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II
She said:
“I’d like to tell you. About that child—Cyril Hamilton. I was nursery governess to him. He
was forbidden to swim out far. One day, when my attention was distracted, he started off. I
swam after him … I couldn’t get there in time … It was awful … But it wasn’t my fault. At the
inquest the Coroner exonerated2 me. And his mother—she was so kind. If even she didn’t blame
me, why should—why should this awful thing be said? It’s not fair—not fair….”
She broke down, weeping bitterly.
General Macarthur patted her shoulder.
He said:
“There there, my dear. Of course it’s not true. Fellow’s a madman. A madman! Got a bee
“Best really to leave this sort of thing unanswered. However, feel I ought to say—no truth
—no truth whatever in what he said about—er—young Arthur Richmond. Richmond was one
of my officers. I sent him on a reconnaissance. He was killed. Natural course of events in
wartime. Wish to say resent very much—slur on my wife. Best woman in the world. Absolutely
—Cæsar’s wife!”
General Macarthur sat down. His shaking hand pulled at his moustache. The effort to speak
had cost him a good deal.
Lombard spoke. His eyes were amused. He said:
“About those natives—”
Marston said:
“What about them?”
Philip Lombard grinned.
“Story’s quite true! I left ’em! Matter of self-preservation. We were lost in the bush. I and
a couple of other fellows took what food there was and cleared out.”
General Macarthur said sternly:
“You abandoned your men—left them to starve?”
Lombard said:
“Not quite the act of a pukka sahib, I’m afraid. But self-preservation’s a man’s first duty.
And natives don’t mind dying, you know. They don’t feel about it as Europeans do.”
Vera lifted her face from her hands. She said, staring at him:
“You left them—to die?”
Lombard answered:
“I left them to die.”
Anthony Marston said in a slow puzzled voice:
“I’ve just been thinking—John and Lucy Combes. Must have been a couple of kids I ran
over near Cambridge. Beastly bad luck.”
Mr. Justice Wargrave said acidly:
“For them, or for you?”
Anthony said:
“Well, I was thinking—for me—but of course, you’re right, sir, it was damned bad luck on
them. Of course it was a pure accident. They rushed out of some cottage or other. I had my
licence suspended for a year. Beastly nuisance.”
Dr. Armstrong said warmly:
“This speeding’s all wrong — all wrong! Young men like you are a danger to the
community.”
“Speed’s come to stay. English roads are hopeless, of course. Can’t get up a decent pace on
them.”
“Well, anyway it wasn’t my fault. Just an accident!”
2
维拉·克莱索恩的声音哆哆嗦嗦的：
“我愿意跟你们说说关于那个孩子的事。那孩子叫西里尔·汉密尔顿，我负责照顾他。
本来不许他游泳的时候游出去太远。有一天，我一不留神，他就游远了。我使劲儿往前
游，想追上他…但我真的追不上……确实太可怕了……但这不是我的错啊。法官质询时，
验尸官对我丝毫没有质疑，孩子的母亲是个心地善良的人，她也没有责怪我。可是，这个
人凭什么……凭什么说出这样可怕的话？这对我太不公平了，不公平……”
她一时语塞，兀自伤心地哭了起来。
麦克阿瑟将军拍拍她的肩膀，说：
“好了，好了，亲爱的姑娘。你受到这样的诬陷当然是不公平的。那家伙是个疯子，一
个疯子，精神错乱，颠倒是非，胡说八道。”
他突然站起来，腰板挺直，端着肩膀大声说：
“我们都不要把这个人的话往心里去。当然，我也想说几句。他说得不对……他说的那
些事根本不对。呃……阿瑟·里奇蒙是我的一个副官。有一次，他被我派去执行侦察任务，
结果中了埋伏，牺牲了。战争中难免出这种事。不仅如此，还有一点我必须说清楚，我现
在很气愤，这个家伙居然还敢污蔑我夫人。她是天底下最好的女人，就像恺撒的妻子一
样！”
麦克阿瑟将军说完就坐下了，颤抖的手扯着胡子。说出这段话可费了他不少劲儿。
隆巴德说话了。他眼中闪过一丝狡黠：
“关于东非土著的事情——”
马斯顿问：
“他们是怎么回事？”
菲利普·隆巴德微微一笑。
“事情就是那样。我把他们甩下，自己跑了。为了保全自己嘛。我们在林子里迷了路。
我和另外几个人把粮食全带上，然后溜了。”
麦克阿瑟将军严肃地问：
“你把自己的部下抛弃了，让他们活活饿死在森林里？”
隆巴德说：
“我也知道自己这样做是有点儿不仗义。但是，我已经说过了，是为了保全我自己的性
命！而且土著人本来也把生死这种事看得比较淡，你也知道，他们不像欧洲人。”
维拉抬起头，吃惊地望着隆巴德，说：
“你就让他们……等死吗？”
隆巴德说：
“对，让他们等死。”
他取乐般地盯着维拉惊恐的双眼。
安东尼·马斯顿一边琢磨，一边慢吞吞地说：
“我刚才一直在想，约翰和露西·库姆斯，这两个人应该就是我在剑桥附近撞死的那两
个孩子了。可真是倒霉透顶。”
瓦格雷夫法官先生尖锐地问：
“谁倒霉？你？还是他们？”
安东尼说：
“是啊，我觉得算我倒霉。当然，你说得也没错，他们俩也够倒霉的。可这纯粹是个意
外。他们突然从屋里还是什么别的地方冲出来，撞上我的车。害得我的驾驶执照被吊销了
一年。真是倒霉透了。”
阿姆斯特朗医生气不打一处来，嚷嚷道：
“你把车开得这么快本来就不对！像你这样的年轻人对社会简直是个祸害。”
安东尼不屑地耸了耸肩膀，说：
“我的车开得快不快还得另当别论，反正英国的公路是没法指望了，速度根本提不上
去。”
他环顾四周，想找自己的酒杯，结果在另一张桌子上找到了。
他跑到靠墙的酒桌边，给自己倒了一杯威士忌加苏打，回过头来说：
“反正不管怎么说，这件事怪不得我，不过是一次意外而已！”
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