chapter 14 ada mason's story

"i cannot repeat to you often enough, monsieur, our horror, our consternation, and the deep sympathy we feel for you."

thus m. carrege, the juge d'instruction, addressed van aldin. m. caux, the commissary, made sympathetic noises in his throat. van aldin brushed away horror, consternation and sympathy with

an abrupt gesture. the scene was the examining magistrate's room at nice. besides m. carrege, the commissary, and van aldin, there was a further person in the room. it was that person who now spoke.

"m. van aldin," he said, "desires action - swift action."

"ah!" cried the commissary, "i have not yet presented you. m. van aldin, this is m. hercule poirot; you have doubtless heard of him. although he has retired from his profession for some years now, his name is still a household word as one of the greatest living detectives."

"pleased to meet you, m. poirot," said van aldin, falling back mechanically on a formula that he had discarded some years ago.

"you have retired from your profession?"

"that is so, monsieur. now i enjoy the world."

the little man made a grandiloquent gesture.

"m. poirot happened to be travelling on the blue train," explained the commissary, "and he has been so kind as to assist us out of his vast experience."

the millionaire looked at poirot keenly. then he said

unexpectedly:

"i am a very rich man, m. poirot. it is usually said that a rich man labours under the belief that he can buy everything and everyone. that is not true. i am a big man in my way, and one big man can ask a favour from another big man."

poirot nodded a quick appreciation.

"that is very well said, m. van aldin. i place myself entirely at your service."

"thank you," said van aldin. "i can only say: call upon me at any time, and you will not find me ungrateful. and now, gentlemen, to business."

"i propose," said m. carrege, "to interrogate the maid, ada mason. you have her here, i understand?"

"yes," said van aldin. "we picked her up in paris in passing through. she was very upset to hear of her mistress's death, but she tells her story coherently enough."

"we will have her in, then," said m. carrege.

he rang the bell on his desk, and in a few minutes ada mason entered the room.

she was very neatly dressed in black, and the tip of her nose was red. she had exchanged her grey travelling gloves for a pair of black suede ones. she cast a look round the examining

magistrate's office in some trepidation, and seemed relieved at the presence of her mistress's father. the examining magistrate prided himself on his geniality of manner, and did his best to put her at her ease. he was helped in this by poirot, who acted as interpreter, and whose friendly manner was reassuring to the englishman.

"your name is ada mason; is that right?"

"ada beatrice i was christened, sir," said mason primly.

"just so. and we can understand, mason, that this has all been very distressing."

"oh, indeed it has, sir. i have been with many ladies and always given satisfaction, i hope, and i never dreamt of anything of this kind happening in any situation where i was."

"no, no," said m. carrege.

"naturally i have read of such things, of course, in the sunday papers. and then i always have understood that those foreign trains -" she suddenly checked her flow, remembering that the gentlemen who were speaking to her were of the same nationality as the trains.

"now let us talk this affair over," said m. carrege. "there was, i understand, no question of your staying in paris when you started from london?"

"oh no, sir. we were to go straight through to nice."

"have you ever been abroad with your mistress before?"

"no, sir. i had only been with her two months, you see."

"did she seem quite as usual when starting on this journey?"

"she was worried like and a bit upset, and she was rather irritable and difficult to please."

m. carrege nodded.

"now then, mason, what was the first you heard of your stopping in paris?"

"it was at the place they call the gare de lyon, sir. my mistress was thinking of getting out and walking up and down the platform. she was just going out into the corridor when she gave a sudden exclamation, and came back into her compartment with a

gentleman. she shut the door between her carriage and mine, so that i didn't see or hear anything, till she suddenly opened it again and told me that she had changed her plans. she gave me some money and told me to get out and go to the ritz. they knew her well there, she said, and would give me a room. i was to wait there until i heard from her, she would wire me what she wanted me to do. i had just time to get my things together and jump out of the train before it started off. it was a rush."

"while mrs kettering was telling you this, where was the gentleman?"

"he was standing in the other compartment, sir, looking out of the window."

"can you describe him to us?"

"well, you see, sir, i hardly saw him. he had his back to me most of the time. he was a tall gentleman and dark; that's all i can say. he was dressed very like any other gentleman in a dark blue overcoat and a grey hat."

"was he one of the passengers on the train?"

"i don't think so, sir; i took it that he had come to the station to see mrs kettering in passing through. of course he might have been one of the passengers; i never thought of that."

mason seemed a little flurried by the suggestion.

"ah!" m. carrege passed lightly to another subject. "your mistress later requested the conductor not to rouse her early in the morning. was that a likely thing for her to do, do you think?"

"oh yes, sir. the mistress never ate any breakfast and she didn't sleep well at nights, so that she liked sleeping on in the morning."

again m. carrege passed to another subject.

"amongst the luggage there was a scarlet morocco case, was there not?" he asked. "your mistress's jewel-case?"

"yes, sir."

"did you take that case to the ritz?"

"me take the mistress's jewel-case to the ritz? oh no, indeed, sir." mason's tones were horrified.

"you left it behind you in the carriage?"

"yes, sir."

"had your mistress many jewels with her, do you know?"

"a fair amount, sir; made me a bit uneasy sometimes, i can tell you, with those nasty tales you hear of being robbed in foreign countries. they were insured, i know, but all the same it seemed a frightful risk. why, the rubies alone, the mistress told me, were worth several hundred thousand pounds."

"the rubies! what rubies?" barked van aldin suddenly.

mason turned to him.

"i think it was you who gave them to her, sir, not very long ago."

"my god!" cried van aldin. "you don't imply she had those rubies with her? i told her to leave them at the bank."

mason gave once more the discreet cough which was apparently part of her stock-in-trade as a lady's maid. this time it expressed a good deal. it expressed far more clearly than words could have done, that mason's mistress had been a lady who took her own way.

"ruth must have been mad," muttered van aldin. "what on earth could have possessed her?"

m. carrege in turn gave vent to a cough, again a cough of significance. it riveted van aldin's attention on him.

"for the moment," said m. carrege, addressing mason, "i think that is all. if you will go into the next room, mademoiselle, they will read over to you the questions and answers, and you will sign accordingly."

mason went out escorted by the clerk, and van aldin said immediately to the magistrate:

"well?"

m. carrege opened a drawer in his desk, took out a letter, and handed it across to van aldin.

"this was found in madame's handbag."

"chère amie" (the letter ran),

"i will obey you, i will be prudent, discreet - all those things that a lover most hates. paris would perhaps have been unwise, but the isles d'or are far away from the world, and you may be assured that nothing will leak out. it is like you and your divine sympathy to be so interested in the work on famous jewels that i am writing. it will, indeed, be an extraordinary privilege to actually see and handle these historic rubies. i am devoting a special passage to

'heart of fire.' my wonderful one! soon i will make up to you for all those sad years of separation and emptiness.

"your ever-adoring,

"armand."

第十四章 马松的自叙

“我对您只能再一次表示我们最真挚、最深切的同情。”

“谢谢您，侦察官先生。”

对警察方面表示的慰问冯·阿尔丁以他敏捷的方式作了回答。除了两名官员和这位百万富翁之外，侦察官的办公室里还有一个人，他先说道：“冯·阿尔丁先生要求马上开始审讯。”

“噢，请原谅！”警察局长叫了一声。“请允许我向您介绍一赫库勒·波洛先生。

他虽然退休好几年了，但现在每当提起他的名字时，男女老少皆知他是位有名的侦探。”

“非常高兴同您认识。您已经不干您那一行了？”

“是这样，先生。我很安于我的现状。”

这位小老头做了一个表情丰富的手势。

“波洛先生也乘了‘蓝色特快’这次车，这完全是巧合。”警察局长说。“他十分友好地表示，要以他那丰富的经验协助我们破案。”

百万富翁颇有兴致地看着他，然后说道：

“我很富有，波洛先生。人们常说，有钱能使鬼推磨。但这种话对我来说是不合适的。纽约财界称我是位伟人。现在这个伟人要向另一位伟人求救，以便使我能赢得他的爱戴。”

“冯·阿尔丁先生，您说得非常好。”波洛点一下头。“我马上准备为您效劳。”

“谢谢。您将会得到我应有的报答。那么现在我们言归正传吧。”

“我建议，”侦察官卡雷热说，“先审问一下女仆艾达·马松。据我所知，您已经把她带来了。”

“正是。”冯·阿尔丁说。“我那可怜的孩子的遽死把她吓坏了，可是她现在已经恢复了常态，可以让她把前后与此相关的事情讲一下。”

“我立刻就审问她。”侦察官说。他按了一下电钮，紧接着艾达·马松就进了门。

她整套衣服都换成了黑装，鼻子尖有点发红。她那旅行时戴的手套，也换成了黑色的。在办公室里，她显得有些胆怯。侦察官怀敌意地看着她。

“您叫艾达·马松，是吗？”

“正是，艾达·贝阿特里斯是我的教名。”

“很好，我们很理解，马松女士，这起悲惨的案件使您受到了莫大的刺激。”

“正是这样，先生。我总是尽力而为，以便使我的主人满意。我怎么也没想到，会经受这种可怕的事情。”

“我们将会弄清楚这件事是怎么发生的。”侦察官安慰她说。“当您离开伦敦时，从没提起过您将被留在巴黎吗？”

“没有，先生。我们是准备同路去尼扎的。”

“在此之前您同您的主人去过国外吗？”

“没有。我在我主人那里做事才两个月。”

“您在旅途中没有发现您的主人有什么不正常的表现吗？”

“是的。她好象有心事老放不下。她显得有些神经质和激动，我不知对她怎样说才好。”

卡雷热点了一下头。

“是什么时候谈起您将被留在巴黎的事？”

“在里昂站。我的女主人想到站台上透一透气。她刚刚开始散步就轻声地叫了一声，接着就同一位先生回到了包厢。然后她就把通向我的包厢的那扇门锁上了，我进不了她的包厢。过了一会儿她突然又打开门说，她要改变她的旅行计划。她给我一些钱，让我到里茨住下，等她的吩咐。我正好来得及整理我的箱子，我刚一下车，火车就开动了。”

“在您的主人做这些吩咐的时候，那位先生在哪里？”

“他在隔壁的包厢里，站在窗旁望着外面。”

“您能否给我们描述一下这位先生的模样？”

“我几乎没有看清他的模样。整段时间里他都是背朝着我。他是一位个头很高的先生，头发是黑色的。其它的情况我就不知道了。如果我没有记错的话，他穿着深蓝色的衣服。”

“他是‘蓝色特快’上的旅客吗？”

“依我看，不象是这次列车上的旅客。给我的印象是：他刚上火车，似乎是来同凯特林女士见面的。”

“您的主人后来曾对乘务员讲，早晨不要来叫醒她，您认为这是正常的吗？”

“完全正常。先生，我的主人从来不吃早点。她经常夜里睡不好觉，因此早晨总是想多睡一会儿。”

卡雷热又转到了另一个话题。

“在你们的行李中有一个红色的首饰盒，是吗？”

“正是。”

“您没有把这个盒子带到里茨去吗？”

“难道我能把主人的首饰盒带走吗？这简直是天晓得，先生。”女仆显然对这样一种设想感到奇怪。

“那么说您是把首饰盒留在火车上了？”

“当然。”

“您是否知道，凯特林女士身上带着很多的首饰？”

“据我所知，非常多。我可以对您讲，我对她这一点有些不太满意。人们经常谈起国外的一些盗窃案件。有一次女主人对我讲，只是那一块宝石就值几十万英镑。”

“简直是天晓得！”冯·阿尔丁大叫了起来，“她竟然把宝石也带在身边！我同她说过，让她把宝石暂时存在银行里。”

马松咳了一声，她是想说，她的女主人的自信心太强了，人们很难说服她。

“露丝太任性了。”冯·阿尔丁咕噜了一声，声音低得很难听清楚。

现在轮到侦察官咳嗽了。他的这声咳嗽大有深意。

“暂时，”他对女仆说，“就是这些了。小姐，请您到隔壁的房间去，在审询记录上签了名！”

女仆走了，记录员陪她走出了房间。冯·阿尔丁转向警察官们说道：

“我觉得，女仆提到首饰盒的事，对你们是极为有价值的。”

卡雷热打开抽屉，取出一封信递给了冯·阿尔丁。

“这封信是从女士的手提包中找到的。”

＊ ＊ ＊

“亲爱的朋友，我完全听你的。我将非常小心从事，一句话，象每一个恋

人都厌恶的那样，我将守口如瓶。黄金岛在世界遥远的地方。请你相信，没有

任何东西能阻止我们。你对名贵宝石的特殊兴趣和喜爱，证明了这一点，因为

我也正在为此而工作。如果我能亲眼看一下这块宝石并加以仔细研究，那将是

我莫大的荣幸。我要为名贵的‘火心宝石’写下特别的一章。你，我的心肝宝

贝！希望你再忍耐一会儿！很快你就弥补上几年来离别的痛苦和空虚。