Chapter Twenty-eight

Twenty-eight
I hurried down the village street. It was eleven o’clock, and at eleven o’clock on a Sunday night the whole village ofSt. Mary Mead¹ might be dead. I saw, however, a light in a first floor window as I passed, and, realizing that Haweswas still up, I stopped and rang the doorbell.
After what seemed a long time, Hawes’s landlady², Mrs. Sadler, laboriously³ unfastened two bolts, a chain, andturned a key and peered out at me suspiciously.
“Why, it’s Vicar!” she exclaimed.
“Good evening,” I said. “I want to see Mr. Hawes. I see there’s a light in the window, so he’s up still.”
“That may be. I’ve not seen him since I took up his supper. He’s had a quiet evening—no one to see him, and he’snot been out.”
I nodded, and passing her, went quickly up the stairs. Hawes has a bedroom and sitting room on the first floor.
I passed into the latter. Hawes was lying back in a long chair asleep. My entrance did not wake him. An emptycachet box and a glass of water, half full, stood beside him.
On the floor, by his left foot, was a crumpled⁴ sheet of paper with writing on it. I picked it up and straightened it out.
It began: “My dear Clement—”
I read it through, uttered an exclamation⁵ and shoved it into my pocket. Then I bent⁶ over Hawes and studied himattentively.
Next, reaching for the telephone which stood by his elbow, I gave the number of the Vicarage. Melchett must havebeen still trying to trace the call, for I was told that the number was engaged. Asking them to call me, I put theinstrument down again.
I put my hand into my pocket to look at the paper I had picked up once more. With it, I drew out the note that I hadfound in the letter box and which was still unopened.
Its appearance was horribly familiar. It was the same handwriting as the anonymous⁷ letter that had come thatafternoon.
I tore it open.
I read it once—twice—unable to realize its contents.
I was beginning to read it a third time when the telephone rang. Like a man in a dream I picked up the receiver andspoke.
“Hallo?”
“Hallo.”
“Is that you, Melchett?”
“Yes, where are you? I’ve traced that call. The number is—”
“I know the number.”
“Oh, good! Is that where you are speaking from?”
“Yes.”
“What about that confession⁸?”
“I’ve got the confession all right.”
“You mean you’ve got the murderer?”
I had then the strongest temptation of my life. I looked at the anonymous scrawl⁹. I looked at the empty cachet boxwith the name of Cherubim on it. I remembered a certain casual conversation.
I made an immense effort.
“I—don’t know,” I said. “You’d better come round.”
And I gave him the address.
Then I sat down in the chair opposite Hawes to think.
I had two clear minutes to do so.
In two minutes’ time, Melchett would have arrived.
I took up the anonymous letter and read it through again for the third time.
Then I closed my eyes and thought….

1 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

2 landlady   

n.女房东，女地主

参考例句：

• I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door.我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。
• The landlady came over to serve me.女店主过来接待我。

3 laboriously   

adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地

参考例句：

• She is tracing laboriously now. 她正在费力地写。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She is laboriously copying out an old manuscript. 她正在费劲地抄出一份旧的手稿。 来自辞典例句

4 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

5 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

6 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

7 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

8 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

9 scrawl   

vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写

参考例句：

• His signature was an illegible scrawl.他的签名潦草难以辨认。
• Your beautiful handwriting puts my untidy scrawl to shame.你漂亮的字体把我的潦草字迹比得见不得人。