文/安娜·凱瑟琳·格林 譯/聞春國(guó)

By Anna Katharine Green2

Whence came the clock, then,which had struck before the time and been shattered for its pains? One quick look told them. On the ground,ten paces to the right, lay Zulma Harry,a broken clock at her side, and was fast sapping the life.

[2] They had to tell him; and never will any of the hearers forget the scream which rang from his lips as he realized the truth. Breaking from their midst, he rushed forward, and fell at her feet as if guided by some supernatural instinct.

“Zulma,” he shrieked, “what is this?

Were not my hands dyed deep enough in blood that you should make me answerable for your life also?”

[3] Her eyes were closed but she opened them. Looking long and steadily at his agonized face, she faltered forth:“It is not you who have killed me; it is your crime. Had you been innocent of Mr. Hasbrouck’s death your bullet would never have found my heart. Did you think I could survive the proof that you had killed that good man?”

“I did it unwittingly. I—”

“Hush!” she commanded. “I had another motive. I wished to prove to you, even at the cost of my life, that I loved you, had always loved you—”

“Hush!” said he. His hand crept to her lips, and his despairing face turned itself blindly towards those about them.“Go!” he cried; “l(fā)eave us! Let me take a last farewell of my dying wife, without listeners or spectators.”

[4] Violet fell slowly back. The others, followed, and the doctor was left alone with his wife. From the distant position they took, they saw her arms creep round his neck, saw her head fall confidingly on his breast, then silence settled upon them, and upon all nature,the gathering twilight deepening, till the last glow disappeared from the heavens above and from the circle of leafless trees.

[5] But at last there came a stir, and Dr. Harry, rising up before them with the dead body of his wife held closely to his breast, confronted them with a countenance so rapturous that he looked like a man trans figured.

“I will carry her to the boat,” said he. “Not another hand shall touch her.She was my true wife, my true wife!”And he towered into an attitude of such dignity that for a moment he took on heroic proportions and they forgot that he had just proved himself to have committed a cold-blooded and ghastly crime.

[6] The stars were shining when the party again took their seats in the boat.

[7] The doctor, as before, sat in the stern, an awesome figure, upon which the moon shone with a white radiance that seemed to lift his face out of the surrounding darkness and set it like an image of frozen horror before their eyes. Against his breast he held the form of his dead wife, and now and then Violet saw him stoop as if he were listening for some token of life from her set lips. Then he would lift himself again with hopelessness stamped upon his features, only to lean forward in renewed hope that was again destined to disappointment.

[8] Violet had been so overcome by this tragic end to all her hopes, that her employer had been allowed to enter the boat with her. Seated at her side in the seat directly in front of the doctor, he watched with her these simple tokens of a breaking heart, saying nothing till they reached midstream, when true to his instincts for all his awe and compassion,he suddenly bent towards him and said:“Dr. Harry, the mystery of your crime is no longer a mystery to me. Listen and see if I do not understand how you,a conscientious and God-fearing man,came to slay your innocent neighbor.”

With a strange look, he lifted up his face. “Hush! You will waken her. See how peacefully she sleeps! I should not like to have her wakened now, she is so tired, and I—I have not watched over her as I should.”

[9] Appalled at his gesture, his look,his tone, Violet drew back, and for a few minutes no sound was to be heard but the steady dip-dip of the oars and the lap-lap of the waters against the boat. Then there came a quick uprising,the swaying before her of something dark and tall, and before she could speak or move, or even stretch forth her hands to stay him, the seat before her was empty and darkness had filled the place where but an instant previous he had sat, a fearsome figure, erect and rigid as a sphinx.

那這鐘是從哪兒來的，竟在五點(diǎn)前響起并被一槍擊碎？匆匆掃了一眼，人們一下子明白了。就在右邊十步遠(yuǎn)的地方，蘇爾瑪·哈里倒在地上，奄奄一息，身邊有一座被擊碎的鐘。

[2]人們只得把結(jié)果告訴了哈里，所有人永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)忘記他明白真相后那撕心裂肺的呼喊聲。他扒開人群，沖上前去，倒在她的腳邊，仿佛得到了某種超自然本能的引導(dǎo)。

“蘇爾瑪！”他喊道，“怎么啦？難道我手上沾染的鮮血還不夠，你非要讓我再賠上你的命嗎？”

[3]蘇爾瑪?shù)难劬ο惹伴]著，但又睜開了。她久久地凝視著丈夫那痛苦的臉龐，斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地說道：“殺我的不是你，是你的罪過。假如你在哈斯布魯克先生槍殺案中是無辜的，你的子彈絕不會(huì)射中我的心臟?？吹侥銡⒘四莻€(gè)好人的證據(jù)，你以為我還能活下去嗎？”

“我不是故意殺他的。我——”

“別說了！”她打斷了丈夫的話，“我這樣做還有一個(gè)目的，我要向你證明，我愛你，一直愛你，哪怕讓我付出生命的代價(jià)——”

“別說了！”他的手慢慢移向她的嘴唇，他那絕望的面孔茫然轉(zhuǎn)向圍在他們身邊的人?！白唛_！”他大聲吼道，“讓我們單獨(dú)待著！我妻子要死了，我要跟她作最后的告別，不需要聽眾，也不需要觀眾?！?/p>

[4]維奧萊特慢慢地后退了幾步。其他人也跟著退去，讓哈里醫(yī)生單獨(dú)與妻子待在一起。他們站在遠(yuǎn)處，看見她的手臂慢慢摟著他的脖子，頭深情地垂在他的胸口。隨后，他倆沉默不語，所有在場(chǎng)的人都沉默不語。暮色漸濃，直到最后一抹霞光從天空，從周圍光禿禿的樹林中慢慢消失。

[5]終于，有動(dòng)靜了，哈里醫(yī)生站了起來，將妻子的尸體緊緊摟在懷里，滿臉笑容地面對(duì)人群，宛如變了一個(gè)人。

“我要把她帶上船?！彼f道，“誰也不能碰她。她是我忠實(shí)的妻子，我忠實(shí)的妻子！”說著，他的神情變得極為莊重，那一刻儼然是個(gè)英雄，人們也忘了，他剛才已經(jīng)證明自己是一個(gè)冷血?dú)⑹?，犯下了一樁可怕的罪?/p>

[6]當(dāng)人們?cè)俅蔚巧闲〈礁髯缘淖粫r(shí)，天上已是星光燦爛。

[7]哈里醫(yī)生依舊坐在船尾，樣子十分威嚴(yán)，皎潔的月光照在他的身上，似乎將他的面孔從周圍的黑暗中凸顯出來，在人們眼前塑造成一個(gè)冷酷的恐怖形象。他的懷里抱著死去的妻子。維奧萊特看見他不時(shí)彎下腰，似乎要從她那緊閉的嘴唇邊聆聽到某種生命的跡象。隨后，他會(huì)直起腰，臉上印刻著絕望，然后帶著新希望前傾，但又一次陷入失望之中。

[8]維奧萊特的一切希望被這悲慘的結(jié)局徹底摧毀了。警方允許她的上司和她一起上了船。他坐在她的身邊，正對(duì)著哈里醫(yī)生，他跟維奧萊特觀察著心碎之人種種顯而易見的表現(xiàn)，什么也沒說，直到小船行至河流中央，出于對(duì)哈里醫(yī)生那種敬畏和同情的本能反應(yīng)，他突然彎下腰，說道：“哈里醫(yī)生，你的犯罪之謎對(duì)我來說已不再是謎。你且聽我說，看看我能否推斷出一個(gè)像你這樣有良心又虔誠(chéng)的人怎么會(huì)殺害一個(gè)無辜的鄰居?！?/p>

哈里醫(yī)生抬起頭，臉上露出奇怪的表情。“別說了！你會(huì)吵醒她的。瞧她睡得多安詳！我現(xiàn)在不想讓人吵醒她，她實(shí)在太累了，我本該好好照顧她，可我——我卻沒有做到?！?/p>

[9]他的手勢(shì)、他的面容、他說話的語氣讓維奧萊特感到震驚，她欲言又止。有那么幾分鐘，船上聽不到任何聲音，只聽見連綿不斷的船槳擊水聲及河水拍船聲。隨后，突然有東西一躍而起，一個(gè)高高的黑乎乎的東西在她面前偏向一邊，她還沒來得及說話、挪步，甚至還沒等她伸手?jǐn)r住他，她面前的那個(gè)座位就已經(jīng)空了，座位上一片漆黑，前一刻他還坐在那里，又僵又直，像斯芬克斯雕像，令人生畏。

〔〕

〔〕

[10] What little moonlight there was, only served to show a few rising bubbles, marking the spot where the unfortunate man had sunk with his much-loved burden. As the widening circles fled farther and farther out, the tide drifted the boat away, and the spot was lost which had seen the termination of one of earth’s saddest tragedies. ■

(The End)

[10]月色朦朧，只看到水面上泛起了一個(gè)個(gè)氣泡，意謂這個(gè)不幸的男人帶著他深愛的妻子從這兒投河自盡了。隨著一圈圈波紋漸漸擴(kuò)散，隨著小船順流而下，這個(gè)地點(diǎn)也在人們的視野中消失了，同時(shí)也為人世間最傷心的悲劇畫上了一個(gè)大大的句號(hào)。 □

（完）