“Better not go in just yet,” said Dymchurch as he and Tommy hurriedinto Haleham Street. “You’ve got the key all right?”
Tommy nodded.
“Then what about a bite of dinner? It’s early, but there’s a little placehere right opposite. We’ll get a table by the window, so that we can watchthe place all the time.”
They had a very welcome little meal, in the manner the detective hadsuggested. Tommy found Inspector1 Dymchurch quite an entertaining com-panion. Most of his official work had lain amongst international spies, andhe had tales to tell which astonished his simple listener.
They remained in the little restaurant until eight o’clock, whenDymchurch suggested a move.
“It’s quite dark now, sir,” he explained. “We shall be able to slip inwithout any one being the wiser.”
It was, as he said, quite dark. They crossed the road, looked quickly upand down the deserted2 street, and slipped inside the entrance. Then theymounted the stairs, and Tommy inserted his key in the lock of the outer of-fice.
Just as he did so, he heard, as he thought, Dymchurch whistle besidehim.
“What are you whistling for?” he asked sharply.
“I didn’t whistle,” said Dymchurch, very much astonished. “I thoughtyou did.”
“Well, some one—” began Tommy.
He got no further. Strong arms seized him from behind, and before hecould cry out, a pad of something sweet and sickly was pressed over hismouth and nose.
He struggled valiantly3, but in vain. The chloroform did its work. Hishead began to whirl and the floor heaved up and down in front of him.
Choking, he lost consciousness. .?.?.
He came to himself painfully, but in full possession of his faculties4. Thechloroform had been only a whiff. They had kept him under long enoughto force a gag into his mouth and ensure that he did not cry out.
When he came to himself, he was half- lying, half- sitting, proppedagainst the wall in a corner of his own inner office. Two men were busilyturning out the contents of the desk and ransacking5 the cupboards, and asthey worked they cursed freely.
“Swelp me, guv’nor,” said the taller of the two hoarsely6, “we’ve turnedthe whole b—y place upside down and inside out. It’s not there.”
“It must be here,” snarled8 the other. “It isn’t on him. And there’s noother place it can be.”
As he spoke9 he turned, and to Tommy’s utter amazement10 he saw thatthe last speaker was none other than Inspector Dymchurch. The lattergrinned when he saw Tommy’s astonished face.
“So our young friend is awake again,” he said. “And a little surprised—yes, a little surprised. But it was so simple. We suspect that all is not as itshould be with the International Detective Agency. I volunteer to find outif that is so, or not. If the new Mr. Blunt is indeed a spy, he will be suspi-cious, so I send first my dear old friend, Carl Bauer. Carl is told to act sus-piciously and pitch an improbable tale. He does so, and then I appear onthe scene. I used the name of Inspector Marriot to gain confidence. Therest is easy.”
He laughed.
Tommy was dying to say several things, but the gag in his mouth pre-vented him. Also, he was dying to do several things — mostly with hishands and feet—but alas11, that too had been attended to. He was securelybound.
The thing that amazed him most was the astounding12 change in the manstanding over him. As Inspector Dymchurch the fellow had been a typicalEnglishman. Now, no one could have mistaken him for a moment for any-thing but a well-educated foreigner who talked English perfectly13 without atrace of accent.
“Coggins, my good friend,” said the erstwhile Inspector, addressing hisruffianly looking associate, “take your life preserver and stand by the pris-oner. I am going to remove the gag. You understand, my dear Mr. Blunt,do you not, that it would be criminally foolish on your part to cry out? ButI am sure you do. For your age, you are quite an intelligent lad.”
Very deftly14 he removed the gag and stepped back.
Tommy eased his stiff jaws15, rolled his tongue round his mouth, swal-lowed twice—and said nothing at all.
“I congratulate you on your restraint,” said the other. “You appreciatethe position, I see. Have you nothing at all to say?”
“What I have to say will keep,” said Tommy. “And it won’t spoil by wait-ing.”
“Ah! What I have to say will not keep. In plain English, Mr. Blunt, whereis that letter?”
“My dear fellow, I don’t know,” said Tommy cheerfully. “I haven’t got it.
But you know that as well as I do. I should go on looking about if I wereyou. I like to see you and friend Coggins playing hide-and-seek together.”
The other’s face darkened.
“You are pleased to be flippant, Mr. Blunt. You see that square box overthere. That is Coggins’s little outfit16. In it there is vitriol .?.?. yes, vitriol .?.?.
and irons that can be heated in the fire, so that they are red hot and burn.
.?.?.”
Tommy shook his head sadly.
“An error in diagnosis,” he murmured. “Tuppence and I labelled this ad-venture wrong. It’s not a Clubfoot story. It’s a Bull-dog Drummond, andyou are the inimitable Carl Peterson.”
“What is this nonsense you are talking,” snarled the other.
“Ah!” said Tommy. “I see you are unacquainted with the classics. Apity.”
“Ignorant fool! Will you do what we want or will you not? Shall I tellCoggins to get out his tools and begin?”
“Don’t be so impatient,” said Tommy. “Of course I’ll do what you want,as soon as you tell me what it is. You don’t suppose I want to be carved uplike a filleted sole and fried on a gridiron? I loathe17 being hurt.”
Dymchurch looked at him in contempt.
“Gott! What cowards are these English.”
“Common sense, my dear fellow, merely common sense. Leave the vit-riol alone and let us come down to brass18 tacks19.”
“I want the letter.”
“I’ve already told you I haven’t got it.”
“We know that—we also know who must have it. The girl.”
“Very possibly you’re right,” said Tommy. “She may have slipped it intoher handbag when your pal20 Carl startled us.”
“Oh, you do not deny. That is wise. Very good, you will write to this Tup-pence, as you call her, bidding her bring the letter here immediately.”
“I can’t do that,” began Tommy.
The other cut in before he had finished the sentence.
“Ah! You can’t? Well, we shall soon see. Coggins!”
“Don’t be in such a hurry,” said Tommy. “And do wait for the end of thesentence. I was going to say that I can’t do that unless you untie21 my arms.
Hang it all, I’m not one of those freaks who can write with their noses ortheir elbows.”
“You are willing to write, then?”
“Of course. Haven’t I been telling you so all along? I’m all out to bepleasant and obliging. You won’t do anything unkind to Tuppence, ofcourse. I’m sure you won’t. She’s such a nice girl.”
“We only want the letter,” said Dymchurch, but there was a singularlyunpleasant smile on his face.
At a nod from him the brutal22 Coggins knelt down and unfastenedTommy’s arms. The latter swung them to and fro.
“That’s better,” he said cheerfully. “Will kind Coggins hand me my foun-tain pen? It’s on the table, I think, with my other miscellaneous property.”
Scowling23, the man brought it to him, and provided a sheet of paper.
“Be careful what you say,” Dymchurch said menacingly. “We leave it toyou, but failure means—death—and slow death at that.”
“In that case,” said Tommy, “I will certainly do my best.”
He reflected a minute or two, then began to scribble24 rapidly.
“How will this do?” he asked, handing over the completed epistle.
Dear Tuppence,
Can you come along at once and bring that blue letter withyou? We want to decode25 it here and now.
In haste,
Francis.
“Francis?” queried26 the bogus Inspector, with lifted eyebrows27. “Was thatthe name she called you?”
“As you weren’t at my christening,” said Tommy, “I don’t suppose youcan know whether it’s my name or not. But I think the cigarette case youtook from my pocket is a pretty good proof that I’m speaking the truth.”
The other stepped over to the table and took up the case, read “Francisfrom Tuppence” with a faint grin and laid it down again.
“I am glad to find you are behaving so sensibly,” he said. “Coggins, givethat note to Vassilly. He is on guard outside. Tell him to take it at once.”
The next twenty minutes passed slowly, the ten minutes after that moreslowly still. Dymchurch was striding up and down with a face that grewdarker and darker. Once he turned menacingly on Tommy.
“If you have dared to double-cross us,” he growled28.
“If we’d had a pack of cards here, we might have had a game of picquetto pass the time,” drawled Tommy. “Women always keep one waiting. Ihope you’re not going to be unkind to little Tuppence when she comes?”
“Oh, no,” said Dymchurch. “We shall arrange for you to go to the sameplace—together.”
“Will you, you swine,” said Tommy under his breath.
Suddenly there was a stir in the outer office. A man whom Tommy hadnot yet seen poked29 his head in and growled something in Russian.
“Good,” said Dymchurch. “She is coming—and coming alone.”
For a moment a faint anxiety caught at Tommy’s heart.
The next minute he heard Tuppence’s voice.
“Oh! there you are, Inspector Dymchurch. I’ve brought the letter. Whereis Francis?”
With the last words she came through the door, and Vassilly sprang onher from behind, clapping his hand over her mouth. Dymchurch tore thehandbag from her grasp and turned over its contents in a frenzied30 search.
Suddenly he uttered an ejaculation of delight and held up a blue envel-ope with a Russian stamp on it. Coggins gave a hoarse7 shout.
And just in that minute of triumph the other door, the door into Tup-pence’s own office, opened noiselessly and Inspector Marriot and two menarmed with revolvers stepped into the room, with the sharp command:
“Hands up.”
There was no fight. The others were taken at a hopeless disadvantage.
Dymchurch’s automatic lay on the table, and the two others were notarmed.
“A very nice little haul,” said Inspector Marriot with approval, as hesnapped the last pair of handcuffs. “And we’ll have more as time goes on, Ihope.”
White with rage, Dymchurch glared at Tuppence.
“You little devil,” he snarled. “It was you put them on to us.”
Tuppence laughed.
“It wasn’t all my doing. I ought to have guessed, I admit, when youbrought in the number sixteen this afternoon. But it was Tommy’s noteclinched matters. I rang up Inspector Marriot, got Albert to meet him withthe duplicate key of the office, and came along myself with the empty blueenvelope in my bag. The letter I forwarded according to my instructions assoon as I had parted with you two this afternoon.”
But one word had caught the other’s attention.
“Tommy?” he queried.
Tommy, who had just been released from his bonds, came towardsthem.
“Well done, brother Francis,” he said to Tuppence, taking both herhands in his. And to Dymchurch: “As I told you, my dear fellow, you reallyought to read the classics.”
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收听单词发音
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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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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valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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ransacking
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的现在分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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8
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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9
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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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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13
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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15
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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scribble
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| v.潦草地书写，乱写，滥写；n.潦草的写法，潦草写成的东西，杂文 | |
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decode
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| vt.译（码），解（码） | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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27
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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28
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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