登陆注册
5560700000005

第5章

"Yes," the rusty voice went on; "I'd as soon die as go on living as Ido. And now I've lost my self-respect. Often wondered how long a starving man could go without losing his self-respect. Not so very long. You take my word for that." And without the slightest change in the monotony of that creaking voice he added:

"Did you read of the murder? Just here. I've been looking at the place."The words: 'So have I!' leaped up to Laurence's lips; he choked them down with a sort of terror.

"I wish you better luck," he said. "Goodnight!" and hurried away. Asort of ghastly laughter was forcing its way up in his throat. Was everyone talking of the murder he had committed? Even the very scarecrows?

III

There are some natures so constituted that, due to be hung at ten o'clock, they will play chess at eight. Such men invariably rise.

They make especially good bishops, editors, judges, impresarios, Prime ministers, money-lenders, and generals; in fact, fill with exceptional credit any position of power over their fellow-men. They have spiritual cold storage, in which are preserved their nervous systems. In such men there is little or none of that fluid sense and continuity of feeling known under those vague terms, speculation, poetry, philosophy. Men of facts and of decision switching imagination on and off at will, subordinating sentiment to reason... one does not think of them when watching wind ripple over cornfields, or swallows flying.

Keith Darrant had need for being of that breed during his dinner at the Tellassons. It was just eleven when he issued from the big house in Portland Place and refrained from taking a cab. He wanted to walk that he might better think. What crude and wanton irony there was in his situation! To have been made father-confessor to a murderer, he--well on towards a judgeship! With his contempt for the kind of weakness which landed men in such abysses, he felt it all so sordid, so "impossible," that he could hardly bring his mind to bear on it at all. And yet he must, because of two powerful instincts--self-preservation and blood-loyalty.

The wind had still the sapping softness of the afternoon, but rain had held off so far. It was warm, and he unbuttoned his fur overcoat. The nature of his thoughts deepened the dark austerity of his face, whose thin, well-cut lips were always pressing together, as if, by meeting, to dispose of each thought as it came up. He moved along the crowded pavements glumly. That air of festive conspiracy which drops with the darkness on to lighted streets, galled him. He turned off on a darker route.

This ghastly business! Convinced of its reality, he yet could not see it. The thing existed in his mind, not as a picture, but as a piece of irrefutable evidence. Larry had not meant to do it, of course. But it was murder, all the same. Men like Larry--weak, impulsive, sentimental, introspective creatures--did they ever mean what they did? This man, this Walenn, was, by all accounts, better dead than alive; no need to waste a thought on him! But, crime--the ugliness--Justice unsatisfied! Crime concealed--and his own share in the concealment! And yet--brother to brother! Surely no one could demand action from him! It was only a question of what he was going to advise Larry to do. To keep silent, and disappear? Had that a chance of success? Perhaps if the answers to his questions had been correct. But this girl! Suppose the dead man's relationship to her were ferreted out, could she be relied on not to endanger Larry?

These women were all the same, unstable as water, emotional, shiftless pests of society. Then, too, a crime untracked, dogging all his brother's after life; a secret following him wherever he might vanish to; hanging over him, watching for some drunken moment, to slip out of his lips. It was bad to think of. A clean breast of it? But his heart twitched within him. "Brother of Mr. Keith Darrant, the wellknown King's Counsel"--visiting a woman of the town, strangling with his bare hands the woman's husband! No intention to murder, but--a dead man! A dead man carried out of the house, laid under a dark archway! Provocation! Recommended to mercy--penal servitude for life! Was that the advice he was going to give Larry to-morrow morning?

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 广陵水贼

    广陵水贼

    我也不知道能否写完,尽量写完吧,这本依旧磨练文笔,开头有些戾气,文笔有些差,文体有些白,我的文笔可以说差,但是我可以这么说,我的剧情一定是很有意思的,起码我给人家说了剧情别人都很感兴趣的。一个还算是熟悉三国历史人,穿越到了东汉末年,成了徐州一个水贼的儿子。在自家阿翁的兄弟扶持下成为了水寨头领。纪洪如何在这个世家林立的东汉称雄呢,我是水贼出身有世家子弟投靠我吗。对,没有。水贼的路子,走的要比世家子弟,难上数倍。有背叛,也有好友。却难有知己,天下乃一人之天下,君子之交淡如水,小人之交甘若醴。
  • 再见隔经年

    再见隔经年

    青春岁月,那样一段特别的时光,足以让我用一生的时间回味。那一年,我们穿着帆布鞋,在艳阳下肆无忌惮地挥霍着属于我们的少年时光。我们的故事也从那一年开始,我不是俊男美女,我的青春中自然也没有轰轰烈烈的初恋和无可奈何的别离,可是却有着一段卑微到尘埃里的暗恋。那一年,我曾经翘掉一节专业课只为了可以去看自己喜欢的人的篮球赛;那一年,我曾经在期末考试前面对自己厚厚的教材后悔自己为什么没有早点儿开始复习;那一年,我曾经认为毕业太过遥远,我们也会一直陪在彼此身边;那一年,我们对于未来充满期待;其实这就是属于我的青春,虽然有些平庸,不过却也真实而美好。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 左异瞳

    左异瞳

    这是一个现代世界,普通即平凡,但极少数人却拥有着与平常人不一样的异瞳,俞轩则意外获得左瞳力量,它能带给你需求想要的一切,也可以毁灭一切,可事情并非如此简单,而是背后有人策划这一切的阴谋。
  • 锦中九世

    锦中九世

    因一场意外,花姸误入九世轮回。不同的身份,不同的境遇,亦人亦神,亦妖亦魔亦鬼,亦为掌上明珠,亦为浪迹天涯。第九世的回归,她仍为巅峰,叱咤风云。……一道身影悄然而至,含笑的眸中满装星辰,问道:愿意跟我走吗。
  • 万界之下

    万界之下

    我本无罪,世界有罪!我只想平平淡淡的活着,奈何生不逢时……此间太多离合苦,万界些许聚散甜。人有年少轻狂时,亦有浴血逆天日。这界,我便破给你看!这是一个罪域少年翻天覆地的故事……
  • 氪金报国机器人

    氪金报国机器人

    如果有一天,有黑客控制了你的电脑,还给你的支付宝充值了一百万,最后仅仅只是让你捏出一个机器人。你会照做吗?“别碰那台电脑!”——来自一台圆滚滚的机器人‘郝远’的忠告因为你将失去优渥的现代生活,带着沉重的使命,在异世界为了生存而奋斗。“其实也可以碰一下,毕竟在版本更新后能将异世界的种种上交给国家的感觉还不错。”
  • 凶灵禁忌

    凶灵禁忌

    自我记事起,我家后院就放着一口大红棺材,家里放棺材是禁忌,我问爷爷里面躺的是谁,被一顿毒打结束了这个话题,一直到我十八岁那年,怪事发生了,棺材盖打开了,里面空荡荡的……
  • 封印星辰

    封印星辰

    如果有一天,星际文明真的降临地球,你会怎么做?生存还是毁灭,这不是一个问题,只是一个结果。弱小的你没有选择的权利,只能接受结果的产生。现在,星际文明已经投下了他们的种子,故事也将从这里起源,物竞天择之下,你是不是那个天命所归,带上你的勇气,为了星辰的延续和崛起,开始吧!
  • 军列(中篇小说)

    军列(中篇小说)

    列车就要开过清川江了,看样子快到定洲了。火车摇晃得很厉害,铁路都是被炸后临时修起来的,地基很不牢固。昨天夜里从长渊出发,已经走过14个小时。为防空袭,列车夜里不敢开灯,有些路段朝鲜军民还在抢修,一路走走停停。此时太阳已近中天,通过一小块百叶窗,伤员们仿佛已能嗅到祖国温暖的气息。志愿军66军第8师7团3连连长田纯喜拄拐来到两节车厢的连接处,他的烟瘾上来了,受伤后烟瘾更大。鸟音山一战,在他们端掉的一个敌营指挥所里缴获了一些生活用品。除重要军械物资上缴外,通信员小戚把一条土耳其产的香烟悄悄塞进了他的行囊里,整整20包呢。