Ten
I returned to consciousness so gradually that I didn’t at first realize that Ihad been asleep.
The scent¹ of the flowers was in my nose. In front of me a round whiteblob appeared to float in space. It was some few seconds before I realizedthat it was a human face I was looking at—a face suspended in the airabout a foot or two away from me. As my faculties² returned, my vision be-came more precise. The face still had its goblin suggestion—it was roundwith a bulging³ brow, combed-back hair and small, rather beady, blackeyes. But it was definitely attached to a body—a small skinny body. It wasregarding me very earnestly.
“Hallo,” it said.
“Hallo,” I replied, blinking.
“I’m Josephine.”
I had already deduced that. Sophia’s sister, Josephine, was, I judged,about eleven or twelve years of age. She was a fantastically ugly child witha very distinct likeness⁴ to her grandfather. It seemed to me possible thatshe also had his brains.
“You’re Sophia’s young man,” said Josephine.
I acknowledged the correctness of this remark.
“But you came down here with Chief-Inspector⁵ Taverner. Why did youcome with Chief-Inspector Taverner?”
“He’s a friend of mine.”
“Is he? I don’t like him. I shan’t tell him things.”
“What sort of things?”
“The things I know. I know a lot of things. I like knowing things.”
She sat down on the arm of the chair and continued her searching scru-tiny of my face. I began to feel quite uncomfortable.
“Grandfather’s been murdered. Did you know?”
“Yes,” I said. “I knew.”
“He was poisoned. With es-er-ine.” She pronounced the word very care-fully. “It’s interesting, isn’t it?”
“I suppose it is.”
“Eustace and I are very interested. We like detective stories. I’ve alwayswanted to be a detective. I’m being one now. I’m collecting clues.”
She was, I felt, rather a ghoulish child.
She returned to the charge.
“The man who came with Chief-Inspector Taverner is a detective too,isn’t he? In books it says you can always know plain-clothes detectives bytheir boots. But this detective was wearing

分享到：