Paul Harley and I bent2 gingerly over the ghastly exhibit to which the C.I.D. official had drawn3 our attention, and to view which we had journeyed from Chancery Lane to Wapping.
This was the body of a man dressed solely4 in ragged5 shirt and trousers. But the remarkable6 feature of his appearance lay in the fact that every scrap7 of hair from chin, lip, eyebrows8 and skull9 had been shaved off!
There was another facial disfigurement, peculiarly and horribly Eastern, which my pen may not describe.
“Impossible to identify!” murmured Harley. “Yes, you were right, Inspector; this is a victim of Oriental deviltry. Look here, too!”
He indicated three small wounds, one situated10 on the left shoulder and the others on the forearm of the dead man.
“The divisional surgeon cannot account for them,” replied Wessex. “They are quite superficial, and he thinks they may be due to the fact that the body got entangled11 with something in the river.”
“They are due to the fact that the man had a birthmark on his shoulder and something—probably a name or some device—tattooed on his arm,” said Harley quietly. “Some few years ago, I met with a similar case in the neighbourhood of Stambul. A woman,” he added, significantly.
Detective-Inspector Wessex listened to my companion with respect, for apart from his established reputation as a private inquiry-agent which had made his name familiar in nearly every capital of the civilized12 world, Paul Harley's work in Constantinople during the six months preceding war with Turkey had merited higher reward than it had ever received. Had his recommendations been adopted the course of history must have been materially changed.
“You think it's a Chinatown case, then, Mr. Harley?”
“Possibly,” was the guarded answer.
Paul Harley nodded to the constable14 in charge, and the ghastly figure was promptly15 covered up again. My friend stood staring vacantly at Wessex, and presently:
“The chief actor, I think, will prove to be not Chinese,” he said, turned, and walked out.
“If there's any development,” remarked Wessex as the three of us entered Harley's car, which stood at the door, “I will, of course, report to you, Mr. Harley. But in the absence of any clue or mark of identification, I fear the verdict will be, 'Body of a man unknown,' etc., which has marked the finish of a good many in this cheerful quarter of London.”
“Quite so,” said Harley, absently. “It presents extraordinary features, though, and may not end as you suppose. However—where do you want me to drop you, Wessex, at the Yard?”
“Oh no,” answered Wessex. “I made a special visit to Wapping just to get your opinion on the shaven man. I'm really going down to Deepbrow to look into that new disappearance16 case; the daughter of the gamekeeper. You'll have read of it?”
“I have,” said Harley shortly.
Indeed, readers of the daily press were growing tired of seeing on the contents bills: “Another girl missing.” The circumstance (which might have been no more than coincidence) that three girls had disappeared within the last eight weeks leaving no trace behind, had stimulated17 the professional scribes to link the cases, although no visible link had been found, and to enliven a somewhat dull journalistic season with theories about “a new Mormon menace.”
The vanishing of this fourth girl had inspired them to some startling headlines, and the case had interested me personally for the reason that I was acquainted with Sir Howard Hepwell, one of whose gamekeepers was the stepfather of the missing Molly Clayton. Moreover, it was hinted that she had gone away in the company of Captain Ronald Vane, at that time a guest of Sir Howard's at the Manor18.
In fact, Sir Howard had 'phoned to ask me if I could induce Harley to run down, but my friend had expressed himself as disinterested19 in a common case of elopement. Now, as Wessex spoke20, I glanced aside at Harley, wondering if the fact that so celebrated21 a member of the C.I.D. as Detective-Inspector Wessex had been put in charge would induce him to change his mind.
We were traversing a particularly noisy and unsavoury section of the Commercial Road, and although I could see that Wessex was anxious to impart particulars of the case to Harley, so loud was the din13 that I recognized the impossibility of conversing22, and therefore:
“Have you time to call at my rooms, Wessex?” I asked.
“Well,” he replied, “I have three-quarters of an hour.”
“You can do it in the car,” said Harley suddenly. “I have been asked to look into this case myself, and before I definitely decline I should like to hear your version of the matter.”
Accordingly, we three presently gathered in my chambers23, and Wessex, with one eye on the clock, outlined the few facts at that time in his possession respecting the missing girl.
Two days before the news of the disappearance had been published broadcast under such headings as I have already indicated, a significant scene had been enacted24 in the gamekeeper's cottage.
Molly Clayton, a girl whose remarkable beauty had made her a central figure in numerous scandalous stories, for such is the charity of rural neighbours, was detected by her stepfather, about eight in the evening, slipping out of the cottage.
“Where be ye goin', hussy?” he demanded, grasping her promptly by the arm.
“A walk wi' that fine soger from t' Manor!” roared Bramber furiously. “You'll be sorry yet, you barefaced26 gadabout! Must I tell you again that t' man's a villain27?”
“He knows how to respect a woman—what you don't!” she retorted hotly.
“So I don't respect you, my angel?” shouted her stepfather. “Then you know what you can do! The door's open and there's few'll miss you!”
Snatching her hat, the girl, very white, made to go out. Whereat the gamekeeper, a brutal30 man with small love for Molly, and maddened by her taking him at his word, seized her suddenly by her abundant fair hair and hauled her back into the room.
A violent scene followed, at the end of which Molly fainted and Bramber came out and locked the door.
When he came back about half-past nine the girl was missing. She did not reappear that night, and the police were advised in the morning. Their most significant discovery was this:
Captain Ronald Vane, on the night of Molly's disappearance, had left the Manor House, after dining alone with his host, Sir Howard Hepwell, saying that he proposed to take a stroll as far as the Deep Wood.
He never returned!
From the moment that Gamekeeper Bramber left his cottage, and the moment when Sir Howard Hepwell parted from his guest after dinner, the world to which these two people, Molly Clayton and Captain Vane, were known, knew them no more!
I was about to say that they were never seen again. But to me has fallen the task of relating how and where Paul Harley and I met with Captain Vane and Molly Clayton.
At the end of the Inspector's account:
“H'm,” said Harley, glancing under his thick brows in my direction, “could you spare the time, Knox?”
“To go to Deepbrow?” I asked with interest.
“Yes; we have ten minutes to catch the train.”
“I'll come,” said I. “Sir Howard will be delighted to see you, Harley.”
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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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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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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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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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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barefaced
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| adj.厚颜无耻的，公然的 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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