Their prisoner was a stranger. He was a lean, furtive-looking man of thirty-five, below middle height, respectably dressed, and at first glance, the colonel, whose hobby was distinguishing at a look the social standing1 of humanity, was unable to place him.
Crewe locked the door.
"Now then," said the colonel, "what the devil were you doing listening at my door? Was that his game, Mr. Silva?"
"That was his game," said the other, brushing his hands.
"What have you got to say before I send for the police?" asked the colonel virtuously2. "What have you got to say for yourself? Sneaking3 about a gentleman's flat, listening at keyholes!"
The man, who had been roughly handled, had risen and was putting his collar straight. If he had been taken aback by the sudden onslaught, he was completely self-possessed now.
"If you want to send for the police, you'd better start right away," he said; "you've got a telephone, haven't you? Perhaps I'll have a job for the policeman, too. You've no right to assault me, my friend," he said, addressing Pinto resentfully.
"What were you doing?" asked the colonel.
"Find out," said the man sharply.
The colonel stroked his long moustache, and his manner underwent a change.
"Now look here, old man," he said almost jovially5; "we're all friends here, and we don't want any trouble. I daresay you've made a mistake, and my friend has made a mistake. Have a whisky and soda6?"
"Not me, thank you," he said emphatically; "if I remember rightly, there was a young gentleman who took a glass of water in North Lambeth Police Court the other day, and----"
The colonel's eyes narrowed.
"Well, sit down and be sociable8. If you're suggesting that I'm going to poison you, you're also suggesting that you know something which I don't want you to tell. Or that you have discovered one of those terrible secrets that the newspapers are all writing about. Now be a sensible man; have a drink."
The man hesitated.
"You have a drink of whisky out of the same bottle, and I'll join you."
"Help yourself," said the colonel good-naturedly. "Give me any glass you like."
The man went to the sideboard, poured out two pegs9 and sent the soda-water sizzling into the long glasses.
"Here's yours and here's mine," he said; "good luck!"
He drank the whisky off, after he had seen the colonel drink his, and wiped his mouth with a gaudy10 handkerchief.
"I'm taking it for granted," said the colonel, "that we've made no mistake and that you were listening at our door. Now we want no unpleasantness, and we'll talk about this matter as sensible human beings and man to man."
"That's the way to talk," said the other, smacking11 his lips.
"You've been sent here to watch me."
"I may have and I may not have," said the other.
Pinto shifted impatiently, but the colonel stopped him with a look.
"Now let me see what you are," mused12 the colonel, still wearing that benevolent13 smile of his. "You're not an ordinary tradesman. You've got a look of the book canvasser14 about you. I have it--you're a private detective!"
"Perhaps I am," said he, "and," he added, "perhaps I'm not."
The colonel slapped him on the shoulder.
"Of course you are," he said confidently; "we don't see shrewd-looking fellows like you every day. You're a split!"
"Not official," said the man quickly.
He had all the English private detective's fear of posing as the genuine article.
"Now look here," said the colonel, "I'm going to be perfectly16 straight with you, and you've got to be straight with me. That's fair, isn't it?"
"Quite fair," said the man; "if I've been misconducting myself in any manner----"
"Don't mention it," said the colonel politely, "my friend here will apologise for handling you roughly, I'm sure; won't you, Mr. Silva?"
"Sure!" said the other, without any great heartiness17.
He was tired of this conversation and was anxious to know where it was leading.
"You're not in the private detective business for your health," said the colonel, and the man shook his head.
"I bet you're working for a firm that's paying you about three pounds a week and your miserable18 expenses--a perfect dog's life."
"You're quite right there," said the man, and he spoke19 with the earnestness of the ill-used wage-earner, "it is a dog's life; out in all kinds of weather, all hours of the day and night, and never so much as 'thank you' for any work you do. Why, we get no credit at all, sir. If we go into the witness-box, the lawyers treat us like dirt."
"I absolutely agree with you," said the colonel, shaking his head. "I think the private detective business in this country isn't appreciated as it ought to be. And it is very curious we should have met you," he went on; "only this evening I was saying to my friends here, that we ought to get a good man to look after our interests. You've heard about me, I'm sure, Mr.----"
"Snakit," said the other; "here's my card."
He produced a card from his waistcoat pocket, and the colonel read it.
"Mr. Horace Snakit," he said, "of Dooby and Somes. Now what do you say to coming into our service?"
The man blinked.
"I've got a good job----" he began inconsistently.
"I'll give you a better--six pounds a week, regular expenses and an allowance for dressing4."
"It's a bet!" said Mr. Snakit promptly20.
"Well, you can consider yourself engaged right away. Now, Mr. Snakit, as frankness is the basis of our intercourse21, you will tell me straight away whether you were engaged in watching me?"
"I'll admit that, sir," said the man readily. "I had a job to watch you and to discover if you knew the whereabouts of a certain person."
"Who engaged you?"
"Well----" the man hesitated. "I don't know whether it isn't betraying the confidence of a client," he waited for some encouragement to pursue the path of rectitude and honour, but received none. "Well, I'll tell you candidly22, our firm has been engaged by a young lady. She brought me here to-night----"
"Miss White, eh?" said the colonel quickly.
"Miss White it was, sir," said Snakit.
"So that was why she was here? She wanted to show you----"
"Just where your rooms were, sir," said the man. "She also wanted to show me the back stairs by which I could get out of the building if I wanted to."
"What were your general instructions?"
"Just to watch you, sir, and if I had an opportunity when you were out, of sneaking in and nosing round."
"I see," said the colonel. "Crewe, just take Mr. Snakit downstairs and tell him where to report. Fix up his pay--you know," he gave a significant sideways jerk of his head, and Crewe escorted the gratified little detective from the apartment.
When the door had closed, the colonel turned on Silva.
"Pinto," he said and there was a rumble23 in his voice which betrayed his anger, "that girl is dangerous. She may or may not know where her father is--this detective business may be a blind. Probably Snakit was sent here knowing that he would be captured and spill the beans."
"That struck me, too," said Pinto.
"She's dangerous," repeated the colonel.
He resumed his promenade24 up and down the room.
"She's an active worker and she's working against us. Now, I'm going to settle with Miss White," he said gratingly. "I'm going to settle with her for good and all. I don't care what she knows, but she probably knows too much. She's hand in glove with the police and maybe she's working with her father. You'll get Phillopolis here to-morrow morning----"
The other's eyes opened.
"Phillopolis?" he almost gasped25. "Good heavens! You're not going to----"
The colonel faced him squarely.
"You've had your chance with the girl and you've missed it," he said. "You've tried your fancy method of courting and you've fallen down."
"But I'm not going to stand for Phillopolis," said the other, with tense face. "I tell you I like the girl. There's going to be none of that----"
"Oh, there isn't, isn't there?" said the colonel in his silkiest tone.
Then suddenly he leaned forward across the table and his face was the face of a devil.
"There's only one Boundary Gang, Pinto, and this is it," he said between his clenched26 white teeth, "and there's only one Dan Boundary and that's me. Do you get me, Pinto? You can go a long way with me if I happen to be going that way. But you stand in the road and you're going to get what's coming. I've been good to you, Pinto. I've stood your interference because it amused me. But you come up against me, really up against me, and by the Lord Harry27! you'll know it. Did you get that?"
"I've got it" said Pinto sullenly28.
收听单词发音 |
1
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
virtuously
|
|
| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
jovially
|
|
| adv.愉快地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
soda
|
|
| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
crooked
|
|
| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
sociable
|
|
| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
pegs
|
|
| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
gaudy
|
|
| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
smacking
|
|
| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
canvasser
|
|
| n.挨户推销商品的推销员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
smirked
|
|
| v.傻笑( smirk的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
heartiness
|
|
| 诚实，热心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
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： |
|
|
|
|
20
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
candidly
|
|
| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
rumble
|
|
| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
promenade
|
|
| n./v.散步 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |