登陆注册
5166200000159

第159章

`He has retired from the police.It's useless to expect the Sergeant to help you.'

`I know where to find him; and I can but try.'

`Try,' said Mr.Bruff, after a moment's consideration.`The case has assumed such an extraordinary aspect since Sergeant Cuff's time, that you may revive his interest in the inquiry.Try, and let me hear the result.In the meanwhile,' he continued, rising, `if you make no discoveries between this, and the end of the month, am I free to try, on my side, what can be done by keeping a lookout at the bank?'

`Certainly,' I answered--`unless I relieve you of all necessity for trying the experiment in the interval.'

Mr.Bruff smiled, and took up his hat.

`Tell Sergeant Cuff,' he rejoined, `that I say the discovery of the truth depends on the discovery of the person who pawned the Diamond.

And let me hear what the Sergeant's experience says to that.'

So we parted.

Early the next morning, I set forth for the little town of Dorking--the place of Sergeant Cuff's retirement, as indicated to me by Betteredge.

Inquiring at the hotel, I received the necessary directions for finding the Sergeant's cottage.It was approached by a quiet byroad, a little way out of the town, and it stood snugly in the middle of its own plot of garden ground, protected by a good brick wall at the back and the sides, and by a high quickset hedge in front.The gate, ornamented at the upper part by smartly painted trellis-work, was locked.After ringing at the bell, I peered through the trellis-work, and saw the great Cuff's favourite flower everywhere; blooming in his garden, clustering over his door, looking in at his windows.Far from the crimes and the mysteries of the great city, the illustrious thief-taker was placidly living out the last Sybarite years of his life, smothered in roses!

A decent elderly woman opened the gate to me, and at once annihilated all the hopes I had built on securing the assistance of Sergeant Cuff.

He had started, only the day before, on a journey to Ireland.

`Has he gone there on business?' I asked.

The woman smiled.`He has only one business now, sir,' she said; `and that's roses.Some great man's gardener in Ireland has found out something new in the growing of roses--and Mr.Cuff's away to inquire into it.'

`Do you know when he will be back?'

`It's quite uncertain, sir.Mr.Cuff said he should come back directly, or be away some time, just according as he found the new discovery worth nothing, or worth looking into.If you have any message to leave for him, I'll take care, sir, that he gets it.'

I gave her my card, having first written on it in pencil: `I have something to say about the Moonstone.Let me hear from you as soon as you get back.'

That done, there was nothing left but to submit to circumstances, and return to London.

In the irritable condition of my mind, at the time of which I am now writing, the abortive result of my journey to the Sergeant's cottage simply aggravated the restless impulse in me to be doing something.On the day of my return from Dorking, I determined that the next morning should find me bent on a new effort at forcing my way, through all obstacles, from the darkness to the light.

What form was my next experiment to take?

If the excellent Betteredge had been present while I was considering that question, and if he had been let into the secret of my thoughts, he would, no doubt, have declared that the German side of me was, on this occasion, my uppermost side.To speak seriously, it is perhaps possible that my German training was in some degree responsible for the labyrinth of useless speculations in which I now involved myself.For the greater part of the night, I sat smoking, and building up theories, one more profoundly improbable than another.When I did get to sleep, my waking fancies pursued me in dreams.I rose the next morning, with Objective-Subjective and Subjective-Objective inextricably entangled together in my mind and I began the day which was to witness my next effort at practical action of some kind by doubting whether I had any sort of right (on purely philosophical grounds) to consider any sort of thing (the Diamond included) as existing at all.

How long I might have remained lost in the mist of my own metaphysics, if I had been left to extricate myself, it is impossible for me to say.

As the event proved, accident came to my rescue, and happily delivered me.I happened to wear, that morning, the same coat which I had worn on the day of my interview with Rachel.Searching for something else in one of the pockets, I came upon a crumpled piece of paper, and, taking it out, found Betteredge's forgotten letter in my hand.

It seemed hard on my good old friend to leave him without a reply.Iwent to my writing-table, and read his letter again.

A letter which has nothing of the slightest importance in it, is not always an easy letter to answer.Betteredge's present effort at corresponding with me came within this category.Mr.Candy's assistant, otherwise Ezra Jennings, had told his master that he had seen me; and Mr.Candy, in his turn, wanted to see me and say something to me, when I was next in the neighbourhood of Frizinghall.What was to be said in answer to that, which would be worth the paper it was written on? I sat idly drawing likenesses from memory of Mr.Candy's remarkable-looking assistant on the sheet of paper which I had vowed to dedicate to Betteredge--until it suddenly occurred to me that here was the irrepressible Ezra Jennings getting in my way again!

I threw a dozen portraits, at least, of the man with the piebald hair (the hair in every case, remarkably like), into the waste-paper basket--and then and there, wrote my answer to Betteredge.It was a perfectly commonplace letter--but it had one excellent effect on me.The effort of writing a few sentences, in plain English, completely cleared my mind of the cloudy nonsense which had filled it since the previous day.

同类推荐
  • 历代名贤确论

    历代名贤确论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 安乐集

    安乐集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明伦汇编交谊典师友部

    明伦汇编交谊典师友部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送朴处士归新罗

    送朴处士归新罗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上灵宝天地运度自然妙经

    太上灵宝天地运度自然妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 红尘如泥

    红尘如泥

    她三岁识字,五岁能诗,六岁随父亲遍游江南名胜,八岁离家出走英吉利国不遂,竟绝食以死抗争缠足,十五岁以文才和大脚名闻乡里。十六岁遭张家退婚,愤而誓言不嫁,仍不服气,设计让未婚夫一尝缠足之苦。二十二岁人生遭遇大变,乱世中与母亲姐妹生离死别,于绝境中奋起,一举在太平天国女试中夺魁,得到东王重用,运用智慧才学影响国政决策,却在爱情与自由意志间陷入重重危机……历经爱恨生死磨难,冲破红尘泥沼,振翅高飞。她是中国历史上仅有的女状元,她是传奇。她是傅善祥。
  • 幻想塑造的异世界生活

    幻想塑造的异世界生活

    贯穿主线的是与魔族的战斗,就是勇者去打魔王,然后打更高等级的魔神。(故意这样写介绍的,其实还能看啦。)前期是情况好点的盾勇画风,中后期稍稍带点萌王的感觉,能力是幻想塑造。
  • 我在爱情里落了单

    我在爱情里落了单

    世界上没有任何东西可以永恒,爱情也如此。如果它流动,它就流走;如果它存著,它就干涸;如果它生长,它就慢慢凋零……
  • 易象图说外篇

    易象图说外篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 零件

    零件

    《零件》一书收集了作者6年来在博客上所发的随笔,内容涉及文学、艺术、人生感悟、收藏心得等共202篇。对于该书的出版,杨森君表示,在以往的写作中,我们宁夏还没有人将其博客随笔整理成书籍出版,这次也是一次全新的尝试。杨森君认为,在新媒体时代,博客在生活中的作用已经不容忽视,自己在有感而发时,将这些感慨记录在博客之上,随着时间的推移,再翻看过去的博客内容,觉得有些感悟还是特别深刻,故将博客上的内容加以整理,集结成书。
  • 助妻为乐

    助妻为乐

    那一年的她,家逢巨变。父母车祸,男友背叛。她彷徨无助,陷入绝望的深渊那一年的他,同她巷口初遇匆匆一瞥,心生惊艳.谁也不曾想过,重逢,会是那样不堪.谁也不曾知道,情动,究竟是哪一瞬间.后来……那一场爱恋,抵死纠缠.是他先开了头,又是他在懵懂中先丢了心他说:“游戏由我开始,就只能由我结束。”他还说:“做宠物,就要有做宠物的样子。”她反抗,她倔强。在遍体鳞伤后,学会了妥协和隐忍。而她,小心翼翼守着自己的心,却终究没能逃脱他的深情和强悍。
  • 神农医圣

    神农医圣

    【小编力荐】乡村少年得高人传承,种田、治病、抓鬼、算命、看风水样样精通,还有龙组兵王在背后保驾护航,逍遥世间,无人可挡!----------------------新书《少年奶爸在未来》已经发布,求大家多多支持。
  • 帝台春

    帝台春

    一曲琵琶耳中绕,三弦两声扣心扉,都为事事难如愿,可问己心明是非?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK

    THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 铁血狂医

    铁血狂医

    碎星,破月,两颗绝世丹药颠覆天梦第一医药世家滕家。残酷的现实,鲜血的洗礼,滕炎顶着废物的名头一路高歌猛进于血腥杀戮中强势崛起,背负起复兴家族的使命。他是药师,创造逆天丹药,掌握强者命运;他是战士,修炼绝世功法,畅饮仇人鲜血。武可逆天,药倒乾坤。看滕炎如何以妖孽般的头脑铸就一世不落神话.......