Tarling dropped the telephone receiver on its hook and had sunk into a chair with a groan1. His face was white--whiter than the prisoner's who sat opposite him, and he seemed to have gone old all of a sudden.
"What is it?" asked Whiteside quietly. "Who was the man?"
"Stay," said Tarling. "Stay. He has Odette! It's awful, awful!"
Whiteside, thoughtful, preoccupied2; Milburgh, his face twitching3 with fear, watched the scene curiously4.
"I'm beaten," said Tarling--and at that moment the telephone bell rang again.
He lifted the receiver and bent5 over the table, and Whiteside saw his eyes open in wide amazement6. It was Odette's voice that greeted him.
"It is I, Odette!"
"Odette! Are you safe? Thank God for that!" he almost shouted. "Thank God for that! Where are you?"
"I am at a tobacconist's shop in----" there was a pause while she was evidently asking somebody the name of the street, and presently she came back with the information.
"But, this is wonderful!" said Tarling. "I'll be with you immediately. Whiteside, get a cab, will you? How did you get away?"
"It's rather a long story," she said. "Your Chinese friend saved me. That dreadful man stopped the cab near a tobacconist's shop to telephone. Ling Chu appeared by magic. I think he must have been lying on top of the cab, because I heard him come down by the side. He helped me out and stood me in a dark doorway7, taking my place. Please don't ask me any more. I am so tired."
Half an hour later Tarling was with the girl and heard the story of the outrage8. Odette Rider had recovered something of her calm, and before the detective had returned her to the nursing home she had told him the story of her adventure.
"I must have fainted," she said. "When I woke up I was lying at the bottom of the cab, which was moving at a tremendous rate. I thought of getting back to the seat, but it occurred to me that if I pretended to be faint I might have a chance of escape. When I heard the cab stop I tried to rise, but I hadn't sufficient strength. But help was near. I heard the scraping of shoes on the leather top of the car, and presently the door opened and I saw a figure which I knew was not the cabman's. He lifted me out, and fortunately the cab had stopped opposite a private house with a big porch, and to this he led me.
"'Wait,' he said. 'There is a place where you may telephone a little way along. Wait till we have gone."
"Then he went back to the cab, closed the door noiselessly, and immediately afterwards I saw Stay running along the path. In a few seconds the cab had disappeared and I dragged myself to the shop--and that's all."
No news had been received of Ling Chu when Tarling returned to his flat. Whiteside was waiting; and told him that he had put Milburgh into the cells and that he would be charged the following day.
"I can't understand what has happened to Ling Chu. He should be back by now," said Tarling.
It was half-past one in the morning, and a telephone inquiry9 to Scotland Yard had produced no information.
"It is possible, of course," Tarling went on, "that Stay took the cab on to Hertford. The man has developed into a dangerous lunatic."
"All criminals are more or less mad," said the philosophical10 Whiteside. "I wonder what turned this fellow's brain."
"Love!" said Tarling.
The other looked at him in surprise.
"Love?" he repeated incredulously, and Tarling: nodded.
"Undoubtedly11 Sam Stay adored Lyne. It was the shock of his death which drove him mad."
Whiteside drummed his fingers on the table, thoughtfully.
"What do you think of Milburgh's story?" he asked, and Tarling shrugged12 his shoulders.
"It is most difficult to form a judgment13," he said. "The man spoke14 as though he were telling the truth, and something within me convinces me that he was not lying. And yet the whole thing is incredible."
"Of course, Milburgh has had time to make up a pretty good story," warned Whiteside. "He is a fairly shrewd man, this Milburgh, and it was hardly likely that he would tell us a yarn15 which was beyond the range of belief."
"That is true," agreed the other, "nevertheless, I am satisfied he told almost the whole of the truth."
"Then, who killed Thornton Lyne?"
Tarling rose with a gesture of despair.
"You are apparently16 as far from the solution of that mystery as I am, and yet I have formed a theory which may sound fantastic----"
There was a light step upon the stair and Tarling crossed the room and opened the door.
Ling Chu came in, his calm, inscrutable self, and but for the fact that his forehead and his right hand were heavily bandaged, carrying no evidence of his tragic17 experience.
"Hello, Ling Chu," said Tarling in English, "you're hurt?"
"Not badly," said Ling Chu. "Will the master be good enough to give me a cigarette? I lost all mine in the struggle."
"Where is Sam Stay?"
Ling Chu lit the cigarette before he answered, blew out the match and placed it carefully in the ash-tray on the centre of the table.
"The man is sleeping on the Terrace of Night," said Ling Chu simply.
"Dead?" said the startled Tarling.
The Chinaman nodded.
"Did you kill him?"
Again Ling Chu paused and puffed18 a cloud of cigarette smoke into the air.
"He was dying for many days, so the doctor at the big hospital told me. I hit his head once or twice, but not very hard. He cut me a little with a knife, but it was nothing."
"Sam Stay is dead, eh?" said Tarling thoughtfully. "Well, that removes a source of danger to Miss Rider, Ling Chu."
The Chinaman smiled.
"It removes many things, master, because before this man died, his head became good."
"He was sane, master," said Ling Chu, "and he wished to speak to paper. So the big doctor at the hospital sent for a judge, or one who sits in judgment."
"A magistrate20?"
"Yes, a magistrate," said Ling Chu, nodding, "a little old man who lives very near the hospital, and he came, complaining because it was so late an hour. Also there came a man who wrote very rapidly in a book, and when the man had died, he wrote more rapidly on a machine and gave me these papers to bring to you, detaining others for himself and for the judge who spoke to the man."
He fumbled21 in his blouse and brought out a roll of paper covered with typewriting.
Tarling took the documents and saw that it consisted of several pages. Then he looked up at Ling Chu.
"First tell me, Ling Chu," he said, "what happened? You may sit."
Ling Chu with a jerky little bow pulled a chair from the wall and sat at a respectful distance from the table, and Tarling, noting the rapid consumption of his cigarette, passed him the box.
"You must know, master, that against your wish and knowledge, I took the large-faced man and put him to the question. These things are not done in this country, but I thought it best that the truth should be told. Therefore, I prepared to give him the torture when he told me that the small-small girl was in danger. So I left him, not thinking that your excellency would return until the morning, and I went to the big house where the small-small girl was kept, and as I came to the corner of the street I saw her get into a quick-quick car.
"It was moving off long before I came to it, and I had to run; it was very fast. But I held on behind, and presently when it stopped at this street to cross, I scrambled22 up the back and lay flat upon the top of the cab. I think people saw me do this and shouted to the driver, but he did not hear. Thus I lay for a long time and the car drove out into the country and after a while came back, but before it came back it stopped and I saw the man talking to the small-small woman in angry tones. I thought he was going to hurt her and I waited ready to jump upon him, but the lady went into the realms of sleep and he lifted her back into the car.
"Then he came back to the town and again he stopped to go into a shop. I think it was to telephone, for there was one of those blue signs which you can see outside a shop where the telephone may be used by the common people. Whilst he had gone in I got down and lifted the small-small woman out, taking the straps23 from her hands and placing her in a doorway. Then I took her place. We drove for a long time till he stopped by a high wall, and then, master, there was a fight," said Ling Chu simply.
"It took me a long time to overcome him and then I had to carry him. We came to a policeman who took us in another car to a hospital where my wounds were dressed. Then they came to me and told me the man was dying and wished to see somebody because he had that in his heart for which he desired ease.
"So he talked, master, and the man wrote for an hour, and then he passed to his fathers, that little white-faced man."
He finished abruptly24 as was his custom. Tarling took the papers up and opened them, glanced through page after page, Whiteside sitting patiently by without interrupting.
When Tarling had finished the documents, he looked across the table.
"Thornton Lyne was killed by Sam Stay," he said, and Whiteside stared at him.
"But----" he began.
"I have suspected it for some time, but there were one or two links in the evidence which were missing and which I was unable to supply. Let me read you the statement of Sam Stay."
收听单词发音 |
1
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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3
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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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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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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7
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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8
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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9
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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10
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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11
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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12
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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13
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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14
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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15
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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16
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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18
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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19
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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20
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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21
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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22
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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23
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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