II n a quiet hotel room Edwards was listening deferentially1 to Sir Henry Clithering.
“There are certain questions I would like to ask you, Edwards, but I want you first to understand quite clearly myposition here. I was at one time Commissioner2 of Police at Scotland Yard. I am now retired3 into private life. Yourmaster sent for me when this tragedy occurred. He begged me to use my skill and experience in order to find out thetruth.”
Sir Henry paused.
Edwards, his pale intelligent eyes on the other’s face, inclined his head. He said: “Quite so, Sir Henry.”
Clithering went on slowly and deliberately4:
“In all police cases there is necessarily a lot of information that is held back. It is held back for various reasons—because it touches on a family skeleton, because it is considered to have no bearing on the case, because it wouldentail awkwardness and embarrassment5 to the parties concerned.”
Again Edwards said:
“Quite so, Sir Henry.”
“I expect, Edwards, that by now you appreciate quite clearly the main points of this business. The dead girl was onthe point of becoming Mr. Jefferson’s adopted daughter. Two people had a motive6 in seeing that this should nothappen. Those two people are Mr. Gaskell and Mrs. Jefferson.”
The valet’s eyes displayed a momentary7 gleam. He said: “May I ask if they are under suspicion, sir?”
“They are in no danger of arrest, if that is what you mean. But the police are bound to be suspicious of them andwill continue to be so until the matter is cleared up.”
“An unpleasant position for them, sir.”
“Very unpleasant. Now to get at the truth one must have all the facts of the case. A lot depends, must depend, onthe reactions, the words and gestures, of Mr. Jefferson and his family. How did they feel, what did they show, whatthings were said? I am asking you, Edwards, for inside information—the kind of inside information that only you arelikely to have. You know your master’s moods. From observation of them you probably know what caused them. I amasking this, not as a policeman, but as a friend of Mr. Jefferson’s. That is to say, if anything you tell me is not, in myopinion, relevant to the case, I shall not pass it on to the police.”
He paused. Edwards said quietly:
“I understand you, sir. You want me to speak quite frankly8—to say things that in the ordinary course of events Ishould not say—and that, excuse me, sir, you wouldn’t dream of listening to.”
Sir Henry said:
“You’re a very intelligent fellow, Edwards. That’s exactly what I do mean.”
Edwards was silent for a minute or two, then he began to speak.
“Of course I know Mr. Jefferson fairly well by now. I’ve been with him quite a number of years. And I see him inhis ‘off ’ moments, not only in his ‘on’ ones. Sometimes, sir, I’ve questioned in my own mind whether it’s good foranyone to fight fate in the way Mr. Jefferson has fought. It’s taken a terrible toll9 of him, sir. If, sometimes, he couldhave given way, been an unhappy, lonely, broken old man—well, it might have been better for him in the end. Buthe’s too proud for that! He’ll go down fighting—that’s his motto.
“But that sort of thing leads, Sir Henry, to a lot of nervous reaction. He looks a good-tempered gentleman. I’veseen him in violent rages when he could hardly speak for passion. And the one thing that roused him, sir, wasdeceit….”
“Are you saying that for any particular reason, Edwards?”
“Yes, sir, I am. You asked me, sir, to speak quite frankly?”
“That is the idea.”
“Well, then, Sir Henry, in my opinion the young woman that Mr. Jefferson was so taken up with wasn’t worth it.
She was, to put it bluntly, a common little piece. And she didn’t care tuppence for Mr. Jefferson. All that play ofaffection and gratitude10 was so much poppycock. I don’t say there was any harm in her—but she wasn’t, by a long way,what Mr. Jefferson thought her. It was funny, that, sir, for Mr. Jefferson was a shrewd gentleman; he wasn’t oftendeceived over people. But there, a gentleman isn’t himself in his judgment11 when it comes to a young woman being inquestion. Young Mrs. Jefferson, you see, whom he’d always depended upon a lot for sympathy, had changed a gooddeal this summer. He noticed it and he felt it badly. He was fond of her, you see. Mr. Mark he never liked much.”
Sir Henry interjected:
“And yet he had him with him constantly?”
“Yes, but that was for Miss Rosamund’s sake. Mrs. Gaskell that was. She was the apple of his eye. He adored her.
Mr. Mark was Miss Rosamund’s husband. He always thought of him like that.”
“Supposing Mr. Mark had married someone else?”
“Mr. Jefferson, sir, would have been furious.”
Sir Henry raised his eyebrows12. “As much as that?”
“He wouldn’t have shown it, but that’s what it would have been.”
“And if Mrs. Jefferson had married again?”
“Mr. Jefferson wouldn’t have liked that either, sir.”
“Please go on, Edwards.”
“I was saying, sir, that Mr. Jefferson fell for this young woman. I’ve often seen it happen with the gentlemen I’vebeen with. Comes over them like a kind of disease. They want to protect the girl, and shield her, and shower benefitsupon her—and nine times out of ten the girl is very well able to look after herself and has a good eye to the mainchance.”
“So you think Ruby13 Keene was a schemer?”
“Well, Sir Henry, she was quite inexperienced, being so young, but she had the makings of a very fine schemerindeed when she’d once got well into her swing, so to speak! In another five years she’d have been an expert at thegame!”
Sir Henry said:
“I’m glad to have your opinion of her. It’s valuable. Now do you recall any incident in which this matter wasdiscussed between Mr. Jefferson and his family?”
“There was very little discussion, sir. Mr. Jefferson announced what he had in mind and stifled14 any protests. Thatis, he shut up Mr. Mark, who was a bit outspoken15. Mrs. Jefferson didn’t say much—she’s a quiet lady—only urgedhim not to do anything in a great hurry.”
Sir Henry nodded.
“Anything else? What was the girl’s attitude?”
With marked distaste the valet said:
“I should describe it, sir, as jubilant.”
“Ah—jubilant, you say? You had no reason to believe, Edwards, that”—he sought about for a phrase suitable toEdwards—“that—er—her affections were engaged elsewhere?”
“Mr. Jefferson was not proposing marriage, sir. He was going to adopt her.”
“Cut out the ‘elsewhere’ and let the question stand.”
The valet said slowly: “There was one incident, sir. I happened to be a witness of it.”
“That is gratifying. Tell me.”
“There is probably nothing in it, sir. It was just that one day the young woman, chancing to open her handbag, asmall snapshot fell out. Mr. Jefferson pounced17 on it and said: ‘Hallo, Kitten, who’s this, eh?’
“It was a snapshot, sir, of a young man, a dark young man with rather untidy hair and his tie very badly arranged.
“Miss Keene pretended that she didn’t know anything about it. She said: ‘I’ve no idea, Jeffie. No idea at all. I don’tknow how it could have got into my bag. I didn’t put it there!’
“Now, Mr. Jefferson, sir, wasn’t quite a fool. That story wasn’t good enough. He looked angry, his brows camedown heavy, and his voice was gruff when he said:
“‘Now then, Kitten, now then. You know who it is right enough.’
“She changed her tactics quick, sir. Looked frightened. She said: ‘I do recognize him now. He comes heresometimes and I’ve danced with him. I don’t know his name. The silly idiot must have stuffed his photo into my bagone day. These boys are too silly for anything!’ She tossed her head and giggled18 and passed it off. But it wasn’t alikely story, was it? And I don’t think Mr. Jefferson quite believed it. He looked at her once or twice after that in asharp way, and sometimes, if she’d been out, he asked her where she’d been.”
Sir Henry said: “Have you ever seen the original of the photo about the hotel?”
“Not to my knowledge, sir. Of course, I am not much downstairs in the public departments.”
Sir Henry nodded. He asked a few more questions, but Edwards could tell him nothing more.
II
In the police station at Danemouth, Superintendent19 Harper was interviewing Jessie Davis, Florence Small, BeatriceHenniker, Mary Price, and Lilian Ridgeway.
They were girls much of an age, differing slightly in mentality20. They ranged from “county” to farmers’ andshopkeepers’ daughters. One and all they told the same story—Pamela Reeves had been just the same as usual, shehad said nothing to any of them except that she was going to Woolworth’s and would go home by a later bus.
In the corner of Superintendent Harper’s office sat an elderly lady. The girls hardly noticed her. If they did, theymay have wondered who she was. She was certainly no police matron. Possibly they assumed that she, likethemselves, was a witness to be questioned.
The last girl was shown out. Superintendent Harper wiped his forehead and turned round to look at Miss Marple.
His glance was inquiring, but not hopeful.
Miss Marple, however, spoke16 crisply.
“I’d like to speak to Florence Small.”
The Superintendent’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded and touched a bell. A constable21 appeared.
Harper said: “Florence Small.”
The girl reappeared, ushered22 in by the constable. She was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer—a tall girl with fairhair, a rather foolish mouth, and frightened brown eyes. She was twisting her hands and looked nervous.
Superintendent Harper looked at Miss Marple, who nodded.
The Superintendent got up. He said:
“This lady will ask you some questions.”
He went out, closing the door behind him.
Florence shot an uneasy glance at Miss Marple. Her eyes looked rather like one of her father’s calves23.
Miss Marple said: “Sit down, Florence.”
Florence Small sat down obediently. Unrecognized by herself, she felt suddenly more at home, less uneasy. Theunfamiliar and terrorizing atmosphere of a police station was replaced by something more familiar, the accustomedtone of command of somebody whose business it was to give orders. Miss Marple said:
“You understand, Florence, that it’s of the utmost importance that everything about poor Pamela’s doings on theday of her death should be known?”
Florence murmured that she quite understood.
“And I’m sure you want to do your best to help?”
Florence’s eyes were wary24 as she said, of course she did.
“To keep back any piece of information is a very serious offence,” said Miss Marple.
The girl’s fingers twisted nervously25 in her lap. She swallowed once or twice.
“I can make allowances,” went on Miss Marple, “for the fact that you are naturally alarmed at being brought intocontact with the police. You are afraid, too, that you may be blamed for not having spoken sooner. Possibly you areafraid that you may also be blamed for not stopping Pamela at the time. But you’ve got to be a brave girl and make aclean breast of things. If you refuse to tell what you know now, it will be a very serious matter indeed—very serious—practically perjury26, and for that, as you know, you can be sent to prison.”
“I—I don’t—”
Miss Marple said sharply:
“Now don’t prevaricate27, Florence! Tell me all about it at once! Pamela wasn’t going to Woolworth’s, was she?”
Florence licked her lips with a dry tongue and gazed imploringly28 at Miss Marple like a beast about to beslaughtered.
“Something to do with the films, wasn’t it?” asked Miss Marple.
A look of intense relief mingled29 with awe30 passed over Florence’s face. Her inhibitions left her. She gasped31:
“Oh, yes!”
“I thought so,” said Miss Marple. “Now I want all the details, please.”
Words poured from Florence in a gush32.
“Oh! I’ve been ever so worried. I promised Pam, you see, I’d never say a word to a soul. And then when she wasfound all burnt up in that car—oh! it was horrible and I thought I should die—I felt it was all my fault. I ought to havestopped her. Only I never thought, not for a minute, that it wasn’t all right. And then I was asked if she’d been quite asusual that day and I said ‘Yes’ before I’d had time to think. And not having said anything then I didn’t see how I couldsay anything later. And, after all, I didn’t know anything—not really—only what Pam told me.”
“What did Pam tell you?”
“It was as we were walking up the lane to the bus—on the way to the rally. She asked me if I could keep a secret,and I said ‘Yes,’ and she made me swear not to tell. She was going into Danemouth for a film test after the rally!
She’d met a film producer—just back from Hollywood, he was. He wanted a certain type, and he told Pam she wasjust what he was looking for. He warned her, though, not to build on it. You couldn’t tell, he said, not until you saw aperson photographed. It might be no good at all. It was a kind of Bergner part, he said. You had to have someone quiteyoung for it. A schoolgirl, it was, who changes places with a revue artist and has a wonderful career. Pam’s acted inplays at school and she’s awfully33 good. He said he could see she could act, but she’d have to have some intensivetraining. It wouldn’t be all beer and skittles, he told her, it would be damned hard work. Did she think she could stickit?”
Florence Small stopped for breath. Miss Marple felt rather sick as she listened to the glib34 rehash of countless35 novelsand screen stories. Pamela Reeves, like most other girls, would have been warned against talking to strangers—but theglamour of the films would obliterate36 all that.
“He was absolutely businesslike about it all,” continued Florence. “Said if the test was successful she’d have acontract, and he said that as she was young and inexperienced she ought to let a lawyer look at it before she signed it.
But she wasn’t to pass on that he’d said that. He asked her if she’d have trouble with her parents, and Pam said sheprobably would, and he said: ‘Well, of course, that’s always a difficulty with anyone as young as you are, but I think ifit was put to them that this was a wonderful chance that wouldn’t happen once in a million times, they’d see reason.’
But, anyway, he said, it wasn’t any good going into that until they knew the result of the test. She mustn’t bedisappointed if it failed. He told her about Hollywood and about Vivien Leigh—how she’d suddenly taken London bystorm—and how these sensational37 leaps into fame did happen. He himself had come back from America to work withthe Lemville Studios and put some pep into the English film companies.”
Miss Marple nodded.
Florence went on:
“So it was all arranged. Pam was to go into Danemouth after the rally and meet him at his hotel and he’d take heralong to the studios (they’d got a small testing studio in Danemouth, he told her). She’d have her test and she couldcatch the bus home afterwards. She could say she’d been shopping, and he’d let her know the result of the test in a fewdays, and if it was favourable38 Mr. Harmsteiter, the boss, would come along and talk to her parents.
“Well, of course, it sounded too wonderful! I was green with envy! Pam got through the rally without turning a hair—we always call her a regular poker39 face. Then, when she said she was going into Danemouth to Woolworth’s shejust winked40 at me.
“I saw her start off down the footpath41.” Florence began to cry. “I ought to have stopped her. I ought to havestopped her. I ought to have known a thing like that couldn’t be true. I ought to have told someone. Oh dear, I wish Iwas dead!”
“There, there.” Miss Marple patted her on the shoulder. “It’s quite all right. No one will blame you. You’ve donethe right thing in telling me.”
She devoted42 some minutes to cheering the child up.
Five minutes later she was telling the story to Superintendent Harper. The latter looked very grim.
“The clever devil!” he said. “By God, I’ll cook his goose for him. This puts rather a different aspect on things.”
“Yes, it does.”
Harper looked at her sideways.
“It doesn’t surprise you?”
“I expected something of the kind.”
Superintendent Harper said curiously43:
“What put you on to this particular girl? They all looked scared to death and there wasn’t a pin to choose betweenthem as far as I could see.”
Miss Marple said gently:
“You haven’t had as much experience with girls telling lies as I have. Florence looked at you very straight, if youremember, and stood very rigid44 and just fidgeted with her feet like the others. But you didn’t watch her as she went outof the door. I knew at once then that she’d got something to hide. They nearly always relax too soon. My little maidJanet always did. She’d explain quite convincingly that the mice had eaten the end of a cake and give herself away bysmirking as she left the room.”
“I’m very grateful to you,” said Harper.
He added thoughtfully: “Lemville Studios, eh?”
Miss Marple said nothing. She rose to her feet.
“I’m afraid,” she said, “I must hurry away. So glad to have been able to help you.”
“Are you going back to the hotel?”
“Yes—to pack up. I must go back to St. Mary Mead45 as soon as possible. There’s a lot for me to do there.”
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deferentially
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| adv.表示敬意地，谦恭地 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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10
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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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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17
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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mentality
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| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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wary
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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perjury
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| n.伪证；伪证罪 | |
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prevaricate
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| v.支吾其词；说谎；n.推诿的人；撒谎的人 | |
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imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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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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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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43
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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45
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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