"——the sort of murders in which I played the part of the murderer," said Father Brown, putting down the wineglass. The row of red pictures of crime had passed before him in that moment.
"It is true," he resumed, after a momentary1 pause, "that somebody else had played the part of the murderer before me and done me out of the actual experience. I was a sort of understudy; always in a state of being ready to act the assassin. I always made it my business, at least, to know the part thoroughly2. What I mean is that, when I tried to imagine the state of mind in which such a thing would be done, I always realized that I might have done it myself under certain mental conditions, but not under others; and not generally under the obvious ones. And then, of course, I knew who really had done it; and he was not generally the obvious person.
"For instance, it seemed obvious to say that the revolutionary poet had killed the old judge who saw red about red revolutionaries. But that isn't really a reason for the revolutionary poet killing3 him. It isn't, if you think what it would really be like to be a revolutionary poet. Now I set myself conscientiously4 down to be a revolutionary poet. I mean that particular sort of pessimistic anarchial lover of revolt, not as reform, but rather as destruction. I tried to clear my mind of such elements of sanity5 and constructive6 common sense as I have had the luck to learn or inherit. I shut down and darkened all the skylights through which comes the good daylight out of heaven; I imagined a mind lit only by a red light from below; a fire rending7 rocks and cleaving8 abysses upwards9. And even with the vision at its wildest and worst, I could not see why such a visionary should cut short his own career by colliding with a common policeman, for killing one out of a million conventional old fools, as he would have called them. He wouldn't do it; however much he wrote songs of violence. He wouldn't do it, because he wrote songs of violence. A man who can express himself in song need not express himself in suicide. A poem was an event to him; and he would want to have more of them. Then I thought of another sort of heathen; the sort that is not destroying the world but entirely10 depending on the world. I thought that, save for the grace of God, I might have been a man for whom the world was a blaze of electric lights, with nothing but utter darkness beyond and around it. The worldly man, who really lives only for this world and believes in no other, whose worldly success and pleasure are all he can ever snatch out of nothingness—that is the man who will really do anything, when he is in danger of losing the whole world and saving nothing. It is not the revolutionary man but the respectable man who would commit any crime—to save his respectability. Think what exposure would mean to a man like that fashionable barrister; and exposure of the one crime still really hated by his fashionable world—treason against patriotism11. If I had been in his position, and had nothing better than his philosophy, heaven alone knows what I might have done. That is just where this little religious exercise is so wholesome12."
"Some people," said Father Brown gravely, "undoubtedly15 do think that charity and humility16 are morbid. Our friend the poet probably would. But I'm not arguing those questions; I'm only trying to answer your question about how I generally go to work. Some of your countrymen have apparently17 done me the honour to ask how I managed to frustrate18 a few miscarriages19 of justice. Well, you can go back and tell them that I do it by morbidity20. But I most certainly don't want them to think I do it by magic."
Chace continued to look at him with a reflective frown; he was too intelligent not to understand the idea; he would also have said that he was too healthy-minded to like it. He felt as if he were talking to one man and yet to a hundred murderers. There was something uncanny about that very small figure, perched like a goblin beside the goblin stove; and the sense that its round head had held such a universe of wild unreason and imaginative injustice21. It was as if the vast void of dark behind it were a throng22 of dark gigantic figures, the ghosts of great criminals held at bay by the magic circle of the red stove, but ready to tear their master in pieces.
"Well, I'm afraid I do think it's morbid," he said frankly23. "And I'm not sure it isn't almost as morbid as magic. But morbidity or no, there's one thing to be said; it must be an interesting experience." Then he added, after reflection: "I don't know whether you would make a really good criminal. But you ought to make a rattling24 good novelist."
"I only have to deal with real events," said Father Brown. "But it's sometimes harder to imagine real things than unreal ones."
"Especially," said the other, "when they are the great crimes of the world."
"It's not the great crimes but the small crimes that are really hard to imagine," replied the priest.
"I don't quite know what you mean by that," said Chace.
"I mean commonplace crimes like stealing jewels," said Father Brown; "like that affair of the emerald necklace or the Ruby25 of Meru or the artificial goldfish. The difficulty in those cases is that you've got to make your mind small. High and mighty26 humbugs27, who deal in big ideas, don't do those obvious things. I was sure the Prophet hadn't taken the ruby; or the Count the goldfish; though a man like Bankes might easily take the emeralds. For them, a jewel is a piece of glass: and they can see through the glass. But the little, literal people take it at its market value.
"For that you've got to have a small mind. It's awfully28 hard to get; like focusing smaller and sharper in a wobbling camera. But some things helped; and they threw a lot of light on the mystery, too. For instance, the sort of man who brags29 about having 'shown up' sham30 magicians or poor quacks31 of any sort—he's always got a small mind. He is the sort of man who 'sees through' tramps and trips them up in telling lies. I dare say it might sometimes be a painful duty. It's an uncommonly32 base pleasure. The moment I realized what a small mind meant, I knew where to look for it—in the man who wanted to expose the Prophet—and it was he that sneaked33 the ruby; in the man who jeered34 at his sister's psychic35 fancies—and it was he who nabbed the emeralds. Men like that always have their eye on jewels; they never could rise, with the higher humbugs, to despising jewels. Those criminals with small minds are always quite conventional. They become criminals out of sheer conventionality.
"It takes you quite a long time to feel so crudely as that, though. It's quite a wild effort of imagination to be so conventional. To want one potty little object as seriously as all that. But you can do it.... You can get nearer to it. Begin by thinking of being a greedy child; of how you might have stolen a sweet in a shop; of how there was one particular sweet you wanted ... then you must subtract the childish poetry; shut off the fairy light that shone on the sweet stuff shop; imagine you really think you know the world and the market value of sweets ... you contract your mind like the camera focus ... the thing shapes and then sharpens ... and then, suddenly, it comes!"
Grandison Chace was still looking at him with a frown of mingled37 mystification and interest. It must be confessed that there did flash once beneath his heavy frown a look of something almost like alarm. It was as if the shock of the first strange confession38 of the priest still thrilled faintly through him like the last vibration39 of a thunderclap in the room. Under the surface he was saying to himself that the mistake had only been a temporary madness; that, of course. Father Brown could not really be the monster and murderer he had beheld40 for that blinding and bewildering instant. But was there not something wrong with the man who talked in that calm way about being a murderer? Was it possible that the priest was a little mad?
"Don't you think," he said, abruptly41; "that this notion of yours, of a man trying to feel like a criminal, might make him a little too tolerant of crime?"
Father Brown sat up and spoke in a more staccato style.
"I know it does just the opposite. It solves the whole problem of time and sin. It gives a man his remorse42 beforehand."
There was a silence; the American looked at the high and steep roof that stretched half across the enclosure; his host gazed into the fire without moving; and then the priest's voice came on a different note, as if from lower down.
"There are two ways of renouncing43 the devil," he said; "and the difference is perhaps the deepest chasm44 in modern religion. One is to have a horror of him because he is so far off; and the other to have it because he is so near. And no virtue45 and vice46 are so much divided as those two virtues47."
They did not answer and he went on in the same heavy tone, as if he were dropping words like molten lead.
"You may think a crime horrible because you could never commit it. I think it horrible because I could commit it. You think of it as something like an eruption48 of Vesuvius; but that would not really be so terrible as this house catching49 fire. If a criminal suddenly appeared in this room——"
"If a criminal appeared in this room," said Chace, smiling, "I think you would be a good deal too favourable50 to him. Apparently you would start by telling him that you were a criminal yourself and explaining how perfectly51 natural it was that he should have picked his father's pocket or cut his mother's throat. Frankly, I don't think it's practical. I think that the practical effect would be that no criminal would ever reform. It's easy enough to theorize and take hypothetical cases; but we all know we're only talking in the air. Sitting here in M. Duroc's nice, comfortable house, conscious of our respectability and all the rest of it, it just gives us a theatrical52 thrill to talk about thieves and murderers and the mysteries of their souls. But the people who really have to deal with thieves and murderers have to deal with them differently. We are safe by the fireside; and we know the house is not on fire. We know there is not a criminal in the room."
The M. Duroc to whom allusion53 had been made rose slowly from what had been called his fireside, and his huge shadow flung from the fire seemed to cover everything and darken even the very night above him.
"There is a criminal in this room," he said. "I am one. I am Flambeau, and the police of two hemispheres are still hunting for me."
The American remained gazing at him with eyes of a stony54 brightness; he seemed unable to speak or move.
"There is nothing mystical, or metaphorical55, or vicarious about my confession," said Flambeau. "I stole for twenty years with these two hands; I fled from the police on these two feet. I hope you will admit that my activities were practical. I hope you will admit that my judges and pursuers really had to deal with crime. Do you think I do not know all about their way of reprehending56 it? Have I not heard the sermons of the righteous and seen the cold stare of the respectable; have I not been lectured in the lofty and distant style, asked how it was possible for anyone to fall so low, told that no decent person could ever have dreamed of such depravity? Do you think all that ever did anything but make me laugh? Only my friend told me that he knew exactly why I stole; and I have never stolen since."
Father Brown made a gesture as of deprecation; and Grandison Chace at last let out a long breath like a whistle.
"I have told you the exact truth," said Flambeau; "and it is open to you to hand me over to the police."
There was an instant of profound stillness, in which could be faintly heard the belated laughter of Flambeau's children in the high, dark house above them, and the crunching57 and snorting of the great, grey pigs in the twilight58. And then it was cloven by a high voice, vibrant59 and with a touch of offence, almost surprising for those who do not understand the sensitive American spirit, and how near, in spite of commonplace contrasts, it can sometimes come to the chivalry60 of Spain.
"Monsieur Duroc," he said rather stiffly. "We have been friends, I hope, for some considerable period; and I should be pretty much pained to suppose you thought me capable of playing you such a trick while I was enjoying your hospitality and the society of your family, merely because you chose to tell me a little of your own autobiography61 of your own free will. And when you spoke merely in defence of your friend—no, sir, I can't imagine any gentleman double-crossing another under such circumstances; it would be a damned sight better to be a dirty informer and sell men's blood for money. But in a case like this——! Could you conceive any man being such a Judas?"
"I could try," said Father Brown.
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1
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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3
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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4
conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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5
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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6
constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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7
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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8
cleaving
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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9
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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10
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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13
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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14
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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15
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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16
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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17
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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18
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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19
miscarriages
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| 流产( miscarriage的名词复数 ) | |
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20
morbidity
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| n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率 | |
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21
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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22
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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24
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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25
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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27
humbugs
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| 欺骗( humbug的名词复数 )； 虚伪； 骗子； 薄荷硬糖 | |
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28
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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29
brags
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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31
quacks
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| abbr.quacksalvers 庸医，骗子(16世纪习惯用水银或汞治疗梅毒的人)n.江湖医生( quack的名词复数 )；江湖郎中；（鸭子的）呱呱声v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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33
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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34
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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36
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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37
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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38
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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39
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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40
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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41
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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42
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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43
renouncing
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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44
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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45
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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46
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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47
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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48
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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49
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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50
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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51
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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52
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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53
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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54
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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55
metaphorical
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| a.隐喻的，比喻的 | |
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56
reprehending
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| v.斥责，指摘，责备( reprehend的现在分词 ) | |
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57
crunching
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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58
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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59
vibrant
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| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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60
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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61
autobiography
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| n.自传 | |
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