Superintendent1 Battle settled down to explain. He spoke2 comfortably andcosily.
“I didn’t suspect him myself for a long time. The first hint of it I had waswhen I heard what Mr. Devereux’s last words had been. Naturally, youtook them to mean that Mr. Devereux was trying to send word to Mr.
Thesiger that the Seven Dials had killed him. That’s what the wordsseemed to mean on their face value. But of course I knew that thatcouldn’t be so. It was the Seven Dials that Mr. Devereux wanted told—andwhat he wanted them told was something about Mr. Jimmy Thesiger.
“The thing seemed incredible, because Mr. Devereux and Mr. Thesigerwere close friends. But I remembered something else—that these theftsmust have been committed by someone who was absolutely in the know.
Someone, who, if not in the Foreign Office himself, was in the way of hear-ing all its chitchat. And I found it very hard to find out where Mr. Thesigergot his money. The income his father left him was a small one, yet he wasable to live at a most expensive rate. Where did the money come from?
“I knew that Mr. Wade3 had been very excited by something that he hadfound out. He was quite sure that he was on the right track. He didn’t con-fide in anyone about what he thought that track was, but he did say some-thing to Mr. Devereux about being on the point of making sure. That wasjust before they both went down to Chimneys for that weekend. As youknow, Mr. Wade died there—apparently4 from an overdose of a sleepingdraught. It seemed straightforward5 enough, but Mr. Devereux did not ac-cept that explanation for a minute. He was convinced that Mr. Wade hadbeen very cleverly put out of the way and that someone in the house mustactually be the criminal we were all after. He came, I think, very near con-fiding in Mr. Thesiger, for he certainly had no suspicions of him at thatmoment. But something held him back.
“Then he did a rather curious thing. He arranged seven clocks upon themantelpiece, throwing away the eighth. It was meant as a symbol that theSeven Dials would revenge the death of one of their members—and hewatched eagerly to see if anyone betrayed themselves or showed signs ofperturbation.”
“And it was Jimmy Thesiger who poisoned Gerry Wade?”
“Yes, he slipped the stuff into a whisky and soda6 which Mr. Wade haddownstairs before retiring to bed. That’s why he was already feelingsleepy when he wrote that letter to Miss Wade.”
“Then the footman, Bauer, hadn’t anything to do with it?” asked Bundle.
“Bauer was one of our people, Lady Eileen. It was thought likely that ourcrook would go for Herr Eberhard’s invention and Bauer was got into thehouse to watch events on our behalf. But he wasn’t able to do much. As Isay, Mr. Thesiger administered the fatal dose easily enough. Later, wheneveryone was asleep, a bottle, glass and empty chloral bottle were placedby Mr. Wade’s bedside by Mr. Thesiger. Mr. Wade was unconscious then,and his fingers were probably pressed round the glass and the bottle sothat they should be found there if any questions should arise. I don’t knowwhat effect the seven clocks on the mantelpiece made on Mr. Thesiger. Hecertainly didn’t let on anything to Mr. Devereux. All the same, I think hehad a bad five minutes now and again thinking of them. And I think hekept a pretty wary8 eye on Mr. Devereux after that.
“We don’t know exactly what happened next. No one saw much of Mr.
Devereux after Mr. Wade’s death. But it is clear that he worked along thesame lines that he knew Mr. Wade had been working on and reached thesame result—namely, that Mr. Thesiger was the man. I fancy, too, that hewas betrayed in the same way.”
“You mean?”
“Through Miss Loraine Wade. Mr. Wade was devoted9 to her—I believehe hoped to marry her—she wasn’t really his sister, of course—and thereis no doubt that he told her more than he should have done. But Miss Lo-raine Wade was devoted body and soul to Mr. Thesiger. She would do any-thing he told her. She passed on the information to him. In the same way,later, Mr. Devereux was attracted to her, and probably warned her againstMr. Thesiger. So Mr. Devereux in turn was silenced—and died trying tosend word to the Seven Dials that his murderer was Mr. Thesiger.”
“How ghastly,” cried Bundle. “If I had only known.”
“Well, it didn’t seem likely. In fact, I could hardly credit it myself. Butthen we came to the affair at the Abbey. You will remember how awk-ward it was—specially awkward for Mr. Eversleigh here. You and Mr.
Thesiger were hand in glove. Mr. Eversleigh had already been embar-rassed by your insisting on being brought to this place, and when hefound that you had actually overheard what went on at a meeting, he wasdumbfounded.”
The Superintendent paused and a twinkle came into his eye.
“So was I, Lady Eileen. I never dreamed of such a thing being possible.
You put one over on me there all right.
“Well, Mr. Eversleigh was in a dilemma10. He couldn’t let you into thesecret of the Seven Dials without letting Mr. Thesiger in also—and thatwould never do. It all suited Mr. Thesiger very well, of course, for it gavehim a bona fide reason for getting himself asked to the Abbey, whichmade things easier for him.
“I may say that the Seven Dials had already sent a warning letter to Mr.
Lomax. That was to ensure his applying to me for assistance, so that Ishould be able to be on the spot in a perfectly11 natural manner. I made nosecret of my presence, as you know.”
And again the Superintendent’s eye twinkled.
“Well, ostensibly, Mr. Eversleigh and Mr. Thesiger were to divide thenight into two watches. Really, Mr. Eversleigh and Miss St. Maur did so.
She was on guard at the library window when she heard Mr. Thesigercoming and had to dart12 behind the screen.
“And now comes the cleverness of Mr. Thesiger. Up to a point he told mea perfectly true story, and I must admit that with the fight and everything,I was distinctly shaken—and began to wonder whether he had had any-thing to do with the theft at all, or whether we were completely on thewrong track. There were one or two suspicious circumstances that pointedin an entirely14 different direction, and I can tell you I didn’t know what tomake of things, when something turned up to clinch15 matters.
“I found the burnt glove in the fireplace with the teeth marks on it—andthen—well—I knew that I’d been right after all. But, upon my word, hewas a clever one.”
“What actually happened?” said Bundle. “Who was the other man?”
“There wasn’t any other man. Listen, and I’ll show you how in the end Ireconstructed the whole story. To begin with, Mr. Thesiger and Miss Wadewere in this together. And they have a rendezvous16 for an exact time. MissWade comes over in her car, climbs through the fence and comes up to thehouse. She’s got a perfectly good story if anyone stops her—the one shetold eventually. But she arrived unmolested on the terrace just after theclock had struck two.
“Now, I may say to begin with that she was seen coming in. My men sawher, but they had orders to stop nobody coming in — only going out. Iwanted, you see, to find out as much as possible. Miss Wade arrives on theterrace, and at that minute a parcel falls at her feet and she picks it up. Aman comes down the ivy17 and she starts to run. What happens next? Thestruggle—and presently the revolver shots. What will everyone do? Rushto the scene of the fight. And Miss Loraine Wade could have left thegrounds and driven off with the formula safely in her possession.
“But things don’t happen quite like that. Miss Wade runs straight intomy arms. And at that moment the game changes. It’s no longer attack butdefence. Miss Wade tells her story. It is perfectly true and perfectly sens-ible.
“And now we come to Mr. Thesiger. One thing struck me at once. Thebullet wound alone couldn’t have caused him to faint. Either he had fallenand hit his head—or—well he hadn’t fainted at all. Later we had Miss St.
Maur’s story. It agreed perfectly with Mr. Thesiger’s—there was only onesuggestive point. Miss St. Maur said that after the lights were turned outand Mr. Thesiger went over to the window, he was so still that she thoughthe must have left the room and gone outside. Now, if anyone is in theroom, you can hardly help hearing their breathing if you are listening forit. Supposing, then, that Mr. Thesiger had gone outside. Where next? Upthe ivy to Mr. O’Rourke’s room—Mr. O’Rourke’s whisky and soda havingbeen doped the night before. He gets the papers, throws them down to thegirl, climbs down the ivy again, and—starts the fight. That’s easy enoughwhen you come to think of it. Knock the tables down, stagger about, speakin your own voice and then in a hoarse18 half whisper. And then, the finaltouch, the two revolver shots. His own Colt automatic, bought openly theday before, is fired at an imaginary assailant. Then, with his left glovedhand, he takes from his pocket the small Mauser pistol and shoots himselfthrough the fleshy part of the right arm. He flings the pistol through thewindow, tears off the glove with his teeth, and throws it into the fire.
When I arrive he is lying on the floor in a faint.”
Bundle drew a deep breath.
“You didn’t realize all this at the time, Superintendent Battle?”
“No, that I didn’t. I was taken in as much as anyone could be. It wasn’ttill long afterwards that I pieced it all together. Finding the glove was thebeginning of it. Then I made Sir Oswald throw the pistol through the win-dow. It fell a good way farther on than it should have done. But a manwho is right-handed doesn’t throw nearly as far with the left hand. Eventhen it was only suspicion—and a very faint suspicion at that.
“But there was one point struck me. The papers were obviously throwndown for someone to pick up. If Miss Wade was there by accident, whowas the real person? Of course, for those who weren’t in the know, thatquestion was answered easily enough—the Countess. But there I had thepull over you. I knew the Countess was all right. So what follows? Why, theidea that the papers had actually been picked up by the person they weremeant for. And the more I thought of it, the more it seemed to me a veryremarkable coincidence that Miss Wade should have arrived at the exactmoment she did.”
“It must have been very difficult for you when I came to you full of sus-picion about the Countess.”
“It was, Lady Eileen. I had to say something to put you off the scent19. Andit was very difficult for Mr. Eversleigh here, with the lady coming out of adead faint and no knowing what she might say.”
“I understand Bill’s anxiety now,” said Bundle. “And the way he kept ur-ging her to take time and not talk till she felt quite all right.”
“Poor old Bill,” said Miss St. Maur. “That poor baby had to be vampedagainst his will—getting madder’n a hornet every minute.”
“Well,” said Superintendent Battle, “there it was. I suspected Mr.
Thesiger — but I couldn’t get definite proof. On the other hand, Mr.
Thesiger himself was rattled20. He realized more or less what he was upagainst in the Seven Dials—but he wanted badly to know who No 7 was.
He got himself asked to the Cootes under the impression that Sir OswaldCoote was No 7.”
“I suspected Sir Oswald,” said Bundle, “especially when he came in fromthe garden that night.”
“I never suspected him,” said Battle. “But I don’t mind telling you that Idid have my suspicions of that young chap, his secretary.”
“Pongo?” said Bill. “Not old Pongo?”
“Yes, Mr. Eversleigh, old Pongo as you call him. A very efficient gentle-man and one that could have put anything through if he’d a mind to. I sus-pected him partly because he’d been the one to take the clocks into Mr.
Wade’s room that night. It would have been easy for him to put the bottleand glass by the bedside then. And then, for another thing, he was left-handed. That glove pointed13 straight to him—if it hadn’t been for one thing—”
“What?”
“The teeth marks — only a man whose right hand was incapacitatedwould have needed to tear off that glove with his teeth.”
“So Pongo was cleared.”
“So Pongo was cleared, as you say. I’m sure it would be a great surpriseto Mr. Bateman to know he was ever suspected.”
“It would,” agreed Bill. “A solemn card — a silly ass7 like Pongo. Howcould you ever think—”
“Well, as far as that goes, Mr. Thesiger was what you might describe asan empty-headed young ass of the most brainless description. One of thetwo was playing a part. When I decided21 that it was Mr. Thesiger, I was in-terested to get Mr. Bateman’s opinion of him. All along, Mr. Bateman hadthe gravest suspicions of Mr. Thesiger and frequently said as much to SirOswald.”
“It’s curious,” said Bill, “but Pongo always is right. It’s maddening.”
“Well, as I say,” went on Superintendent Battle, “we got Mr. Thesigerfairly on the run, badly rattled over this Seven Dials business and uncer-tain just where the danger lay. That we got him in the end was solelythrough Mr. Eversleigh. He knew what he was up against, and he riskedhis life cheerfully. But he never dreamt that you would be dragged into it,Lady Eileen.”
“My God, no,” said Bill with feeling.
“He went round to Mr. Thesiger’s rooms with a cooked-up tale,” contin-ued Battle. “He was to pretend that certain papers of Mr. Devereux’s hadcome into his hands. Those papers were to suggest a suspicion of Mr.
Thesiger. Naturally, as the honest friend, Mr. Eversleigh rushed round,sure that Mr. Thesiger would have an explanation. We calculated that ifwe were right, Mr. Thesiger would try and put Mr. Eversleigh out of theway, and we were fairly certain as to the way he’d do it. Sure enough, Mr.
Thesiger gave his guest a whisky and soda. During the minute or two thathis host was out of the room. Mr. Eversleigh poured that into a jar on themantelpiece, but he had to pretend, of course, that the drug was taking ef-fect. It would be slow, he knew, not sudden. He began his story, and Mr.
Thesiger at first denied it all indignantly, but as soon as he saw (or thoughthe saw) that the drug was taking effect, he admitted everything and toldMr. Eversleigh that he was the third victim.
“When Mr. Eversleigh was nearly unconscious, Mr. Thesiger took himdown to the car and helped him in. The hood22 was up. He must alreadyhave telephoned to you unknown to Mr. Eversleigh. He made a clever sug-gestion to you. You were to say that you were taking Miss Wade home.
“You made no mention of a message from him. Later when your bodywas found here, Miss Wade would swear that you had driven her homeand gone up to London with the idea of penetrating23 into this house byyourself.
“Mr. Eversleigh continued to play his part, that of the unconscious man.
I may say that as soon as the two young men had left Jermyn Street, one ofmy men gained admission and found the doctored whisky, which con-tained enough hydrochloride of morphia to kill two men. Also the car theywere in was followed. Mr. Thesiger drove out of town to a well-known golfcourse, where he showed himself for a few minutes, speaking of playing around. That, of course, was for an alibi24, should one be needed. He left thecar with Mr. Eversleigh in it a little way down the road. Then he droveback to town and to the Seven Dials Club. As soon as he saw Alfred leave,he drove up to the door, spoke to Mr. Eversleigh as he got out in case youmight be listening and came into the house and played his little comedy.
“When he pretended to go for a doctor, he really only slammed the doorand then crept quietly upstairs and hid behind the door of this room,where Miss Wade would presently send you up on some excuse. Mr.
Eversleigh, of course, was horror-struck when he saw you, but he thoughtit best to keep up the part he was playing. He knew our people werewatching the house, and he imagined that there was no immediate25 dangerintended to you. He could always ‘come to life’ at any moment. When Mr.
Thesiger threw his revolver on the table and apparently left the house itseemed safer than ever. As for the next bit—” He paused, looking at Bill.
“Perhaps you’d like to tell that, sir.”
“I was still lying on that bally sofa,” said Bill, “trying to look done in andgetting the fidgets worse and worse. Then I heard someone run down thestairs, and Loraine got up and went to the door. I heard Thesiger’s voice,but not what he said. I heard Loraine say: ‘That’s all right—it’s gone splen-didly.’ Then he said: ‘Help me carry him up. It will be a bit of a job, but Iwant them both together there—a nice little surprise for No 7.’ I didn’tquite understand what they were jawing26 about, but they hauled me up thestairs somehow or other. It was a bit of a job for them. I made myself adead weight all right. They heaved me in here, and then I heard Lorainesay: ‘You’re sure it’s all right? She won’t come round?’ And Jimmy said—the damned blackguard: ‘No fear. I hit her with all my might.’
“They went away and locked the door, and then I opened my eyes andsaw you. My God, Bundle, I shall never feel so perfectly awful again. Ithought you were dead.”
“I suppose my hat saved me,” said Bundle.
“Partly,” said Superintendent Battle. “But partly it was Mr. Thesiger’swounded arm. He didn’t realize it himself—but it had only half its usualstrength. Still, that’s all no credit to the Department. We didn’t take thecare of you we ought to have done, Lady Eileen—and it’s a black blot27 onthe whole business.”
“I’m very tough,” said Bundle. “And also rather lucky. What I can’t getover is Loraine being in it. She was such a gentle little thing.”
“Ah!” said the Superintendent. “So was the Pentonville murderess thatkilled five children. You can’t go by that. She’s got bad blood in her—herfather ought to have seen the inside of a prison more than once.”
“You’ve got her too?”
Superintendent Battle nodded.
“I daresay they won’t hang her — juries are softhearted. But youngThesiger will swing all right—and a good thing too—a more utterly28 de-praved and callous29 criminal I never met.”
“And now,” he added, “if your head isn’t aching too badly, Lady Eileen,what about a little celebration? There’s a nice little restaurant round thecorner.”
Bundle heartily30 agreed.
“I’m starving, Superintendent Battle. Besides,” she looked round. “I’vegot to get to know all my colleagues.”
“The Seven Dials,” said Bill. “Hurrah! Some fizz is what we need. Do theyrun to fizz at this place, Battle?”
“You won’t have anything to complain of, sir. You leave it to me.”
“Superintendent Battle,” said Bundle, “you are a wonderful man. I’msorry you’re married already. As it is, I shall have to put up with Bill.”
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1
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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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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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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4
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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5
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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10
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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14
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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15
clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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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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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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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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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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jawing
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| n.用水灌注 | |
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blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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