Причуда мертвеца / Dead Man's Folly. Книга для чтения на английском языке

‘What is your butler’s name?’ he asked.

‘Henden.’ Miss Brewis looked a little astonished.

Poirot recollected himself and explained quickly:

‘I ask because I had a fancy I had seen him somewhere before.’

‘Very likely,’ said Miss Brewis. ‘None of these people ever seem to stay in any place more than four months. They must soon have done the round of all the available situations in England. After all, it’s not many people who can afford butlers and cooks nowadays.’

They came into the drawing-room, where Sir George, looking somehow rather unnatural in a dinner-jacket, was proffering sherry. Mrs Oliver, in iron-grey satin, was looking like an obsolete battleship, and Lady Stubbs’ smooth black head was bent down as she studied the fashions in Vogue[77].

Alec and Sally Legge were dining and also Jim Warburton.

‘We’ve a heavy evening ahead of us,’ he warned them. ‘No bridge tonight. All hands to the pumps[78]. There are any amount of notices to print, and the big card for the Fortune Telling. What name shall we have? Madame Zuleika? Esmeralda? Or Romany Leigh, the Gipsy Queen?’

‘The Eastern touch,’ said Sally. ‘Everyone in agricultural districts hates gipsies. Zuleika sounds all right. I brought my paint box over and I thought Michael could do us a curling snake to ornament the notice.’

‘Cleopatra rather than Zuleika, then?’

Henden appeared at the door.

‘Dinner is served, my lady.’

They went in. There were candles on the long table. The room was full of shadows.

Warburton and Alec Legge sat on either side of their hostess. Poirot was between Mrs Oliver and Miss Brewis. The latter was engaged in brisk general conversation about further details of preparation for tomorrow.

Mrs Oliver sat in brooding abstraction and hardly spoke.

When she did at last break her silence, it was with a somewhat contradictory explanation.

‘Don’t bother about me,’ she said to Poirot. ‘I’m just remembering if there’s anything I’ve forgotten.’

Sir George laughed heartily.

‘The fatal flaw, eh?’ he remarked.

‘That’s just it,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘There always is one. Sometimes one doesn’t realize it until a book’s actually in print. And then it’s agony!’ Her face reflected this emotion. She sighed. ‘The curious thing is that most people never notice it. I say to myself, “But of course the cook would have been bound to notice that two cutlets hadn’t been eaten.” But nobody else thinks of it at all.’

‘You fascinate me.’ Michael Weyman leant across the table. ‘The Mystery of the Second Cutlet. Please, please never explain. I shall wonder about it in my bath.’

Mrs Oliver gave him an abstracted smile and relapsed into her preoccupations.

Lady Stubbs was also silent. Now and again she yawned. Warburton, Alec Legge and Miss Brewis talked across her.

As they came out of the dining-room, Lady Stubbs stopped by the stairs.

‘I’m going to bed,’ she announced. ‘I’m very sleepy.’

‘Oh, Lady Stubbs,’ exclaimed Miss Brewis, ‘there’s so much to be done. We’ve been counting on you to help us.’

‘Yes, I know,’ said Lady Stubbs. ‘But I’m going to bed.’ She spoke with the satisfaction of a small child.

She turned her head as Sir George came out of the dining-room.

‘I’m tired, George. I’m going to bed. You don’t mind?’

He came up to her and patted her on the shoulder affectionately.

‘You go and get your beauty sleep, Hattie. Be fresh for tomorrow.’

He kissed her lightly and she went up the stairs, waving her hand and calling out:

‘Goodnight, all.’

Sir George smiled up at her. Miss Brewis drew in her breath sharply and turned brusquely away.

‘Come along, everybody,’ she said, with a forced cheerfulness that did not ring true. ‘We’ve got to work.’

Presently everyone was set to their tasks. Since Miss Brewis could not be everywhere at once, there were soon some defaulters. Michael Weyman ornamented a placard with a ferociously magnificent serpent and the words, Madame Zuleika will tell your Fortune, and then vanished unobtrusively. Alec Legge did a few nondescript chores and then went out avowedly to measure for the hoop-la and did not reappear. The women, as women do, worked energetically and conscientiously. Hercule Poirot followed his hostess’s example and went early to bed.

III

Poirot came down to breakfast on the following morning at nine-thirty. Breakfast was served in pre-war fashion. A row of hot dishes on an electric heater. Sir George was eating a full-sized Englishman’s breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and kidneys. Mrs Oliver and Miss Brewis had a modified version of the same. Michael Weyman was eating a plateful of cold ham. Only Lady Stubbs was unheedful of the fleshpots and was nibbling thin toast and sipping black coffee. She was wearing a large pale-pink hat which looked odd at the breakfast table.

The post had just arrived. Miss Brewis had an enormous pile of letters in front of her which she was rapidly sorting into piles. Any of Sir George’s marked ‘Personal’ she passed over to him. The others she opened herself and sorted into categories.

Lady Stubbs had three letters. She opened what were clearly a couple of bills and tossed them aside. Then she opened the third letter and said suddenly and clearly:

‘Oh!’

The exclamation was so startled that all heads turned towards her.

‘It’s from Etienne,’ she said. ‘My cousin Etienne. He’s coming here in a yacht.’

‘Let’s see, Hattie.’ Sir George held out his hand. She passed the letter down the table. He smoothed out the sheet and read.

‘Who’s this Etienne de Sousa? A cousin, you say?’

‘I think so. A second cousin. I do not remember him very well—hardly at all. He was—’

‘Yes, my dear?’

She shrugged her shoulders.

‘It does not matter. It is all a long time ago. I was a little girl.’

‘I suppose you wouldn’t remember him very well. But we must make him welcome, of course,’ said Sir George heartily. ‘Pity in a way it’s the fête today, but we’ll ask him to dinner. Perhaps we could put him up for a night or two—show him something of the country?’

Sir George was being the hearty country squire.

Lady Stubbs said nothing. She stared down into her coffee-cup.

Conversation on the inevitable subject of the fête became general. Only Poirot remained detached, watching the slim exotic figure at the head of the table. He wondered just what was going on in her mind. At that very moment her eyes came up and cast a swift glance along the table to where he sat. It was a look so shrewd and appraising that he was startled. As their eyes met, the shrewd expression vanished—emptiness returned. But that other look had been there, cold, calculating, watchful…

Or had he imagined it? In any case, wasn’t it true that people who were slightly mentally deficient very often had a kind of sly native cunning that sometimes surprised even the people who knew them best?

He thought to himself that Lady Stubbs was certainly an enigma. People seemed to hold diametrically opposite ideas concerning her. Miss Brewis had intimated that Lady Stubbs knew very well what she was doing. Yet Mrs Oliver definitely thought her halfwitted, and Mrs Folliat who had known her long and intimately had spoken of her as someone not quite normal, who needed care and watchfulness.

Miss Brewis was probably prejudiced. She disliked Lady Stubbs for her indolence and her aloofness. Poirot wondered if Miss Brewis had been Sir George’s secretary prior to his marriage. If so, she might easily resent the coming of the new regime.

Poirot himself would have agreed wholeheartedly with Mrs Folliat and Mrs Oliver—until this morning. And, after all, could he really rely on what had been only a fleeting impression?

Lady Stubbs got up abruptly from the table.

‘I have a headache,’ she said. ‘I shall go and lie down in my room.’

Sir George sprang up anxiously.

‘My dear girl. You’re all right, aren’t you?’

‘It’s just a headache.’

‘You’ll be fit enough for this afternoon, won’t you?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Take some aspirin, Lady Stubbs,’ said Miss Brewis briskly. ‘Have you got some or shall I bring it to you?’

‘I’ve got some.’

She moved towards the door. As she went she dropped the handkerchief she had been squeezing between her fingers. Poirot, moving quietly forward, picked it up unobtrusively.

Sir George, about to follow his wife, was stopped by Miss Brewis.

‘About the parking of cars this afternoon, Sir George. I’m just going to give Mitchell instructions. Do you think that the best plan would be, as you said—?’

Poirot, going out of the room, heard no more.

He caught up his hostess on the stairs.

‘Madame, you dropped this.’

He proffered the handkerchief with a bow.

She took it unheedingly.

‘Did I? Thank you.’

‘I am most distressed, Madame, that you should be suffering. Particularly when your cousin is coming.’

She answered quickly, almost violently.

‘I don’t want to see Etienne. I don’t like him. He’s bad. He was always bad. I’m afraid of him. He does bad things.’

The door of the dining-room opened and Sir George came across the hall and up the stairs.

‘Hattie, my poor darling. Let me come and tuck you up[79].’

They went up the stairs together, his arm round her tenderly, his face worried and absorbed.

Poirot looked up after them, then turned to encounter Miss Brewis moving fast, and clasping papers.

‘Lady Stubbs’ headache—’ he began.

‘No more headache than my foot,’ said Miss Brewis crossly, and disappeared into her office, closing the door behind her.

Poirot sighed and went out through the front door on to the terrace. Mrs Masterton had just driven up in a small car and was directing the elevation of a tea marquee, baying out orders in rich full-blooded tones.

She turned to greet Poirot.

‘Such a nuisance, these affairs,’ she observed. ‘And they will always put everything in the wrong place. No, Rogers! More to the left—left—not right! What do you think of the weather, M. Poirot? Looks doubtful to me. Rain, of course, would spoil everything. And we’ve had such a fine summer this year for a change. Where’s Sir George? I want to talk to him about car parking.’

‘His wife had a headache and has gone to lie down.’

‘She’ll be all right this afternoon,’ said Mrs Masterton confidently. ‘Likes functions, you know. She’ll make a terrific toilet[80] and be as pleased about it as a child. Just fetch me a bundle of those pegs over there, will you? I want to mark the places for the clock golf numbers.’

Poirot, thus pressed into service, was worked by Mrs Masterton relentlessly, as a useful apprentice. She condescended to talk to him in the intervals of hard labour.

‘Got to do everything yourself, I find. Only way… By the way, you’re a friend of the Eliots, I believe?’

Poirot, after his long sojourn in England, comprehended that this was an indication of social recognition. Mrs Masterton was in fact saying: ‘Although a foreigner, I understand you are One of Us.’ She continued to chat in an intimate manner.

‘Nice to have Nasse lived in again. We were all so afraid it was going to be a hotel. You know what it is nowadays; one drives through the country and passes place after place with the board up “Guest House” or “Private Hotel” or “Hotel A.A. Fully Licensed.” All the houses one stayed in as a girl—or where one went to dances. Very sad. Yes, I’m glad about Nasse and so is poor dear Amy Folliat, of course. She’s had such a hard life—but never complains, I will say. Sir George has done wonders for Nasse—and not vulgarized it. Don’t know whether that’s the result of Amy Folliat’s influence—or whether it’s his own natural good taste. He has got quite good taste, you know. Very surprising in a man like that.’

‘He is not, I understand, one of the landed gentry[81]

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Примечания

1

to beat a tattoo – барабанить, отбивать такт

2

with a baffled air of bewilderment — с выражением замешательства и недоумения на лице

3

wild goose chase — сумасбродная затея

4

Du tout! – (фр.) Не надо!

5

Humber – «Хамбер», марка легкового автомобиля с вместительным кузовом.

6

Magnifique! – (фр.) Великолепно!

7

Grazie. – (ит.) Спасибо.

8

Сornish pasties – корнуэльские пирожки (жареные пирожки с разнообразной начинкой).

9

’em = (зд.) them

10

Georgian house – дом в георгианском стиле (кирпичный дом с минимальным декором), этот стиль появился в правление короля Георга I (нач. XVIII в.).

11

motif — (фр.) мотив, причина

12

Trѐs bien, chѐre Madame. – (фр.) Очень хорошо, дорогая леди.

13

coiffure – (фр.) прическа

14

chefs-d’oeuvre – (фр.) шедевр

15

fête – (фр.) вечеринка, праздник

16

Half a crown – полкроны (крона – английская монета, чеканилась с начала XVI в., равнялась 5 шиллингам, или 1/4 фунта стерлингов).

17

whodunnit = who has done it – (досл.) тот, кто это сделал; подозреваемый

18

I was being engineered… jockeyed along… – Меня во что-то втягивают… манипулируют мной…

19

Dovetails – «ласточкин хвост» (тип прочного столярного соединения). Героиня имеет в виду, что части ее плана идеально сходились друг с другом.

20

plebeian – плебей (от лат. plebejus, «простой народ»; в Древнем Риме так называли свободных, но политически неравноправных представителей низших классов)

21

death duties – налог на наследство

22

It jutted out on to the river and was a picturesque thatched affair. – Он стоял у самой воды и представлял собой живописное сооружение с тростниковой крышей.

23

squire – cквайр (низший дворянский титул в Англии)

24

fortune telling – гадание, предсказание судьбы

25

Rather dumb and sniffs. – Все молчит и шмыгает носом.

26

Chinese pagoda – китайская пагода (многоярусная башня с несколькими карнизами).

27

coolie hat – кули, азиатская коническая шляпа, чаще всего соломенная или из пальмовых листьев

28

Elizabethan house – дом в елизаветинском стиле (стиль, совпадающий с правлением королевы Елизаветы I Тюдор вт. пол. XVI‒начала XVII вв., сочетающий в себе черты английской готики и французского Ренессанса).

29

fell into disrepair – пришел в упадок, обветшал

30

clear china-blue eyes – ясные фарфорово-голубые глаза

31

rough diamond – (досл.) неотшлифованный алмаз; человек, обладающий добрым сердцем, но не внешним лоском

32

Dominions – доминионы, фактически независимые государства в составе Британской Империи (ныне – Содружества наций), имеющие собственные конституции и правительства.

33

Quite a brain-wave on her part! – Какая блестящая идея с ее стороны!

34

like a Dutch uncle – (разг.) по отечески, как добрый дядюшка

35

coconut shy – игра, традиционная для ярмарок и сельских праздников в Англии, смысл которой сбивать кокосовые орехи с подставок деревянными шарами.

36

mademoiselle – мадемуазель; незамужняя француженка (или другая иностранка)

37

paté – (исп.) паштет

38

They toil not, neither do they spin… – Не трудятся они и не прядут… (цитата из Евангелия от Луки 12:27: «Посмотрите на лилии, как они растут: не трудятся, не прядут; но говорю вам, что и Соломон во всей славе своей не одевался так, как всякая из них»).

39

pang of pity – угрызения совести

40

Ascot – Аскот, городок в графстве Беркшир, получивший мировую известность благодаря ежегодным королевским конным играм. На играх обычно присутствует королевская семья и представители высшего английского общества.

41

she’s a bit wanting in the top storey – (досл.) у нее немного не хватает на верхнем этаже (намек на слабоумие героини)

42

West Indies – Вест-Индия, историческое название группы островов в Карибском море, в Мексиканском заливе и в прилегающих районах Атлантического океана.

43

creole – креол(ка), представитель(ница) этнической или этнорасовой общности, образовавшейся в колониальный период в Америке, Африке и Азии

44

Ma Masterton – мамаша Мастертон

45

M.P. – Member of Parliament, член парламента

46

she’s the one who wears the pants – (досл.) она та, кто носит штаны (имеется в виду, что она главная в доме).

47

Betsy Trotwood – Бетси Тротвуд, персонаж романа Ч. Диккенса «Посмертные записки пиквикского клуба».

48

one can’t think of one’s own insignificant ills or preoccupations – нельзя думать о собственных незначительных болячках и заботах

49

Mrs Blank of Little-Blank-in-the-Marsh. – Миссис Бланк из богом забытой деревушки.

50

Put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry – (досл.) доверься богу, но порох держи сухим (т. е. на бога надейся, но сам не плошай).

51

candidate for the lethal chamber – кандидатка на усыпление

52

screw-topped bottle – бутылка с завинчивающейся крышкой

53

hypodermic syringe – шприц для подкожных инъекций

54

wrapped in impenetrable fog – окутана непроницаемым туманом

55

But if so, what of it? – Даже если так, что с того?

56

yashmak – яшмак, тип вуали, которой женщины-турчанки покрывают голову.

57

harem – гарем (от араб. харам – запретное, священное место), охраняемая часть дома, в которой жили жены и наложницы богатых мусульман

58

she was under my care – она была на моем попечении

59

sugar estates – сахарные плантации

60

I myself was very badly off – мне самой было очень плохо

61

fend for oneself – постоять за себя, позаботиться о себе

62

late-Victorian – поздний викторианский стиль (архитектурный стиль в Англии конца XIX века, назван по имени правящей в то время королевы Виктории (1876‒1901), характеризуется преобладанием неоготики).

63

Эдмунд Спенсер (1552‒1599) – английский поэт эпохи Возрождения, старший современник Шекспира.

64

«Сон после тяжкого труда, порт после штормовых морей, отдохновенье после боя, смерть после жизни – вот величайшие блага» (строфа из стихотворения Э. Спенсера «Сон после тяжкого труда…» из цикла «Жалобы»; также эта строфа служит эпитафией на могильном камне Агаты Кристи).

65

ее = (зд.) you

66

’tis = (зд.) it is

67

yu = (зд.) you

68

du = (зд.) does

69

tu = (зд.) too

70

Born one of they as can’t go straight. – Если родился таким, то уже не выправишься.

71

‘They du say, tu, as her du be wanting up here.’ He tapped his temple significantly. – «Говорят, у нее здесь не хватает», – и постучал себя многозначительно по виску.

72

’twere = (зд.) they were

73

Her ladyship’s idea that Folly was. – «Причуду» эту ее светлость выдумала.

74

tu = (зд.) to

75

bain’t = (зд.) be not

76

crescendo, forte, diminuendo, rallentando – крещендо (муз. увеличение силы звука); форте (муз. громко); доминуэндо (муз. уменьшение силы звука); раллентандо (муз. замедление темпа).

77

Vogue – журнал мод, издается с 1892 года.

78

All hands to the pumps. – Все к помпам! (команда экипажу корабля при течи).

79

tuck smb up – (досл.) подоткнуть одеяло, поухаживать

80

she’ll make a terrific toilet – она нарядится в потрясающее платье

81

landed gentry – джентри, владеющий землей (джентри – нетитулованное мелкопоместное дворянство в Англии)