13 SUMMARY OF THE PASSENGERS’ EVIDENCE

13 旅客证词的总结

“A small dark man with a womanish voice,” said M. Bouc.

“一个瘦小、深色皮肤、声音像女人的男人。”波克先生说。

The three conductors and Hildegarde Schmidt had been dismissed.

这时，三名列车长与希尔格·施密德已经退出了餐车。

M. Bouc made a despairing gesture. “But I understand nothing—but nothing, of all of this! The enemy that this Ratchett spoke of, he was then on the train after all? But where is he now? How can he have vanished into thin air? My head, it whirls. Say something, then, my friend, I implore you. Show me how the impossible can be possible!”

波克先生颓丧地摊了摊手说：“我不懂——简直地全然不懂！罗嘉德所说的仇人确定是上了车的。可是他现在人在哪里？总不可能一下子无影无踪了吧？我的头都昏了，老兄，你倒是说话呀！我求你，告诉我这不可能的事怎么能变成可能！”

“It is a good phrase that,” said Poirot. “The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.”

“你说的很好，”白罗说：“不可能的事是不会发生的，因此，不论表面情形如何，这不可能的事绝对是可能的。”

“Explain to me, then, quickly, what actually happened on the train last night.”

“那么，请赶快说说昨天晚上这车上到底发生的是怎么回事？”

“I am not a magician, mon cher. I am, like you, a very puzzled man. This affair advances in a very strange manner.”

“我不是魔术师，朋友，我跟你一样，也是满头的雾水。总之，这案子进展得愈来愈离奇了。”

“It does not advance at all. It stays where it was.”

“进展？进展个鬼！”

Poirot shook his head. “No, that is not true. We are more advanced. We know certain things. We have heard the evidence of the passengers.”

白罗摇着头说：“不，不能这么说。我们确有些进展。我们了解了某些事情，也听过了旅客的证词。”

“And what has that told us? Nothing at all.”

“可这都有什么用？一点没用！”

“I would not say that, my friend.”

“不能这么说，老朋友。”

“I exaggerate, perhaps. The American Hardman, and the German maid—yes,they have added something to our knowledge. That is to say, they have made the whole business more unintelligible than it was.”

“也许，我有些夸大其词。那个美国人哈德曼，还有那名德国女仆，不错，他们俩提供了我们某些资料。我是说，他们把这个案子搞得列莫名其妙了”。

“No, no, no,” said Poirot soothingly.

“不，不，没有。”白罗安慰他说。

M. Bouc turned upon him. “Speak, then, let us hear the wisdom of Hercule Poirot.”

波克先生这下子可抓住他了。“那么好，让我们听听赫邱里·白罗的智慧与道理。”

“Did I not tell you that I was, like you, a very puzzled man? But at least we can face our problem. We can arrange such facts as we have with order and method.”

“我不是说过，我也说不上所以然来吗？但至少我们可以面对当前的问题。我们可以按次序、用方法把手中已有的事实好好安排组合一下。”

“Pray continue, Monsieur,” said Dr. Constantine.

“洗耳恭听。”康斯丹丁医师插了一句。

Poirot cleared his throat and straightened a piece of blotting-paper.

白罗清了清喉咙，手里顺展着一张吸墨纸。

“Let us review the case as it stands at this moment. First, there are certain indisputable facts. This man, Ratchett or Cassetti, was stabbed in twelve places anddied last night. That is fact one.”

“我们来检查一下本案现有的情况。第一、我们有了几点不争的事实。这个人，罗嘉德或是卡塞提。昨晚被人刺了十二刀而死。这是第一点事实。”

“I grant it you—I grant it, mon vieux,” said M. Bouc with a gesture of irony. Hercule Poirot was not at all put out. He continued calmly.

“就算一个吧，算一个。老兄。“波克先生带些挖苦地说。

“I will pass over for the moment certain rather peculiar appearances which Dr. Constantine and I have already discussed together. I will come to them presently. The next fact of importance, to my mind, is the time of the crime.”

赫邱里·白罗毫不以为忤。他继续平静地说：“眼前，我姑且不谈我与康斯丹丁医师已经讨论过的一些相当怪异的征状，我等一会儿再谈。我心中认为第二点重要的事实是案发的时刻。”

“That, again, is one of the few things we do know,” said M. Bouc. “The crime was committed at a quarter past one this morning. Everything goes to show that that was so.”

“这又是我们早就知道的了。案发时间是今天凌晨一点过一刻的时候。一切所有证据都可指出这个时间是正确的。”

“Not everything. You exaggerate. There is, certainly, a fair amount of evidence to support that view.”

“不是所有的，你又夸张了。不错，是有不少证据可以支持这个论点。“

“I am glad you admit that at least.”

“真高兴你至少承认这一点。”

Poirot went on calmly, unperturbed by the interruption. “We have before us three possibilities.

白罗不为他的打岔所恼，继续平心静气地分析：“我们眼前有三种可能性：

“(1)—that the crime was committed, as you say, at a quarter past one. This is supported by the evidence of the watch, by the evidence of Mrs. Hubbard, and by the evidence of the German woman, Hildegarde Schmidt. It agrees with the evidence of Dr. Constantine.

“一、正如你所说的，谋杀发生在凌晨一时一刻。此点，侯伯太太与那名德国女仆希尔格·施密德的证词以及手表的指证可以加以支持。此外，康斯丹丁医师也表同意。”

“(2)—that the crime was committed later, and that the evidence of the watch was deliberately faked in order to mislead.

“二、谋杀时刻可能较晚，而那只手表，所指的时刻是被人动过手脚，故意为我们制造错觉的。

“(3)—that the crime was committed earlier, and the evidence faked for the same reason as above.

“三、谋杀时刻较早，基于上述理由，手表时刻的证据也是经人假造的。”

“Now if we accept possibility (1) as the most likely to have occurred, and the one supported by most evidence, we must also accept certain facts arising from it. If the crime was committed at a quarter past one, the murderer cannot have left the train, and the questions arise: Where is he? And who is he?

“然则，如果我们接受第一种最受多数证词所支持的可能性，那么，我们也得接受它所引起的某些事实。首先，如果死者被刺时刻确是凌晨一时一刻，那么凶手不可能离开列车。但问题是：他在哪儿？他又是谁？”

“To begin with, let us examine the evidence carefully. We first hear of the existence of this man—the small dark man with a womanish voice—from the man Hardman. He says that Ratchett told him of this person and employed him to watch out for the man. There is no evidence to support this; we have only Hardman’s word for it. Let us next examine the question: Is Hardman the person he pretends to be an operative of a New York detective agency?

“我们现在来仔细查看一下证词：我们第一次听说有这么个瘦小、深色皮肤、说话像女人声音的男人，是得自哈德曼先生的口中；然而我们无从证实哈德曼的证词是否可靠。其次，哈德曼会不会是冒充纽约侦探服务公司的侦探呢？”

“What to my mind is so interesting in this case is that we have none of the facilities afforded to the police. We cannot investigate the bona fides of any of these people. We have to rely solely on deduction. That, to me, makes the matter very much more interesting. There is no routine work. It is all a matter of the intellect. I ask myself: Can we accept Hardman’s account of himself? I make my decision and I answer ‘Yes.’ I am of the opinion that we can accept Hardman’s account of himself.”

“对于本案，我心中感触最深的是，我们没有警方所有的一切方便。我们无法调查这些旅客的诚意，我们只能仰赖推论。这，我觉得也使事体更加玄奥。这不是可以循惯理来解决的问题。我是要全凭头脑的。我在问自己：可否接受哈德曼自述的真实性？我的决定是‘可以’。我认为哈德曼所作有关他本人的申述，我们是可以接受的。”

“You rely on the intuition? What the Americans call ‘the hunch’?” asked Dr. Constantine.

“你依靠直觉？也就是美国人常说的‘冥冥间’，是吗？”康斯丹丁医师问。

“Not at all. I regard the probabilities. Hardman is travelling with a false passport—that will at once make him an object of suspicion. The first thing that thepolice will do when they do arrive upon the scene is to detain Hardman and cable as to whether his account of himself is true. In the case of many of the passengers, to establish their bona fides will be difficult; in most cases it will probably not be attempted, especially since there seems nothing in the way of suspicion attaching to them. But in Hardman’s case it is simple. Either he is the person he represents himself to be, or he is not. Therefore I say that all will prove to be in order.”

“不然，我注意的是或然率。哈德曼持假护照旅行——这使人立即会怀疑上他。等到警方赶到现场来之后，首先就要拘捕他，并打电报查证他对自己所作的陈述是否属实。其他旅客的情形，证实他们的证词是诚实的固然也很难，但多半不至于惹上官司，因为他们似乎嫌疑不多。但是哈德曼的情况，就简单得多了。他或者的确是个侦探，或者根本不是。因此，我说，这案子可以证明还是有头绪的。

“You acquit him of suspicion?”

“那么，你免去他的可疑性了？”

“Not at all. You misunderstand me. For all I know, any American detective might have his own private reasons for wishing to murder Ratchett. No, what I am saying is that I think we can accept Hardman’s own account of himself. This story, then, that he tells of Ratchett’s seeking him out and employing him is not unlikely, and is most probably—though not of course certainly—true. If we are going to accept it as true, we must see if there is any confirmation of it. We find it in rather an unlikely place—in the evidence of Hildegarde Schmidt. Her description of the man she saw in Wagon Lit uniform tallies exactly. Is there any further confirmation of these two stories? There is. There is the button that Mrs. Hubbard found in her compartment. And there is also another corroborating statement which you may not have noticed.”

“当然没有，你误解了我的意思。据我所了解，任何一名美国侦探，都有他企图谋杀罗嘉德的个人理由。我只是说，我认为我们可以接受他对其本人身份所作的说明。如此，他所说罗嘉德雇用他当保镖，虽不一定是真的，却是有可能的。如果我们接受此一事实，那也得取得证实。而证据之一，却是在最没料到的人的身上——希尔格·施密德的证词。她所说在过道上撞到了一个穿卧车列车长制服的人，正与此吻合。还有其他证据可以支持他们两个所指陈的事吗？有的。那就是侯伯太太在她房里所找到的那枚钮扣。此外，还有一项与此吻合的证词，也许你们并没注意到。”

“What is that?”

“是什么？”

“The fact that both Colonel Arbuthnot and Hector MacQueen mention that the conductor passed their carriage. They attached no importance to the fact, but, Messieurs, Pierre Michel has declared that he did not leave his seat except on certain specified occasions—none of which would take him down to the far end of the coach past the compartment in which Arbuthnot and MacQueen were sitting.

“那就是阿伯斯诺上校与海洛特·麦昆两人都提到列车长会曾经走过他们的房门。他们虽没指出这事的重要性，但是，两位朋友，皮耶·麦寇坚称除了几次特殊情况之外，他一直没有离开过他的座位，而那几次离开座位都绝不可能经过阿伯斯诺与麦昆所在房间，因为他到车厢那头是不会经过麦昆的房间的。”

“Therefore this story, the story of a small dark man with a womanish voice dressed in Wagon Lit uniform, rests on the testimony, direct or indirect, of four witnesses.”

“因此，这个穿列车长制服而有女人声音的男人之存在，至少有四名证人直接或间接地可以指出。”

“One small point,” said Dr. Constantine. “If Hildegarde Schmidt’s story is true, how is it that the real conductor did not mention having seen her when he came to answer Mrs. Hubbard’s bell?”

“我有个小疑问，”康斯丹丁医师说：“如果希尔格·施密德说的是真话，那么这位真正的卧车列车长怎么没有说他去应侯伯太太按铃时遇见她了呢？”

“That is explained, I think. When he arrived to answer Mrs. Hubbard, the maid was in with her mistress. When she finally returned to her own compartment, the conductor was in with Mrs. Hubbard.”

“这一点，已经有了说明。他去应侯伯太太的铃时，那名女仆已正在她主人的房中。等她回到自己的房里时，列车长已经在侯伯太太房里了。”

M. Bouc had been waiting with difficulty until they had finished.

波克先生好不容易才等他们讲完。

“Yes, yes, my friend,” he said impatiently to Poirot. “But whilst I admire your caution, your method of advancing a step at a time, I submit that you have not yet touched the point at issue. We are all agreed that this person exists. The point is, where did he go?”

“不错，不错，老兄，”他不耐烦地对白罗说：“我很佩服你的谨慎与抽丝剥茧的方法。不过，你并没有抓住问题的重点。我们都同意这个人的确存在，可是他到哪里去了呢？”

Poirot shook his head reprovingly.

白罗责怪地猛摇着头。

“You are in error. You are inclined to put the cart before the horse. Before I ask myself, ‘Where did this man vanish to?’ I ask myself, ‘Did such a man really exist?’ Because, you see, if the man were an invention—a fabrication—how much easier to make him disappear! So I try to establish first that there really is such a flesh-and-blood person.”

“你又错了。你犯了本末倒置的错误了。在我问‘这个人失踪到哪里去了’之前，我先问‘这个人是否真的存在’？因为，你想，如果这个人果若是个空想的，捏造的，那么干脆当作他无影无踪，不是就没事了吗？所以，我首先得建立一个事实，那就是确实有这么个有血有肉的人存在。”

“And having arrived at the fact that there is—eh bien, where is he now?”

“既然你认定有这么个人，那么，他现在在哪儿？”

“There are only two answers to that, mon cher. Either he is still hidden on the train in a place of such extraordinary ingenuity that we cannot even think of it; or else he is, as one might say, two persons. That is, he is both himself—the man feared by M. Ratchett—and a passenger on the train so well disguised that M. Ratchett did not recognise him.”

“朋友，这个问题只有两个答案。他除非仍躲在列车里我们根本想都想不到的地方，那他就是一人乔扮作两人。他是罗嘉德所惧怕的那个仇人——而同时在车上又乔装成连罗嘉德都认不出来的人。”

“It is an idea, that,” said M. Bouc, his face lighting up. Then it clouded over again. “But there is one objection—”

“吔，这也有可能，”波克先生说着脸色开朗了些，但随即又蒙上了愁云。“只是有一点——”

Poirot took the words out of his mouth.

白罗代他说了出来：

“The height of the man. It is that you would say? With the exception of Mr. Ratchett’s valet, all the passengers are big men—the Italian, Colonel Arbuthnot, Hector MacQueen, Count Andrenyi. Well, that leaves us the valet—not a very likely supposition. But there is another possibility. Remember the ‘womanish’ voice. That gives us a choice of alternatives. The man may be disguised as a woman, or, alternatively, he may actually be a woman. A tall woman dressed in men’s clothes would look small.”

“那人的身高，是不？除了罗嘉德的仆人，车上所有的男性旅客都是高大的——意大利大汉、阿伯斯诺上校、海洛特·麦昆，它君业伯爵。于是就只剩下那男仆了——却又是个很不合情的假设。不过，还有一个可能。别忘了那‘女人样的声音’。这就给了我们选择的余地了。其一，说不定那人是男扮女装，其二，或根本就是个女人。一个身高的女人穿上男人衣服也会显得瘦小一点的。”

“But surely Ratchett would have known—”

“但是罗嘉德怎么会不知道呢——”

“Perhaps he did know. Perhaps, already, this woman had attempted his life, wearing a mares clothes the better to accomplish her purpose. Ratchett may have guessed that she would use the same trick again, so he tells Hardman to look for a man. But he mentions, however, a womanish voice.”

“也许他早就知道。说不定这女人早就以为穿了男人衣裳行刺他可能容易得逞，却目的未遂。罗嘉德也许猜到了她还会重施故伎，所以告诉哈德曼要注意防备一个男人。但是，他提醒他那男人说话声音像女人。”

“It is a possibility,” said M. Bouc. “But—”

“是有可能”，波克先生说：“可是——”

“Listen, my friend, I think that I should now tell you of certain inconsistencies noticed by Dr. Constantine.”

“听我说，朋友，我想我现在该告诉你康斯丹丁医生注意到的一些不一致的所在点了。”

He retailed at length the conclusions that he and the doctor had arrived at together from the nature of the dead man’s wounds. M. Bouc groaned and held his head again.

他就把他与康斯丹丁医生从死者身上刀伤上所获致的结论详细地说给他听了。波克先生听后，哀叫一声又把头抱住了。

“I know,” said Poirot sympathetically. “I know exactly how you feel. The head spins, does it not?”

“我知道，”白罗极表同情地说：“我很了解你的感觉。头都要炸了，是吧？”

“The whole thing is a fantasy!” cried M. Bouc.

“这简直不可思议！”波克先生嚷了起来。

“Exactly. It is absurd—improbable—it cannot be. So I myself have said. And yet, my friend, there it is! One cannot escape from the facts.”

“一点不错。荒谬——不可能发生的——没影的事。我自己也是这么对自己说。可是，老友呵，的确又是如此呀！事实摆在眼前，逃是逃不掉的。”

“It is madness!”

“简直要把人搞疯了！”

“Is it not? It is so mad, my friend, that sometimes I am haunted by the sensation that really it must be very simple. ... But that is only one of my ‘little ideas’!”

“不是吗？我的老朋友，这是荒谬得有时叫我起了玄想：也许实际上可能很简单……当然了，这只是我自己的一点‘小猜想’！”

“Two murderers,” groaned M. Bouc. “And on the Orient Express—”

“两名凶手，”波克先生仍在径自哀鸣：“偏发生在我这东方特快车上……”

The thought almost made him weep.

他这么一想，几乎要哭出声来。

“And now let us make the fantasy more fantastic,” said Poirot cheerfully. “Last night on the train, there are two mysterious strangers. There is the Wagon Lit attendant answering to the description given us by M. Hardman, and seen by Hildegarde Schmidt, Colonel Arbuthnot and M. MacQueen. There is also a woman in a red kimono—a tall slim woman, seen by Pierre Michel, Miss Debenham, M. MacQueen and myself (and smelt, I may say, by Colonel Arbuthnot!). Who was she? No one on the train admits to having a scarlet kimono. She, too, has vanished. Was she one and the same with the spurious Wagon Lit attendant? Or was she some quite distinct personality? Where are they, these two? And incidentally, where are the Wagon Lit uniform and the scarlet kimono?”

“现在让我们把不可思议的事弄得更荒谬一点，”白罗故作轻松地说：“昨晚在列车上，出现了两名神秘的陌生人。有个卧铺列车的服务人员符合哈德曼先生的描述，而且希尔格·施密德、阿伯斯诺上校与麦昆先生也都见到了。可又有一个穿红色睡袍的女人——一个高瘦的女人，皮耶·麦寇、戴本瀚小姐、麦昆和我本人也都看到过（再加上阿伯斯诺上校还嗅到过！）的，她是谁呢？到现在车上还没有一个人承认有一件鲜红色的睡袍，她也同样地失踪了。她是否也如那个穿制服的人，同样是个捏造出来的人物？还是车上的确有这样一个特殊的人物？他们现在何处，这两个人？再说，那件列车长制服与那件鲜红色睡袍又都在哪里？”

“Ah! that is something definite.” M. Bouc sprang up eagerly. “We must search all the passengers’ luggage. Yes, that will be something.”

“啊！这是可以找出来的，”波克先生一下子跳起身来。“我们必须要搜遍全车旅客的行李。是的，我就不信会找不出来！”

Poirot rose also. “I will make a prophecy,” he said.

白罗也立起身来。“我敢作个大胆的预言。”他说。

“You know where they are?”

“你知道在哪儿吗”

“I have a little idea.”

“我心里有数。”

“Where, then?”

“呃？在哪儿？”

“You will find the scarlet kimono in the baggage of one of the men, and you will find the uniform of the Wagon Lit conductor in the baggage of Hildegarde Schmidt.”

“你可以在男客的行李里找到那件睡袍。至于那件列车长的制服，就到希尔格·施密德的箱子里去翻吧。”

“Hildegarde Schmidt? You think—”

“希尔格·施密德？你认为——”

“Not what you are thinking. I will put it like this. If Hildegarde Schmidt is guilty, the uniform may be found in her baggage. But if she is innocent, it certainly will be.”

“并非如你心中所想的。我只是这么个看法：如果希尔格·施密德涉嫌，那么制服可能不在她行李里；如果她是无辜的，那么一定在她行李里。”

“But how—” began M. Bouc and stopped. “What is this noise that approaches?” he cried. “It resembles a locomotive in motion.”

“可是，这怎么——”波克先生刚要接话，又停了下来。“从哪儿传来的这么吵闹的声音，”他嚷道：“简直像火车头开动一样。”

The noise drew nearer. It consisted of shrill cries and protests in a woman’s voice. The door at the end of the dining-car burst open. Mrs. Hubbard burst in.

喧声愈来愈近了。刺耳的尖吼夹杂着女人的反抗声音。餐车门一下子被人猛推开来，侯伯太太撞了进来。

“It’s too horrible!” she cried. It’s just too horrible. In my sponge-bag. My sponge-bag! A great knife—all over blood?”

“吓死我了！”她喊着：“太可怕了！在我的手提袋里，我的大手提袋里！一把大刀——全都是血！”

And suddenly toppling forward, she fainted heavily on M. Bouc’s shoulder.

突然往前一倾，她一下子昏倒在白罗的肩上。