On that same Thursday afternoon Virginia Revel1 had been playing tennis at Ranelagh. All the way back to Pont Street, as she lay back in the long, luxurious2 limousine3, a little smile played upon her lips, as she rehearsed her part in the forthcoming interview. Of course it was within the bounds of possibility that the blackmailer5 might not reappear, but she felt pretty certain that he would. She had shown herself an easy prey6. Well, perhaps this time there would be a little surprise for him!
“How’s your wife, Walton? I forgot to ask.”
“Better I think, ma’am. The doctor said he’d look in and see her about half-past six. Will you be wanting the car again?”
Virginia reflected for a minute.
“I shall be away for the week-end. I’m going by the 6.40 from Paddington, but I shan’t need you again—a taxi will do for that. I’d rather you saw the doctor. If he thinks it would do your wife good to go away for the week-end, take her somewhere, Walton. I’ll stand the expense.”
Cutting short the man’s thanks with an impatient nod of the head, Virginia ran up the steps, delved8 into her bag in search of her latchkey, remembered she hadn’t got it with her, and hastily rang the bell.
It was not answered at once, but as she waited there a young man came up the steps. He was shabbily dressed,[Pg 67] and carried in his hand a sheaf of leaflets. He held one out to Virginia with the legend on it plainly visible: “Why Did I Serve my Country?” In his left hand he held a collecting-box.
“I can’t buy two of those awful poems in one day,” said Virginia pleadingly. “I bought one this morning. I did, indeed, honour bright.”
The young man threw back his head and laughed. Virginia laughed with him. Running her eyes carelessly over him, she thought him a more pleasing specimen9 than usual of London’s unemployed10. She liked his brown face, and the lean hardness of him. She went so far as to wish she had a job for him.
But at that moment the door opened, and immediately Virginia forgot all about the problem of the unemployed, for to her astonishment11 the door was opened by her own maid, Élise.
“Where’s Chilvers?” she demanded sharply, as she stepped into the hall.
“But he is gone, madame, with the others.”
“What others? Gone where?”
“But to Datchet, madame—to the cottage, as your telegram said.”
“Did not madame send a telegram? Surely there can be no mistake. It came but an hour ago.”
“I never sent any telegram. What did it say?”
“I believe it is still on the table là-bas.”
“Voilà, madame!”
The telegram was addressed to Chilvers and ran as follows:
“Please take household down to cottage at once, and make preparations for week-end party there. Catch 5.49 train.”
There was nothing unusual about it, it was just the sort of message she herself had frequently sent before,[Pg 68] when she had arranged a party at her riverside bungalow15 on the spur of the moment. She always took the whole household down, leaving an old woman as caretaker. Chilvers would not have seen anything wrong with the message, and like a good servant had carried out his orders faithfully enough.
“Me, I remained,” explained Élise, “knowing that madame would wish me to pack for her.”
“It’s a silly hoax,” cried Virginia, flinging down the telegram angrily. “You know perfectly16 well, Élise, that I am going to Chimneys. I told you so this morning.”
“I thought madame had changed her mind. Sometimes that does happen, does it not, madame?”
Virginia admitted the truth of the accusation17 with a half smile. She was busy trying to find a reason for this extraordinary practical joke. Élise cut forward a suggestion.
“Mon Dieu!” she cried, clasping her hands. “If it should be the malefactors, the thieves! They send the bogus telegram and get the domestiques all out of the house, and then they rob it.”
“I suppose that might be it,” said Virginia doubtfully.
“Yes, yes, madame, that is it without a doubt. Every day you read in the papers of such things. Madame will ring up the police at once—at once—before they arrive and cut our throats.”
“Don’t get so excited, Élise. They won’t come and cut our throats at six o’clock in the afternoon.”
“What on earth for? Don’t be silly, Élise. Go up and pack my things for Chimneys if you haven’t already done it. The new Cailleuax evening dress, and the white crêpe marocain, and—yes, the black velvet19—black velvet is so political, is it not?”
“Madame looks ravishing in the eau de nil20 satin,” suggested Élise, her professional instincts reasserting themselves.
[Pg 69]
“No, I won’t take that. Hurry up, Élise, there’s a good girl. We’ve got very little time. I’ll send a wire to Chilvers at Datchet, and I’ll speak to the policeman on the beat as we go out and tell him to keep an eye on the place. Don’t start rolling your eyes again, Élise—if you get so frightened before anything has happened, what would you do if a man jumped out from some dark corner and stuck a knife into you?”
Élise gave vent21 to a shrill22 squeak23, and beat a speedy retreat up the stairs, darting24 nervous glances over each shoulder as she went.
Virginia made a face at her retreating back, and crossed the hall to the little study where the telephone was. Élise’s suggestion of ringing up the police station seemed to her a good one, and she intended to act upon it without any further delay.
She opened the study door and crossed to the telephone. Then, with her hand on the receiver, she stopped. A man was sitting in the big arm-chair, sitting in a curious huddled25 position. In the stress of the moment, she had forgotten all about her expected visitor. Apparently26 he had fallen asleep whilst waiting for her.
She came right up to the chair, a slightly mischievous27 smile upon her face. And then suddenly the smile faded.
The man was not asleep. He was dead.
She knew it at once, knew it instinctively28 even before her eyes had seen and noted29 the small shining pistol lying on the floor, the little-singed hole just above the heart with the dark stain round it, and the horrible dropped jaw30.
She stood quite still, her hands pressed to her sides. In the silence she heard Élise running down the stairs.
“Madame! Madame!”
“Well, what is it?”
She moved quickly to the door. Her whole instinct was to conceal31 what had happened—for the moment anyway—from Élise. Élise would promptly32 go into hysterics, she knew that well enough, and she felt a great need for calm and quiet in which to think things out.
[Pg 70]
“Madame, would it not be better if I should draw the chain across the door? These malefactors, at any minute they may arrive.”
“Yes, if you like. Anything you like.”
She heard the rattle33 of the chain, and then Élise running upstairs again, and drew a long breath of relief.
She looked at the man in the chair and then at the telephone. Her course was quite clear, she must ring up the police at once.
But still she did not do so. She stood quite still, paralysed with horror and with a host of conflicting ideas rushing through her brain. The bogus telegram. Had it something to do with this? Supposing Élise had not stayed behind? She would have let herself in—that is, presuming she had had her latchkey with her as usual, to find herself alone in the house with a murdered man—a man whom she had permitted to blackmail4 her on a former occasion. Of course she had an explanation of that; but thinking of that explanation she was not quite easy in her mind. She remembered how frankly34 incredible George had found it. Would other people think the same. Those letters now—of course she hadn’t written them, but would it be so easy to prove that?
She put her hands on her forehead, squeezing them tight together.
“I must think,” said Virginia. “I simply must think.”
Who had let the man in? Surely not Élise. If she had done so, she would have been sure to have mentioned the fact at once. The whole thing seemed more and more mysterious as she thought about it. There was really only one thing to be done—ring up the police.
She stretched out her hand to the telephone, and suddenly she thought of George. A man—that was what she wanted—an ordinary level-headed, unemotional man who would see things in their proper proportion and point out to her the best course to take.
Then she shook her head. Not George. The first thing George would think of would be his own position. He[Pg 71] would hate being mixed up in this kind of business. George wouldn’t do at all.
She was informed that he had left half an hour ago for Chimneys.
“Oh, damn!” cried Virginia, jamming down the receiver. It was horrible to be shut up with a dead body and to have no one to speak to.
And at that minute the front-door bell rang.
Virginia jumped. In a few minutes it rang again. Élise, she knew, was upstairs packing and wouldn’t hear it.
Virginia went out in the hall, drew back the chain, and undid36 all the bolts that Élise had fastened in her zeal37. Then, with a long breath, she threw open the door. On the steps was the unemployed young man.
“Come in,” she said. “I think that perhaps I’ve got a job for you.”
She took him into the dining-room, pulled toward a chair for him, sat down herself facing him, and stared at him very attentively39.
“Excuse me,” she said, “but are you—I mean——”
“Eton and Oxford,” said the young man. “That’s what you wanted to ask me, wasn’t it?”
“Something of the kind,” admitted Virginia.
“Come down in the world entirely40 through my own incapacity to stick to regular work. This isn’t regular work you’re offering me, I hope?”
“It’s very irregular.”
“Good,” said the young man in a tone of satisfaction.
Virginia noted his bronzed face and long lean body with approval.
“You see,” she explained, “I’m in rather a hole, and most of my friends are—well, rather high up. They’ve all got something to lose.”
[Pg 72]
“I’ve nothing whatever to lose. So go ahead. What’s the trouble?”
“There’s a dead man in the next room,” said Virginia. “He’s been murdered, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
She blurted42 out the words as simply as a child might have done. The young man went up enormously in her estimation by the way he accepted her statement. He might have been used to hearing a similar announcement made every day of his life.
“Excellent,” he said, with a trace of enthusiasm. “I’ve always wanted to do a bit of amateur detective work. Shall we go and view the body, or will you give me the facts first?”
“I think I’d better give you the facts.” She paused for a moment to consider how best to condense her story, and then began, speaking quietly and concisely43.
“This man came to the house for the first time yesterday and asked to see me. He had certain letters with him—love letters, signed with my name——”
“But which weren’t written by you,” put in the young man quietly.
Virginia looked at him in some astonishment
“How did you know that?”
“Oh, I deduced it. But go on.”
“He wanted to blackmail me—and I—well, I don’t know if you’ll understand, but I—let him.”
She looked at him appealingly, and he nodded his head reassuringly44.
“Of course I understand. You wanted to see what it felt like.”
“How frightfully clever of you! That’s just what I did feel.”
“I am clever,” said the young man modestly. “But, mind you, very few people would understand that point of view. Most people, you see, haven’t got any imagination.”
“I suppose that’s so. I told this man to come back[Pg 73] to-day—at six o’clock. I arrived home from Ranelagh to find that a bogus telegram had got all the servants except my maid out of the house. Then I walked into the study and found the man shot.”
“Who let him in?”
“I don’t know. I think if my maid had done so she would have told me.”
“Does she know what has happened?”
“I have told her nothing.”
The young man nodded, and rose to his feet.
“And now to view the body,” he said briskly. “But I’ll tell you this—on the whole it’s always best to tell the truth. One lie involves you in such a lot of lies—and continuous lying is so monotonous45.”
“Then you advise me to ring up the police?”
“Probably. But we’ll just have a look at the fellow first.”
Virginia led the way out the room. On the threshold she paused, looking back at him.
“By the way,” she said, “you haven’t told me your name yet?”
“My name? My name’s Anthony Cade.”
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收听单词发音
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1
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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2
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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3
limousine
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| n.豪华轿车 | |
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4
blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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blackmailer
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| 敲诈者，勒索者 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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8
delved
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| v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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10
unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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11
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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12
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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14
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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15
bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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16
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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17
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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18
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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19
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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20
nil
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| n.无，全无，零 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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22
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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23
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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24
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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25
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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26
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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27
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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28
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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29
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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30
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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31
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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32
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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33
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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34
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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35
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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36
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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37
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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38
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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39
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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40
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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41
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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42
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
concisely
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| adv.简明地 | |
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44
reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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45
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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