In the succeeding weeks I was a good deal bored. Mrs. Flemming and herfriends seemed to me to be supremely1 uninteresting. They talked forhours of themselves and their children and of the difficulties of gettinggood milk for the children and of what they say to the dairy when the milkwasn’t good. Then they would go on to the servants, and the difficulties ofgetting good servants and of what they had said to the woman at the re-gistry office and of what the woman at the registry office had said to them.
They never seemed to read the papers or to care about what went on inthe world. They disliked travelling—everything was so different to Eng-land. The Riviera was all right, of course, because one met all one’s friendsthere.
I listened and contained myself with difficulty. Most of these womenwere rich. The whole wide beautiful world was theirs to wander in andthey deliberately2 stayed in dirty dull London and talked about milkmenand servants! I think now, looking back, that I was perhaps a shade intol-erant. But they were stupid—stupid even at their chosen job: most of themkept the most extraordinarily3 inadequate4 and muddled5 housekeeping ac-counts.
My affairs did not progress very fast. The house and furniture had beensold, and the amount realized had just covered our debts. As yet, I had notbeen successful in finding a post. Not that I really wanted one! I had thefirm conviction that, if I went about looking for adventure, adventurewould meet me half way. It is a theory of mine that one always gets whatone wants.
My theory was about to be proved in practice.
It was early in January—the 8th, to be exact. I was returning from anunsuccessful interview with a lady who said she wanted a secretary-com-panion, but really seemed to require a strong charwoman who wouldwork twelve hours a day for ￡25 a year. Having parted with mutual6 veiledimpolitenesses, I walked down Edgware Road (the interview had takenplace in a house in St. John’s Wood), and across Hyde Park to St. George’sHospital. There I entered Hyde Park Corner Tube Station and took a ticketto Gloucester Road.
Once on the platform I walked to the extreme end of it. My inquiringmind wished to satisfy itself as to whether there really were points and anopening between the two tunnels just beyond the station in the directionof Down Street. I was foolishly pleased to find I was right. There were notmany people on the platform, and at the extreme end there was only my-self and one man. As I passed him, I sniffed7 dubiously8. If there is one smellI cannot bear it is that of mothballs! This man’s heavy overcoat simplyreeked of them. And yet most men begin to wear their winter overcoatsbefore January, and consequently by this time the smell ought to haveworn off. The man was beyond me, standing9 close to the edge of the tun-nel. He seemed lost in thought, and I was able to stare at him withoutrudeness. He was a small, thin man, very brown of face, with blue, lighteyes and a small dark beard.
“Just come from abroad,” I deduced. “That’s why his overcoat smells so.
He’s come from India. Not an officer, or he wouldn’t have a beard. Per-haps a tea planter.”
At this moment the man turned as though to retrace10 his steps along theplatform. He glanced at me and then his eyes went on to something be-hind me, and his face changed. It was distorted by fear—almost panic. Hetook a step backwards11 as though involuntarily recoiling12 from somedanger, forgetting that he was standing on the extreme edge of the plat-form, and went down and over. There was a vivid flash from the rails anda crackling sound. I shrieked13. People came running up. Two station offi-cials seemed to materialize from nowhere and took command.
I remained where I was, rooted to the spot by a sort of horrible fascina-tion. Part of me was appalled14 at the sudden disaster, and another part ofme was coolly and disapassionately interested in the methods employedfor lifting the man off the live rail and back on to the platform.
“Let me pass, please. I am a medical man.”
A tall man with a brown beard pressed past me and bent15 over the mo-tionless body.
As he examined it, a curious sense of unreality seemed to possess me.
The thing wasn’t real—couldn’t be. Finally, the doctor stood upright andshook his head.
“Dead as a doornail. Nothing to be done.”
We had all crowded nearer, and an aggrieved16 porter raised his voice.
“Now then, stand back there, will you? What’s the sense in crowdinground?”
A sudden nausea17 seized me, and I turned blindly and ran up the stairsagain towards the lift. I felt that it was too horrible. I must get out into theopen air. The doctor who had examined the body was just ahead of me.
The lift was just about to go up, another having descended18, and he brokeinto a run. As he did so, he dropped a piece of paper.
I stopped, picked it up, and ran after him. But the lift gates clanged inmy face, and I was left holding the paper in my hand. By the time thesecond lift reached street level, there was no sign of my quarry19. I hoped itwas nothing important that he had lost, and for the first time I examinedit. It was a plain half sheet of notepaper with some figures and wordsscrawled upon it in pencil. This is a facsimile of it:
On the face of it, it certainly did not appear to be of any importance.
Still, I hesitated to throw it away. As I stood there holding it, I involuntar-ily wrinkled my nose in displeasure. Mothballs again! I held the papergingerly to my nose. Yes, it smelt20 strongly of them. But, then—I folded up the paper carefully and put it in my bag. I walked homeslowly and did a good deal of thinking.
I explained to Mrs. Flemming that I had witnessed a nasty accident inthe Tube and that I was rather upset and would go to my room and liedown. The kind woman insisted on my having a cup of tea. After that Iwas left to my own devices, and I proceeded to carry out a plan I hadformed coming home. I wanted to know what it was that had producedthat curious feeling of unreality whilst I was watching the doctor examinethe body. First I lay down on the floor in the attitude of the corpse21, then Ilaid a bolster22 down in my stead, and proceeded to duplicate, so far as Icould remember, every motion and gesture of the doctor. When I had fin-ished I had got what I wanted. I sat back on my heels and frowned at theopposite walls.
There was a brief notice in the evening papers that a man had beenkilled in the Tube, and a doubt was expressed whether it was suicide oraccident. That seemed to me to make my duty clear, and when Mr. Flem-ming heard my story he quite agreed with me.
“Undoubtedly you will be wanted at the inquest. You say no one elsewas near enough to see what happened?”
“I had the feeling someone was coming up behind me, but I can’t be sure—and, anyway, they wouldn’t be as near as I was.”
The inquest was held. Mr. Flemming made all the arrangements andtook me there with him. He seemed to fear that it would be a great ordealfor me, and I had to conceal23 from him my complete composure.
The deceased had been identified as L. B. Carton. Nothing had beenfound in his pockets except a house agent’s order to view a house on theriver near Marlow. It was in the name of L. B. Carton, Russell Hotel. Thebureau clerk from the hotel indentified the man as having arrived the daybefore and booked a room under that name. He had registered as L. B.
Carton, Kimberley, S. Africa. He had evidently come straight off thesteamer.
I was the only person who had seen anything of the affair.
“You think it was an accident?” the coroner asked me.
“I am positive of it. Something alarmed him, and he stepped backwardsblindly without thinking what he was doing.”
“But what could have alarmed him?”
“That I don’t know. But there was something. He looked panic-stricken.”
A stolid24 juryman suggested that some men were terrified of cats. Theman might have seen a cat. I didn’t think his suggestion a very brilliantone, but it seemed to pass muster25 with the jury, who were obviously impa-tient to get home and only too pleased at being able to give a verdict of ac-cident as opposed to suicide.
“It is extraordinary to me,” said the coroner, “that the doctor who firstexamined the body has not come forward. His name and address shouldhave been taken at the time. It was most irregular not to do so.”
I smiled to myself. I had my own theory in regard to the doctor. In pur-suance of it, I determined26 to make a call upon Scotland Yard at an earlydate.
But the next morning brought a surprise. The Flemmings took in theDaily Budget, and the Daily Budget was having a day after its own heart.
EXTRAORDINARY SEQUEL
TO TUBE ACCIDENT
WOMAN FOUND STRANGLED
IN LONELY HOUSE
I read eagerly.
“A sensational27 discovery was made yesterday at theMill House, Marlow. The Mill House, which is the prop-erty of Sir Eustace Pedler, MP, is to be let unfurnished,and an order to view this property was found in thepocket of the man who was at first thought to have com-mited suicide by throwing himself on the live rail atHyde Park Corner Tube Station. In an upper room ofthe Mill House the body of a beautiful young womanwas discovered yesterday, strangled. She is thought tobe a foreigner, but so far has not been identified. Thepolice are reported to have a clue. Sir Eustace Pedler,the owner of the Mill House, is wintering on the Rivi-era.”
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1
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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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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retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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recoiling
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| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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descended
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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bolster
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| n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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