沉睡的谋杀案2
时间：2026-01-29 07:37:06
（单词翻译:单击）
One
A HOUSE
Gwenda Reed stood, shivering a little, on the quayside.
The docks and the custom sheds and all of England that she could see,
were gently waving up and down.
And it was in that moment that she made her decision—the decision
that was to lead to such very momentous events.
She wouldn’t go by the boat train to London as she had planned.
After all, why should she? No one was waiting for her, nobody expected
her. She had only just got off that heaving creaking boat (it had been an
exceptionally rough three days through the Bay and up to Plymouth) and
the last thing she wanted was to get into a heaving swaying train. She
would go to a hotel, a nice firm steady hotel standing on good solid
ground. And she would get into a nice steady bed that didn’t creak and
roll. And she would go to sleep, and the next morning—why, of course—
what a splendid idea! She would hire a car and she would drive slowly
and without hurrying herself all through the South of England looking
about for a house — a nice house — the house that she and Giles had
planned she should find. Yes, that was a splendid idea.
In that way she would see something of England—of the England that
Giles had told her about and which she had never seen; although, like
most New Zealanders, she called it Home. At the moment, England was
not looking particularly attractive. It was a grey day with rain imminent
and a sharp irritating wind blowing. Plymouth, Gwenda thought, as she
moved forward obediently in the queue for Passports and Customs, was
probably not the best of England.
On the following morning, however, her feelings were entirely different.
The sun was shining. The view from her window was attractive. And the
universe in general was no longer waving and wobbling. It had steadied
down. This was England at last and here she was, Gwenda Reed, young
married woman of twenty-one, on her travels. Giles’s return to England
was uncertain. He might follow her in a few weeks. It might be as long as
six months. His suggestion had been that Gwenda should precede him to
England and should look about for a suitable house. They both thought it
would be nice to have, somewhere, a permanency. Giles’s job would al-
ways entail a certain amount of travelling. Sometimes Gwenda would
come too, sometimes the conditions would not be suitable. But they both
liked the idea of having a home—some place of their own. Giles had inher-
ited some furniture from an aunt recently, so that everything combined to
make the idea a sensible and practical one.
Since Gwenda and Giles were reasonably well-off the prospect presen-
ted no difficulties.
Gwenda had demurred at first at choosing a house on her own. “We
ought to do it together,” she had said. But Giles had said laughingly: “I’m
not much of a hand at houses. If you like it, I shall. A bit of a garden, of
course, and not some brand-new horror—and not too big. Somewhere on
the south coast was my idea. At any rate, not too far inland.”
“Was there any particular place?” Gwenda asked. But Giles said No.
He’d been left an orphan young (they were both orphans) and had been
passed around to various relations for holidays, and no particular spot
had any particular association for him. It was to be Gwenda’s house—and
as for waiting until they could choose it together, suppose he were held up
for six months? What would Gwenda do with herself all that time? Hang
about in hotels? No, she was to find a house and get settled in.
“What you mean is,” said Gwenda, “do all the work!”
But she liked the idea of finding a home and having it all ready, cosy and
lived in, for when Giles came back.
They had been married just three months and she loved him very much.
After sending for breakfast in bed, Gwenda got up and arranged her
plans. She spent a day seeing Plymouth which she enjoyed and on the fol-
lowing day she hired a comfortable Daimler car and chauffeur and set off
on her journey through England.
The weather was good and she enjoyed her tour very much. She saw
several possible residences in Devonshire but nothing that she felt was ex-
actly right. There was no hurry. She would go on looking. She learned to
read between the lines of the house agents’ enthusiastic descriptions and
saved herself a certain number of fruitless errands.
It was on a Tuesday evening about a week later that the car came gently
down the curving hill road into Dillmouth and on the outskirts of that still
charming seaside resort, passed a For Sale board where, through the trees,
a glimpse of a small white Victorian villa could be seen.
Immediately Gwenda felt a throb of appreciation—almost of recogni-
tion. This was her house! Already she was sure of it. She could picture the
garden, the long windows—she was sure that the house was just what she
wanted.
It was late in the day, so she put up at the Royal Clarence Hotel and went
to the house agents whose name she had noted on the board the following
morning.
Presently, armed with an order to view, she was standing in the old-
fashioned long drawing room with its two french windows giving on to a
flagged terrace in front of which a kind of rockery interspersed with
flowering shrubs fell sharply to a stretch of lawn below. Through the trees
at the bottom of the garden the sea could be seen.
This is my house, thought Gwenda. It’s home. I feel already as though I
know every bit of it.
The door opened and a tall melancholy woman with a cold in the head
entered, sniffing. “Mrs. Hengrave? I have an order from Messrs. Galbraith
and Penderley. I’m afraid it’s rather early in the day—”
Mrs. Hengrave, blowing her nose, said sadly that that didn’t matter at
all. The tour of the house began.
Yes, it was just right. Not too large. A bit old-fashioned, but she and Giles
could put in another bathroom or two. The kitchen could be modernized.
It already had an Aga, fortunately. With a new sink and up-to-date equip-
ment—
Through all Gwenda’s plans and preoccupations, the voice of Mrs. Hen-
grave droned thinly on recounting the details of the late Major Hengrave’s
last illness. Half of Gwenda attended to making the requisite noises of con-
dolence, sympathy and understanding. Mrs. Hengrave’s people all lived in
Kent—anxious she should come and settle near them … the Major had
been very fond of Dillmouth, secretary for many years of the Golf Club,
but she herself….
“Yes … Of course … Dreadful for you … Most natural … Yes, nursing
homes are like that … Of course … You must be….”
And the other half of Gwenda raced along in thought: Linen cupboard
here, I expect … Yes. Double room—nice view of sea—Giles will like that.
Quite a useful little room here—Giles might have it as a dressing room …
Bathroom—I expect the bath has a mahogany surround—Oh yes, it has!
How lovely—and standing in the middle of the floor! I shan’t change that
—it’s a period piece!
Such an enormous bath!
One could have apples on the surround. And sail boats—and painted
ducks. You could pretend you were in the sea … I know: we’ll make that
dark back spare room into a couple of really up-to-date green and chro-
mium bathrooms—the pipes ought to be all right over the kitchen—and
keep this just as it is….
“Pleurisy,” said Mrs. Hengrave. “Turning to double pneumonia on the
third day—”
“Terrible,” said Gwenda. “Isn’t there another bedroom at the end of this
passage?”
There was—and it was just the sort of room she had imagined it would
be — almost round, with a big bow window. She’d have to do it up, of
course. It was in quite good condition, but why were people like Mrs. Hen-
grave so fond of that mustard-cum-biscuit shade of wall paint?
They retraced their steps along the corridor. Gwenda murmured, con-
scientiously, “Six, no, seven bedrooms, counting the little one and the at-
tic.”
The boards creaked faintly under her feet. Already she felt that it was
she and not Mrs. Hengrave who lived here! Mrs. Hengrave was an inter-
loper—a woman who did up rooms in mustard-cum-biscuit colour and
liked a frieze of wisteria in her drawing room. Gwenda glanced down at
the typewritten paper in her hand on which the details of the property
and the price asked were given.
In the course of a few days Gwenda had become fairly conversant with
house values. The sum asked was not large—of course the house needed a
certain amount of modernization—but even then … And she noted the
words “Open to offer.” Mrs. Hengrave must be very anxious to go to Kent
and live near “her people”….
They were starting down the stairs when quite suddenly Gwenda felt a
wave of irrational terror sweep over her. It was a sickening sensation, and
it passed almost as quickly as it came. Yet it left behind it a new idea.
“The house isn’t—haunted, is it?” demanded Gwenda.
Mrs. Hengrave, a step below, and having just got to the moment in her
narrative when Major Hengrave was sinking fast, looked up in an affron-
ted manner.
“Not that I am aware of, Mrs. Reed. Why—has anyone—been saying
something of the kind?”
“You’ve never felt or seen anything yourself? Nobody’s died here?”
Rather an unfortunate question, she thought, a split second of a moment
too late, because presumably Major Hengrave—
“My husband died in the St. Monica’s Nursing Home,” said Mrs. Hen-
grave stiffly.
“Oh, of course. You told me so.”
Mrs. Hengrave continued in the same rather glacial manner: “In a house
which was presumably built about a hundred years ago, there would nor-
mally be deaths during that period. Miss Elworthy from whom my dear
husband acquired this house seven years ago, was in excellent health, and
indeed planning to go abroad and do missionary work, and she did not
mention any recent demises in her family.”
Gwenda hastened to soothe the melancholy Mrs. Hengrave down. They
were now once more in the drawing room. It was a peaceful and charm-
ing room, with exactly the kind of atmosphere that Gwenda coveted. Her
momentary panic just now seemed quite incomprehensible. What had
come over her? There was nothing wrong with the house.
Asking Mrs. Hengrave if she could take a look at the garden, she went
out through the french windows onto the terrace.
There should be steps here, thought Gwenda, going down to the lawn.
But instead there was a vast uprising of forsythia which at this particu-
lar place seemed to have got above itself and effectually shut out all view
of the sea.
Gwenda nodded to herself. She would alter all that.
Following Mrs. Hengrave, she went along the terrace and down some
steps at the far side onto the lawn. She noted that the rockery was neglec-
ted and overgrown, and that most of the flowering shrubs needed prun-
ing.
Mrs. Hengrave murmured apologetically that the garden had been
rather neglected. Only able to afford a man twice a week. And quite often
he never turned up.
They inspected the small but adequate kitchen garden and returned to
the house. Gwenda explained that she had other houses to see, and that
though she liked Hillside (what a commonplace name!) very much, she
could not decide immediately.
Mrs. Hengrave parted from her with a somewhat wistful look and a last
long lingering sniff.
Gwenda returned to the agents, made a firm offer subject to surveyor’s
report and spent the rest of the morning walking round Dillmouth. It was
a charming and old-fashioned little seaside town. At the far, “modern”
end, there were a couple of new-looking hotels and some raw-looking bun-
galows, but the geographical formation of the coast with the hills behind
had saved Dillmouth from undue expansion.
After lunch Gwenda received a telephone call from the agents saying
that Mrs. Hengrave accepted her offer. With a mischievous smile on her
lips Gwenda made her way to the post office and despatched a cable to
Giles.
Have bought a house. Love. Gwenda.
“That’ll tickle him up,” said Gwenda to herself. “Show him that the grass
doesn’t grow under my feet!”
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