The next day passed slowly. It was necessary to curtail1 expenditure2. Care-fully husbanded, forty pounds will last a long time. Luckily the weatherwas fine, and “walking is cheap,” dictated3 Tuppence. An outlying picturehouse provided them with recreation for the evening.
The day of disillusionment had been a Wednesday. On Thursday the ad-vertisement had duly appeared. On Friday letters might be expected to ar-rive at Tommy’s rooms.
He had been bound by an honourable4 promise not to open any such let-ters if they did arrive, but to repair to the National Gallery, where his col-league would meet him at ten o’clock.
Tuppence was first at the rendezvous5. She ensconced herself on a redvelvet seat, and gazed at the Turners with unseeing eyes until she saw thefamiliar figure enter the room.
“Well?”
“Well,” returned Mr. Beresford provokingly. “Which is your favouritepicture?”
“Don’t be a wretch6. Aren’t there any answers?”
Tommy shook his head with a deep and somewhat overacted melan-choly.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you, old thing, by telling you right off. It’stoo bad. Good money wasted.” He sighed. “Still, there it is. The advertise-ment has appeared, and—there are only two answers!”
“Tommy, you devil!” almost screamed Tuppence. “Give them to me.
How could you be so mean!”
“Your luggage, Tuppence, your luggage! They’re very particular at theNational Gallery. Government show, you know. And do remember, as Ihave pointed7 out to you before, that as a clergyman’s daughter—”
“I ought to be on the stage!” finished Tuppence with a snap.
“That is not what I intended to say. But if you are sure that you have en-joyed to the full the reaction of joy after despair with which I have kindlyprovided you free of charge, let us get down to our mail, as the sayinggoes.”
Tuppence snatched the two precious envelopes from him unceremoni-ously, and scrutinized8 them carefully.
“Thick paper, this one. It looks rich. We’ll keep it to the last and open theother first.”
“Right you are. One, two, three, go!”
Tuppence’s little thumb ripped open the envelope, and she extracted thecontents.
Dear Sir,
Referring to your advertisement in this morning’s pa-per, I may be able to be of some use to you. Perhaps youcould call and see me at the above address at eleveno’clock tomorrow morning.
Yours truly,
A. Carter
“27 Carshalton Terrace,” said Tuppence, referring to the address. “That’sGloucester Road way. Plenty of time to get there if we Tube.”
“The following,” said Tommy, “is the plan of campaign. It is my turn toassume the offensive. Ushered9 into the presence of Mr. Carter, he and Iwish each other good morning as is customary. He then says: ‘Please takea seat, Mr. — er?’ To which I reply promptly10 and significantly: ‘EdwardWhittington!’ whereupon Mr. Carter turns purple in the face and gaspsout: ‘How much?’ Pocketing the usual fee of fifty pounds, I rejoin you inthe road outside, and we proceed to the next address and repeat the per-formance.”
“Don’t be absurd, Tommy. Now for the other letter. Oh, this is from theRitz!”
“A hundred pounds instead of fifty!”
“I’ll read it:
“Dear Sir,
“Re your advertisement, I should be glad if you wouldcall round somewhere about lunchtime.
“Yours truly,
“Julius P. Hersheimmer.”
“Ha!” said Tommy. “Do I smell a Boche? Or only an American million-aire of unfortunate ancestry11? At all events we’ll call at lunchtime. It’s agood time—frequently leads to free food for two.”
Tuppence nodded assent12.
“Now for Carter. We’ll have to hurry.”
Carshalton Terrace proved to be an unimpeachable13 row of what Tup-pence called “ladylike-looking houses.” They rang the bell at No. 27, and aneat maid answered the door. She looked so respectable that Tuppence’sheart sank. Upon Tommy’s request for Mr. Carter, she showed them into asmall study on the ground floor, where she left them. Hardly a minuteelapsed, however, before the door opened, and a tall man with a leanhawklike face and a tired manner entered the room.
“Mr. Y.A.?” he said, and smiled. His smile was distinctly attractive. “Dosit down, both of you.”
They obeyed. He himself took a chair opposite to Tuppence and smiledat her encouragingly. There was something in the quality of his smile thatmade the girl’s usual readiness desert her.
As he did not seem inclined to open the conversation, Tuppence wasforced to begin.
“We wanted to know—that is, would you be so kind as to tell us any-thing you know about Jane Finn?”
“Jane Finn? Ah!” Mr. Carter appeared to reflect. “Well, the question is,what do you know about her?”
Tuppence drew herself up.
“I don’t see that that’s got anything to do with it.”
“No? But it has, you know, really it has.” He smiled again in his tiredway, and continued reflectively. “So that brings us down to it again. Whatdo you know about Jane Finn?”
“Come now,” he continued, as Tuppence remained silent. “You mustknow something to have advertised as you did?” He leaned forward a little,his weary voice held a hint of persuasiveness14. “Suppose you tell me. .?.?.”
There was something very magnetic about Mr. Carter’s personality. Tup-pence seemed to shake herself free of it with an effort, as she said:
“We couldn’t do that, could we, Tommy?”
But to her surprise, her companion did not back her up. His eyes werefixed on Mr. Carter, and his tone when he spoke15 held an unusual note ofdeference.
“I daresay the little we know won’t be any good to you, sir. But such as itis, you’re welcome to it.”
“Tommy!” cried out Tuppence in surprise.
Mr. Carter slewed16 round in his chair. His eyes asked a question.
Tommy nodded.
“Yes, sir, I recognized you at once. Saw you in France when I was withthe Intelligence. As soon as you came into the room, I knew—”
Mr. Carter held up his hand.
“No names, please. I’m known as Mr. Carter here. It’s my cousin’s house,by the way. She’s willing to lend it to me sometimes when it’s a case ofworking on strictly17 unofficial lines. Well, now,”—he looked from one tothe other—“who’s going to tell me the story?”
“Fire ahead, Tuppence,” directed Tommy. “It’s your yarn18.”
“Yes, little lady, out with it.”
And obediently Tuppence did out with it, telling the whole story fromthe forming of the Young Adventurers, Ltd., downwards19.
Mr. Carter listened in silence with a resumption of his tired manner.
Now and then he passed his hand across his lips as though to hide a smile.
When she had finished he nodded gravely.
“Not much. But suggestive. Quite suggestive. If you’ll excuse me sayingso, you’re a curious young couple. I don’t know—you might succeed whereothers have failed .?.?. I believe in luck, you know—always have. .?.?.”
He paused a moment and then went on.
“Well, how about it? You’re out for adventure. How would you like towork for me? All quite unofficial, you know. Expenses paid, and a moder-ate screw?”
Tuppence gazed at him, her lips parted, her eyes growing wider andwider. “What should we have to do?” she breathed.
Mr. Carter smiled.
“Just go on with what you’re doing now. Find Jane Finn.”
“Yes, but—who is Jane Finn?”
Mr. Carter nodded gravely.
“Yes, you’re entitled to know that, I think.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, brought the tips of his fin-gers together, and began in a low monotone:
“Secret diplomacy20 (which, by the way, is nearly always bad policy!) doesnot concern you. It will be sufficient to say that in the early days of 1915 acertain document came into being. It was the draft of a secret agreement—treaty—call it what you like. It was drawn21 up ready for signature by thevarious representatives, and drawn up in America—at that time a neutralcountry. It was dispatched to England by a special messenger selected forthat purpose, a young fellow called Danvers. It was hoped that the wholeaffair had been kept so secret that nothing would have leaked out. Thatkind of hope is usually disappointed. Somebody always talks!
“Danvers sailed for England on the Lusitania. He carried the preciouspapers in an oilskin packet which he wore next his skin. It was on thatparticular voyage that the Lusitania was torpedoed23 and sunk. Danverswas among the list of those missing. Eventually his body was washedashore, and identified beyond any possible doubt. But the oilskin packetwas missing!
“The question was, had it been taken from him, or had he himselfpassed it on into another’s keeping? There were a few incidents thatstrengthened the possibility of the latter theory. After the torpedo22 struckthe ship, in the few moments during the launching of the boats, Danverswas seen speaking to a young American girl. No one actually saw him passanything to her, but he might have done so. It seems to me quite likely thathe entrusted24 the papers to this girl, believing that she, as a woman, had agreater chance of bringing them safely to shore.
“But if so, where was the girl, and what had she done with the papers?
By later advice from America it seemed likely that Danvers had beenclosely shadowed on the way over. Was this girl in league with his en-emies? Or had she, in her turn, been shadowed and either tricked orforced into handing over the precious packet?
“We set to work to trace her out. It proved unexpectedly difficult. Hername was Jane Finn, and it duly appeared among the list of the survivors,but the girl herself seemed to have vanished completely. Inquiries25 into herantecedents did little to help us. She was an orphan26, and had been whatwe should call over here a pupil teacher in a small school out West. Herpassport had been made out for Paris, where she was going to join thestaff of a hospital. She had offered her services voluntarily, and after somecorrespondence they had been accepted. Having seen her name in the listof the saved from the Lusitania, the staff of the hospital were naturallyvery surprised at her not arriving to take up her billet, and at not hearingfrom her in any way.
“Well, every effort was made to trace the young lady—but all in vain.
We tracked her across Ireland, but nothing could be heard of her after sheset foot in England. No use was made of the draft treaty—as might veryeasily have been done — and we therefore came to the conclusion thatDanvers had, after all, destroyed it. The war entered on another phase, thediplomatic aspect changed accordingly, and the treaty was never redraf-ted. Rumours27 as to its existence were emphatically denied. The disappear-ance of Jane Finn was forgotten and the whole affair was lost in oblivion.”
Mr. Carter paused, and Tuppence broke in impatiently:
“But why has it all cropped up again? The war’s over.”
A hint of alertness came into Mr. Carter’s manner.
“Because it seemed that the papers were not destroyed after all, and thatthey might be resurrected today with a new and deadly significance.”
Tuppence stared. Mr. Carter nodded.
“Yes, five years ago, that draft treaty was a weapon in our hands; todayit is a weapon against us. It was a gigantic blunder. If its terms were madepublic, it would mean disaster .?.?. It might possibly bring about anotherwar—not with Germany this time! That is an extreme possibility, and I donot believe in its likelihood myself, but that document undoubtedly28 im-plicates a number of our statesmen whom we cannot afford to have dis-credited in any way at the present moment. As a party cry for Labour itwould be irresistible29, and a Labour Government at this juncture30 would, inmy opinion, be a grave disability for British trade, but that is a mere31 noth-ing to the real danger.”
He paused, and then said quietly:
“You may perhaps have heard or read that there is Bolshevist influenceat work behind the present labour unrest?”
Tuppence nodded.
“That is the truth, Bolshevist gold is pouring into this country for thespecific purpose of procuring32 a Revolution. And there is a certain man, aman whose real name is unknown to us, who is working in the dark forhis own ends. The Bolshevists are behind the labour unrest—but this manis behind the Bolshevists. Who is he? We do not know. He is always spokenof by the unassuming title of ‘Mr. Brown.’ But one thing is certain, he isthe master criminal of this age. He controls a marvellous organization.
Most of the peace propaganda during the war was originated and financedby him. His spies are everywhere.”
“A naturalized German?” asked Tommy.
“On the contrary, I have every reason to believe he is an Englishman. Hewas pro-German, as he would have been pro-Boer. What he seeks to attainwe do not know—probably supreme33 power for himself, of a kind uniquein history. We have no clue as to his real personality. It is reported thateven his own followers34 are ignorant of it. Where we have come across histracks, he has always played a secondary part. Somebody else assumes thechief r?le. But afterwards we always find that there had been some non-entity, a servant or a clerk, who had remained in the background unno-ticed, and that the elusive35 Mr. Brown has escaped us once more.”
“Oh!” Tuppence jumped. “I wonder—”
“Yes?”
“I remember in Mr. Whittington’s office. The clerk — he called himBrown. You don’t think—”
Carter nodded thoughtfully.
“Very likely. A curious point is that the name is usually mentioned. Anidiosyncracy of genius. Can you describe him at all?”
“I really didn’t notice. He was quite ordinary—just like anyone else.”
Mr. Carter sighed in his tired manner.
“That is the invariable description of Mr. Brown! Brought a telephonemessage to the man Whittington, did he? Notice a telephone in the outeroffice?”
Tuppence thought.
“No, I don’t think I did.”
“Exactly. That ‘message’ was Mr. Brown’s way of giving an order to hissubordinate. He overheard the whole conversation of course. Was it afterthat that Whittington handed you over the money, and told you to comethe following day?”
Tuppence nodded.
“Yes, undoubtedly the hand of Mr. Brown!” Mr. Carter paused. “Well,there it is, you see what you are pitting yourself against? Possibly thefinest criminal brain of the age. I don’t quite like it, you know. You’re suchyoung things, both of you. I shouldn’t like anything to happen to you.”
“It won’t,” Tuppence assured him positively36.
“I’ll look after her, sir,” said Tommy.
“And I’ll look after you,” retorted Tuppence, resenting the manly37 asser-tion.
“Well, then, look after each other,” said Mr. Carter, smiling. “Now let’sget back to business. There’s something mysterious about this draft treatythat we haven’t fathomed38 yet. We’ve been threatened with it—in plainand unmistakable terms. The Revolutionary elements as good as declaredthat it’s in their hands, and that they intend to produce it at a given mo-ment. On the other hand, they are clearly at fault about many of its provi-sions. The Government consider it as mere bluff39 on their part, and, rightlyor wrongly, have stuck to the policy of absolute denial. I’m not so sure.
There have been hints, indiscreet allusions40, that seem to indicate that themenace is a real one. The position is much as though they had got hold ofan incriminating document, but couldn’t read it because it was in cipher—but we know that the draft treaty wasn’t in cipher—couldn’t be in thenature of things—so that won’t wash. But there’s something. Of course,Jane Finn may be dead for all we know—but I don’t think so. The curiousthing is that they’re trying to get information about the girl from us.”
“What?”
“Yes. One or two little things have cropped up. And your story, littlelady, confirms my idea. They know we’re looking for Jane Finn. Well,they’ll produce a Jane Finn of their own—say at a pensionnat in Paris.”
Tuppence gasped41, and Mr. Carter smiled. “No one knows in the least whatshe looks like, so that’s all right. She’s primed with a trumped-up tale, andher real business is to get as much information as possible out of us. Seethe42 idea?”
“Then you think”— Tuppence paused to grasp the supposition fully—“that it was as Jane Finn that they wanted me to go to Paris?”
Mr. Carter smiled more wearily than ever.
“I believe in coincidences, you know,” he said.
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收听单词发音
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1
curtail
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| vt.截短，缩短；削减 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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4
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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5
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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7
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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14
persuasiveness
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| 说服力 | |
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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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16
slewed
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| adj.喝醉的v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去式 )( slew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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torpedoed
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| 用鱼雷袭击（torpedo的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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fathomed
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| 理解…的真意( fathom的过去式和过去分词 )； 彻底了解； 弄清真相 | |
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39
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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41
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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42
seethe
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| vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动 | |
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