无人生还44
时间：2026-03-19 03:08:47
（单词翻译:单击）
II
Rogers was standing by the dining-room door. As the three men descen-
ded the stairs he moved a step or two forward. He said in a low anxious
voice:
‘I hope lunch will be satisfactory. There is cold ham and cold tongue,
and I’ve boiled some potatoes. And there’s cheese and biscuits, and some
tinned fruits.’
Lombard said:
‘Sounds all right. Stores are holding out, then?’
‘There is plenty of food, sir—of a tinned variety. The larder is very well
stocked. A necessity, that, I should say, sir, on an island where one may be
cut off from the mainland for a considerable period.’
Lombard nodded.
Rogers murmured as he followed the three men into the dining-room:
‘It worries me that Fred Narracott hasn’t been over today. It’s peculiarly
unfortunate, as you might say.’
‘Yes,’ said Lombard, ‘peculiarly unfortunate describes it very well.’
Miss Brent came into the room. She had just dropped a ball of wool and
was carefully rewinding the end of it.
As she took her seat at table she remarked:
‘The weather is changing. The wind is quite strong and there are white
horses on the sea.’
Mr Justice Wargrave came in. He walked with a slow measured tread.
He darted quick looks from under his bushy eyebrows at the other occu-
pants of the dining-room. He said:
‘You have had an active morning.’
There was a faint malicious pleasure in his voice.
Vera Claythorne hurried in. She was a little out of breath.
She said quickly:
‘I hope you didn’t wait for me. Am I late?’
Emily Brent said:
‘You’re not the last. The General isn’t here yet.’
They sat round the table.
Rogers addressed Miss Brent.
‘Will you begin, Madam, or will you wait?’
Vera said:
‘General Macarthur is sitting right down by the sea. I don’t expect he
would hear the gong there anyway’—she hesitated—‘he’s a little vague
today, I think.’
Rogers said quickly:
‘I will go down and inform him luncheon is ready.’
Dr Armstrong jumped up.
‘I’ll go,’ he said. ‘You others start lunch.’
He left the room. Behind him he heard Rogers’ voice.
‘Will you take cold tongue or cold ham, Madam?’
III
The five people sitting round the table seemed to find conversation diffi-
cult. Outside, sudden gusts of wind came up and died away.
Vera shivered a little and said:
‘There is a storm coming.’
Blore made a contribution to the discourse. He said conversationally:
‘There was an old fellow in the train from Plymouth yesterday. He kept
saying a storm was coming. Wonderful how they know weather, these old
salts.’
Rogers went round the table collecting the meat plates.
Suddenly, with the plates held in his hands, he stopped.
He said in an odd scared voice:
‘There’s somebody running…’
They could all hear it—running feet along the terrace.
In that minute, they knew—knew without being told…
As by common accord, they all rose to their feet. They stood looking to-
wards the door.
Dr Armstrong appeared, his breath coming fast.
He said:
‘General Macarthur—’
‘Dead!’ The word burst from Vera explosively.
Armstrong said:
‘Yes, he’s dead…’
There was a pause—a long pause.
Seven people looked at each other and could find no words to say.
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