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Toys of Peace-Part3_H.H.Munro(Saki)(1870-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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was supposed to have happened."

"You may hear what really happened if you will respect it as a



confidence," said the Wine Merchant. "In the first place I may say

that the disappearance of Mrs. Umberleigh was not regarded by the



family entirely as a bereavement. My uncle, Edward Umberleigh, was

not by any means a weak-kneed individual, in fact in the world of



politics he had to be reckoned with more or less as a strong man,

but he was unmistakably dominated by Crispina; indeed I never met



any human being who was not frozen into subjection when brought into

prolonged contact with her. Some people are born to command;



Crispina Mrs. Umberleigh was born to legislate, codify,

administrate, censor, license, ban, execute, and sit in judgement



generally. If she was not born with that destiny she adopted it at

an early age. From the kitchen regions upwards every one in the



household came under her despotic sway and stayed there with the

submissiveness of molluscs involved in a glacial epoch. As a nephew



on a footing of only occasional visits she affected me merely as an

epidemic, disagreeable while it lasted, but without any permanent



effect; but her own sons and daughters stood in mortal awe of her;

their studies, friendships, diet, amusements, religious observances,



and way of doing their hair were all regulated and ordained

according to the august lady's will and pleasure. This will help



you to understand the sensation of stupefaction which was caused in

the family when she unobtrusively and inexplicably vanished. It was



as though St. Paul's Cathedral or the Piccadilly Hotel had

disappeared in the night, leaving nothing but an open space to mark



where it had stood. As far as was known nothing was troubling her;

in fact there was much before her to make life particularly well



worth living. The youngest boy had come back from school with an

unsatisfactory report, and she was to have sat in judgement on him



the very afternoon of the day she disappeared--if it had been he who

had vanished in a hurry one could have supplied the motive. Then



she was in the middle of a newspaper correspondence with a rural

dean in which she had already proved him guilty of heresy,



inconsistency, and unworthy quibbling, and no ordinary consideration

would have induced her to discontinue the controversy. Of course



the matter was put in the hands of the police, but as far as

possible it was kept out of the papers, and the generally accepted



explanation of her withdrawal from her social circle was that she

had gone into a nursing home."



"And what was the immediate effect on the home circle?" asked the

Journalist.



"All the girls bought themselves bicycles; the feminine cycling

craze was still in existence, and Crispina had rigidly vetoed any



participation in it among the members of her household. The

youngest boy let himself go to such an extent during his next term



that it had to be his last as far as that particular establishment

was concerned. The elder boys propounded a theory that their mother



might be wandering somewhere abroad, and searched for her

assiduously, chiefly, it must be admitted, in a class of Montmartre



resort where it was extremelyimprobable that she would be found."

"And all this while couldn't your uncle get hold of the least clue?"



"As a matter of fact he had received some information, though of

course I did not know of it at the time. He got a message one day



telling him that his wife had been kidnapped and smuggled out of the

country; she was said to be hidden away, in one of the islands off



the coast of Norway I think it was, in comfortable surroundings and

well cared for. And with the information came a demand for money; a



lump sum of 2000 pounds was to be paid yearly. Failing this she

would be immediately restored to her family."



The Journalist was silent for a moment, and them began to laugh

quietly.






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