登陆注册
18995100000021

第21章

"In a flash I saw my chance. It was a bare chance, no more. But I knew the ways of the house--I was sure the melon would be brought in over night and put in the pantry ice-box. If there were only one melon in the ice-box I could be fairly sure it was the one I wanted. Melons didn't lie around loose in that house--every one was known, numbered, catalogued. The old man was beset by the dread that the servants would eat them, and he took a hundred mean precautions to prevent it. Yes, I felt pretty sure of my melon . . . and poisoning was much safer than shooting. It would have been the devil and all to get into the old man's bedroom without his rousing the house; but I ought to be able to break into the pantry without much trouble.

"It was a cloudy night, too--everything served me. I dined quietly, and sat down at my desk. Kate had one of her usual headaches, and went to bed early. As soon as she was gone I slipped out. I had got together a sort of disguise--red beard and queer-looking ulster. I shoved them into a bag, and went round to the garage. There was no one there but a half-drunken machinist whom I'd never seen before. That served me, too. They were always changing machinists, and this new fellow didn't even bother to ask if the car belonged to me. It was a very easy-going place. . .

"Well, I jumped in, ran up Broadway, and let the car go as soon as I was out of Harlem. Dark as it was, I could trust myself to strike a sharp pace. In the shadow of a wood I stopped a second and got into the beard and ulster. Then away again--it was just eleven-thirty when I got to Wrenfield.

"I left the car in a dark lane behind the Lenman place, and slipped through the kitchen-garden. The melon-houses winked at me through the dark--I remember thinking that they knew what I wanted to know. . . . By the stable a dog came out growling--but he nosed me out, jumped on me, and went back. . . The house was as dark as the grave. I knew everybody went to bed by ten. But there might be a prowling servant--the kitchen-maid might have come down to let in her Italian. I had to risk that, of course.

I crept around by the back door and hid in the shrubbery. Then I listened. It was all as silent as death. I crossed over to the house, pried open the pantry window and climbed in. I had a little electric lamp in my pocket, and shielding it with my cap I groped my way to the ice-box, opened it--and there was the little French melon . . . only one.

"I stopped to listen--I was quite cool. Then I pulled out my bottle of stuff and my syringe, and gave each section of the melon a hypodermic. It was all done inside of three minutes--at ten minutes to twelve I was back in the car. I got out of the lane as quietly as I could, struck a back road that skirted the village, and let the car out as soon as I was beyond the last houses. I only stopped once on the way in, to drop the beard and ulster into a pond. I had a big stone ready to weight them with and they went down plump, like a dead body--and at two o'clock I was back at my desk."

Granice stopped speaking and looked across the smoke-fumes at his listener; but Denver's face remained inscrutable.

At length he said: "Why did you want to tell me this?"

The question startled Granice. He was about to explain, as he had explained to Ascham; but suddenly it occurred to him that if his motive had not seemed convincing to the lawyer it would carry much less weight with Denver. Both were successful men, and success does not understand the subtle agony of failure. Granice cast about for another reason.

"Why, I--the thing haunts me . . . remorse, I suppose you'd call it. . ."

Denver struck the ashes from his empty pipe.

"Remorse? Bosh!" he said energetically.

Granice's heart sank. "You don't believe in--REMORSE?"

"Not an atom: in the man of action. The mere fact of your talking of remorse proves to me that you're not the man to have planned and put through such a job."

Granice groaned. "Well--I lied to you about remorse. I've never felt any."

Denver's lips tightened sceptically about his freshly-filled pipe. "What was your motive, then? You must have had one."

"I'll tell you--" And Granice began again to rehearse the story of his failure, of his loathing for life. "Don't say you don't believe me this time . . . that this isn't a real reason!" he stammered out piteously as he ended.

Denver meditated. "No, I won't say that. I've seen too many queer things. There's always a reason for wanting to get out of life--the wonder is that we find so many for staying in!"

Granice's heart grew light. "Then you DO believe me?" he faltered.

"Believe that you're sick of the job? Yes. And that you haven't the nerve to pull the trigger? Oh, yes--that's easy enough, too.

But all that doesn't make you a murderer--though I don't say it proves you could never have been one."

"I HAVE been one, Denver--I swear to you."

"Perhaps." He meditated. "Just tell me one or two things."

"Oh, go ahead. You won't stump me!" Granice heard himself say with a laugh.

"Well--how did you make all those trial trips without exciting your sister's curiosity? I knew your night habits pretty well at that time, remember. You were very seldom out late. Didn't the change in your ways surprise her?"

"No; because she was away at the time. She went to pay several visits in the country soon after we came back from Wrenfield, and was only in town for a night or two before--before I did the job."

"And that night she went to bed early with a headache?"

"Yes--blinding. She didn't know anything when she had that kind.

And her room was at the back of the flat."

Denver again meditated. "And when you got back--she didn't hear you? You got in without her knowing it?"

"Yes. I went straight to my work--took it up at the word where I'd left off--WHY, DENVER, DON'T YOU REMEMBER?" Granice suddenly, passionately interjected.

"Remember--?"

"Yes; how you found me--when you looked in that morning, between two and three . . . your usual hour . . .?"

"Yes," the editor nodded.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • Further Adventures of Lad

    Further Adventures of Lad

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 你是我的宝

    你是我的宝

    这是一个傻缺怎么地扑腾也逃不出大尾巴狼手掌的故事。她胆小怕事,只希望此生平稳安乐。偏偏撞上他,人生变得复杂又诡异。一个拼命地逃,一个悠闲地追,终究抵不过一句。我爱你,并且必须占有你。=========================⊙▽⊙=============求求求收藏和推荐各种求么么哒~\(≧▽≦)/~
  • 养生革命1:不生病的习惯

    养生革命1:不生病的习惯

    养生正在经历一场关键性的革命,一场健康观念的变革。平衡物质、平衡功能和平衡心理的精气神健康理念将是席卷全球的革命性运动。本书将为您量身定做变革时代的终身健康计划,重点从习惯着手揭秘健康密码,于弹指间重塑您的健康人生。
  • 天体密码破译

    天体密码破译

    宇宙的无限魅力就在于那许许多多的难解之谜,使我们不得不密切关注和发出疑问。本书包括太阳与人类的关系、日食形成的原因、恒星起源的假说、解释星系撞击、陨星坠落会伤人吗等内容,去伪存真地将未解之谜与科学研究结合起来,非常适合广大青少年读者阅读和收藏。
  • 家斗:第一夫人(完结)

    家斗:第一夫人(完结)

    《家斗:第一夫人》———郁琏城,郁家嫡出长女,在怯懦胆小的外表下,却拥有绝色之姿、倾城之貌。穆以琛,穆家嫡出之子,美若天神,俊逸若仙,万千女性心目中的理想对象,无数男人妒忌的情敌。一道圣旨临门,她的二妹郁无暇死活都不肯嫁,郁家人舍不得深得他们宠爱且如花似玉的二女儿,便应了她的要求从中擀旋,让身为郁家大小姐的她嫁给拥有天下第一美男之称却名声狼藉的穆家三少爷。面对相公的冷落,小妾的嘲讽,婆婆的刁难,小叔的调戏,小姑的蛮横,她都应对自如,安身在淡然清幽之处。她冷心,他冷情,同样冷傲的两人相处在一个屋檐下,是谁先厌倦了对峙?又是谁先习惯了守候?场景一:“好,我嫁!你们可以出去了,我需要静养。”郁琏城说得风轻云淡,却让在场的人震惊不已。在别人眼里,她是个沉静得没有存在感的人,却做出了如此激烈的举动,深夜冒着暴雨跪在院子外,只为求郁家人收回成命,千辛万苦救醒过来却扔出这样一句语不惊人死不休的话。场景二:“郎无情,妾无意。咱们井水不犯河水,两不相侵。”洞房花烛夜,面对匆匆而来给予她警告后,便到与她一同娶进门的小妾闺房留宿的相公,她忍着困倦之意,与他约法三章。新婚之夜,她独守空房,却乐得自在。翌日,面对蜚言流语,也仅是唇角划过一抹淡然的冷笑。场景三:“相公,有时间不如多关心关心妹妹。”每当他心生念想的时候,她总是毫不留情的泼下一盆冷水,提醒着他不要忘记自己承诺。他进一步,她就退十步。他发现愈是接近就愈是看不清猜不透她,看似淡然温和的她,却倔强且拒人于千里之外。场景四:“我穆以琛想要的,就没有得不到。”即使她的心在天际,也要任性的将她锁在身边,直到她将心交给他便是。
  • 爱的修炼手册

    爱的修炼手册

    三个女生能让三只喜欢,但是爱是说不定的。千玺你永远是我的避风港,小凯你永远是我的大白,源源你永远是那个装快乐的你。不怪我们相遇的晚,只怪我们太早相恋。
  • 神魔大陆之封印传说

    神魔大陆之封印传说

    曾经的这片大陆,神魔共存,然而无限的战争,最终让神魔尽皆烟消云散。历史被遗忘,力量被封印。应运而生的人类,生活在这片土地,对那些曾经的过往并不知晓,在经历过一次几近毁灭的战争之后,人类开始回归自然,本能的回归让他们渐渐发现隐藏在自己身体的那些潜能,他们称之为“魔法”。…………生活在拉帕利斯的卡洛靠着祖荫的圣骑士头衔入读道格拉斯学院,然而十多年修习,却连最低级的魔术士都不如,沮丧的他自嘲的告诉自己一生就此度过也算不错,却又被命运无情的捉弄,卷入到阴谋之中……无休止的斗争再次卷土重来,而这一次,人类还会幸免吗?
  • 读者文摘精粹版7:善待自己每一天

    读者文摘精粹版7:善待自己每一天

    人可以对不起你,但你不可以对不起自己。对自己好,珍惜自己,是最基本的要求。尽量让自己快乐,尽量让自己简单、相互在复杂的氛围中。世上没有比生活在自己的阴影里更可怕的事了。我们不能要求社会对每一个人都公正,因为那就是上苍的考验。
  • 追求效率的赢家

    追求效率的赢家

    本书对怎样培养超常思维提出了许多独到的见解和崭新的观念,以及一些技巧性的东西,希望对每一位感兴趣的读者能够起到一种启发性的作用。
  • 雨飘零

    雨飘零

    江南的小镇,风景优美,休闲而舒适。一对青年男女的缘分骤然降临……