Chapter Seven

Seven
C olonel Melchett is a dapper little man with a habit of snorting suddenly and unexpected. He has red hair and ratherkeen bright blue eyes.
“Good morning, Vicar,” he said. “Nasty business, eh? Poor old Protheroe. Not that I liked him. I didn’t. Nobodydid, for that matter. Nasty bit of work for you, too. Hope it hasn’t upset your missus?”
I said Griselda had taken it very well.
“That’s lucky. Rotten thing to happen in one’s house. I must say I’m surprised at young Redding—doing it the wayhe did. No sort of consideration for anyone’s feelings.”
A wild desire to laugh came over me, but Colonel Melchett evidently saw nothing odd in the idea of a murdererbeing considerate, so I held my peace.
“I must say I was rather taken aback when I heard the fellow had marched in and given himself up,” continuedColonel Melchett, dropping on to a chair.
“How did it happen exactly?”
“Last night. About ten o’clock. Fellow rolls in, throws down a pistol, and says: ‘Here I am. I did it.’ Just like that.”
“What account does he give of the business?”
“Precious little. He was warned, of course, about making a statement. But he merely laughed. Said he came here tosee you—found Protheroe here. They had words and he shot him. Won’t say what the quarrel was about. Look here,Clement¹—just between you and me, do you know anything about it? I’ve heard rumours—about his being forbiddenthe house and all that. What was it—did he seduce² the daughter, or what? We don’t want to bring the girl into it morethan we can help for everybody’s sake. Was that the trouble?”
“No,” I said. “You can take it from me that it was something quite different, but I can’t say more at the presentjuncture.”
He nodded and rose.
“I’m glad to know. There’s a lot of talk. Too many women in this part of the world. Well, I must get along. I’ve gotto see Haydock. He was called out to some case or other, but he ought to be back by now. I don’t mind telling you I’msorry about Redding. He always struck me as a decent young chap. Perhaps they’ll think out some kind of defence forhim. Aftereffects of war, shell shock, or something. Especially if no very adequate motive³ turns up. I must be off. Liketo come along?”
I said I would like to very much, and we went out together.
Haydock’s house is next door to mine. His servant said the doctor had just come in and showed us into the diningroom, where Haydock was sitting down to a steaming plate of eggs and bacon. He greeted me with an amiable⁴ nod.
“Sorry I had to go out. Confinement⁵ case. I’ve been up most of the night, over your business. I’ve got the bullet foryou.”
He shoved a little box along the table. Melchett examined it.
“Point two five?”
Haydock nodded.
“I’ll keep the technical details for the inquest,” he said. “All you want to know is that death was practicallyinstantaneous. Silly young fool, what did he want to do it for? Amazing, by the way, that nobody heard the shot.”
“Yes,” said Melchett, “that surprises me.”
“The kitchen window gives on the other side of the house,” I said. “With the study door, the pantry door, and thekitchen door all shut, I doubt if you would hear anything, and there was no one but the maid in the house.”
“H’m,” said Melchett. “It’s odd, all the same. I wonder the old lady—what’s her name—Marple, didn’t hear it. Thestudy window was open.”
“Perhaps she did,” said Haydock.
“I don’t think she did,” said I. “She was over at the Vicarage just now and she didn’t mention anything of the kindwhich I’m certain she would have done if there had been anything to tell.”
“May have heard it and paid no attention to it—thought it was a car backfiring.”
It struck me that Haydock was looking much more jovial⁶ and good-humoured this morning. He seemed like a manwho was decorously trying to subdue⁷ unusually good spirits.
“Or what about a silencer?” he added. “That’s quite likely. Nobody would hear anything then.”
Melchett shook his head.
“Slack didn’t find anything of the kind, and he asked Redding, and Redding didn’t seem to know what he wastalking about at first and then denied point blank using anything of the kind. And I suppose one can take his word forit.”
“Yes, indeed, poor devil.”
“Damned young fool,” said Colonel Melchett. “Sorry, Clement. But he really is! Somehow one can’t get used tothinking of him as a murderer.”
“Any motive?” asked Haydock, taking a final draught⁸ of coffee and pushing back his chair.
“He says they quarrelled and he lost his temper and shot him.”
“Hoping for manslaughter, eh?” The doctor shook his head. “That story doesn’t hold water. He stole up behind himas he was writing and shot him through the head. Precious little ‘quarrel’ about that.”
“Anyway, there wouldn’t have been time for a quarrel,” I said, remembering Miss Marple’s words. “To creep up,shoot him, alter the clock hands back to 6:20, and leave again would have taken him all his time. I shall never forgethis face when I met him outside the gate, or the way he said, ‘You want to see Protheroe—oh, you’ll see him allright!’ That in itself ought to have made me suspicious of what had just taken place a few minutes before.”
Haydock stared at me.
“What do you mean—what had just taken place? When do you think Redding shot him?”
“A few minutes before I got to the house.”
The doctor shook his head.
“Impossible. Plumb⁹ impossible. He’d been dead much longer than that.”
“But, my dear man,” cried Colonel Melchett, “you said yourself that half an hour was only an approximateestimate.”
“Half an hour, thirty-five minutes, twenty-five minutes, twenty minutes—possibly, but less, no. Why, the bodywould have been warm when I got to it.”
We stared at each other. Haydock’s face had changed. It had gone suddenly grey and old. I wondered at the changein him.
“But, look here, Haydock.” The Colonel found his voice. “If Redding admits shooting him at a quarter to seven—”
Haydock sprang to his feet.
“I tell you it’s impossible,” he roared. “If Redding says he killed Protheroe at a quarter to seven, then Redding lies.
Hang it all, I tell you I’m a doctor, and I know. The blood had begun to congeal¹⁰.”
“If Redding is lying,” began Melchett. He stopped, shook his head.
“We’d better go down to the police station and see him,” he said.

1 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

2 seduce   

vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱

参考例句：

• She has set out to seduce Stephen.她已经开始勾引斯蒂芬了。
• Clever advertising would seduce more people into smoking.巧妙策划的广告会引诱更多的人吸烟。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 amiable   

adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的

参考例句：

• She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
• We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。

5 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

6 jovial   

adj.快乐的，好交际的

参考例句：

• He seemed jovial,but his eyes avoided ours.他显得很高兴，但他的眼光却避开了我们的眼光。
• Grandma was plump and jovial.祖母身材圆胖，整天乐呵呵的。

7 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

8 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

9 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

10 congeal   

v.凝结，凝固

参考例句：

• The blood had started to congeal.血液已经开始凝结。
• Gear lubricants may congeal and channel in cold weather.天气冷时齿轮润滑油可能凝结而形成凹槽。