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IV
Dr. Armstrong came out on to the terrace. He stood there hesitating. To his left were Blore and
Armstrong, after a moment of indecision, turned towards the latter.
But at that moment Rogers came quickly out of the house.
“Could I have a word with you, sir, please?”
Armstrong turned.
He was startled at what he saw.
Rogers’ face was working. Its colour was greyish green. His hands shook.
It was such a contrast to his restraint of a few minutes ago that Armstrong was quite taken
aback.
“Please sir, if I could have a word with you. Inside, sir.”
“What’s the matter, man, pull yourself together.”
“In here, sir, come in here.”
He opened the dining room door. The doctor passed in. Rogers followed him and shut the
door behind him.
“Well,” said Armstrong, “what is it?”
The muscles of Rogers’ throat were working. He was swallowing. He jerked out:
“There’s things going on, sir, that I don’t understand.”
Armstrong said sharply:
“Things? What things?”
“You’ll think I’m crazy, sir. You’ll say it isn’t anything. But it’s got to be explained, sir.
It’s got to be explained. Because it doesn’t make any sense.”
Rogers swallowed again.
He said:
“It’s those little figures, sir. In the middle of the table. The little china figures. Ten of them,
there were. I’ll swear to that, ten of them.”
Armstrong said:
“Yes, ten. We counted them last night at dinner.”
Rogers came nearer.
“That’s just it, sir. Last night, when I was clearing up, there wasn’t but nine, sir. I noticed it
and thought it queer. But that’s all I thought. And now, sir, this morning. I didn’t notice when I
laid the breakfast. I was upset and all that.
“But now, sir, when I came to clear away. See for yourself if you don’t believe me.
“There’s only eight, sir! Only eight! It doesn’t make sense, does it? Only eight.…”
4
阿姆斯特朗医生走到露台上，停住脚，迟疑了一会儿。布洛尔和隆巴德站在他左边，
瓦格雷夫站在右边，正低着头踱来踱去。
阿姆斯特朗想了想，便向瓦格雷夫走去。
就在这时，罗杰斯急匆匆地从屋里走了出来。
“我能和你说句话吗，先生？”
阿姆斯特朗转过身去。
眼前这人的模样让他大吃一惊。
罗杰斯脸色灰白，嘴角抽搐，双手发抖。
和几分钟前那副镇定克制的神态相比，此刻的他好像变了一个人。阿姆斯特朗不由得
大吃一惊。
“先生，请你到屋里来，听我说句话。”
阿姆斯特朗和失魂落魄的管家一起走回别墅。
他说：
“你镇定些！怎么了？”
“请到这边来，先生，这边。”
他打开餐厅的门。阿姆斯特朗走进去，罗杰斯紧随其后进去，随手拉上门。
“好吧，”阿姆斯特朗问道，“到底发生了什么事？”
罗杰斯喉咙发颤。他拼命咽着口水，一字一顿地说：
“这儿有个问题，先生，我实在搞不明白。”
阿姆斯特朗紧张地问：
“问题？什么问题？”
“你也许觉得我疯了，先生。你可能会说这没什么。但是，我真的搞不明白，先生。总
得有人解释一下啊，这件事太奇怪了！”
“行了，你快告诉我到底有什么问题？别再说些没用的。”
罗杰斯又咽了咽口水，说：
“是那些小瓷人，先生。摆在桌子正中的那些小瓷人，一共有十个。本来应该是十个。
我发誓，本来一共有十个。”
阿姆斯特朗说：
“是啊，是十个。昨天晚上吃饭的时候大家数过了。”
罗杰斯凑过来。
“问题就在这儿，先生。昨天晚上我收拾桌子的时候，只有九个了。我当时就注意到
了，也觉得有点儿奇怪。但无非就是有点儿奇怪，没再多想。今天早晨我摆桌子的时候，
没注意这些小瓷人，因为我心里乱成一团麻。可是现在，先生，我正要收拾桌子，如果不
信的话，请你自己看看吧。小瓷人只有八个了，先生！只有八个！这是怎么回事？只有八
个了……”
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