Two and a half hours later, just before eight o’clock, Major Burnaby, hur-ricane lantern in hand, his head dropped forward so as not to meet theblinding drive of snow, stumbled up the path to the door of “Hazelmoor,”
the small house tenanted by Captain Trevelyan.
The snow had begun to fall about an hour ago—great blinding flakes1 ofit. Major Burnaby was gasping2, emitting the loud sighing gasps3 of an ut-terly exhausted4 man. He was numbed5 with cold. He stamped his feet,blew, puffed6, snorted and applied7 a numbed finger to the bell push.
The bell trilled shrilly8.
Burnaby waited. After a pause of a few minutes, as nothing happened,he pushed the bell again.
Once more there was no stir of life.
Burnaby rang a third time. This time he kept his finger on the bell.
It trilled on and on—but there was still no sign of life in the house.
There was a knocker on the door. Major Burnaby seized it and worked itvigorously, producing a noise like thunder.
And still the little house remained silent as the dead.
The Major desisted. He stood for a moment as though perplexed—thenhe slowly went down the path and out at the gate, continuing on the roadhe had come towards Exhampton. A hundred yards brought him to thesmall police station.
He hesitated again, then finally made up his mind and entered.
Constable9 Graves, who knew the Major well, rose in astonishment10.
“Well, I never, sir, fancy you being out on a night like this.”
“Look here,” said Burnaby curtly11. “I’ve been ringing and knocking at theCaptain’s house and I can’t get any answer.”
“Why, of course, it’s Friday,” said Graves who knew the habits of the twopretty well. “But you don’t mean to say you’ve actually come down fromSittaford on a night like this? Surely the Captain would never expect you.”
“Whether he’s expected me or not, I’ve come,” said Burnaby testily12.
“And as I’m telling you, I can’t get in. I’ve rung and knocked and nobodyanswers.”
Some of his uneasiness seemed to communicate itself to the policeman.
“That’s odd,” he said, frowning.
“Of course, it’s odd,” said Burnaby.
“It’s not as though he’s likely to be out—on a night like this.”
“Of course he’s not likely to be out.”
“It is odd,” said Graves again.
Burnaby displayed impatience13 at the man’s slowness.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” he snapped.
“Do something?”
“Yes, do something.”
The policeman ruminated14.
“Think he might have been taken bad?” His face brightened. “I’ll try thetelephone.” It stood at his elbow. He took it up and gave the number.
But to the telephone, as to the front door bell, Captain Trevelyan gave noreply.
“Looks as though he has been taken bad,” said Graves as he replaced thereceiver. “And all alone in the house, too. We’d best got hold of Dr. War-ren and take him along with us.”
Dr. Warren’s house was almost next door to the police station. The doc-tor was just sitting down to dinner with his wife and was not best pleasedat the summons. However, he grudgingly15 agreed to accompany them,drawing on an aged16 British Warm and a pair of rubber boots and mufflinghis neck with a knitted scarf.
The snow was still falling.
“Damnable night,” murmured the doctor. “Hope you haven’t broughtme out on a wild goose chase. Trevelyan’s as strong as a horse. Never hasanything the matter with him.”
Burnaby did not reply.
Arriving at Hazelmoor once more, they rang again and knocked, but eli-cited no response.
The doctor then suggested going round the house to one of the back win-dows.
“Easier to force than the door.”
Graves agreeing, they went round the back. There was a side doorwhich they tried on the way, but it too was locked, and presently theyemerged on the snow-covered lawn that led up to the back windows. Sud-denly, Warren uttered an exclamation17.
“The window of the study—it’s open.”
True enough, the window, a French one, was standing18 ajar. Theyquickened their steps. On a night like this, no one in his senses wouldopen a window. There was a light in the room that streamed out in a thinyellow band.
The three men arrived simultaneously19 at the window—Burnaby was thefirst man to enter, the constable hard on his heels.
They both stopped dead inside and something like a muffled20 cry camefrom the ex-soldier. In another moment Warren was beside them, andsaw what they had seen.
Captain Trevelyan lay on the floor, face downwards21. His arms sprawledwidely. The room was in confusion—drawers of the bureau pulled out, pa-pers lying about the floor. The window beside them was splintered whereit had been forced near the lock. Beside Captain Trevelyan was a darkgreen baize tube about two inches in diameter.
Warren sprang forward. He knelt down by the prostrate22 figure.
One minute sufficed. He rose to his feet, his face pale.
“He’s dead?” asked Burnaby.
The doctor nodded.
Then he turned to Graves.
“It’s for you to say what’s to be done. I can do nothing except examinethe body and perhaps you’d rather I didn’t do that until the Inspectorcomes. I can tell you the cause of death now. Fracture of the base of theskull. And I think I can make a guess at the weapon.”
He indicated the green baize tube.
“Trevelyan always had them along the bottom of the door—to keep thedraught out,” said Burnaby.
His voice was hoarse23.
“Yes—a very efficient form of sandbag.”
“My God!”
“But this here—” the constable broke in, his wits arriving at the pointslowly. “You mean—this here is murder.”
The policeman stepped to the table on which stood a telephone.
Major Burnaby approached the doctor.
“Have you any idea,” he said, breathing hard, “how long he’s beendead?”
“About two hours, I should say, or possibly three. That’s a rough estim-ate.”
Burnaby passed his tongue over dry lips.
“Would you say,” he asked, “that he might have been killed at fivetwenty-five?”
The doctor looked at him curiously24.
“If I had to give a time definitely, that’s just about the time I would sug-gest.”
“Oh my God,” said Burnaby.
Warren stared at him.
The Major felt his way blindly to a chair, collapsed25 onto it and mutteredto himself whilst a kind of staring terror overspread his face.
“Five and twenty past five—Oh my God, then it was true after all.”
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收听单词发音
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1
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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2
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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5
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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7
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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9
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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10
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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11
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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13
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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14
ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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15
grudgingly
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16
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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17
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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18
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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19
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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20
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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21
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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22
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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23
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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24
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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25
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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