After supper Bassett and Williams retired1 to the library. They were surprised and intrigued2 by the length of Rawson’s absence. He had been gone over two hours and what could have held him on the mainland so long was difficult to imagine unless a new lead had developed. This was Bassett’s idea, also his hope. To have suspicion lifted from Flora3 would be the first lightening of the grinding distress4 he had felt since the murder. Williams wondered if he could have come on anything about Joe Tracy; but Bassett shook the suggestion off with a shrug5. He could check up on Joe in half an hour; besides, there was nothing to be looked for in that line. His confidence was not assumed, his mind was untroubled by any fears about Joe. That something had turned up which might head the chase in a new direction was [Pg 205]so encouraging a thought, that, by contrast to his sensations for the last twenty-four hours, he felt almost cheerful.
In the relaxation6 of the strain he was conscious of fatigue7 for the first time. He threw himself on the sofa and in a moment had sunk into the deep deathlike sleep of exhaustion8. Williams, sitting near the telephone also nodded, his big body sagged9 together in the chair, his chin embedded10 in his chest.
The group in the living-room, viewed by the uninformed spectator, might have been the usual evening gathering11 of an informal Gull12 Island house-party. They had shut the garden door against draughts13 and with the inland entrance open wide the place was scented14 with a sharp sea tang and cool with the breath of the ocean. The tide, full-brimming, lay a dark circle about them, no moonlit path or silvered eddies15 to-night, the channel a solid swath of black between them and the clustering shore lights.
They made a deceptively quiet picture, pleasant,[Pg 206] agreeable-looking people resting in reposeful16 attitudes after a day in the open air. Shine was looking at a book of engravings spread on the end of the table. Mrs. Cornell had brought in Miss Pinkney after the business of washing up—Mrs. Cornell found Miss Pinkney’s society so fortifying17 that she sought it at all hours—and together they made a feint of playing a double solitaire. Anne and Flora sat near by reclining in armchairs, both silent, with the fixed18 eyes of preoccupation. Stokes was the sole member of the company whose inner unrest broke out in movement. He paced back and forth19 before the fireplace, quick long strides over the bear rug to the hall door and back again. Once or twice the edge of the rug caught his toe and he kicked it out of his way with a violent angry jerk of his foot.
When the minutes ticked away and no one came to overlook or overhear, a cautious trickle20 of talk began to flow. Question and answer crossed, low-toned, interrupted by warning looks at the hall door. Where had Rawson gone, what could he be [Pg 207]after? That the question lay uppermost in all their minds was shown by the quick response to the first, murmured tentative, the comprehension of sentences left unfinished with only the query21 in the eyes to point their meaning. The drooping22 attitudes gave place to a tense eagerness of pose, heads thrust forward on craned necks. Shine forgot his book, the cards lay scattered23 beneath the hands of Mrs. Cornell and Miss Pinkney, and Flora edged her chair closer. Their voices, hushed by fears, were fused in a murmurous24 hum, rising as the subject swept their interest higher, checked in sudden minutes of listening alarm.
Rawson must have got hold of some information, gone afield on a new clue. Then followed speculations25, surmises26, suggestions—wild, fantastic, probable. It might have been nothing Shine thought, simply a trip to the county-seat on business connected with the case. At this Anne crept into the circle of lamplight, nodding an avid27 agreement. Stokes coming forward caught his foot in the edge of the bear rug, stumbled and [Pg 208]broke into a stream of curses. Miss Pinkney, who thought oaths anywhere reprehensible28 and on Gull Island profanation29, grimly bade him lift his feet. He glared at her, more curses imminent30, and Flora groaned31, clutching the arms of her chair and rolling her eyes upward.
“For God’s sake don’t mind anything anybody says,” implored32 Mrs. Cornell slapping her hands down among the cards. “This is a murder case, not a social function.”
They calmed down and presently, with no more ideas to exchange, grew silent listening for the returning launch. It was a listening so wrapt that the room became as still as a picture and they as motionless as pictured figures. The ticking of the clock was audible, the sucking clinking sounds of the water along the shore. The significance of what they awaited grew with the minutes till the coming of the launch seemed an event of fearful import upon which their fates hung.
The entrance of Williams shook them from their terrors. If his face told them nothing, his [Pg 209]manner was kindly33 gruff—they must be tired, best thing for them to go to bed. As they rose and trailed limply to the doors he beckoned34 Shine to remain. He would want him later, had a job for him, so he’d better go now and get some sleep. His room was on that floor, the butler’s? All right, he’d find him. Shine departed, grateful. He was half-dead with sleep, but had kept it hidden as he had his hunger, regarding both as unmanly weaknesses in the hour of calamity35.
Williams went back to the library where Bassett still slept. He looked at his watch—a quarter to nine. He couldn’t understand it—what could Rawson have got hold of on the mainland when it was as plain as printing Mrs. Stokes was the guilty party. He started and moved to the window; the throbbing36 beat of an engine came through the silence, a low spark of light was advancing from the opposite shore.
“Rawson’s coming. And it’s nearly nine.”
[Pg 210]
Rawson came in by the window, his eyes blinking in the room’s brightness. He came briskly, with something of theatrical38 effect in his silent entrance, his purposeful walk to the desk. Bassett at once noticed a change in him, a suggestion of enhanced forces, of faculties39 recharged with energy. He tried to look stern but satisfaction shone in his eyes and lit his long lantern-jawed face. He was like the bearer of good tidings who would have worn the high smile of triumph if a smile were fitting.
“Well,” said Williams, “where the devil have you been?”
“Down the coast, twenty-five miles, on roads that would have put anything but a flivver out of commission.”
“You got something?”
“I did—this time. We’re on the right track now if I’m not much mistaken.”
Williams gave an incredulous grunt40. He did not believe in new material and in advance placed himself in stubborn opposition41:
[Pg 211]
“What did you go down the coast for?”
“To find a man called Gabriel Harvey.”
Bassett, about to sit down, stopped in surprise:
“Gabriel Harvey?— That’s our launchman.”
“Exactly. And I had a devil of a time to find him. Down in a place called White Beach, hidden away with friends in a shack42 without a telephone.”
“But why——”
“I’ll tell you.” Rawson dropped into the desk chair, and, his elbows on the arms, leaned forward, his eyes behind their glasses traveling from one face to the other. “I went over there to look into Joe Tracy’s movements. I couldn’t find any one who’d seen him come ashore43 and learned that the man Gabriel who took him over, had gone to this place White Beach for deep-sea fishing. Not being able to get hold of him I went to the station to see if I could gather up anything. And I did. The baggage man told me Gabriel had been there before he left for White Beach leaving a suit-case and fishing-rod to be held till Tracy called for them. They’re there now. I saw them.”
[Pg 212]
Williams said nothing, not ready with argument till more was divulged44. Bassett, in blank amazement45, ejaculated:
“Why, that’s the most extraordinary thing——”
“Wait, Mr. Bassett,” Rawson raised a long commanding hand. “I hung round till the evening train came in; that’s the train Tracy was to take. I saw the conductor—it’s a small branch road and travel is light at that hour—and he remembered his passengers, two women and a child. Those were the only people who left Hayworth on the seven-fifteen, the last evening train. I went back to the village and made inquiries46. Tracy had hired no vehicle at the garage or livery stable, nor had he been seen anywhere about the place. Then I got a car and went to White Beach. I was some time locating the old chap, but I finally ran him down. He said he had not taken Tracy across to the mainland last night.”
Rawson dropped back in his chair. In answer to Bassett’s expression he nodded soberly:
[Pg 213]
“Yes, it’s a pretty queer business. Gabriel said he’d told the boy to be on time; made it clear to him that he wouldn’t wait. When Tracy was not on the wharf he went to the house to look for him, saw his bag and fishing-rod in the doorway47 and took them. No one was about and he left—not sorry, I inferred from what he said, to give ‘the young cub’ as he called him, a lesson.”
Bassett got up:
“But it’s incomprehensible,” he exclaimed. “I can’t make head nor tail of it. No one ever questioned that he’d gone.”
“No one said they’d seen him go but his sister,” came from Williams.
Bassett wheeled on him:
“Yes, you asked her. Didn’t she say she’d seen him?”
“No.” Rawson’s voice was dryly quiet. “I’ve thought of that. What she said was that he went. In all fairness to her she probably thought so—took it for granted as you all did—that he’d gone.”
[Pg 214]
“But why? What’s the meaning of it? If he’d missed the boat he’d have turned up, he’d be here now.”
“Oh, he didn’t miss the boat,” said Rawson.
“Well, then, what was he doing? What made him stay?” In the turmoil48 of his amazement, this sudden precipitation of a new mystery, Bassett had not yet grasped the sinister49 trend of the other’s thoughts.
“Why,” said Rawson slowly, “he might have been staying for a purpose.”
“What purpose?”
“Can’t you imagine a purpose, Mr. Bassett?”
“Good God, you don’t mean to say you think he did it?”
“I’m not saying anything yet. But I’d like you to tell me how you explain it. He says he’s going, leads every one to think he’s going, makes all the preparations for his departure, then secretly, without divulging50 any change of plans, doesn’t go. Aren’t those actions—well to put it mildly—questionable?”
[Pg 215]
“Yes—the whole thing’s inexplicable51 as we see it now.”
“And note this. He had cause for anger against Miss Saunders—she’d given him away to you—and you yourself have told us that he had an ungovernable temper.”
“He had a devilish temper and a damned mean disposition52 and I make no doubt he was blazing mad with her. But that he’d go to work to kill her in cold blood, lay in wait for her—no—you can’t make me think that.”
“Same here,” said Williams. “You ain’t got enough provocation53. With Mrs. Stokes you have—a woman jealous of her husband.”
“And you’ve got a man,” retorted Rawson, “moved by one of the passions that lead oftenest to murder—revenge.”
“Revenge?” echoed Williams.
“Miss Saunders’ accusation54, if true,—and I think it was,—would ruin him in his profession. He learned what she’d done to him just before he was due to leave.”
[Pg 216]
A chill passed through Bassett—revenge was a word that fitted Joe. But he cast the thought out, moving away from the desk and exclaiming with angry repudiation55:
“Oh, it’s unthinkable, preposterous56.”
“What but an evil intention could have made him act as he did?”
“Any number of things. It may be a prank—a practical joke we’ll get an explanation of later. He may have invented the story of his fishing trip and gone off with a girl.”
“Had he a girl?”
“I don’t know—also he may have done something dishonest, got in wrong some way—he was capable of it, I’m not defending him—and been frightened and lit out.”
“How did he get off?”
Bassett’s voice was raised in his exasperation57:
“Good lord, Rawson, we weren’t jailed here then. He could have had a boat hidden in one of the coves58. This place wasn’t escape-proof till you turned up. He could have rowed ashore and landed anywhere, and that’s what he’s done.”
[Pg 217]
“Unless he’s here.”
“Here on the island?”
“That’s my opinion, in hiding on the island.”
“Ain’t we gone over it with a fine-tooth comb?”
“How about that top story? A person—we won’t say who—could have killed the woman, entered the house while the rest of you were on the beach, put back the pistol, and gone up-stairs.”
Williams made a motion to heave himself up from his chair.
“Well, if that’s how you feel about it let’s go up and have a look for the person.”
“We needn’t do that just now. They’re as safe as if they were behind bars. There’s something I want to do down here first—have a talk with Miss Tracy. She may be able to give us a little light.”
“She can’t help you,” said Bassett. “They weren’t on confidential62 terms. She’d be the last person he’d tell anything to.”
He believed what he said, but his heart sank. [Pg 218]Anne to be dragged through another interrogation, an interrogation with a hideous63 suspicion behind it!
Rawson rose:
“Perhaps so, but it’s worth trying. She may know more than you think; sisters sometimes do. And she certainly must have more knowledge of him than any of us. We’ll soon see.”
He moved toward the door.
“I’ll go up and get her now.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
intrigued
|
|
| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
flora
|
|
| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
shrug
|
|
| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
relaxation
|
|
| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
fatigue
|
|
| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
exhaustion
|
|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
sagged
|
|
| 下垂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
embedded
|
|
| a.扎牢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
gull
|
|
| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
draughts
|
|
| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
eddies
|
|
| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
reposeful
|
|
| adj.平稳的，沉着的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
17
fortifying
|
|
| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
trickle
|
|
| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
query
|
|
| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
drooping
|
|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
murmurous
|
|
| adj.低声的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
25
speculations
|
|
| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
surmises
|
|
| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
avid
|
|
| adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
reprehensible
|
|
| adj.该受责备的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
profanation
|
|
| n.亵渎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
imminent
|
|
| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
implored
|
|
| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
beckoned
|
|
| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
calamity
|
|
| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
throbbing
|
|
| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
wharf
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
theatrical
|
|
| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
faculties
|
|
| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
grunt
|
|
| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
divulged
|
|
| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
divulging
|
|
| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
provocation
|
|
| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
accusation
|
|
| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
repudiation
|
|
| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
coves
|
|
| n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 )；家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
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： |
|
|
|
|
60
reminder
|
|
| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |