It is possible that Mrs. Hubbard revived rather quicker with these methods than she might otherwise have done. A few minutes later she was sitting up, sipping cognac from a glass proffered by the attendant, and talking once more.
相对于其他办法，这种方法能更快地让哈巴特太太醒过来。几分钟之后，她坐了起来，喝着服务员递给她的一杯白兰地，又说了起来：
“I just can’t say how terrible it was. I don’t suppose anybody on this train can understand my feelings. I’ve always been vurry, vurry sensitive ever since a child. The mere sight of blood — ugh — why even now I come over queer when I think about it.”
“我都说不出来有多可怕！我猜车上没人能理解我的感受。我从小就是个非常非常敏感的人，一看到血——啊呸！到现在我一想起来就想晕倒。”
With more vigour than chivalry, M. Bouc deposited the fainting lady with her head on the table. Dr. Constantine yelled for one of the restaurant attendants, who came at a run.
布克先生使出了比骑士还充沛的力气，把昏厥的太太的头放在了桌子上。康斯坦汀医生对一个跑过来的服务员大喊大叫着：
“Keep her head so,” said the doctor. “If she revives give her a little cognac. You understand?”
“把头这么放着，”医生说，“要是她醒了，就给她喝点白兰地，明白吗？”
The attendant proffered the glass again. “Encore un peu, Madame.”
服务员又把杯子递了过来。“再喝点吧，太太。”
“D’you think I’d better? I’m a lifelong teetotaller. I just never touch spirits or wine at any time. All my family are abstainers. Still perhaps as this is only medical –“
“你觉得我还要喝吗？我是个终身禁酒者。我从来不碰酒，我们一家子都滴酒不沾。不过，只有这个药有效——”
Then he hurried off after the other two. His interest lay wholly in the crime — swooning middle-aged ladies did not interest him at all.
然后他急忙跟着另外两个人走了。他的兴趣完全集中在凶案上了——一个昏倒的中年女士根本让他提不起任何兴趣。
In the meantime Poirot and M. Bouc, closely followed by Dr. Constantine, had hurried out of the restaurant car and along the corridor of the Stamboul coach towards Mrs. Hubbard’s compartment.
与此同时，波洛和布克先生——后面紧跟着康斯坦汀医生——急匆匆地走出餐车，沿着斯坦布尔车厢的过道朝哈巴特太太的房间走去。
Every traveller on the train seemed to be congregated outside the door. The conductor, a harrassed look on his face, was keeping them back.
车上所有的旅客好像都聚集在门外了，一脸疲倦的列车员正在请大家都回去。
“Let me pass, if you please,” said M. Bouc.
“请让我过一下。”布克先生说。
Squeezing his rotundity past the obstructing passengers, he entered the compartment, Poirot close behind him.
他那圆咕隆咚的身子从围观的旅客中挤了过去，走进房间，波洛紧跟在他身后。
“I am glad you have come Monsieur,” said the conductor with a sigh of relief. “Everyone has been trying to enter. The American lady — such screams as she gave — ma foi! I thought she too had been murdered! I came at a run and there she was screaming like a mad woman, and she cried out that she must fetch you and she departed, screeching at the top of her voice and telling everybody whose carriage she passed what had occurred.”
“很高兴你来了，先生，”列车员说着松了口气，“大家都想进来，那位美国太太——就那么尖叫着——天哪，我以为她也被杀了！我跑了过去，她就像个疯女人那样尖叫着，喊着一定要找到您，然后扯开嗓子尖叫着出了门，每经过一个房间，就告诉里面的人发生了什么。”
She sipped once more.
她又喝了口酒。
“Mais il n’y a rien à voir,” he said, and repeated the sentiment in several other languages.
“没什么好看的。”他用好几种语言重复着这句话。
Hanging on the handle of the door that gave access to the next compartment was a large-size checked rubber sponge bag. Below it on the floor, just where it had fallen from Mrs. Hubbard’s hand, was a straightbladed dagger — a cheap affair, sham Oriental, with an embossed hilt and a tapering blade. The blade was stained with patches of what looked like rust.
跟隔壁相通的连通门上挂着一个大方格子的橡胶洗漱包，在它下面的地板上，有一把从哈巴特太太手里掉下来的锥形匕首——一个廉价货、在东方买的赝品，刀柄上雕刻着花纹，刀片是锥形的，上面沾着一片片的锈迹一样的东西。
The doctor examined it.
医生仔细地查看着。
“Yes,” he murmured. “There is no mistake. Here is our missing weapon all right — eh, docteur?”
“是的，”他嘟囔着，“没弄错，这就是我们正在找的凶器——对吗，医生？”
“It is the weapon all right,” he said. “It would account for any of the wounds.”
“是凶器没错，”他说，“跟任何一处刀伤都吻合。”
He added, with a gesture of the hand: “It is in there, Monsieur. I have not touched it.”
他做了个手势，补充道：“它就在这儿，先生，我没碰过。”
“I implore you, my friend, do not say that.” The doctor looked astonished.
“我的朋友，请你不要这么说！”医生看起来很是惊讶。
“You need not be so careful,” said Poirot. “There will be no fingerprints on it save those of Mrs. Hubbard.”
“你不用这么小心，”波洛说，“上面只有哈巴特太太的指纹，没别人的。”
Poirot picked it up delicately.
波洛小心翼翼地把刀捡了起来。
Constantine’s examination did not take long.
康斯坦汀医生并没有检查太久。
“Already we are heavily overburdened by coincidence. Two people decide to stab M. Ratchett last night. It is too much of a good thing that each of them should select an identical weapon.”
“我们已经被这么多巧合压得透不过气了，昨天晚上有两个人决定杀死雷切特先生，如果他们选择了同样的凶器，这反而成了一件坏事。”
“As to that, the coincidence is not, perhaps, so great as it seems,” said the doctor. “Thousands of these sham Eastern daggers are made and shipped to the bazaars of Constantinople.”
“这个也许看起来没那么巧合，”医生说，“有成千上万把这样的东方匕首赝品被运送到君士坦丁堡的市集上出售。”
“We locked it from the other side, you remember,” said the doctor.
“别忘了，我们从另一边把门锁上了。”医生说。
“That is true,” said Poirot absently. He seemed to be thinking about something else. His brow was furrowed as though in perplexity.
“是这样。”波洛心不在焉地说，好像是在想别的事情，眉毛困惑地皱作一团。
“You console me a little, but only a little,” said Poirot. He looked thoughtfully at the door in front of him, then, lifting off the sponge bag, he tried the handle. The door did not budge. About a foot above the handle was the door bolt, Poirot drew it back and tried again, but still the door remained fast.
“你这话让我觉得安慰了一点，但是只有一点。”波洛说。他若有所思地看着眼前的门，然后拿起洗漱包，拉了拉门把手，门一动不动。在门把手上方大约一英尺的地方是门闩，波洛把门闩抽了出来，又试了试，可门还是不动。
“It agrees, does it not?” said M. Bouc. “The man passes through this carriage. As he shuts the communicating door behind him he feels the sponge bag. A thought comes to him and he quickly slips the bloodstained knife inside. Then, all unwitting that he has awakened Mrs. Hubbard, he slips out through the other door into the corridor.”
“是这样的，对吗？”布克先生说，“那人穿过这间房，当他关上身后的连通门时摸到了这个洗漱包，他灵机一动，迅速把沾了血的刀塞进了包里，无意中吵醒了哈巴特太太，就从另一扇门溜到过道上去了。”
“As you say,” murmured Poirot. “That is how it must have happened.” But the puzzled look did not leave his face.
“就像你说的，”波洛咕哝道，“肯定是这样了。”但他仍旧一脸困惑。
“But what is it?” demanded M. Bouc. “There is something, is there not, that does not satisfy you?”
“怎么了？”布克先生问道，“有些事你不满意，对吗？”
“The same point does not strike you? No, evidently not. Well, it is a small matter.”
“同样是这一点，没引起你的注意吗？不，显然没有。呃，不过是件小事。”
The conductor looked into the carriage. “The American lady is coming back.”
列车员朝房间里看了看。“美国太太回来了。”
“But, Madame –“
“可是，太太——”
Poirot darted a quick look at him.
波洛飞快地扫了他一眼。
“I’m just going to say one thing right out,” she said breathlessly as she arrived in the doorway. “I’m not going on any longer in this compartment! Why, I wouldn’t sleep in it tonight if you paid me a million dollars.”
“有件事我要说清楚，”她一进门就气喘吁吁地说，“我再也不要待在这个房间里了！给我一百万美金我今晚也不睡在这里！”
Dr. Constantine looked rather guilty. He had, he felt, treated Mrs. Hubbard rather cavalierly. But she had no reproaches for him. Her energies were concentrated on another matter.
康斯坦汀医生看起来很内疚，他觉得自己对哈巴特太太过于冷漠了，但她并没有责备他，她的精力都集中在另一件事上了。
“I know what you are going to say, and I’m telling you right now that I won’t do any such thing! Why, I’d rather sit up all night in the corridor.” She began to cry. “Oh! if my daughter could only know — if she could see me now, why –“
“我知道你要说什么，我现在就告诉你我不会这么做的！哎呀，我宁可在过道里坐一个晚上！”她开始大哭，“啊，要是我女儿知道——如果她看到我现在这副样子，啊——”
Mrs. Hubbard lowered her handkerchief. “Is that so? Oh, I feel better right away. But surely it’s all full up, unless one of the gentlemen –“
哈巴特太太放下手帕。“真的吗？哦，我马上就感觉好多了。可现在房间都是满的，除非一位先生——”
Poirot interrupted firmly. “You misunderstand, Madame. Your demand is most reasonable. Your baggage shall be changed at once to another compartment.”
波洛当机立断，打断了她的话。“你误会了，太太，你的要求再合理不过了，你的行李会马上搬到另一个房间。”
M. Bouc spoke. “Your baggage, Madame, shall be moved out of this coach altogether. You shall have a compartment in the next coach which was put on at Belgrade.”
布克先生说话了：“太太，你的行李会搬到另外一节车厢里去，我们会给你安排个房间，从贝尔格莱德挂上的那节车厢。”
“Why, that’s splendid. I’m not an out of the way nervous woman, but to sleep in that compartment next door to a dead man –” She shivered. “It would drive me plumb crazy.”
“哎呀，那就太好了，我不是个过度紧张的女人，可是睡在死人房间的隔壁！”她哆嗦了一下，“我会发疯的。”
“No,” said Poirot before his friend could reply. “I think it would be better for Madame to have a different number altogether. The No. 12, for instance.”
“不用，”波洛抢在他朋友之前回答道，“我认为给这位太太换个不一样的号码比较好。比如，十二号。”
The conductor seized the luggage. Mrs. Hubbard turned gratefully to Poirot.
列车员抓起行李，哈巴特太太感激地转向波洛。
“Michel,” called M. Bouc. “Move this baggage into a vacant compartment in the Athens-Paris coach.”
“米歇尔，”布克先生喊道，“把行李搬到雅典－巴黎车厢的空房间里去。”
“Bien, Monsieur.”
“是，先生。”
“Yes, Monsieur — the same one as this — the No. 3?”
“是，先生，也是三号房间吗？”
Mrs. Hubbard was escorted by the three men to her new home. She looked round her happily. “This is fine.”
哈巴特太太被三个人一路护送到她的新居，开心地看了看四周。“很好。”
“That’s vurry kind and delicate of you. I appreciate it, I assure you.”
“你人真好，又周到，我向你保证我很满意。”
“Do not mention it, Madame. We will come with you and see you comfortably installed.”
“不用客气，太太，我们会跟你一起过去，帮你舒服地安顿好。”
“It suits you, Madame? It is, you see, exactly like the compartment you have left.”
“合适吗，太太？你瞧，这跟你之前的那个房间一模一样。”
“At any rate, Madame, you are quite happy and contented now?”
“无论如何，太太，你现在满意了吗？”
“Madame,” said M. Bouc, “we are all in the same case — every one of us.”
“太太，”布克先生说，“我们所有人都一样，无一例外。”
“That’s so — only it faces the other way. But that doesn’t matter, for these trains go first one way and then the other. I said to my daughter, ‘I want a carriage facing the engine,’ and she said, ‘Why, Momma, that’ll be no good to you, for if you go to sleep one way, when you wake up the train’s going the other.’ And it was quite true what she said. Why, last evening we went into Belgrade one way and out the other.”
“没错——只是方向相反。但没关系，反正火车就是一会儿朝这个方向一会儿朝那个方向的。我对女儿说：‘我想要间朝火车头的房间。’她说：‘不，妈妈，这对你不好，很可能是你睡觉时朝这个方向，醒过来时火车又朝另外一个方向了！’她说得太对了。可不，昨天晚上我们到贝尔格莱德时是一个方向，出来时就变了。”
“Well, no, I wouldn’t say that. Here we are stuck in a snowdrift and nobody doing anything about it, and my boat sailing the day after tomorrow.”
“哦，不，不能这么说。我们陷进了雪堆里，也没人能做点什么，而且我的船后天就要开了。”
“No, because of the sponge bag. Oh, my, I shall have to get a new sponge bag. It makes me feel sick in my stomach to look at this one.”
“看不到，因为上面挂着洗漱包。哦，我的天，我得换个新的包了！看见就恶心。”
“Well, that’s true,” admitted Mrs. Hubbard. “But nobody else has had a murderer walking right through their compartment in the middle of the night.”
“哦，那倒是，”哈巴特太太说，“可是别人的房间里就没有凶手半夜进去过。”
“What still puzzles me, Madame,” said Poirot, “is how the man got into your compartment if the communicating door was bolted as you say. You are sure that it was bolted?”
“我仍然不明白，太太，”波洛说，“要是连通门像你说的那样是闩着的，凶手又是怎么进入到你房间里去的呢？你肯定门是闩着的吗？”
“Why, that’s just what I’ve been telling you!”
“可不，我刚才跟你说过了！”
“Why, the Swedish lady tried it before my eyes.”
“怎么不肯定，瑞典太太在我眼皮子底下试过。”
“Let us just reconstruct that little scene. You were lying in your bunk — so — and you could not see for yourself, you say?”
“让我们再回想一下当时的场景，你正躺在你的卧铺上——那么，你自己看不到门闩，是吗？”
Poirot picked up the sponge bag and hung it on the handle of the communicating door into the next carriage.
波洛捡起洗漱包，把它挂在连通门的门把手上。
“Précisément — I see,” he said. “The bolt is just underneath the handle — the sponge bag masks it. You could not see from where you were lying whether the bolt were turned or not.”
“就是这样，我明白了。”他说，“门闩就在门把手下面——洗漱包把它给挡住了——你在躺着的地方看不到门是不是闩着的。”
“And the Swedish lady, Miss Ohlsson, stood so, between you and the door. She tried it and told you it was bolted.”
“那么，瑞典太太，奥尔松太太是这么站着的，在你和门之间，她试了试，然后告诉你门闩上了。”
“That’s so.”
“是这样的。”
“No. I sailed right to Stamboul, and a friend of my daughter’s — Mr. Johnson (a perfectly lovely man; I’d like to have you know him)– met me and showed me all round Stamboul, which I found a very disappointing city — all tumbling down. And as for those mosques and putting on those great shuffling things over your shoes — where was I?”
“不，我直接坐船去斯坦布尔。我女儿的一个朋友，约翰逊先生（一个非常可爱的男人，真希望你能认识他）去接我，然后带我去斯坦布尔游览。但这个城市真叫人失望，到处都是破破烂烂的，还有那些清真寺，还得给你的鞋子套上一大堆什么东西——我说到哪儿了？”
“Well I guess that would be rather stupid of her.”
“哦，我想她可真是糊涂。”
“You were saying that Mr. Johnson met you.”
“你正在说约翰逊先生来接你。”
“All the same, Madame, she may have made an error. You see what I mean.” Poirot seemed anxious to explain. “The bolt is just a projection of metal — so. Turned to the right the door is locked, left straight, it is not. Possibly she merely tried the door, and as it was locked on the other side she may have assumed that it was locked on your side.”
“可是，太太，也许她弄错了，你明白我的意思吧。”波洛好像急于解释清楚似的，“门闩只是一个金属突起物，往右推的时候，门就锁上了；往左一拉，门就开了。没准她就是试了试门，因为那一边的门是闩着的，所以她可能会以为你这边也是闩着的。”
“Madame, the most kind, the most amiable are not always the cleverest.”
“太太，再善良、再亲切的人，也有犯糊涂的时候。”
“That’s so, and he saw me on board a French Messagerie boat for Smyrna, and my daughter’s husband was waiting right on the quay. What he’ll say when he hears about all this! My daughter said this would be just the safest, easiest way imaginable. ‘You just sit in your carriage,’ she said, ‘and you get right to Parrus and there the American Express will meet you.’ And, oh dear, what am I to do about cancelling my steamship passage? I ought to let them know. I can’t possibly make it now. This is just too terrible –“
“是的。他把我送上去士麦那的一艘法国邮船，我女婿会在码头上等着我。要是他听说了这些，他会说些什么啊！我女儿说这是她能想象得到的最安全、最简单的路线，‘坐上火车，’她说，‘一下子就到巴黎了，美国运输船就在那儿等着你。’可是，哦，我亲爱的，我怎么才能把船票给退了呢？我真应该让他们知道，可是现在联系不上了。真是太可怕了——”
“That’s so, of course.”
“当然，这倒是。”
“By the way, Madame, did you travel out to Smyrna this way?”
“顺便问问，太太，你这次是去士麦那[1]旅行吗？”【注：[1]土耳其西部港市。】
“Mercy! Perhaps you’d better! I just couldn’t bear to get any more surprises of that kind.”
“天哪！别提了！我再也承受不了这种刺激了！”
“Excellent. You must revive your forces.”
“太好了，你一定能恢复体力的。”
“I don’t know that I’m so set on tea,” said Mrs. Hubbard tearfully. “That’s more an English habit.”
“我没那么爱喝茶，”哈巴特太太眼泪汪汪地说，“那是英国人的习惯。”
“We are about to commence a search of all the passengers’ luggage. I do not want to remind you of an unpleasant experience, but your sponge bag — remember.”
“我们打算检查所有旅客的行李，我不想让您感到不愉快，可是，别忘了，你的洗漱包——”
“Whatever for?”
“为什么？”
The examination was quickly over. Mrs. Hubbard was travelling with the minimum of luggage — a hat box, a cheap suitcase, and a well-burdened travelling bag. The contents of all three were simple and straightforward, and the examination would not have taken more than a couple of minutes had not Mrs. Hubbard delayed matters by insisting on due attention being paid to photographs of “My daughter” and two rather ugly children –“My daughter’s children. Aren’t they cunning?”
检查很快就结束了。哈巴特太太的行李只有那么一点：一个帽盒，一个廉价的手提箱，还有一个装满东西的旅行箱。三个箱子里的东西简单，一目了然。如果不是哈巴特太太坚持让大家看看“我的女儿”和两个很丑的小孩的照片——“我女儿的孩子，机灵吧？”——而耽误了检查，连两分钟都用不了。
“But first, Madame, a little matter of routine. You permit that I make a search of your baggage?”
“但是，首先，太太，这只是例行公事，可否允许我检查一下你的行李？”
Poirot, who had been fidgeting slightly, seized his opportunity.
早就有点坐立不安的波洛立马抓住了这个机会。
“My, what a funny expression.”
“我？你说得真好笑。”
“That cognac’s made my head feel mighty funny. I think I would like some coffee.”
“那个白兰地弄得我头昏脑涨的，我想我得喝点咖啡。”
“Coffee, then, Madame. You need some stimulant.”
“那就来点咖啡，太太。你需要一些提神的东西——”
“You have had a shock, Madame. The restaurant attendant shall be instructed to bring you along some tea and some biscuits.”
“你受惊吓了，太太，餐车服务员会给你送点茶和小饼干过来。”
Mrs. Hubbard showed signs of tears once more.
哈巴特太太的眼泪又淌了出来。
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