10. A Decision in Jamestown

Ten
A D ECISION IN J AMESTOWN
D r. Graham was in Jamestown, in the Administrator’s office, sitting at a table opposite his friend Daventry, a graveyoung man of thirty-five.
“You sounded rather mysterious on the phone, Graham,” said Daventry. “Anything special the matter?”
“I don’t know,” said Dr. Graham, “but I’m worried.”
Daventry looked at the other’s face, then he nodded as drinks were brought in. He spoke¹ lightly of a fishingexpedition he had made lately. Then when the servant had gone away, he sat back in his chair and looked at the otherman.
“Now then,” he said, “let’s have it.”
Dr. Graham recounted the facts that had worried him. Daventry gave a slow long whistle.
“I see. You think maybe there’s something funny about old Palgrave’s death? You’re no longer sure that it was justnatural causes? Who certified² the death? Robertson, I suppose. He didn’t have any doubts, did he?”
“No, but I think he may have been influenced in giving the certificate by the fact of the Serenite tablets in thebathroom. He asked me if Palgrave had mentioned that he suffered from hypertension, and I said No, I’d never hadany medical conversation with him myself, but apparently³ he had talked about it to other people in the hotel. Thewhole thing—the bottle of tablets, and what Palgrave had said to people—it all fitted in—no earthly reason to suspectanything else. It was a perfectly⁴ natural inference to make—but I think now it may not have been correct. If it hadbeen my business to give the certificate, I’d have given it without a second thought. The appearances are quiteconsistent with his having died from that cause. I’d never have thought about it since if it hadn’t been for the odddisappearance of that snapshot….”
“But look here, Graham,” said Daventry, “if you will allow me to say so, aren’t you relying a little too much on arather fanciful story told you by an elderly lady? You know what these elderly ladies are like. They magnify somesmall detail and work the whole thing up.”
“Yes, I know,” said Dr. Graham, unhappily. “I know that. I’ve said to myself that it may be so, that it probably isso. But I can’t quite convince myself. She was so very clear and detailed⁵ in her statement.”
“The whole thing seems wildly improbable to me,” said Daventry. “Some old lady tells a story about a snapshotthat ought not to be there—no, I’m getting mixed myself—I mean the other way about, don’t I?—but the only thingyou’ve really got to go on is that a chambermaid says that a bottle of pills which the authorities had relied on forevidence, wasn’t in the Major’s room the day before his death. But there are a hundred explanations for that. He mightalways have carried those pills about in his pocket.”
“It’s possible, I suppose, yes.”
“Or the chambermaid may have made a mistake and she simply hadn’t noticed them before—”
“That’s possible, too.”
“Well, then.”
Graham said slowly:
“The girl was very positive.”
“Well, the St. Honoré people are very excitable. You know. Emotional. Work themselves up easily. Are youthinking that she knows—a little more than she has said?”
“I think it might be so,” said Dr. Graham slowly.
“You’d better try and get it out of her, if so. We don’t want to make an unnecessary fuss—unless we’ve somethingdefinite to go on. If he didn’t die of blood pressure, what do you think it was?”
“There are too many things it might be nowadays,” said Dr. Graham.
“You mean things that don’t leave recognizable traces?”
“Not everyone,” said Dr. Graham dryly, “is so considerate as to use arsenic⁶.”
“Now let’s get things quite clear—what’s the suggestion? That a bottle of pills was substituted for the real ones?
And that Major Palgrave was poisoned in that way?”
“No—it’s not like that. That’s what the girl—Victoria Something thinks—But she’s got it all wrong—If it wasdecided to get rid of the Major—quickly—he would have been given something—most likely in a drink of some kind.
Then to make it appear a natural death, a bottle of the tablets prescribed to relieve blood pressure was put in his room.
And the rumour⁷ was put about that he suffered from high blood pressure.”
“Who put the rumour about?”
“I’ve tried to find out—with no success—It’s been too cleverly done. A says ‘I think B told me’—B, asked, says‘No, I didn’t say so but I do remember C mentioning it one day.’ C says ‘Several people talked about it—one of them,I think, was A.’ And there we are, back again.”
“Someone was clever?”
“Yes. As soon as the death was discovered, everybody seemed to be talking about the Major’s high blood pressureand repeating round what other people had said.”
“Wouldn’t it have been simpler just to poison him and let it go at that?”
“No. That might have meant an inquiry—possibly an autopsy—This way, a doctor would accept the death and givea certificate—as he did.”
“What do you want me to do? Go to the CID? Suggest they dig the chap up? It’d make a lot of stink—”
“It could be kept quite quiet.”
“Could it? In St. Honoré? Think again! The grapevine would be on to it before it had happened. All the same,”
Daventry sighed—“I suppose we’ll have to do something. But if you ask me, it’s all a mare’s nest!”
“I devoutly⁸ hope it is,” said Dr. Graham.

1 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

6 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

7 rumour   

n.谣言，谣传，传闻

参考例句：

• I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
• There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来，一直有谣言产生，对他进行中伤。

8 devoutly   

adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地

参考例句：

• She was a devoutly Catholic. 她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This was not a boast, but a hope, at once bold and devoutly humble. 这不是夸夸其谈，而是一个即大胆而又诚心、谦虚的希望。 来自辞典例句