But strange as was the girl's attire10, it was to her face that my gaze was drawn11 irresistibly12. Evidently, like most of those around us, she was some kind of half-caste; but, unlike them, she was wickedly handsome. I use the adverb wickedly with deliberation; for the pallidly13 dusky, oval face, with the full red lips, between which rested a large yellow cigarette, and the half-closed almond-shaped eyes, possessed14 a beauty which might have appealed to an artist of one of the modern perverted15 schools, but which filled me less with admiration16 than horror. For I knew her—I recognized her, from a past, brief meeting; I knew her, beyond all possibility of doubt, to be one of the Si-Fan group!
This strange creature, tossing back her jet-black, frizzy hair, which was entirely17 innocent of any binding18 or ornament2, advanced along the room towards us, making unhesitatingly for our table, and carrying her lithe19 body with the grace of a Gházeeyeh.
I glanced at Fletcher across the table.
"Zarmi!" he whispered.
Again I raised my eyes to the face which now was close to mine, and became aware that I was trembling with excitement….
Heavens! why did enlightenment come too late! Either I was the victim of an odd delusion20, or Zarmi had been the driver of the cab in which Nayland Smith had left the New Louvre Hotel!
Zarmi place the brass tray upon the table and bent21 down, resting her elbows upon it, her hands upturned and her chin nestling in her palms. The smoke from the cigarette, now held in her fingers, mingled22 with her disheveled hair. She looked fully23 into my face, a long, searching look; then her lips parted in the slow, voluptuous24 smile of the Orient. Without moving her head she turned the wonderful eyes (rendered doubly luminous25 by the kohl with which her lashes26 and lids were darkened) upon Fletcher.
"What you and your strong friend drinking?" she said softly.
Her voice possessed a faint husky note which betrayed her Eastern parentage, yet it had in it the siren lure27 which is the ancient heritage of the Eastern woman—a heritage more ancient than the tribe of the Ghâzeeyeh, to one of whom I had mentally likened Zarmi.
"Same thing," replied Fletcher promptly28; and raising his hand, he idly toyed with a huge gold ear-ring which she wore.
Still resting her elbows upon the table and bending down between us, Zarmi turned her slumbering29, half-closed black eyes again upon me, then slowly, languishingly31, upon Fletcher. She replaced the yellow cigarette between her lips. He continued to toy with the ear-ring.
Suddenly the girl sprang upright, and from its hiding-place within the silken scarf, plucked out a Malay krîs with a richly jeweled hilt. Her eyes now widely opened and blazing, she struck at my companion!
I half rose from my chair, stifling32 a cry of horror; but Fletcher, regarding her fixedly33, never moved … and Zarmi stayed her hand just as the point of the dagger34 had reached his throat!
"You see," she whispered softly but intensely, "how soon I can kill you."
Ere I had overcome the amazement35 and horror with which her action had filled me, she had suddenly clutched me by the shoulder, and, turning from Fletcher, had the point of the krîs at my throat!
"You, too!" she whispered, "you too!"
Lower and lower she bent, the needle point of the weapon pricking36 my skin, until her beautiful, evil face almost touched mine. Then, miraculously37, the fire died out of her eyes; they half closed again and became languishing30, luresome Ghâzeeyeh eyes. She laughed softly, wickedly, and puffed38 cigarette smoke into my face.
Thrusting her dagger into her waist-belt, and snatching up the brass tray, she swayed down the room, chanting some barbaric song in her husky Eastern voice.
I inhaled39 deeply and glanced across at my companion. Beneath the make-up with which I had stained my skin, I knew that I had grown more than a little pale.
"Fletcher!" I whispered, "we are on the eve of a great discovery—that girl …"
I broke off, and clutching the table with both hands, sat listening intently. From the room behind me, the opium40-room, whose entrance was less than two paces from where we sat, came a sound of dragging and tapping! Slowly, cautiously, I began to turn my head; when a sudden outburst of simian41 chattering42 from the fan-tan players drowned that other sinister43 sound.
"The man with the limp!" I said hoarsely45; "he is in there! Fletcher! I am utterly46 confused. I believe this place to hold the key to the whole mystery, I believe …"
Fletcher gave me a warning glance—and, turning anew, I saw Zarmi approaching with her sinuous47 gait, carrying two glasses and jug48 upon the ornate tray. These she set down upon the table; then stood spinning the salver cleverly upon the point of her index finger and watching us through half-closed eyes.
My companion took out some loose coins, but the girl thrust the proffered49 payment aside with her disengaged hand, the salver still whirling upon the upraised finger of the other.
"Presently you pay for drink," she said. "You do something for me—eh?"
"Yep," replied Fletcher nonchalantly, watering the rum in the tumblers. "What time?"
"Presently I tell you. You stay here. This one a strong feller?"— indicating myself.
"All right. I give him one little kiss if he good boy!"
Tossing the tray in the air she caught it, rested its edge upon her hip51, turned, and walked away down the room, puffing52 her cigarette.
"Listen," I said, bending across the table, "it was Zarmi who drove the cab that came for Nayland Smith to-day!"
"My God!" whispered Fletcher, "then it was nothing less than the hand of Providence53 that brought us here to-night. Yes! I know how you feel, Doctor!—but we must play our cards as they're dealt to us. We must wait—wait."
Out from the den7 of the opium-smokers came Zarmi, one hand resting upon her hip and the other uplifted, a smoldering54 yellow cigarette held between the first and second fingers. With a movement of her eyes she summoned us to join her, then turned and disappeared again through the low doorway55.
The time for action was arrived—we were to see behind the scenes of the Joy-Shop! Our chance to revenge poor Smith even if we could not save him. I became conscious of an inward and suppressed excitement; surreptitiously I felt the hilt of the Browning pistol in my pocket. The shadow of the dead Fu-Manchu seemed to be upon me. God! how I loathed56 and feared that memory!
"We can make no plans," I whispered to Fletcher, as together we rose from the table; "we must be guided by circumstance."
In order to enter the little room laden57 with those sickly opium fumes58 we had to lower our heads. Two steps led down into the place, which was so dark that I hesitated, momentarily, peering about me.
Apparently59 some four of five persons squatted60 and lay in the darkness about me. Some were couched upon rough wooden shelves ranged around the walls, others sprawled61 upon the floor, in the center whereof, upon a small tea-chest, stood a smoky brass lamp. The room and its occupants alike were indeterminate, sketchy62; its deadly atmosphere seemed to be suffocating63 me. A sort of choking sound came from one of the bunks64; a vague, obscene murmuring filled the whole place revoltingly.
Zarmi stood at the further end, her lithe figure silhouetted65 against the vague light coming through an open doorway. I saw her raise her hand, beckoning66 to us.
Circling around the chest supporting the lamp we crossed the foul67 den and found ourselves in a narrow, dim passage-way, but in cleaner air.
"Come," said Zarmi, extending her long, slim hand to me.
I took it, solely68 for guidance in the gloom, and she immediately drew my arm about her waist, leant back against my shoulder and, raising her pouted69 red lips, blew a cloud of tobacco smoke fully into my eyes!
Momentarily blinded, I drew back with a muttered exclamation70. Suspecting what I did of this tigerish half-caste, I could almost have found it in my heart to return her savage71 pleasantries with interest.
As I raised my hands to my burning eyes, Fletcher uttered a sharp cry of pain. I turned in time to see the girl touch him lightly on the neck with the burning tip of her cigarette.
"You jealous, eh, Charlie?" she said. "But I love you, too—see! Come along, you strong fellers…."
And away she went along the passage, swaying her hips72 lithely73 and glancing back over her shoulders in smiling coquetry.
Tears were still streaming from my eyes when I found myself standing74 in a sort of rough shed, stone-paved, and containing a variety of nondescript rubbish. A lantern stood upon the floor; and beside it …
The place seemed to be swimming around me, the stone floor to be heaving beneath my feet….
Beside the lantern stood a wooden chest, some six feet long, and having strong rope handles at either end. Evidently the chest had but recently been nailed up. As Zarmi touched it lightly with the pointed75 toe of her little red slipper6 I clutched at Fletcher for support.
Fletcher grasped my arm in a vice-like grip. To him, too, had come the ghastly conviction—the gruesome thought that neither of us dared to name.
"Through here," came dimly to my ears, "and then I tell you what to do…."
Coolness returned to me, suddenly, unaccountably. I doubted not for an instant that the best friend I had in the world lay dead there at the feet of the hellish girl who called herself Zarmi, and I knew since it was she, disguised, who had driven him to his doom77, that she must have been actively78 concerned in his murder.
But, I argued, although the damp night air was pouring in through the door which Zarmi now held open, although sound of Thames-side activity came stealing to my ears, we were yet within the walls of the Joy-Shop, with a score or more Asiatic ruffians at the woman's beck and call….
With perfect truth I can state that I retain not even a shadowy recollection of aiding Fletcher to move the chest out on to the brink79 of the cutting—for it was upon this that the door directly opened. The mist had grown denser80, and except a glimpse of slowly moving water beneath me, I could discern little of our surrounding.
So much I saw by the light of a lantern which stood in the stern of a boat. In the bows of this boat I was vaguely81 aware of the presence of a crouched82 figure enveloped83 in rugs—vaguely aware that two filmy eyes regarded me out of the darkness. A man who looked like a lascar stood upright in the stern.
I must have been acting84 like a man in a stupor85; for I was aroused to the realities by the contact of a burning cigarette with the lobe86 of my right ear!
"Hurry, quick, strong feller!" said Zarmi softly.
At that it seemed as though some fine nerve of my brain, already strained to utmost tension, snapped. I turned, with a wild, inarticulate cry, my fists raised frenziedly above my head.
I was beside myself, insane. Zarmi fell back a step, flashing a glance from my own contorted face to that, now pale even beneath its artificial tan, of Fletcher.
I snatched the pistol from my pocket, and for one fateful moment the lust88 of slaying89 claimed my mind…. Then I turned towards the river, and, raising the Browning, fired shot after shot in the air.
"Weymouth!" I cried. "Weymouth!"
A sharp hissing90 sound came from behind me; a short, muffled91 cry … and something descended92, crushing, upon my skull93. Like a wild cat Zarmi hurled94 herself past me and leapt into the boat. One glimpse I had of her pallidly dusky face, of her blazing black eyes, and the boat was thrust off into the waterway … was swallowed up in the mist.
I turned, dizzily, to see Fletcher sinking to his knees, one hand clutching his breast.
"She got me … with the knife," he whispered. "But … don't worry … look to yourself, and …him…."
He pointed, weakly—then collapsed95 at my feet. I threw myself upon the wooden chest with a fierce, sobbing96 cry.
"Smith, Smith!" I babbled97, and knew myself no better, in my sorrow, than an hysterical98 woman. "Smith, dear old man! speak to me! speak to me!…"
Outraged99 emotion overcame me utterly, and with my arms thrown across the box, I slipped into unconsciousness.
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收听单词发音
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1
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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incongruities
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| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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slipper
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| n.拖鞋 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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8
tasseled
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| v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的过去式和过去分词 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
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9
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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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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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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pallidly
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| adv.无光泽地，苍白无血色地 | |
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14
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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15
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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16
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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17
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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21
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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22
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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23
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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24
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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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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26
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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27
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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30
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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languishingly
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| 渐渐变弱地，脉脉含情地 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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38
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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39
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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41
simian
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| adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴 | |
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42
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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43
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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44
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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45
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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47
sinuous
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| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
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48
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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49
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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51
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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52
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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53
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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54
smoldering
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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55
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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56
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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57
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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58
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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59
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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60
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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61
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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62
sketchy
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| adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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64
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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65
silhouetted
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| 显出轮廓的，显示影像的 | |
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66
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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67
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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68
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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69
pouted
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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71
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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72
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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73
lithely
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| adv.柔软地，易变地 | |
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74
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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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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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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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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lobe
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| n.耳垂，（肺，肝等的）叶 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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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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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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