There was not a minute to be lost. Already sounds could be heard on thefloor below.
“Quick, Badger, you fool!” said Bobby. “Pull one of my boots off! Don’targue or ask questions! Haul it off somehow. Chuck it down in the middlethere and crawl under that bed! Quick, I tell you!”
Steps were ascending2 the stairs. The key turned.
Nicholson — the pseudo Nicholson — stood in the doorway3, candle inhand.
He saw Bobby and Frankie as he had left them, but in the middle of thefloor was a pile of broken glass and in the middle of the broken glass wasa boot!
Nicholson stared in amazement4 from the boot to Bobby. Bobby’s left footwas bootless.
“Very clever, my young friend,” he said dryly. “Extremely acrobatic.”
He came over to Bobby, examined the ropes that bound him and tied acouple of extra knots. He looked at him curiously5.
“I wish I knew how you managed to throw that boot through the sky-light. It seems almost incredible. A touch of the Houdini about you, myfriend.”
He looked at them both, up at the broken skylight, then shrugging hisshoulders, he left the room.
“Quick, Badger.”
Badger crawled out from under the bed. He had a pocket knife and withits aid he soon cut the other two free.
“That’s better,” said Bobby, stretching himself. “Whew! I’m stiff! Well,Frankie, what about our friend Nicholson?”
“You’re right,” said Frankie. “It’s Roger Bassington-ffrench. Now that Iknow he’s Roger playing the part of Nicholson I can see it. But it’s a prettygood performance all the same.”
“Entirely voice and pince-nez,” said Bobby.
“I was at Oxford6 with a B-b-b-bassington-ffrench,” said Badger. “M-m-m-marvellous actor. B-b-b-bad hat, though. B-b-b-bad business about forginghis p-p-pater’s n-n-n-name to a cheque. Old m-m-man hushed it up.”
In the minds of both Bobby and Frankie was the same thought. Badger,whom they had judged it wiser not to take into their confidence, could allalong have given them valuable information!
“Forgery,” said Frankie thoughtfully. “That letter from you, Bobby, wasremarkably well-done. I wonder how he knew your handwriting?”
“If he’s in with the Caymans he probably saw my letter about the Evansbusiness.”
The voice of Badger rose plaintively7.
“W-w-w-what are we going to do next?” he inquired.
“We’re going to take up a comfortable position behind this door,” saidBobby. “And when our friend returns, which I imagine won’t be for a littlewhile yet, you and I are going to spring on him from behind and give himthe surprise of his life. How about it, Badger? Are you game?”
“Oh! absolutely.”
“As for you, Frankie, when you hear his step you’d better get back on toyour chair. He’ll see you as soon as he opens the door and will come inwithout any suspicion.”
“All right,” said Frankie. “And once you and Badger have got him downI’ll join in and bite his ankles or something.”
“That’s the true womanly spirit,” said Bobby approvingly. “Now, let’s allsit close together on the floor here and hear all about things. I want toknow what miracle brought Badger through that skylight.”
“Well, you s-s-see,” said Badger, “after you w-w-went off, I got into a bitof a m-m-mess.”
He paused. Gradually the story was extracted: a tale of liabilities, credit-ors and bailiffs—a typical Badger catastrophe8. Bobby had gone off leavingno address, only saying that he was driving the Bentley down to Staverley.
So to Staverley came Badger.
“I thought p-p-perhaps you m-m-might be able to let have a f-f-fiver,” heexplained.
Bobby’s heart smote9 him. To aid Badger in his enterprise he had come toLondon and had promptly10 deserted11 his post to go off sleuthing withFrankie. And even now the faithful Badger uttered no word of reproach.
Badger had no wish to endanger Bobby’s mysterious enterprises, but hewas of the opinion that a car like the green Bentley would not be difficultto find in a place the size of Staverley.
As a matter of fact, he came across the car before he got to Staverley, forit was standing12 outside a pub—empty.
“S-s-so I thought,” went on Badger, “that I’d give you a little s-s-s-sur-prise, don’t you know? There were some r-r-rugs and things in the b-b-back and nobody about. I g-g-got in and p-p-p-pulled them over me. Ithought I’d give you the s-s-surprise of your life.”
What actually happened was that a chauffeur13 in green livery hademerged from the pub and that Badger, peering from his place of conceal-ment, was thunderstruck to perceive that this chauffeur was not Bobby.
He had an idea that the face was in some way familiar to him but couldn’tplace the man. The stranger got into the car and drove off.
Badger was in a predicament. He did not know what to do next. Explan-ations and apologies were difficult, and in any case it is not easy to explainto someone who is driving a car at sixty miles an hour. Badger decided14 tolie low and sneak15 out of the car when it stopped.
The car finally reached its destination—Tudor Cottage. The chauffeurdrove it into the garage and left it there, but, on going out, he shut the gar-age doors. Badger was a prisoner. There was a small window at one sideof the garage and through this about half an hour later Badger had ob-served Frankie’s approach, her whistle and her admission into the house.
The whole business puzzled Badger greatly. He began to suspect thatsomething was wrong. At any rate, he determined16 to have a look round forhimself and see what it was all about.
With the help of some tools lying about in the garage he succeeded inpicking the lock of the garage door and set out on a tour of inspection17. Thewindows on the ground floor were all shuttered, but he thought that bygetting on to the roof he might manage to have a look into some of the up-per windows. The roof presented no difficulties. There was a convenientpipe running up the garage and from the garage roof to the roof of the cot-tage was an easy climb. In the course of his prowling, Badger had comeupon the skylight. Nature and Badger’s weight had done the rest.
Bobby drew a long breath as the narrative18 came to an end.
“All the same,” he said reverently19, “you are a miracle — a singularlybeautiful miracle! But for you, Badger, my lad, Frankie and I would havebeen little corpses20 in about an hour’s time.”
He gave Badger a condensed account of the activities of himself andFrankie. Towards the end he broke off.
“Someone’s coming. Get to your post, Frankie. Now, then, this is whereour playacting Bassington-ffrench gets the surprise of his life.”
Frankie arranged herself in a depressed21 attitude on the broken chair.
Badger and Bobby stood ready behind the door.
The steps came up the stairs, a line of candlelight showed underneaththe door. The key was put in the lock and turned, the door swung open.
The light of the candle disclosed Frankie drooping22 dejectedly on her chair.
Their gaoler stepped through the doorway.
Then, joyously23, Badger and Bobby sprang.
The proceedings24 were short and decisive. Taken utterly25 by surprise, theman was knocked down, the candle flew wide and was retrieved26 byFrankie, and a few seconds later the three friends stood looking downwith malicious27 pleasure at a figure securely bound with the same ropes ashad previously28 secured two of them.
“Good evening, Mr. Bassington-ffrench,” said Bobby—and if the exulta-tion in his voice was a little crude, who shall blame him? “It’s a nice nightfor the funeral.”
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1
badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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16
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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17
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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24
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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