Midnight Visitor

Robert Arthur

Ausable did not fit the description of any secret agent Fowler had ever read about. Following him down the corridor of the gloomy French hotel where Ausable had a room, Fowler felt disappointed. It was a small room on the sixth floor, and hardly a setting for a romantic figure.

Ausable was, for one thing, fat. Very fat. And then there was his accent. Though he spoke French passably, he had never altogether lost the New England accent he had brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago.

"You are disappointed," Ausable said wheezily over his shoulder. "You were told that I was a secret agent, a spy, dealing in espionage and danger. You wished to meet me because you are a writer, young and romantic. You thought you would have mysterious figures in the night, the crack of pistols, drugs in the wine."

"Instead, you spent a dull evening in a French music hall with a sloppy fat man who, instead of having messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties, gets only an ordinary telephone call making an appointment in his room. You have been bored!" The fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter.

"You are disillusioned," Ausable told him. "But take cheer, my young friend. Before long you will see a paper, a quite important paper for which several men and women have risked their lives, come to me in the next-to-last step of its journey into official hands. Someday soon that paper may well affect the course of history. There is drama in that thought, don't you think?" As he spoke, Ausable closed the door behind him. Then he switched on the light.

And as the light came on, Fowler had his first real thrill of the day. For halfway across the room, a small automatic pistol in his hand, stood a man.

Ausable blinked a few times.

"Max," he wheezed, "you gave me quite a start. I thought you were in Berlin. What are you doing in my room?"

Max was slender, not tall, and with a face that suggested the look of a fox. Except for the gun, he did not look very dangerous.

"The report," he murmured. "The report that is being brought to you tonight concerning some new missiles. I thought I would take it from you. It will be safer in my hands than in yours."

Ausable moved to an armchair and sat down heavily. "I'm going to raise the devil with the management this time; I am angry," he said grimly. "This is the second time in a month that somebody has gotten into my room off that confounded balcony!"

Fowler's eyes went to the single window of the room. It was an ordinary window, against which now the night was pressing blackly.

"Balcony?" Max asked curiously. "No, I had a passkey. I did not know about the balcony. It might have saved me some trouble had I known about it."

"It's not my balcony," explained Ausable angrily. "It belongs to the next apartment." He glanced explanatorily at Fowler. "You see," he said. "This room used to be part of a large unit, and the next room through that door there used to be the living room. It had the balcony, which extends under my window now. You can get onto it from the empty room next door, and somebody did, last month. The management promised to block it off. But they haven't."

Max glanced at Fowler, who was standing stiffly a few feet from Ausable, and waved the gun with a commanding gesture. "Please sit down," he said. "We have a wait of half an hour, I think."

"Thirty-one minutes," Ausable said moodily. "The appointment was for twelve-thirty. I wish I knew how you learned about the report, Max."

The little spy smiled evilly. "And we wish we knew how your people got the report. But, no harm has been done. I will get it back tonight. What is that? Who is at the door?"

Fowler jumped at the sudden knocking at the door. Ausable just smiled. "That will be the police," he said. "I thought that such an important paper should have a little extra protection. I told them to check out on me to make sure everything was all right."

Max bit his lip nervously. The knocking was repeated.

"What will you do now, Max?" Ausable asked. "If I do not answer the door, they will enter anyway. The door is unlocked. And they will not hesitate to shoot.

Max's face was black with anger as he backed swiftly toward the window; with his hand behind him, he opened the window and put his leg out into the night. "Send them away!" he warned. "I will wait on the balcony. Send them away or I'll shoot and take my chances!"

The knocking at the door became louder and a voice was raised. "Mr. Ausable! Mr. Ausable!"

Keeping his body twisted so that his gun still covered the fat man and his guest, the man at the window swung his other leg up and over the windowsill.

The doorknob turned. Swiftly Max pushed with his left hand to free himself and drop to the balcony. And then as he dropped he screamed once, shrilly.

The door opened and a waiter stood there with a tray, a bottle and two glasses.

"Here is the drink you ordered, sir." He set the tray on the table, uncorked the bottle and left the room.

White-faced and shaking, Fowler stared after him. "But... but... what about... the police?" he stammered.

"There never were any police," Ausable sighed. "Only Henry, whom I was expecting."

"But what about the man on the balcony?" Fowler began.

"No," said Ausable, "he won't return."

不速之客

罗伯特·阿瑟

奥萨博与福勒所读过的书中关于特工的描述并不相符。福勒很失望地跟着他一路走过阴暗的法国旅馆的走廊，奥萨博在那里租了一间房。那是一个位于六层的小房间，人们很难将这种环境与这样一位传奇人物联系起来。

令他失望的是，首先，奥萨博是一个胖子，而且非常胖。其次是他的口音，尽管他的法语还说得过去，但他仍然带有二十年前从波士顿带到巴黎的新英格兰口音。

“你一定很失望，”奥萨博气喘吁吁地回过头说，“别人说我是一个特工，一名间谍，周旋于间谍活动和危险之间。你期望能见到我，因为你是一个年轻、浪漫的作家。你可能以为今天晚上会碰到神秘人物、枪声、放在酒里的迷药。”

“然而事情并不像你想象的那样，你在一个演奏法国音乐的餐厅同一个粗心的胖子度过了一个乏味的夜晚。并没有黑眼睛的美女给他传递情报，他只是打了一个普通电话，与人约定在他的房间见面。你一定失望极了！”胖男人边低声笑着边开门，并且站到一旁让他那位失望的客人进房间。

“你的幻想破灭了，”奥萨博对他说，“但是我年轻的朋友，振作起来。一会儿你就会看到一份文件，这份相当重要的文件曾经让好几个人甘冒生命危险。送到我这儿后，我将把它转交给政府部门。很快这份文件就很可能会影响历史的进程。有点戏剧化，不是吗？”他边说，边关上了身后的门。然后打开灯。

灯亮时，福勒这一天中第一次真正感到了刺激。因为在房间的中间站着一个男人， 手里拿着一只小型自动手枪。

奥萨博眨巴了几下眼睛。

“马克斯，”他喘着气说，“你吓了我一跳。我以为你在柏林呢。你在我房间里做什么?”

马克斯很单薄，个子不高，脸上的表情会让人想到狐狸。要不是那只枪，他看上去并不像危险人物。

“那份报告，”他低声说道，“今天晚上将送到你手上的那份报告是有关一些新型导弹的。我要把它从你手里拿走，在我手里比在你手里更安全。”

奥萨博缓慢走向扶椅，重重地坐在上面。“这次我要对管理人员不客气了，真是令我生气，”他阴着脸说，“这已经是这个月里第二次有人从那个该死的阳台爬进我的房间了。”

福勒朝房间唯一的窗户望了一眼。这只是一扇普通的窗户，窗外是漆黑的夜晚。

“阳台？”马克斯好奇地问。“不，我有万能钥匙。我不知道什么阳台。如果我早知道的话，能省不少麻烦。”

“那不是我的阳台，”奥萨博生气地解释说，“它属于隔壁房间。”他看了福勒一眼解释说。“你瞧，”他说，“这个房间原来是一个大套间的一部分，那扇门进去的隔壁房间曾经是一间起居室。起居室有阳台，并且现在延伸到我的窗户下。从隔壁的空房间就可以到阳台上，上个月就有人这么做了。管理人员答应把它封起来，但他们并未付诸行动。”

马克斯看了看此时正僵硬地站在离奥萨博几英尺远的福勒，晃晃枪做出一个命令的手势。“坐下吧，”他说，“我想我们还得等半个小时。”

“是31分钟，”奥萨博不快地说道，“约定的时间是12点30分。马克斯，我很想知道你是怎么知道那份报告的。”

那个小个子间谍邪恶地笑着。“我们倒是想知道你的人是怎么得到那份报告的。不过，好在一切平安无事。今天晚上我就可以再拿回来。是谁？谁在敲门？”

突然的敲门声使福勒惊跳起来。奥萨博只是笑笑，“一定是警察，”他说，“我认为这么一份重要的文件应该有点特别的保护。我告诉他们来检查一下以确保一切正常。”

马克斯不安地咬着嘴唇。敲门声又响起。

“现在你怎么办，马克斯？”奥萨博问。“如果我不开门的话，他们也会想尽办法进来的。门没锁。他们会毫不犹豫地开枪。”

马克斯的脸气得发青，随之快速地向窗户后退，回过手打开窗户，并把一条腿伸到外面。“把他们打发走！”他警告说，“我在阳台上等着。把他们打发走，否则我就会开枪，我会冒一下险的。”

门外的敲门声更响了，一个声音大叫着：“奥萨博先生！奧萨博先生！”

马克斯扭着身体，使他的枪一直瞄准胖男人和他的客人，他把另一条腿也抬上来，跨过窗台。

门把手扭动了。马克斯立即松开左手向阳台上跳去。他跳下去时，发出一声凄厉的尖叫。

门开了，一个侍者站在门外，手里拿着一个托盘，上面有一个瓶子和两个玻璃杯。

“这是你要的酒，先生。”他把托盘放在桌上，打开瓶子并离开房间。

福勒被吓得脸色苍白，全身发抖，盯着他走出去。“可是……可是……怎么办……警察呢？”他结结巴巴地说着。

“根本没有什么警察，”奥萨博松了口气，“就只有亨利，我正在等的人。”

“可是阳台上那个人怎么办？”福勒问道。

“不，”奥萨博说，“他再也不会回来了。”

Key Words:

setting    ['setiŋ]   

n. 安装，放置，周围，环境，(为诗等谱写的)乐曲

dealing   ['di:liŋ]   

n. 经营方法，行为态度

(复数）dealin

gloomy   ['glu:mi] 

adj. 阴暗的，抑沉的，忧闷的

figure     ['figə]     

n. 图形，数字，形状; 人物，外形，体型

description     [di'skripʃən]   

n. 描写，描述，说明书，作图，类型

shoulder ['ʃəuldə] 

n. 肩膀，肩部

v. 扛，肩负，承担，(用肩

corridor  ['kɔridɔ:] 

n. 走廊

romantic        [rə'mæntik]   

adj. 浪漫的

n. 浪漫的人

sloppy    ['slɔpi]    

adj. 被泼水弄湿的，泥泞的，多阴雨的

mysterious     [mis'tiəriəs]    

adj. 神秘的，不可思议的

slender   ['slendə] 

adj. 细长的，苗条的，微薄的，少量的

spoke     [spəuk]  

v. 说，说话，演说

except     [ik'sept]  

vt. 除，除外

prep. & conj.

pistol      ['pistl]    

n. 手枪

vt. 用手枪射击

affect      [ə'fekt]   

vt. 影响，作用，感动

disillusioned   [.disi'lu:ʒənd] 

adj. 不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

minutes  ['minits] 

n. 会议记录，(复数)分钟

spy  [spai]     

n. 间谍，侦探，侦察

vt. 侦探，看到，找

haven     ['heivn]  

n. 港口，避难所，安息所 v. 安置 ... 于港中，

protection      [prə'tekʃən]   

n. 保护，防卫

gesture   ['dʒestʃə]

n. 手势，姿态

v. 作手势表达

block      [blɔk]     

n. 街区，木块，石块

n. 阻塞(物), 障

pressing [presiŋ]  

adj. 紧迫的，紧急的 press的现在分词

check      [tʃek]     

n. 检查，支票，账单，制止，阻止物，检验标准，方格图

swiftly     ['swiftli]  

adv. 迅速地，敏捷地

twisted    ['twistid] 

adj. 扭曲的 v. 扭动（twist的过去式）

参考资料：

现代大学英语精读(第2版)第一册:U4A 不速之客(4)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语