“Don't blame poor old Singapore,” he said. “There is no spot in this battered2 world that I have succeeded in discovering which is not changed for the worse.”
Dr. Matheson flicked3 ash from his cigar and smiled in that peculiarly happy manner which characterizes a certain American type and which lent a boyish charm to his personality.
“You are a pair of pessimists,” he pronounced. “For some reason best known to themselves Jennings and Knox have decided5 upon a Busman's Holiday. Very well. Why grumble6?”
“You are quite right, Doctor,” Jennings admitted. “When I was on service here in the Straits Settlements I declared heaven knows how often that the country would never see me again once I was demobbed. Yet here you see I am; Burton belongs here; but here's Knox, and we are all as fed up as we can be!”
“Yes,” said Burton slowly. “I may be a bit tired of Singapore. It's a queer thing, though, that you fellows have drifted back here again. The call of the East is no fable7. It's a call that one hears for ever.”
The conversation drifted into another channel, and all sorts of topics were discussed, from racing8 to the latest feminine fashions, from ballroom9 dances to the merits and demerits of coalition10 government. Then suddenly:
“What became of Adderley?” asked Jennings.
There were several men in the party who had been cronies of ours during the time that we were stationed in Singapore, and at Jennings's words a sort of hush11 seemed to fall on those who had known Adderley. I cannot say if Jennings noticed this, but it was perfectly12 evident to me that Dr. Matheson had perceived it, for he glanced swiftly across in my direction in an oddly significant way.
“I don't know,” replied Burton, who was an engineer. “He was rather an unsavoury sort of character in some ways, but I heard that he came to a sticky end.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with curiosity, for I myself had often wondered what had become of Adderley.
“Well, he was reported to his C. O., or something, wasn't he, just before the time for his demobilization? I don't know the particulars; I thought perhaps you did, as he was in your regiment13.”
“I have heard nothing whatever about it,” I replied.
“You mean Sidney Adderley, the man who was so indecently rich?” someone interjected. “Had a place at Katong, and was always talking about his father's millions?”
“That's the fellow.”
“Yes,” said Jennings, “there was some scandal, I know, but it was after my time here.”
“Something about an old mandarin14 out Johore Bahru way, was it not?” asked Burton. “The last thing I heard about Adderley was that he had disappeared.”
“Nobody would have cared much if he had,” declared Jennings. “I know of several who would have been jolly glad. There was a lot of the brute15 about Adderley, apart from the fact that he had more money than was good for him. His culture was a veneer16. It was his check-book that spoke17 all the time.”
“Everybody would have forgiven Adderley his vulgarity,” said Dr. Matheson, quietly, “if the man's heart had been in the right place.”
“Surely an instance of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear,” someone murmured.
Burton gazed rather hard at the last speaker.
“So far as I am aware,” he said, “the poor devil is dead, so go easy.”
“Are you sure he is dead?” asked Dr. Matheson, glancing at Burton in that quizzical, amused way of his.
“No, I am not sure; I am merely speaking from hearsay18. And now I come to think of it, the information was rather vague. But I gathered that he had vanished, at any rate, and remembering certain earlier episodes in his career, I was led to suppose that this vanishing meant———”
“You mean the old mandarin?” suggested Dr. Matheson.
“Yes.”
“Was there really anything in that story, or was it suggested by the unpleasant reputation of Adderley?” Jennings asked.
“I can settle any doubts upon that point,” said I; whereupon I immediately became a focus of general attention.
“What! were you ever at that place of Adderley's at Katong?” asked Jennings with intense curiosity.
“Did you see her?”
Again I nodded.
“Really!”
“I must have been peculiarly favoured, but certainly I had that pleasure.”
“You speak of seeing her,” said one of the party, now entering the conversation for the first time. “To whom do you refer?”
“Well,” replied Burton, “it's really a sort of fairy tale—unless Knox”—glacing across in my direction—“can confirm it. But there was a story current during the latter part of Adderley's stay in Singapore to the effect that he had made the acquaintance of the wife, or some member of the household, of an old gentleman out Johore Bahru way—sort of mandarin or big pot among the Chinks.”
“Why do you say so?”
“Well, representations were made to the authorities, I know for an absolute certainty, and I have an idea that Adderley was kicked out of the Service as a consequence of the scandal which resulted.”
“How is it one never heard of this?”
“Money speaks, my dear fellow,” cried Burton, “even when it is possessed25 by such a peculiar4 outsider as Adderley. The thing was hushed up. It was a very nasty business. But Knox was telling us that he had actually seen the lady. Please carry on, Knox, for I must admit that I am intensely curious.”
“I can only say that I saw her on one occasion.”
“With Adderley?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Where?”
“At his place at Katong.”
“I even thought his place at that resort was something of a myth,” declared Jennings. “He never asked me to go there, but, then, I took that as a compliment. Pardon the apparent innuendo26, Knox,” he added, laughing. “But you say you actually visited the establishment?”
“Yes,” I replied slowly, “I met him here in this very hotel one evening in the winter of '15, after the natives' attempt to mutiny. He had been drinking rather heavily, a fact which he was quite unable to disguise. He was never by any means a real friend of mine; in fact, I doubt that he had a true friend in the world. Anyhow, I could see that he was lonely, and as I chanced to be at a loose end I accepted an invitation to go over to what he termed his 'little place at Katong.'
“His little place proved to be a veritable palace. The man privately27, or rather, secretly, to be exact, kept up a sort of pagan state. He had any number of servants. Of course he became practically a millionaire after the death of his father, as you will remember; and given more congenial company, I must confess that I might have spent a most enjoyable evening there.
“Adderley insisted upon priming me with champagne28, and after a while I may as well admit that I lost something of my former reserve, and began in a fashion to feel that I was having a fairly good time. By the way, my host was not quite frankly29 drunk. He got into that objectionable and dangerous mood which some of you will recall, and I could see by the light in his eyes that there was mischief30 brewing31, although at the time I did not know its nature.
“I should explain that we were amusing ourselves in a room which was nearly as large as the lounge of this hotel, and furnished in a somewhat similar manner. There were carved pillars and stained glass domes32, a little fountain, and all those other peculiarities33 of an Eastern household.
“Presently, Adderley gave an order to one of his servants, and glanced at me with that sort of mocking, dare-devil look in his eyes which I loathed34, which everybody loathed who ever met the man. Of course I had no idea what all this portended35, but I was very shortly to learn.
“While he was still looking at me, but stealing side-glances at a doorway36 before which was draped a most wonderful curtain of a sort of flamingo37 colour, this curtain was suddenly pulled aside, and a girl came in.
“Of course, you must remember that at the time of which I am speaking the scandal respecting the mandarin had not yet come to light. Consequently I had no idea who the girl could be. I saw she was a Eurasian. But of her striking beauty there could be no doubt whatever. She was dressed in magnificent robes, and she literally38 glittered with jewels. She even wore jewels upon the toes of her little bare feet. But the first thing that struck me at the moment of her appearance was that her presence there was contrary to her wishes and inclinations39. I have never seen a similar expression in any woman's eyes. She looked at Adderley as though she would gladly have slain40 him!
“Seeing this look, his mocking smile in which there was something of triumph—of the joy of possession—turned to a scowl41 of positive brutality43. He clenched44 his fists in a way that set me bristling45. He advanced toward the girl—and although the width of the room divided them, she recoiled—and the significance of expression and gesture was unmistakable. Adderley paused.
“'So you have made up your mind to dance after all?' he shouted.
“The look in the girl's dark eyes was pitiful, and she turned to me with a glance of dumb entreaty46.
“'No, no!' she cried. 'No, no! Why do you bring me here?'
“'Dance!' roared Adderley. 'Dance! That's what I want you to do.'
“Rebellion leapt again to the wonderful eyes, and she started back with a perfectly splendid gesture of defiance47. At that my brutal42 and drunken host leapt in her direction. I was on my feet now, but before I could act the girl said a thing which checked him, sobered him, which pulled him up short, as though he had encountered a stone wall.
“'Ah, God!' she said. (She was speaking, of course, in her native tongue.) 'His hand! His hand! Look! His hand!'
“To me her words were meaningless, naturally, but following the direction of her positively48 agonized49 glance I saw that she was watching what seemed to me to be the shadow of someone moving behind the flame-like curtain which produced an effect not unlike that of a huge, outstretched hand, the fingers crooked50, claw-fashion.
“'Knox, Knox!' whispered Adderley, grasping me by the shoulder.
“'Do you see it—do you see it?' he said huskily. 'It is his hand—it is his hand!'
“Of the pair, I think, the man was the more frightened. But the girl, uttering a frightful52 shriek53, ran out of the room as though pursued by a demon54. As she did so whoever had been moving behind the curtain evidently went away. The shadow disappeared, and Adderley, still staring as if hypnotized at the spot where it had been, continued to hold my shoulder as in a vise. Then, sinking down upon a heap of cushions beside me, he loudly and shakily ordered more champagne.
“Utterly mystified by the incident, I finally left him in a state of stupor55, and returned to my quarters, wondering whether I had dreamed half of the episode or the whole of it, whether he did really possess that wonderful palace, or whether he had borrowed it to impress me.”
I ceased speaking, and my story was received in absolute silence, until:
“And that is all you know?” said Burton.
“Yes, I remember. It was while you were away that the scandal arose respecting the mandarin. Extraordinary story, Knox. I should like to know what it all meant, and what the end of it was.”
Dr. Matheson broke his long silence.
“Although I am afraid I cannot enlighten you respecting the end of the story,” he said quietly, “perhaps I can carry it a step further.”
“Really, Doctor? What do you know about the matter?”
“I accidentally became implicated57 as follows,” replied the American: “I was, as you know, doing voluntary surgical58 work near Singapore at the time, and one evening, presumably about the same period of which Knox is speaking, I was returning from the hospital at Katong, at which I acted sometimes as anaesthetist, to my quarters in Singapore; just drifting along, leisurely by the edge of the gardens admiring the beauty of the mangroves and the deceitful peace of the Eastern night.
“The hour was fairly late and not a soul was about. Nothing disturbed the silence except those vague sibilant sounds which are so characteristic of the country. Presently, as I rambled59 on with my thoughts wandering back to the dim ages, I literally fell over a man who lay in the road.
“I was naturally startled, but I carried an electric pocket torch, and by its light I discovered that the person over whom I had fallen was a dignified-looking Chinaman, somewhat past middle age. His clothes, which were of good quality, were covered with dirt and blood, and he bore all the appearance of having recently been engaged in a very tough struggle. His face was notable only for its possession of an unusually long jet-black moustache. He had swooned from loss of blood.”
“Why, was he wounded?” exclaimed Jennings.
“Merciful heavens!”
“I realized the impossibility of carrying him so far as the hospital, and accordingly I extemporized61 a rough tourniquet62 and left him under a palm tree by the road until I obtained assistance. Later, at the hospital, following a consultation63, we found it necessary to amputate.”
“I should say he objected fiercely?”
“He was past objecting to anything, otherwise I have no doubt he would have objected furiously. The index finger of the injured hand had one of those preternaturally long nails, protected by an engraved64 golden case. However, at least I gave him a chance of life. He was under my care for some time, but I doubt if ever he was properly grateful. He had an iron constitution, though, and I finally allowed him to depart. One queer stipulation65 he had made—that the severed hand, with its golden nail-case, should be given to him when he left hospital. And this bargain I faithfully carried out.”
“Most extraordinary,” I said. “Did you ever learn the identity of the old gentleman?”
“He was very reticent66, but I made a number of inquiries67, and finally learned with absolute certainty, I think, that he was the Mandarin Quong Mi Su from Johore Bahru, a person of great repute among the Chinese there, and rather a big man in China. He was known locally as the Mandarin Quong.”
“Did you learn anything respecting how he had come by his injury, Doctor?”
Matheson smiled in his quiet fashion, and selected a fresh cigar with great deliberation. Then:
“I suppose it is scarcely a case of betraying a professional secret,” he said, “but during the time that my patient was recovering from the effects of the anaesthetic he unconsciously gave me several clues to the nature of the episode. Putting two and two together I gathered that someone, although the name of this person never once passed the lips of the mandarin, had abducted68 his favourite wife.”
“Good heavens! truly amazing,” I exclaimed.
“Is it not? How small a place the world is. My old mandarin had traced the abductor and presumably the girl to some house which I gathered to be in the neighbourhood of Katong. In an attempt to force an entrance—doubtless with the amiable69 purpose of slaying70 them both—he had been detected by the prime object of his hatred71. In hurriedly descending72 from a window he had been attacked by some weapon, possibly a sword, and had only made good his escape in the condition in which I found him. How far he had proceeded I cannot say, but I should imagine that the house to which he had been was no great distance from the spot where I found him.”
“Comment is really superfluous,” remarked Burton. “He was looking for Adderley.”
“I agree,” said Jennings.
“And,” I added, “it was evidently after this episode that I had the privilege of visiting that interesting establishment.”
“You probably retain no very clear impression of the shadow which you saw,” said Dr. Matheson, with great deliberation. “At the time perhaps you had less occasion particularly to study it. But are you satisfied that it was really caused by someone moving behind the curtain?”
I considered his question for a few moments.
“I am not,” I confessed. “Your story, Doctor, makes me wonder whether it may not have been due to something else.”
“What else can it have been due to?” exclaimed Jennings contemptuously—“unless to the champagne?”
“I won't quote Shakespeare,” said Dr. Matheson, smiling in his odd way. “The famous lines, though appropriate, are somewhat overworked. But I will quote Kipling: 'East is East, and West is West.'”
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1
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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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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7
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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ballroom
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| n.舞厅 | |
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coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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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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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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Mandarin
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| n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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veneer
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| n.(墙上的)饰面，虚饰 | |
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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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hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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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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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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innuendo
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| n.暗指，讽刺 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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brewing
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| n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式 | |
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domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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portended
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| v.预示( portend的过去式和过去分词 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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flamingo
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| n.红鹳，火烈鸟 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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42
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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44
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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46
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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48
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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49
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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50
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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51
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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52
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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53
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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54
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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55
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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56
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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57
implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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58
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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59
rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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60
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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extemporized
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| v.即兴创作，即席演奏( extemporize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
tourniquet
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| n.止血器，绞压器，驱血带 | |
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63
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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64
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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65
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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66
reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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67
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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68
abducted
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| 劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展 | |
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69
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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70
slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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71
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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72
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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