I“Is anything worrying you, mon ami?” asked Poirot that afternoon.
I did not answer him, merely shook my head. I felt that I had no right to burden Poirot with this,my purely1 personal problem. It was not as though he could help in any way.
Judith would have treated any remonstrances2 on his part with the smiling detachment of theyoung towards the boring counsels of the old.
Judith, my Judith. .?.?.
It is hard now to describe just what I went through that day. Afterwards, thinking it over, I aminclined to put something down to the atmosphere of Styles itself. Evil imaginings came easily tothe mind there. There was, too, not only the past, but a sinister3 present. The shadow of murder anda murderer haunted the house.
And to the best of my belief the murderer was Allerton and Judith was losing her heart to him!
It was unbelievable—monstrous—and I didn’t know what to do.
It was after lunch that Boyd Carrington drew me aside. He hemmed4 and hawed a bit beforecoming to the point. At last he said rather jerkily: “Don’t think I’m interfering5, but I think youought to speak to that girl of yours. Give her a word of warning, eh? You know this fellowAllerton—reputation’s pretty bad, and she—well, it looks rather like a case.”
So easy for these men without children to speak like that! Give her a word of warning?
Would it be any use? Would it make things worse?
If only Cinders6 were here. She would know what to do, what to say.
I was tempted7, I admit, to hold my peace and say nothing. But I reflected after a while that thiswas really only cowardice8. I shrank from the unpleasantness of having things out with Judith. Iwas, you see, afraid of my tall, beautiful daughter.
I paced up and down the gardens in increasing agitation9 of mind. My footsteps led me at last tothe rose garden, and there, as it were, the decision was taken out of my hands, for Judith wassitting on a seat alone, and in all my life I have never seen an expression of greater unhappiness onany woman’s face.
The mask was off. Indecision and deep unhappiness showed only too plainly.
I took my courage in my hands. I went to her. She did not hear me until I was beside her.
“Judith,” I said. “For God’s sake, Judith, don’t mind so much.”
She turned on me, startled. “Father? I didn’t hear you.”
I went on, knowing that it would be fatal if she managed to turn me back to normal everydayconversation.
“Oh, my dearest child, don’t think I don’t know, that I can’t see. He isn’t worth it—oh, dobelieve me, he isn’t worth it.”
Her face, troubled, alarmed, was turned towards me. She said quietly: “Do you think you reallyknow what you are talking about?”
“I do know. You care about this man. But, my dear, it’s no good.”
She smiled sombrely. A heartbreaking smile.
“Perhaps I know that as well as you do.”
“You don’t. You can’t. Oh, Judith, what can come of it all? He’s a married man. There can beno future there for you—only sorrow and shame—and all ending in bitter self-loathing.”
Her smile grew wider—even more sorrowful.
“How fluently you talk, don’t you?”
“Give it up, Judith—give it all up.”
“No!”
“He’s not worth it, my dear.”
She said very quietly and slowly: “He’s worth everything in the world to me.”
“No, no. Judith, I beg of you—”
The smile vanished. She turned on me like an avenging10 fury.
“How dare you? How dare you interfere11? I won’t stand it. You are never to speak to me of thisagain. I hate you, I hate you. It’s no business of yours. It’s my life—my own secret inside life!”
She got up. With one firm hand she pushed me aside and went past me. Like an avenging fury. Istared after her, dismayed.
II
I was still there, dazed and helpless, unable to think out my next course of action, some quarter ofan hour later.
I was there when Elizabeth Cole and Norton found me.
They were, I realized later, very kind to me. They saw, they must have seen, that I was in a stateof great mental perturbation. But tactfully enough they made no slightest allusion12 to my state ofmind. Instead they took me with them on a rambling13 walk. They were both nature lovers.
Elizabeth Cole pointed14 out wild flowers to me, Norton showed me birds through his field glasses.
Their talk was gentle, soothing15, concerned only with feathered beings and with woodland flora16.
Little by little I came back to normal, although underneath17 I was still in a state of the utmostperturbation.
Moreover I was, as people are, convinced that any happening that occurred was connected withmy own particular perplexity.
So, therefore, when Norton, his glasses to his eyes, exclaimed: “Hullo, if that isn’t a speckledwoodpecker. I never—” and then broke off suddenly, I immediately leapt to suspicion. I held outmy hand for the glasses.
“Let me see.” My voice was peremptory18.
Norton fumbled19 with the glasses. He said, in a curious hesitating voice: “I—I—made a mistake.
It’s flown away—at least, as a matter of fact, it was quite a common bird.”
His face was white and troubled, he avoided looking at us. He seemed both bewildered anddistressed.
Even now I cannot think I was altogether unreasonable20 in jumping to the conclusion that he hadseen through those glasses of his something that he was determined21 to prevent my seeing.
Whatever it was that he had seen, he was so thoroughly22 taken aback by it that it was noticeableto both of us.
His glasses had been trained on a distant belt of woodland. What had he seen there?
I said peremptorily23: “Let me look.”
I snatched at the glasses. I remember he tried to defend them from me, but he did it clumsily. Iseized them roughly.
Norton said weakly: “It wasn’t really—I mean, the bird’s gone. I wish—”
My hands shaking a little, I adjusted the glasses to my eyes. They were powerful glasses. Itrained them as nearly as I could on the spot where I thought Norton had been looking.
But I saw nothing—nothing but a gleam of white (a girl’s white dress?) disappearing into thetrees.
I lowered the glasses. Without a word I handed them back to Norton. He did not meet my eyes.
He was looking worried and perplexed24.
We walked back to the house together and I remember that Norton was very silent all the way.
III
Mrs. Franklin and Boyd Carrington came in shortly after we got back to the house. He had takenher in his car to Tadcaster because she wanted to do some shopping.
She had done it, I gather, pretty thoroughly. Lots of parcels came out of the car and she waslooking quite animated25, talking and laughing and with quite a colour in her cheeks.
She sent Boyd Carrington up with a particularly fragile purchase and I gallantly26 received afurther consignment27.
Her talk was quicker and more nervous than usual.
“Frightfully hot, isn’t it? I think there’s going to be a storm. This weather must break soon.
They say, you know, there’s quite a water shortage. The worst drought there’s been for years.”
She went on, turning to Elizabeth Cole: “What have you all been doing with yourselves?
Where’s John? He said he’d got a headache and was going to walk it off. Very unlike him to havea headache. I think, you know, he’s worried about his experiments. They aren’t going right orsomething. I wish he’d talk more about things.”
She paused and then addressed Norton: “You’re very silent, Mr. Norton. Is anything the matter?
You look—you look scared. You haven’t seen the ghost of old Mrs. Whoever-it-was?”
Norton started. “No, no. I haven’t seen any ghosts. I—I was just thinking of something.”
It was at that moment that Curtiss came through the doorway28 wheeling Poirot in his invalidchair.
He stopped with it in the hall, preparatory to taking his master out and carrying him up thestairs.
Poirot, his eyes suddenly alert, looked from one to the other of us.
He said sharply: “What is it? Is anything the matter?”
None of us answered for a minute, then Barbara Franklin said with a little artificial laugh: “No,of course not. What should be the matter? It’s just—perhaps thunder coming? I—oh dear—I’mterribly tired. Bring those things up, will you, Captain Hastings? Thank you so much.”
I followed her up the stairs and along the east wing. Her room was the end one on that side.
Mrs. Franklin opened the door. I was behind her, my arms full of parcels.
She stopped abruptly29 in the doorway. By the window Boyd Carrington was having his palmexamined by Nurse Craven.
He looked up and laughed a little sheepishly. “Hullo, I’m having my fortune told. Nurse is noend of a hand reader.”
“Really? I had no idea of that.” Barbara Franklin’s voice was sharp. I had an idea that she wasannoyed with Nurse Craven. “Please take these things, Nurse, will you? And you might mix me anegg flip31. I feel very tired. A hot-water bottle, too, please. I’ll get to bed as soon as possible.”
“Certainly, Mrs. Franklin.”
Nurse Craven moved forward. She showed no signs of anything but professional concern.
Mrs. Franklin said: “Please go, Bill, I’m terribly tired.”
Boyd Carrington looked very concerned. “Oh, I say, Babs, has it been too much for you? I amsorry. What a thoughtless fool I am. I shouldn’t have let you overtire yourself.”
Mrs. Franklin gave him her angelic martyr’s smile. “I didn’t want to say anything. I do hatebeing tiresome32.”
We two men went out of the room, somewhat abashed33, and left the two women together.
Boyd Carrington said contritely34: “What a damned fool I am. Barbara seemed so bright and gay Iforgot all about tiring her. Hope she’s not knocked herself up.”
I said mechanically: “Oh, I expect she’ll be all right after a night’s rest.”
He went down the stairs. I hesitated and then went along the other wing towards my own room,and Poirot’s. The little man would be expecting me. For the first time I was reluctant to go to him.
I had so much to occupy my thoughts, and I still had that dull sick feeling at the pit of mystomach.
I went slowly along the corridor.
From inside Allerton’s room I heard voices. I don’t think I meant consciously to listen though Istopped for a minute automatically outside his door. Then, suddenly, the door opened and mydaughter Judith came out.
She stopped dead when she saw me. I caught her by the arm and hustled35 her along into myroom. I was suddenly intensely angry.
“What do you mean by going to that fellow’s room?”
She looked at me steadily36. She showed no anger now, only complete coldness. For some fewseconds she did not reply.
I shook her by the arm. “I won’t have it, I tell you. You don’t know what you are doing.”
She said then, in a low biting voice: “I think you have a perfectly37 filthy38 mind.”
I said: “I daresay I have. It’s a reproach your generation is fond of levelling at mine. We have,at least, certain standards. Understand this, Judith, I forbid you absolutely to have anything moreto do with that man.”
She looked at me steadily. Then she said quietly: “I see. So that’s it.”
“Do you deny that you’re in love with him?”
“No.”
“But you don’t know what he is. You can’t know.”
Deliberately39, without mincing40 my language, I repeated to her the story I had heard aboutAllerton.
“You see,” I said when I had finished. “That’s the kind of foul41 brute42 he is.”
She seemed quite annoyed. Her lips curled upwards43 scornfully.
“I never thought he was a saint, I can assure you.”
“Doesn’t this make any difference to you? Judith, you can’t be utterly44 depraved.”
“Call it that if you like.”
“Judith, you haven’t—you aren’t—”
I could not put my meaning into words. She shook her arm free from my detaining hand.
“Now, listen, Father. I do what I choose. You can’t bully45 me. And it’s no good ranting46. I shalldo exactly as I please with my life, and you can’t stop me.”
In another instant she was out of the room.
I found my knees trembling.
I sank down on to a chair. It was worse—much worse than I thought. The child was utterlyinfatuated. There was no one to whom I could appeal. Her mother, the only person she might havelistened to, was dead. It all depended on me.
I do not think that either before or since I have ever suffered as I suffered then. .?.?.
IV
Presently I roused myself. I washed and shaved and changed. I went down to dinner. I behaved, Ifancy, in quite a normal manner. Nobody seemed to notice anything amiss.
Once or twice I saw Judith flash a curious glance at me. She must have been puzzled, I think, bythe way I was able to appear quite like my usual self.
And all the time, underneath, I was growing more and more determined.
All that I needed was courage—courage and brains.
After dinner we went outside, looked up at the sky, commented on the closeness of theatmosphere, prophesied47 rain—thunder—a storm.
Out of the tail of my eye I saw Judith disappear round the corner of the house. PresentlyAllerton strolled in the same direction.
I finished what I was saying to Boyd Carrington and wandered that way myself.
Norton, I think, tried to stop me. He took my arm. He tried, I think, to suggest walking up to therose garden. I took no notice.
He was still with me as I turned the corner of the house.
They were there. I saw Judith’s upturned face, saw Allerton’s bent48 down over it, saw how hetook her in his arms and the kiss that followed.
Then they broke away quickly. I took a step forward. Almost by main force, Norton hauled meback and round the corner. He said: “Look here, you can’t—”
I interrupted him. I said forcefully: “I can. And I will.”
“It’s no good, my dear fellow. It’s all very distressing49 but all it comes to is that there’s nothingyou can do.”
I was silent. He might think that that was so, but I knew better.
Norton went on: “I know how ineffectual and maddened one feels, but the only thing to do is toadmit defeat. Accept it, man!”
I didn’t contradict him. I waited, allowing him to talk. Then I went firmly round the corner ofthe house again.
The two of them had disappeared now, but I had a shrewd idea of where they might be. Therewas a summerhouse concealed50 in a grove51 of lilac trees not far away.
I went towards it. I think Norton was still with me, but I’m not sure.
As I got nearer I heard voices and stopped. It was Allerton’s voice I heard.
“Well, then, my dear girl, that’s settled. Don’t make anymore objections. You go up to towntomorrow. I’ll say I’m running over to Ipswich to stay with a pal30 for a night or two. You wire fromLondon that you can’t get back. And who’s to know of that charming little dinner at my flat? Youwon’t regret it, I can promise you.”
I felt Norton tugging52 at me, and suddenly, meekly53, I turned. I almost laughed at the sight of hisworried anxious face. I let him drag me back to the house. I pretended to give in because I knew,at that moment, exactly what I was going to do. .?.?.
I said to him clearly and distinctly: “Don’t worry, old chap. It’s all no good—I see that now.
You can’t control your children’s lives. I’m through.”
He was ridiculously relieved.
Shortly afterwards, I told him I was going to bed early. I’d got a bit of a headache, I said.
He had no suspicions at all of what I was going to do.
VI paused for a moment in the corridor. It was quite quiet. There was no one about. The beds hadbeen all turned down ready for the night. Norton, who had a room on this side, I had leftdownstairs. Elizabeth Cole was playing bridge. Curtiss, I knew, would be downstairs having hissupper. I had the place to myself.
I flatter myself that I have not worked with Poirot for so many years in vain. I knew just whatprecautions to take.
Allerton was not going to meet Judith in London tomorrow.
Allerton was not going anywhere tomorrow. .?.?.
The whole thing was really so ridiculously simple.
I went to my own room and picked up my bottle of aspirins. Then I went into Allerton’s roomand into the bathroom. The tablets of Slumberyl were in the cupboard. Eight, I considered, oughtto do the trick. One or two was the stated dose. Eight, therefore, ought to be ample. Allertonhimself had said the toxic54 dose was not high. I read the label. “It is dangerous to exceed theprescribed dose.”
I smiled to myself.
I wrapped a silk handkerchief round my hand and unscrewed the bottle carefully. There must beno fingerprints55 on it.
I emptied out the tablets. Yes, they were almost exactly the same size as the aspirins. I put eightaspirins in the bottle, then filled up with the Slumberyls, leaving out eight of them. The bottle nowlooked exactly as it had before. Allerton would notice no difference.
I went back to my room. I had a bottle of whisky there—most of us had at Styles. I got out twoglasses and a syphon. I’d never known Allerton refuse a drink yet. When he came up I’d ask himin for a nightcap.
I tried the tablets in a little of the spirit. They dissolved easily enough. I tasted the mixturegingerly. A shade bitter perhaps but hardly noticeable. I had my plan. I should be just pouringmyself out a drink when Allerton came up. I would hand that to him and pour myself out another.
All quite easy and natural.
He could have no idea of my feelings—unless of course Judith had told him. I considered thisfor a moment, but decided56 that I was quite safe here. Judith never told anyone anything.
He would probably believe me to be quite unsuspicious of their plan.
I had nothing to do but to wait. It would be a long time, probably an hour or two, beforeAllerton came up to bed. He was always a late bird.
I sat there quietly waiting.
A sudden knock on the door made me start. It was only Curtiss, however. Poirot was asking forme.
I came to myself with a shock. Poirot! I had never once thought of him all evening. He musthave wondered what had become of me. It worried me a little. First of all because I was ashamedof never having been near him, and secondly57 I did not want him to suspect that anything out of theway had happened.
I followed Curtiss across the passage.
“Eh bien!” exclaimed Poirot. “So you desert me, hein?”
I forced a yawn and an apologetic smile. “Awfully sorry, old boy,” I said. “But to tell the truthI’ve got such a blinding headache I can hardly see out of my eyes. It’s the thunder in the air, Isuppose. I really have been feeling quite muzzy with it—in fact, so much so I entirely58 forgot Ihadn’t been in to say good night to you.”
As I had hoped, Poirot was immediately solicitous59. He offered remedies. He fussed. He accusedme of having sat about in the open air in a draught60. (On the hottest day of the summer!) I refusedaspirin on the grounds that I had already taken some, but I was not able to avoid being given a cupof sweet and wholly disgusting chocolate!
“It nourishes the nerves, you comprehend,” Poirot explained.
I drank it to avoid argument and then, with Poirot’s anxious and affectionate exclamations61 stillringing in my ears, I bade him good night.
I returned to my own room, and shut the door ostentatiously. Later, I opened it a crack with theutmost caution. I could not fail now to hear Allerton when he came. But it would be some timeyet.
I sat there waiting. I thought of my dead wife. Once, under my breath, I murmured: “Youunderstand, darling, I’m going to save her.”
She had left Judith in my care, I was not going to fail her.
In the quiet and the stillness I suddenly felt that Cinders was very near to me.
I felt almost as though she were in the room.
And still I sat on grimly, waiting.
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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hemmed
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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tempted
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cowardice
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agitation
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avenging
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interfere
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allusion
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rambling
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pointed
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soothing
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flora
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underneath
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peremptory
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fumbled
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unreasonable
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determined
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thoroughly
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peremptorily
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perplexed
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animated
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gallantly
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consignment
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doorway
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abruptly
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pal
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flip
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tiresome
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abashed
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contritely
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hustled
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steadily
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perfectly
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filthy
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deliberately
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mincing
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foul
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brute
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upwards
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utterly
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bully
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ranting
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| v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨 | |
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prophesied
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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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49
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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50
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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51
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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52
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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53
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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54
toxic
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| adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的 | |
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55
fingerprints
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| n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 ) | |
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56
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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57
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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58
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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59
solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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60
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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61
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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