7 THE IDENTITY OF MARY DEBENHAM

7 玛丽·戴本瀚身份的揭穿

She wore no hat. Her head was thrown back as though in defiance. “The sweep of her hair back from her face, the curve of her nostril suggested the figure-head of a ship plunging gallantly into a rough sea. In that moment she was beautiful.

她没有戴帽子，她的头反抗性地往后昂着，头发自额部往后梳了过去，鼻孔的弧线，像一只船头上的雕像，无畏地冲向汹涌的海浪。在这一刹那间，她的确是美丽的。

Her eyes went to Arbuthnot for a minute—just a minute.

她的眼光投向了阿伯斯诺——却也只停了那么一刹那。

She said to Poirot, “You wished to see me?”

她对白罗说：“你要见我吗？”

“I wished to ask you, Mademoiselle, why you lied to us this morning?”

“我想问你，小姐，今天早上你为什么要对我们说谎？”

“Lied to you? I don’t know what you mean.”

“对你们说谎？我不懂你的意思。”

“You concealed the fact that at the time of the Armstrong tragedy you were actually living in the house. You told me that you had never been in America.”

“你隐瞒了在阿姆斯壮悲剧发生的当时，你正住在他们家的事实。你还告诉我们你从没去过美国。”

He saw her flinch for a moment and then recover herself.

他注意到她畏怯了片晌，却很快又恢复过来。

“Yes,” she said. “That is true.”

“是的，”她说：“是真的。”

“No, Mademoiselle, it was false.”

“不，小姐，是假的。”

“You misunderstood me. I mean that it is true that I lied to you.”

“你误会了我的意思；我是说我跟你说了谎是真的。”

“Ah, you admit it?”

“呃，你承认了吗？”

Her lips curved into a smile. “Certainly, since you have found me out.”

她的口角挤出了一丝笑容。“当然啰，因为你已经看穿了我。”

“You are at least frank, Mademoiselle.”

“至少你还是很坦率的，小姐。”

“There does not seem anything else for me to be.”

“我看我也别无他路可走了。”

“Well, of course, that is true. And now, Mademoiselle, may I ask you the reason for these evasions?”

“这的确如此。那么，小姐，可否请问你隐瞒的原因呢？”

“I should have thought the reason leapt to the eye, M. Poirot.”

“我以为理由不是很明显吗，白罗先生？”

“It does not leap to mine, Mademoiselle.”

“我却看不出来，小姐。”

She said in a quiet even voice with a trace of hardness in it, “I have my living to get.”

她平静中带着坚强的语气说：“我得谋生。”

“You mean—?”

“你是说……”

She raised her eyes and looked him full in the face. “How much do you know,

她抬起了眼睛，看准了他的脸说：“白罗先生，对于争得并保有一份适当工作的困难，你到底了解多少？

M. Poirot, of the fight to get and keep decent employment? Do you think that a girl who had been detained in connection with a murder case, whose name and perhaps photograph were reproduced in the English papers—do you think that any nice ordinary middle-class woman would want to engage that girl as governess to her daughters?”

你认为一个因为涉嫌谋杀案而被拘禁的女孩子，她的名字甚至照片都会登在英国报纸上——这样一个女孩子，有多少普通中等阶级善良人家的英国主妇会请她担任孩子们的家庭教师呢？“

“I do not see why not—if no blame attached to you.”

“我看不出有何不可——如果她没有犯下罪行的话。”

“Oh, blame—it is not blame—it is the publicity! So far, M. Poirot, I have succeeded in life. I have had well-paid, pleasant posts. I was not going to risk the position I had attained when no good end could have been served.”

“唉，罪行——我指的不是罪行——是报上的渲染！到目前为止，白罗先生，我的生活相当成功。我的工作待遇很高，也很愉快。我不愿意因为任何不好的事情而失去我奋斗多年才争得的地位。”

“I will venture to suggest, Mademoiselle, that I would have been the best judge of that, not you.”

“小姐，容我冒昧地说一句，这一点该由我来判断，而不是你。”

She shrugged her shoulders.

她耸了耸肩膀。

“For instance, you could have helped me in the matter of identification.”

“比方说，你原可以帮助我辨认一些人的身份的。”

“What do you mean?”

“你的意思的？”

“Is it possible, Mademoiselle, that you did not recognise in the Countess Andrenyi, Mrs. Armstrong’s young sister whom you taught in New York?”

“小姐，安君业伯爵夫人，也就是你在纽约教过的阿姆斯壮夫人的幼妹，你可能没认出来吧？”

“Countess Andrenyi? No.” She shook her head. “It may seem extraordinary to you—but I did not recognise her. She was not grown up, you see, when I knew her. That was over three years ago. It is true that the Countess reminded me of someone; it puzzled me. But she looks so foreign—I never connected her with the little American schoolgirl. I only glanced at her casually when coming into the restaurant car, and I noticed her clothes more than her face.” She smiled faintly. “Women do! And then—well—I had my own preoccupations.”

“安君业伯爵夫人？没有。”她摇着头说：“你或许觉得太怪了——不过我的确没有认出她来。你知道，我认识她的时候，她还没长大呢。那是三年多以前了，不错，伯爵夫人让我觉得有些面熟，我心里也觉得奇怪。但是她长得太像外国人了——我怎么也不会把她跟那个美国小女学生联想在一起。我只有在进餐车时偶尔看了她一眼，而我注意的，是她的服饰，却不是她的脸孔。”她浅笑了一下：“女人是这样的！然而，我——我心里还有自己的事要想。”

“You will not tell me your secret, Mademoiselle?”

“你是不肯告诉我你心中的秘密了，小姐？”

Poirot’s voice was very gentle and persuasive.

白罗的声调非常温婉，却充满了说服的力量。

She said in a low voice, “I can’t—I can’t.”

她低声地说：“我不能——我不能。”

And suddenly, without warning, she broke down, dropping her face down upon her outstretched arms and crying as though her heart would break.

突然间，冷不防地，她终于崩溃了，将头埋在伸出的手臂中，伤心欲碎地恸哭起来。

The Colonel sprang up and stood awkwardly beside her.

上校跳起身来，手足无措地站在她身旁。

“I—look here—”

“我……你不……”

He stopped and turning round scowled fiercely at Poirot.

他停下声来，转身暴烈地对白罗吼着：

“I’ll break every bone in your damned body, you dirty little whipper-snapper,” he said.

“我要把你身上的每一根骨头都敲碎，你这无耻、蛮横的小矮子！”

“Monsieur,” protested M. Bouc.

“先生，”波克先生拦阻他说。

Arbuthnot had turned back to the girl. “Mary—for God’s sake—”

阿伯斯诺转过身来对那女郎说：“玛丽，看在老天的份上，别……”

She sprang up. “It’s nothing. I’m all right. You don’t need me any more, do you,M. Poirot? If you do, you must come and find me. Oh, what an idiot—what an idiot I’m making of myself!” She hurried out of the car.

她振作了起来。“不要紧，我好了。你不再需要我了吧，白罗先生，是吧？如果需要的话，你只好来找我了。呵，我真傻，我真丢尽了丑！”她狼狈地跑出了餐车。

Arbuthnot, before following her, turned once more on Poirot.

阿伯斯诺在跟出去之前，又对白罗说：

“Miss Debenham’s got nothing to do with this business—nothing, do you hear? And if she’s worried and interfered with, you’ll have me to deal with.” He strode out.

“戴本瀚小姐与这件事情没有关系—全无关系。你听见没有？要是你使她担心或惹上麻烦的话，我放不掉你的。”他大步跨出门去。

“I like to see an angry Englishman,” said Poirot. “They are very amusing. The more emotional they feel, the less command they have of language.”

“我喜欢看英国人生气，”白罗说：“很好玩。他们情绪愈激动，就愈不会说话。”

But M. Bouc was not interested in the emotional reactions of Englishmen. He

然而波克先生似乎对英国人的情绪反应并不很感兴趣。他现在只知道自己对他这位朋友是佩服得五体投地了。

was overcome by admiration of his friend. “Mon cher, vous êtes épatant!” he cried. “Another miraculous guess.”

“老兄，你真是太伟大了。”他喊道：“又是一次神迹般的猜测。”

“It is incredible how you think of these things,” said Dr. Constantine admiringly.

“这种事情你居然想得出来，真是不可思议。”康斯丹丁医师也钦慕地说。

“Oh, I claim no credit this time. It was not a guess. Countess Andrenyi practically told me.”

“呵，这次这可不敢居功，这次可不是全凭猜测的。其实，该说是安君业伯爵夫人透露给我的。”

“Comment? Surely not?”

“怎么？这怎么会呢？”

“You remember, I asked her about her governess or companion? I had already decided in my mind that if Mary Debenham were mixed up in the matter, she must have figured in the household in some such capacity.”

“你们还记得，我问过她有关她的家庭教师或是陪伴她的人的事吧？我心里早有了定论，如果戴本瀚与这个案子扯上了关系，那她在阿姆斯壮家中必定是诸如此类的身份。”

“Yes, but the Countess Andrenyi described a totally different person.”

“不错，可是安君业伯爵夫人所描述的完全是另一个人嘛。”

“Exactly. A tall middle-aged woman with red hair—in fact, the exact opposite in every respect of Miss Debenham, so much so as to be quite remarkable. But then she had to invent a name quickly, and there it was that the unconscious association of ideas gave her away. She said, Miss Freebody, you remember.”

“很对。她说的是一个高大、中年、一头红发的女人——也就是一个与戴本瀚小姐完全两个类型的人，她编得也未免太离谱了一点。但是，她又必须很快地编造一个姓名，也正是她下意识中的联想，使她露出了马脚。还记得吧，她说的是傅利波迪小姐。”

“Yes?”

“是呀？”

“Eh bien, you may not know it, but there is a shop in London that was called until recently Debenham & Freebody. With the name Debenham running in her head, the Countess clutches at another name quickly, and the first that comes is Freebody. Naturally I understood immediately.”

“好的，你们也许不清楚，不过在伦敦有一个铺子，以前名字叫戴本瀚与傅利波迪。因为脑子里有戴本瀚的名字，伯爵夫人一时得抓个别的名字时，一下子就想到了傅利波迪。当然，我立刻就明白了。”

“That is yet another lie. Why did she do it?’

“可这又是另一个谎言。她为什么要这么做呢？”

“Possibly more loyalty. It makes things a little difficult.”

“也许又是为了忠心。也可以使案情更加复杂。”

“Ma foi!” said M. Bouc with violence. “But does everybody on this train tell lies?”

“老天！”波克先生怒不可支地说：“难道这车上就没有一个人说真话了吗！”

“That,” said Poirot, “is what we are about to find out.”

“这个嘛，”白罗说：“我们就将要揭晓了。”