文章简介

《不平静的坟墓 An Unquiet Grave》

作者：[英] Montague Rhodes James【完结】

内容简介：

死去的人并非总是安静地躺在坟墓里。有时他们在这个世界上还有没做完的事情或者想为自己所受的委屈报仇雪恨；或许生活中他们自己也作过恶，即使死了也不得安宁，所以他们一定要回来给活着的人带来麻烦和恐惧。

在这5个故事中，死者可能随时随地以最奇怪的方式到来——到牛津某一学院，威廉斯先生正在那儿饶有兴趣地看着一幅古旧的画作；或者光天化日之下来到年轻的汤姆森先生度假住的一家小旅馆。爱德华·邓宁先生的房间里灯灭了，他伸手去找火柴，黑暗中他的手触到的是什么？乡绅鲍尔斯的妻子和继子要问个问题，可只有鲍尔斯知道答案，你怎么去问一个躺在坟墓里的死人问题呢？当帕金斯教授吹起他拾到的一个很旧的口哨时，是只有风作答，还是有别的东西？一种你见不着、听不见却又难以想像有多么可怕的东西…

蒙塔古·罗兹·詹姆斯（1862——1936）生于肯特郡，先后担任过剑桥大学的国王学院及伊顿公学院长，以其鬼怪故事闻名，这些故事问世后便深受欢迎。

Chapter 1 Casting the Runes运用如尼魔文

Chapter 2 'Oh，Whistle，and I'll Come to You，My Boy'“噢，朋友，你一吹哨，我就会来到你身边”

Chapter 3 Rats老鼠

Chapter 4 The Experiment实验

Chapter 5 The Picture画作

Chapter 1 Casting the Runes

15th April 1902

Dear Mr Karswell

I am turning your paper on'The Truth of Alchemy'， which you have kindly offered to read at our next club meeting．Unfortunately，we do not feel able to accept your offer．

W．Gayton，Secretary

18th April 1902

Dear Mr Karswell

I am afraid that I am not able to arrange a meeting with you to discuss your offer to read a paper on alchemy．However， the club considered your offer most carefully，and we did not refuse it until we had asked for the opinion of an expert in these matters．

W．Gayton，Secretary

20th April 1902

The Secretary writes to inform Mr Karswell that it is impossible for him to give the name of any person or persons who were asked for an opinion on Mr Karswell's paper on alchemy．The Secretary also wishes to say that he cannot reply to any further letters on this matter．

'And who is Mr Karswell？'asked the Secretary's wife．She had called at his office and had just picked up and read the last of these letters．

'Well，my dear，'replied her husband，'just at present Mr Karswell is a very angry man．All I know abut him is that he's rich，lives at Lufford Abbey in Warwickshire，and considers himself to be an alchemist．And I don't want to meet him for the next week or two．Now，shall we go？'

'What have you been doing to make him angry？'asked the Secretary's wife．

'The usual thing，my dear．He sent us a paper which he wanted to read at our next meeting．We showed it to Edward Dunning—almost the only man in England who knows about these things—and he said it was no good，so we refused it． Now Karswell wants to see me about it and to find out whose opinion we asked for．Well，you've seen my reply to that．Of course，you mustn't say anything about it to anyone．'

'You know very well that I would never do a thing like that．Indeed，I hope he doesn't discover that it was poor Mr Dunning．'

'Why do you say“poor”Mr Dunning？'said the Secretary． 'He's a very happy man and quite rich，I believe．He has a comfortable home and plenty of time to spend on his hobbies．'

'I only meant that I would be sorry for him if Mr Karswell discovered his name and made trouble for him．'

'Oh yes！He would be poor Mr Dunning then，'agreed her husband．The Secretary and his wife were lunching with friends that day，a Mr and Mrs Bennett，who came from Warwickshire． Mrs Gayton decided to ask them if they knew Mr Karswell． However，before she could do so，Mrs Bennett said to her hus－ band：

'I saw Mr Karswell this morning．He was coming out of the British Museum as I was driving past．'

'Did you really？'said her husband．'I wonder what brings him up to London．'

'Is he a friend of yours？'asked the Secretary，smiling at his wife．

'Oh no！'said Mr and Mrs Bennett together．

'He's one of our neighbours in Warwickshire，'explained Mrs Bennett，'but he's not at all popular．Nobody knows what he does with his time and they say he believes in all kinds of strange and unpleasant things．If he thinks you have been impolite to him，he never forgets it，and he never does anything kind for his neighbours．'

'But，my dear，'said her husband，'you're forgetting the Christmas party he gave for the children．'

'Oh no，I'm not，'replied his wife．'That's a good exam－ ple of what I mean．'She turned to the Secretary and his wife．

'The first winter he was at Lufford this horrible man invited all the village children to a Christmas party at his house．He said that he had some of these new moving pictures to show them．Everyone was rather surprised because they thought hat he didn't like children；he used to be very angry if any of the village children came on to his land．However，the chil－ dren all went and a friend of ours，Mr Farrer，went with them to see that everything was all right．'

'And was it？'asked the Secretary．

'Indeed it was not！'replied Mrs Bennett．'Our friend said it was obvious that Mr Karswell wanted to frighten the children to death，and he very nearly did so．The first film was “Red Riding Hood”，and the wolf was so terrible that several of the smaller children had to leave the room．The other films were more and more frightening．At the end Mr Karswell showed a film of a little boy in the park surrounding Lufford Abbey—every child in the room could recognize the place． There was a horrible creature in white following the little boy． At first you could see it hiding in the trees，then it became clearer and clearer and at last it caught the little boy and pulled him to pieces．Our friend said that it gave him some very bad dreams，so you can imagine how the children felt．Of course， this was too much and Mr Farrer told Karswell that he must stop it．All Mr Karswell said was：“Oh！The dear children want to go home to bed，do they？Very well，just one last picture． ”

'And then he showed a short film of horrible creatures with wings and lots of legs．They seemed to be crawling out of the picture to get among the children．Of course，the children were terribly frightened and they all started screaming and running out of the room．Some of them were quite badly hurt because they were all trying to get out of the room at the same time．There was the most awful trouble in the village after- wards．Several of the fathers wanted to go to Lufford Abbey and break all the windows，but the gates were locked when they got there．So you see why Mr Karswell is not one of our friends．'

'Yes，'agreed her husband．'I think Karswell is a very dangerous man．I feel sorry for anyone who makes an enemy of him．'

'Is he the man，'asked the Secretary，'who wrote a History of Witchcraft about ten years ago？'

'Yes，that's the man，'replied Mr Bennett．'Do you re- member what the newspaers said about it？'

'Yes，I do，'said the Secretary．'They all said that it was a really bad book．In fact，I knew the man who wrote the sharpest report of them all．So did you，of course．You re- member John Harrington？He was at Cambridge with us．'

'Oh，very well indeed．But I had heard nothing of him between the time we left university and the day I read about his accident in the newspaper．'

'What happened to him？'asked one of the ladies．

'It was very strange，'said Mr Bennett．'He fell out of a tree and broke his neck．The mystery was why he had climbed the tree in the first place．There he was，an ordinary man walking home along a country road late one evening，and suddenly he began to run as fast as he could．Finally he climbed up a tree beside the road；a dead branch broke，he fell and was killed．When they found him the next morning，he had a terrible expression of fear on his face．It was quite clear that he had been chased by something and people talked about mad dogs and so on，but no one ever found the answer．That was in 1889 and ever since then his brother，Henry，who was also at Cambridge with us，has been trying to find out the truth of what happened．He thinks that someone wanted to harm his brother but，of course，he has never been able to prove anything．'

After a pause Mr Bennett asked the Secretary，'Did you ever read Karswell's History of Witchcraft？'

'Yes，I did，'said the Secretary．

'And was it as bad as Harrington said？'

'Oh yes．It was badly written but what it said was very bad too，although Karswell seemed to believe every word of what he was saying．'

'I didn't read the book but I remember what Harrington wrote about it，'said Mr Bennett．'If anyone wrote like that about one of my books，I would never write another，I'm sure．'

'I don't think Karswell feels the same way，'replied the Secretary．'But it's half past three；we must go．Thank you for an excellent lunch．'

On the way home Mrs Gayton said，'I hope that horrible man Karswell doesn't discover that it was Mr Dunning who said his paper was no good．'

'I don't think he's likely to do that，'replied her husband．'Dunning won't tell him and neither shall I．The only way Karswell might find out is by asking the people at the British Museum Library for the name of anyone who studies all their old books about alchemy．Let's hope he won't think of that．'

But Mr Karswell was a very clever man．

One evening，later in the same week，Mr Edward Dunning was returning from the British Museum Library，where he had been working all day，to his comfortable home．He lived alone there，except for the two women who cooked and cleaned for him．A train took him most of the way home，then he caught a bus for the last mile or two．He had finished reading his newspaper by the time he got on the bus so he amused himself by reading the different notices on the windows opposite him． He already knew most of them quite well，but there seemed to be a new one in the corner that he had not seen before．It was yellow with blue letters，and all he could read was the name 'John Harrington'．Soon the bus was nearly empty and he changed his seat so that he could read the rest of it．It said：

REMEMBER JOHN HARRINGTON OF THE LAURELS，ASHBROOKE， WARWICKSHIRE，WHO DIED 18TH SEPTEMBER 1889．HE WAS AL- LOWED THREE MONTHS．

Mr Dunning stared at this notice for a long time．He was the only passenger on the bus when it reached his stop，and as he was getting off，he said to the driver，'I was looking at that new notice on the window，the blue and yellow one．It's rather strange，isn't it？'

'Which one is that，sir？asked the driver．'I don't think I know it．'

'why，this one here，'said Mr Dunning，turning to point to it．Then he suddenly stopped—the window was now quite clear．The blue and yellow notice，with its strange message， had completely disappeared．

'But I'm sure…'Mr Dunning began，staring at the window．Then he turned back to the driver．'I'm sorry．Perhaps I imagined it，'he said．

He hurried off the bus and walked home，feeling rather worried．The notice had been there on the window；he was sure of it．But what possible explanation could there be for its disappearing like that？

The following afternoon Mr Dunning was walking from the British Museum to the station when he saw，some way ahead of him，a man holding some leaflets，ready to give to people as they passed．However，Mr Dunning did not see him give any- one a leaflet until he himself reached the place．One was pushed into his hand as he passed．The man's hand touched his，and gave Mr Dunning an unpleasant surprise．The hand seemed unnaturally rough and hot．As Mr Dunning walked on，he looked quickly at the leaflet and noticed the name Harrington．He stopped in alarm，and felt in his pocket for his glasses，but in that second someone took the leaflet out of his hand．He turned quickly—but whoever it was had disappeared，and so had the man with the leaflets．

The next day in the British Museum he was arranging his papers on the desk when he thought he heard his own name whispered behind him．He turned round hurriedly，knocking some of his papers on to the floor，but saw no one he recognized．He picked up his papers and was beginning to work when a large man at the table behind him，who was just getting up to leave，touched him on the shoulder．

'May I give you these？'he said，holding out a number of papers．'I think they must be yours．'

'Yes，they are mine．Thank you，'said Mr Dunning．A moment later the man had left the room．

Later，Mr Dunning asked the librarian if he knew the large man's name．

'Oh yes．that's Mr Karswell，'said the librarian．'In fact， he asked me the other day who were the experts on alchemy， so I told him that you were the only one in the country．I'll introduce you if you like；I'm sure he'd like to meet you．'

'No，no，please don't，'said Dunning．'He is someone I would very much prefer to avoid．'

On the way home from the museum Mr Dunning felt strangely unwell．Usually he looked forward to an evening spent alone with his books，but now he wanted to be with other people．Unfortunately，the train and the bus were unusually empty．When he reached his house，he was surprised to find the doctor waiting for him．

'I'm sorry，Dunning，'said the doctor．'I'm afraid I've had to send both your servants to hospital．'

'Oh dear！'said Mr Dunning．'What's the matter with them？'

'They told me they'd bought some fish for their lunch from a man who came to the door，and it has made them quite ill．'

'I'm very sorry to hear that，'said Mr Dunning．

'It's strange，'said the doctor．'I've spoken to the neighbours and no one else has seen anyone selling fish．Now，don't worry．They're not seriously ill，but I'm afraid they won't be home for two or three days．Why don't you come and have dinner with me this evening？Eight o'clock．You know where I live．'

Mr Dunning enjoyed his evening with the doctor and re- turned to his lonely house at half past eleven．He had got into bed and was almost asleep when he heard quite clearly the sound of his study door opening downstairs．Alarmed，he got out of bed，went to the top of the stairs，and listened．There were no sounds of movements or footsteps，but he suddenly felt warm，even hot，air round his legs．He went back and decided to lock himself into his room，and then suddenly，the electric lights all went out．He put out his hand to find the matches on the table beside the bed—and touched a mouth， with teeth and with hair around it，and not，he said later，the mouth of a human being．In less than a second he was in an- other room and had locked the door．And there he spent a miserable night，in the dark，expecting every moment to hear something trying to open the door．But nothing came．

When it grew light，he went nervously back into his bed- room and searched it．Everything was in its usual place．He searched the whole house，but found nothing．