The building in which Colonel Boundary had his beautiful home was of a type not uncommonly1 met with in the West End of London. The street floor was taken up entirely2 with shops, the first floor with offices and the remainder of the building was practically given over to the colonel. One by one he had ousted3 every tenant4 from the building, and practically the whole of the fourteen sets of apartments which constituted the residential5 portion of the building was held by him in one name or another. Some he had obtained by the payment of heavy premiums6, some he had secured when the lease of the former tenant had lapsed7, some he had gathered in by sub-hiring. He had tried to buy the building, since it served his purpose well, but came against a deed of trust and the Court of Chancery, and had wisely refrained from going any further into a matter which must bring him vis-a-vis with a Master in Chancery, with all the publicity8 which such a transaction entailed9.
Nor had he been successful in acquiring any of the premises10 on the first floor. They were held by three very old established businesses--an estate agent, a firm of land surveyors and the offices of a valuer. He missed his opportunity, at any rate, of securing the business of Lee and Hol, the surveyors, and did not know it was in the market until after it had been transferred to a new owner. But they were quiet, sober tenants11, who closed their offices between five and six every night and did not open them until between nine or ten on the following morning, and their very respectability gave him a certain privacy.
The new proprietor12 of Lee and Hol was a short-sighted, elderly man of no great conversational13 power, and apparently14 of no fixed15 purpose in life except to say "no" to the very handsome offers which the colonel's agents made when they discovered there was a chance of re-purchasing the business. Boundary had personally inspected all the offices. He had found an excuse to visit them several times, duly noted16 the arrangement of the furniture, the sizes of the staffs and the general character of the business which was being carried on. This was a necessary precaution because these offices were immediately under his own flat. But just now they had a special value, because it was a practice during the daytime for the three firms to employ a commissionaire, who occupied a little glass-partitioned office on the landing and attended impartially17 to the needs of all three tenants to the best of his ability.
Boundary descended18 the stairs and found the elderly man in his office, leisurely19 and laboriously20 affixing21 stamps to a pile of letters. He called him from his task.
"Judson," he said, "have you seen anybody go up to my rooms this afternoon?"
The man thought.
"No, sir, I haven't," he replied.
"Have you been here all the time?"
"Yes, since one o'clock I have been in my office," said the commissionaire. "None of our young gentlemen wanted anything."
"You didn't go out to go to the post?"
"No, sir," said the man. "I've not stirred from this office except for one minute when I went into Mr. Lee's office to get these letters."
"And you've seen nobody go upstairs?"
"Not since Mr. Silva came down, sir. He came down after you, if you remember."
"Nobody's been up?" insisted the other.
"Not a soul. Your servant came down before you, sir."
"That's true," said the colonel remembering that he had sent the man on a special journey to Huddersfield with a letter to the bigamous Mr. Crotin. "You haven't seen a lady go up at all?" he asked suddenly.
"Nobody has gone up them stairs," said the commissionaire emphatically. "I hope you haven't lost anything, sir?"
The colonel shook his head.
"No, I haven't lost anything. Rather, I've found something," he said grimly.
He slipped half-a crown into the man's hand.
"You needn't mention the fact that I've been making inquiries," he said and went slowly up the stairs again.
The card had been put there that day. He would swear it. The ink on the card had not had time to darken and when he made a further search of his room, this view was confirmed by the appearance of his blotting-pad. The card had been dried there, and the pen, which had been left on the table, was still damp.
The colonel passed into his bedroom and took off his coat and vest. He searched his drawer and found what looked to be like a pair of braces22 made of light fabric23. These he slipped over his shoulder, adjusting them so that beneath his left arm hung a canvas holster. From another drawer he took an automatic pistol, pulled the magazine from the butt24 and examined it before he returned it, and forced a cartridge25 into the breach26 by drawing back the cover. This he carefully oiled, and then, pressing up the safety catch, he slipped the pistol into the holster and resumed his coat and vest.
It was a long time since the colonel had carried a gun under his arm, but his old efficiency was unimpaired. He practised before a mirror and was satisfied with his celerity. He loaded a spare magazine, and dropped it into the capacious pocket of his waistcoat. Then, putting the remainder of the cartridges27 away tidily, he closed the box, shut the drawer and went back to his room. If all the commissioner28 had hinted were true, if this mysterious visitor was laying for him because of the 'Snow' Gregory affair, he should have what was coming to him.
The colonel was no coward and if this eerie29 experience had got a little on his nerves, it was not to be wondered at. He drew up a chair to the table, sitting in such a position that he could see the door, took a pencil and a sheet of paper and began to write rapidly.
The man's knowledge was encyclopaedic. Not once did he pause or refer to a catalogue, and he was still writing when Crewe came in. The colonel looked up.
"You're the man I want," he said.
He handed the other three sheets of paper, closely covered with writing.
"What's this?" asked Crewe and read:
"Twenty-three iron bedsteads, twenty-three mattresses30, twenty-three----"
"Why, what's all this, colonel?"
"You can go down to Tottenham Court Road and you can order all that furniture to be taken into No. 3, Washburn Avenue."
"Are you furnishing a children's orphanage31 or something?" asked the other in surprise.
"I am furnishing a nursing home, to be exact," said the colonel slowly. "I bought it this morning, and I'm going to furnish it to-morrow. Send Lollie Marsh32 to me. Tell her I want her to get three women of the right sort to take charge of a mental case which is coming to my nursing home. By the way, you had better telegraph to old Boyton, or better still, go in a cab and get him. He'll probably be drunk but he's still on the medical register and he's the man I want. Take him straight away to Washburn Avenue, and don't forget that it's his nursing home and not mine. My name doesn't occur in this matter and you'd better get a dummy33 to do the buying for you from the furniture people."
"Who is the mental case?" asked the other.
"Maisie White," snapped the colonel, and Crewe stared.
"Mad?" he said incredulously. "Is Maisie mad?"
"She may not be at present," said Boundary, "but----"
He did not finish his sentence, and Crewe, who was once a gentleman and was now a thief, swallowed something--but he had swallowed too much to choke at the threat to a girl in whom he had not the slightest interest.
收听单词发音 |
1
uncommonly
|
|
| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ousted
|
|
| 驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
tenant
|
|
| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
residential
|
|
| adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
premiums
|
|
| n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
lapsed
|
|
| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
publicity
|
|
| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
entailed
|
|
| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
premises
|
|
| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
tenants
|
|
| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
proprietor
|
|
| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
conversational
|
|
| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
impartially
|
|
| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
laboriously
|
|
| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
affixing
|
|
| v.附加( affix的现在分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
braces
|
|
| n.吊带，背带；托架( brace的名词复数 )；箍子；括弧；（儿童）牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
cartridge
|
|
| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
breach
|
|
| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
cartridges
|
|
| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
eerie
|
|
| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
mattresses
|
|
| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
orphanage
|
|
| n.孤儿院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
marsh
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
dummy
|
|
| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |