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雙語·非洲的百萬富翁 第八章 塞爾登金礦

所屬教程:譯林版·非洲的百萬富翁

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2022年04月27日

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On our return to London, Charles and Marvillier had a difference of opinion on the subject of Medhurst.

Charles maintained that Marvillier ought to have known the man with the cropped hair was Colonel Clay, and ought never to have recommended him. Marvillier maintained that Charles had seen Colonel Clay half-a-dozen times, at least, to his own never;and that my respected brother-in-law had therefore nobody on earth but himself to blame if the rogue imposed upon him.The head detective had known Medhurst for ten years, he said, as a most respectable man, and even a ratepayer;he had always found him the cleverest of spies, as well he might be, indeed, on the familiar set-a-thief-to-catch-a-thief principle.However, the upshot of it all was, as usual—nothing.Marvillier was sorry to lose the services of so excellent a hand;but he had done the very best he could for Sir Charles, he declared;and if Sir Charles was not satisfed, why, he might catch his Colonel Clays for himself in future.

“So I will, Sey,”Charles remarked to me, as we walked back from the office in the Strand by Piccadilly.“I won't trust any more to these private detectives. It's my belief they're a pack of thieves themselves, in league with the rascals they're set to catch, and with no more sense of honour than a Zulu diamond-hand.”

“Better try the police,”I suggested, by way of being helpful. One must assume an interest in one's employer's business.

But Charles shook his head.“No, no,”he said;“I'm sick of all these fellows. I shall trust in future to my own sagacity.We learn by experience, Sey—and I've learned a thing or two.One of them is this:It's not enough to suspect everybody;you must have no preconceptions.Divest yourself entirely of every fixed idea if you wish to cope with a rascal of this calibre.Don't jump at conclusions.We should disbelieve everything, as well as distrust everybody.That's the road to success;and I mean to pursue it.”

So, by way of pursuing it, Charles retired to Seldon.

“The longer the man goes on, the worse he grows,”he said to me one morning.“He's just like a tiger that has tasted blood. Every successful haul seems only to make him more eager for another.I fully expect now before long we shall see him down here.”

About three weeks later, sure enough, my respected connection received a communication from the abandoned swindler, with an Austrian stamp and a Vienna post-mark.

“MY DEAR VANDRIFT.—(After so long and so varied an acquaintance we may surely drop the absurd formalities of‘Sir Charles’and‘Colonel.’)I write to ask you a delicate question.Can you kindly tell me exactly how much I have received from your various generous acts during the last three years?I have mislaid my account-book, and as this is the season for making the income tax return, I am anxious, as an honest and conscientious citizen, to set down my average profits out of you for the triennial period.For reasons which you will amply understand, I do not this time give my private address, in Paris or

elsewhere;but if you will kindly advertise the total amount, above the signature‘Peter Simple,’in the Agony Column of the Times, you will confer a great favour upon the Revenue Commissioners, and also upon your constant friend and companion,

“CUTHBERT CLAY,

“Practical Socialist.”

“Mark my word, Sey,”Charles said, laying the letter down,“in a week or less the man himself will follow. This is his cunning way of trying to make me think he's well out of the country and far away from Seldon.That means he's meditating another descent.But he told us too much last time, when he was Medhurst the detective.He gave us some hints about disguises and their unmasking that I shall not forget.This turn I shall be even with him.”

On Saturday of that week, in effect, we were walking along the road that leads into the village, when we met a gentlemanly-looking man, in a rough and rather happy-go-lucky brown tweed suit, who had the air of a tourist. He was middle-aged, and of middle height;he wore a small leather wallet suspended round his shoulder;and he was peering about at the rocks in a suspicious manner.Something in his gait attracted our attention.

“Good-morning,”he said, looking up as we passed;and Charles muttered a somewhat surly inarticulate,“Good-morning.”

We went on without saying more.“Well, that's not Colonel Clay, anyhow,”I said, as we got out of earshot.“For he accosted us frst;and you may remember it's one of the Colonel's most marked peculiarities that, like the model child, he never speaks till he's spoken to—never begins an acquaintance. He always waits till we make the frst advance;he doesn't goout of his way to cheat us;he loiters about till we ask him to do it.”

“Seymour,”my brother-in-law responded, in a severe tone,“there you are, now, doing the very thing I warned you not to do!You're succumbing to a preconception. Avoid fxed ideas.The probability is this man is Colonel Clay.Strangers are generally scarce at Seldon.If he isn't Colonel Clay, what's he here for, I'd like to know?What money is there to be made here in any other way?I shall inquire about him.”

We dropped in at the Cromarty Arms, and asked good Mrs. M'Lachlan if she could tell us anything about the gentlemanly stranger.Mrs.M'Lachlan replied that he was from London, she believed, a pleasant gentleman enough;and he had his wife with him.

“Ha!Young?Pretty?”Charles inquired, with a speaking glance at me.

“Weel, Sir Charles, she'll no be exactly what you'd be ca'ing a bonny lass,”Mrs. M'Lachlan replied;“but she's a guid body for a’that, an’a fne braw woman.”

“Just what I should expect,”Charles murmured,“He varies the programme. The fellow has tried White Heather as the parson's wife, and as Madame Picardet, and as squinting little Mrs.Granton, and as Medhurst's accomplice;and now, he has almost exhausted the possibilities of a disguise for a really young and pretty woman;so he's playing her off at last as the riper product—a handsome matron.Clever, extremely clever;but—we begin to see through him.”And he chuckled to himself quietly.

Next day, on the hillside, we came upon our stranger again, occupied as before in peering into the rocks, and sounding them with a hammer. Charles nudged me and whispered,“I have it this time.He's posing as a geologist.”

I took a good look at the man. By now, of course, we had someexperience of Colonel Clay in his various disguises;and I could observe that while the nose, the hair, and the beard were varied, the eyes and the build remained the same as ever.He was a trife stouter, of course, being got up as a man of between forty and ffty;and his forehead was lined in a way which a less consummate artist than Colonel Clay could easily have imitated.But I felt we had at least some grounds for our identifcation;it would not do to dismiss the suggestion of Clayhood at once as a fight of fancy.

His wife was sitting near, upon a bare boss of rock, reading a volume of poems. Capital variant, that, a volume of poems!Exactly suited the selected type of a cultivated family.White Heather and Mrs.Granton never used to read poems.But that was characteristic of all Colonel Clay's impersonations, and Mrs.Clay's too—for I suppose I must call her so.They were not mere outer disguises;they were fnished pieces of dramatic study.Those two people were an actor and actress, as well as a pair of rogues;and in both their r?les they were simply inimitable.

As a rule, Charles is by no means polite to casual trespassers on the Seldon estate;they get short shrift and a summary ejection. But on this occasion he had a reason for being courteous, and he approached the lady with a bow of recognition.“Lovely day,”he said,“isn't it?Such belts on the sea, and the heather smells sweet.You are stopping at the inn, I fancy?”

“Yes,”the lady answered, looking up at him with a charming smile.(“I know that smile,”Charles whispered to me.“I have succumbed to it too often.”)“We're stopping at the inn, and my husband is doing a little geology on the hill here. I hope Sir Charles Vandrift won't come and catch us.He's so down upon trespassers.They tell us at the inn he's a regular Tartar.”

(“Saucy minx as ever,”Charles murmured to me.“She said it onpurpose.”)“No, my dear madam,”he continued, aloud;“you have been quite misinformed. I am Sir Charles Vandrift;and I am not a Tartar.If your husband is a man of science I respect and admire him.It is geology that has made me what I am today.”And he drew himself up proudly.“We owe to it the present development of South African mining.”

The lady blushed as one seldom sees a mature woman blush—but exactly as I had seen Madame Picardet and White Heather.“Oh, I'm so sorry,”she said, in a confused way that recalled Mrs. Granton.“Forgive my hasty speech.I—I didn't know you.”

(“She did,”Charles whispered.“But let that pass.”)“Oh, don't think of it again;so many people disturb the birds, don't you know, that we're obliged in self-defence to warn trespassers sometimes off our lovely mountains. But I do it with regret—with profound regret.I admire the—er—the beauties of Nature myself;and, therefore, I desire that all others should have the freest possible access to them—possible, that is to say, consistently with the superior claims of Property.”

“I see,”the lady replied, looking up at him quaintly.“I admire your wish, though not your reservation. I've just been reading those sweet lines of Wordsworth's—

And O, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves,

Forebode not any severing of our loves.

I suppose you know them?”And she beamed on him pleasantly.

“Know them?”Charles answered.“Know them!Oh, of course, I know them. They're old favourites of mine—in fact, I adore Wordsworth.”(I doubt whether Charles has ever in his life read a line of poetry, except Doss Chiderdoss in the Sporting Times.)He took the book and glanced atthem.“Ah, charming, charming!”he said, in his most ecstatic tone.But his eyes were on the lady, and not on the poet.

I saw in a moment how things stood. No matter under what disguise that woman appeared to him, and whether he recognised her or not, Charles couldn't help falling a victim to Madame Picardet's attractions.Here he actually suspected her;yet, like a moth round a candle, he was trying his hardest to get his wings singed!I almost despised him with his gigantic intellect!The greatest men are the greatest fools, I verily believe, when there's a woman in question.

The husband strolled up by this time, and entered into conversation with us. According to his own account, his name was Forbes-Gaskell, and he was a Professor of Geology in one of those new-fangled northern colleges.He had come to Seldon rock-spying, he said, and found much to interest him.He was fond of fossils, but his special hobby was rocks and minerals.He knew a vast deal about cairngorms and agates and such-like pretty things, and showed Charles quartz and felspar and red cornelian, and I don't know what else, in the crags on the hillside.Charles pretended to listen to him with the deepest interest and even respect, never for a moment letting him guess he knew for what purpose this show of knowledge had been recently acquired.If we were ever to catch the man, we must not allow him to see we suspected him.So Charles played a dark game.He swallowed the geologist whole without question.

Most of that morning we spent with them on the hillside. Charles took them everywhere and showed them everything.He pretended to be polite to the scientifc man, and he was really polite, most polite, to the poetical lady.Before lunch time we had become quite friends.

The Clays were always easy people to get on with;and, bar their roguery, we could not deny they were delightful companions. Charlesasked them in to lunch.They accepted willingly.He introduced them to Amelia with sundry raisings of his eyebrows and contortions of his mouth.“Professor and Mrs.Forbes-Gaskell,”he said, half-dislocating his jaw with his violent efforts.“They're stopping at the inn, dear.I've been showing them over the place, and they're good enough to say they'll drop in and take a share in our cold roast mutton;”which was a frequent form of Charles's pleasantry.

Amelia sent them upstairs to wash their hands—which, in the Professor's case, was certainly desirable, for his fngers were grimed with earth and dust from the rocks he had been investigating. As soon as we were left alone Charles drew me into the library.

“Seymour,”he said,“more than ever there is a need for us strictly to avoid preconceptions. We must not make up our minds that this man is Colonel Clay—nor, again, that he isn't.We must remember that we have been mistaken in both ways in the past, and must avoid our old errors.I shall hold myself in readiness for either event—and a policeman in readiness to arrest them, if necessary!”

“A capital plan,”I murmured.“Still, if I may venture a suggestion, in what way are these two people endeavouring to entrap us?They have no scheme on hand—no schloss, no amalgamation.”

“Seymour,”my brother-in-law answered in his board-room style,“you are a great deal too previous, as Medhurst used to say—I mean, Colonel Clay in his character as Medhurst. In the first place, these are early days;our friends have not yet developed their intentions.We may fnd before long they have a property to sell, or a company to promote, or a concession to exploit in South Africa or elsewhere.Then again, in the second place, we don't always spot the exact nature of their plan until it has burst in our hands, so to speak, and revealed its true character.What could have seemed more transparent than Medhurst, the detective, till he ran away with our notes in the very moment of triumph?What more innocent than White Heather and the little curate, till they landed us with a couple of Amelia's own gems as a splendid bargain?I will not take it for granted any man is not Colonel Clay, merely because I don't happen to spot the particular scheme he is trying to work against me.The rogue has so many schemes, and some of them so well concealed, that up to the moment of the actual explosion you fail to detect the presence of moral dynamite.Therefore, I shall proceed as if there were dynamite everywhere.But in the third place—and this is very important—you mark my words, I believe I detect already the lines he will work upon.He's a geologist, he says, with a taste for minerals.Very good.You see if he doesn't try to persuade me before long he has found a coal mine, whose locality he will disclose for a trifling consideration;or else he will salt the Long Mountain with emeralds, and claim a big share for helping to discover them;or else he will try something in the mineralogical line to do me somehow.I see it in the very transparency of the fellow’s face;and I’m determined this time neither to pay him one farthing on any pretext, nor to let him escape me!”

We went in to lunch. The Professor and Mrs.Forbes-Gaskell, all smiles, accompanied us.I don't know whether it was Charles's warning to take nothing for granted that made me do so—but I kept a close eye upon the suspected man all the time we were at table.It struck me there was something very odd about his hair.It didn't seem quite the same colour all over.The locks that hung down behind, over the collar of his coat, were a trife lighter and a trife grayer than the black mass that covered the greater part of his head.I examined it carefully.The more I did so, the more the conviction grew upon me:he was wearing a wig.There was no denying it!A trifle less artistic, perhaps, than most of Colonel Clay's get-ups;but then, I refected(on Charles's principle of taking nothing for granted),we had never before suspected Colonel Clay himself, except in the one case of the Honourable David, whose red hair and whiskers even Madame Picardet had admitted to be absurdly false by her action of pointing at them and tittering irrepressibly.It was possible that in every case, if we had scrutinised our man closely, we should have found that the disguise betrayed itself at once(as Medhurst had suggested)to an acute observer.

The detective, in fact, had told us too much. I remembered what he said to us about knocking off David Granton's red wig the moment we doubted him;and I positively tried to help myself awkwardly to potato-chips, when the footman offered them, so as to hit the supposed wig with an apparently careless brush of my elbow.But it was of no avail.The fellow seemed to anticipate or suspect my intention, and dodged aside carefully, like one well accustomed to saving his disguise from all chance of such real or seeming accidents.

I was so full of my discovery that immediately after lunch I induced Isabel to take our new friends round the home garden and show them Charles's famous prize dahlias, while I proceeded myself to narrate to Charles and Amelia my observations and my frustrated experiment.

“It is a wig,”Amelia assented.“I spotted it at once. A very good wig, too, and most artistically planted.Men don't notice these things, though women do.It is creditable to you, Seymour, to have succeeded in detecting it.”

Charles was less complimentary.“You fool,”he answered, with that unpleasant frankness which is much too common with him.“Supposing it is, why on earth should you try to knock it off and disclose him?What good would it have done?If it is a wig, and we spot it, that's all that weneed. We are put on our guard;we know with whom we have now to deal.But you can't take a man up on a charge of wig-wearing.The law doesn't interfere with it.Most respectable men may sometimes wear wigs.Why, I knew a promoter who did, and also the director of fourteen companies!What we have to do next is, wait till he tries to cheat us, and then—pounce down upon him.Sooner or later, you may be sure, his plans will reveal themselves.”

So we concocted an excellent scheme to keep them under constant observation, lest they should slip away again, as they did from the island. First of all, Amelia was to ask them to come and stop at the castle, on the ground that the rooms at the inn were uncomfortably small.We felt sure, however, that, as on a previous occasion, they would refuse the invitation, in order to be able to slink off unperceived, in case they should find themselves apparently suspected.Should they decline, it was arranged that Césarine should take a room at the Cromarty Arms as long as they stopped there, and report upon their movements;while, during the day, we would have the house watched by the head gillie’s son, a most intelligent young man, who could be trusted, with true Scotch canniness, to say nothing to anybody.

To our immense surprise, Mrs. Forbes-Gaskell accepted the invitation with the utmost alacrity.She was profuse in her thanks, indeed;for she told us the Arms was an ill-kept house, and the cookery by no means agreed with her husband's liver.It was sweet of us to invite them;such kindness to perfect strangers was quite unexpected.She should always say that nowhere on earth had she met with so cordial or friendly a reception as at Seldon Castle.But—she accepted, unreservedly.

“It can't be Colonel Clay,”I remarked to Charles.“He would never have come here. Even as David Granton, with far more reason for coming, he wouldn't put himself in our power:he preferred the security and freedom of the Cromarty Arms.”

“Sey,”my brother-in-law said sententiously,“you're incorrigible. You will persist in being the slave of prepossessions.He may have some good reason of his own for accepting.Wait till he shows his hand—and then, we shall understand everything.”

So for the next three weeks the Forbes-Gaskells formed part of the house-party at Seldon. I must say, Charles paid them most assiduous attention.He positively neglected his other guests in order to keep close to the two new-comers.Mrs.Forbes-Gaskell noticed the fact, and commented on it.“You are really too good to us, Sir Charles,”she said.“I'm afraid you allow us quite to monopolise you!”

But Charles, gallant as ever, replied with a smile,“We have you with us for so short a time, you know!”Which made Mrs. Forbes-Gaskell blush again that delicious blush of hers.

During all this time the Professor went on calmly and persistently mineralogising.“Wonderful character!”Charles said to me.“He works out his parts so well!Could anything exceed the picture he gives one of scientific ardour?”And, indeed, he was at it, morning, noon, and night.“Sooner or later,”Charles observed,“something practical must come of it.”

Twice, meanwhile, little episodes occurred which are well worth notice. One day I was out with the Professor on the Long Mountain, watching him hammer at the rocks, and a little bored by his performance, when, to pass the time, I asked him what a particular small water-worn stone was.He looked at it and smiled.“If there were a little more mica in it,”he said,“it would be the characteristic gneiss of ice-borne boulders, hereabouts.But there isn't quite enough.”And he gazed at it curiously.

“Indeed,”I answered,“it doesn't come up to sample, doesn't it?”

He gave me a meaning look.“Ten per cent,”he murmured in a slow, strange voice;“ten per cent is more usual.”

I trembled violently. Was he bent, then, upon ruining me?“If you betray me—”I cried, and broke off.

“I beg your pardon,”he said. He was all pure innocence.

I refected on what Charles had said about taking nothing for granted, and held my tongue prudently.

The other incident was this. Charles picked a sprig of white heather on the hill one afternoon, after a picnic lunch, I regret to say, when he had taken perhaps a glass more champagne than was strictly good for him.He was not exactly the worse for it, but he was excited, good-humoured, reckless, and lively.He brought the sprig to Mrs.Forbes-Gaskell, and handed it to her, ogling a little.“Sweets to the sweet,”he murmured, and looked at her meaningly.“White heather to White Heather.”Then he saw what he had done, and checked himself instantly.

Mrs. Forbes-Gaskell coloured up in the usual manner.“I—I don't quite understand,”she faltered.

Charles scrambled out of it somehow.“White heather for luck,”he said,“and—the man who is privileged to give a piece of it to you is surely lucky.”

She smiled, none too well pleased. I somehow felt she suspected us of suspecting her.

However, as it turned out, nothing came, after all, of the untoward incident.

Next day Charles burst upon me, triumphant.“Well, he has shown his hand!”he cried.“I knew he would. He has come to me to-day with—what do you think?—a fragment of gold, in quartz, from the Long Mountain.”

“No!”I exclaimed.

“Yes,”Charles answered.“He says there's a vein there with distinct specks of gold in it, which might be worth mining. When a man begins that way you know what he's driving at!And what's more, he's got up the subject beforehand;for he began saying to me there had long been gold in Sutherlandshire—why not therefore in Ross-shire?And then he went at full into the comparative geology of the two regions.”

“This is serious,”I said.“What will you do?”

“Wait and watch,”Charles answered;“and the moment he develops a proposal for shares in the syndicate to work the mine, or a sum of money down as the price of his discovery—get in the police, and arrest him.”

For the next few days the Professor was more active and ardent than ever. He went peering about the rocks on every side with his hammer.He kept on bringing in little pieces of stone, with gold specks stuck in them, and talking learnedly of the“probable cost of crushing and milling.”Charles had heard all that before;in point of fact, he had assisted at the drafting of some dozens of prospectuses.So he took no notice, and waited for the man with the wig to develop his proposals.He knew they would come soon;and he watched and waited.But, of course, to draw him on he pretended to be interested.

While we were all in this attitude of mind, attending on Providence and Colonel Clay, we happened to walk down by the shore one day, in the opposite direction from the Seamew's island. Suddenly we came upon the Professor linked arm-in-arm with—Sir Adolphus Cordery!They were wrapped in deep talk, and appeared to be most amicable.

Now, naturally, relations had been a trifle strained between Sir Adolphus and the house of Vandrift since the incident of the Slump;but under the present circumstances, and with such a matter at stake as the capture of Colonel Clay, it was necessary to overlook all suchminor differences. So Charles managed to disengage the Professor from his friend, sent Amelia on with Forbes-Gaskell towards the castle, and stopped behind, himself, with Sir Adolphus and me, to clear up the question.

“Do you know this man, Cordery?”he asked, with some little suspicion.

“Know him?Why, of course I do,”Sir Adolphus answered.“He's Marmaduke Forbes-Gaskell, of the Yorkshire College, a very distinguished man of science. First-rate mineralogist—perhaps the best(but one)in England.”Modesty forbade him to name the exception.

“But are you sure it's he?”Charles inquired, with growing doubt.“Have you known him before?This isn't a second case of Schleiermachering me, is it?”

“Sure it's he?”Sir Adolphus echoed.“Am I sure of myself?Why, I've known Marmy Gaskell ever since we were at Trinity together. Knew him before he married Miss Forbes of Glenluce, my wife's second cousin, and hyphened his name with hers, to keep the property in the family.Know them both most intimately.Came down here to the inn because I heard that Marmy was on the prowl among these hills, and I thought he had probably something good to prowl after—in the way of fossils.”

“But the man wears a wig!”Charles expostulated.

“Of course,”Cordery answered.“He's as bald as a bat—in front at least—and he wears a wig to cover his baldness.”

“It's disgraceful,”Charles exclaimed;“disgraceful—taking us in like that.”And he grew red as a turkey-cock.

Sir Adolphus has no delicacy. He burst out laughing.

“Oh, I see,”he cried out, simply bursting with amusement.“You thought Forbes-Gaskell was Colonel Clay in disguise!Oh, my stars, whata lovely one!”

“You, at least, have no right to laugh,”Charles responded, drawing himself up and growing still redder.“You led me once into a similar scrape, and then backed out of it in a way unbecoming a gentleman. Besides,”he went on, getting angrier at each word,“this fellow, whoever he is, has been trying to cheat me on his own account.Colonel Clay or no Colonel Clay, he's been salting my rocks with gold-bearing quartz, and trying to lead me on into an absurd speculation!”

Sir Adolphus exploded.“Oh, this is too good,”he cried.“I must go and tell Marmy!”And he rushed off to where Forbes-Gaskell was seated on a corner of rock with Amelia.

As for Charles and myself, we returned to the house. Half an hour later Forbes-Gaskell came back, too, in a towering temper.

“What is the meaning of this, sir?”he shouted out, as soon as he caught sight of Charles.“I'm told you've invited my wife and myself here to your house in order to spy upon us, under the impression that I was Clay, the notorious swindler!”

“I thought you were,”Charles answered, equally angry.“Perhaps you may be still!Anyhow, you're a rogue, and you tried to bamboozle me!”

Forbes-Gaskell, white with rage, turned to his trembling wife.“Gertrude,”he said,“pack up your box and come away from these people instantly. Their pretended hospitality has been a studied insult.They've put you and me in a most ridiculous position.We were told before we came here—and no doubt with truth—that Sir Charles Vandrift was the most close-fsted and tyrannical old curmudgeon in Scotland.We've been writing to all our friends to say ecstatically that he was, on the contrary, a most hospitable, generous, and large-hearted gentleman.And now we fnd out he's a disgusting cad, who asks strangers to his house from themeanest motives, and then insults his guests with gratuitous vituperation.It is well such people should hear the plain truth now and again in their lives;and it therefore gives me the greatest pleasure to tell Sir Charles Vandrift that he's a vulgar bounder of the frst water.Go and pack your box, Gertrude!I'll run down to the Cromarty Arms, and order a cab to carry us away at once from this inhospitable sham castle.”

“You wear a wig, sir;you wear a wig,”Charles exclaimed, half-choking with passion. For, indeed, as Forbes-Gaskell spoke, and tossed his head angrily, the nature of his hair-covering grew painfully apparent.It was quite one-sided.

“I do, sir, that I may be able to shake it in the face of a cad!”the Professor responded, tearing it off to readjust it;and, suiting the action to the word, he brandished it thrice in Charles's eyes;after which he darted from the room, speechless with indignation.

As soon as they were gone, and Charles had recovered breath suffciently to listen to rational conversation, I ventured to observe,“This comes of being too sure!We made one mistake. We took it for granted that because a man wears a wig, he must be an impostor—which does not necessarily follow.We forgot that not Colonel Clays alone have false coverings to their heads, and that wigs may sometimes be worn from motives of pure personal vanity.In fact, we were again the slaves of preconceptions.”

I looked at him pointedly. Charles rose before he replied.“Seymour Wentworth,”he said at last, gazing down upon me with lofty scorn,“your moralising is ill-timed.It appears to me you entirely misunderstand the position and duties of a private secretary!”

The oddest part of it all, however, was this—that Charles, being convinced Forbes-Gaskell, though he wasn't Colonel Clay, had beenfraudulently salting the rocks with gold, with intent to deceive, took no further notice of the alleged discoveries. The consequence was that Forbes-Gaskell and Sir Adolphus went elsewhere with the secret;and it was not till after Charles had sold the Seldon Castle estate(which he did shortly afterward, the place having somehow grown strangely distasteful to him)that the present“Seldon Eldorados, Limited,”were put upon the market by Lord Craig-Ellachie, who purchased the place from him.Forbes-Gaskell, as it happened, had reported to Craig-Ellachie that he had found a lode of high-grade ore on an estate unnamed, which he would particularise on promise of certain contingent claims to founder's shares;and the old lord jumped at it.Charles sold at grouse-moor prices;and the consequence is that the capital of the Eldorados is yielding at present very fair returns, even after allowing for expenses of promotion—while Charles has been done out of a good thing in gold-mines!

But, remembering“the position and duties of a private secretary,”I refrained from pointing out to him at the time that this loss was due to a fxed idea—though as a matter of fact it depended upon Charles's strange preconception that the man with the wig, whoever he might be, was trying to diddle him.

在回倫敦的路上,查爾斯同馬維爾就梅德赫斯特這件事產(chǎn)生了不同的看法。

查爾斯認(rèn)為,馬維爾應(yīng)該清楚那名剪了短發(fā)的男子就是克雷上校,絕不該向他舉薦此人。馬維爾則認(rèn)為,查爾斯同克雷上校會面也有六七次了,而他自己則從未見過克雷上校;還說,查爾斯被騙,誰都不怨,只能怪我內(nèi)兄自己。這位偵探頭頭說,自己認(rèn)識梅德赫斯特有十年了,他是個(gè)相當(dāng)體面的人,甚至還交地方稅。還說自己發(fā)現(xiàn)他是偵探里面最聰明的,他實(shí)際上靠的也是常見的“以賊捕賊”這一方法。不過,說歸說,同以往一樣,到頭來還是一場空。馬維爾為失去了一位這么能干的助手感到遺憾,不過他說自己已盡了最大努力來幫查爾斯爵士,要是查爾斯爵士還不滿意,那查爾斯以后就自己去抓克雷上校好了。

“西,我會抓住他的。”查爾斯對我說,此時(shí)我們正從皮卡迪利廣場邊的斯特蘭德酒店里的辦公室往家走。“我再也不相信這些私人偵探了。我覺得他們自己就是一幫賊,同他們要抓的無賴是一伙的,跟那祖魯?shù)你@石勞工一樣,沒有什么廉恥可言。”

“還是讓警察試試吧!”我提議,想幫幫他。作為員工,總得擺出一副對雇主的事情很上心的樣子。

但查爾斯搖搖頭。“算了,算了,”他說,“我受夠了這些家伙。以后,我只能靠自己的聰明才智了。西,咱們吸取經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)——我也學(xué)了一兩招。其中一條就是:光是懷疑所有人還不夠,而且你不得有任何先入之見。要對付這種無賴,你必須要徹底摒棄所有的成見,不要急于下結(jié)論。對任何人、任何事,我們都要懷疑。這樣方能成功,我就打算這么做。”

查爾斯回到塞爾登,著手此事。

“那人越來越得寸進(jìn)尺,”一天早上,他對我說,“他就像一只舔到血的老虎。每一次得手之后,只會讓他更加渴盼下一次的行動。現(xiàn)在,我完全相信,咱們不久就會在這兒再次碰到他。”

大約三周后,我內(nèi)兄果然收到了一封信,是那個(gè)寡廉鮮恥的騙子寫的,貼了張奧地利的郵票,蓋的是維也納的郵戳。

親愛的凡德里夫特(咱們在各種場合彼此交往的時(shí)間也不短了,就沒什么必要傻乎乎一本正經(jīng)地稱彼此“查爾斯爵士”“克雷上校”了吧):

我寫這信是想問你一個(gè)敏感的問題。能否勞煩你告訴我,在過去三年中,我從你各種慷慨的行為中到底收了多少錢?這個(gè)時(shí)候我該申報(bào)個(gè)人所得稅了,可我的賬簿不知放到哪兒了。我是位誠實(shí)守信有良知的公民,要急著填上這三年來平均每年從你那兒賺的錢。不管我是在巴黎還是在其他地方,這一次我沒有寫自己的個(gè)人住址,原因想必你很快就會十分清楚的。你要是能把總額登個(gè)廣告,署名“傻子彼得”,登在《泰晤士報(bào)》

的私事廣告欄上,也就給稅收專員們幫了個(gè)大忙了,同時(shí)也給你這位忠實(shí)的朋友幫了個(gè)大忙。

庫斯伯特·克雷,

一位實(shí)干的社會主義者

“西,記住我的話,”查爾斯把信放下,說道,“不出一周,他就會采取進(jìn)一步行動。他想用這種狡猾的手段讓我覺得他現(xiàn)在不在國內(nèi),離塞爾登還遠(yuǎn)著呢!這也就意味著,他現(xiàn)在正在盤算著下一次的行動。不過,上一次他還是梅德赫斯特偵探的時(shí)候,已經(jīng)向我們透露得太多。他說的關(guān)于偽裝以及如何識破偽裝的那幾點(diǎn),我一直都記著呢。這一次,我要跟他把賬算清楚。”

那一周的星期六,我們沿著道路往前走,那條路一直通向村子,這時(shí)我們碰到一位風(fēng)度翩翩的男子,身著一身粗糙、相當(dāng)隨便的棕色花呢外衣,看起來像是游客。他是個(gè)中年人,中等身材,肩上掛著一個(gè)小皮包,盯著石頭仔細(xì)看,形跡可疑。他的步態(tài)引起了我們的注意。

“早上好!”我們路過時(shí),他抬頭向我們打招呼。查爾斯低沉著聲音,含含糊糊地咕噥了句“早上好”。

我們繼續(xù)往前走,沒說話。等走到別人聽不到我們說話時(shí),我說:“不管怎么說,那個(gè)家伙不是克雷上校,因?yàn)槭撬雀覀兇畹挠?。你也許記得,克雷上校最奇特的一點(diǎn)就是,他就像個(gè)乖巧的孩子,別人不跟他說話,他絕不先張口——從不會主動去結(jié)識誰??偸堑戎覀兿刃袆?,他不會主動上前騙我們,而是等著我們?nèi)フ埶麃眚_我們。”

“西摩,”我內(nèi)兄答道,口氣嚴(yán)厲,“你現(xiàn)在就犯了這個(gè)錯(cuò)誤,做了我提醒你千萬別做的事!你有偏見。拋開這些固有的成見。這個(gè)人很可能就是克雷上校。塞爾登這兒很少有陌生人,我倒想知道,他要不是克雷上校,那他在這兒干嗎呢?這兒還有別的路子賺錢嗎?我得打聽打聽這個(gè)人。”

我們順路到了克羅默蒂·阿姆斯旅店,去問問好心的拉克倫夫人,看看她能不能告訴我們一些關(guān)于這位溫文爾雅的陌生人的事。她說,他來自倫敦,她認(rèn)為他是位非常和善的紳士,他妻子也同他一起。

“哈,年輕嗎?漂亮嗎?”查爾斯問道,意味深長地看了我一眼。

“怎么說呢,查爾斯爵士,她絕不是你眼中所謂的漂亮小姑娘,”拉克倫夫人答道,“不過,她是位好人,一位不錯(cuò)的婦人。”

“果然不出我所料,”查爾斯低聲說,“他又改變套路了。那家伙讓她扮過副牧師的妻子‘白石南花’,扮過皮卡迪克夫人,扮過瞇著眼的小格蘭頓夫人,還充當(dāng)過梅德赫斯特的同謀??涩F(xiàn)在,想再讓她扮成一位真正年輕漂亮的女人,他已黔驢技窮,所以最后只好把她打扮得更成熟一點(diǎn)——一位有氣質(zhì)的婦人。聰明,相當(dāng)聰明,不過——我們開始看穿他了。”說罷,他一個(gè)人悄悄地笑出聲來。

第二天,我們在山坡上又碰到了那位陌生人,他還和上次一樣,正全神貫注地盯著石頭,還拿著錘子敲敲,聽聽聲音。查爾斯用胳膊肘推了我一下,悄聲說道:“這次我全猜到了,他喬裝成了一位地質(zhì)學(xué)家。”

我仔細(xì)地打量著那個(gè)人。當(dāng)然,對于克雷上校的各種喬裝,我們目前也有了一定的經(jīng)驗(yàn)??梢钥吹?,雖然他鼻子、頭發(fā)還有胡子都變了,但眼睛和身材仍同以前一樣。他有一點(diǎn)發(fā)福,當(dāng)然啦,因?yàn)樗獑萄b成四五十歲的人。他額頭的皺紋,即便一個(gè)比克雷上校技術(shù)差得多的騙子也能輕易學(xué)得來。不過,我覺得,我們起碼要有一定的根據(jù),才能認(rèn)為他就是克雷上校;要是對這些表明他身份的特征置之不顧,以為只不過是我們一時(shí)的憑空想象,這也不妥。

他妻子就坐在附近一塊突起的石頭上,正讀著一本詩集。哈!一本詩集,這一轉(zhuǎn)變也夠妙的!這同一個(gè)有教養(yǎng)的家庭簡直是絕配。“白石南花”還有格蘭頓夫人從不讀詩。不過,這也是克雷上校夫婦——我覺得我該這么稱呼他倆——喬裝的過人之處。他們不僅僅對外表進(jìn)行偽裝;在偽裝這方面,這兩人配合得可謂天衣無縫。這兩人都是演員,也是一對無賴;在這兩方面,他倆簡直無人能敵。

對于那些擅自闖入塞爾登的人,查爾斯從不客氣,只給他們短短的一點(diǎn)時(shí)間,接著便立即將他們轟出去。不過,因?yàn)樗@次另有目的,所以就客客氣氣的。他走近那位女士,鞠了個(gè)躬,搭話道:“天氣很不錯(cuò),不是嗎?海邊這一帶,石南花散發(fā)著清香。我猜,你住在旅店?”

“是的,”女士答道,抬頭看他,臉上掛著迷人的微笑,(“我認(rèn)得這個(gè)笑容,”查爾斯小聲對我說,“多少次我都被它迷住了。”)“我們住在旅店,我丈夫在這兒的山上做點(diǎn)地質(zhì)學(xué)方面的事情。希望查爾斯·凡德里夫特爵士不會過來抓我們。他對那些不請自入的人毫不客氣,旅店的人說他通常脾氣很壞。”

(“還是那股漂亮風(fēng)騷勁兒,”查爾斯對我低聲說,“她是故意這么說的。”)“你誤會了,親愛的女士,”他繼續(xù)道,聲音很大,“別人說的根本不對。我就是查爾斯·凡德里夫特爵士,我脾氣并不壞。你丈夫要是科學(xué)家,我會敬重和仰慕他。我能有今天,也全靠地質(zhì)學(xué)。”說到這兒,他自豪地挺了挺身子,“一切都要?dú)w功于當(dāng)今南非采礦業(yè)的發(fā)展。”

她的臉紅了,是那種真的很少見到的成熟婦女的臉紅——不過,我見過皮卡迪特夫人還有“白石南花”就如此這般紅過臉。“啊,萬分抱歉,”她說,語氣有點(diǎn)不知所措,讓人想起了格蘭頓夫人,“我說得這么草率,請?jiān)?。?mdash;—我不知道您就是查爾斯·凡德里夫特爵士。”

(“她肯定知道,”查爾斯小聲說,“不過,先不管它。”)“哈,這事就別再想了。想必你也知道,太多的人侵?jǐn)_鳥類,我們有時(shí)出于自我防衛(wèi),有責(zé)任警告一下那些擅自闖入的人,讓他們離開這些漂亮的山川。這么做,我也很遺憾——非常遺憾。我自己熱愛——嗯——大自然的美景;因此,也希望其他所有人都盡可能有機(jī)會親近自然——說‘盡可能’,意思就是,總得弄清楚是在誰的地盤上。”

“我明白了,”女士答道,抬起頭奇怪地望著他,“我很欣賞您的這一想法,不過,我覺得您不應(yīng)該有這些顧慮。我剛讀到華茲華斯這些優(yōu)美的詩句——

哦,泉水,草地,山川,果園,

我們之間的愛永不會斷。

“想必您也讀過吧?”她沖他甜甜一笑。

“讀過吧?”查爾斯答道,“讀過!當(dāng)然讀過。我過去最喜歡這幾句——實(shí)際上,我仰慕華茲華斯。”(我懷疑查爾斯這輩子到底有沒有讀過詩,《體育時(shí)報(bào)》上多斯·柴德多斯寫的詩除外。)他接過書,掃了幾眼。“哦,優(yōu)美,寫得太優(yōu)美了!”他說道,語氣極為興奮。不過,他兩眼一直盯著的是那婦人,而不是書上詩人的名字。

突然間,我明白了。不管那女子喬裝成什么樣,也不論他有沒有認(rèn)出她,查爾斯總會被皮卡迪特夫人的魅力折服。此刻,他實(shí)際上已經(jīng)懷疑她了,可他還是像飛蛾繞著蠟燭那樣,盡自己最大的努力把翅膀燒焦!有這么精明的頭腦,卻還做出這種事來,我都要鄙視他了。我堅(jiān)信,一旦涉及女人這個(gè)問題,那些最了不起的人也就變成了最糊涂的人。

此時(shí),她丈夫溜達(dá)了過來,同我們交談。據(jù)他說,他叫福布斯—蓋斯克爾,是北方一所新式學(xué)院的地質(zhì)學(xué)教授,到塞爾登這兒來尋找礦石,發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多讓他感興趣的東西。他喜歡化石,不過對巖石還有礦石有一種特殊愛好。他對煙水晶、瑪瑙以及其他諸如此類的漂亮石頭相當(dāng)了解,還給查爾斯看了看山坡崖壁中的石英、長石、紅色光玉髓,以及其他一些山坡峭壁上我所不知道的礦石。查爾斯裝著抱有極大興趣甚至懷著崇敬之情的樣子在聽他說,絕不讓對方有片刻懷疑自己知道他現(xiàn)學(xué)現(xiàn)賣背后的目的。要是我們想抓住這個(gè)人,就不能讓他發(fā)現(xiàn)我們在懷疑他。因此,查爾斯把他蒙在鼓里。那地質(zhì)學(xué)家說什么,查爾斯都毫無異議地全盤接受。

那天早上的大部分時(shí)間,我們都一起待在山上。查爾斯帶著他們到處轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn),把一切都看了一遍。他裝作對那位科學(xué)家很客氣的樣子,對那位愛詩的女士,他則是發(fā)自內(nèi)心地客氣,極為客氣。不到午飯時(shí)間,我們就已經(jīng)成為非常要好的朋友了。

克雷夫婦二人總是易于相處;雖然他們干些無賴的事,不過,我們不能否認(rèn)同他們相處很愉快。查爾斯邀請他們一起吃午餐,他們欣然接受。在向艾米莉亞介紹他們時(shí),查爾斯不停地?cái)D眉弄眼。“這二位是福布斯—蓋斯克爾教授夫婦,”他說道,使勁使得下巴都快掉了,“親愛的,他們住在旅店,我?guī)麄冊谶@兒轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn),他們一點(diǎn)也不見外,說過來拜訪一下,嘗嘗咱們的冷烤羊肉。”查爾斯經(jīng)常這么開玩笑。

艾米莉亞帶他們到樓上洗手——這對于教授來說絕對有必要,因?yàn)樗芯渴^時(shí)手上沾滿了泥土。他們一離開,查爾斯就把我拉到書房。

“西摩,”他說,“我們這時(shí)最需要避免偏見。我們決不能認(rèn)為這人就是克雷上校——當(dāng)然,也不能認(rèn)為他不是。我們要記住,咱們過去在這兩種情況下都犯過錯(cuò),現(xiàn)在要堅(jiān)決避免舊錯(cuò)重犯。不管今天是哪種情況,我都會隨時(shí)做好準(zhǔn)備——有必要的話,會叫一名警察來隨時(shí)待命抓捕他們!”

“計(jì)劃太妙了!”我低聲道,“不過,請?jiān)试S我提個(gè)建議,這兩個(gè)人到底想怎么給我們下套呢?他們目前沒什么陰謀——沒什么城堡,也沒什么公司合并。”

“西摩,”我內(nèi)兄說道,一副董事會議事的口吻,“你有點(diǎn)太著急了,梅德赫斯特這么說過你——我是指克雷上校喬裝成的梅德赫斯特。首先,咱們才開始接觸,他們還沒想好要做什么,我們也許不久就會發(fā)現(xiàn)他們有份財(cái)產(chǎn)要賣,或者有個(gè)公司要籌辦,再或者有在南非或其他地方開發(fā)土地的特許權(quán)。其次,在他們的計(jì)劃在我們手上引爆之前,或者說真相大白之前,我們總是不知道他們葫蘆里賣的什么藥。在梅德赫斯特偵探帶著我們的錢勝利出逃之前,還有什么能比他更容易看穿的嗎?‘白石南花’還有小副牧師把艾米莉亞自己的珠寶賣給我們,我們覺得像是撿了個(gè)大便宜。事發(fā)前,還有比他們更單純無知的嗎?我不會因?yàn)闆]有發(fā)現(xiàn)某個(gè)人正要針對我們實(shí)施不軌圖謀,而理所當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為他就不是克雷上校。那個(gè)無賴詭計(jì)太多,有一些掩飾得太好,就像精神上的炸藥,直到真正爆炸了,你才會察覺。因此,我會小心行事,就仿佛這種炸藥無處不在。不過,最后一點(diǎn)——這一點(diǎn)非常重要——記住我的話,我覺得我已經(jīng)察覺到了他要耍的套路。他說自己是地質(zhì)學(xué)家,會品鑒礦石。很好。你會發(fā)現(xiàn),要是他沒有很快就勸我,說自己發(fā)現(xiàn)了一處煤礦,具體位置需要給點(diǎn)酬金才會透露,那么他就會騙我說,長山上有綠寶石,但要很大的一部分股份才會幫我探尋;再者,他會想方設(shè)法說些地質(zhì)學(xué)方面的東西來騙我。這家伙的臉上全都一清二楚地寫著呢;這一次,不管他有什么借口,我都堅(jiān)決一個(gè)子兒不給,也不會讓他從我的手中逃掉!”

我們進(jìn)去吃午飯,福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫婦同我們一起,滿臉笑容。不知是不是受了查爾斯“凡事不要想當(dāng)然”這一提醒的影響——吃飯時(shí),我一直緊盯著我們所懷疑的那個(gè)人。我發(fā)現(xiàn)他的頭發(fā)很是怪異。他滿頭頭發(fā)的顏色不一,后面在外套領(lǐng)口處耷拉下來的一綹,比其他大部分烏黑的頭發(fā)顏色稍淺和略白。我仔細(xì)地看了看,越是這樣,我越相信他戴的是假發(fā)。這一點(diǎn)不容置疑。

這也許比克雷上校大多數(shù)時(shí)候的喬裝要遜色些,不過這時(shí),我想到(查爾斯“凡事不要想當(dāng)然”的原則),我們從未懷疑過克雷上校,除了他喬裝成大衛(wèi)閣下的那次,他那紅頭發(fā)還有絡(luò)腮胡子,連皮卡迪特夫人都忍不住指著哧哧笑道太假了。不管哪件事,要是我們仔細(xì)地審視我們要找的這個(gè)人,有點(diǎn)眼力,就本應(yīng)該能立刻(如梅德赫斯特所說)發(fā)現(xiàn)偽裝中的破綻。

那位偵探實(shí)際上已經(jīng)向我們透露了太多。我還記得,他說我們懷疑大衛(wèi)·格蘭頓時(shí),應(yīng)如何去碰掉他的假發(fā)。當(dāng)男仆端上土豆條時(shí),我立刻蹩手蹩腳地要給自己夾一些,這樣胳膊肘就能漫不經(jīng)心地掃到那假發(fā)上。不過,這一切都是徒勞。那家伙似乎預(yù)料到,或者說察覺到了我的動機(jī),便小心地躲開了,像是已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了維持自己的偽裝,避免一切或真或假的意外。

我滿腦子想的都是這個(gè)新的發(fā)現(xiàn),一吃完飯,就哄伊莎貝爾,讓她帶著這兩位新朋友去家里的花園轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn),給他們看看查爾斯那上等的大麗花,而我則趕快告訴查爾斯還有艾米莉亞這一發(fā)現(xiàn),還有這次失敗的嘗試。

“是假發(fā),”艾米莉亞表示同意,“我一眼就看出來了。十分不錯(cuò)的假發(fā),戴得也十分巧妙。男人注意不到這些,不過女人會留意。西摩,你能發(fā)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn),值得表揚(yáng)。”

查爾斯則不太領(lǐng)情。“你個(gè)笨蛋,”他說道,這司空見慣的坦率讓人不悅,“假設(shè)說那就是假發(fā),為什么要試著把它蹭掉去揭露他呢?有什么用嗎?如果那真是假發(fā),被我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了,這不就行了嗎?我們就提防一下,知道自己在同誰打交道。你總不能因?yàn)槟硞€(gè)人戴假發(fā)就把人抓起來啊。法律管不了這事。大多數(shù)體面人物有時(shí)也戴假發(fā),我知道有位公司創(chuàng)始人戴假發(fā),有位掌管著十四家公司的董事也戴!我們下一步要做的就是,等他來騙我們,然后——把他一舉拿下。你放心,他的計(jì)劃早晚會露出馬腳的。”

于是,我們制訂了一套絕佳的方案,隨時(shí)監(jiān)視他們,以免他們再次溜走,就像上次從島上逃掉那樣。首先,艾米莉亞去請他們到城堡中住下,就說旅店房間太小,住著不舒適。然而,我們覺得,他們肯定會同上一次那樣,謝絕好意,因?yàn)槿f一他們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己受到了明顯的懷疑,便可以神不知鬼不覺地溜掉。萬一他們拒絕,只要他們還住在克羅默蒂·阿姆斯旅店,我們就讓西塞琳也在那兒住著,報(bào)告他們的行蹤。同時(shí),白天我們讓侍從領(lǐng)班的兒子來監(jiān)視整個(gè)房子,那個(gè)小伙子十分機(jī)敏,有一股真正的蘇格蘭人的精明勁兒,為人可靠,不會向任何人透露任何消息。

讓我們?nèi)f萬沒想到的是,福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫人滿口答應(yīng),接受了邀請。她再三表示感謝,說阿姆斯旅店的管理不行,做的飯菜對她丈夫的肝臟也不好。我們能邀請他們真是太貼心了,沒想到我們對素昧平生之人會這么友善。她不停地說,自己從未碰到過比在塞爾登城堡更熱忱、更友好的款待了。問題是——她坦然地接受了邀請。

“肯定不是克雷上校,”我對查爾斯說,“克雷上校決不會住在這兒的。他冒充大衛(wèi)·格蘭頓時(shí),住過來是多么順理成章,即便這樣,他也不愿意落入我們的股掌之間:他喜歡在克羅默蒂·阿姆斯旅店的那種自由,還有安全感。”

“西,”我內(nèi)兄簡潔地訓(xùn)誡道,“你真是不可救藥,總擺脫不了偏見的影響。他接受邀請,或許是出于自己的某種考慮。等著吧!等到他準(zhǔn)備行動時(shí)——那時(shí)候,一切都會真相大白。”

就這樣,在接下來的三周內(nèi),福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫婦也參加了我們在塞爾登舉辦的家庭宴會。不得不說,查爾斯對他們極為關(guān)心。為了同這兩位親近,他很明顯怠慢了其他客人。福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫人發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一點(diǎn)。“查爾斯爵士,你對我們太熱情了,”她說,“怕是我們把你都獨(dú)占了!”

可查爾斯,同以前一樣大膽,微笑著答道:“你也清楚,你同我們在一起的時(shí)間卻這么短!”聽到這話,福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫人的面頰又泛起了可愛的紅霞。

在這段時(shí)間里,教授一直在繼續(xù)潛心鉆研礦石。“真夠可以的!”查爾斯對我說,“他演得可真像那么一回事!說到對科學(xué)的熱愛,還有什么能同眼下這個(gè)場景相比?”的確,他從早到晚一心撲在上面。“他遲早會露出馬腳的。”查爾斯說道。

同時(shí),有兩件小事值得注意。一天,我和教授一同到長山上去,我看著他對著石頭敲敲打打,有點(diǎn)受夠了他的裝模作樣。這時(shí),為了打發(fā)時(shí)間,我問他某個(gè)被流水磨平的小石頭是什么。他看了看,微微一笑。“要是里面云母再多一些,”他說,“就是附近一帶典型的冰川礫石形成的片麻巖??上Ю锩嬖颇覆惶?。”說著,他仔細(xì)地打量著那塊石頭。

“實(shí)際上,”我接過話,“這算不上樣品,對吧?”

他嚴(yán)厲地瞪了我一眼。“百分之十,”他說道,聲音很低,很怪異,“通常是百分之十。”

我抖得厲害。他是不是想讓我身敗名裂?“你要是膽敢說出來——”我大聲喊道,但又打住了。

“你說這話什么意思?”他問道,一臉茫然。

我想到了查爾斯說的話,凡事不要主觀臆斷,于是謹(jǐn)慎地就此打住。

第二件小事是這樣的。一天下午,中午野餐后,我遺憾地說,查爾斯當(dāng)時(shí)可能是香檳喝多了些,在山上摘了一枝白石南花。他倒沒出什么洋相,不過心情很不錯(cuò),興致很高,說話口無遮攔。他把花枝拿到福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫人面前,遞給她,有點(diǎn)眉目傳情。“人美花美,”他咕噥道,緊緊地盯著她,“白石南花送給‘白石南花’。”他立刻意識到了自己的言行,便立馬打住。

福布斯—蓋斯克爾夫人的臉上又同以往一樣泛起了紅暈,結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說道:“我——我不太明白。”

查爾斯?fàn)繌?qiáng)附會地解釋道:“白石南花代表幸運(yùn),”他說,“要是——要是哪位男子有幸能送一枝白石南花給你,他肯定會走運(yùn)。”

她微微一笑,一點(diǎn)也不領(lǐng)情。我覺得她懷疑我們在懷疑她。

不過,這件麻煩事之后,什么都沒有發(fā)生。

第二天,查爾斯興高采烈地沖到我面前。“哈,他終于要行動了!”他大聲說道,“我就知道。他昨天找到我,手里拿著——你猜是什么?——一塊含金的石英,在長山上找到的。”

“不會吧!”我叫道。

“千真萬確,”查爾斯說,“他說那兒有一條礦脈,很明顯能看出里面有星星點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的金子,也許值得開采一下。要是有人開始說這種話,你也就明白他是什么意思了!而且,他事先把一切都編好了,因?yàn)樗酉聛砀艺f,薩瑟蘭郡長期以來一直盛產(chǎn)黃金——為什么不是羅斯郡呢?接著他就開始全面對比了這兩個(gè)地區(qū)的地質(zhì)狀況。”

“這就不是兒戲了,”我說,“你打算怎么辦?”

“再等等看,”查爾斯答道,“只要他提議分他一些股票,成立企業(yè)聯(lián)合組織進(jìn)行開礦,或者索取錢財(cái)作為他這一發(fā)現(xiàn)的報(bào)酬——就立刻報(bào)警抓他。”

接下來的幾天,教授比以前更積極、更熱心了。他拿著錘子,將各處石頭都仔細(xì)觀察一番,不斷地帶回一些小石頭,上面還有星星點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的金子,頭頭是道地談著“開礦碎石的大概成本”。查爾斯之前早就聽過這一套,實(shí)際上,他先后幫助起草過幾十份售股章程。因此,他并不在意,就等著那戴假發(fā)的男子拿出自己的方案。他知道,這一刻很快就會到來,于是就靜觀其變。不過,為了引誘他采取進(jìn)一步行動,他裝作對此事很感興趣。

我們都抱著這種想法,聽隨天意,觀察克雷上校要怎么做。一天,我們沿著海岸朝著與海鷗島相反的方向散步。突然,我們碰到了那位教授,他正挽著阿道弗斯·科德里爵士的胳膊!二人貌似關(guān)系不錯(cuò),談得很投入。

現(xiàn)在,自從股價(jià)暴跌事件以后,阿道弗斯爵士同凡德里夫特一家的關(guān)系自然變得略微緊張些。不過,在目前的情況下,這事關(guān)能否抓住克雷上校,這點(diǎn)小隔閡先放一放也無妨。于是,查爾斯便設(shè)法把教授與阿道弗斯爵士分開,又讓艾米莉亞陪教授回城堡,而自己則在后面停住,同我和阿道弗斯爵士一起把問題厘清。

“你認(rèn)識他嗎,科德里?”他問,稍顯狐疑。

“認(rèn)識他嗎?當(dāng)然,我當(dāng)然認(rèn)識,”阿道弗斯爵士回答,“他叫瑪瑪丟克·福布斯—蓋斯克爾,在約克郡大學(xué)工作,是一位非常杰出的科學(xué)家,一流的礦物學(xué)家——也許是(除一個(gè)人之外)全英國最了不起的。”出于謙虛,他沒說出那個(gè)例外的人是何方高士。

“你敢確保他的身份嗎?”查爾斯變得更加懷疑,便問道,“你以前認(rèn)識他嗎?不會是第二個(gè)施萊爾馬赫吧?”

“你敢確保他的身份嗎?”阿道弗斯爵士應(yīng)道,“那我知道自己是誰嗎?自從在三一學(xué)院時(shí),我就認(rèn)識瑪米·蓋斯克爾了,在他同福布斯小姐結(jié)婚前就認(rèn)識他了;他夫人來自格倫盧斯,是我妻子的二表妹,為了不讓財(cái)產(chǎn)流到族外,便把兩人的姓氏連起來做雙姓來用。我跟他們倆都非常熟。我到這兒的旅館來,是因?yàn)槁犝f瑪米在這一帶的山丘中游蕩,我想他也許要找些什么寶貝——藏在化石中的某些寶貝。”

“可他戴著假發(fā)!”查爾斯提醒他。

“肯定,”科德里答道,“他禿頂?shù)脜柡?mdash;—至少前面是這樣——所以他戴假發(fā)遮掩一下。”

“這太無恥了,”查爾斯叫道,“無恥——把我們耍成這樣。”他臉漲得通紅,像只雄火雞。

阿道弗斯爵士毫無顧忌,突然大笑起來。

“哦,我明白了,”他叫道,一下子來了興致,“你覺得福布斯—蓋斯克爾是克雷上校喬裝的!哈,我的天,你可真行!”

“至少你無權(quán)取笑我,”查爾斯接過話,挺了挺身子,臉更紅了,“你曾經(jīng)引著我進(jìn)了一個(gè)類似的圈套,接著你從中全身而退,非紳士所為。還有,”查爾斯繼續(xù)道,每個(gè)字眼都冒著愈發(fā)濃烈的火氣,“這家伙,不管他是誰,總想憑自己的一面之詞騙我。不管他是不是克雷上校,但他老是騙我,說我這兒的山丘中有含金石英,還試著誘使我參與一個(gè)荒唐可笑的投機(jī)活動!”

阿道弗斯爵士忍無可忍。“這太過分了,”他大聲說道,“我得告訴瑪米!”福布斯—蓋斯克爾正同艾米莉亞一起坐在巖石的一角,于是他便急急忙忙過去了。

而我和查爾斯則返回家中。半小時(shí)后,福布斯—蓋斯克爾也火冒三丈地回來了。

“先生,你這是什么意思?”他看到查爾斯便吼道,“有人跟我說,你邀請我和我妻子到你家來,是想監(jiān)視我們,覺得我是那個(gè)臭名遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)的騙子克雷上校!”

“我之前是這么想的,”查爾斯答道,也同樣十分光火,“說不準(zhǔn)你就是他!不管怎么說,你是個(gè)無賴,想騙我一把!”

福布斯—蓋斯克爾臉氣得發(fā)白,轉(zhuǎn)向正在發(fā)抖的妻子。“格特魯?shù)拢?rdquo;他說,“收拾行李,立刻遠(yuǎn)離這些人!他們假惺惺地裝作好客,實(shí)則是一場精心策劃的羞辱。他們讓你我顯得極其荒唐可笑。咱們來這兒之前就有人說——說得一點(diǎn)不錯(cuò)——查爾斯·凡德里夫特爵士是全蘇格蘭最摳門、最專橫的老渾蛋。咱們還興高采烈地寫信跟朋友們說,事實(shí)與他們說的正相反,說他是最熱情、最大方、最大度的紳士?,F(xiàn)在,我們知道了,他就是個(gè)無恥之徒,裝成好人樣,出于卑鄙的動機(jī)邀請陌生人到他家做客,然后無端地羞辱他們。這種人這輩子應(yīng)該隔三岔五地聽聽真話,我倍感榮幸,因?yàn)槲乙嬖V查爾斯·凡德里夫特爵士:他就是個(gè)最沒有良心的無賴小人。格特魯?shù)?,去收拾行李!我去克羅默蒂·阿姆斯旅店叫馬車,帶咱們離開這沒人情味兒的假城堡,一分鐘也不停留。”

“你戴了假發(fā),先生,可是你戴了假發(fā)。”查爾斯叫道,激動得快說不出話了。的確,福布斯—蓋斯克爾說話時(shí),氣得把頭轉(zhuǎn)來轉(zhuǎn)去,戴的假發(fā)向一邊斜得很厲害。戴假發(fā)這事就掩飾不住了。

“先生,我是戴了假發(fā),我還能當(dāng)著無賴的面甩一甩呢!”教授回敬道,說著把假發(fā)扯掉,打算重新戴上;并且為了“說到做到”,還在查爾斯面前甩了三次;接著他氣得一句話沒說,快步走出房間。

等他們走后,當(dāng)查爾斯氣消得剛能聽進(jìn)別人講的道理時(shí),我就斗膽說道:“這下錯(cuò)不了了!我們搞錯(cuò)了。我們理所當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為,一個(gè)人要是戴假發(fā),他就一定是騙子——但這不一定正確。我們忘了頭上戴假發(fā)的不僅僅是克雷上校,忘了別人戴假發(fā)也可能純粹是出于愛面子。實(shí)際上,我們又一次受了偏見的左右。”

我直直地盯著他。查爾斯起身。“西摩·溫特沃斯,”他高高在上地怒視著我,終于開口了,“你這番說教講的可真是時(shí)候!我想,你是不是壓根兒就不明白作為一位私人秘書的身份與職責(zé)!”

不過,這件事最離奇的部分是——查爾斯深信,福布斯—蓋斯克爾雖然不是克雷上校,但一直哄他說石頭中有金子,想騙他,于是再也沒有關(guān)注這些所謂的發(fā)現(xiàn)。于是,福布斯—蓋斯克爾和阿道弗斯一起帶著這個(gè)秘密去了別處。查爾斯把塞爾登城堡這份地產(chǎn)賣掉時(shí)(不久后他就賣掉了,因?yàn)樗涿畹貐拹哼@個(gè)地方),克雷蓋拉奇勛爵就從他手中將它買了過來,并成立了現(xiàn)在的“塞爾登黃金城有限公司”。結(jié)果,福布斯—蓋斯克爾給克雷蓋拉奇說,他在某塊地產(chǎn)上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一條富礦礦脈,要是給他一定的原始股份的未定權(quán)益,他就說出具體的位置。這位勛爵立刻抓住了這個(gè)機(jī)會。查爾斯以射獵松雞的沼地的價(jià)格把它賣掉了,結(jié)果現(xiàn)在即便除去推廣的費(fèi)用,黃金城目前的回報(bào)也相當(dāng)可觀——而查爾斯又被騙走了一樁金礦的好買賣!

不過,我時(shí)刻謹(jǐn)記自己“作為私人秘書的身份與責(zé)任”,當(dāng)時(shí)沒有向他挑明,這筆損失源于一個(gè)固有的成見——實(shí)際上,這一切都源于查爾斯那令人費(fèi)解的偏見:凡是戴假發(fā)的男子,不管是誰,都想騙他。

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