“Your name is Mary Hermione Debenham, and you are twenty-six years of age?” began Poirot.
“你的名字叫玛丽·赫麦厄妮·德贝纳姆，二十六岁？”波洛先发问。
She complied. Her writing was clear and legible.
她照做了，字迹清晰易辨。
“I don’t quite understand you.”
“我不太懂？”
“Does it distress you very much, Mademoiselle, that a crime has been committed on this train?”
“小姐，这列火车上发生了一起命案，你感到难过吗？”
She sat down opposite Poirot and M. Bouc and looked at them inquiringly.
她在波洛和布克先生对面坐了下来，眼含询问地看着他们。
“Yes.”
“是的。”
“Will you be so kind, Mademoiselle, as to write down your permanent address on this piece of paper?”
“可否麻烦你在这张纸上写下你的永久地址？”
“And now, Mademoiselle, what have you to tell us of the affair last night?”
“现在，小姐，你对昨晚发生的案子有什么要说的吗？”
When Mary Debenham entered the dining car she confirmed Poirot’s previous estimate of her. Very neatly dressed in a little black suit with a French grey shirt, the smooth waves of her dark head were neat and unruffled. Her manner was as calm and unruffled as her hair.
走进餐厅时，玛丽·德贝纳姆小姐更坚定了波洛之前对她的看法。她穿着整洁的黑色小西装，配着灰色的法国衬衫，头上乌黑光滑的鬈发梳得十分平整，行为举止也像她的头发那样沉着冷静。
“I am afraid I have nothing to tell you. I went to bed and slept.”
“恐怕我没什么能告诉你的，我上床睡着了。”
“Yes.”
“是的。”
“English?”
“英国人？”
The question was clearly unexpected. Her grey eyes widened a little.
这个问题真是出人意料，她灰色的眼睛微微睁大了。
“It was a perfectly simple question that I asked you, Mademoiselle. I will repeat it. Are you very much distressed that a crime should have been committed on this train?”
“我问你的这个问题非常简单，小姐。我再说一遍，这列火车上发生了一起命案，你感到难过吗？”
“It is naturally an unpleasant thing to have happen,” said Mary Debenham quietly.
“自然，发生这种事是让人不舒服。”玛丽·德贝纳姆平静地说。
“You are, I think, a little bit contemptuous of the way I prosecute my inquiries,” he said with a twinkle. “Not so, you think, would an English inquiry be conducted. There everything would be cut and dried — it would be all kept to the facts — a well-ordered business. But I, Mademoiselle, have my little originalities. I look first at my witness, I sum up his or her character, and I frame my questions accordingly. Just a little minute ago I am asking questions of a gentleman who wants to tell me all his ideas on every subject. Well, him I keep strictly to the point. I want him to answer yes or no, this or that. And then you come. I see at once that you will be orderly and methodical. You will confine yourself to the matter in hand. Your answers will be brief and to the point. And because, Mademoiselle, human nature is perverse, I ask of you quite different questions. I ask what you feel, what you thought. It does not please you this method?”
“我觉得你对我的询问方式有点不以为然，”他眨眨眼，说，“你认为应该是一种英国式的调查。每件事都应该事先安排好，实事求是，井然有序。但是小姐，我有一点独创的小见解。我会先见一下证人，总结一下他或者她的性格，再据此提出问题。就在几分钟前，我刚问过一位先生，他打算把自己对每件事的看法全都告诉我。那我就严格要求他围绕中心主题来说。我只要他回答‘是’或‘不是’。就是这样。接着你来了。我一眼就看出你井然有序、有条不紊。你会就事论事，你的回答肯定是简单扼要的。因为，小姐，人类的天性中就有自找麻烦的一面，所以我问你的问题也与众不同。所以我问你的感觉，你的想法。这种方式没有让你不高兴吧？”
She smiled a little. “I am afraid I cannot have hysterics to prove my sensibility. After all, people die every day.”
她微微一笑。“恐怕我不会用歇斯底里来证明自己的感情，毕竟，每天都会有人死去。”
“He did not strike you as an evil personality.”
“你印象中不觉得他很邪恶吗？”
“I hardly noticed him.”
“我没注意他。”
“A crime — it is all in the day’s work to you, eh?”
“一桩谋杀案——对你而言是很平常的事吗，嗯？”
“Oh, certainly.”
“哦！那当然。”
“You were not acquainted with the dead man?”
“你认识死者吗？”
“I saw him for the first time when lunching here yesterday.”
“昨天在这儿吃午饭时我才第一次看见他。”
“And how did he strike you?”
“那你对他印象如何？”
“You are very Anglo-Saxon. Mademoiselle. Vous n’éprouvez pas d’émotion.”
“你真是个英国人[1]，小姐。很冷静，不容易动感情。”【注：[1]原文为Anglo—Saxon，指祖籍是盎格鲁－撒克逊族的英国人。】
“They die, yes. But murder is a little more rare.”
“是有人死去，没错，不过谋杀是很罕见的。”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Really, I cannot say I thought about it.”
她微微耸了耸肩。“说真的，我没想过。”
Poirot looked at her keenly.
波洛目光锐利地看着她。
“I have not really thought about it from that point of view. No, I cannot say that I am at all distressed.”
“我没往这方面想过这个问题，不，我说不上难过。”
“Yes.”
“对。”
Miss Debenham did not reply. She raised her eyes and looked Poirot full in the face. The glance said plainly, “You are impertinent.”
德贝纳姆小姐没有回答。她抬起眼睛，盯着波洛的脸，那眼神明显是在说：“你太无礼了。”
“And what do you think of the Armstrong affair?”
“那你对阿姆斯特朗一案有何想法呢？”
“You are travelling from Baghdad, I believe, Miss Debenham?”
“我想你是从巴格达上车的吧，德贝纳姆小姐？”
“I see. I thought, perhaps, you might be going to be married.”
“明白了。我还以为你要结婚了呢。”
“Baghdad is rather out of things. I think I should prefer a post in London if I can hear of a suitable one.”
“巴格达很落后，如果有合适的工作，我更愿意留在伦敦。”
“I am not sure.”
“我不确定。”
“What have you been doing in Baghdad?”
“你在巴格达是做什么的？”
“What is your opinion of the lady who shares your compartment — Miss Ohlsson?”
“你对跟你同一个房间的奥尔松太太有什么看法？”
“I have been acting as governess to two children.”
“我是两个孩子的家庭教师。”
“Do you know who the man Ratchett really was, Mademoiselle?”
“你知道这个雷切特的真实身份吗，小姐？”
“Are you returning to your post after your holiday?”
“假期结束后你回去工作吗？”
“To London?”
“去伦敦？”
“Yes.”
“是的。”
“Why is that?”
“为什么？”
Poirot looked at her thoughtfully.
波洛若有所思地看着她。
“If you will forgive my saying so, it seems somewhat of a waste of time. Whether or not I liked Mr. Ratchett’s face does not seem likely to be helpful in finding out who killed him.”
“请原谅我这么说，这似乎是在浪费时间。我喜不喜欢雷切特先生的脸，好像对是谁杀了他这个问题不可能有什么帮助。”
She nodded. “Mrs. Hubbard has been telling everyone.”
她点点头。“哈巴特太太已经告诉所有人了。”
“It was quite abominable,” said the girl crisply.
“太可恶了。”这个女孩干脆地说。
“Whose is it?”
“是谁的？”
“Yes, that is right.”
“是的，你说得对。”
“I told you just now. I don’t know. I woke up this morning about five o’clock with the feeling that the train had been standing still for a long time. I opened the door and looked out into the corridor, thinking we might be at a station. I saw someone in a scarlet kimono some way down the corridor.”
“我刚刚告诉过你了：我不知道。今天早上大约五点钟我醒了，感觉火车好像停了好一阵子了。我打开房门，向过道上看了看，以为我们到站了。我看见有人穿着猩红色的睡衣朝过道那头走去。”
“You do not say, ‘No, I have no such thing.’ You say, ‘That is not mine’– meaning that such a thing does belong to someone else.”
“你说的不是‘没有，我没有这样的睡衣’，而是‘不是我的’。这意味着这件睡衣是属于某个人的。”
“Ah! I may mention without indiscretion, I hope, that I noticed the colour of your dressing gown on the way from Aleppo to Stamboul. A pale mauve, I believe.”
“啊，请恕我冒昧，在阿勒颇到斯坦布尔的路上我见过你睡衣的颜色。淡紫色。”
She nodded.
她点点头。
The girl drew back a little, startled. “I don’t know. What do you mean?”
女孩吓得向后缩了缩。“我不知道。你是什么意思？”
“Somebody else on this train?”
“车上其他某个人的？”
“She seems a pleasant, simple creature.”
“她好像很快乐、单纯。”
“No, that is not mine.”
“不，不是我的。”
“What colour is her dressing gown?”
“她的睡衣是什么颜色的？”
Poirot leaned forward. He was like a cat pouncing on a mouse.
波洛探身向前，像一只正在逮耗子的猫。
“Have you any other dressing gown, Mademoiselle? A scarlet dressing gown, for example?”
“你还有没有别的睡衣，小姐？比如猩红色的睡衣？”
Mary Debenham stared. “A kind of brownish colour — natural wool.”
玛丽·德贝纳姆瞪大眼睛。“褐色的，衣料似乎是纯毛的。”
“Yes.”
“是的。”
“Whose, then?”
“那么是谁的？”
“I can’t say. She had on a shingle cap and I only saw the back of her head.”
“我说不出来。她戴了顶小帽子，我只看见她后脑勺儿的轮廓。”
“Tallish and slim, I should judge, but it’s difficult to say. The kimono was embroidered with dragons.”
“根据我的判断，她又高又苗条，但是也很难说。睡衣上绣着龙。”
“And in build?”
“什么体形？”
“And you don’t know who it was? Was she fair or dark or grey-haired?”
“那你不知道她是谁吗？她是黄头发、黑头发还是灰色的？”
Then, looking up, he said: “I need not keep you further, Mademoiselle.”
接着，他抬起头，说：“不再多麻烦你了，小姐。”
“Oh!” she seemed rather taken aback, but rose promptly. In the doorway, however, she hesitated a minute and then came back.
“哦！”她似乎很是惊讶，不过还是立刻站了起来。然而走到门口，她还是犹豫了一下，又折了回来。
“The Swedish lady — Miss Ohlsson, is it?– seems rather worried. She says you told her she was the last person to see this man alive. She thinks, I believe, that you suspect her on that account. Can’t I tell her that she has made a mistake? Really, you know, she is the kind of creature who wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She smiled a little as she spoke.
“那位瑞典太太——奥尔松女士，是吗——好像很担心。她说你告诉他，她是最后一个见到那人活着的人。她认为你因为这样而怀疑她。我能告诉她是她误会了吗？你知道，她真的是个连只苍蝇都不会伤害的人。”说话的时候她微微一笑。
“Yes, yes that is right, dragons.” He was silent a minute. He murmured to himself: “I cannot understand. I cannot understand. None of this makes sense.”
“是的，是的，没错——绣着龙。”他沉默了一分钟，喃喃地自言自语，“我不明白，我不明白，没道理啊。”
“What time was it that she went to fetch the aspirin from Mrs. Hubbard?”
“她向哈巴特太太要阿司匹林是在什么时候？”
“About five minutes.”
“大概五分钟。”
“She was away — how long?”
“她出去了——多久？”
“Just after half-past ten.”
“十点半刚过。”
“Did she leave the compartment again during the night?”
“晚上的时候她又离开过房间吗？”
“No.”
“没有。”
“Thank you.” She smiled suddenly at him, a smile that invited sympathy. “She’s like a sheep, you know. She gets anxious and bleats.”
“谢谢。”她突然对他笑了笑，这副笑容可是很容易博得同情的，“你知道，她就像只绵羊，忧虑得直啜泣。”
The doctor shook his head.
医生摇摇头。
Poirot turned to the doctor. “Could Ratchett have been killed as early as that?”
波洛转向医生。“雷切特有可能在这之前被杀吗？”
“Then I think you can reassure your friend, Mademoiselle.”
“那么我想，你可以让你的朋友放心了，小姐。”
She turned and went out.
她转过身，走了。
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