After all, it was for the best--van Heerden could almost see the hand of Providence1 in this deliverance of his enemy into his power. There must be a settlement with Beale, that play-acting drunkard, who had so deceived him at first.
Dr. van Heerden could admire the ingenuity2 of his enemy and could kill him. He was a man whose mental poise3 permitted the paradox4 of detached attachments5. At first he had regarded Stanford Beale as a smart police officer, the sort of man whom Pinkerton and Burns turn out by the score. Shrewd, assertive6, indefatigable7, such men piece together the scattered8 mosaics9 of humdrum10 crimes, and by their mechanical patience produce for the satisfaction of courts sufficient of the piece to reveal the design. They figure in divorce suits, in financial swindles and occasionally in more serious cases.
Van Heerden knew instinctively11 their limitations and had too hastily placed Beale in a lower category than he deserved. Van Heerden came to his workroom by way of the buffet12 which he had established for the use of his employees. As he shut the steel door behind him he saw Milsom standing13 at the rough wooden sideboard which served as bar and table for the workers.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," said Milsom, and then quickly, as he read the other's face: "Anything wrong?"
"If the fact that the cleverest policeman in America or England is at present on the premises14 can be so described, then everything is wrong," said van Heerden, and helped himself to a drink.
"Here--in the laboratory?" demanded Milsom, fear in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you," said the other, and gave the story as he had heard it from Hilda Glaum.
"He's in the old passage, eh?" said Milsom, thoughtfully, "well there's no reason why he should get out--alive."
"He won't," said the other.
"Was he followed--you saw nobody outside?"
"We have nothing to fear on that score. He's working on his own."
"What are we going to do with him?"
"Gas him," said van Heerden, "he is certain to have a gun."
Milsom nodded.
"Wait until the men have gone. I let them go at three--a few at a time, and it wants half an hour to that. He can wait. He's safe where he is. Why didn't Hilda tell me? I never even saw her."
"She went straight up from the old passage--through the men's door--she didn't trust you probably."
Milsom smiled wryly16. Though he controlled these works and knew half the doctor's secrets, he suspected that the quantity of van Heerden's trust was not greatly in excess of his girl's.
"We'll wait," he said again, "there's no hurry and, anyway, I want to see you about old man Heyler."
"Von Heyler? I thought you were rid of him?" said van Heerden in surprise, "that is the old fool that Beale has been after. He has been trying to suck him dry, and has had two interviews with him. I told you to send him to Deans Folly17. Bridgers would have taken care of him."
"Bridgers can look after nothing," said Milsom.
His eyes roved along the benches and stopped at a worker at the farther end of the room.
"He's quiet to-night," he said, "that fellow is too full of himself for my liking18. Earlier in the evening before I arrived he pulled a gun on Schultz. He's too full of gunplay that fellow--excuse the idiom, but I was in the same tailor's shop at Portland Gaol19 as Ned Garrand, the Yankee bank-smasher."
Van Heerden made a gesture of impatience20.
"About old Heyler," Milsom went on, "I know you think he's dangerous, so I've kept him here. There's a room where he can sleep, and he can take all the exercise he wants at night. But the old fool is restless--he's been asking me what is the object of his work."
"He's difficult. Twice he has nearly betrayed me. As I told you in the car, I gave him some experimental work to do and he brought the result to me--that was the sample which fell into Beale's hands."
"Mr. Beale is certainly a danger," said Milsom thoughtfully.
Van Heerden made a move toward the laboratory, but Milsom's big hand detained him.
"One minute, van Heerden," he said, "whilst you're here you'd better decide--when do we start dismantling21? I've got to find some excuse to send these fellows away."
Van Heerden thought.
"In two days," he said, "that will give you time to clear. You can send the men--well, send them to Scotland, some out-of-the-way place where news doesn't travel. Tell them we're opening a new factory, and put them up at the local hotel."
Milsom inclined his head.
"That sounds easy," he said, "I could take charge of them until the time came to skip. One can get a boat at Greenock."
"I shall miss you," said van Heerden frankly22, "you were necessary to me, Milsom. You're the driving force I wanted, and the only man of my class and calibre I can ever expect to meet, one who would go into this business with me."
They had reached the big vault23 and van Heerden stood regarding the scene of mental activity with something approaching complacency.
"There is a billion in process of creation," he said.
"I could never think in more than six figures," said Milsom, "and it is only under your cheering influence that I can stretch to seven. I am going to live in the Argentine, van Heerden. A house on a hill----"
The other shivered, but Milsom went on.
"A gorgeous palace of a house, alive with servants. A string band, a perfectly24 equipped laboratory where I can indulge my passion for research, a high-powered auto25, wine of the rarest--ah!"
Van Heerden looked at his companion curiously26.
"That appeals to you, does it? For me, the control of finance. Endless schemes of fortune; endless smashings of rivals, railways, ships, great industries juggled28 and shuffled--that is the life I plan."
"Fine!" said the other laconically29.
They walked to a bench and the worker looked up and took off his mask.
He was an old man, and grinned toothlessly at van Heerden.
"Good evening, Signor Doctor," he said in Italian. "Science is long and life is short, signor."
He chuckled30 and, resuming his mask, returned to his work, ignoring the two men as though they had no existence.
"A little mad, old Castelli," said Milsom, "that's his one little piece--what crooked31 thing has he done?"
"None that I know," said the other carelessly; "he lost his wife and two daughters in the Messina earthquake. I picked him up cheap. He's a useful chemist."
They walked from bench to bench, but van Heerden's eyes continuously strayed to the door, behind which he pictured a caged Stanford Beale, awaiting his doom32. The men were beginning to depart now. One by one they covered their instruments and their trays, slipped off their masks and overalls33 and disappeared through the door, upon which van Heerden's gaze was so often fixed34. Their exit, however, would not take them near Beale's prison. A few paces along the corridor was another passage leading to the yard above, and it was by this way that Hilda Glaum had sped to the doctor's room.
Presently all were gone save one industrious35 worker, who sat peering through the eye-piece of his microscope, immovable.
"That's our friend Bridgers," said Milsom, "he's all lit up with the alkaloid of _Enythroxylon Coca_---- Well, Bridgers, nearly finished?"
"Huh!" grunted the man without turning.
Milsom shrugged36 his shoulders.
"We must let him finish what he's doing. He is quite oblivious37 to the presence of anybody when he has these fits of industry. By the way, the passing of our dear enemy"--he jerked his head to the passage door--"will make no change in your plans?"
"How?"
"You have no great anxiety to marry the widow?"
"None," said the doctor.
"And she isn't a widow yet."
It was not Milsom who spoke38, but the man at the bench, the industrious worker whose eye was still at the microscope.
"Keep your comments to yourself," said van Heerden angrily, "finish your work and get out."
"I've finished."
The worker rose slowly and loosening the tapes of his mask pulled it off.
"My name is Beale," he said calmly, "I think we've met before. Don't move, Milsom, unless you want to save living-expenses--I'm a fairly quick shot when I'm annoyed."
Stanford Beale pushed back the microscope and seated himself on the edge of the bench.
"You addressed me as Bridgers," he said, "you will find Mr. Bridgers in a room behind that stack of boxes. The fact is he surprised me spying and was all for shooting me up, but I induced him to come into my private office, so to speak, and the rest was easy--he dopes, doesn't he? He hadn't the strength of a rat. However, that is all beside the point; Dr. van Heerden, what have you to say against my arresting you out of hand on a conspiracy39 charge?"
Van Heerden smiled contemptuously.
"There are many things I can say," he said. "In the first place, you have no authority to arrest anybody. You're not a police officer but only an American amateur."
"American, yes; but amateur, no," said Beale gently. "As to the authority, why I guess I can arrest you first and get the authority after."
"On what charge?" demanded Milsom, "there is nothing secret about this place, except Doctor van Heerden's association with it--a professional man is debarred from mixing in commercial affairs. Is it a crime to run a----"
He looked to van Heerden.
"A germicide factory," said van Heerden promptly40.
"Suppose I know the character of this laboratory?" asked Beale quietly.
"Carry that kind of story to the police and see what steps they will take," said van Heerden scornfully. "My dear Mr. Beale, as I have told you once before, you have been reading too much exciting detective fiction."
"Very likely," he said, "but anyhow the little story that enthralls41 me just now is called the Green Terror, and I'm looking to you to supply a few of the missing pages. And I think you'll do it."
The doctor was lighting42 a cigarette, and he looked at the other over the flaring43 match with a gleam of malicious44 amusement in his eyes.
"Your romantic fancies would exasperate45 me, but for your evident sincerity46. Having stolen my bride you seem anxious to steal my reputation," he said mockingly.
"That," said Beale, slipping off the bench and standing, hands on hips27, before the doctor, "would take a bit of finding. I tell you, van Heerden, that I'm going to call your bluff47. I shall place this factory in the hands of the police, and I am going to call in the greatest scientists in England, France and America, to prove the charge I shall make against you on the strength of this!"
He held up between his forefinger48 and thumb a crystal tube, filled to its seal with something that looked like green sawdust.
"The world, the sceptical world, shall know the hell you are preparing for them." Stanford Beale's voice trembled with passion and his face was dark with the thought of a crime so monstrous49 that even the outrageous50 treatment of a woman who was more to him than all the world was for the moment obliterated51 from his mind in the contemplation of the danger which threatened humanity.
"You say that the police and even the government of this country will dismiss my charge as being too fantastic for belief. You shall have the satisfaction of knowing that you are right. They think I am mad--but I will convince them! In this tube lies the destruction of all your fondest dreams, van Heerden. To realize those dreams you have murdered two men. For these you killed John Millinborn and the man Predeaux. But you shall not----"
"_Bang!_"
The explosion roared thunderously in the confined space of the vault. Beale felt the wind of the bullet and turned, pistol upraised.
收听单词发音 |
1
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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assertive
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| adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的 | |
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indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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mosaics
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| n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案 | |
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humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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wryly
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| adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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dismantling
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| （枪支）分解 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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auto
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| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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28
juggled
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| v.歪曲( juggle的过去式和过去分词 )；耍弄；有效地组织；尽力同时应付（两个或两个以上的重要工作或活动） | |
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laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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32
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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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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39
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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40
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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41
enthralls
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| 迷住，吸引住( enthrall的第三人称单数 )； 使感到非常愉快 | |
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42
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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43
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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44
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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45
exasperate
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| v.激怒，使（疾病）加剧，使恶化 | |
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46
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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47
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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48
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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49
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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50
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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51
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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