4 THE EVIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN LADY
4美国太太的证词
Mrs. Hubbard arrived in the dining-car in such a state of breathless excitement that she was hardly able to articulate her words.
侯伯太太气喘吁吁、亢奋地赶到餐车时，已是连话都说不清楚了。
“Now just tell me this—who’s in authority here? I’ve got some very important information, very important indeed, and I’m going to tell it to someone in authority just as soon as I can. If you gentlemen—”
“快点告诉我——谁是这里的主管？我有很重要的事情要报告，非常重要的，我要立刻告诉这儿的主管人。你们几位先生——”
Her wavering glance fluctuated between the three men. Poirot leaned forward.
她的眼睛眨来眨去地在这三位男士间扫着，白罗往前欠了欠身子。
“Tell it to me, Madame,” he said. “But first, pray be seated.”
“请告诉我吧，夫人，”他说：“不过，您先请坐。”
Mrs. Hubbard plumped heavily down on to the seat opposite to him.
侯伯太太一屁股坐进了白罗对面的椅子上。
“What I’ve got to tell you is just this. There was a murder on the train last night, and the murderer was right there in my compartment!”
“我要说的很简单，昨晚车上出了命案，凶手就在我的卧铺房里。”
She paused to give dramatic emphasis to her words.
她喘了口气，特地加重了最后一句话的语气。
“You are sure of this, Madame?”
“您敢肯定真有此事吗，夫人？”
“Of course I’m sure! The idea! I know what I’m talking about. I’ll tell you everything there is to tell. I’d gotten into bed and gone to sleep, and suddenly I woke up—everything was dark—and I knew there was a man in my compartment. I was just so scared I couldn’t scream, if you know what I mean. I just lay there and thought, ‘Mercy, I’m going to be killed!’ I just can’t describe to you how I felt. These nasty trains, I thought, and all the outrages I’d read of. And I thought, ‘Well, anyway, he won’t get my jewellery’—because, you see, I’d put that in a stocking and hidden it under my pillow—which isn’t any too comfortable, by the way; kinda bumpy, if you know what I mean. But that’s neither here nor there. Where was I?”
“当然是真的！什么话！我又没昏了头。我没什么好隐瞒的。我上床睡觉不久，突然醒了过来——一切是黑漆漆的——可是我知道有个男人在我房间里。我吓得连叫都不敢叫，你是可以想见的。我只能躺在那里，心中想道：”老天呀，我要被人杀死了！‘我简直没法子形容我当时的心情。该死的火车，我心中想起了小说中写的发生在火车上的那些可怕的事情。我心想：“反正他抢不走我的珠宝。’因为我把珠宝放在被子里藏在枕头下面了，当然睡在上头很不舒服，硬硬的。但是我可以不告诉他放在哪儿了！吔，我说到哪儿了？”
“You realised, Madame, that there was a man in your compartment.”
“你发现房里有个男人，夫人。”
“Yes, well, I just lay there with my eyes closed, and wondered what I’d do. And I thought, well, I’m just thankful that my daughter doesn’t know the plight I’m in. And then, somehow, I got my wits about me and I felt about with my hand and I pressed the bell for the conductor. I pressed it and I pressed it, but nothing happened—and I can tell you, I thought my heart was going to stop beating. ‘Mercy,’ I said to myself, ‘maybe they’ve murdered every single soul on the train.’ It was at a standstill anyhow and there was a nasty quiet feel in the air. But I just went on pressing that bell and oh! the relief when I heard footsteps coming running down the corridor and a knock on the door! ‘Come in,’ I screamed, and I switched on the lights at the same time. And would you believe it, there wasn’t a soul there!”
“对了。我躺在那儿，眼睛闭得紧紧的。心想：我该怎么办？谢天谢地我女儿不知道我遭的这种殃！忽然，福至心灵，我想起用手摸到电铃，按铃叫列车长。我按了又按，也没有人来。告诉你吧，我当时简直连心脏都停止跳动了。心说：”完了！大概车上的人都给他杀光了！‘车又是停着的，静得怕死人。我继续不停地按铃，等我终于听见过道上有脚步声传来，又有人敲我房门时，心中一块石头才算丢下了地！我拼命喊：“进来！’同时立刻扭亮电灯。你猜怎么啦？信不信由你：房里连个鬼影子都没有！”
This seemed to Mrs. Hubbard to be a dramatic climax rather than an anticlimax.
侯伯太太好像她说到这里才是个高潮，全然不觉别人的失望。
“And what happened next, Madame?”
“后来怎么样了，夫人？”
“Why, I told the man what had happened and he didn’t seem to believe me. Seemed to imagine I’d dreamed the whole thing. I made him look under the seat, though he said there wasn’t room for a man to squeeze himself in there. It was plain enough that the man had got away—but there had been a man there, and it just made me mad the way the conductor tried to soothe me down! I’m not one to imagine things, Mr.—I don’t think I know your name?”
“后来，我告诉了列车长。可是他根本不信，还以为我在作梦呢。我叫他在床底下找，他说床下头地方太小，是挤不进一个人的。那列车长死命地安慰我，可把我气死了！我不是个胡思乱想的人。告诉您，先生，呃——我还没请教您贵姓呢。”
“Poirot, Madame; and this is M. Bouc, a director of the company, and Dr. Constantine.”
“白罗，夫人。这位是波克先生，铁路公司的主任，那位是康斯丹丁医师。”
Mrs. Hubbard murmured, “Pleased to meet you, I’m sure,” to all three of them in an abstracted manner and then plunged once more into her recital.
侯伯太太心不在焉地对他们三人哼一句：“幸会，各位。”又连珠炮般地叙述起来。
“Now I’m just not going to pretend I was as bright as I might have been. I got it into my head that it was the man from next door—the poor fellow who’s been killed. I told the conductor to look at the door between the compartments, and sure enough it wasn’t bolted. Well, I soon saw to that. I told him to bolt it then and there, and after he’d gone out I got up and put a suitcase against it to make sure.”
“我无意自作聪明。但我心里知道准是隔壁那个人，就是被刺死的可怜家伙。我叫列车长看看我们两个房间通用的门拴了没有；果然，没拴，我立刻叫他拴好。等他出去之后，我又用箱子顶住，以防万一。”
“What time was this, Mrs. Hubbard?”
“这是什么时候的事？”
“Well, I’m sure I can’t tell you. I never looked to see. I was so upset.”
“那我不知道。我吓都吓死了，哪敢睁开眼睛看时间。”
“And what is your theory now?”
“那么你的看法怎么样呢？”
“Why, I should say it was just as plain as plain could be. The man in my compartment was the murderer. Who else could he be?”
“那还不简单吗？在我房间里的那个男人准是凶手。除了他还会是谁？”
“And you think he went back into the adjoining compartment?”
“你认为他跑回隔壁房间去了？”
“How do I know where he went? I had my eyes tight shut.”
“我怎么晓得他跑到哪里去了？我又没敢睁开眼睛看。”
“He might have slipped out through the door into the corridor.”
“他也可能从房门溜到过道上去了。”
“Well, I couldn’t say. You see, I had my eyes tight shut.”
“谁知道，反正我没睁开眼睛。”
Mrs. Hubbard sighed convulsively.
侯伯太太发颠地叹了一口气。
“Mercy, I was scared! If my daughter only knew—”
“老天！可吓死我了！要是我女儿知道了——”
“You do not think, Madame, that what you heard was the noise of someone moving about next door—in the murdered man’s compartment?”
“夫人，你想，你听见的不可能是隔壁死者房里的动静吗？”
“No, I do not, Mr.—what is it?—Poirot. The man was right there in the same compartment with me. And what’s more I’ve got proof of it.”
“不，不，怎么会？先生——您——喔，对了，白罗先生，那个人就在我房间里呀！再说，我还有证据呵。”
Triumphantly, she hauled a large handbag into view and proceeded to burrow in its interior.
说着，她理直气壮地抓起一只大手提包，伸手就往里头摸索。
She took out in turn two large clean handkerchiefs, a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, a bottle of aspirin, a packet of Glauber’s Salts, a celluloid tube of bright green peppermints, a bunch of keys, a pair of scissors, a book of American Express cheques, a snapshot of an extraordinarily plain-looking child, some letters, five strings of pseudo-Oriental beads, and a small metal object—a button.
她一样一样地拿出了两块很干净的大手帕，一副牛角镜框眼镜，一瓶阿司匹灵，一盒嗥盐，一小盒薄菏糖球，一串钥匙，一把小剪刀，一本美国运通银行的旅行支票，一张平庸无比的孩子的生活照片，一些信件，五串次等东方珠链，还有一小块金属做的东西——一枚钮扣。
“You see this button? Well, it’s not one of my buttons. It’s not off anything I’ve got. I found it this morning when I got up.”
“你看，这钮扣，总不会是我的吧？也不是从我的物件上掉下来的，是我今天起床时捡到的。”
As she placed it on the table, M. Bouc. leaned forward and gave an exclamation. “But this is a button from the tunic of a Wagon Lit attendant!”
当她把钮扣放到桌子上时，波克先生探身一看，叫了起来：“这是卧铺列车职员制服上的扣子啊！”
“There way be a natural explanation for that,” said Poirot.
“也许还有更好的解释。”白罗说。
He turned gently to the lady.
他温婉地对这位美国太太说：
“This button, Madame, may have dropped from the conductor’s uniform, either when he searched your cabin or when he was making the bed up last night.”
“这枚钮扣，夫人，可能是列车长身上掉下来的，也许是他在你房间中找人或替你铺床时掉落的。”
“I just don’t know what’s the matter with all you people. Seems as though you don’t want to do anything but make objections. Now listen here. I was reading a magazine last night before I went to sleep. Before I turned the light out, I placed that magazine on a little case that was standing on the floor near the window. Have you got that?”
“我真不懂你们都是怎么搞的！除了挑我的毛病之外，甚么都不懂！听我说，昨天晚上我入睡之前看杂志，开灯之前，我把杂志放在靠窗头地上放着的一只箱子上了。懂我的意思吧？”
They assured her that they had.
他们都表示懂得。
“Very well then. The conductor looked under the seat from near the door, and then he came in and bolted the door between me and the next compartment, but he never went near the window. Well, this morning that button was lying right on top of the magazine. What do you call that, I should like to know?”
“那就对了。列车长在靠门口的地方往座位下面搜找了一番，然后进来帮我把通往隔室的门拴上了，但是他根本没有靠近窗头。可是今天早上，这枚钮扣却是放在我那本杂志上了。这你们又该怎么解释？”
“That, Madame, I call evidence,” said Poirot.
“这，夫人，我可以称之为物证。”
The answer seemed to appease the lady.
他的回答总算平息了这位太太的怒气。
“It makes me madder than a hornet to be disbelieved,” she explained.
“让人不相信，最令我生气不过了。”她说。
“You have given us most interesting and valuable evidence,” said Poirot soothingly. “Now may I ask you a few questions?”
“你提供给我们的资料非常别致而有价值，”白罗低声下气地说：“现在我可以问你几个问题吗？”
“Why, certainly.”
“没问题，请问吧。”
“How was it, since you were nervous of this man Ratchett, that you hadn’t already bolted the door between the compartments?”
“你既然这么害怕罗嘉德这个人，为什么不早些把通往他房间的门拴好呢？”
“I had,” returned Mrs. Hubbard promptly.
“我拴好了的。”侯伯太太抢着回答。
“Oh, you had?”
“喔？你拴上了的？”
“Well, as a matter of fact I asked that Swedish creature—a pleasant soul—if it was bolted, and she said it was.”
“其实，我是叫那个瑞典女人——人蛮不错的——看看是否拴好的，她说是拴上的。”
“How was it you couldn’t see for yourself?”
“你自己为什么不看看呢？”
“Because I was in bed and my spongebag was hanging on the door-handle.”
“因为我已经上床了，而且我的手袋还挂在门的把手上的。”
“What time was it when you asked her to do this for you?”
“你请她查看，那是什么时候？”
“Now let me think. It must have- been round about half-past ten or a quarter to eleven. She’d come along to see if I had an aspirin. I told her where to find it and she got it out of my grip.”
“等我想想。该是大约十点半、十点三刻的样子。她到我房里来问我有没有阿斯匹灵，我告诉她在我手袋里，她就去拿了。”
“You yourself were in bed?”
“你本人是躺在床上的？”
“Yes.”
“是的。”
Suddenly she laughed. “Poor soul—she was so upset! You see, she’d opened the door of the next compartment by mistake.”
突然她笑了起来。“可怜的女人——她着急得要死！跟你说，她竟开错了门，她去开隔壁的房门了。”
“Mr. Ratchett’s?”
“罗嘉德先生的？”
“Yes. You know how difficult it is as you come along the train and all the doors are shut. She opened his by mistake. She was very distressed about it. He’d laughed, it seemed, and I guess he said something not quite nice. Poor thing, she certainly was upset. ‘Oh! I make mistake,’ she said. ‘I ashamed make mistake. Not nice man,’ she said. ‘He say, “You too old.” ’ ”
“是呀。你晓得在火车上，所有房间的门都是关着的，多难认呀。她就这样错开了他的房门。她难为情死了。你好像笑了，我猜他还说了不礼貌的话。可怜的女人，她真是难过死了。‘呵！我弄错了，’她说：”我弄错了，真丢脸。不是个好人。‘他说：“你太老了！’”
Dr. Constantine sniggered, and Mrs. Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance.
康斯丹丁医师噗地笑出声来，侯伯太太立刻凶兮兮地瞪了他一眼。
“He wasn’t a nice kind of man,” she said, “to say a thing like that to a lady. It’s not right to laugh at such things.” Dr. Constantine hastily apologised.
“他不是个正派人，”她说：“怎么可以对女士说那种话！这种事情也不应该笑的。”康斯丹丁医师立即道了歉。
“Did you hear any noise from Mr. Ratchett’s compartment after that?” asked Poirot.
“后来你没听见罗嘉德先生房里有什么声响吗？”白罗问。
“Well—not exactly.”
“嗯，倒也没怎么听到。”
“What do you mean by that, Madame?”
“你这话是什么意思，夫人？”
“Well—” She paused. “He snored.”
“这，”她顿了一下才说：“他打鼾。”
“Ah!—he snored, did he?”
“噢！——他打鼾，是吗？”
“Terribly. The night before, it kept me awake.”
“可怕极了。前一天晚上，吵得我一夜没睡。”
“You didn’t hear him snore after you had had the scare about a man being in your compartment?”
“你在发现房里进了一个男人之后，就没听见他打鼾了吗？”
“Why, Mr. Poirot, how could I? He was dead.”
“真是的，白罗先生，你是怎么了？我怎么还听得见？他已经死了！”
“Ah, Yes, truly,” said Poirot. He appeared confused.
“喔，对了，真是的。”白罗说。他显得有些糊涂。
“Do you remember the affair of the Armstrong kidnap ping, Mrs. Hubbard?” he asked.
“你记得阿姆斯壮绑票案吗？侯伯太太？”
“Yes, indeed I do. And how the wretch that did it escaped scot-free! My, I’d have liked to get my hands on him.”
“怎么不记得，那恶棍居然逃之夭夭。哼！是我，绝放不了他！”
“He has not escaped. He is dead. He died last night.”
“他没有逃掉。他已经死了，昨天夜里死的。”
“You don’t mean—?’ Mrs. Hubbard half rose from her chair in excitement.
“你不是说——？”侯伯太太几乎从座椅上跳了起来。
“But yes, I do. Ratchett was the man.”
“不错，罗嘉德就是他。”
“Well! Well, to think of that! I must write and tell my daughter. Now, didn’t I tell you last night that that man had an evil face? I was right, you see. My daughter always says: ‘When Mamma’s got a hunch you can bet your bottom dollar it’s O.K.’ ”
“哎呀，哎呀！好呀！我非得写信告诉我女儿不可！我昨晚上不告诉过你那人长得一副坏人相的，是不是？你看，我没有看错吧？我女儿常说：”妈妈的预感一来，不信的话，打赌吧，十拿九稳。‘”
“Were you acquainted with any of the Armstrong family, Mrs. Hubbard?”
“你认识阿姆斯壮这家人吗？“
“No. They moved in a very exclusive circle. But I’ve always heard that Mrs. Armstrong was a perfectly lovely woman and that her husband worshipped her.”
“不认识。他们的社交圈子很拘谨。不过我听说阿姆斯壮夫人是个人品好极了的美人，她丈夫也十分疼爱他。”
“Well, Mrs. Hubbard, you have helped us very much—very much indeed. Perhaps you will give me your full name?”
“侯伯太太，你真帮忙，真帮了我们很大的忙。可否请把你的全名留给我们？”
“Why, certainly. Caroline Martha Hubbard.”
“当然可以。卡洛琳·玛莎·侯伯。”
“Will you write your address down here?”
“请把住址写在这里，好吗？”
Mrs. Hubbard did so, without ceasing to speak. “I just can’t get over it. Cassetti—on this train. I had a hunch about that man, didn’t I, Mr. Poirot?”
侯伯太太在写地址时，口中仍不停地说着：“我简直不敢相信，卡赛提——会在这班火车上。我对此人早有预感，竟被我猜中了，对不？白罗先生？”
“Yes, indeed, Madame. By the way, have you a scarlet silk dressing-gown?”
“是的，的确是。喔，对了，你有一件鲜红的丝质睡袍吗？”
“Mercy, what a funny question! Why, no. I’ve got two dressing-gowns with me—a pink flannel one that’s kind of cosy for on board ship, and one my daughter gave me as a present—a kind of local affair in purple silk. But what in creation do you want to know about my dressing-gowns for?”
“老天，怎么问这种事？没有。我带了两件睡袍——一件是在船上穿很合适的粉红色法兰绒做的，另一件是我女儿送的礼物，紫色丝质的土产。可是你问我的睡袍干什么？”
“Well, you see, Madame, someone in a scarlet kimono entered either your or Mr. Ratchett’s compartment last night. It is, as you said just now, very difficult when all the doors are shut to know which compartment is which.”
“因为，我跟您说，夫人，昨天曾有穿着红色的睡袍的人错进您的、或是罗嘉德的房间。正如您所说，车上房间的门都关着，很不容易分清是谁的。”
“Well, no one in a scarlet dressing-gown came into my compartment.”
“可没有穿红色睡袍的人闯进我的房里来过。”
“Then she must have gone into Mr. Ratchett’s.”
“那她一定是错入了罗嘉德先生的房间。”
Mrs. Hubbard pursed her lips together and said grimly: “That wouldn’t surprise me any.”
侯伯太太嘴唇一撅，不屑地说：“这是可想而知的！”
Poirot leaned forward. “So you heard a woman’s voice next door?”
白罗往前挪了挪身子，问道：“那么，你是听见隔壁有女人的声音了？”
“I don’t know how you guessed that, Mr. Poirot. I don’t really. But—well—as a matter of fact, I did.”
“你怎么猜到的呢，白罗先生？其实我也没有。不过——好吧——我的确听见的。”
“But when I asked you just now if you heard anything next door, you only said you heard Mr. Ratchett snoring.”
“可是我刚才问你有没有听见隔壁有什么动静，你怎么说只听见他打鼾呢？”
“Well, that was true enough. He did snore part of the time. As for the other—” Mrs. Hubbard got rather embarrassed. “It isn’t a very nice thing to speak about.”
“他的确是打鼾了嘛。他一半的时间打鼾，其他的时候——”侯伯太太不禁脸红起来：“这种事情不谈也罢。”
“What time was it when you heard a woman’s voice?”
“你是何时听见隔壁有女人声音的？”
“I can’t tell you. I just woke up for a minute and heard a woman talking, and it was plain enough where she was. So I just thought, ‘Well, that’s the kind of man he is! I’m not surprised’—and then I went to sleep again. And I’m sure I should never have mentioned anything of the kind to three strange gentlemen if you hadn’t dragged it out of me.”
“记不清楚了。我醒了一会儿，听见有女人在说话，很明显可以听出来她人在什么所在。我心想：”哼！果然是那种人！不出所料！“——后来我就睡着了。我敢提保，不是你们逼我，我是绝不会跟三个陌生男人谈这种事的。”
“Was it before the scare about the man in your compartment, or after?”
“那是在你发觉房里进了男人之前，还是之后呢？”
“Why, that’s like what you said just now! He wouldn’t have had a woman talking to him if he were dead, would he?”
“你怎么又湖涂了？他既然人已经死了，还会跟女人谈话吗？真是！”
“Pardon. You must think me very stupid, Madame.”
“对不起，你一定觉得我愚蠢得可以了，夫人。”
“I guess even you get kinda muddled now and then. I just can’t get over its being that monster Cassetti. What my daughter will say—”
“我看，就连你有时也难免一时糊涂的。我只是想不通，这人竟是卡赛提那恶魔。我女儿要是知道了——”
Poirot managed adroitly to help the good lady to replace the contents of her handbag, and he then shepherded her towards the door.
白罗刻意殷勤地帮这位好心肠的太太将物件放回她的手提袋里，又起身陪她走回餐车门口。
At the last moment, he said:
就在最后一秒钟时，他说：
“You have dropped your handkerchief, Madame.”
“您掉了您的手帕，夫人。”
Mrs. Hubbard looked at the little scrap of cambric he held out to her.
侯伯太太看了看他手中的那块小手帕。
“That’s not mine, Mr. Poirot. I’ve got mine right here.”
“那不是我的，白罗先生。我的在这儿。”
“Pardon. I thought as it had the initial H on it—”
“对不起。我看上头绣着姓名缩写H的字母，还以为是——”
“Well, now, that’s funny, but it’s certainly not mine. Mine are marked C.M.H., and they’re sensible things—not expensive Paris fallals. What good is a handkerchief like that to anybody’s nose?”
“吔，这也怪了。不过的确不是我的。我的手帕绣的是C·M·H.再说，是拿来用的，没有巴黎的那么花梢昂贵。这种手帕对人的鼻子有什么好处？”
None of the three men seemed to have an answer to this question and Mrs. Hubbard sailed out triumphantly.
在座的三个男人都未能回答这个问题，侯伯太太趾高气扬地踏出门去。