Her wavering glance fluctuated between the three men. Poirot leaned forward.
她游移的眼神在三个人身上扫来扫去。波洛向前探了下身子。
Mrs. Hubbard plumped heavily down on to the seat opposite to him.
哈巴特太太扑通一声重重地坐在了波洛对面。
“Now just tell me this. Who’s in authority here? I’ve got some vurry important information, vurry important, indeed, and I just want to tell it to someone in authority as soon as may be. If you gentlemen –“
“快告诉我——谁是这儿的负责人？我有很重要的事，非常重要，我要马上告诉这儿的负责人，要是你们几位先生——”
“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!”
“我要跟你说的就是这个。昨天晚上火车上发生了谋杀案，而那时凶手正好就在我房间里。”
Mrs. Hubbard arrived in the dining car in such a state of breathless excitement that she was hardly able to articulate her words.
哈巴特太太气喘吁吁地走进餐车，激动得话都说不清楚了。
“Tell it to me, Madame,” he said. “But, first, pray be seated.”
“跟我说吧，太太，”他说，“但请您先坐下。”
“Of course I’m sure! The idea! I know what I’m talking about. I’ll tell you just everything there is to tell. I’d gotten into bed and gone to sleep, and suddenly I woke up — all in the dark, it was — 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 so mighty comfortable, by the way, kinder bumpy, if you know what I mean. But that’s neither here nor there. Where was I?”
“当然确定！这是什么话！我知道自己在说什么。我会原原本本告诉你所有的事。昨晚我上了床就睡着了，后来忽然醒了——四周黑漆漆的——可我知道有个男人在我房间里。我吓得都叫不出来了，如果你明白我的意思。我只能躺在那儿，心想：‘上帝啊，我要被杀死了。’我可说不上来当时是什么感觉。我只想到了让人讨厌的火车和我读到的小说里的那些暴行。我还想着：‘好吧，反正他也抢不走我的珠宝。’因为，你知道吗，我把它们装在一只长袜子里，塞进枕头下面了——这样睡上去很不舒服，有点硌人，如果你明白我的意思。但这不重要。我说到哪儿了？”
She paused to give dramatic emphasis to her words.
她顿了顿，戏剧性地加重了最后一句话的语气。
“You are sure of this, Madame?”
“你确定吗，太太？”
This seemed to Mrs. Hubbard to be a dramatic climax rather than an anticlimax.
这似乎不是哈巴特太太的结束语，而正是戏剧的高潮部分。
“Yes, well, I just lay there with my eyes closed, and I thought whatever should I 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 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.”
“没错，啊，我就闭着眼躺在那儿，想着该怎么办。我想，幸亏我女儿不知道我的悲惨处境。后来，我忽然灵机一动，想到伸手摸电铃，叫列车员。我按了又按，可一点动静也没有。我跟你说，我觉得我的心脏都停止跳动了。‘上帝啊，’我跟自己说，‘没准他们把火车上的人全都杀了。’火车停了，周围静得让人恶心。可我还是不停地按铃。哦，我听见走道里有脚步声传了过来，有人在敲门，这才放下心喘口气。‘进来！’我叫着，同时拧开了灯。信不信由你，那儿连个人影也没有！”
“You realized, Madame, that there was a man in your compartment.”
“太太，你意识到有个男人在你房间里。”
“And what happened next, Madame?”
“后来呢，太太？”
“Why, I told the man what had happened, and he didn’t seem to believe me. Seemed to imagine I’d dreamt 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 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?”
“后来我告诉列车员发生了什么事，可他好像还不相信，还以为是我在做梦。我让他看看床底下，可他说床底下那么窄，藏不下什么人。这明摆着那个人肯定是跑掉了。绝对有个人进来过，但那个列车员就只是安慰我，我快被他气疯了！我可不是个爱胡思乱想的人，先生——我还不知道你的名字呢？”
“What time was this, Mrs. Hubbard?”
“那时几点了，哈巴特太太？”
Mrs. Hubbard murmured: “Please to meet you, I’m sure,” to all three of them in an abstracted manner, and then plunged once more into her recital.
哈巴特太太咕哝着：“很高兴见到你们，真的。”她心不在焉地跟三个人打了招呼，接着又陷进自己的故事之中了。
“Poirot, Madame, and this is M. Bouc, a director of the company, and Dr. Constantine.”
“波洛，太太。这位是布克先生，公司的董事。这位是康斯坦汀医生。”
“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.”
“我现在不敢说我当时很清醒，我当时觉得就是隔壁的那个男人——现在已经被杀的那个可怜的家伙。我让列车员看看两个房间之间的连通门，肯定没闩上，我一下子就看到了。我当时就让他闩上了。他走了之后，我下床找了个箱子顶上门，以确保安全。”
“Well, I’m sure I can’t tell you. I never looked to see. I was so upset.”
“唔，我可说不出来。我心里乱得要命，根本没看表。”
“And what is your theory now?”
“那你的看法是什么呢？”
“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?”
“啊，我得说，这再明白不过了。在我房间里的那个人就是凶手。除了他还会有别人吗？”
“And you think he went back into the adjoining compartment?”
“那你认为他又回到隔壁房间去了？”
“How do I know where he went? I had my eyes tight shut.”
“我怎么知道他去哪儿了？我紧闭着眼呢。”
“He must have slipped out through the door into the corridor.”
“可能他从门口溜到过道上去了。”
Mrs. Hubbard sighed convulsively.
哈巴特太太忽然发作似的叹了口气。
“Mercy, I was scared! If my daughter only knew –“
“上帝啊，吓死我了！要是我女儿知道——”
“Well, I couldn’t say. You see, I had my eyes tight shut.”
“哦，我可不知道。你知道的，我紧闭着眼呢。”
Triumphantly she hauled a large handbag into view and proceeded to burrow in its interior.
她得意地拿出一个大手袋，在里面摸索着。
“You do not think, Madame, that what you heard was the noise of someone moving about next door — in the murdered man’s compartment?”
“太太，你认为你听到的不是有人在隔壁房间走动的声音吗——在被害人的房间里？”
“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.”
“你看到这个纽扣没？这可不是我的，也不是从我的衣服上掉下来的，而是我今天早上起床的时候发现的。”
“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，不会，先生——您叫什么来着？——波洛。那个男人就和我在一个房间里。关键是，我有证据。”
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.
她把东西一件一件地拿了出来：两块干净的大手帕，一副牛角框眼镜，一瓶阿司匹林，一包芒硝，装在一个塑料盒里的鲜绿色的薄荷糖，一串钥匙，一把剪刀，一本美国运通支票，一张相貌极其普通的小孩照片，几封信，五串仿造的东方念珠，此外还有一个小小的金属物件——一个纽扣。
“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.”
“这个纽扣，太太，可能是从列车员的制服上掉下来的，也许是他帮你在房间中找人时掉的，也可能是昨晚为你铺床时掉的。”
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!”
她把纽扣放在桌子上之后，布克先生凑过去检查了一下。“可这是列车员制服上的！”
He turned gently to the lady.
他礼貌地转向这位太太。
“I just don’t know what’s the matter with all you people. Seems as though you don’t 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?”
“我就是不明白你们这些人都怎么了，除了跟我唱反调之外什么事也不做。听我说，昨晚我睡觉前正在看一本杂志，关灯之前我把杂志放在一个小箱子上，箱子就在靠窗的地板上。你们明白了吗？”
They assured her that they had.
他们都表示明白。
“There may be a natural explanation for that,” said Poirot.
“对此，可以有个合理而自然的解释。”波洛说。
“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 up 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?”
“那很好。列车员在靠门的地方看了看我的床底下，然后闩上了我和隔壁房间的那扇连通门，但他根本没靠近那扇窗。可今天早上，这个纽扣就出现在杂志的上面。我想知道，你们管这个叫什么来着？”
“Yes.”
“是的。”
“Oh, you had?”
“哦，你闩上了？”
Suddenly she laughed. “Poor soul — she was in quite a taking. You see, she’d opened the door of the next compartment by mistake.”
说到这儿，她忽然大笑起来。“可怜的人——她心烦意乱的，你瞧，她居然不小心打开了隔壁房间的门。”
“It makes me madder than a hornet to be disbelieved,” she explained.
“我最讨厌别人不相信我。”她说。
“How was it, since you were nervous of this man Ratchett, that you hadn’t already bolted the door between the compartments?”
“既然你这么害怕这个雷切特，为什么不把两个房间之间的联通门闩上呢？”
“What time was it when you asked her to do this for you?”
“你问她看门闩没闩的时候是几点？”
“Because I was in bed and my sponge bag was hanging on the door handle.”
“因为我已经上床了，而且我的手袋挂在门把手上。”
“How was it you couldn’t see for yourself?”
“你为什么不亲自去看看？”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I asked that Swedish creature — a pleasant soul — if it was bolted, and she said it was.”
“呃，其实是我问那个瑞典女人——一个挺好的人——门是不是闩上了，她说是的。”
“I had,” returned Mrs. Hubbard promptly.
“我闩上了。”哈巴特太太迅速答道。
“Why, willingly.”
“啊，没问题。”
The answer seemed to appease the lady.
这个答案似乎安抚了这位太太。
“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’d got an aspirin. I told her where to find it, and she got it out of my grip.”
“让我想想。肯定是十点半或者十一点差一刻，她过来看我有没有阿司匹林。我告诉她在哪儿，于是她从我的手袋里拿走了。”
“You have given us most interesting and valuable evidence,” said Poirot soothingly. “Now, may I ask you a few questions?”
“你提供给我们的信息既让人感兴趣，又有价值。”波洛安慰她说，“现在我能问你几个问题吗？”
“That, Madame, I call evidence,” said Poirot.
“太太，我们叫证据。”
“You yourself were in bed?”
“你是躺在床上的吗？”
‘M. Ratchett’s?”
“雷切特先生的？”
“Terribly. The night before it quite kept me awake.”
“太响了，前一晚我就没睡着。”
“Ah! he snored, did he?”
“啊，他打呼噜，是吧？”
“Well –” she paused. “He snored.”
“呃，”她顿了顿，“他打呼噜。”
“What do you mean by that, Madame?”
“你这么说是什么意思呢，太太？”
“You didn’t hear him snore after you had had the scare about a man being in your compartment?”
“你被那个在你房间里的男人吓到之后就没听见他打呼噜？”
“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 fancy he may have said something not quite nice. Poor thing, she was all in a flutter. ‘Oh! I make mistake,’ she said. ‘I ashamed make mistake. Not nice man,’ she said. ‘He say, “You too old.'”
“是的。你知道，在火车上每扇门都是关着的，她错开了他的门，这事儿让她很懊恼。他大笑了几声，我猜他可能说了些不好听的话。可怜的人，她苦恼极了。‘哦，我犯了个错，’她说，‘这真是让人羞愧。不是好人，’她说，‘他说我太老了。’”
“Why, Mr. Poirot, how could I? He was dead.”
“啊，波洛先生，我怎么能听见？他死了啊。”
Dr. Constantine sniggered and Mrs. Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance.
康斯坦汀医生吃吃地笑了起来。哈巴特太太当即瞪了他一眼。
“Did you hear any noise from M. Ratchett’s compartment after that?” asked Poirot.
“后来你听见雷切特先生的房间里有什么动静吗？”波洛问。
Dr. Constantine hastily apologized.
康斯坦汀医生赶忙道歉。
“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.”
“他不是个好人，”她说，“对一位太太说这样的话。这种事是不应该笑的。”
“Well — not exactly.”
“呃，不太确定。”
“But yes, I do. Ratchett was the man.”
“是的，雷切特就是那个人。”
“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.”
“是的，当然记得。那个坏蛋居然逃掉了！啊，我恨不得亲手杀了他！”
“Were you acquainted with any of the Armstrong family, Mrs. Hubbard?”
“你认识阿姆斯特朗家的人吗，哈巴特太太？”
“Ah, yes, truly,” said Poirot. He appeared confused.
“啊，是的，没错。”波洛说，一脸困惑。
“Do you remember the affair of the Armstrong kidnapping, Mrs. Hubbard?” he asked.
“你记得阿姆斯特朗绑架案吗，哈巴特太太？”他问道。
“You don’t mean –?” Mrs. Hubbard half rose from her chair in excitement.
“你该不是说——”哈巴特太太激动地快从座位上跳起来了。
“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 Momma’s got a hunch, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s O. K.'”
“哎呀，想一想，太好了！我必须写信告诉我女儿。昨晚我不是告诉过你，那人长着一张邪恶的脸吗？你看，我说对了吧。我女儿总是说：‘只要我妈妈有了预感，你就可以押上所有的钱，准赢。’”
“He has not escaped. He is dead. He died last night.”
“他并没有逃脱，他死了，昨天晚上死了。”
“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。他们都是上流人士，不过我听说阿姆斯特朗太太是个可爱的美女，她丈夫也很疼爱她。”
“Why, certainly. Caroline Martha Hubbard.”
“哦，当然。卡罗琳·玛萨·哈巴特。”
“Well, Mrs. Hubbard, you have helped us very much — very much indeed. Perhaps you will give me your full name?”
“好啦，哈巴特太太，你给了我们很大的帮助——确实很大。可否请你告诉我们你的全名？”
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?”
哈巴特太太一面写着，嘴巴也没有停下来。“我简直不敢相信，卡塞蒂——在这列火车上。我对这个人早就有预感了，对吧，波洛先生？”
“Will you write your address down here?”
“能写下你的地址吗？”
“Mercy, what an odd 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?”
“上帝啊，真是个奇怪的问题！哦，没有。我有两件睡衣——一件粉红色法兰绒睡衣，坐船穿很舒服；另一件是我女儿送给我的礼物，紫色的丝质睡衣，本地货。但是你问我睡衣干什么？”
“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.”
“是这样的，太太。昨天晚上有人穿着一件猩红色的睡衣去了你的或者雷切特先生的房间。就像你刚才说的，所有的门都是关着的，很容易搞错。”
“Yes, indeed, Madame. By the way, have you a scarlet silk dressing gown?”
“是的，确实，太太。顺便问一句，你有没有猩红色的丝绸睡衣？”
“Well, no one in a scarlet dressing gown came into my compartment.”
“哦，没有穿猩红色睡衣的人去过我的房间。”
Mrs. Hubbard pursed her lips together and said grimly: “That wouldn’t surprise me any.”
哈巴特太太撅着嘴，坚决地说道：“我一点都不意外。”
“Then she must have gone into M. Ratchett’s.”
“那她肯定是去了雷切特先生的房间。”
Poirot leaned forward. “So you heard a woman’s voice next door?”
波洛靠过去。“那你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.”
“我不明白你怎么会这么猜想，波洛先生。我真是不明白。不过，呃，其实，我听见了。”
“But when I asked you just now if you heard anything next door, you only said you heard Mr. Ratchett snoring.”
“但是我刚才问你听见隔壁有什么动静没，你说你只是听见他打呼噜。”
“Well that was true enough. He did snore part of the time. As for the other –” Mrs. Hubbard got rather pink. “It isn’t a very nice thing to speak about.”
“啊，确实是这样。有阵子他是在打呼噜，至于其他时候——”哈巴特太太的脸红了，“真是不太好讲。”
“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. Well, 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.”
“说不上来。我醒了一会儿，听见一个女人在说话。很明显她就在那儿。所以我就想：‘哦，他是这种人，我可不奇怪。’然后我又睡着了。如果不是你逼问我，我绝对不会向三个陌生的男人提起这种事。”
“Was it before the scare about the man in your compartment, or after?”
“这是那个你房间里的男人吓到你之前还是之后？”
“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?”
“啊，你又像刚才那样问问题了！如果他死了，怎么可能跟一个女人说话？”
“What time was it when you heard a woman’s voice?”
“你听见有女人的声音是什么时候？”
“Pardon. You must think me very stupid, Madame.”
“对不起。你肯定认为我很蠢，太太。”
“I guess even you get kinder muddled now and then. I just can’t get over it being that monster Cassetti. What my daughter will say –“
“我猜就算是你这样的人，也会时不时地犯糊涂。我只是没想到居然是卡塞蒂那个魔头。我女儿知道了会说…”
Poirot managed adroitly to help the good lady to restore the contents of her handbag and he then shepherded her towards the door.
波洛手脚麻利地帮这位好心的太太把东西放进手袋里，然后陪她朝门口走去。
“That’s not mine, Mr. Poirot. I’ve got mine right here.”
“那不是我的，波洛先生。我的在这儿呢。”
At the last moment he said: “You have dropped your handkerchief, Madame.”
在最后一刻，他说：“你的手帕掉了，太太。”
Neither of the three men seemed to have an answer to this question, and Mrs. Hubbard sailed out triumphantly.
三个人似乎都不能回答这个问题，哈巴特太太得意地走出了房门。
“Well, now, that’s curious, 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?”
“哦，真是有意思，不过真不是我的。我的那上面绣着C.M。H。，面料很实用——不是那种巴黎产的高级样子货。这种手帕对人的鼻子有什么好的？”
Mrs. Hubbard looked at the little scrap of cambric he held out to her.
哈巴特太太看了看他递给她的那块小小的棉纱手帕。
“Pardon. I thought as it had the initial H on it –“
“对不起，我看见上面有个首字母‘H’，以为是——”
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