doctor.
‘I’m glad to see you looking better, Mr Holt. You know me don’t you? I’ve been running about after you all day long.’
‘You are—you are—’ The man’s eyes closed, as if the effort at recollection exhausted27 him. He kept them closed as he continued to speak.
‘I know who you are. You are—the gentleman.’
‘Yes, that’s it, I’m the gentleman,—name of Atherton.—Miss Lindon’s friend. And I daresay you’re feeling pretty well done up, and in want of something to eat and drink,—here’s some brandy for you.’
The doctor had some in a tumbler. He raised the patient’s head, allowing it to trickle28 down his throat. The man swallowed it mechanically, motionless, as if unconscious what it was that he was doing. His cheeks flushed, the passing glow of colour caused their condition of extraordinary, and, indeed, extravagant29 attenuation, to be more prominent than ever. The doctor laid him back upon the bed, feeling his pulse with one hand, while he stood and regarded him in silence.
Then, turning to the Inspector, he said to him in an undertone;
‘If you want him to make a statement he’ll have to make it now, he’s going fast. You won’t be able to get much out of him,—he’s too far gone, and I shouldn’t bustle30 him, but get what you can.’
The Inspector came to the front, a notebook in his hand.
‘I understand from this gentleman—’ signifying Atherton—‘that your name’s Robert Holt. I’m an Inspector of police, and I want you to tell me what has brought you into this condition. Has anyone been assaulting you?’
Holt, opening his eyes, glanced up at the speaker mistily31, as if he could not see him clearly,—still less understand what it was that he was saying. Sydney, stooping over him, endeavoured to explain.
‘The Inspector wants to know how you got here, has anyone been doing anything to you? Has anyone been hurting you?’
The man’s eyelids32 were partially33 closed. Then they opened wider and wider. His mouth opened too. On his skeleton features there came a look of panic fear. He was evidently struggling to speak. At last words came.
‘What’s he mean?’ asked the Inspector.
‘I think I understand,’ Sydney answered; then turning again to the man in the bed. ‘Yes, I hear what you say,—the beetle. Well, has the beetle done anything to you?’
‘It took me by the throat!’
‘Is that the meaning of the marks upon your neck?’
‘The beetle killed me.’
The lids closed. The man relapsed into a state of lethargy. The Inspector was puzzled;—and said so.
‘What’s he mean about a beetle?’
Atherton replied.
‘I think I understand what he means,—and my friends do too. We’ll explain afterwards. In the meantime I think I’d better get as much out of him as I can,—while there’s time.’
‘Yes,’ said the doctor, his hand upon the patient’s pulse, ‘while there’s time. There isn’t much—only seconds.’
‘You’ve been with Miss Lindon all the afternoon and evening, haven’t you, Mr Holt?’
Atherton had reached a chord in the man’s consciousness. His lips moved,—in painful articulation36.
‘Yes—all the afternoon—and evening—God help me!’
‘I hope God will help you my poor fellow; you’ve been in need of His help if ever man was. Miss Lindon is disguised in your old clothes, isn’t she?’
‘Yes,—in my old clothes. My God!’
‘And where is Miss Lindon now?’
The man had been speaking with his eyes closed. Now he opened them, wide; there came into them the former staring horror. He became possessed37 by uncontrollable agitation,—half raising himself in bed. Words came from his quivering lips as if they were only drawn from him by the force of his anguish38.
‘The beetle’s going to kill Miss Lindon.’
A momentary39 paroxysm seemed to shake the very foundations of his being. His whole frame quivered. He fell back on to the bed,—ominously. The doctor examined him in silence—while we too were still.
I felt a sudden pressure on my arm, and found that Lessingham was clutching me with probably unconscious violence. The muscles of his face were twitching41. He trembled. I turned to the doctor.
‘Doctor, if there is any of that brandy left will you let me have it for my friend?’
Lessingham disposed of the remainder of the ‘shillings worth.’ I rather fancy it saved us from a scene.
The Inspector was speaking to the woman of the house.
‘Now, Mrs Henderson, perhaps you’ll tell us what all this means. Who is this man, and how did he come in here, and who came in with him, and what do you know about it altogether? If you’ve got anything to say, say it, only you’d better be careful, because it’s my duty to warn you that anything you do say may be used against you.’
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收听单词发音
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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2
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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3
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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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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garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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7
coppers
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| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
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8
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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9
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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10
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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13
guttering
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| n.用于建排水系统的材料；沟状切除术；开沟 | |
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14
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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15
attenuation
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| n.变薄；弄细；稀薄化；减少 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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17
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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abrasions
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| n.磨损( abrasion的名词复数 )；擦伤处；摩擦；磨蚀（作用） | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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licensed
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| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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23
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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hazily
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| ad. vaguely, not clear | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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mistily
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| adv.有雾地，朦胧地，不清楚地 | |
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32
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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beetle
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| n.甲虫，近视眼的人 | |
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35
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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articulation
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| n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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38
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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40
conjuring
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| n.魔术 | |
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41
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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