KELVIN HALLIDAY’S DELUSION1
T hey were in the garden on the following morning when Mrs. Cocker came out and said: “Excuse me, sir. There’s aDoctor Kennedy on the telephone.”
Leaving Gwenda in consultation2 with old Foster, Giles went into the house and picked up the telephone receiver.
“Giles Reed here.”
“This is Dr. Kennedy. I’ve been thinking over our conversation yesterday, Mr. Reed. There are certain facts whichI think perhaps you and your wife ought to know. Will you be at home if I come over this afternoon?”
“Certainly we shall. What time?”
“Three o’clock?”
“Suits us.”
In the garden old Foster said to Gwenda, “Is that Dr. Kennedy as used to live over at West Cliff?”
“I expect so. Did you know him?”
“E was allus reckoned to be the best doctor here—not but what Dr. Lazenby wasn’t more popular. Always had aword and a laugh to jolly you along, Dr. Lazenby did. Dr. Kennedy was always short and a bit dry, like—but he knewhis job.”
“When did he give up his practice?”
“Long time ago now. Must be fifteen years or so. His health broke down, so they say.”
Giles came out of the window and answered Gwenda’s unspoken question.
“He’s coming over this afternoon.”
“Oh.” She turned once more to Foster. “Did you know Dr. Kennedy’s sister at all?”
“Sister? Not as I remember. She was only a bit of a lass. Went away to school, and then abroad, though I heard shecome back here for a bit after she married. But I believe she run off with some chap—always wild she was, they said.
Don’t know as I ever laid eyes on her myself. I was in a job over to Plymouth for a while, you know.”
Gwenda said to Giles as they walked to the end of the terrace, “Why is he coming?”
“We’ll know at three o’clock.”
Dr. Kennedy arrived punctually. Looking round the drawing room he said: “Seems odd to be here again.”
Then he came to the point without preamble4.
“I take it that you two are quite determined5 to track down the Sanatorium where Kelvin Halliday died and learn allthe details you can about his illness and death?”
“Definitely,” said Gwenda.
“Well, you can manage that quite easily, of course. So I’ve come to the conclusion that it will be less shock to youto hear the facts from me. I’m sorry to have to tell you, for it won’t do you or anybody else a bit of good, and it willprobably cause you, Gwennie, a good deal of pain. But there it is. Your father wasn’t suffering from tuberculosis6 andthe Sanatorium in question was a mental home.”
“A mental home? Was he out of his mind, then?”
Gwenda’s face had gone very white.
“He was never certified7. And in my opinion he was not insane in the general meaning of the term. He had had avery severe nervous breakdown8 and suffered from certain delusional9 obsessions10. He went into the nursing home of hisown will and volition11 and could, of course, have left it at any time he wanted to. His condition did not improve,however, and he died there.”
“Delusional obsessions?” Giles repeated the words questioningly. “What kind of delusions12?”
Dr. Kennedy said drily, “He was under the impression that he had strangled his wife.”
Gwenda gave a stifled13 cry. Giles stretched out a hand quickly and took her cold hand in his.
Giles said, “And—and had he?”
“Eh?” Dr. Kennedy stared at him. “No, of course he hadn’t. No question of such a thing.”
“But—but how do you know?” Gwenda’s voice came uncertainly.
“My dear child! There was never any question of such a thing. Helen left him for another man. He’d been in a veryunbalanced condition for some time; nervous dreams, sick fancies. The final shock sent him over the edge. I’m not apsychiatrist myself. They have their explanations for such matters. If a man would rather his wife was dead thanunfaithful, he can manage to make himself believe that she is dead—even that he has killed her.”
Warily15, Giles and Gwenda exchanged a warning glance.
Giles said quietly, “So you are quite sure that there was no question of his having actually done what he said he haddone?”
“Oh, quite sure. I had two letters from Helen. The first one from France about a week after she went away and oneabout six months later. Oh no, the whole thing was a delusion pure and simple.”
Gwenda drew a deep breath.
“Please,” she said. “Will you tell me all about it?”
“I’ll tell you everything I can, my dear. To begin with, Kelvin had been in a rather peculiar16 neurotic17 state for sometime. He came to me about it. Said he had had various disquieting18 dreams. These dreams, he said, were always thesame, and they ended in the same way—with his throttling19 Helen. I tried to get at the root of the trouble—there must, Ithink, have been some conflict in early childhood. His father and mother, apparently20, were not a happy couple …Well, I won’t go into all that. That’s only interesting to a medical man. I actually suggested that Kelvin should consulta psychiatrist14, there are several first-class chaps—but he wouldn’t hear of it—thought that kind of thing was allnonsense.
“I had an idea that he and Helen weren’t getting along too well, but he never spoke3 about that, and I didn’t like toask questions. The whole thing came to a head when he walked into my house one evening—it was a Friday, Iremember, I’d just come back from the hospital and found him waiting for me in the consulting room; he’d been thereabout a quarter of an hour. As soon as I came in, he looked up and said, ‘I’ve killed Helen.’
“For a moment I didn’t know what to think. He was so cool and matter-of-fact. I said, ‘You mean—you’ve hadanother dream?’ He said, ‘It isn’t a dream this time. It’s true. She’s lying there strangled. I strangled her.’
“Then he said—quite coolly and reasonably: ‘You’d better come back with me to the house. Then you can ring upthe police from there.’ I didn’t know what to think. I got out the car again, and we drove along here. The house wasquiet and dark. We went up to the bedroom—”
Gwenda broke in, “The bedroom?” Her voice held pure astonishment21.
Dr. Kennedy looked faintly surprised.
“Yes, yes, that’s where it all happened. Well, of course when we got up there—there was nothing at all! No deadwoman lying across the bed. Nothing disturbed—the coverlets not even rumpled22. The whole thing had been anhallucination.”
“But what did my father say?”
“Oh, he persisted in his story, of course. He really believed it, you see. I persuaded him to let me give him asedative and I put him to bed in the dressing23 room. Then I had a good look round. I found a note that Helen had leftcrumpled up in the wastepaper basket in the drawing room. It was quite clear. She had written something like this:
‘This is Good-bye. I’m sorry—but our marriage has been a mistake from the beginning. I’m going away with the onlyman I’ve ever loved. Forgive me if you can. Helen.’
“Evidently Kelvin had come in, read her note, gone upstairs, had a kind of emotional brainstorm24 and had thencome over to me persuaded that he had killed Helen.
“Then I questioned the housemaid. It was her evening out and she had come in late. I took her into Helen’s roomand she went through Helen’s clothes, etc. It was all quite clear. Helen had packed a suitcase and a bag and had takenthem away with her. I searched the house, but there was no trace of anything unusual—certainly no sign of a strangledwoman.
“I had a very difficult time with Kelvin in the morning, but he realized at last that it was a delusion—or at least hesaid he did, and he consented to go into a nursing home for treatment.
“A week later I got, as I say, a letter from Helen. It was posted from Biarritz, but she said she was going on toSpain. I was to tell Kelvin that she did not want a divorce. He had better forget her as soon as possible.
“I showed the letter to Kelvin. He said very little. He was going ahead with his plans. He wired out to his firstwife’s people in New Zealand asking them to take the child. He settled up his affairs and he then entered a very goodprivate mental home and consented to have appropriate treatment. That treatment, however, did nothing to help him.
He died there two years later. I can give you the address of the place. It’s in Norfolk. The present Superintendent25 wasa young doctor there at the time, and will probably be able to give you full details of your father’s case.”
Gwenda said: “And you got another letter from your sister—after that again?”
“Oh yes. About six months later. She wrote from Florence—gave an address poste restante as ‘Miss Kennedy.’ Shesaid she realized that perhaps it was unfair to Kelvin not to have a divorce—though she herself did not want one. If hewanted a divorce and I would let her know, she would see that he had the necessary evidence. I took the letter toKelvin. He said at once that he did not want a divorce. I wrote to her and told her so. Since then I have never heardanymore. I don’t know where she is living, or indeed if she is alive or dead. That is why I was attracted by youradvertisement and hoped that I should get news of her.”
He added gently: “I’m very sorry about this, Gwennie. But you had to know. I only wish you could have left wellalone….”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
delusion
|
|
| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
consultation
|
|
| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
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： |
|
|
|
|
4
preamble
|
|
| n.前言；序文 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
tuberculosis
|
|
| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
certified
|
|
| a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
breakdown
|
|
| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
delusional
|
|
| 妄想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
obsessions
|
|
| n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
volition
|
|
| n.意志；决意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
delusions
|
|
| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
stifled
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
psychiatrist
|
|
| n.精神病专家；精神病医师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
warily
|
|
| adv.留心地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
neurotic
|
|
| adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
disquieting
|
|
| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
throttling
|
|
| v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
rumpled
|
|
| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
brainstorm
|
|
| vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
superintendent
|
|
| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |