Yet, stealthy as his approach had been, something must have warned us. For suddenly, with one accord, we three turned upon the bed, and stared out into the room from which the fog wreaths floated in.
Beeton stood nearest to the door, but, although he turned, he did not go out, but with a smothered2 cry crouched3 back against the bed. Smith it was who moved first, then I followed, and close upon his heels burst into the disordered sitting-room4. The outer door had been closed but not bolted, and what with the tinted5 light, diffused6 through the silken Japanese shade, and the presence of fog in the room, I was almost tempted7 to believe myself the victim of a delusion8. What I saw or thought I saw was this:—
A tall screen stood immediately inside the door, and around its end, like some materialization of the choking mist, glided9 a lithe10, yellow figure, a slim, crouching11 figure, wearing a sort of loose robe. An impression I had of jet-black hair, protruding12 from beneath a little cap, of finely chiseled13 features and great, luminous14 eyes, then, with no sound to tell of a door opened or shut, the apparition15 was gone.
"You saw him, Petrie!—you saw him!" cried Smith.
In three bounds he was across the room, had tossed the screen aside and thrown open the door. Out he sprang into the yellow haze16 of the corridor, tripped, and, uttering a cry of pain, fell sprawling17 upon the marble floor. Hot with apprehension18 I joined him, but he looked up with a wry19 smile and began furiously rubbing his left shin.
"A queer trick, Petrie," he said, rising to his feet; "but nevertheless effective."
He pointed20 to the object which had occasioned his fall. It was a small metal chest, evidently of very considerable weight, and it stood immediately outside the door of Number 14a.
"That was what he came for, sir! That was what he came for! You were too quick for him!"
"Eh?" rapped Smith, turning upon him.
"That's what Sir Gregory brought to England," the man ran on almost hysterically22; "that's what he's been guarding this past two weeks, night and day, crouching over it with a loaded pistol. That's what cost him his life, sir. He's had no peace, day or night, since he got it…."
We were inside the room again now, Smith bearing the coffer in his arms, and still the man ran on:
"He's never slept for more than an hour at a time, that I know of, for weeks past. Since the day we came here he hasn't spoken to another living soul, and he's lain there on the floor at night with his head on that brass24 box, and sat watching over it all day."
"'Beeton!' he'd cry out, perhaps in the middle of the night—'Beeton— do you hear that damned woman!' But although I'd begun to think I could hear something, I believe it was the constant strain working on my nerves and nothing else at all.
"Then he was always listening out for some one he called 'the man with the limp.' Five and six times a night he'd have me up to listen with him. 'There he goes, Beeton!' he'd whisper, crouching with his ear pressed flat to the door. 'Do you hear him dragging himself along?'
"God knows how I've stood it as I have; for I've known no peace since we left China. Once we got here I thought it would be better, but it's been worse.
"Gentlemen have come (from the India Office, I believe), but he would not see them. Said he would see no one but Mr. Nayland Smith. He had never lain in his bed until to-night, but what with taking no proper food nor sleep, and some secret trouble that was killing25 him by inches, he collapsed26 altogether a while ago, and I carried him in and laid him on the bed as I told you. Now he's dead—now he's dead."
Beeton leant up against the mantelpiece and buried his face in his hands, whilst his shoulders shook convulsively. He had evidently been greatly attached to his master, and I found something very pathetic in this breakdown27 of a physically28 strong man. Smith laid his hands upon his shoulders.
"You have passed through a very trying ordeal," he said, "and no man could have done his duty better; but forces beyond your control have proved too strong for you. I am Nayland Smith."
"So that whatever can be done," continued my friend, "to carry out your master's wishes, will be done now. Rely upon it. Go into your room and lie down until we call you."
"Thank you, sir, and thank God you are here," said Beeton dazedly30, and with one hand raised to his head he went, obediently, to the smaller bedroom and disappeared within.
"Now, Petrie," rapped Smith, glancing around the littered floor, "since I am empowered to deal with this matter as I see fit, and since you are a medical man, we can devote the next half-hour, at any rate, to a strictly31 confidential32 inquiry33 into this most perplexing case. I propose that you examine the body for any evidences that may assist you determining the cause of death, whilst I make a few inquiries34 here."
I nodded, without speaking, and went into the bedroom. It contained not one solitary35 item of the dead man's belongings36, and in every way bore out Beeton's statement that Sir Gregory had never inhabited it. I bent37 over Hale, as he lay fully38 dressed upon the bed.
Saving the singularity of the symptom which had immediately preceded death—viz., the paralysis39 of the muscles of articulation—I should have felt disposed to ascribe his end to sheer inanition; and a cursory40 examination brought to light nothing contradictory41 to that view. Not being prepared to proceed further in the matter at the moment I was about to rejoin Smith, whom I could hear rummaging42 about amongst the litter of the outer room, when I made a curious discovery.
Lying in a fold of the disordered bed linen43 were a few petals44 of some kind of blossom, three of them still attached to a fragment of slender stalk.
I collected the tiny petals, mechanically, and held them in the palm of my hand studying them for some moments before the mystery of their presence there became fully appreciable45 to me. Then I began to wonder. The petals (which I was disposed to class as belonging to some species of Curcas or Physic Nut), though bruised46, were fresh, and therefore could not have been in the room for many hours. How had they been introduced, and by whom? Above all, what could their presence there at that time portend47?
"Smith," I called, and walked towards the door carrying the mysterious fragments in my palm. "Look what I have found upon the bed."
Nayland Smith, who was bending over an open despatch48 case which he had placed upon a chair, turned—and his glance fell upon the petals and tiny piece of stem.
I think I have never seen so sudden a change of expression take place in the face of any man. Even in that imperfect light I saw him blanch49. I saw a hard glitter come into his eyes. He spoke23, evenly, but hoarsely50:
"Put those things down——there, on the table; anywhere."
"You did not break that stalk?"
"No. I found it as you see it."
"Have you smelled the petals?"
I shook my head. Thereupon, having his eyes fixed upon me with the strangest expression in their gray depths, Nayland Smith said a singular thing.
"Pronounce, slowly, the words Sâkya Mûni,'" he directed.
I stared at him, scarce crediting my senses; but——
"I mean it!" he rapped. "Do as I tell you."
"Sâkya Mûni," I said, in ever increasing wonder.
Smith laughed unmirthfully.
"Go into the bathroom and thoroughly52 wash your hands," was his next order. "Renew the water at least three times." As I turned to fulfill53 his instructions, for I doubted no longer his deadly earnestness: "Beeton!" he called.
Beeton, very white-faced and shaky, came out from the bedroom as I entered the bathroom, and whist I proceeded carefully to cleanse54 my hands I heard Smith interrogating55 him.
"Have any flowers been brought into the room today, Beeton?"
"Flowers, sir? Certainly not. Nothing has ever been brought in here but what I have brought myself."
"You are certain of that?"
"Positive."
"Who brought up the meals, then?"
"If you'll look into my room here, sir, you'll see that I have enough tinned and bottled stuff to last us for weeks. Sir Gregory sent me out to buy it on the day we arrived. No one else had left or entered these rooms until you came to-night."
I returned to find Nayland Smith standing56 tugging57 at the lobe58 of his left ear in evident perplexity. He turned to me.
"I find my hands over full," he said. "Will you oblige me by telephoning for Inspector59 Weymouth? Also, I should be glad if you would ask M. Samarkan, the manager, to see me here immediately."
As I was about to quit the room—
"Not a word of our suspicions to M. Samarkan," he added; "not a word about the brass box."
I was far along the corridor ere I remembered that which, remembered earlier, had saved me the journey. There was a telephone in every suite60. However, I was not indisposed to avail myself of an opportunity for a few moments' undisturbed reflection, and, avoiding the lift, I descended61 by the broad, marble staircase.
To what strange adventure were we committed? What did the brass coffer contain which Sir Gregory had guarded night and day? Something associated in some way with Tibet, something which he believed to be "the key of India" and which had brought in its train, presumably, the sinister62 "man with a limp."
Who was the "man with the limp"? What was the Si-Fan? Lastly, by what conceivable means could the flower, which my friend evidently regarded with extreme horror, have been introduced into Hale's room, and why had I been required to pronounce the words "Sâkya Mûni"?
So ran my reflections—at random63 and to no clear end; and, as is often the case in such circumstances, my steps bore them company; so that all at once I became aware that instead of having gained the lobby of the hotel, I had taken some wrong turning and was in a part of the building entirely64 unfamiliar65 to me.
A long corridor of the inevitable66 white marble extended far behind me. I had evidently traversed it. Before me was a heavily curtained archway. Irritably67, I pulled the curtain aside, learnt that it masked a glass-paneled door, opened this door—and found myself in a small court, dimly lighted and redolent of some pungent68, incense-like perfume.
One step forward I took, then pulled up abruptly69. A sound had come to my ears. From a second curtained doorway70, close to my right hand, it came—a sound of muffled71 tapping, together with that of something which dragged upon the floor.
Within my brain the words seemed audibly to form: "The man with the limp!"
I sprang to the door; I had my hand upon the drapery … when a woman stepped out, barring the way!
No impression, not even a vague one, did I form of her costume, save that she wore a green silk shawl, embroidered72 with raised white figures of birds, thrown over her head and shoulders and draped in such fashion that part of her face was concealed73. I was transfixed by the vindictive74 glare of her eyes, of her huge dark eyes.
They were ablaze75 with anger—but it was not this expression within them which struck me so forcibly as the fact that they were in some way familiar.
Motionless, we faced one another. Then—
"You go away," said the woman—at the same time extending her arms across the doorway as barriers to my progress.
Her voice had a husky intonation76; her hands and arms, which were bare and of old ivory hue77, were laden78 with barbaric jewelry79, much of it tawdry silverware of the bazaars80. Clearly she was a half-caste of some kind, probably a Eurasian.
I hesitated. The sounds of dragging and tapping had ceased. But the presence of this grotesque81 Oriental figure only increased my anxiety to pass the doorway. I looked steadily82 into the black eyes; they looked into mine unflinchingly.
"You go away, please," repeated the woman, raising her right hand and pointing to the door whereby I had entered. "These private rooms. What you doing here?"
Her words, despite her broken English, served to recall to me the fact that I was, beyond doubt, a trespasser83! By what right did I presume to force my way into other people's apartments?
"There is some one in there whom I must see," I said, realizing, however, that my chance of doing so was poor.
"You see nobody," she snapped back uncompromisingly. "You go away!"
She took a step towards me, continuing to point to the door. Where had
So engaged was I with this taunting86, partial memory, and so sure, if the woman would but uncover her face, of instantly recognizing her, that still I hesitated. Whereupon, glancing rapidly over her shoulder into whatever place lay beyond the curtained doorway, she suddenly stepped back and vanished, drawing the curtains to with an angry jerk.
I heard her retiring footsteps; then came a loud bang. If her object in intercepting87 me had been to cover the slow retreat of some one she had succeeded.
By what route I ultimately regained89 the main staircase I have no idea; for my mind was busy with that taunting memory of the two dark eyes looking out from the folds of the green embroidered shawl. Where, and when, had I met their glance before?
To that problem I sought an answer in vain.
The message despatched to New Scotland Yard, I found M. Samarkan, long famous as a mâitre d' hôtel in Cairo, and now host of London's newest and most palatial90 khan. Portly, and wearing a gray imperial, M. Samarkan had the manners of a courtier, and the smile of a true Greek.
I told him what was necessary, and no more, desiring him to go to suite 14a without delay and also without arousing unnecessary attention. I dropped no hint of foul91 play, but M. Samarkan expressed profound (and professional) regret that so distinguished92, though unprofitable, a patron should have selected the New Louvre, thus early in its history, as the terminus of his career.
"By the way," I said, "have you Oriental guests with you, at the moment?"
"No, monsieur," he assured me.
"Not a certain Oriental lady?" I persisted.
M. Samarkan slowly shook his head.
"Possibly monsieur has seen one of the ayahs? There are several
Anglo-Indian families resident in the New Louvre at present."
An ayah? It was just possible, of course. Yet …
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1
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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12
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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13
chiseled
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| adj.凿刻的，轮廓分明的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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15
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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17
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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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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hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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23
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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24
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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25
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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26
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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dazedly
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| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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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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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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42
rummaging
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
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43
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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44
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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45
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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46
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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47
portend
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| v.预兆，预示；给…以警告 | |
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48
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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49
blanch
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| v.漂白；使变白；使(植物)不见日光而变白 | |
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50
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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51
demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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52
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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53
fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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54
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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55
interrogating
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| n.询问技术v.询问( interrogate的现在分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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56
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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57
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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58
lobe
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| n.耳垂，（肺，肝等的）叶 | |
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59
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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60
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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61
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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62
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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63
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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64
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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65
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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66
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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67
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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68
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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69
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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70
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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71
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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bazaars
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| （东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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trespasser
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| n.侵犯者；违反者 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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intercepting
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| 截取（技术），截接 | |
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retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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