We must at this point go back to some twenty minutes earlier, to a mo-ment when Jimmy Thesiger, emerging from the mists of sleep, was con-scious of a familiar voice speaking unfamiliar1 words.
His sleep-ridden brain tried for a moment to cope with the situation, butfailed. He yawned and rolled over again.
“A young lady, sir, has called to see you.”
The voice was implacable. So prepared was it to go on repeating thestatement indefinitely that Jimmy resigned himself to the inevitable2. Heopened his eyes and blinked.
“Eh, Stevens?” he said. “Say that again.”
“A young lady, sir, has called to see you.”
“Oh!” Jimmy strove to grasp the situation. “Why?”
“I couldn’t say, sir.”
“No, I suppose not. No,” he thought it over. “I suppose you couldn’t.”
Stevens swooped3 down upon a tray by the bedside.
“I will bring you some fresh tea, sir. This is cold.”
“You think that I ought to get up and—er—see the lady?”
Stevens made no reply, but he held his back very stiff and Jimmy readthe signs correctly.
“Oh! very well,” he said. “I suppose I’d better. She didn’t give hername?”
“No, sir.”
“M’m. She couldn’t be by any possible chance my Aunt Jemima, couldshe? Because if so, I’m damned if I’m going to get up.”
“The lady, sir, could not possibly be anyone’s aunt, I should say, unlessthe youngest of a large family.”
“Aha,” said Jimmy. “Young and lovely. Is she—what kind is she?”
“The young lady, sir, is most undoubtedly4 strictly5 comme il faut, if I mayuse the expression.”
“You may use it,” said Jimmy graciously. “Your French pronunciation,Stevens, if I may say so, is very good. Much better than mine.”
“I am gratified to hear it, sir. I have lately been taking a correspondencecourse in French.”
“Have you really? You’re a wonderful chap, Stevens.”
Stevens smiled in a superior fashion and left the room. Jimmy lay tryingto recall the names of any young and lovely girls strictly comme il faut whomight be likely to come and call upon him.
Stevens reentered with fresh tea, and as Jimmy sipped6 it he felt a pleas-urable curiosity.
“You’ve given her the paper and all that, I hope, Stevens,” he said.
“I supplied her with the Morning Post and Punch, sir.”
A ring at the bell took him away. In a few minutes he returned.
“Another young lady, sir.”
“What?”
Jimmy clutched his head.
“Another young lady; she declines to give her name, sir, but says herbusiness is important.”
Jimmy stared at him.
“This is damned odd, Stevens. Damned odd. Look here, what time did Icome home last night?”
“Just upon five o’clock, sir.”
“And was I—er—how was I?”
“Just a little cheerful, sir—nothing more. Inclined to sing ‘Rule Britan-nia.’ ”
“What an extraordinary thing,” said Jimmy. “ ‘Rule Britannia,’ eh? I can-not imagine myself in a sober state ever singing ‘Rule Britannia.’ Some lat-ent patriotism7 must have emerged under the stimulus8 of — er — just acouple too many. I was celebrating at the ‘Mustard and Cress,’ I remem-ber. Not nearly such an innocent spot as it sounds, Stevens.” He paused. “Iwas wondering—”
“Yes, sir?”
“I was wondering whether under the aforementioned stimulus I had putan advertisement in a newspaper asking for a nursery governess or some-thing of that sort.”
Stevens coughed.
“Two girls turning up. It looks odd. I shall eschew9 the ‘Mustard andCress’ in future. That’s a good word, Stevens—eschew—I met it in a cross-word the other day and took a fancy to it.”
Whilst he was talking Jimmy was rapidly apparelling himself. At the endof ten minutes he was ready to face his unknown guests. As he opened thedoor of his sitting room the first person he saw was a dark, slim girl whowas totally unknown to him. She was standing10 by the mantelpiece, leaningagainst it. Then his glance went on to the big leather-covered armchair,and his heart missed a beat. Loraine!
It was she who rose and spoke11 first a little nervously12.
“You must be very surprised to see me. But I had to come. I’ll explain ina minute. This is Lady Eileen Brent.”
“Bundle—that’s what I’m usually known as. You’ve probably heard ofme from Bill Eversleigh.”
“Oh, rather, of course I have,” said Jimmy, endeavouring to cope withthe situation. “I say, do sit down and let’s have a cocktail13 or something.”
Both girls declined.
“As a matter of fact,” continued Jimmy, “I’m only just out of bed.”
“That’s what Bill said,” remarked Bundle. “I told him I was cominground to see you, and he said you wouldn’t be up.”
“Well, I’m up now” said Jimmy encouragingly.
“It’s about Gerry,” said Loraine. “And now about Ronny—”
“What do you mean by ‘and now about Ronny?’ ”
“He was shot yesterday.”
“What?” cried Jimmy.
Bundle told her story for the second time. Jimmy listened like a man in adream.
“Old Ronny—shot,” he murmured. “What is this damned business?”
He sat down on the edge of a chair, thinking for a minute or two, andthen spoke in a quiet, level voice.
“There’s something I think I ought to tell you.”
“Yes,” said Bundle encouragingly.
“It was on the day Gerry Wade14 died. On the way over to break the newsto you”—he nodded at Loraine—“in the car Ronny said something to me.
That is to say, he started to tell me something. There was something hewanted to tell me, and he began about it, and then he said he was boundby a promise and couldn’t go on.”
“Bound by a promise,” said Loraine thoughtfully.
“That’s what he said. Naturally I didn’t press him after that. But he wasodd—damned odd—all through. I got the impression then that he suspec-ted—well, foul15 play. I thought he’d tell the doctor so. But no, not even ahint. So I thought I’d been mistaken. And afterwards, with the evidenceand all—well, it seemed such a very clear case. I thought my suspicionshad been all bosh.”
“But you think Ronny still suspected?” asked Bundle.
Jimmy nodded.
“That’s what I think now. Why, none of us have seen anything of himsince. I believe he was playing a lone16 hand—trying to find out the truthabout Gerry’s death, and what’s more, I believe he did find out. That’s whythe devils shot him. And then he tried to send word to me, but could onlyget out those two words.”
“Seven Dials,” said Bundle, and shivered a little.
“Seven Dials,” said Jimmy gravely. “At any rate we’ve got that to go onwith.”
Bundle turned to Loraine.
“You were just going to tell me—”
“Oh! yes. First, about the letter.” She spoke to Jimmy. “Gerry left a letter.
Lady Eileen—”
“Bundle.”
“Bundle found it.” She explained the circumstances in a few words.
Jimmy listened, keenly interested. This was the first he had heard of theletter. Loraine took it from her bag and handed it to him. He read it, thenlooked across at her.
“This is where you can help us. What was it Gerry wanted you to for-get?”
Loraine’s brows wrinkled a little in perplexity.
“It’s so hard to remember exactly now. I opened a letter of Gerry’s bymistake. It was written on cheap sort of paper, I remember, and very illit-erate handwriting. It had some address in Seven Dials at the head of it. Irealized it wasn’t for me, so I put it back in the envelope without readingit.”
“Sure?” asked Jimmy very gently.
Loraine laughed for the first time.
“I know what you think, and I admit that women are curious. But, yousee, this didn’t even look interesting. It was a kind of list of names anddates.”
“Names and dates,” said Jimmy thoughtfully.
“Gerry didn’t seem to mind much,” continued Loraine. “He laughed. Heasked me if I had ever heard of the Mafia, and then said it would be queerif a society like the Mafia started in England—but that that kind of secretsociety didn’t take on much with English people. ‘Our criminals,’ he said,‘haven’t got a picturesque17 imagination.’ ”
Jimmy pursued up his lips into a whistle.
“I’m beginning to see,” he said. “Seven Dials must be the headquartersfor some secret society. As he says in his letter to you. He thought it rathera joke to start with. But evidently it wasn’t a joke—he says as much. Andthere’s something else: his anxiety that you should forget what he’s toldyou. There can be only one reason for that—if that society suspected thatyou had any knowledge of its activity, you too would be in danger. Geraldrealized the peril18, and he was terribly anxious—for you.”
He stopped, then he went on quietly:
“I rather fancy that we’re all going to be in danger—if we go on withthis.”
“If—?” cried Bundle indignantly.
“I’m talking of you two. It’s different for me. I was poor old Ronny’s pal19.”
He looked at Bundle. “You’ve done your bit. You’ve delivered the messagehe sent me. No; for God’s sake keep out of it, you and Loraine.”
Bundle looked questioningly at the other girl. Her own mind was defin-itely made up, but she gave no indication of it just then. She had no wishto push Loraine Wade into a dangerous undertaking20.
But Loraine’s small face was alight at once with indignation.
“You say that! Do you think for one minute I’d be contented21 to keep outof it—when they killed Gerry—my own dear Gerry, the best and dearestand kindest brother any girl ever had. The only person belonging to me Ihad in the whole world!”
Jimmy cleared his throat uncomfortably. Loraine, he thought, was won-derful; simply wonderful.
“Look here,” he said awkwardly. “You mustn’t say that. About beingalone in the world—all that rot. You’ve got lots of friends—only too glad todo what they can. See what I mean?”
It is possible that Loraine did, for she suddenly blushed, and to coverher confusion began to talk nervously.
“That’s settled,” she said. “I’m going to help. Nobody’s going to stop me.”
“And so am I, of course,” said Bundle.
They both looked at Jimmy.
“Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes, quite so.”
They looked at him inquiringly.
“I was just wondering,” said Jimmy, “how we were going to begin.”
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收听单词发音
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1
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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2
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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3
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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6
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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8
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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9
eschew
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| v.避开，戒绝 | |
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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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11
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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12
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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13
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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14
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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15
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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16
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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17
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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18
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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19
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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20
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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