雙語·面紗 第一章

1

She gave a startled cry.

“What's the matter?” he asked.

Notwithstanding the darkness of the shuttered room he saw her face on a sudden distraught with terror.

“Some one just tried the door.”

“Well, perhaps it was the amah, or one of the boys.”

“They never come at this time. They know I always sleep after tiffin.”

“Who else could it be?”

“Walter,” she whispered, her lips trembling.

She pointed to his shoes. He tried to put them on, but his nervousness, for her alarm was affecting him, made him clumsy, and besides, they were on the tight side. With a faint gasp of impatience she gave him a shoe horn. She slipped into a kimono and in her bare feet went over to her dressing-table. Her hair was shingled and with a comb she had repaired its disorder before he had laced his second shoe. She handed him his coat.

“How shall I get out?”

“You'd better wait a bit. I'll look out and see that it's all right.”

“It can't possibly be Walter. He doesn't leave the laboratory till five.”

“Who is it then?”

They spoke in whispers now. She was quaking. It occurred to him that in an emergency she would lose her head and on a sudden he felt angry with her. If it wasn't safe why the devil had she said it was? She caught her breath and put her hand on his arm. He followed the direction of her glance. They stood facing the windows that led out on the verandah. They were shuttered and the shutters were bolted. They saw the white china knob of the handle slowly turn. They had heard no one walk along the verandah. It was terrifying to see that silent motion. A minute passed and there was no sound. Then, with the ghastliness of the supernatural, in the same stealthy, noiseless and horrifying manner, they saw the white china knob of the handle at the other window turn also. It was so frightening that Kitty, her nerves failing her, opened her mouth to scream; but, seeing what she was going to do, he swiftly put his hand over it and her cry was smothered in his fingers.

Silence. She leaned against him, her knees shaking, and he was afraid she would faint. Frowning, his jaw set, he carried her to the bed and sat her down upon it. She was as white as the sheet and notwithstanding his tan his cheeks were pale too. He stood by her side looking with fascinated gaze at the china knob. They did not speak. Then he saw that she was crying.

“For God's sake don't do that,” he whispered irritably. “If we're in for it we're in for it. We shall just have to brazen it out.”

She looked for her handkerchief and knowing what she wanted he gave her her bag.

“Where's your topee?”

“I left it downstairs.”

“Oh, my God!”

“I say, you must pull yourself together. It's a hundred to one it wasn't Walter. Why on earth should he come back at this hour? He never does come home in the middle of the day, does he?”

“Never.”

“I'll bet you anything you like it was amah.”

She gave him the shadow of a smile. His rich, caressing voice reassured her and she took his hand and affectionately pressed it. He gave her a moment to collect herself.

“Look here, we can't stay here for ever,” he said then. “Do you feel up to going out on the verandah and having a look?”

“I don't think I can stand.”

“Have you got any brandy in here?”

She shook her head. A frown for an instant darkened his brow, he was growing impatient, he did not quite know what to do. Suddenly she clutched his hand more tightly.

“Suppose he's waiting there?”

He forced his lips to smile and his voice retained the gentle, persuasive tone the effect of which he was so fully conscious of.

“That's not very likely. Have a little pluck, Kitty. How can it possibly be your husband? If he'd come in and seen a strange topee in the hall and come upstairs and found your room locked, surely he would have made some sort of row. It must have been one of the servants. Only a Chinese would turn a handle in that way.”

She did feel more herself now.

“It's not very pleasant even if it was only the amah.”

“She can be squared and if necessary I'll put the fear of God into her. There are not many advantages in being a government official, but you may as well get what you can out of it.”

He must be right. She stood up and turning to him stretched out her arms: he took her in his and kissed her on the lips. It was such rapture that it was pain. She adored him. He released her and she went to the window. She slid back the bolt and opening the shutter a little looked out. There was not a soul. She slipped on to the verandah, looked into her husband's dressing-room and then into her own sitting-room. Both were empty. She went back to the bedroom and beckoned to him.

“Nobody.”

“I believe the whole thing was an optical delusion.”

“Don't laugh. I was terrified. Go into my sitting-room and sit down. I'll put on my stockings and some shoes.”

第一章

她發(fā)出一聲驚叫。

“怎么了？”他問道。

百葉窗早已拉下，他已經適應了房間里的黑暗，猛然看見她的臉由于恐懼而變得有些扭曲。

“剛才有人動了一下門?！?/p>

“沒事，也許是女仆，或者八成是哪個男仆?！?/p>

“這個時候他們是不會來的，他們都知道我在午飯后總是要睡一會兒的?！?/p>

“那還有可能會是誰呢？”

“沃爾特?！彼÷暤卣f，嘴唇顫抖著。

她指了指他的鞋。他努力地想把鞋穿上，但因為她的驚慌影響了他，他自己也開始緊張起來，笨手笨腳的，況且鞋子本身也有點兒緊，怎么也穿不進去。她不耐煩地輕嘆了一口氣，遞給他一副鞋拔子，然后，自己慌忙地套上一件寬大的袍子，光著腳走到梳妝臺前。她的頭發(fā)已經剪短，在他系第二只鞋的鞋帶之前，她已經用梳子把蓬亂的頭發(fā)整理了一下，接著把他的外套遞給他。

“我怎么出去呀？”

“你最好等一會兒。我出去看看，沒事了你再出去。”

“不太可能是沃爾特，在五點之前他不會離開實驗室的?！?/p>

“那會是誰？”

他們又開始小聲嘀咕起來，她全身發(fā)抖。他腦海里突然閃過一個念頭，在緊急時刻，她總是驚慌失措，他不免對她生起氣來。如果不安全，她為什么老是說沒事呢？她屏住呼吸，抓住他的胳膊。他順著她的目光看去，面前是幾扇窗戶，窗外是陽臺，百葉窗已經拉上了，但他們分明看見白色陶瓷的球狀把手在慢慢地轉動。之前他們沒有聽見有人在陽臺走動的腳步聲，所以看到把手無聲地轉動感到驚恐萬狀。一分鐘過去了，還是寂靜無聲。隨后，他們又看到另一扇窗戶上的白瓷圓把手也開始詭異地轉動起來，以一種同剛才一樣的鬼鬼祟祟、悄無聲息、令人毛骨悚然的方式。這情景如此嚇人，以致凱蒂的精神一下子崩潰了，張開嘴馬上要驚呼起來。但是，他似乎意識到了她的下一步舉動，迅速地用手捂住了她的嘴，她的驚叫聲生生被他的手掌悶住了。

還是一片寂靜，她斜靠在他的身上，雙腿篩糠似的抖個不停，他也擔心她可能會暈倒，皺著眉頭，咬緊牙關，把她攙扶到床邊，讓她坐了下來。她的臉色煞白，盡管他的臉已經曬成了古銅色，但此時也失去了血色。他站在她的旁邊，眼睛著魔似的死死盯著那個圓形的瓷把手。他們都沒有吭聲，接著他看到她又要驚叫了。

“看在上帝的分兒上，別喊叫，”他氣急敗壞地小聲說，“該來的終究會來，我們不得不豁出去了?！?/p>

她在摸索手帕，看出了她的心思，他把她的包遞給了她。

“你的遮陽帽呢？”

“我把它落在樓下了。”

“噢，我的上帝！”

“我說，你必須打起點兒精神來，百分之百不會是沃爾特的，他怎么可能在這個鐘點兒回來呢？他絕不會在大中午跑回家來，是吧？”

“是的?！?/p>

“我敢肯定那是某個女仆?！?/p>

她沖著他淡淡地笑了一下，他那渾厚的、充滿愛撫的聲音讓她鎮(zhèn)定了許多，她拉起他的手，深情地緊握著。他給了她片刻時間讓她慢慢地安靜下來。

“你瞧，我們不能永遠待在這兒呀，”他隨后說道，“你覺得能走到陽臺上去看看情況嗎？”

“我覺得我還站不起來?！?/p>

“這兒有白蘭地嗎？”

她搖了搖頭。他眉頭緊鎖，臉色陰沉，心里又開始煩躁起來，他也不是很清楚接下來應該做些什么。突然，她更加緊張地攥著他的手。

“如果他正在外面等著該怎么辦呀？”

他從嘴角擠出一絲微笑，盡量使聲音保持溫柔，用一種不容置疑的口吻說服她，他自己很清楚用這種語氣跟她說話所能達到的效果。

“那不太可能。振作點兒，凱蒂。怎么可能是你丈夫呢？假設他回來，在門廳里看見一頂陌生的遮陽帽，來到樓上發(fā)現你的房門緊鎖，肯定會大喊大叫的。所以，一定是你的某個仆人，況且只有中國人才會那樣擰把手。”

她現在確實感覺回過神來了。

“即使是個女仆，也不大妙。”

“我能擺平她，如果有必要，我會搬出上帝來嚇唬她。雖然作為一名政府官員好處并不多，但是總能發(fā)揮點兒作用?！?/p>

他一定是對的。她站起身來，沖著他張開了雙臂，他把她摟在了懷中，親吻著她的雙唇。在狂喜中夾雜著痛楚，她崇拜他。他松開了她，她走向了窗戶，抽回了窗閂，把百葉窗打開了一道縫隙，向外觀望。外面沒有人，她又悄悄跑到陽臺上，向她丈夫的更衣室里看了看，又望了望自己的起居室，兩個房間都空無一人。她回到臥室，向他揮手示意。

“沒有人?！?/p>

“我覺得打開頭就是我們看花了眼?！?/p>

“別笑，嚇死我了。你先去我的起居室坐會兒，我得把長筒襪和鞋穿上。”